Sylan Myrkul Snapshot #1

Long ago, in her home realm, Sylan Myrkul lies in a fungal forest next to a giant mushroom. She groggily gets back on her feet but her head reels as she stands up. A voice vibrates in her head. “Submit!” She feels her sense of self slipping away as she becomes part of something larger, grander. She almost blacks out but retains her consciousness. “No! You must submit!”  She feels her very identity being stripped away. She can hardly remember her name anymore. All her needs are the needs of the colony. Expand. Find new hosts. Grow more colonies. She shakes off the feeling. She knows these thoughts aren’t her own. As her very mind is being invaded, one thought pervades her entire being: I must master the power of the grave. Everything else in her mind seems secondary. Mycal’s betrayal, the compulsion to expand the colony, the fear of the infected beasts that surround her: all are trivial in comparison to her desire to cultivate the secret power she has discovered.

“A human resists our spores? How? Humans are such an anomaly: difficult to infect, but no human has ever shrugged off this effect..”

Sylan Myrkul realizes now that it was a mistake to follow Mycal into a fungal forest. Her abundant supply of magic protects her from infection somewhat, but she’s not immune. Sickness is usually mild and brief, but the air smells weird here and she can see the vapors of spores swirling in the air. She knows breathing this much fungal matter can’t be good for her health. She turns to leave, but her vision is blurry and she’s dizzy and off-balance. She nearly falls forward but catches herself on the ground. As she tries to get back up, she pukes all over the forest floor. As she reels and clutches her stomach she hears the voice in her head again.

“Such a strong rejection. What is different with this human’s immune system? Our spores usually kill off the immune system and fight off other diseases, infections, and parasites. Why have we failed this time?”

Sylan Myrkul has heard of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Breathing fungus of that variety is bound to have some strange effects. She throws herself to her feet and starts running. She can comprehend her blurred sight and her every move makes her sick to her stomach. Her head starts pounding and breathing is difficult. She hears the growling as animals close in around her. It seems they no longer are content in merely watching. “N-no! Stay back! Lumos, Agala!” A small ball of light appears in her cupped hands and rises to float around her head. The animals back away a bit, shocked by the light. Sylan takes her opportunity to stumble forward past the infected animals. The voice in her head speaks again.

“There it is again! Just like we detected through the millipede’s optical sensors. We do not sense any luminescent organs in this human’s body. How does it create light?”

Sylan Myrkul feels a little better now. Perhaps because she is no longer in such a thick concentration of fungal gas, though she is still deep in the fungal forest. As she shambles away from the infected animals that watch from afar, she now pays more close attention to the voice in her head. It mentioned a millipede. Sylan knows that Mycal is a millipede-type anthropomorphic arthropod. She thinks this voice in her head is surely a hallucination caused by breathing in fungal spores, but she can’t help but wonder what the real purpose is for Mycal bringing her here. It’s dangerous for her here, but surely it’s just as dangerous for Mycal and the other animals. The animals she saw have fungus sprouting from their hide and head. She wonders Is Mycal also infected? And if so, what does that mean? She listens closely as the voice speaks in her head again.

“We can’t let her escape. If she alerts others of her kind that have magic, they will destroy us.” The animals growl and begin lunging towards her again. Sylan isn’t sure if the voice in her head is real, but the correlation between what it said and the immediate aggression of the animals is scary. She puts her hand up to the floating ball of light that is hovering above her head and shapes her hand as though she is holding the ball. “Not a step closer! I have magic. And whoever is speaking in my head, show yourself!”

… There is, of course, no response.

Sylan groans. She is annoyed that she’s going to die entertaining a hallucination. The animals do seem to give pause, however, and have stopped moving, if only for a brief moment. Sylan laments her stupidity for believing, even for a second, that the voice is real, saying “I knew it. Hallucinogenic mushrooms.” At that, the animals immediately start barking, growling, roaring and making all sorts of aggravated noises while she simultaneously hears loudly in her head:

“It knows! It knows! The human knows we communicate via hallucinogenic mushrooms!”

That’s when things start to click together for Sylan. Someone is speaking to her and controlling these animals through hallucinogenic mushrooms. She doesn’t need to fight off or scare the animals, she just needs to fight off or scare the one controlling them. But she doesn’t know who could be doing this or where they could be. She has a feeling she knows where to find the one responsible for this. But she feels sick just thinking about it. She has to go back into the thicket of dense fungal gas. “You want control over me?” Sylan says, “Fine. Here I come.” The animals make way for her as she passes through into the nauseating fungus-filled area with a giant mushroom. Meanwhile, she hears the voice in her head expressing confusion.

“Creatures can willingly submit to our spores? This new concept expands opportunities for growth to new levels!”

She keeps her distance from the giant mushroom, as that seems to be where most of the spores are coming from. She covers her mouth and nose with her hands, barely breathing the disgusting air. She looks around for who could be controlling these creatures, but she doesn’t see anyone. It occurs to her that they might not be  anywhere near here if they have some sort of mind control. She hopes they aren’t too far away. She uncovers her mouth and shouts “Where are you? I’ve come to submit myself to your control. The least you can do is show me your face.”

“We have no face. We are many. We are the forest. We are the animals that reside in it. We are the centipede you named Mycal. We are a network of creatures.”

“You are… the forest?” Sylan asks. She doesn’t understand. What sort of creature is this. How does this creature consist of everything in the forest? She doesn't understand it, but she knows it is using hallucinogenic mushrooms to speak with her. She looks towards the giant mushroom, she thinks that must be the source of its power. She wades through puddles of what is a mix of disgusting mushrooms, moss, and mud. The area around the giant mushroom is less of a fungal forest and more of a fungal swamp. “I found you.” She says.

“Yes, this structure is where we were born. We have since expanded from there. Now, lay still as we project our spores.”

Sylan finally feels confident. She knows the source of its power. She is in no danger of dying. She is nauseous and it's hard to see, think, or breathe. But she knows what to do to save her life and keep her free will. “I’ve changed my mind.” Syland says, “Instead of becoming your slave, I think I’ll burn down this giant mushroom and maybe the entire forest afterwards.”

“What? But you said you would submit? Isn’t this your desire? To join us and become part of our colony? Isn’t this beneficial for you? Why would you seek our destruction?”

Sylan is amused that the voice in her head claims it is “beneficial” for her to submit to its mind control. The animals race towards her from all sides. “Careful, now.” Sylan says, “Mages make sparks when startled. And start scorching fires when scared.” She takes out her hand mirror.

“We don’t understand. We ensure safety through numbers and provide food for each other. We allow the quick propagation of those that submit to our spores. Your race will be plentiful if you submit. Isn’t this what you want?”

Sylan is starting to get an idea of how the forest thinks. It doesn’t seem to understand that Sylan values her own free will over any assurance it can provide. “Humans aren’t like the creatures of this forest.” Sylan says, “We don’t really care about the survival of the human race because the race’s survival is assured through our superiority. Instead, we only care about personal achievements.”

“Personal achievements? This explains the illogical behavior of humans. Our eyes and ears span the countries. We see humans that refuse to propagate despite having superior genetic code. We see humans that are allowed to propagate despite having genetic defects. We see that the few humans that learn magic do not use it for the betterment of society. Instead they learn magic but never use it. We see humans learn many things that they will never use. These are personal achievements? They gain skills and knowledge that they do not use to help others but simply for achievement?”

“Now you’re beginning to understand.” Sylan says.

“Yes, we know why you must destroy us. The humans destroy many to sate their need for personal achievement. They destroy others that have achievements, so that they may take their achievements. They destroy animals that they don’t eat or use the skins of. Instead, they kill the animal for the achievement of killing the animal. That is why you will destroy us. To destroy us is a personal achievement.”

Sylan begins to feel bad for her plan to set fire to the forest. She immediately gets angry that she feels any pity for something that tried to steal her mind and body. “No, I’m killing you because you’re trying to take away my mind and body, which is akin to killing me.” Sylan says. She realizes the absurdity of her justifying her act of self-defense to a forest. Sylan says, “I don’t want to kill you, but you’re a danger. I can’t let you take my mind or the minds of any other humans.”

“Taking your mind is harmful? Ah. The human mind is what gives them the desire to accomplish personal achievements. Without your mind, you are prevented from accomplishing your personal achievements. What if you submit to our spores and we accomplish your personal achievements while you help us expand.”

Sylan doesn’t think this conversation is going to go anywhere. Continuing it will only make her feel worse for what she’s going to do. She grabs the orb of light that is hovering around her head and she brings it down close to the mirror and says, “Lumos, Extrila, Ignan.” The floating ball of light becomes a floating ball of fire. All the natural gas in the area along with the very flammable spores in air cause the fire to burn much bigger and brighter than normal. This is lucky for her since it took all she had to create fire with a light spell, since she didn’t actually know any fire spells.

“Please, no! We have eyes across the countries. We see how many other humans accomplish personal achievements. We can help you know how they do so. You don’t need to submit to our spores, but please don’t destroy us.”

Sylan is taken aback when she realizes the implications she hears the voice in her head say. She had heard it before but hadn’t truly understood until now since she is so nauseous. She can’t kill this creature. She can burn down the forest, but this mass, this colony is spread out throughout multiple countries. She could never destroy it all. All she is doing is simply harming it. She’s already safe. It won’t try to harm her now and destroying it won’t stop it from harming others. However, if she can’t destroy it. Maybe she can still prevent it from harming humans. Mind control is unacceptable, but she has learned that this colony can learn human concepts like “personal achievement” and be persuaded to act differently. She has already convinced it to not harm her. Then Sylan considers what it would mean to have constant communication with an entity that can see and hear across the countries. Sylan closes her hand around the ball of fire, extinguishing it. Sylan forces a smile which is more of a grimace due to her discomfort and disgust. “Very well, you have me convinced.” She says, “Perhaps we can form a symbiotic relationship after all.”