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The chamber in front of them was almost entirely overgrown with mushrooms.
They all seemed to be the same species, though they were a kind that Laios didn't recognize. His gourmet guide seemed to have entirely omitted their existence, and while he would love to add recipes for them to it himself, basically the entire rest of his party, Senshi in particular, warned him against it.
He understood their concerns and in the end backed down without much of a fight. Mushrooms were not a good material to test cooking-wise in the environment of the dungeon. Their poison could be extremely potent, and they couldn't risk it.
Still. He regretted not being able to be the first one to try them. He would have to do with documenting their existence and whatever behaviours he saw for now. Maybe someday…
For now they seemed entirely docile, they could even be some sort of regular mushroom if they weren't so big. Thick yellow foot, ornate blue-ish cap with some sort of seemingly entirely random pattern of lines on it that varied from mushroom to mushroom.
The air was thick and humid and smelled odd but there didn't seem to be spores in the air.
They picked their way through the overgrown chamber and Laios marvelled at the giant fungi. If even Senshi didn't recognize them after living in the dungeon for so long it meant they were very rare, or grew on lower levels than people usually went to. If they ever got to the topside again he might get lucky to be credited as the discoverer of a new species!
Wasn't that exciting?
They set up camp a little ways beyond the chamber, in an adjacent little hallway. It was hidden away enough and defendable so that if any monsters, as rare as they were around this particular area, decided to show up they could fight them off without too much effort.
It was quiet. Peaceful. Vague alarm bells rang out in Laios’ mind as he helped set up camp, something about it being too quiet, too nice, but Kensuke stayed put in his sword so he was inclined to trust everything was safe for now.
Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe the other's caution around this area was rubbing off on him.
It was getting kinda late. Or so it seemed, none of them have seen the sun for over a week now. They would be having dinner soon, Senshi already looking over their ingredients and mulling over what to make.
He should help with preparations.
His mind went back to the mushrooms.
He couldn't ask to add them, he's already been denied in that regard, but he could at least observe them some more. They were so mysterious, how they weren't documented anywhere he'd seen, and they had a weird pull on his mind. He had to check them out again.
Maybe that was futile and they were just boring old surface mushrooms that got weirdly warped by their time in the dungeon. Maybe then he could at least get a good enough likeness of them to compare when he could. Maybe then the itch at the back of his head would be gone.
So he found himself slowly drifting towards the overgrown chamber again. No one stopped him, though maybe no one noticed he had wandered away yet. He won't be long, he told himself, he'd be right back to help with cooking.
He walked through the chamber slowly, observing them. They were really overgrown and healthy, some of them seemed like they'd been growing there for a long time but had no signs of anything foraging them or any animal activity.
Why was that he wondered? Maybe they really were just that poisonous to the point where all fauna in the area learned to stay away? He'd seen rats every once in a while while they were walking that day, always scampering before they got anywhere close, but there were not even signs of any vermin in here.
Maybe they smelled bad to every animal somehow? The smell in the chamber really was odd, but not what he would call bad. Not what he would call good either. Slightly earthy, with something vaguely sweet underneath.
He pulled out his book to document it. Never know when it could come in handy, this information.
“Laios”
He almost jumped at being called, fumbling to keep from dropping his book and pencil as he turned to the exit to the chamber. He didn't realise how far away from it he'd wandered.
“Oh, yes?” he called back “Did you need something?”
Chilchuck had walked a few steps into the room and stood there, arms crossed, regarding Laios with something like soft annoyance.
“Senshi asked me to fetch you. They want help peeling mandrakes and I'm not doing it all by myself again, I'm not getting a job at peeling veggies once I'm up top if I can help it, thanks”
“Oh.. Ok. Ok I'll come help, sorry I wandered off, just these” He gestured around vaguely “wouldn't leave my head, I had to try document them”
“Yeah yeah, you had your fun” Chilchuck waved his hand at him, not dismissive but like he didn't want to heard the info dump at the moment “I'm sure it's all very interesting, but you've been gone half an hour and you can continue after dinner”
He's been gone half an hour? Weird.
He stuffed his book back into his armour and began to walk back towards the exit.
A mushroom tendril crunched under his boot.
Something flashed at the edges of his vision and then light almost seemed to fill his vision to the point where he had to shut his eyes and shield his face with his arms.
It was Bright in the windowless room for just a few seconds and he could hear Chilchuck Yelp before everything went back to normal.
After nothing happened for another few seconds he tentatively opened his eyes again. Spots danced in his vision and he tried to blink them away but was almost entirely unsuccessful.
Something was wrong. The room was empty. That was wrong.
He tried to blink his vision clear again, to similar results, because surely his eyes were lying to him, but no.
Where had Chilchuck gone? Had he fled the room? What was that light? Had it done something to him?
“Chil?” He called out, unsure.
In response there was a voice. It sounded like the half foot in question but like it was coming from far away, and without straining to hear it and maybe even holding his breath Laios couldn't discern it very well.
“Where are you?” He called again, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. Had the light been a teleportation spell of some kind?
The voice was small. He moved towards it. It didn't seem to be coming from outside, but then why was it so tiny?
“LAIOS” the half foot was yelling but it was much quieter than it should have been. The man seemed to also be cursing in a language Laios didn't know in between every other word “You clumsy Motherfucker, what did you DO?”
He didn't know what he did. But something he did was clearly bad.
He spotted movement in between the thicker fungi mycelium which initially he identified as a rat of some kind, just seeing a small spot of brown.
It was shaped incredibly wrong for a rodent though. It was a little too… person shaped for that, just. Rat sized.
“You dumb shit” Chilchuck cursed at him again, staring up at him from the floor, his stature now only a few inches tall.
Laios sat down on his haunches out of instinct “Ah… a miniaturisation spell of some sort then?” He theorised out loud.
The half foot sighed and ran his hand over his face. Laios had to strain just slightly to see his face properly, but he looked annoyed “Ok, alright, what did you do?”
Laios thought about it for a moment “I think.. I stepped on a pressure plate? It was covered up by the fungus tho, I didn’t really see it”
Chilchuck growled his frustration into his hands “Of course these things would have overgrown all the signs of traps, why the hell wouldn’t they?”
“I’m.. sorry?” the apology didn’t feel enough, but he didn't know what else he could say.
“Fine, fuck it, whatever, just watch your step, for the love of fuck don’t step on another one”
“Sure… should I call for Marcille?”
“No, not here, we get out of here first, if there’s any more traps we don’t want to set them off”
Oh. That made sense. Ok that made perfect sense actually.
“Alright, we should… uh?” he was weirdly lost at how to proceed. His head felt foggy. Had the mushroom smell gotten stronger? Was it always that strong? Was he starting to feel oddly dizzy? “Can I… can I pick you up?”
“Uh?” the man stared up at him with an almost stunned expression. The thought had not yet crossed his mind.
“Because like. It’ll be faster and safer if I carry you back to camp right?” he quickly explained, doing his best not to loom.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re not wrong” Chilchuck conceded, though he still seemed weary.
“I’ll be careful,” Laios promised, slowly bending down to put his hand, palm up, flush with the ground.
The half foot eyed the proffered hand cautiously, but only hesitated for a moment.
His hands were cold. Laios could feel it as he climbed onto his palm, tiny pinpricks of chill on his skin. He wondered if his hands were always cold or if it was somehow the spell’s doing.
He found his vision going slightly hazy and hurried to blink it away. Chilchuck was staring up at him expectedly, barely filling out his palm.
He cupped his other next to the occupied one and, carefully balancing himself, got to his feet. The half foot held onto his thumb for balance and pointedly didn’t look down towards the ground, his eyes trained somewhere on his hands.
“Is this ok?” Laios asked. His head was starting to get really foggy.
“It’s fine” Chilchuck growled out, clearly uncomfortable but had resigned to it “Just go”
He wanted to just sprint back to camp. They’d get Marcille to reverse whatever spell this was and all would be hunky-dory and they could forget it ever happened and watch out for hidden traps more carefully even in chambers like this.
Something in his head wasn’t clicking though. He couldn’t make himself run. He couldn’t even make himself take a single step, like there was a wall between him and the rest of his body. Something was wrong. His mind felt blanketed by soft yellow fog, his vision going slightly blurry again. Standing up as fast as he did wasn’t helping his odd dizziness.
His insides twisted. Clenched. Growled.
He was Hungry.
An overpowering unbearable hunger, like he hadn’t eaten in days, slammed into him all at once. In his mind he knew dinner was approaching, he was supposed to be helping with preparations, but surely he wasn’t that hungry yet? He’d had lunch only a handful of hours ago, but his insides hurt and felt so absolutely desperately empty.
His middle made another growl, louder, more pleading, more painful, and he instinctively pressed his free hand to it. Hunched over slightly like it’d help. It only made it worse.
“L-Laios?” a voice got close to piercing through the fog in his head, but didn’t quite make it there. Words he was hearing didn’t chain themselves together in his brain.
He was so desperately hungry, he needed to eat something now.
“Laios, are you ok? I don’t like the look in your eyes”
His vision mostly focused on the movement in his palm. The half foot in it, miniaturised as he was, was just the right size.
“Laios, what are you doing?” the voice was more urgent, confused, afraid, he could only kinda tell that though. He was raising his hand closer to his face, slowly enough not to jostle the occupant, and way slower than he felt he wanted to. He didn’t know why he wanted to. He just did. The pain in his gut was stabbing now, he really never felt hunger pangs quite like this before.
There was the voice again. It might’ve been cursing him out. He couldn’t make himself care for some reason.
He threw his head back and opened his mouth. He’s been drooling for the past few minutes, he realised, his mouth was overflowing with it.
It was really easy. Easier than he really thought it would be. He pressed his hand to his open mouth.
The half foot didn’t fit entirely in his mouth at first, hanging half out of it, his legs kicking wildly. Laios held him between his teeth for a moment, gently as he could. He didn’t want to bite down on the creature in his mouth, even through all the brain fog.
The cursing now echoed in his skull, though he couldn’t help but entirely ignore it. Even though it was loud.
His stomach protested at his slowness and he hurried it up. He swallowed once and the legs kicking at his jaw disappeared over his lips, now struggling against his gums. A small weight travelled a small way down his throat.
Saliva spilled down his lips. The flavour really wasn’t a thing he even bothered to feel, though it was muted by cloth anyway.
He swallowed again. The gulp was wet and heavy, drawing the weight further down. His mouth was empty once more.
The struggling in his throat was odd. He’s never really eaten anything alive before. He gulped again because, even though it wasn’t bad per say, the squirming wasn’t entirely pleasant.
The small living weight travelled down quickly from there, landing heavily in his stomach with a satisfying thump.
He didn’t feel full. Not really, but he didn’t feel hungry anymore. It was really weird.
His meal (when’d he start calling it that?) squirmed more in his stomach, kicking wildly, screaming something he couldn’t hear. It felt… nice? He didn’t even know if that was even true, but the soft warm fog in his head was telling him he wanted this, and he believed it.
He wasn’t hungry anymore. A satisfied sigh left his lungs.
What was he doing? He had to get back to camp.There was something he was supposed to do there, didn’t he used to know what?
He took a step forward.
…
He was in a dark hallway. He did not remember getting there.
What… happened?
Vestiges of fog lingered on the edges of his mind but were now lifting.
His insides felt. Bad. Sort of painful. They squirmed in an uncomfortable way.
Did he actually take a bite of one of those mushrooms when he went to document them? Did he get food poisoning?
No, he’d have probably remembered that. No, he just walked around and took notes for a minute… wait didn’t Chilchuck tell him he’s been gone for half an hour?
Oh yeah, Chilchuck was there to fetch him to come back, and then… what?
He hugged his middle as it squirmed uncomfortably and tried to remember. He… stepped on a hidden pressure plate, there was a spell that.. Yeah it hit the half foot (and not Laios himself for some reason, maybe it was only at half power?) and miniaturised him, made him small enough to be held, and then.
Then what? His memories did not want to make themselves apparent.
What the hell did he eat? Why was it making him feel like trash? He was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to have eaten anything, so what. What…?
Nausea hit him like a brick.
Oh god, oh shit, no, NO! He didn’t do that, did he? FUCK.
His insides rolled as he fell to his knees. There was acid at the back of his tongue, but he didn’t stop and just retched desperately.
He didn’t do that, he couldn’t have, he couldn’t, except he definitely did because he remembered it now, and without the cushioning of the fog that was now blissfully gone it was all the more devastating, because what had he done?
Clear bile spilled over his hands, soaking immediately into thin moss and cobblestones. He heaved again.
He had to throw up harder, because all that was coming up was just liquid, and he desperately hoped there was anything else left to even throw up.
His eyes stung and bile went up his nose. What must have been tears dripped down his face and nose. He coughed until his throat went raw.
Finally, finally, a weight, a concerningly unmoving one, dislodged somewhere in his middle, and travelled painfully up.
He had just enough awareness through the retching to cup his hands under his face to catch what came up.
He pried his eyes open just enough to see, focused his vision enough.
The shape in his hands was curled up and through his shaking hands he couldn't discern enough details to tell if he was ok. He seemed to have all his limbs intact, and was he shivering or was that just his hands again?
Chilchick stayed curled up for a moment more. Laios strained to see any signs of life.
Then the half foot rolled over and coughed. Gasped for air and just kept coughing.
He was alive! Thank fuck.
Laios sighed in relief. Felt another wave of nausea roll over him and so he put his forehead to the wet cobblestone and let it abide. Mostly it worked. It took a minute or so.
“What… the fuck was that?” The voice was weak and breathless but it was there and it confirmed life and he was happy to hear it.
“I don’t know” he heaved as his insides ran empty “I’m sorry, I don’t know, I’m so sorry”
“Did you… did you even mean to do that?”
“No, god no! I don’t think that was me, I don’t… I think it was the mushrooms?”
“I figured. You would have said something if you were in control. You never shut up”
Laios raised his head again, more or less sure he wouldn’t puke his guts up again, mostly because he had nothing to puke with “You ok?”
Chilchuck was mostly prostrated over his hands, shivering and limp. He looked up at him, his eyes exhausted “Do I look ok to you”
“No, no, of course not, I get it, but? Are you-”
“I’m fine. Skin not burning, limbs still attached” he waved his hand lazily for a moment before letting it fall by his side.
Laios sighed another sigh of relief “Good. I’m so sorry Chilchuck”
“You could have definitely done worse” then after a second of thought he added “Can we actually go back to the others? It’s fucking cold”
Laios noded, suppressing another apology, because it would just be redundant to keep repeating himself. The others were just a minute walk away.
He made a mental note to just entirely avoid those mushrooms from then on. Discoveries weren’t worth it.