A Fungal Dream

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Joshua Riker’s (The apostle of Light) POV:

My hand on the wall, I walked down the corridor, listening to any sound I could hear.

To my surprise, the other rooms still had their occupants, but they didn’t wake up no matter what I tried, not even magic worked.

They aren’t dead, he probably sedated them. Damn it I need to find my friends.

As I was running through the house, I noticed more and more of those abominations moving around.

Most of them ran away the moment they saw me, but the bigger ones tried to get a piece of me.

Fortunately, they were quite weak, with one blow with my fist enhanced with magic, I could turn them into stains on the rug.

“Where are you two!”

In frustration, I kicked one of the doors in, squashing one of the monsters in the process.

“…Finally.”

Lay in the bedroom which I broke into,  where the two girls were sleeping peacefully on a king-sized bed.

“Now I only need to take them with me and-“

Whose.

A throwing knife flew next to my ear and embedded itself into the door frame.

Slowly I turned my head, seeing two figures approaching me.

In the darkness, I could only see their silhouettes which looked kind of human, with a slightly green light emitted in the middle of their heads.

“I can make your hands clap.”

“ Hear the cheers of your brothers.”

The both of them took out a strange crossbow-looking weapon and aimed at us.

“Said, can make your hands clap!”

“Light Barrier!”

At the last second, I raised a barrier, protecting us from two grossly shaped projectiles, which exploded into small clouds of smoke at impact.

“Shit!”

I looked behind, my friends still unconscious on the floor, but there seemed to be no danger threatening them.

“Let’s… do this… OUTSIDE! HOLY BARRIER BLAST!”

By overcharging my barrier, I pushed them away a few feet, burning the stuff they fired at me in the process.

Not giving them time to think, I gathered some energy into my legs and started to run at them.

“ My flesh is searching for your-“

I grabbed their heads and with a war cry bashed them through the walls on our left, which led us out to the gardens.

As we fell, I let go of them and concentrated my power on my back.

“HOLY WINGS!”

From my shoulder blades, two white wings grew out, making me float in the air.

The assailants weren’t so lucky, they fell heads first onto the paved road, making disgusting cracking and twisting sounds.

The worst was that after they landed, they quickly got up on their feet.

“ What the hell are you?!”

In the light of my wings, I could finally see what they were really.

Once they might have been beautiful girls, but now they were deformed by what they became.

Both of them wore the same sleeveless armor that looked like it was made from the outer shell of a giant insect, with green veins pulsing through their bodies.

On their heads were crowns with shining gems embedded in them that resembled eyes, while the girls were entirely green as if someone injected green paint into them.

“I can… I can… I can  make your hands clap

One of the women spoke in a distorted voice, as she pulled out that crossbow-looking thing and shot another of those projectiles.

“Holy Feathers.”

As I swung my wings, some of the feathers fell off and rained down on the ground.

Both of the girls started to run in different directions, avoiding my attacks with such grace it looked like dancing.

“They are well trained? Were they assassins before they were turned into these freaks? How prepared is Putrefaction?

“It’s time to hear the music.”

Without me not realizing it, one of the assassins jumped on my back and bit me in the neck.

“GET … OFF!”

I grabbed the crown on her head and pulled, tearing the thing clean off.

It must have been bolted onto its skull because the object came with a lot of blood and pieces of flesh.

The assassin shrieked in pain and fell to the ground, becoming limp and lifeless.

“NO!”

The other one screamed as it threw away its crossbow and pulled out two cursed-looking swords.

“Holy Blast!”

Compressing a small amount of energy into my fingertip, I fired a bullet of pure light at the jewelry, breaking it into pieces.

Like the other one, she also fell to the ground, not showing any sign of life.

“…The others!”

I flew back through the hole I just created and ran to the dormitory.

my friends were still there sleeping peacefully.

“I need to take them with me. They can’t be left in a place like this.”

Throwing them over my shoulders I flew out of the building flying over the wall before gently putting them on the ground.

“Oh, Champion of the light!”

Over my head, hanging on the edges of the wall were the spider-like monsters staring at me with their dead eyes.

“Do not forget, there are still two who are waiting to be saved in the cursed city. Come quick, before they all die.”

After they spoke these words, the monsters retreated behind the walls, disappearing from sight.

“…The city. I will take them there. The soldiers posted there will look after them. While they recuperate, I will save the others.”

I looked in the distance, the silhouette of the city walls barely visible with the rising sun on the horizon.

“I will defeat decay.”

*****

When the sun had just risen at the horizon, the guards posted the sealed western gate and saw a carriage approaching.

“What is this? Reinforcements?”

One of the juniors approached the carriage, only to almost faint at the sight.

The carriage was drawn by monstrously disfigured horses that looked half rotten.

On the coach’s seat was a man in a black suit and a bandaged-up face, with smoke leaving his mouth.

“Al-Alert! We are under attack! Sound the-“

“WAR!”

When the stranger on the carriage shouted, the door of the vehicle opened and a woman in a red dress jumped on its top!

“WARRIOR TECHNIQUE: SPEAR THROW!”

The girl did a throwing motion toward one of the guards.

Immediately a black spear appeared in midair and launched itself into the chest of a guard.

“WARRIOR TECHNIQUE: ARROW SNIPE!”

The girl on the top of the carriage made a movement that looked like she drew an invisible bow.

Immediately several black arrows materialized and longed into the heads of the guards, killing them instantly.

When the monster horses reached the door, the vehicle stopped.

The coach jumped on the ground and looked at the door.

“Damn, I forgot how the doors of this place were. We should have kept one of the guards alive. Does anyone have an idea of how to go in?”

“If I may.”

The man clad in a black overcoat stepped out of the carriage and after examining the stone doors, pressed his left hand on it.

“Black Hole.”

Around the hand of the man, a vortex of darkness opened up, that stayed even when he took his hand off the stone.

“The door is open.”

Before the other two could say anything, he stepped through the vortex, disappearing from their sight.

“…Creepy.”

They looked at each other when they said the same thing, and with a smirk entered the darkness.

*****

I was feeling unwell.

The second I saw the doors of the city I had this feeling of familiarity and dread passing through me.

Maybe it was a bad idea for us to come here. Maybe I should have run away when they weren’t looking.

No, it's too late.

I saw how that guy disposed of my pawns.

In the next batch, I will put the observing organs into their heads, not on them.

At least I could gather some important data on his fighting style, which will definitely become useful in the near future.

Plus, the two of them were still alive and they still haven’t mutated into wilds.

 The procedure I have done on them has slowed down the transformation.

When this is all good and done, I will examine the bodies.

“We are on the other side.”

When sunlight reached us, what I saw was a world of green and white.

The ground was covered in white flowers and vines were hanging from the buildings that were also covered by the plants.

I could see silhouettes of objects on the ground, like carts, stalls… and people, who were now monsters waiting for their prey.

But there was something else.

Emanating from the mold, from the filaments there was a pulsation.

While the others were busy looking at the scenery, I took off my gloves and placed my palm on one of the small piles of mold.  

The mold seemingly reacting to me, enveloped my hands, connecting me to its essence.

In that instant, there was no me, just the mold.

I could feel everything that was happening in the sea of green.

I knew where it hadn't spread, where the monsters were sleeping, where it was the densest.

And I saw it.

Like glowing green waves, I could feel the energy moving through them, reminding me of the rhythm of some sort of ancient music. A melody of the rot.

As I was slowly getting absorbed into it, I let my consciousness be carried by the waves guiding me to an area that I believed to have once been the big temple that was located in the middle of the city.

There, connected to everything I felt a consciousness.

It was young yet wise, and I could feel something from it. Something that I haven’t experienced for a while.

Love.

The thing was in love.

It was in love for the mold, for its beings, and for something I couldn’t discern completely.

I reached out towards it, trying to understand it.

That is when it noticed me.

It was afraid, pushing me away with its impulses.

I wanted to flee, but I also knew that it wouldn’t hurt me, so I stayed.

when the consciousness calmed down, it started to drag me closer, studying me as I was studying it.

As we were connected the melody started to get stronger, taking on a different tempo.

It was so enchanting that words started to escape from my mouth, becoming a song that I had never heard before yet, it felt quite familiar to me.

“

I hear your voice on the wind

And I here you call out my name.

"Listen my child, " you say to me

"I am the voice of your history

Be not afraid, come follow me

Answer my call and I'll set you free".

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain

I am the voice of your hunger and pain

I am the voice that always is calling you

I am the voice, I will remain

I am the voice in the fields when the summer's gone

The dance of the leaves when the autumn winds blow

Ne'er do I sleep throughout all the cold winter long

I am the force that in springtime will grow

I am the voice of the past that will always be

Filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields

I am the voice of the future

Bring me your peace

Bring me your peace and my wounds, they will heal

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain

I am the voice of your hunger and pain

I am the voice that always is calling you

I am the voice

I am the voice in the past that will always be

I am the voice of your hunger and pain

I am the voice of the future

I am the voice

I am the voice

I am the voice

I am the voice

 

(The Voice by Celtic Woman)

“

As I sang with the thing, I slowly started to see through my own eyes, but I was still connected to it.

I saw the energy moving in the mold lying before us.

With just a simple nudge, I could move the entire thing opening up a path for us directing us directly to the source of the rhythm.

“I opened the passage. We need to go, it won't stay open for long.”

I detached myself from the mold and put my gloves back on.

“Where are we going?”

Warr looked at me with admiration, while Dark kept quiet.

Smiling, I lit another cigarette.

“We are going to church.”

*****

In the middle of the fallen city, where once one of the biggest churches of the continent stood, in its most highly decorated room, something awoke.

As it slowly stood up, the sound of snapping vines could be heard, which connected it to the network of mold that spanned the city.

The monster slowly spoke as it caressed its bloated stomach, waking up the monsters that have been asleep till now.

“Finally. He’s here. The Father of our children has arrived.”

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[

Name: Darwin Tim Right 'Plague Father'

Race: [ True Kayeri (Mechanically Augmented)] LV: 1/10 000 (1/10 000)

Main Class: [Dark Apostle of Putrefaction]

Sub Class: [Life Father]

MP: 6000/6000

Blessings: [Blessing of Nergal] [Blessing of Airmed]

Active Skills: [Basic Steady Hand] [[Hive control] [Hive Absorption] [Hive Repulsion] [Mold Field] [Basic Spirit Voice] [Aether Vision] [Steam Engineering] [Dagger Arts][Presence Concealment] [Lock Picking] [Mold Manipulation]  [Fly manipulation] [Plant Manipulation] [ Decomposing touch] [Rot Embodiment] [Inorganic conversion] [Plague Mist]  [Face Switch]

Passive Skills: [Body Knowledge] [ Plant Knowledge] [Medicine Knowledge] [Stamina Enhancement] [ Movement Enhancement] [ Reflex Enhancement.] [Basic Sponge Mind] [Perfect Stomach] [Hive Mind] [Music Instrument Knowledge] [Healing Hands][Medical Senses] [Medical Mind] [Surgical Precision] [Mechanical Skeleton] [Toxic Air] [ High Regeneration] [Organic Clockwork] Demon’s Presence]

Affinities: [Basic Farming Affinity] [Basic War Affinity] [Basic Pestilence Affinity][ Basic Fire Affinity.] [Basic Life Affinity] [Basic Death Affinity]

Titles: [The One Who Saw a Thousand Worlds] [Knowledge Driven] [Chosen by Flies] [Medicine Pioneer] [Hive Master] [Giver of Life] [The 13th Dark Apostle] [Father of New Race]

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