Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 36 I Officially Hate Mushrooms

Lenna and Isaac started tiptoeing around the outside edge of the cavern. They were trying their hardest not to step on any mushroom whose pain might alert the others of their presence. Their plan was working as long as they continued to move at a snail’s pace. The only problem was Isaac’s steadily dwindling mana reserves. He had estimated that they could make it to the other end of the cavern with about ten seconds to spare. Unfortunately that wasn’t exactly what anyone would call a large margin.

Two thirds of the way around they ran into what Isaac would call a ‘small problem’. They ran out of bare ground to walk on. Lenna stopped and pointed down in front of her slowly. Isaac saw what the problem was almost instantly. He mouthed to her: “Just go.” Because he was going to run out of mana if they stayed there.

Lenna swallowed and took a step. A mushroom crumpled underfoot. She took the next step onto solid ground and then movement caught their eyes. Approaching them slowly was the contingent of mushroom soldiers. Whenever they stepped on a mushroom the smaller mushroom would magically handle their weight fine and hold them aloft.

Isaac and Lenna made eye contact. She whispered “Don’t move.” He stopped powering the shadow mana that was silencing their movements. The two of them waited, breathing slowly and deeply while trying not to blink. The mushroom soldiers approached cautiously. They looked around with their one, viny, eye.

One of them let out a cloud of spores that seemed to just hang in the air. Isaac held his breath. The spores started slowly spreading out instead of falling towards the ground. Lenna ever so slowly turned her hand to face the wall that was closest to them. It was time for plan B.

The spores would soon be too close to not be breathed in and the mushroom soldiers were too hard to kill. If the fight didn’t end in an instant, the mushrooms would all release all their spores into the air, then the two of them would have much worse problems than bone spears.

“Let my flames consume all before me.” Lenna said in a perfect, even, spell chant. The flames poured out of hand towards the wall and instantly cooked all the little mushrooms adorning it. That spell was too weak to kill the large mushroom soldiers but it worked wonders on the little unsentient ones.

Isaac ran the three steps towards the burnt wall and threw his back against it. He pressed as hard as he could against the backpack to flatten it. Lenna was in front of him a moment later. The mushroom soldiers started to move, they lowered their spears and readied their shields.

Isaac grabbed onto Lenna’s breastplate on the inside of the shoulders. “Make sure not to melt me with my own flames okay.” He said nervously while igniting both her and his hands in death flames.

Lenna nodded and pointed her hand behind her about twenty feet away, which was a few feet behind where the mushroom soldiers were, before chanting another spell. “Come forth ember of a dying star!” She quickly slammed her hands into the wall just above Isaac’s shoulders and dug her toes into the ground.

The cavern erupted in brilliant orange flames. The earth trembled. Fifteen hundred square feet of mushrooms were annihilated in an instant. Chunks of mushroom soldiers smashed into the wall next to the duo. Lenna’s arms ached under the stress. Her boots slid an inch forward, bringing them dangerously close to Isaac’s. Isaac closed his eyes against the blast and pressed as hard as he could against Lenna’s breastplate. He didn’t dare breathe in the aftermath for fear of inhaling spores.

Spores and mushrooms were incinerated in a massive radius. As the dust began to settle Lenna spoke to Isaac. “Don’t breathe yet.” She blasted some of her remaining mana out around her to push some of the dust away from them in a gust of hot air. “Okay.” She said after a moment. “Slow is smooth.” She reminded him.

Isaac opened his eyes and breathed out slowly. He let go of Lenna and stopped burning through his mana reserves. He was almost empty at that point and would be screwed if they needed to rely on any of his abilities soon.

Lenna took a step back and turned around. What they saw was a carnage of the fungi variety. There was a blackened circle of stone about forty feet across and mushrooms a few feet passed that were blown to pieces. The dust was quickly settling as the entire cavern seemed to be frozen from shock.

“We need to move.” Lenna told Isaac and she started walking towards the exit. “Are you okay?” She asked the unusually quiet mage.

“Yeah…” Isaac whispered in awe of her destructive force. “You… are… awesome…” His eyes still wide as he continued to survey the destruction of a singular spell.

Lenna smiled under her helm. “First time seeing real magic?” She questioned.

“Second. The first was watching a crazy cleric bring someone back from the dead.” Isaac replied.

“How soon after they died?” Lenna asked.

“Not long.” Isaac responded. “Under a minute.”

“I know that spell too. Don’t make me use it.” Lenna replied.

Isaac nodded absently and then her words seemed to register. “Wait, you can do that?!” Isaac exclaimed in shock. Lenna shushed him. “What kind of monster mage warrior hybrid are you?” Isaac said much quieter.

Lenna shook her head and chuckled lightly. “A tenth level paladin. It’s normal for us to be able to cast third level spells like that.”

“That’s insane. I wonder what kind of crazy shit I’ll be able to do at level ten.” Isaac wondered out loud.

“Probably something even crazier.” Lenna replied.

The two of them continued without further issue for a little while longer before they had to stop. They had to let a squad of mushroom soldiers rush past them towards Lenna’s small crater. The duo simply stopped moving and let them pass without incident.

After they had been traveling for hours Isaac finally asked the question that had been on his mind for a while. “How are we going to stop to sleep?”

“I don’t think we will be able to.” Lenna eventually said. “I’ve been looking for a good spot for the last two hours.”

“Oh.” Isaac replied and the pair continued on their grueling hike through mushroom land.

—

The pair’s second day of hiking began without ceremony as they still had not found a place to rest. They had been forced to step on a few more mushrooms. They had also been forced to sneak past a few more soldiers, however, they were lucky enough to not have to do both at the same time. Both of them were extra glad of that fact because it was getting harder and harder to find good footing as their exhaustion continued to rise.

At one point Isaac had an idea. He had Lenna stop and he reached out and grabbed her shoulder. He ran death mana across and through her for a few moments and then nodded as he lowered his hand.

“Thank you.” She whispered now that her muscle fatigue was washed away. “Give me your pack.”

“What? Why?” Isaac responded.

“My healing doesn’t work like yours. You will still be tired.” Lenna told him.

Isaac shook his head. “I’d feel bad if you carried everything for both of us.”

“It’s better than having to carry you when you pass out.” Lenna countered.

Isaac thought for a moment before conceding and handing her his pack. She put it on backwards so the backpack was against her chest instead of her back. The two then continued on their way in silence once again.

—

A few hours later Isaac started talking in order to keep himself awake. “I officially hate mushrooms and everything they stand for.” He said more to himself than to Lenna.

Lenna just let him talk for a while and only silenced him when she spotted more mushroom soldiers or he was being too loud.

“Following you for two days straight without rest would be a lot nicer if I could at least stare at your ass instead of the backpack the whole time.” Isaac eventually said in his sleep deprived state. They had been walking for around thirty hours straight by that point. Most of the other random words that seemed to endlessly flow out of his mouth Lenna had managed to ignore but this one caught her off guard.

“That was quite forward, Lord Wexler.” She responded.

“Oh shit… I said that out loud didn’t I?” Isaac sleep drunkenly responded. He hadn’t slept for almost forty hours and he hadn’t been walking for only an hour or two of it.

“Yes. You did.” Lenna replied.

“Oops?” Isaac said and then was quiet for a while again. Lenna didn’t push it but now she wondered even more what he thought about her.

‘Is he really just naturally flirty? With that last comment… is he just lecherous?’ She thought to herself. She shook her head. ‘Focus Lenna. Almost out of this awful place.’

A little while later Isaac asked a question and this time he meant to say it out loud. “If this is the path, why aren't there any wagon trails?”

“That path would have added two days. We didn’t have enough water.” Lenna explained. Isaac just nodded and soon started humming to himself.

Finally after their thirty eighth hour in the mushroom kingdom Lenna found the exit. There was only one problem. It was guarded by two mushroom soldiers and had a gate made of a bunch of smaller mushrooms.

Lenna whispered to Isaac: “It looks like we are fighting our way out.”

“The shortest distance between two points is a straight line I guess.” Isaac replied.

Lenna thought for a second. “I like that line. I should use that sometime.” She replied.

“I figured you would.” Isaac responded.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked.

Isaac made eye contact with her and smiled. “Exactly what it sounds like. I find your methodology refreshing. Especially because I’ll be the first to tell you that I am allergic to the straightforward path in most situations. It’s nice having you around.”

Lenna just tilted her head in confusion at him. “Thanks?”

“You are very welcome.” Isaac replied. “Now. Let’s cook some mushrooms.”