The Witch, The Wizard, and The Out-Worlder

A Shadowy Path, A Deadly Foe

Felix wasted no time, as he was quick to follow me. It didn't take long for the sunlight to fade and the air to get cool. The sound of running water could be heard, but that was it. The leaves didn't rustle above, the birds, if any, weren't singing or flying, and there was no wind to whistle past. The forest was rather plain, just dirt on the ground, and incredibly large tree trunks to walk around.

We had been walking in silence for some time, until it got too dark to see ahead, "Felix, can you turn the spoon into a torch again?" I asked him.

He didn't give it a thought, only tossed his spoon up and watched as it transformed into a torch. He grabbed it out of the air this time, instead of waiting for it to clamor to the ground. We were both trying to be as quiet as possible, though we didn't have to explain to each other why, we knew.

As the shadows consumed every trace of light that came in through the tree line, the cold darkness was powerful and silent. It wasn't until we were a considerable ways inside, that I noticed something up ahead, "Do you see that Felix?"

"I do." He replied. It was a dim light in the distance. We were already headed in that direction, so we carried on in apprehensive curiosity.

The closer we got, the bigger the source became, it was already taller than the orange tree in my back yard, and just as wide.

"It's a mushroom." I whispered to Felix, who nodded in agreement. "It's glowing though. I've heard of these kinds of mushrooms before, the ones that glow in the darkness."

"There are more even further ahead and farther out." He pointed out. As I followed his line of sight, he was definitely right. I was so focused on the large mushroom ahead, that I failed to see the many new sources of light peppering the forest deeper within. It was almost like a forest within a forest.

We finally got close enough to the luminescent mushroom to get a detailed look. The shroom was as wide as a car at its base, as tall as an oak tree, and the head was as wide as my house. Spores misted out from underneath the head of the shroom, creating a fog that rolled down below. We stayed far enough away from the mist to not breathe it in directly. At the base, there were hundreds of small mushrooms popping up all around, all of which faintly glowed as well.

I looked around at the many glowing shrooms in the distance, there had to be dozens of large ones of varying sizes. Some looked to be bigger than the one in front of us, some sizably smaller. "If nothing else, they are pretty." I commented.

"Yes, but we should keep walking. The further into the forest, the more of these mushrooms there are. We should try and stay away from the spores; we don't know what they can do." I agreed instantly. It would be best not to take any risks.

We pushed ahead towards the mushrooms ahead, using the light of the torch to guide us. The forest was so dark, the flame only lit up a small vicinity before being consumed by the shadows. The silence was almost as unnerving as the darkness, as we could hear the flame cracking, the sound of our shoes against the dirt, it was all unsettling. Even Lute was scared, I could feel his little body shaking against me, his little whimpers would have been cute if the circumstances were different.

Suddenly, Felix stopped, pressing his arm across my chest, causing me to stop as well. I started to instantly panic, even Lute was squeaking in fright. I didn't know what the two of them picked up on, but it couldn't be anything good. I tried to follow Felix's line of sight, but I saw nothing but shadows. Then it hit me, we weren't looking at anything yet.