Chp.15: An act of unconditional trust

Rhaegal, Efren, and Atelas made their way quickly to the other side of the cave, but they moved stealthily and weapons in hand to be ready to fight anything that came their way. However, they found nothing but other insects scurrying as they passed. It really felt like there was nothing else in the cave. "Well, that's flattering for us" Efren said as he put away his weapons. "So, shall we start inspecting the mushrooms?"

But to his surprise Rhaegal shook his head. "Actually, if it's all right with you, I'd like to look into one more thing first"

Efren hadn't expected the dragon to suddenly change his focus. What could be more important than finding food sources? He looked at Atelas, and the latter nodded, a sign that it was fine with him. "Okay. What do you want to examine?"

"That" Rhaegal said, pointing to one of the stone pillars that supported the cave's ceiling.

Both Efren and Atelas were confused. "Why are you interested?"

"Because something is wrong. These structures can't be natural" Rhaegal replied. "As we came here through the whole cave, I realized that they are arranged too regularly. Not to mention that they cannot have been formed by water erosion, because otherwise the holes from which the river emerges would be larger, and they can't even be stalactites that have reached the ground, because in the time it took for the cave to form, it would have collapsed under its own weight without something to support it. So where do they come from? Also, if you look closely, you can see that the the ground and the ceiling seem to swell where the columns touch them"

Efren and Atelas looked closely at the columns and realized that it was indeed true: the ground near the column was strangely swollen, as if there was something underneath that was lifting it, and the same was true of the ceiling. Which was probably a good thing, since the column could better support the weight, but it didn't make any sense compared to the normal processes of formation of stalactites and stalagmites in caves. "So... do you think these things are abnormal?"

"I don't know, but I want to solve this mistery" Rhaegal answrted, then he walked towards the nearest column. Efren and Atelas hurried after him.

The column was about two meters wide and ten meters high, like the cave. It was almost perfectly circular in shape, too perfect to be natural in fact. And looking closer, the swellings on the ground and on the ceiling resembled those created by the roots of some trees, so that slightly further away there were streaks that actually resembled roots going into the ground. As soon as they were in front of all three it was clear that the material that formed the column was not the same that formed the cave. "This isn't rock" Rhaegal murmured as he touched the strange material, which was clearly too white and brittle to be limestone.

Atelas touched the column with his fingers. Like all tigermen he had very sensitive pads on them, and therefore could better perceive the sense of touch. "The surface is definitely too smooth. More like a snail shell than a rock. It's definitely thicker, but the texture is the same"

"The shell of a snail? You mean this stuff is actually an animal?" Efren asked in amazement.

But Rhaegal shook his head. "An animal couldn't stay in one place long enough to merge with the cave. It couldn't feed" he said. "But it can't be ruled out that it's a living being..."

"Assuming we're going nowhere. Let's do this" Atelas said drawing his sword and then striking the column cleanly, cracking a piece of the shell and revealing an underlying structure similar to a sponge, yellowish in color and from which dripped a few drops of a strange slurry.

Rhaegal broke off a piece of it and tasted it, and his eyes widened in surprise. "This stuff... it's mycelium! Guys, this column is actually a fungus!"

"A fungus!? This!?" Efren exclaimed, looking at the huge column. "Since when are fungi so big!?"

"Why, had you seen a giant worm before today?" Atelas pointed this out to him. "Compared to the size of that creature or the strangeness of the sand sharks, a ten meters tall mushroom doesn't look that much to me..."

The tigerman froze and his hand immediately went to the hilt of his sword; Rhaegal and Efren also sensed the same danger and moved into attack position. There was a screech, then several stick-like things began to descend from the sky. They moved quickly as if they were swooping hawks, and soon the three could see that their heads were pointed. "What the...? Spears...?" Atelas muttered in confusion.

Rhaegal wasted no time: he leapt into the air and swung his sword, slicing the strange things in two. Some of them, however, managed to avoid him and suddenly changed their trajectory, moving away in several directions and then trying to attack him again, but the dragon eliminated them without any effort. When only one remained, however, he lowered his sword and moved his hand, and gripped it hard without letting go; it was very slippery and thrashed furiously, but Rhaegal's grip was firm. The deago returned to Atelas and Efren and showed them what he had captured. "This cave never ceases to amaze me, I have to admit it"

The creature in his hands was a snake barely a meter long, but it had a head similar to the point of a spear and on the sides of the body there were two membranes supported by some ribs protruding from the body; it was probably with them that those strange animals had managed to change direction in the air. It was completely purple, except for the two membranes which were green. It didn't seem to be very dangerous, but the head was very hard, a characteristic probably due to the fact that the primary attack technique of its species was based on hitting the enemy as if they were actually spears.

"Wow, that's really aggressive" Efren said, observing the snake which although it was clearly outnumbered rather than fleeing was still trying to hit them, bobbing its head as if it were a dart. "It probably has some kind of symbiotic relationship with this... pillar-fungus? Is that a correct term? Oh well. I guess their relationship is based on the pillar-fungus that provides these snakes with food and shelter, and they in return defend it from dangers"

Rhaegal nodded. It wasn't the first time he'd seen such a symbiotic relationship, even though the ones he knew were based on plants and some birds or insects like wasps, certainly not snakes. And considering that that cave was visited by sand worms to feed, it was only natural that those huge fungi would have such a defense system: that way, if a sand worm tried to eat them or knock them down to get through, it would be stopped by the snakes. In fact, their initial attack method in which they imitated spears seemed designed to strike a creature with soft skin and no protective skeleton. "They probably attacked us because Atelas hit the column. They must have perceived us as a threat to their home". Having said that, Rhaegal crushed the snake's head with his hand: letting it go was useless, if it considered them a threat to its home it would have continued to fight until it died. So he might as well have eliminated it.

Atelas looked at the column. "So the supporting structure of this cave isn't composed of rocks, but of gigantic fungi whose hyphae branch out both in the ground and in the ceiling, and which has snakes capable of gliding as defenses... if I were to wake up and find that this is a dream, I wouldn't be surprised" he said. In fact, that situation was far too absurd. "How do you think they managed to grow? I mean, what supported the cave before these fungi grew?"

"Maybe I have a theory. Atelas, could you climb to the top and tell me if the hyphae that go into the ceiling are identical to those that go into the ground?" Rhaegal asked. The tigerman didn't understand what the dragon wanted to verify, but he didn't object and started climbing rapidly; with his claws it was a pretty easy task.

As he climbed, Efren approached Rhaegal: "You could have just made me use a spell, like the one we came down here with"

"I know. But I don't want to waste even an ounce of mana on something so frivolous. Besides, I wanted to talk to you" Rhaegal replied.

Efren sighed. "It's about our earlier discussion, isn't it?"

Rhaegal nodded. He hadn't brought up the subject before because Dyana and Atelas were present and he didn't want to talk about it in front of them, as he would have risked revealing that he and his sisters had given their blood to the five adventurers; even though those two were also part of their group, Rhaegal could not speak on such sensitive subjects in front of them. "I know that, in the way I put it, I sounded very rude and impolite. But try to understand that..."

"Hey, buddy, calm down. You don't have to justify yourself to me. I know that wasn't what you meant" Efren stopped him quickly, much to Rhaegal's surprise. "What is it, are you surprised? I've known you for a long time now, I know what you are like. Others have taken it very hard, so be prepared to apologize to them, but I don't care. Being friends also means waiting for others to be ready to open up to you". The wizard hunter sighed. "I don't quite understand the point of view of you dragons, and I probably never will fully understand it… but I understand that giving your blood to someone else is not a decision you can make lightly. For comparison... I guess it's like those secrets that we humans confide only to our closest friends. And clearly to get close enough to reveal the biggest secrets of our lives takes time. I guess your blood is on the same level. It's an act of unconditional trust. Am I wrong?"

Rhaegal opened his mouth a couple of times, not knowing what to say. He didn't expect Efren to understand. He'd planned a long speech, thought it through a lot to make sure he comprehended what he really meant… but apparently there was no need for that. "It's not the blood that's… well, problematic for us" he finally replied. "It's making someone stronger, in any way. It makes us uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, even if we trust that person. It scares us, to be honest. And donating our blood is the purest and most lasting form of empowerment. Until now only one person had received it voluntarily, and only after we had ensured that it could not harm us in any way"

He expected Efren to be angry, since those words actually hinted that he and his family didn't want stronger beings around even if they were friends, but the wizard hunter smiled instead: "So my friends and I are were the first ever to receive your blood not only at your will, but also without any guarantee of safety on your part and therefore with you taking the risk? Man, I feel flattered now"

Rhaegal gasped for the second time. Seriously, really wasn't Efren angry? Maybe he was acting, or being sarcastic… but looking at his friend's face, Rhaegal was sure the smile he was flashing was genuine. Efren really was looking at the glass half full, focusing on the better part of the situation. "Well... that's all" he murmured, then he confessed: "Actually I wish I'd given it to you earlier, when we were leaving to free the beastmen... but Serengal and Corgorin were already angry because I had decided to leave with my real body instead of an avatar, I didn't know how they would react, and I didn't want to go behind their backs... and then, after what happened, for a few weeks I even reevaluated my opinion..."

"I guess being captured and used as hostages hasn't helped your faith in humans," Efren said. "I understand. You don't need to..."

"No, don't stop me. You said it, giving you my blood was an act of unconditional trust. Therefore, it makes no sense for me to have secrets from you. Besides, I urgently need to talk about this to someone, and I can't tell my family". Rhaegal's gaze became determined. "And for this very reason, you have to swear to me that you won't tell anyone what I'm about to reveal to you. I'm trusting you, but I want my trust to be well placed"

Efren felt a shiver run through his body. He felt that what the dragon was about to tell him was not a good thing. But he couldn't say no, not after everything they'd said so far. "It is well placed. You have my word that I won't tell anyone, not even my friends"

Rhaegal nodded and took a deep breath. "They didn't just use me as a hostage" he said. "They tortured me"