How it all Began…

Deep in a forest, night was just settling in, and all was peaceful…

Birds were dozing in their little nests, foxes sleeping in their homes, deer resting on the lush grass, squirrels in their tre- huh?

Dashing through the sleeping forest, a little girl no more than 8 or 7 years old was sprinting fiercely between the trees, with tears in her eyes and a dull, unnatural sore spreading from her back.

She was dressed rather casually, definitely not made for a run in a forest; it looks like a nightgown, something someone would go to sleep in, it fluttered chaotically as she rushed.

Light footprints were left where she ran, a sign of her incredible speed and strength…such ability seemed unfitting for a child to have.

Yet she still ran at that speed, unrelenting, as if nothing in the entire world could stop her…

At least…

Until she tripped.

Her foot had snug itself under some kind of thin root, hidden under the shrubbery she was passing through.

As she fell through the bush, she started to tumble down an apparent hill with the momentum she carried.

The girl tried to grab the ground to slow her fall, but that only served for the rough dirt to dig into her hands.

In the blur of the short stumble, she was unaware of the root still stuck onto her ankle, as she went down and down the hill, it lost its slack more and more until it ultimately went taut with one, hard-

~TWIST~

It yanked her body upside down against the hill, yet also dispersed most of the inertia of her previous sprint.

The tumble finally ended at the bottom of the hill as she found herself in the middle of a large thicket that was luckily, spacious.

Before she could even see the injuries, she immediately wanted to scream from the pain that radiated throughout her body, some subtle tears already falling out of her eyes, but she held her mouth closed by sheer will, her hand going into a fist as it shook.

One memory strongly reaffirmed itself in her mind as she remembered her grandmothers' stories about the forest.

They warned of monsters that called this forest their home, which should've deterred her from entering this forest in the first place, but she heard from the huntsmen that they naturally live in the deepest parts of the forest, and are rarely seen outside of them, much less near settlements, but she didn't know how far in she was, and what if there was one out right now?

Motivated by that fear, she looked over where she felt pain the most, her legs, and what she found made her freeze still, the light in her eyes darkening in despondence.

Her left leg was heavily bruised as it took the brunt of the fall, blood leaked out of the many dirt-filled wounds, it absolutely ached and it didn't feel like she could walk on it anytime soon, and her right leg was no better…

It, thankfully, had less bruises and injuries thanks to the other taking most of the fall, but the foot itself was twisted at a nasty 90° angle, and signs of swelling were already there.

Her legs suffered the most of the trip, however, the rest of her body wasn't left scot-free; there were many lacerations, cuts, amongst various other injuries across her body, not to mention her clothes, which weren't even providing much protection against the night's cold, now had multiple holes, letting the cold air in; the scorching feeling of friction across her skin accompanying these fresh wounds along with the cold were creating a nauseous feeling that did not help her situation one bit.

She is in no position to walk, much less stand, and what's worse is that, unless someone was basically on top of her, she would NOT be found.

Tears started to gather in her eyes again; her body was both sore and in pain all over, and the unnatural ache was only getting worse, which didn't even make sense!

Pain emanated all throughout her legs & body, with no one to be there and help her, to even know she is suffering, and she's in the middle of the forest full of wild animals, and possibly even monsters, both of which can prove dangerous to her, especially without the ability to stand her ground.

She was on the verge of bawling her eyes out even more than before when she heard something past the undergrowth.

She went quiet to see if it was her imagination.

One second, then two, and three… she was about to sigh in relief before the shuffling of leaves was heard; it sounded like it was moving towards her direction.

She instantly shut her mouth with tears still forming in her eyes as she fearfully stared at the leaves ahead of her, trying to breath quieter, reluctantly awaiting whatever terrible creature that was coming straight at her.

The sound of something shifting past the leaves sounded again, closer…

It was then the girl noticed something odd, a faint glow of green was present, coming from the direction of the monster, which was only getting stronger the closer it got.

Her curiosity almost eclipsed her fear as the creature was just beyond the leaf ahead of her, its figure highlighted thanks to the glow...which was smaller than the leaf?

As it finally moved past the leaf and revealed itself, she was surprised to see it wasn't big or frightening, in fact... it was a mushroom.

It was some sort of creature, one of the many she was unfamiliar with, its stem, gills(underside of cap), even the spots on its head were black, but that's where the color ended, its thick cap was a deep, luscious dark green; the depth of the colors matched the night well, as if it thrives during this exact time of night.

But what really set it apart from a regular old mushroom was the front of it, from where the stem meets the gills, there was a good-sized gap, it was shaped like an almond, there was nothing but pitch darkness and two dots of green light side by side in the middle; these were its eyes.

There was even a small amount of translucence that made it borderline look exquisite!

It was so small that even while she was laying down flat from the fall, filled with injuries and tears, they barely met at eye level with each other, with the mushroom being just a tad shorter.

The mushroom quickly squirmed away once it saw the enormous being, hiding behind the same shrub leaf as before.

The only reason why the little girl could tell it was still there and not gone was because of its silhouette was still there, given away by its glow.

It was waiting there for some reason.

She didn't know how it found her; even if the landing was rough, it wasn't too loud, and she would've noticed that glow if it was nearby… she didn't even know how such a teeny thing survived in this forest.

Including the bioluminescent glow and that slightest hint of translucence that is right on the line of making the mushroom look ethereal, it should've been hunted and eaten long ago by the animals and monsters for being such a sore thumb, yet here it was, right in front of her.

"Hi…"

She meekly tried to converse with the little one.

"Hmmmph?"

A weird(but cute) sound emanated from the mushroom as it peaked out from behind the shrub leaf.

It stared at her, and she stared back, it was like this for a few moments before it ducked back behind the leaf.

She was afraid that it was going to leave, but then, it revealed itself once again, moving around the leaf, and once it did, the mushroom started to shift itself over to her.

In her eyes, she even thought it was a bit adorable, seeing it twist and turn just to get in front of her, but that still begged the question, how did such a delicate little thing survive?

Once it finally got in front of her, just a good couple dozen inches from her face, they stared at one another once again; it having to look up a little bit just to make eye contact, with both curious to what, who the other is.

For whatever reason, the green glow of light it released didn't even hurt her eyes, even with the source of the light in her face, it felt...comforting, it was not really heat but not really just a feeling in the head either, it gave temporary relief, although she didn't notice any of this, she just thought the pain died down a bit.

She was about to speak once again before she winced to the pain spiking up again, the dullness reacting in kind and growing along with it, neither seemed to like the fact of being ignored.

The mushroom's eyes eased; any fear left in them seemingly vanished.

As the little girl writhed from the pain, in a flash, she no longer felt the pain…literally.

~HHMMM~

The green luminescence suddenly intensified right in her face, yet, the light still didn't hurt her eyes, in fact, the pain radiating from her legs and body started dispersing rapidly, and after a few seconds, she didn't feel it anymore.

Even the unnatural dullness from before was fading, she stared in amazement as it was hard to believe, but the thing curing her pain right now was the mushroom!

The gentle, yet vivacious glow that surrounded her felt like she was in the embrace of her mother, on her lap, where she felt at her safest, in front of the hearth of their home and its warmth, with her father just beside them, hugging them both…

The mushroom's eyes were on her as she saw multiple small orbs of green light appear out of thin air; they floated around it for a moment before they flew towards her, or more specifically, her injuries.

As each ball of light touched her injuries, they shined green for a moment before disappearing completely, these orbs were even absorbing the blood as they traveled to every individual wound.

With every ball consumed in the process of healing her, another would appear near the mushroom to rush to the next injury, it never slowed down even a bit.

She couldn't make full sense of it, this is beyond what her grandmother has taught her about life force; sure, it had the ability to heal, but only the user of it.

"It is a much more complicated matter to use it to heal others rather than yourself."

That was what her grandmother told her when she asked if she could use this energy to heal others, to which she was saddened by, but could only accept it, but this little thing was healing with no issue whatsoever!

To the side of the mushroom, a good portion of the balls were not going to her, but combining, growing bigger and bigger with every orb added to it, until it was as big as her head, it then gently moved over to her foot and, with a little resistance, encompassed the entirety of it.

She could see her foot slowly returning itself back into place, the swelling going down at a miraculous rate, with the large orb getting smaller as it was set back in place.

It was a surreal sight and experience; she didn't even feel the pain of it returning to its natural position, but she still felt the swelling going down, she could still feel her foot, but there was no pain or anything of the like during the entire process.

It even sounded like there was a soft humming sound in the background, she couldn't tell if she was actually hearing it or not, but to her, it sounded like her parents, humming as they would tuck her in for bed.

Once it was all over and the light dimmed back to the regular glow from the shroom and all the orbs were gone, she had no scratch marks, no scabs, wounds, no nothing… the dirt and mud in her wounds, unbelievably, even the torn fabric and mess on her clothes was gone, for that, she had no idea.

She tried, and sure enough, she could stand up just fine.

'Even the soreness is gone...'

She checked herself to see if there was anything strange with her, if she was now part mushroom or something, but she was all fine and dandy, she didn't even feel tired from the running previously.

After finishing up her little inspection, she looked back at the tiny mushroom, it truly was small; it had to look all the way up on the border of being uncomfortable and having to back up while she needed to bend her neck on the fringe of straining it just to make eye contact, and she was a kid.

"Thank you..."

She thanked the little guy for healing her, if it wasn't for this wee short-shroom, she probably would've been stranded here all by herself; she was sure that the town's guardsmen and her grandmother would've come and found her, but she was unsure if they would've found her before the beasts did.

"Uppph!"

The mushroom made a happy noise in response, its body going up and down in a short motion, she could tell it understood her and was grateful for her thanks.

She was about to say something else before she heard something faint, someone yelling.

"RAYLA? RAYLA MY DEAR, ARE YOU THERE?"

Rayla turned her head and, in the distance, saw a group of 13 wearing armor, and the one in the middle of this group was a woman in some sort of green button coat with purple trimmings.

She looked to be in the middle of her forties, but she was actually far past her nineties, approaching her hundreds.

This was her grandmother, Maylin, her caretaker.

Instinctively, she wanted to straightaway run to her and hug her, but she stopped herself and looked back at her new friend.

It had heard the shouting, turning in the direction to see who was yelling, but couldn't see due to its incredibly small size.

Already expecting the response they'll give once they see this little one, she spoke in a hushed tone, "Can you stay behind me, please?"

It looked up at her with a questioning look, it didn't know why she asked, but it listened to Rayla and stood behind her right leg.

Like this, she started walking towards the group in a slow manner as it followed right behind her, out of sight.

Once Rayla got in sight of the group, her grandma started rushing towards her while saying with near tears, "YOU'RE OKAY! I was so worried!"

But she stopped herself when she saw her granddaughter holding her hand out, telling her to stop.

She thought she knew why Rayla did this and she answered in an honest tone, "I'm sorry I pushed you too far, I shouldn't have done that, it was beyond harsh what I did, I am…just so worried for them, you know…

~Inhale~ ~Exhale~

But that doesn't matter right now, what matters, is that I did something a guardian should never do: harm their child, and I'm sorry, I can't express that enough, I betrayed your trust and went behind your back, I can't ask for us to just forget that ever happened, and I don't intend to try and justify my actions, what I did was wrong… all I can ask from you now is not to forgive me, but to know I'm sorry, please, don't hold this against me, at least not now, we need to find a better way to help your parents-"

But Maylin stopped straight away, after noticing a glow behind Rayla's foot.

"Rayla… I want you to listen to me closely… slowly walk towards me, don't do anything sudden…"

Unbeknownst to the duo, as Maylin spoke these words, she performed several hand gestures with one of her hands behind her back, the soldiers spread out a bit farther, edging towards Rayla, and hiding in the trees, multiple people readied their bows and crossbows, aiming directly at her.

At this point, our little friend peaked out behind her foot to see who was talking and why it had to hide in the first place, and seeing the big group of colossal beings clad in some kind of armor, and the feeling of something…oppressive, up in the trees, it tensed, drawing nearer to Rayla.

Maylin promptly closed her hand over her thumb.

Right then and there, a barrage of arrows shot out from the trees, the soldiers all rushed forward, supposedly all towards Rayla, but in reality, this assault was directed completely towards the teensy mushroom!

With haste, it jumped back, and not even a second after, all the arrows lodged themselves in the dirt, perfectly right where the shroom just was, with some even splitting the others down the middle, if it had been a moment too late…

It didn't think about it as the mushroom didn't stop jumping away in a chaotic manner as arrows glided through the air, with unnatural accuracy as they kept just barely missing their mark as it kept making sharp turns, leaving a trail of arrows in its wake, be it in front of or behind.

All it heard was yelling as it ran, from the soldiers screaming at the others to get it...

Maylin at the marksmen to hit it...

And Rayla for the others to stop.

The little shroom didn't like the yelling, it felt…toxic, unnerving, and the feeling of someone just… actively wanting nothing more than to hurt it, to KILL it… it didn't do anything wrong, in fact, it even helped the child that woman seems to care so much about, so why… why was it met with violence…

It couldn't handle this strange emotion.

Its glow started to mushroom; it was getting stronger and started to spread further, getting more intense as it dodged.

But with this new development, the crossbowmen & archers were able to target the extremely small target even easier, as the mushroom was like a torch in a pitch-black cave, especially so in the night and with its eye-catching features, and don't even get me started on how its glow contrasted the dark colors of its body.

It was then one of the arbalist managed to fire one that was heading right for it!

The slippery target's dodging pattern was finally understood as he fired this arrow, and as the small glowing mushroom danced between the rain of arrows, it was nearing a thicket of bushes.

As it was so close to freedom, but in a middle of a jump, one of the last few ones it needed to do before it could escape, this arrow appeared in its vision, the arrow was going to meet it mid-jump!

Time seemed to slow down for it, with the arrow approaching in slow motion on its right side.

It was at this moment, the torrent of emotions in the baby mushroom apexed.

In that instant, all of its glowing focused into the mushroom, and its body achieved complete translucency, with a vivid green hue outlining its entire body.

With a newfound speed, the arrow missed its target and ended up in the ground with the rest of the failures, as the mushroom moved so rapidly, all that was seen was a green blur and a trail.

The people were stunned at the sight of this, they all stood still, rooted in surprise and silence, and just like this…

The mushroom made it through the thicket…

It was gone.