Chereads / Eye of Ophestalus / Chapter 3 - Shroom

Chapter 3 - Shroom

I owe Dune for the idea of a cape to wrap myself in. I had asked the octopus for clothes after bathing and he had just pointed his finger at me. 

And, even this dry place fits the aesthetics.

It feels like I'm walking on cardboard with sand glued on top. I walk.

It's actually hot…

Hot…

Huff… huff… 

huff… huff… huff… huff… huff… 

huff… I'm thirsty as fuck.

Shit, I forgot to ask the octopus for some water.

Shit, my tongue feels like charcoal. I guess, let's rest here for a while.

The outcropping above my head was kinda ok. I'm just gonna lie down for a second the–

Oh, ohmigod. It's fucking freezing. Brzzzztttt.

Shit, what the– Go inside, go, fuck, go.

Urgh– I was pushing my back against the outcropping. The temperature must have gone below freezing point, hell. 

My tongue feels stiff. I feel groggy. 

At my periphery, there are these pale blue neon lights. It was shrooms. They were glowing like fireflies. I don't know but those can be eaten… right? 

No. It's dangerous. I shouldn't. Only white ones are edible, right?

I closed my eyes. Thought about stupid things. I felt anything but food can distract my hunger, so I did. Shit, I shouldn't have looked at those mushrooms.

It felt like hours while my mind reminded me it was just minutes.

I mean, if I'm going to die anyway, what does it matter if I poison myself with mushrooms.

Sand ruffled the air like snow drizzling from the sky.

I mean, blue isn't that bad of a color, is it? You know, like blueberries.

My feet felt alien, so I violently started shaking them.

I gulped the mushroom. 

Tasted smooth and saltyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Whaa– Friiiick~ I feel… doozy…

I am waiting with my Family. I rebuke my cousin who tries to do something. Then, the wait is over and the people we were waiting for, arrive. They arrive in a very retro, red sedan. The car's door is opened and inside is my uncle who's suffering from motor disability and paralysis. We boarded another car that followed the red sedan. We reach a sandstone castle-fort. The families converse. The poison taster is called, she's draped in a hood that covers her face. The family leaves. The brother of the bride tells the poison taster that she has to let go of the bridegroom, to which she responds that she knows in a bittersweet tone. The brother acknowledges with a knowing and equally bittersweet smile. I, the jovial shadow-walker, catch the hero and heroine together. I tell them that I can help with their love if they make a vow with me. That they must be in love forever, no matter if they fall apart. They'll still stay together with me. I put my hands on both of them. I aboard them on a ship set sail outside the kingdom. I jump out of the ship and do quick work of the approaching armsmen. I jump back and tell my dialogue, "I wouldn't have done it if I couldn't have been able to handle it." Me and the couple aboard the ship reach a distant land. In the future, they set up a kingdom, grew huge and waged war against their homeland.

"Whoa!"

Fuck, fuck, fuckfuckfuck

What was that… woah… 

I saw visions of… of… people, of lands, of a…

I saw things. I know, I felt, that they were real. They were.

What the heck was that? mushroom. 

Wait. It's still there…?

Oh fuck. It's there the same way it was before I ate it. I feel full, "satiated" even?

I adjust my clothes and pack it all up. I look at those mushrooms. They didn't glow like they did last night. They were familiar in an alien sense. I plucked them.