God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

Sky Mountain - part 15

Lilian was talking about how mushrooms grew in wet habitats and a few of the different species they knew of that looked similar to the one they encountered.

The fact that a mushroom could make the Never Born hear and see things was only as astounding as a cheetah running beside D'Argen. Creating illusions, whether auditory or visual, was a skill the Never Born who had control over either the perception or essence aspects of the mahee could do.

Yaling had developed multiple spells with King Zetha, the strongest of them all in the perception aspect, which allowed her to play with sound outside of her body. She was, however, a kinesiologist like D'Argen and her sound spells could only affect so much. Thar, Lilian, and Abbot were naturalists. And D'Argen could only make other Never Born run with him. He could not even use other physical spells to help others become stronger, or heal faster.

"—and that is why I ran off."

"You what?" Abbot shouted in alarm.

Lilian cleared their throat and shuffled around. After a moment, they started speaking again. "You know how light looks when it refracts off rain? How it turns into a rainbow only from some angles? I saw that in the clouds, but in only one colour in each spot. And it did not matter where I moved and it did not have a source and it... it was fluid, like water floating through the air. That was when I realized that it was not... demons... but something in the mist."

"Spores, you said?"

"Yes, here." Lilian started shuffling and immediately there were a few shouts of alarm. "Relax, relax. They are inert," Lilian called out and the others calmed.

Only then did D'Argen realize they had taken out the mushrooms they must have collected earlier. He looked down and noticed something shiny in their hands, reflecting the light of the fire but too smooth and—glass. It was a glass jar filled with something.

"I have locked them in a spell so they cannot burst apart. The glass is a second precaution. But they do have a scent."

"You saw things again?" D'Argen asked and reached for the glass.

"No. Thar surrounded it so it would not touch us."

"It was strong," Thar added in.

D'Argen could not stop looking at the small glass jar as he ran a finger down the length of it. The mushrooms inside it looked like a dark grey blur of shit. Which contradicted the scent. The more he thought about it over the past few days, the more he was sure that the burnt sugar that was stuck at the base of his throat came from these little things.

"—gen. D'Argen!"

"What? Yes. What? I'm listening."

"Clearly," Yaling scoffed from beside him. "We were saying—"

"Santis!" D'Argen interrupted her with a yell.

It must have startled the others into silence because nobody said anything. "Santis. He was... his scent. Sugarcane."

"Sugarcane?"

"I swear, from the moment we got close to this mountain, I've been scenting burnt sugar. Santis... he used to do dream illusions. Make you—"

"D'Argen," Abbot interrupted him. "Calm down. Santis is... long dead."

"Yea, I know! I'm not saying he's here. I'm saying... that... I don't know what I'm saying but... do you think it's possible his mahee is..."

"Here?" Lilian supplied in question, trying to find the right word when D'Argen trailed off.

"Yea! I mean... is it possible?"