“Alright so how does this work?” It was time, finally time. I was going to get to join Cat and John, they were finally willing to let Myc infect me. It had been two months since getting here, and two weeks since the ‘lake incident’.
“I will cut you and then myself, slowly allowing Myc to enter your bloodstream. Once enough of him is gathered inside of you. He will then spread throughout your body, slowly feeding off you to grow.”
“So we are going to become blood brothers?” Truthfully I thought there would be a little more ceremony or something. John came into my tent, said that he and Cat decided to let me in. Then told me we were going to share blood, like some kids messing about with their dad’s knife.
“I suppose. Well, you have had long enough to think about it and you seem to have decided. Your sister has reluctantly decided to accept it, although it is because she has decided to stay. She wants you to as well, and she doubted you would if we kept this from you.” John was looking better.
Apparently Myc said he could fix whatever happened to John. They weren’t willing to tell me exactly what happened other than the fact that he had a brain injury. Although the small circular teal scars spread out across his face and the small spots breaking up the white in his eye made it clear.
It seemed he was nearly 100% but something still felt off. Whether it was his new connection with Cat or left over damage, I wasn’t sure. He stared at the pond more often lately and ate even less than before.
“Alright. Let’s do this.” I opened my hand towards John, my palm facing upward. He brought his hand down, a small piece of bone extended from a single finger tip. He cut a long slice down my hand, then another similar slice down his own hand.
“Are you sure?” The look on his face made me think that John was his old self. His eyes glowed as bright as before but both them and his face told me that he was scared of doing this. That he was even less sure than I was about adding a new person into what was starting to become a collective.
“Yes.” I was determined, whoever this Myc was, could convince my sister of all people to live out in the woods. To allow me to be a part of him, and to see their vision of the future.
So with a last worried glance, John grabbed my hand. It was a strange feeling, I thought it would be just two people holding nasty bleeding palms together. However, it was more like I placed my hand on a vacuum. I could feel the pressure, the slow sucking sensation from John’s hand as Myc slowly made his way into my body. Feeding off the trickle of blood that dripped from the open wound.
I wasn’t sure if it was actually Myc or my imagination but, the veins crawling up my arm seemed to glow a brighter blue than before. There was a slight pain crawling up my arm, it was sore, like when you donated blood. Me and John sat there for several minutes, waiting and staring, it got kind of awkward. Until without warning the pain in my arm numbed, John let go of my hand, and a small voice in the back of my head spoke up.
Hello, Nate. It is nice to finally greet you properly.
“Woah. This is weird.” The voice was small and gentle. I couldn’t really describe the voice, its pitch or tone. It was like listening to several voices all at once, they spoke in unison.
“I will leave you two to get acquainted.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Cool, so when can I start making bone knives, and spitting acid.”
John walked out of my little cabin. Before he even left I started asking questions, I wanted to know how it all worked. What cool powers I could have, could I make blades that came from my fingers.
Or the new thing Cat has been doing all week. She found out that Myc was capable of creating and altering plant structures. This allowed John to do things like make adhesive or the hoes and shovels. Cat found an interest in flowers, she was constantly growing petals and thorns across her body. Her new thing was finding plants to grow from her head, so it looked like she had a flower in her hair. It was nice if you didn’t know that the stem was connected to her skull.
Now that we all knew about Myc, both John and Cat were a lot more open about using their abilities. John had been using freshly made bone tools to cut rope and make more adhesive for the other soon to be structures. While Cat was reawakening her love of arts and crafts, she was enjoying the plant making so much she had even been practicing making cloth. She had made bed rolls for all of us, colorful robes for me and her, and even stiffer cloth to use as rugs for the cabin floors.
Although Cat was less obvious about it, whether it was embarrassment or just still uncomfortable about changing her body so obviously. I on the other hand would gladly go walking around as a giant tree monster.
Well, that may be pushing my limits, however if you wish for a milder change that would be fine.
“Hmmm, what would be something cool to do. Something like a new arm, or sharp teeth, or maybe, hmmmm… Oh can you make me have a tail.”
It seems an unnecessary waste of nutrients but if you are sure.
“Yes, this is gonna be so cool.” A chill ran up my back as Myc started getting to work. An uncomfortable feeling like a cut scabbing over on my back. Another chill ran up my back, before a small buzz ran through the slowly forming tail. It was like when your arm falls asleep and you can’t feel where it is anymore. Except I could see both my arms and my legs, and the feeling was extending into a new limb entirely.
This is strange working with something so new.
“Yeah it is strange for me too. Maybe this was a bad idea.” The feeling of something poking out of my back was starting to get uncomfortable. The constant buzz of my new nerves and the soreness from the fresh muscles was painful.
It will be done soon.
“Okay.” The buzzing started to decrease and there was a numb feeling extending into my new limb. Then with a flex from Myc, the feeling stopped and it was like it never happened. I looked around to find myself still standing in my little cabin, the bird still sang their songs outside.
“Are you done?”
Yes, please try it out. There may need to be some adjustments to the muscles and nerve sensitivity. Although I am feeling confident that this is close to the proper ratio for this type of limb.
Flexing the new limb felt strangely natural, I looked down at the small monkey-like tail extending from a hole in my sky blue robe that Myc apparently made. It moved and twirled exactly as I wanted it to, it felt like moving a finger. I wrapped the appendage around my waist to touch the soft dark brown fur covering my new tail. “Hmm, my new tail.”
If it feels fine then I will leave it as is, but you should attempt to use it in basic tool use. It may need more muscles and the joints between the extra bones may need to be tightened or stretched.
“This is so cool. I gotta go show Cath.” I ran out of the little cabin to see Cat walking around the little gardens that John had made. They were fuller and more colorful than before, Cat strolled around the plots humming to herself as she expanded it.
“Cat, look at this. Look at what Myc made for me.” I uncurled the new tail from around my waist and swayed it back and forth at her. I straightened and curled it to show her how much control over the little thing I had.
“Why? Why would you make a tail?” She looked disappointed, or maybe just disapproving at my new appendage.
“The same reason you go strutting around with the flowers in your hair. Or how you like using the flowers to make yourself smell nice. Acting like we haven’t noticed, because I like it.” I held my tail in a small hug. Holding it protectively like she was going to make Myc take it away.
She blushed at my accusations of her abuse of Myc’s powers. “I like the smell and the flowers are little things. I didn't ask for Myc to build a new appendage for me.”
It is alright. The small uses of my power are not wasted if you enjoy them.
Me and Cath both looked down in embarrassment at forgetting that we were both being watched by Myc essentially all day everyday.
With my introduction of new enzymes into your system malnutrition is an unlikely occurrence. As long as the projects are small the use of my powers is nice practice. While if they are large but potentially useful, then they can make chores easier.
“Alright thanks Myc.” I suppose it wasn’t that strange that Myc was so easily able to calm the upcoming argument. It had all of our memories and feelings floating around its mossy body, so basic conflict resolution should be easy.
While wasting materials is not preferred, we are attempting to build a society that is welcoming to live in. You two and I and even John are all beings with emotions and having fun is important to make sure we don’t become stressed. A perfect society can’t be created if all the beings inside it are unhappy.