Chapter 2: Fields of Greens, Hearts at Peace

Chapter Two: Fields of Greens, Hearts at Peace.

Alex woke, bleary eyed and hot. Not dead — he wasn’t dead… in fact he felt alright. Something told him he should be in immense pain right now, as he moved his legs and sat up. He tore off his parka, winter hat and gloves, to escape the heat. Around him was a field of green, the air spun up what looked like giant dandelion pappus, drifting along like umbrellas high into the sky above. Along the edge of the field some 200 meters away a tall forest bellowed out of the earth, its leaf cover so thick that the undergrow first looked like some cave openings to Alex, but he soon saw the thick lichen plastered stems supporting the heavy foliage. For a moment Alex was in awe at the sheer weight the trees were supporting, before turning himself away from the forest, which seemed more like a landslide on stilts, and looked behind him.

He was now afoot and almost fell right back to the ground as he was hit by the sight. It was a vast open plain with rolling hills and snow peaked mountains framing the far horizon. A massive but eerily dim sun stuck out behind epicly sized clouds. At scattered points, cutting rock formations pierced through the grasslands, and through its middle, what looked like a scar of brown rock carved itself like a wedge, forming a canyon. Rivers and brooks poured into the canyon from all sides making it seem like an endless pit. Although the land was mostly covered by grass topped hills, forestry crept along the valleys and along the rock formations almost as if sheltering from the open sky.

The sight was too much for Alex to take in. It wasn’t like he was dumb or slow witted but it was just all a bit off; each part of the world even the grass he stood on, it was grass — yes — but thicker like phedimus plants, a family of ground plants known for their fat leaves. Only thing is they were rare and seldom grew packed together, and certainly not like this, across vast fields. It was all wrong. Panic gript Alex and he huddled down shouting “WHERE THE HELL AM I!” This place was like some alien planet — But the sky isn’t purple so maybe not alien, Alex thought. So what then? A fantasy world. Yea that was more like it. Alex's heart had started racing, but it quickly settled down again. For some reason he felt at ease. “NO! Why am I not panicking?!” But he wasn’t anymore. He had died, that’s what he felt. The sweet relief of death is what they call it, right?

He sat back down with arms stretched out behind him on the hilltop looking out across the landscape, but he wasn’t seeing the fantastical world before him. He didn’t see the flying eel creatures zippin’ by out in the distance — no, he just looked blankly past all of what was in front of him. Instead, he looked back at his life, at his… death. What had happened? Wracking his brain he recalled the bridge, the dark cold waters and the wind of the fall, or was it just the wind? He had been sitting on the bridge's lay side and hadn’t felt the wind as it picked up behind him. He remembered seeing a truck cabin sticking out over the railing and he could surmise… Frosted roads, high speed winds across a bridge. It was a typical risk zone for shipping trucks to swerve out of control… the truck's cargo trailer would have acted as a sail in the wind and drifted on the ice covered road, hitting the guard rail side on. The truck would have been fine and the guard rail was just slightly buckling but anything leaning against the other side of the guardrail would be flung at some speed…

Alex groand a bit just thinking back on it. He was a bit surprised at how well he’d taken the impact, then again he had died right after hadn’t he? He flinched again remembering the impact of the fall. You don't think of water being hard, but try falling 50 meters onto it, and see how soft a landing it is. Perhaps you could dive from that height but an uncontrolled fall is different, and Alex had felt that in his legs — oh the pain. He marveled over his healed legs. Had it been a miracle? Alex wasn’t religious — not really, but today he thought it might be a worthwhile endeavor to pray every now and then. But this place did not look like heaven, nor hell… limbo perhaps? No, although this place was odd, it looked alive. That was the big part of what bugged Alex. He had died, he knew it. He had accepted death. He had been okay with dying. It left an empty feeling within him. But for once that emptiness wasn’t cold like usual. This time the emptiness was warm, a kind of security within him. Alex had died, and if he died again he would be ready to meet death itself. A shiver crept up his spine and he shook. He rose to his feet once again, this time he looked across this new world with a new found vigor and soulful tranquility. He wasn’t afraid anymore, he had died and not even death scared him. No matter what this world was, how could it be worse than death!

As Alex reexamined the lands, he now saw the minute detail he had missed earlier, in the valleys between hills he spotted buildings and from behind hill tops he saw smoke plums rising. Some hillsides; although green, were divided into patches shifting in hues, presumably farmlands. And twirling around and over hills cut small pathways worn into the ground from years of wandering travelers, one of these Alex thought he could see on a hillside just a couple of kilometers to his left. The fields also hosted a myriad of herd fauna, while a lot was far away and looked at this distance more like ants; Alex could see some ox-like creatures with thick tails, and groups of what looked like boars hosting quills, in a valley close enough to make them out. Yet it seemed like almost no animals roamed upon the hilltops, and he couldn't see any buildings built up high either, he suddenly felt a bit uneasy standing on the top of one of the largest hills on the plateau. Along one of the larger rivers in the central fields Alex could see what looked like a medieval city; that means low buildings packed together surrounding a central harbour and a ring wall encompassing the town. He tried to make out more but the town was just too far away. Finally he could make out thick bellowing plums of smoke rising along a mountain ridge, perhaps some remnants of a volcanic eruption, although it seemed unnatural for a volcano to erupt along an arête.* In this case a sharply descending ridge.*

While this hilltop had a nice view, it wasn’t a place to stay; hence, Alex decided to head for some form of civilization. He glanced quickly back at the quilled boar things and wished he had some form of protection. If this was a fantasy world — could he find some sword in a stone, or was it a lake? Honestly, he could do with either or. But there were no lakes, magical swords or suspicious stones around him. Just his winter clothes he’d thrown off as he’d woken up and there was that dark overcast forest. Didn’t Link get his master sword in a forest glade? Alex mused before he picked up his winter clothes, tied the parka around his waist, and walked in under the overcasting foliage. He felt like stepping outside in late autumn and Alex was suddenly grateful for his winter hat and gloves. Yet the humidity in the air was that of a tropical forest. And the air smelled of murked wood and humus, (not the food, hummus) the layer of earth, partly decomposed. As he slowly walked into the forest the sound of leaves rustling in the wind dulled as the wind didn’t accompany him into the undergrowth, and his eyes adjusted to the fading light. He told himself that he wouldn’t go so far that the light wouldn’t reach him. But as he walked searching the ground for something to use as a club or to poke some too curious animal, he noticed a few things: Firstly, all the sticks he found were rotten to their core; Secondly, the ground was barren, only lichen clung to the tree stems and roots, with loose soil stacked up from years of untouched foliage steadily raining down from the treetops above; And then lastly, as he walked further in, a faint blue glow started covering the ground around him. It came from deeper into the forest. Looking back Alex saw the faint hint of daylight behind him — he’d come this far and a curiosity gripped him, so he moved on, to see the source of the glow. As he moved closer, the light grew stronger. Here the forest roof bulged downwards as if a bubble on the surface of a liquid, just upside down. The foliage reached down to the ground a good 20 meters below, the leaves were a combination of willowed pale white, and young lush sprouts. Through rifts in the foliage, blue light spurred out in beams creating a spotted canvas on the forest floor, in which mushrooms of more kinds then Alex had seen in his life sprouted in layers atop one another. It was a quiet and slow battle over the blue light.

Alex avoided the patches of light as he rounded schools of shrooms up to the protruding mass of leaves, brashes and… webbing? Alex stiffend, now he was close enough to see thick webbings stretched both up towards the forest canopy and on the inside of the protrusion. Almost see-through in the blue light, but far thicker than any webbing from his world. Was it a nest? A nest of blue radioactive spiders? Don’t be dumb, radioactvity is not blue, nor is it green for that matter, it can’t be seen and the green glow is just a myth. Although the ionisation of air does give off a purplish blue…. Perhaps this air isn’t the same as the one at home and therefore gives off a different color? No, in that case there is no way the mushrooms would survive the direct light. Still, something made those webbings. “Perhaps it's just some larvae pupating.” Alex hoped to himself.

He listened intently but there were no sounds around him, not even the sound of rustling leaves, he was too deep into the forest now. Slowly he stepped up to the nest. And pierd into one of the gaps. At first he saw nothing as the direct light blinded him for a moment, but as his eyes adjusted to the increased luminosity — he could make out the spiders, they were huge monsters, some twice his size. With legs thick as his arms. They didn’t look like shelob from Lord of the rings, nor the ones from Harry Potter, whose appearance is similar to tarantulas. These spiders had the silhouette of a black widow, yet their carapace was lighter, and had a rough surface and rugged along its edges, like slag rock. Yet they were all dead; for, out from under their carapace bloomed bulbus fungi with its mycelium leaking out at every joint. And those mushrooms were the source of the glow. There were spiders everywhere, all dead, and all different sizes. From the ceiling hung a large pupate covered in spiderlings the size of Alex's hand, all adorned with their own small mushroom caps.

Alex was ready to turn and run out of the forest before he started ingesting spores of those parasitic shrooms, but he noticed something about the spider's legs. They were fitted with what seemed to be razor sharp hooks near the end of the legs, probably to hook in their prey. Circling around the nest to a neighbouring opening Alex could reach a spider's leg without actually entering the nest itself, he wasn’t about to make himself at home in the aracne infested hive, or rather fungi infested… He reached in and pulled at the spider leg, this spider was on the larger end of the spider size-spectrum. It was around Alex's own size. And the leg was thick like a bike handle, a decent width to grip onto. As Alex pulled the leg out, through the opening, the spider's body followed. It didn’t fall out of the nest, but as the glowing mushrooms got close to the exit hole — Alex could hear something behind him, a lurching sound. He spunn, immediately spotting the source of the noise. It was easy enough to find as it was illuminated by the blue spotlight cast by the hole he stood by. Across the newly lit ground a gelatin mycelium spread out far too quickly for any plant or mushroom had the right to. Covering ground like a tidal wave. It’s root-like limbs pave the way for the main mass which was pulled along right behind. Not towards the light source but towards Alex. Wide eyed he pressed up towards the nest wall in horror of the slimy creature? But just as the thing reached the edge of the light, two feet away from Alex, it curled its limbs in as if crossing the edge of light burnt it. And the blob spread out across the newly lit surface. A second passed by. “Right, do not pull out the spider's body, got it…” Alex whispered to himself.

Standing back against the nest and the spiderleg curled around him, Alex felt at his pockets searching for… “Ah, my keys.” He pulled his apartment keys out, and started hacking at the softer tissue between the hard carapace on the spider's limb. It was already rugged as the blueshroom had penetrated the soft-ish tissue at places. Soon Alex had sawed the lower leg off. And as it came loose he lifted the leg and inspected his improv weapon. It was as long as his arm with three hooks by its end in an ascending size towards the end. With a jagged claw as the spider's foot. It was light yet the carapace was sturdy. The weapon was no master sword, but it would have to do. He took a few wide swings to test it out. It felt quite good. He swung to his right, a quick chop downwards, and then to the left and just like that he bumped into the spider carcass hanging precariously in the opening. And it fell to the ground, it's glow casting directly on Alex and his surroundings.

The gallatin shroom began to crawl. Alex quickly jumped several meters to the side. The mycelium moved fast for a mushroom, sure, but it wasn't hard to outpace and Alex had time to watch his surroundings as he danced back. But the light source was outside the nest now, so instead of beams of light separated by shadows, a blue shimmer connected all spotts of mushroom schools; To Alex's horror, more of the same moving jelly was advancing from spotts all around him, all spreading out and moving towards him. He did not want to see what the fungai would do if it reached him. Alex considered trying to jump it, but then he thought of something; Even though the mushrooms grew in patches all around the nest, seemingly feeding on the blue glow, only the glowing mushrooms grew inside the actual nest. With a hasty decision, Alex threw himself into the nest. As he entered the nest shook from his hard steps upon the foliage; and consequently, spidercarcasses fell all around him, some rolling down the walls and others tumbling out of openings casting the surroundings in a constant glow. The was accompanied by the creeping jelly sponge, yet it didn't move into the nest. In fact it avoided the spider corpses who fell out of the nest as well. Now that was a surprise!

Alex had assumed the mushroom avoided the nest because of the webbings or perhaps the leaves but maybe it only survived in a specific light intensity. So using his newly obtained barbed spider leg he cut at one of the large blueshrooms but as the cap came off the glow faded. "Seems that won't work…" Instead he reached down in the middle of the nest and rooted around, shoveling legs, torsos and mushroom caps aside. More and more spiders rolled down around him, but he found what he searched for, a spiderling topped with his own blueshroom hat. “Oh, aren’t you a cute one. I’ll name you Shivling, that’s a suitable name right. If you help me out with this creepy relative of yours I'll show you what’s outside the forest — deal?” Alex got no response but took it as a silent approval of his new little buddy.

Holding Shivling in his outstretched hand Alex stepped out of the nest pointing the glowing mushroom down at the ground. And just as he’d hypothesised the glow was too intense for the creep-shroom and it retreated as Alex steadily moved forwards. However, when Alex was in the middle of the mushroom he noticed some errors in his tactic. In a circle around him the glow was so intense that the creep-shroom couldn’t get at him, but as he only had Shivling as a source of light; he himself cast a shadow behind him, and in it the mushroom crept. Furthermore, as he approached the edge covered by the creep-shroom the glow of Shivling cast its own light, opening more room for the thing to expand to. So as he moved forwards so did the creep-shroom. The first problem could be solved by Alex every now and then directing shivlings light behind him in an odd game of redlight, greenlight — or bluelight, nolight? But the mushroom was rather bad at the game, having to retreat each time Alex swung Shivling behind himself. The second problem… Well, Alex didn’t want to run in fear of tripping, so the mushroom was faster then he was walking. Instead he just hoped the mushroom wouldn’t be able to stand the sunlight, and he steadily walked back the way he had come. Turning with even intervals to heed off the restless creep-shroom.

Eventually he made it to the forest edge and to Alex's relife suddenly the creep-shroom stopped and he could walk unhindered out from under the canopy. But he hesitated and looked back. Only a small part of the ground was lit with enough blue light for the creep-shroom to stay in and as Alex moved away that area shrinked, causing the mushroom to push together in a confinement growing smaller and smaller. It looked like a whirlpool as different parts of the mushroom pushed itself to its surface facing the blueglow. Alex wondered what would happen when he walked further away, leaving the mushroom at the edge of the forest without any blue glow. Would it run back into the forest or would it risk the sunlight? In case of the latter Alex got ready to run in case the mushroom went for him. But when he moved back and the last bit of blue light left the creep-shroom, the mushroom shattered into sprouting tendrils speeding out like snakes into the dark forest. “Right, let's not go back in there… I guess this will have to do for protection. Alex said as he hoisted the spiderleg into the air. “But considering the spiders and the mushrooms, I’d rather avoid any wildlife if at all possible,” he muttered, turning towards the rolling fields as he set off towards civilization.