J'baki stared down the fiend in front of him, bat clenched tightly in his hand. He let out a yell as he charged at the fiend driving his broken bat into him.
"Heeheehee, you actually hit me this time," the fiend stepped towards J'baki punching him so hard in the stomach he felt the air leave his body "but you're still weak."
J'baki fell to the ground gasping for air.
"J'baki are you alright?" The sound of Isshi's voice flowed into his ears
"Yea," he coughed "I've been hit harder."
J'baki stood up and took a fighting pose, the fiend staring him down, the bat protruding from his shoulders. A freakish grin split across his face, revealing perfectly fitting pointed teeth.
"Come at me again." he happily invited. "Let's see what you can do."
J'baki's fist squelched into the fiends face, leaving an indent as he pulled back. The next hit landed in the fiends side causing the fiend to two step to the side. The fiend returned a hit to J'baki which he took in order to dodge the second more lethal hit. He returned with an uppercut knocking the fiend back.
"Very nice j'baki. I'm feeding you more activated spores, don't let up." Isshi told him.
J'baki rushed in delivering blows to his face and stomach, the fiend took the blows before jumping over J'baki and kicking him in the back, knocking him to his knees. J'baki quickly got up and turned around to meet a fist directly to his face. He fell onto the wet floor wiping the blood from his lip. He didn't have time to think as the fiend rushed towards him attempting to deliver a kick to his head, J'baki grappled his leg, using his momentum he slammed him onto the ground. With every bit of strength he could muster he pulled the fiend towards him, climbed on top and started delivering blows. The fiend laughed an evil laugh through the punches.
"Jbaki it's not working." Isshi explained. "Look, LOOK!"
It was as if time slowed down for a second, he saw that with every blow he made,the fiends face would bounce back into place.
"What the?" J'baki said in confusion, stopping the barrage.
"Heehee is it finally my turn?" The fiend laughed. From lying on the ground he smashed J'baki square in the face causing him to fall back. The fiend walked towards J'baki fully healed of his injuries. J'baki was coughing up blood. This hit hurt. The fiend sulked towards J'baki kicking him as he tried to stand.
"Where did all of that power come from?" The fiend calmed his laugh as he walked up to J'baki. "You'll only get stronger so I'll go ahead and end you now."
J'baki panicked, but couldn't find the strength to stand up. The fiend continued towards him, materializing an object from the yellow slime coming from his hand.
"You've made my first battle here fun, it's a shame you couldn't join our network." the fiend laughed, preparing to throw the spear he conjured from his hand. Through the air whipped an elaborate looking trident that hurled him through the air, piercing him to the wall he'd come from. The fiend struggled to break from the hold but he was slowly melting back into the slime he came through as. J'baki turned to see where the trident had come from, he saw Isadora walking up with a purpose calm, collected, and serious. The golden leaves on her arm started to glow brightly, her eyes burning extra ferociously.
"Isadora..." J'baki said as she walked fiercely by him.
"Petyan, who are you?" She demanded.
The melting fiend responded frantically "My name is Trojan."
"Where did you come from?" Isadora's eyes burned brighter. "who sent you?"
Trojan grabbed the prongs trying to free himself but his hands scorched on the triedent, causing him to evaporate more. "I can't tell you that."
"Oh?" Isadora responded smugly. "Do you care about your life?"
Trojan stopped struggling, looked up at Isadora and flashed a ghoulish melty smile. "I do not, I am one of many, Trojan is many."
"I'll gladly wipe out any petyan." The gold on Isadora's body glowed enough to blind the entire room. The melty fiend was singed back through the wall and the lights surrounding the inside of the root began to dim.
J'baki stood up in shock at what he just saw. Isshi formed back into a bird and turned his head slightly as Isadora walked by.
"Isadora what was that?" j'baki asked slightly confused. "Why didn't you do that in the first place?"
"I told you, I needed to see what it was doing." She walked up to J'baki and placed her hand on his mouth, healing it. "Plus, you seemed to be having fun."
"Fun! I thought I was alone out there!" J'baki yelled through Isadora's cupped hand. "That thing almost killed me."
"I know, and you lost your weapon." Isadora removed her hand from his face. "But honestly, a bat?"
Isadora began walking back to the giant wall with writings etched into it. She stared at it trying to find a way through to the next part of the Sulcis.
"J'baki," she turned around to meet his eyes. "Are you in the mood to learn some more?"
"Sure I guess." He answered reluctantly.
"Perfect." She responded. "Try activating your spores again."
"Okay. Isshi can you help me?" He turned to the small bird.
"You should be good to go now." Isshi responded, chirping on his shoulder.
"Relax a bit, you'll feel your spores soon enough." Isshi explained.
J'baki took a deep breath. He felt a cool sensation around his ear trickling into his neck and to his other ear.
"Okay, I can feel them. They're going back and forth between my ears." He replied grabbing his neck. "Now what?"
"Now, you use a sigil." Isshi chirped.
"A Sigil?" J'baki asked, the coolness flowing through his neck.
"Yes, a sigil. Sigils vary and size and power. Some hold great power and take immense time and energy to create," He explained. "This is the most basic sigil given to people in touch with the mycelia network. Allow your spores to travel to the tip of your finger."
J'baki closed his eyes, took deep breaths and felt the spores form around his left ear. He slowly breathed as the spores started to sprout down his arm and into his hand, with a feverish burn.
Isshi projected an image in the space in front of J'baki.
"Trace and concentrate."
J'baki kept his breath steady as he traced the outer circle of the sigil. His lines were wobbled a little bit, but the circle was complete. Next were the two crescents that sat at the bottom of the circle. The larger one was right above the line, cradling the smaller one inside of it. Above the crescents, was a small spiral, which J'baki completed perfectly. Isshi dropped the projection and in front of him he saw the first sigil he ever made. The sigil split itself leaving a crescent trapped in a circle, and a crescent holding a spiral. They floated gracefully into his eyes giving him a magical breeze. J'baki blinked a few times and looked around him. An clear mist of microscopic spores surrounded him, yet he could see Isshi and Isadora clearer than ever before. He fixed his eyes on the giant wall.
"This is so different than before!" J'baki rubbed his temples. "My head is on fire!"
"So it worked?!" Isadora exclaimed. "Come here let me see your eyes!"
"My eyes? What's wrong with my eyes!" J'baki exclaimed, trying to find a reflective surface.
"Nothing" Isadora laughed. "Yep! Blue as my skin, that's how you know."
"Great I have blue eyes," he rubbed his neck. "How long does this burning last, when can I turn this off?"
"Oh J'baki, once this sigil is stored on your mycelia, you can't turn it off. That's not how it works." Isadora chuckled at his naivety. "This is your state now."
"The heating will subside after awhile, but your senses will forever be heightened." Isshi chimed in.
"Anyway, we're getting off course, take a look at the wall" Isadora grabbed J'baki by the shoulders and turned him towards the giant wall.
J'baki focused on the wall. The spores were dancing gracefully all around it. The markings joined in the dance, transmuting into words J'baki could read.
"It says, The will of the Dark Basin. The portal to enhanced connection. Connect yourself to the God-" J'baki stopped as he reached the end of the markings. "I can't read that last word."
"Neither can I. Nor can Isshi." Isadora said half heartedly. "I was hoping maybe you could."
J'baki flashed a smile and rubbed his head.
"Nope. But I wonder what it is. Do you think we'll find it out in here?" He asked.
"Probably." Isadora produced a large mace. Several times her size. She took it to the base of the wall with a mighty swing, creating a gaping hole. Patch by patch the elegant dance ended as the spores went out.
"We'll just have to go through and see."
J'baki followed Isadora into the hole. There were no spores here. Just darkness. Isshi fashioned himself into a pair of glasses sat on J'baki's nose.
J'baki followed Isadora through the darkness, he was able to see only directly in front of him with the help of Isshi. He looked around and noticed a basic wood grain outline all along white stone walls. They had gone further down into the Sulcis. Level three, they walked a peaceful quiet path, being alert in case any remnants of Trojan stalked the root. As the cave narrowed, a small group of houses appeared occupying a swampy area. Vines hung all over the walls coming from large vegetation that they now found themselves walking through. The house in the middle of the formation had a light creating a beacon in the darkness.
Hastily approaching the house caused them to stumble over a large spiky wheel laying just yards away from their salvation. Recovering from their fall, the wheel became clearer. Large crimson red and black scales assembled as armor circled around itself, it was as tall as J'baki's calf on it's side.
Isadora and J'baki sprang up as the ring began to unravel it's long tail using it for balance to stand upwards on its two feet as the rest of itself uncurled upwards. Two tiny claw like hands opened up and held each other at the middle. The wheel fully unraveled revealing two pink beady eyes staring back at them.
Isadora and J'baki stared down at the creature. They wondered what the creature who showed a slight look of worry was. It jumped at the sight of the both of them, balled up and rolled away into the home they had their eyes on, beckoning for them to follow.
"What the hell was that?" J'baki asked, puzzled by the entire interaction.
"Let's see." Isshi answered, showing J'baki a flash of different species resembling the creature. "It seems to be a Phata from the planet Pholidota."
"What?" Isshi's response confused J'baki even more.
"They roll around in their balls completely shielded by their large tough scales. They're quite timid and form groups to survive, I wonder how one got all the way here." Isshi pondered.
"Should we knock?" J'baki asked.
"No need just come on in" the Phata behind the door responded in a voice just shy to the tenor threshold.
Isadora and Jbaki gave each other a glance before opening the door. The inside of his was littered with papers. Stacks sprawled upon every table in sight. Intertwined vines made up the furniture and growing in some pots were different plants and vegetables. To the left of the organized mess were a set of stairs. The Phata was standing in the kitchen on the right tending to some fresh biscuits that were red and oblong in shape.
"Hello! I'm sorry about earlier, I almost burned my biscuits." The Phata said coming at them with the tray. "My name is Gardner. Welcome to my home."
"Thank you for inviting us in, my name is Isadora, this is J'baki." Isadora gestured to J'baki. "We're participating in the Root Down."
Gardner offered them each a biscuit and led them to some short seats perfect for a Phata.
"Ah The Root Down. That pesky Empress, I love her to death but these games always interrupt us." Gardner pulled up a chair for himself. "No wonder the spores have gone out here. I'm old and when I came to a Vivabor tree I didn't expect it to be quite like this."
The three sat and ate their biscuits.
"Why did you come to the Vivabor tree?" Isadora questioned.
"Ah same reason as you." Gardner reminisced. "The fifth Root Down there ever was. Of course the Sulcis hadn't even been found yet."
"When did you move to the Sulcis?" J'baki asked.
"I'd say sometime after the tenth Roof Down. Our little group had done a little too much digging. It kept calling us."
"Where's your group now?"
"Oh they're out there. Holed up away from the darkness."
"Living in a swamp inside of a tree must be a horrible existence." Isadora's tone bordered condescension.
"I harshly disagree. The tree provides everything I need. I can make whatever I want.
Gardner got up and stubbly walked to J'baki.
"Which reminds me, I've been looking for a tall guy like you. There is a tree back behind the house. A about a yard back, they grow the most amazing fruit and I'm too short to reach them. May you help me?"
"Uh, sure." He hesitated. "When?"
"Tonight, I'llmake you a boost for the rest of your journey."
How could J'baki resist the offer of a boost, after his battle, it was necessary. He headed out of the back door leaving Isadora to get to know Gardner. J'baki walked towards the tree that was much farther than a yard. The information the two gained from this brief separation proved useful before heading into the lower levels of The Sulcis.