A Path of Bone and Poison 118 I.T. 21 Hunter's Story

The girls went about making camp. Because I was down, they only had the four of them. With two guards always that meant they had to sleep in shifts. However, they received unexpected help from Lucifer, who would not leave my side. He did not seem to react at all to Hunter, even when he woke up and began to curse at the girls for binding him. The only one he did not curse was myself, but I think that is because he knew I saved his life.

Well, I can say I think, but honestly, it is because he told me so. He eventually stopped cursing the girls. Instead he began to speak to me. He told me off all the things that he had done in the last 4 years. I could only listen; I did not even have the energy to speak. He spoke loud enough, and the mushroom forest was so quiet, that the others could not help but overhear. Soon the approached, listening to the tale that was about to unfold.

"Four years ago, we found ourselves in front of a gate. It was a large stone arch. We felt confident, we had trained for six years, and were stronger than we had been when we arrived. When our memories returned, we could only laugh at how foolish we had been before. How strong we thought we were when we entered this tower. But we were nothing but frogs in the bottom of a well."

"Our overconfidence led to our downfall. When we entered the desert, we thought our uniforms would protect us from the heat. But it did not. When we stopped to rest, we only got hotter. None of us had any food or water. On the second day the first of my party died. It was not from a monster, a poison, or anything noble. It was from exhaustion. The heat had dehydrated him. When it was finally his turn to rest, he never woke up."

"In a way he had it the easiest. He died in his sleep. I kind of envy him. The second and third of us died while fighting the sand worm. The creature took their bodies and retreated into a tunnel. We were down to three people, but we were determined to take out that worm before we died. We chased it into the tunnel."

"The worm was much faster than we were. We chased it, but by the time we entered the cavern it was already gone. The sight of the lush life around us soon change our goal. We did not want to die fighting an opponent we could not defeat. Hell, even our mage could not damage it. Instead we wanted to survive. Maybe we could get out of this hell hole. After all, the exit had to exist, and it was likely around the bottom of this cavern."

"Well, we made it. We made it to the end of the cavern. And at the bottom there is a gate. A gate that will take you to the next level. But there was no way we could get there. There were hundreds of those worms around it. All of them massive worms, and all of them had the same mushrooms growing from them. The very same fucking ones that were leaching off me."

"My teammates and I were terrified. I am not lying but old John pissed his pants on the spot I swear. But neither I nor our mage Julia could even fault him. I had to bend over and empty my stomach. Julia was the only one who could hold it together. At least physically. When she saw that something inside her snapped. She did not say a word, but slowly began to walk down the hill. She only knew a single spell, and with her hand in hand she cast it. She cast it over and over and over."

"Unfortunately, that spell could do nothing against the worms. The ice shards she cast at them only bounced harmlessly off the skin of the worms. They came rushing towards her. John saw the sight and his eyes lit up. Julia was his girl you see. There was no way he was going to let her die just like that. He rushed at the worms with his massive shield and axe. But he was unable to block even one of them. One of the worms pounced at him, swallowing him whole in a single bite."

"I could only stand there paralyzed as I watched it happen. I lost my mind for a moment. When I came to, I was running as fast as I could away from the area, all I could hear were Julia's agonizing screams..."

"I kept walking, until I eventually found this place. A ring of 5 different colored Mushrooms. I decided I would stay here. I would find a way to survive until the next group came. I fell asleep shortly after. But that is when it came. A Rainbow mushrooms. Its voice echoed in my mind even as it sent its spores into my body. "Welcome to my kingdom" it said, as its laughter echoed endlessly in my head."

"And that's all that I remember. Everything after that is a blank. Until you guys came. When I was laying on the floor and that thing was hovering above me."

Silence filled the camp as he finished telling his story. Each of us had listened intently, and our eyes instinctively moved to the circle of my mushrooms. The girls began to slowly back away, but Hunter stopped them.

"We are safe here. It is bound inside those mushrooms. It is a type of formation put down by the tower. But if we are going to escape, we will need to kill it. It is the key to everything. It is the key to our survival. I know this because I can feel it. I can feel the magic binding the mushroom. I can feel his hunger for escape."

As hunter spoke a slight purple hue took over his eyes, but it was extremely vague, much less powerful than his own brown eyes.

"And only when it dies can I truly be free of its influence. I can still feel it inside me. I can feel it watching all of you. But that is all it can do. It can watch, and whisper into my mind. It is telling me to kill you all. To sacrifice you to its glory, and free it from its prison. Please, you guys must defeat it. I can't stand it any longer."

He began to scream after that. Thankfully Leisha came up behind him and knocked him out. The girls only looked at each other for moment, and then suddenly there was a chorus of voices in my head.

Chapter end