Chapter Text
Of all the things Pomni had expected when she woke up, falling out of the sky and landing in a field of overgrown mushrooms was the last thing she would have thought of.
It had been a rather stressful morning, really. That was standard though. She was so used to ending up in odd situations that by now she had come to expect it. Why, just yesterday she…well how strange. She could hardly remember what had happened yesterday. Or why this morning had been so stressful. As if she had skipped a few chapters of a story…no matter. It couldn’t be that important, if she couldn’t remember.
These mushrooms in the field around her were rather large. Like small trees, almost. She had the inexplicable urge to take a bite of one.
That’s stupid, she thought. She did not take a bite.
“Are you just going to keep standing there?”
The voice came from a distance behind her, sounding flat and a little bored but with no particular ill intentions. A misshapen creature sat atop one of the larger mushrooms, looking down at Pomni.
“Zooble?” she asked hesitantly.
The creature sighed. “Yeah. Hi, Pomni.”
Pomni stepped closer to the mushroom, realizing as she did that it was taller than her. “Where are we?”
Zooble’s eyes narrowed. “How should I know?”
“...Right.”
Well, there wasn’t much else here. Zooble wasn’t going to be much help, it seemed, though it was no fault of their own. Pomni began looking around to see if there might be a path.
“You can eat the mushroom to change your size,” Zooble spoke suddenly.
“I’m sorry?”
They shrugged. “I just know that that’s the thing I’m supposed to tell you. If you want to grow bigger you eat…one side of the mushroom. I don’t remember which. And the other side makes you smaller.”
“...Why would I want to do that?”
Zooble just shook their head and lied down, staring at the sky, or lost in their own thoughts, presumably. How lovely. It wasn’t a particularly helpful insight but it felt vaguely familiar, like Pomni had read something like this in a book long ago. Not that she could remember the title, of course. Well, no more worrying about that. Perhaps the only thing to do was to press onward.
“I’ll…be going, then.”
There was no reply, but that was rather in character for Zooble. Pomni pushed past the mushroom stalks and kept walking.
It seemed that this was another one of Caine’s adventures. How strange that she couldn’t remember him sending all of them off. He would usually make a fuss about being sure everyone would participate in the adventure of the day. It used to be annoying, but by now she had gotten used to it. She had grown rather fond of the others, in a way, and the adventures kept her somewhat sane, at least.
Not this adventure. She pushed past another stalk and found herself back at Zooble’s mushroom.
“What is this, a maze or something?” she groaned, picking a different direction and starting to push through those stalks as well.
She was back at the same mushroom again.
“Pretty sure you’ll have to eat something to keep going.” Zooble remained lying down atop the mushroom, speaking without looking at Pomni. “You know how the… adventures are. Caine likes us to follow his set of rules. This is just like that, I guess.”
So this is one of Caine’s adventures. Figures. Pomni rolled her eyes. “He usually makes his rules a little more obvious, though.”
Zooble shrugged. “Look, I’m just following what I’ve been told so this can be over with. I’d suggest you do, too.”
Pomni sighed and stepped closer to the mushroom. Earlier, Zooble had said that they didn’t know which side made you bigger or smaller. Bigger would likely be more helpful here, though. She broke off a piece of the mushroom and hesitantly took a bite.
The piece fell from her hands as her arm convulsed with pain. Her ears rang, a splitting sound that felt like it might tear her apart if it d̸͚́i̶̠̍d̵̘̒n̵̨͘'̴̒ͅt̷͇́ s̵̫̔ț̷͌o̶̪͘p̷͕̅ ̷̱̇s̵͖̊ö̸̥o̶̢̐ṋ̸̂ j̸̡̬̩̩̳͛̌͌͛͝ǔ̵̠̹̿̎́͝s̵̭̈̎̓̓ť̸̡̘̜̜ ̴̼̼̀̆̈́s̷̞͊̉̃t̵͕̟͔̜̽o̷̬͚͖͙̍̐̈́̊p̶̩̾̿̓͝͝j̴̢͕̻̯̞͈̜͙͉͉͐͋̂͜͠u̸̡̗̟͔͑͒̚͘s̴̺̪̗̙͆̅̿͋͒͐̀̌͑̆͗̇̚t̶̛̛̐̾͋̎̇́͜͜͠ ̶̢̡̛̖̺̯̰̝͉̝͙̈́̏̅͑̇̒ş̸̫͔̹̩͕̹̯͂́̉̈̓̚ͅt̴̡͖͉̉̕ơ̶̝̰̙͌̿̎͋͋̀̕͠p̸̼̝̙͇̪͔̞̼̠͕̆̈̒̓͒̓͐ͅ J̴̡̢͇͍̬̻̠̥͖̻͉̭͔̈̍̈́̄̽͗̉̇̾̉͆̈̌͒͝Ư̸̡̧͇̝͙̰̖̗̞̠̞̣͎̆̂̐͝͝S̶̢̝̫̈́͜͠͝T̷͓̠͇̹̬͖͂͑̀͗ ̷̧̨̛͎̭̥̠̭̬̞̤̇̓̊͂̈́͂͊̐́̄̀̒͋̕͠͠Ś̵̨̨̺͍̣̹͖̹͈̜̲̦̙͈̋̔̓̔̀T̴͍͔̜͉̟͚̲̻̈̀͛͊͆̓̓̀͋̑́̐̓̐̇̏̽͝͝͠͝͝ͅO̸͙̣̙̣̺̤͉͙̲̼̤͈̘͇͎̩̟̯̺͓͖͇̿̓̇́̀͛̀̅͆̈́͊͗̉̾͘͝͝͝P̶̨̛͙̗̘̥̰̳̫̣͈̭̳̤̀̓̒́͑̄̌̐͊̒̾̔̓̉̉̅̿͂̈͜͝
She opened her eyes. The sun shone through the clear sky above her. The mushrooms were down near her feet, a normal-looking mushroom size. She had grown bigger.
Had she really been in pain a second ago? She could hardly remember. That wasn’t so bad. She could see a path on the ground not too far from where she now stood, leading into a thick forest just ahead. Where it led in the other direction, she couldn’t tell; it faded into the distance. If she knew anything about Caine’s adventures, it’s that he would make it clear if you were supposed to do something in particular. That thing here must be entering the forest.
Guess I’ll keep going, then, she thought. She glanced down near the mushrooms to invite Zooble to come with, or perhaps just to say goodbye as she moved on, but they were nowhere to be found.
“Zooble?” Pomni called out. She was met with silence.
Zooble probably went ahead and she would find them when she found everyone else. After all, if this was one of Caine’s adventures, the others must have also woken up in some strange way. Yes, that was it. Maybe Ragatha would know what was going on. Or Jax, or Gangle, or Kinger.
Either way, this adventure would be over soon enough. Like all of the adventures. The only thing to do now was to play it out until its end.
Pomni stepped onto the path.