Chapter 334: Taming Frustrations - 4 |
"So, are we in agreement?" asked Ignatius, returning to the main thread of the discussion. "We'll offer Klein as a gesture of goodwill, but keep Kassian in custody as an unequivocal message against abyssal experimentation?"
One by one, the leaders nodded.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
The small fungus's consciousness flowed in ways few beings could comprehend. It didn't think with words, but with sensations, purposes, and an instinctive understanding of the energies surrounding it.
Normally it remained dormant within the human to whom it was bonded, simply facilitating access to information and processing the light of the ring they had already incorporated. A peaceful, symbiotic existence, where its true nature remained in a state of constant hibernation.
But that changed when it felt it...
It was as if its "stomach" jolted it awake suddenly... although it wasn't really a stomach; its body functioned more like an interconnected network without defined organs. However, this would be the simplest explanation for its immature tamer if he ever needed to understand it.
The call was irresistible. Another main ring. Another fragment of that which constituted its existential purpose.
The small fungus bounced across the courtyard, its chubby little body contrasting with the surprising agility of its movements. With each hop, its perception sharpened, locating with greater precision the source of that energy that called to it, growing ever closer.
Close! Close! Close!
Its receptor roots detected a change in the environment. A new presence was approaching from another direction. Not its tamer, but a different yet familiar energy. The girl with the wolf and the cat. The one carrying a genetic key that, though interesting, was immature... not yet useful to it.
Why does everyone have to interfere? would be the translation, if its thoughts were formulated in words. Can't a poor Primordia be left in peace to fulfill its purpose?
The small fungus accelerated, determined to reach the ring before anything else could stop it. It could almost feel it now, that delicious energy that would perfectly complement what it had already begun with the first ring.
The resonance called to it, promising completion of a cycle begun ages ago.
It made a particularly high jump, extending its tiny arms to gain momentum, when suddenly its trajectory was interrupted.
Two hands caught it in mid-air.
No! No! No!
Before it could process what was happening, it found itself wrapped in an embrace so tight that it felt as if its quasi-fruiting body would disappear, compressed into nonexistence back to its tamer. Its consciousness staggered, momentarily disoriented by the pressure.
When the embrace finally loosened, the wolf-cat-girl held it in front of her face, studying it with enormous, bright eyes. Luna. That was her name in human language. Its receptors captured waves of an emotion it couldn't fully classify. Admiration? Adoration? Some strange human ritual it was unfamiliar with? The intensity of her emotional emanations was almost painful to its sensitive receptors.
Luna rubbed her cheek against it, and the fungus experienced sensations for which its existence had not prepared it. Its spongy texture compressed with each rub, while the girl murmured incomprehensible words. The intense physical contact sent chaotic signals through its network, disrupting its usual patterns of thought.
Then, Luna held it away again, holding it with both hands, observing it as if it were the most precious treasure in the world. With surprising gentleness, she pressed its small inflated cheeks with her index fingers and thumbs.
"Kyaaaa!" Luna exclaimed with a high-pitched sound that made the fungus's receptors vibrate as its cheeks were pulled. "It's so adorable! So squishy and perfect!"
The small being shuddered, genuinely frightened. Its experiences since birth included nothing remotely similar to this situation. What human ritual was this? Was it perhaps some unknown form of torture?
Luna's face began moving closer and closer, her enormous eyes fixed on it with a disturbing intensity.
Confusion and fear finally overcame its limitations, and the fungus did something it had rarely done since its conception: speak.
"Leave me alone!" it squeaked in a high-pitched, nasal voice. "What kind of torture ritual is this? If you're going to torture me, at least ask me some questions first. I should have rights as a cognitive-symbiotic creature!"
Luna froze mid-movement, her eyes opening even wider if that was possible. The astonishment on her face was so palpable that even the fungus, with its limited understanding of human expressions, could interpret it.
"You can... talk?" Luna asked, her voice barely a whisper.
The fungus considered returning to its habitual silence, but it was already too late to pretend.
"Obviously I can talk," it replied in an irritated tone. "I just don't have anything interesting to say to humans. Occupied with your insignificant problems."
Instead of releasing it, as the fungus expected, Luna emitted another high-pitched squeal, this one even more intense than the previous one.
"It's even more perfect!" she exclaimed, bringing it close to her face again. "Your little voice is so adorable I could listen to it all day. Talk more! Say something else!"
Panic seized the small being. This was worse than being chased, worse than being stopped. If it had had a heart, it would be frantically beating.
"HELP!" it shouted with all its might, hoping its tamer or any other rational creature might hear it. "HELP! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED! I JUST WANTED TO ABSORB A SIMPLE RING! I DON'T DESERVE THIS SUFFERING!"
Luna let out a delighted giggle, as if the fungus's desperate cries were the most delicious thing she had ever heard.
"You're the most adorable little creature in the world," she declared with absolute conviction. "And now you're my friend."
"I'm not adorable," the fungus protested, trying to wriggle between her fingers. "I am an arcane entity with complex and existential purposes... And I am ENORMOUS! Let me go, wolf-cat-girl! The ring is calling me!"
"I'll call you Mooshito," Luna continued, completely oblivious to her captive's protests.
Horror seized the fungus as it realized its suffering had only just begun.