There's something terrifying about hearing a voice that's familiar, yet at the same time almost like a stranger.
It falls in the uncanny valley effect, kind of like masks and dolls. Things that are familiar, but subtly strange enough to cause maximum 'creepiness'. This was the effect that made statues, undead, and mimicking creatures more intimidating.
Thus it was a testament to Null's self-control that he didn't panic. He didn't freak out. He didn't even jump in surprise.
No, Null began to think.
"So," Null said, thinking aloud. "You're using Apex as a voice, but clearly you're not malicious. You would've attacked me by now if you were, seeing as Apex is far stronger than I am, and it shows clearly. You must have some form of mind magic in order to control Apex like this, so I'm assuming that you brought us here deliberately, using the bug people as your means."
The creature controlling Apex's voice chuckled. "You're quite right, young dragon. Very astute of you. No, I do not wish you harm. I wish to assist you."
"That's all well and good," Null began, casting about. There was the scent of mulch and grass, but much more prominently was the smell of mushrooms. "But I'd like to see who I'm talking to."
"Ah yes, I had forgotten that dragons need light. The Beetles operate well even without it, and I myself have no use for it."
As the creature controlling Apex said this, mushrooms in the cave began to emit light. Not the same toxic purple as the mushrooms throughout the Grove, but pale blues and greens. Each individual fungus only let off enough of a glow to reveal itself, but the combined effect was enough to illuminate the entire cave. Null's eyes were naturally drawn to the greatest concentration of mushrooms, in the back wall. Spirit gems grew amidst the fungi, their natural glow hidden behind the stalks.
"Wonderful, an empty cave full of mushrooms. That answers my question." Null glanced at Apex, noting the zoned-out look in his eyes. It was certainly mind magic.
"But it does answer your question." Apex cast his wing about, his eyes still staring out into space. "What's in the cave?"
Null looked around again. The only thing that he could think of was the mushrooms, which meant…
The dark green dragon walked over to the largest cluster of mushrooms, noting that they shrank away and dimmed as he walked past. Null came to a stop at the wall of mushrooms and sat, thinking. After a moment, the mushrooms began to move. Some shrank into the ground, others swayed away, but all of them vanished from the wall. All that was left was a large purple crystal, magical energy swirling around inside.
Null reached out in fascination, marveling at the shimmering magic. It was like there was a creature inside, bending the light to its whim…
"Please don't touch. That's my heart you're staring at."
Null jumped back, his eyes widening. A crystal heart? "You're an elemental?"
"Yes. A Mycego, to be specific." The psychic creature replied. "Mostly just a mind elemental, but with touches of earth magic."
"Oh, then I have no remorse doing this." Null shot his paw forwards, towards the crystal.
Suddenly, Null was sucked backwards. He stumbled back, unable to resist the sudden pull. He whirled on Apex, the only one who could've done that. The wind dragon shook his head, his eyes focusing. "He's not our enemy."
"How can you tell?" Null asked, seething. "For all we know, he's screwed with your head!"
"Look at the crystal!" Apex pointed out. "If he was trying to hurt us, it'd be dark. It would have convexity in it."
Null glanced at the crystal again, scowling. It didn't have a trace of the darkness that the Boread and the Goliath had possessed. Not even a single streak of dark purple. In fact, it seemed like there were streaks of pink and white among the purple instead. But what he noticed the most were the two yellow orbs that manifested on the surface of the crystal, looking like eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Null stepped back from the crystal. "Fine. Explain to me some things."
Apex's eyes became unfocused once more, and the Mycego took his voice. "What do you wish to know?"
"First, what are you exactly?" Null asked. "You're an elemental, but the only elementals I've seen have done nothing but kill."
"I am a creature of earth and mind, a Mycego. Once I was something else, someone else, but that was so long ago now that I cannot recall. My name is no more, but I do not need it. For as long as I and all others here can remember, I have always been the Mycego," The creature explained. "I have always tried to purge the poison from the Grove, to purify the land for the Beetles. Until lately it was slow work. There was a period where the purified land was dwindling, the poisons enhanced by the Dark Master."
"So you were working with the –what were they called? Beetles?" Null clarified. When Apex nodded, he continued. "What're they, exactly?"
"One of the Arthropod tribes. The Beetles are in sync with nature, and can become one with the plantlife. They supply me with sustenance, and I assist them in their survival," The Mycego said. "They cannot speak like other species do, they lack the proper biology."
"Well, that answers the rest of my questions…" Null mused. "Except one. Why'd you bring us here?"
"Two reasons. The first is to thank you for slaying the convexity-possessed creature that was causing mayhem in the Grove. The ice elemental that refused to cease its constant assault upon the wildlife. Its death was much needed, and it brought a purification of a large portion of the Grove. The Beetle tribe and I thank you for your great assistance." The Mycego replied. "The second reason is because your path would lead you into despair. The course you were travelling goes into the territory of the hydra, a creature that you cannot hope to help. In order to get to your destination, you must go around the end of the Silver River." The Mycego paused. "I could not contact either of you at that distance, despite my connection to the plantlife of the cleansed Grove. It was most odd. Now, though, I can contact young Apex at any time, so long as he remains in the purified Grove."
"Right…" Null sat down. "So we go into Skavenger territory to escape a monster we can't hope to fight. Wonderful. Why is it that we can't go upstream instead?"
"The waters have become more dangerous. The elements are growing unstable again. The Reassembly brought with it a pulse of stability, to repair the world; something has happened to disrupt that stability." The Mycego shook Apex's head. "If my memory was intact, I would perhaps know more. As it is, all I can say is that the waters give off the same fumes as the trees, now. Flight over the river is impossible. The only safe place to cross is in the purified area, where the hydra lives."
"Makes sense, I guess." Null sighed. "I guess we'd better get going, then."
"Spend the night here. Apex is hungry and his body is undernourished, and you need sleep just as much as any other dragon." It was strange for Apex's voice to talk in the third person, but it made a lot more sense when one took the mind magic into account.
Null mulled the options over in his mind, then nodded. "Good point. Can you tell your beetle friends to let us out, now?"
"They are already on their way," The Mycego answered. "All further communication I have with you will be relayed by Apex. Please keep in mind that the Beetles are as intelligent as any dragon, and though they do not speak the common tongue, they understand it well."
At the Mycego's words, the boulder blocking the cave entrance began to shift. Immediately, all of the mushrooms in the cave dimmed back to darkness. The wall of mushrooms moved back into place, blocking the luminous purple crystal from view once more.
In a couple seconds, the Beetles had opened the cave entrance all the way. The dim light from the cave mouth was far more than the light from the mushrooms, allowing Null to see normally. One of the insects, the big Beetle that had led the party before, walked into the cave and gestured for the two dragons to follow, chittering.
Apex shook his head as though throwing water off, his eyes focusing. He blinked a couple of times, then spoke. "She, uh, wants us to come with her."
"How do you know that?" Null asked, raising an eye-ridge.
"The Mycego told me." Apex answered, looking confused. "Um, kind of. I have no idea how to explain."
The Beetle chittered again, making another gesture.
"Right, right. Let's go." Null stood.
The Beetle walked out of the cave and glanced back, nodding when it saw that they were following. The Beetle led the two through the village to the largest hut. The walls looked like they were made of living trees, with mushrooms, lichens, and molds growing in the cracks between the tree trunks. The roof was a canopy of leaves and moss, grown tight enough together to block out rain. Instead of a door, there were vines that draped down the entrance, tight enough together that they blocked all view of the inside.
As they reached the hut's entrance, the Beetle reached out and pulled the curtain aside, gesturing for the dragons to enter. After a moment of hesitation, Apex walked inside. Null internally debated it for a moment more, then shrugged and followed.
The inside of the hut was astonishingly spacious and well-furnished, with huge, living flat-topped mushrooms serving as tables. Beds of incredibly springy moss sprouted up around the tables, while illumination was provided by luminous toadstools.
"This is amazing," Null marveled, looking around. "The amount of nature magic and patience required to do this is just… astronomical."
The Beetle chittered, its mandibles spreading into what looked like a smile, albeit a twisted one. After a moment, Apex translated. "She says thank you, she spent years on it."
She? Right. Apex had aid 'she' in reference to this Beetle earlier as well. It made some sense. Female insects were usually larger than males, and stronger as well. If the Beetles were like their smaller counterparts, then they'd certainly follow this trend.
Null's thoughts were interrupted when a vine curtain set into one wall opened, and a Beetle entered the room. This one was quite notably shorter and smaller than the female that had led the capture of Apex and Null, but had brilliant colors all over its outer shell. The smaller Beetle walked up to the larger one and began to remove her armor, the two chittering to each other all the while.
"What're they saying?" Null whispered to Apex, confused.
"Well, the chief –that's the brightly colored one- is asking his mate who we are, and why the Mycego wanted us here. She's explaining that we're the ones who killed the Boread," Apex whispered back.
Tugging the last piece of her armor off, the large Beetle approached Null and Apex, chittering. She balled her top-right hand into a fist and brought it together with her top-left. At the same time, the Beetle bowed her head, chittering.
"Um." Apex listens, then nods. "She wants to apologize for kidnapping us, and would like us to join her for dinner." Apex paused for a moment. "And, um, I misheard. She's the chief, he's her mate."
"Thank you for offering us a meal." Null bowed his head in respect. "My name is Null, and this is my friend Apex."
The Beetle chittered, gesturing at herself. Then she gestured at the male Beetle, chittering again.
"Her name is Ch'tara, and her mate is Arck'than," Apex translated. He looked at Ch'tara. "If there's anything we can do to help pay for our meal, please let us know."
The two Beetled glanced at one another, exchanging a look and chittering quietly. After a short conversation, Ch'tara spoke to Apex.
"Uh-huh. Oh. I see." Apex turned his head to look at Null. "Ch'tara says that if we want to help, there's an area of dead plants that they can't figure out the cause of. It's not blight, poison, pests, or vandalism; the plants just die."
Internally, Null was mildly angry with Apex. He had already killed a Boread. That alone should be enough to pay for a meal. Outwardly, though, Null showed none of this. "Where's the dead area?"
Ch'tara chittered to Arck'than, then gestured for the dragons to follow her. She walked out the front of the building with the two dragons following her. The Beetle led the young dragons through the village to the outskirts. Null looked around at Beetles doing mundane tasks. Some were cultivating mushrooms, others were carrying buckets of something that smelled horrible to the cave that the Mycego lived in. It was amazing, the way that the Beetles worked together with nature and the Mycego in order to survive in such a dangerous environment.
Null immediately knew when they had reached the dead zone. Plants were grey and withered, and none of them were living. There wasn't even the sound of bugs buzzing in the air, and the wind didn't blow through the leaves. It was as though the land itself had died. Null could tangibly feel the lack of life, as though some almost imperceptible weight had lifted. Not necessarily in a liberating way, either. It was like a semiaquatic creature rising out of the water; it wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly fun.
Apex, on the other hand, looked like he had been hit by a hammer. The wind dragon was breathing heavily and looked as though he was carrying a thousand pounds. His wings drooped, and he was dragging his tail.
Ch'tara didn't look much better. Even though she was a huge, incredibly strong insect, she was walking like there was something pressing down on her. She was having difficulties that hadn't been there a minute ago.
"Stop." Null commanded, coming to a complete stop. "Both of you, get back to the edge of the dead area. I'll take a look around."
The wind dragon nodded and turned around, walking back to the greenery that was visible beyond the shriveled plants. The Beetle hesitated a moment, looking at Null. When he showed no signs of suffering similarly, she followed Apex.
Alone now, Null looked around. This place was so strange. It was as though everything that had once been there was no more. There wasn't any life, no wind, and no water. Yet on the other hand there was no decay, no rot, and no death. The area was just… stopped. No scents traveled through the air, no leaves rustled as they were brushed.
Null walked around, looking at the trees. They weren't alive. But on the other hand, they weren't dead either. They were in limbo. Trapped in a state that could never be broken. Null lifted a paw and tapped on a tree trunk. No sound emitted. The tree trunk didn't give under his paw in any capacity, but it wasn't as though it was resisting. It was more like it just couldn't move. Like motion wasn't an option.
Thinking, Null picked up a rock. The stone was the same dull grey as everything else, and oddly enough wasn't even slightly heavy. It was more like picking up a feather than a stone, without the chance of the feather slipping away. Testing his hypothesis, Null tossed the stone into the air. It came back down to be caught in his paw once more. After a moment, he tossed it again. Again, it came down normally. Then he tossed it a third time and stepped back.
The rock was hanging in midair.
"Now that is strange…" Null muttered to himself.
Gravity itself wasn't working properly here. Heck, physics weren't working here. The only thing that could have any effect on the environment was something from outside. But what was outside that wasn't in here? Well, physics, clearly, but what else?
Null continued to wander around, looking at the grey area. There were mushrooms among the withered plants, growing healthily. Or they would be growing healthily, if they weren't also grey and colorless. There was a rotting log laying over a pond of grey dust, but the dust was once water and the log was no longer rotting.
Then he saw something that made him gasp.
A spirit gem cluster, growing in the middle of the grey zone. It wasn't green gems, whose light would give energy to the surrounding plant life. The gems weren't red, either, which would prevent rot and preserve the dying plants. The gems wasn't even blue, which would denote both previous effects and more. Neither was the cluster purple or black, like the ones that animated elementals. No, these gems were colorless. Used up. Drained. Dead.
Immediately, Null knew what this was. It was a magicless zone.
It made sense. Magic was in everything. From the mightiest dragons to the tiniest plants, everything had some degree of internal magic. It was even in the air, allowing ordinary feats like breathing and being affected by gravity to be possible. Without magic, the world would freeze and lose all color. It would die, without being dead. Without magic, the world would become a permanent limbo.
Satisfied that he now knew the answer, Null turned and walked back the way he came. The floating rock fell to the ground as he passed. That answered one question. Outside creatures could bring their magic in, allowing some things to return to normalcy. But in order for the area to live again, it would need to be suffused with magic. Until then the only thing an outsider could do was manipulate objects.
As he approached Ch'tara and Apex's resting place, Null spoke. "Good news is that I know what this is. Bad news is that it's effectively unfixable."
Both the wind dragon and the Beetle looked askance of him, but only Apex put it to words. "So what is it?"
"An area that absorbs and nullifies magic. It basically ruins reality as we know it. Nothing can live, but nothing can die," Null answered, continuing onwards. "The only reason anyone can even leave it is because you bring your own magic in."
Ch'tara chittered to the dragons, and Apex translated. "Yeah, I was wondering too. How does that work?"
"Ambient magic is like heat. It transfers from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. When you're in an area with less ambient magic than you have, it becomes difficult to move, while areas with higher make you feel energized and stronger," Null explained. "That area just nullifies magic, which has a drastic effect on living beings inside. It doesn't seem to do it quickly, but if you stay in there long enough you'll wind up like a statue: grey and motionless."
"Why didn't you have any trouble?" Apex asked.
Null was silent in thought for a few moments. "That's a good question."
Ch'tara chittered something, which Apex listened to for a moment before giving the translation. "She wants to thank you for doing what you can, and says that it's okay if you can't figure it out."
Null shrugged. "It's no biggie." He paused for a moment as his stomach complained to him. "But, uh, I'd like something to eat now. The big oaf over here ate my lunch."
The three creatures shared a laugh as they walked back to the village.
A/N:
I'm alive. I swear. I definitely wasn't dead for the past *checks watch* four months.
In any case, I'm back now, and I've brought a new chapter!
Mycego is a combination of the words mycelium, which is like a root system for mushrooms, and ego, meaning the self. It's a mind/earth elemental, so it's literally a mushroom-mind.
As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think.
Now read on!