A Fungal Dream

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[Data received]

[Synchronizing…]

[Data is compatible with the system.]

[Commencing Program]

[System error]

"Damn it. Why am I even doing this?"

I leaned back on my chair, stretching my arms.

As usual, today was a calm and peaceful day in the laboratory. A new batch of samples from the newly discovered mold was just delivered to us, making the highlight of my day.

It was an interesting sort, capable of surviving under freezing temperatures, and it seemed to be highly resistible to flames. Some of my coworkers even started to call it the 'Immortal Mold.'

I didn't care about what they called it; I was still working on the samples of parasitic fungus that have infested some of the cattle in New Zealand.

If things weren't clear enough, I was a mycologist, a  biologist who specialize in mushrooms and molds. My laboratory is at Harvard University, we are examining samples that we receive from all around the world.

Usually, I stay at my desk, surfing on the internet while waiting for the test results of my projects but today something very annoying happened.

The IT guy who usually took care of our computer took out his vacation, right when my computer's system burned out. Since no one amongst us other than me could use a computer other than to check their emails, I had to fix this thing.

"I need a drink. Or four."

Just when I stood up and put my white lab coat on, a group of people marched in.

"Hey, Phill! Are you busy?"

It was the head- researcher who was also my boss, Professor Hawkins.

He was a cheerful, middle-aged man with a wrinkled face, who always wore a Hawaiian shirt under his coat, which I was sure broke a couple of regulations.

"Just finished checking my computer. It's completely fried, it will take some time for it to work again."

"Well, I am sure that it will work out again. Can I ask you for a favor?"

"If it's not over my paygrade then yes."

"HAHAHAHA! You will go old fast if you worry about money so much! You see, my grandson and his friends are interested in what we are doing here, can you show them the storage?"

I looked behind him, seeing a group of high school boys and girls all looking extremely bored.

It was understandable, our research department wasn't the most interesting place in this world. Plus, neither of them looked like the types who were the type to understand it.

Each one of them was well built and muscular, one of the girls even had brown tanned skin with blond hair.

What are they called again? Gacha, Gachu, or something?

To me, they looked like the sort of kids who used to beat me up when I was still in high school.

"Professor, do I have to remind you that this place isn't for visitors. We are surrounded by fragile and costly materials. Especially in the storage."

The professor stayed silent for a while, thinking for a second.

"Yeah, you are right. Still, show it to them and make sure that they don't touch anything."

Sigh, this is pointless. He is a doting father who always cares more about his family than his work.

"Alright, follow me."

I turned around and walked away, not looking behind to see if the kids were following me.

The storage area was the most important place in this building. it was divided into two parts: the ones that are dangerous to human safety and the ones that aren't. I decided to bring the kids to the latter.

I swiped my keycard before the terminal and opened the heavy metal door.

Hundreds of diverse types of mushrooms and molds were contained here, each housed in petri-dishes, and locked behind glass shelves that regulate the temperature.

"This is the storage. Currently, we possess one of the world's biggest collections in the world. Try not to touch them if you don't have to."

The kids just blinked half asleep, some even looking at their phones while they were talking.

Youngsters these days. Wait what am I saying?! I'm just in my thirties, I am still young! Still, it's quite annoying to see them completely ignoring this place. I should show them our newest find.

"This is one of my favorites."

I opened one of the glass shelves and took out a box, in which doctors would store organs.

I opened it and showed them its content. They looked into it, their eyes widening in horror.

"This is Fraudens Mortem Boletus, or as we call it' Death Cheating Mushroom."

It was a cow's heart half of it was covered in dark green like mold with small black bloats on it. The craziest thing was that it was still beating, slowly and rhythmically as if it were alive.

"This mushroom was found 3 months ago in California. It spreads its spores through bodily fluids and has a very interesting life cycle. It will attach to the internal organs of the cows, slowly eating them away while also taking over their function. We found specimens that lost their entire heart and stomach, yet they stayed alive. The craziest thing about it is that its filament, the main part of the fungus, can stimulate the nervous system, forcing the infected organs to work even if the host expires. If this stuff spreads to humans, zombies might become a reality."

I wiggled my heart a little, disgusting the kids a little.

"Don't worry. As I said it only spreads through blood so- What is that?"

On the shoulder of one of the kids something glowing for a second.

A firefly? During the day? What is it doing here?

Afraid of it contaminating the storage, I reached to squash it, but a column of light swallowed him whole with my arm.

I screamed, yanking my hand back, from my wrist my hand was missing, with white flames covering the missing portion that quickly covered my entire body.

I screamed, the heat being atrocious, as I felt it eating my body away.

Maybe because of the pain, through the flames and agony, I saw my surroundings shift and change.

A second, I was in my lab, then in a desert, a medieval city, a forest, in the sky, in space, in the ocean….

It hurts!

I fell to my knees, seeing the ground changing as white drops of plastic fell on the ground which belonged to the box that I still held close to my heart, with my remaining hand.

I screamed and screamed in agony, feeling every fiber of my being was being eaten alive by the flames.

I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

"…I…don't want… to die."

Maybe because my eyes were burned out, but everything turned dark. Slowly the agony faded, together with my consciousness, taking me to the abyss, to the sweet relief of death.

*****

"Finally! I have done it."

In a cellar, filled with old-looking equipment a man wearing a golden mask and a pitch-black robe, raised a thick book, whole manically laughing as strange symbols appeared on the ground, forming what seemed to be a circle, surrounding a pile of meat and bones."

"Open, Gate of magic! Open at my command and give me the power to change my life! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

As he laughed, the pile of trash slowly evaporated, turning into small fragments of light, which slowly formed a humanoid shape.

When there was nothing left, the figure started to glow  brighter in a greenish light, before slowly dimming down, revealing…nothing.

*****

Darkness. Cold. I am cold…I am alive.

As a motor, my mind slowly started to wake up, piecing things together.

Stay calm, I am probably at a hospital, being treated by doctors. Yes, that must be it and the things I saw were a hallucination due to the heat.

Yes, that must be it.

"…dark…rise...holy…"

I could hear somebody talking, but he was too far away.

I slowly forced myself to open my eyes.

W-Where am I?

This wasn't a hospital.

It was a basement dimly lit by candles and torches, with tables filled with old-looking medical devices and herbs.

In a corner, a man was talking to himself while frantically reading a book.

"Why? Why can't I see it? I need to be sure….I won't let them down. I will make sure that I will earn my place."

What? What is happening?

Rattle.

I tried to move, my body emitting a not-so-human sound.

I slowly looked at myself.

I saw…green bones.

There was no meat or skin, just bones, which seemed to be covered by a blackish green mold-like substance that seemed to faintly glow in green light.

Still dazed, I opened and closed my fingers, only realizing that my missing hand was back.

I tried to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth. I started to scrape away the mold, which firmly stuck to me.

This can't be right. No, this is impossible.

I tried to move, but something kept me immobile in the middle of the room that seemed to have a circle drawn with chalk.

Help me!

I reached toward that person, bumping my fingers into an invisible barrier.

Even without nerves or meat, I could feel the warmth emitted from it. The sensation was similar to if I were veering one of those surgical gloves, before an operation.

Let me out!

I started to hit the barrier, with all my force, achieving nothing.

What is happening?! Why am I here? Somebody answers me!

As if it answered my command, memories started to flood into my mind.

Memories of a life that wasn't mine.

The new information mixed with my old memories, overwriting some of them.

My name is…Lash? I was a peasant working in the slum for peanuts. But I am also a researcher who studies mushrooms. Yet, I also have memories of living in forests and hunting like an animal.

I screamed without a sound, bashing the barrier.

Not only did they do this to me, but they are also even trying to take away my mind! These…Scums.

When the flow of information ended, I took a deep breath and started to sort it out.

I – the past me…. I had a father and a mother…or was I raised in a brothel. I lived in the forest happily with my comrades when- No, I studied till I turned twenty-three after that…no that can't be right, I am only 16 years old. I-I-

"Damn it! I will have to do this all over again!"

The figure threw away the book into the corner, then walked angrily toward me.

He wore a black robe and a face mask, so I couldn't tell who he was. The only thing I saw was his eyes, which looked past me as if he didn't see me.

"Shit, Shit, shit. All those materials were wasted. At least I could use that brat's body to feed some of my animals."

…What? Brat? Me? Did he kill me? He transformed me into this. I-I-I will kill him. I will KILL you!

With all my strengths I punched the barrier again, this time finally breaking through it, shattering the thing as if it were made from glass.

Filled with pure rage, I jumped on him, grabbing his throat with my fingerbones, and pinning him to the ground.

He tried to free himself, by screaming and punching me, yet his fists went through my body as if I was air.

While I was choking him, the mold that covered my hands started to spread onto him, eating him alive before my eyes.

His screams turned into gargles when his throat was eaten away, then he shook for a little while, before finally passing on.

He died. And I killed him.

I let him go, my hands shaking.

His head was now a putrid mess of meat and mold, not even resembling a human.

I killed him. Oh God, I was killed! I-I feel nothing.

I thought that after killing somebody, I would feel remorse or grief, yet there was something else in its place. Some sort of rush, excitement as if I were just done playing a very exciting game.

My god, I have really stopped being a human.

While I was staring at my hands, something was happening with the corpse.

A sort of aura started to form around the body that slowly started to move towards its chest.

Then from it, a tennis ball-sized orb of light emerged, slowly rising towards the ceiling.

Is-is this his soul. This is his soul and its rising? Does that mean that it's going to heaven? Even after everything he did to me, he is sent up there?! No, I will not allow it!

I quickly grabbed it and without thinking, I bit into it.

The texture was terribly similar to white bread, crusty exterior, and a soft interior. When I swallowed the fragment, a pleasant warmth spread in my body, giving me the feeling of power.

After a bite, the orb of light dissolved into particles of light, leaving no trace behind.

….What have I done?

I sat down on the ground, trying to breathe as terror washed over me.

I just- I-I- What the hell is happening to me?

*****

An old woman in a dark room, wearing colorful silver clothing, stared into a floating crystal ball, which cast colorful lights around it.

Suddenly the woman jerked her head back with her eyes turning entirely white, before talking in a raspy, unnatural voice.

"May God have mercy on the souls of the sinners who have offended this world. May Death offer prayers for the soon-to-be-slain, as their death won't be quick. May Life protects the just from the coming storm. May, the kings of the sky and the tyrants of the underworld be prepared for the monster that arrived. Blight will rage through our lands as our castle will fall like rain as our children cry their eyes out till their blood falls. The cycle of good and evil shall end today, as the mold has finally settled into our world, as the doors for the flies have finally opened. It has arrived, the key that will open the door to the Gate."