Chapter 108: Deal.

Chapter 108: Deal.Lee felt his feet grow cold. He was almost hundred percent confident he was somehow exploring his own subconsciousness, but if there was the slightest possibility he was mistaken, he couldn’t let the opportunity to slip by.

The short friendship with Potato provided him with a bit of information, but he mostly he learned that he didn’t know squat.

’Would you, please, mind telling me about it?’ Trying to seem as polite as possible, Lee thought to himself.

’Sorry, I don’t know much.’ The elderly voice sounded embarrassed, ’Few of the elemental masters and elemental lords that had been sent here had this seal, but I don’t have more detailed information. It’s too complicated even for me.’

But before Lee could sigh, thinking thought so!, the voice continued, ’What I do know it has something to do with one of the overlords. It’s kind of his mark that his followers carry.’

’Overlord?’ This was something new to Lee.

’Ye, they’re the bastards ... khem ... I mean, the gentlemen who run the universe.Where did you get that thing?’

’I had an accident.’ Lee confessed.

’Looks like you have a lot of accidents, buddy.’ The voice laughed, but then got serious, ’Want me to help you a bit?’

’What do you have in mind?’ Probably the only thing Lee wanted was to get the sparks out of him,

’I can’t do anything about the overlord’s seal, but I see that someone has tried to place one in your consciousness. There’s some kind of residue from a mutated earth spark, but the owner was a clumsy elemental master, not even a lord.’ The voice said.



’What’s the difference?’ Lee asked.

Apparently the voice was talking about what the Prophet did to him at Freeda’s place, and it was unsettling to realize it had left long lasting consequences.

’You’re kidding, right?’ The voice laughed, ’Like difference between heaven and earth. The elemental masters are those who ignite their own sparks, but they become lords when they awaken them fusing with their consciousness, like I am!’

The last part was said without hiding arrogance and pride, and it was the last proof Lee needed to believe he was actually talking to a sentient being.

’You’re such a waste of space ...’ The elderly voice immediately became disappointed, but then cheered up again. The changes in it’s mood were worse than those of a teenage girl, ’I’ll remove the residue particles from that seal along with all the filth that you has accumulated in your body. Maybe it’ll allow you later to learn how to use the sparks, what you say?’

’And there’s something you want in exchange for your generosity? Right?’ Lee though.

’Now that you mention it, there is a small thing you could do for me.’ The voice in his consciousness said, ’Bring my spores back to your world and plant them somewhere.’

’Hahaha! Not bad!’ Lee actually felt happy realizing he was asked to help an invasive species, and shroom species at that, ’There’s a problem. There’s no water. In fact, nothing grows there aside from moss deep underground. The world is cold on the inside.’

’It’s fine.’ The voice said, ’If moss can live, I believe I can think of something.’

According to Lee’s understanding, this was the first time a man struck deal with a mushroom, except his partner was an elemental lord, at least what the shroom said. And, judging by the fact that it had ignited the spark of life, Lee wasn’t going to question its ability.



The more he talked, the more he realized that the being that was classified part-plant and part-animal was probably the largest living thing he had ever encountered. Its parts stretched all over the world and there was no telling how old it actually was.

***

Lee had no clue how long he meditated, sitting next to the shining mushroom.

All he knew was that the more time passed, the clearer his consciousness became and the more elemental particles he found within him. To his surprise he could recognize both, blue and yellow, and they slowly separated from the clouds of dirt that kept polluting him in Ashland.

At some point he witnessed an amazing sight within his consciousness – two brightest moons appeared at the same time. One was yellow and one blue, and they stood across each other, surrounded by endless amounts of stars that kept revolving around them.

It was almost as if Lee had discovered a new universe and all he wished for was to dive into it, and swim for eternity.

’Wake up, kid!’ Lee was ruthlessly disturbed by the elderly voice. It sounded like the old man was smacking its lips after a tasty meal, ’Time to go. Your guys are gathering for departure.’

Lee wanted to curse for it interrupting the deepest meditation session of his life, but the voice said, ’You can’t stay, we had a deal. But don’t worry, you’ll do just fine, all you need is to find a good teacher. Someone has to know what to do with you peculiar sparks. The elemental lord who opened the rift is no good, he’ll mess you up. He keeps sending his underlings now and then, and all of them have been dumbasses.’

Lee left to get the waterskin bag, and when he returned, he found the ground under the mushroom’s cap was covered in white dust. The shining life spark gave the illusion of the dust glowing, and for a split moment Lee felt as if he was gathering a radioactive substance.

’Do the spores carry your consciousness?’ Lee asked with a thought, and for the first time caught the mushroom off guard.

’Yes, but you’ll be long dead when it awakens.’ It said.



’You’ll be surprised!’ Lee grinned, but the mushroom misunderstood him.

’If you somehow manage to ignite your own spark, you might actually live for centuries, and if you awaken it, then for many millennia!’ The mushroom said, ’Not sure if it’s long enough.’

Lee didn’t know what the proper protocol was for saying goodbyes in the current situation, but the mushroom didn’t care. It said, ’Go. When the time comes, we’ll meet again. In fact, I look forward to it!’

Even though he meditated next to it for a short time, Lee felt peculiar closeness to the strange being. He suddenly was overwhelmed by emotions almost as if he was leaving his close relative behind.

’Fuck the spark of life!’ Lee said to himself, ’I’ll get in the Lunax’s vault on my own. Let’s see whether the bastard has something useful inside!’

’That’s my boy!’ The mushroom spoke in his consciousness again, ’Go, show them all!’

It seemed surreal for Lee to continue to converse with it while he rushed back to the rift, but it was kind of fun. Unfortunately, the damn mushroom refused to talk about his own abilities and whether he could talk to Lee this way because of the spark. Nevertheless, it was a fun time.

Lee arrived at the rift at the very last moment, and crossed over along with the caretakers. From what he could tell, the general mood was sour, but that only amused him.

He was already working on a plan, though.

When on the other side he threw a glance at the so called God, he barely recognized him. Lunax’s expression was dark, and he was shaking, and the moment the last person stepped through, he immediately closed the rift and vanished. Lee was certain he saw Lunax falling to his knees before he disappeared, but maybe that was only a wishful thinking.

The first thing Lee did after returning, was to visit the closest mines and plant half of the spores he had in the waterskin under the moss at different spots. He saved the other half, deciding to not overpopulate Ashland in one go. Inevitably he would go to other worlds and could spread the mushroom’s descendants there.

During the next ten days no one saw or heard from their God, but Lee already began to diligently work on his new project. There were many promises he had heard from Lunax, and it was time to see whether he was capable of backing them up.