As
a new day arises
in the dark cave, the dark stays unchangingly so. The mushrooms go on
simply shining their light. One of the inhabitants is silent, not
uttering a breath or sigh of relief. He’s the first inhabitant of
the cave and by far the oldest.
Not by any magic or spells but by ingesting the core essence of
living matter. Daily he goes throughout the cave to find this or that
element needed to further his research. In a way the cave and the
silent creature have become one and the same entity. They both go on
nurturing each other, maintaining a balance that flows naturally. The
cave creates the elements that give sense to the life of the first
inhabitant.
On
one of his trips he discovers mushrooms sprouting out of the fruits
of digestion of our dear and noble centaur friend.
“What
do we have here? A
mushroom that doesn’t grow in and on water but on a dung heap.
That’s new to me, I should investigate it.
There’s
no glow to them either. Nature sure is peculiar.”
He
collects around one third of those mushrooms, while spreading the
spores here and there wherever he goes, to aid in their spreading
around. Then he brings his bounty to his laboratory. There he has
created an environment that has good lighting, by strategically
placing the blue mushrooms on higher and lower spaces, in small water
puddles. In his laboratory he
can finally examine the mushrooms.
The
stems are 4 fingers high and around one to two fingers wide They
have a wide
brown
umbrella shaped cap with white bulging
dots on the top.
The gills are a lighter shade of brown.
They have almost
no smell, perhaps
slightly humid and earthy.
Of
the many ways known to this researcher to learn about something
unknown he chooses to test them on himself before daring to come up
to any kind of conclusion. First he puts a little juice pressed out
of a fresh mushroom on his skin. Then he waits three days to see
whether his skin shows any sign of reaction.
During his waiting time
he dries the mushrooms as best he can. He puts them on a stone and lets them airdry. As they are so small, the dry quite easily.
Three days later, since
his skin shows no reaction, he
continues his tests.
He
takes a small piece of dried mushroom and puts it in a small water
puddle, where
he seeps
the mushroom for a while. He takes one sip and there
isn’t really much taste to it. He waits to see if anything happens
but not much does.
There are perhaps
very
slight
changes in his daily
activities but as he doesn’t have any idea what effects may arise
by ingesting this mushroom, he
needs to repeat this many times and see whether there are repeatable
effects. Over the next few weeks
with three day intervals, he takes again one sip from a tea prepared
in the same way. He finds recurring
slight
uplifts of his
mood, some new
thought patterns
but also a more focussed approach to his daily experiments.
This
intrigues him a lot so that a few days later he lets a bigger piece
of mushroom seep in a puddle of water, of
which he drinks one
sip.
This
time, the effects are slightly stronger but the same. This he repeats
a few times, noting no new changes beyond a general sense of well
being installing itself.
These
slight changes and effects make him curious enough to want to eat a
small piece of mushroom. He puts a small piece of mushroom, about the
same size as the first piece he seeped in water, into his mouth and
is pleasantly surprised by this new taste. As there is so little
variety in the caves to find, this directly speaks to his taste buds.
He likes the chewy texture and the acidic notes with a nutty flavour
lingering on his tongue. The sting to his tongue takes him by
complete surprise. His mouth is watering in anticipation of more but
he stays with the small piece. Again the same effects arise but a bit
more pronounced, yet not so much as to interfere with his daily
activities. The stinging mouthfeel stays throughout the day and
sometimes a smile plasters over his face. He feels generally more
happy during the three days he waits until his next consumption.
This
begins a chain of questions about the nature of this mushroom, about
how it is able to interfere with his mood, his perception. These
effects he hasn’t met yet in other experiments and especially not
so quickly. He wonders what else will happen if he ingests
consecutively higher doses of this mushroom. The rapid onset of
effects at relatively small doses, make him a bit more cautious with
his further research.
The
small piece represents one unit, of which he’ll try to consume
multiples. Next up is two units and so on. Each increased amount of
mushroom ingestion is repeated multiple times, to get a better feel
for each of them.
As
he is incrementally eating bigger amounts of mushroom, these effects
come in waves and sometimes make him laugh out loud, which he really
isn’t used to doing. Laughing by himself, with nobody to share it
with, somehow feels very good to him. He is only now becoming aware
that he is quite often alone, in his research. Even if he crosses
with other beings once in a while, he doesn’t really engage with
them, as they are not part of his research.
Eventually
he comes up to one whole mushroom, and slight stomach aches make
themselves known. This is slightly worrisome to him as he does not
know where the queasiness stems from and whether at higher doses this
will become stronger or change into other problems.
Another
effect is that he feels slightly off while moving around.
When
he arrives at three mushrooms, he has a harder time getting up or
moving around. There were none of these effects on lower doses.
It
is completely dark where he finds himself right now and yet tiny dots
appear out of no where. Suddenly these dots begin glimmering and
shapes appear gradually, becoming colourful small patterns that trace
around.
He
tries touching what he sees yet it stays but a vision. He isn’t so
sure anymore they are real but allows himself to get lost in these
visions. They are mesmerizing and dreamlike. The colours aren’t
very pronounced or saturated but very noticeable in the dark. They
encompass his whole view and when he closes his eyelids the morphing
colours become more pronounced.
He does still feel in control of his
attention but decides nonetheless to focus entirely on this whatever
it is to see what it may bring him. Even though the visual part isn’t
very pronounced, it is so otherworldly to what he’s experienced so
far.
As
the visual effects diminish, the stomach aches persist and he feels
he might need to visit a space where he can do his business soon.
Again something new to Alchemist. His bowel movements by themselves
are of course not new but that they happen because of the mushroom is
noteworthy and worth investigating. Can he relieve stomach aches with
them? Help against congestion? Lessen irritation of the digestive
tract? Or the inverse effects of these?
All
these questions make a big smile pop up as he can’t wait to find
out about the short and long term effects on him. They
also make him realise, much more material is needed. He’ll put
aside his other experiments to focus solely on this one.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
A
second part of his research constitutes of the growth cycles of the
mushrooms. For this research he’ll need help of our centaur friend,
as you can’t
do everything by yourself.
A
third part of his research constitutes in finding the three
undividable essences which can be recombined into a new whole that
can’t be divided anymore. The resulting products he’ll share with
the heart of the cave. Who knows where this might lead. For now let’s
leave the silent creature to his means. For this kind of research,
calm is needed and to be alone. A new day has arisen in the cave or
as can be said, night is still at large.
As
Henry slowly opens his
eyes, the last threads of his dreams dissolve into the recesses of
his mind. With a blank mind, a warble of thoughts are about to attain
his mind. Usually able to let this warble come and go again, this
morning, the warble is about to wreak havoc on a sleepy mind.
Thoughts about the future and those left behind. About love’s
embrace and kisses at night.
Has
it really been all that smart to leave all that behind for a complete
unknown? What though is really so unknown about the unknown? The
absence of knowing before one needs to know? What is there really to
know? That’s a mystery to many. Worth knowing is, whether that
mystery even exists? Nothing keeps as fresh as an everlasting
mystery. Fears and questions relating to this and many other things
well up from inside, finding hidden corners to hold on to, out of
which a paralysis ensues that keeps him from getting up out of his
bed, falling back in a sleepy kind of state.
All
the while our noble centaur is already busy looking after his mushrooms. Smelling and
tasting, picking up interesting specimens and checking on the general
well-being of his garden. Seeing that everything is in order, he sets
about enlarging the second pool, which is for personal water use, as
distinct from the water for the mushroom farm.
While
digging the water basin he uncovers a new mineral yet unknown to him.
The mineral breaks apart easily, while digging he sets apart the
mineral and the work is done in almost no time. It is very yellow
with hues of orange, and breaks into a fine powder. Exactly the kind
of consistency that is useful for his farm. While working on
extracting this new resource, a smell comes wafting out of them, like
the one of the hot fissures, not really a pleasant smell.
The
minerals he lays in a new growing bed which is filled with water and
some of those spongy spores. Noticing that Henry still hasn’t
appeared, he goes to check on him, only to find an empty bed. As he
nears the bed, it seems to have been left in a hurry. The floor of
the cave is of a hard stone, so he can’t retrace any footsteps.
“This
is strange’’, he grumbles to himself. He goes to check the other
parts of his part of the cave, yet nothing is amiss. He doesn’t
remember hearing any weird or notably different sounds either.
‘‘Henry,
HENRY!!”,
he goes on to call, yet nothing but an echo comes back. Becoming a
little worried, he checks if anything here requires any attention or
if it can be left alone for a while, after which he grabs his bag
with a few practical items and heads out in search of Henry. Not
knowing which direction to follow first, he relies on his inner
senses, to illumine with a bright light in his minds view of the
cave, the path to follow. And so Bhosun finds himself very quickly
back on the road towards the unknown.
It
doesn’t happen often but with the arrival of Henry, slumbering and
dormant parts of the cave have awoken out of a profound dream in
inextinguishable all pervading light.
Bhosun
follows the inner guidance for many twisting and curving branches
into parts of the cave yet new to him. In those parts new wonders
unfold before him. Many fantastical sights worthy of exploration
appear but the inner guidance begs not to stay and hurry on.
As
he steps out of quite a tight opening he enters a huge cavern with a
ceiling far above his head. On the ceiling are thousands of stars
forming beautiful designs. They emanate a pulsing bright yellow
light, basking the whole space in intermittent blinks of yellow. Out
of an opening on the far side of the wall comes a rush of water
smacking on a big flat stone cascading off its sides into the pool
below.
Almost
unnoticeable because of the thundering water a soft sing-song can be
heard throughout the cavern, coming from those blinking dots on the
ceiling. Some of those dots begin moving from the ceiling towards
Bhosun. As they come nearer to him, he sees spiderlike beings that in
a rhythm of their own, blink yellow pulses; their mouths are filled
to the rim with razor-sharp teeth, which wriggle against each other;
creating beautiful harmonies. Their eight legs move gracefully over
the stone, attached to a round all-black body, with a yellow orb on
the middle of their back.
Bhosun
doesn’t know what to expect but he greets them cordially and with
respect, presenting himself:
“Hello,
I am Bhosun and I appear here because a new acquaintance of mine
happens to have recently disappeared during the night and my senses
have brought me here. Do you happen to know anything about this human
friend of mine?”
Their
singsong continues without stopping but the sound now changes its
rhythm into short and long sounds of the same tone webbing and
flowing through the cavern. Slowly words begin forming in Bhosun’s
mind.
“Hello,
be you greeted Bhosun, we are the Syrrah. Yes we know of your friend
because we called him to us. We wish to help him on his way. It might
take a while but he’ll be back soon. If you wish, you can join him.
He is sleeping right now, so please don’t wake him. We can take you
to him right now, he is in an adjoining room.”
Bhosun
feels a certain distrust arise in him, because of an association with
multitudes speaking as one. He chooses to give the benefit of doubt.
He acquiesces and follows the envoy of the Syrrah. The Syrrah walk
alongside of the outer wall of the cavern towards the cascading
water. The nearer he gets the louder the roar of rushing water gets
and behind the waterfall Bhosun perceives an entrance which he is led
towards. Walking through he perceives Henry next to two of the Syrrah
waving their clawed feet above his head with green stones held in
their claws.
‘‘What
kind of stones are that?”
‘‘We
don’t really have a name for them, it is more its function by which
we describe them. We use them to apply a change of mind, a change of
consciousness, an upgrade if you like.”
‘‘Will
that make him one with your mind?”
‘‘Well
yes of course, there is nothing better.”
‘‘There
is a problem that arises out of that consequence, namely that goes
against the reason why he even came to this cave, to trust in
himself. To replace his idea of self with a hive-mind, will sadly not
be a huge help. Would it be possible to reverse your treatment?”
‘‘We
haven’t even begun, this is the cleansing part where moments and
experiences of separateness are purged.”
‘‘Perhaps
we can ask the man himself what he actually wants, as I can’t speak
for him either.”
The
two Syrrah step aside and Henry slowly comes to again.
‘‘Where
am I and who are you two? Bhosun?”
‘‘We
are the Syrrah and when we felt that you entered the cave, we awoke
out of a deep slumber. We felt the need to become one with you, as
something about you is different. We used subtle spells, so you’d
come towards us, so we can help you.”
As
his mind is still foggy, not everything registers but the gist gets
through.
‘‘How
about asking how I feel about being helped?!”,
Henry
spits out with a grimaced face.
‘‘Why
is that even a question, as aren’t we all one, of one opinion, of
one mind? How can you be against? That’s not a notion we are able
to conceive.”
‘‘Do
you really feel that having no sense of your body, your sentiments,
your thoughts is the best way to live?”
The
Syrrah just blankly stare at them both for a while not really knowing
how to act or respond. After a while of silence, the two Syrrah put
down their stones and walk around in disarray, their lights not
blinking as fast as usual. The envoy moves towards the two erring
Syrrah, their lights blinking faster, converging on the two. The
two’s
rate of blinking goes faster then slower again. The two Syrrah stop
wandering aimlessly and join the convoy, their blinking in
synchronicity again.
‘‘Henry,
do you feel any better because of our treatment?”,
ask the Syrrah with one voice.
‘‘Ehm,
I am still groggy in my mind but I know I still err within my body,
so I am thankful for your intention but I rather prefer to continue
with everything my life has deemed necessary to provide or burden me
with.”
‘‘It
has been an honour of ours to provide our help, to meet a human for
the first time. Please do come back any time you wish, when you feel
the need to merge with us. We hold no grudges. We do accept
integrally your refusal.”
‘‘Henry,
we be on our way again?”,
asks Bhosun.
‘‘Most
certainly. It has become time to take our goodbye, Syrrah.”
‘‘On
the way back we can gather some of the new stones I saw while coming
here. Thanks for the information and goodbye.”
