We still need man-things!

Chapter Forty

Against all hopes of Heisenberg, however, Mother Miranda didn't even think about giving up. Before his new wave of attack reached the castle, she was already back in the megamycete's cave and making preparations for waking up Urias brothers. That was a very high-risk decision for her, but after seeing how much destruction Karl had already caused, she saw it as her only choice to stop him without help from outside.

She felt lucky that Linda hadn't found her way to the Holy Cave yet and hoped that this would never happen. This place was so sacred that even lords had been there only once in their lifetime during their ceremonies, and they were brought in there with covered eyes. They were all told it was located very far and deep in the ground, but in reality, the ancient mold colony was right under the village.

Miranda had discovered it back in 1919, a few days after Eva had succumbed to disease. She went there to take her own life, but the Megamycete, however, didn't want this death to happen and infected her with both mold and information that had been stored there for millennia, giving her a new purpose to live. A century later, she was the only person who knew how to get in there, and she was pretty sure that nobody would find this cave by accident for the second time anymore.

The Urias brothers, the same stone trolls that Mike saw after waking up there, were holy guardians of the site. Nobody knew how old or what exactly they were. Mother Miranda wasn't their creator; they existed long before she was even born, possibly since ancient times. But after learning everything about mold, Miranda gained full control over them and could wake them up and send them on a mission outside if something terrible threatened the megamycete's existence.

Now, while alone in the holy chamber, she let herself down on one knee in front of the Black God and looked up to its glowing structure, where Mold and ancient souls worked together to survive.

"O great megamycete, you saved me from pits and despair and granted me splendid power!" She started her prayers. "You allowed me to be your greatest ally, a servant who will feed you with sinful souls until the end of the days in exchange for my only daughter. For a hundred years, I have visited you every day and listened to what you have to say. I always fulfilled your wishes, no matter how large and difficult, and you allowed me to drain the juice I needed for my experiments.

O great megamycete, forgive me if I was painful, but now I need your help again. One of my four lords has betrayed me and started to rebel. He wants to destroy us; he hates me; and he's working with someone who wants to steal from you without giving anything as a replacement. I need your guardians at the door; I need these two powerful beings to fight with my enemies! They can only save us from destruction and keep your existence secret forever. O great megamycete, wake up these brothers so we can all live in peace!

In life and death, I always give glory to you!"

Her words truly had great power. Suddenly, with a loud moan and crackle, both of these powerful giants guarding the entrance to the fungal root chambers woke up from their 1000-year sleep. They shook off the dust covering their bodies and ripped off a few moldy vines that were growing around their legs before taking their first steps into the new millennium.

At first they were confused and looked around, but then, no more than a few seconds later, the older and stronger Urias Strajer started using his giant mace against the cave's old and long-sealed entrance to make his way outside. He appeared to remember how to get out of this place and knew through the megamycete's hive mind what their new mission was and who the enemy was.

When Mother Miranda reached the chamber to meet them, both giant sentinels had already managed to break the masonry and were climbing up through a previously sealed tunnel to emerge on the surface at the village's cemetery.