Sunflower - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

A suitor approaches me as we walk.

I lift my petals, hiding my face from it as it comes to me. A bee.

The fat bee buzzes noisily, scouring the landscape for beautiful flowers. I am flattered. Thank you, bee. But I am not ready yet.

Besides, you are making my friend nervous.

My mushroom-friend, staring warily at the bee, picks up her pace.

The confused bee however, unsure as to why I am moving in such an unusual manner for a flower, pursues me.

I too, am unsure as to why we move, bee. But this is what it is. I find that it is best to simply not worry about it. After all, it’s such a beautiful day today.

The bee is indifferent to my explanation and continues to pursue us.

My friend lets out a frightened, chirping sound and runs again.

It seems stressful, having to run so much.

I wonder, if next time we stop, if I can show her how to relax properly? She just needs to bury her roots in the soil and stand next to me, so that we can look at the sun together.

All of this staying unburied stuff is very unhealthy. She certainly looks that way and I am sure that, if the other sunflowers could see me, that they would think the same of me.

But that is fine.

I have seen the world. I have witnessed incredible riches. There were a lot of trees. There was a really big rock. I was carried to water. Now, a bee has fallen for me.

- Unrequited love.

What a life I have lived.

I am a blessed sunflower.

_________________________________________________________

A heart has been broken, my suitor having had no choice but to give up the chase, after we went too far from his route.

But that is okay. Things like that can wait until I am older.

They can wait until my friend has finally managed to settle down. It would be rude to let myself get pollinated and then run.

The bee deserves better.

I like the bees.

They have the same tone of fuzzy yellow that the sun has.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 14/35

That happens a lot.

I do not know what it means.

I am still mad at the word-wood, for blocking my sunlight, back at the creek a few days ago.

Perhaps that is unfair of me?

My friend seems to enjoy looking at it, every time that it appears. She has a curious look, one that I can not decipher.

Why does her face move?

Her eyes open and close. Her squishy flesh-spots just beneath them, sunken inwardly, move in and out. The mouth of hers moves. But she does not say anything, rather, she seems to just distort and change these features, depending on the circumstances and time.

How strange.

Mushrooms are very odd creatures.

If the word-wood makes my friend happy, then I will be happy. Even if I do not quite understand why.

The sun is beautiful today. I hope we can take another break soon. I could use a drink.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 15/35

_________________________________________________________

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 35/35

[LEVEL UP!]

Congratulations! You are now level {3}!

HP: 09/09 ↗

SOUL: 05/05 ↗

- [Stats] -

STR: 01

DEX: 01

WIS: 06 ↗

INT: 05 

LUK: 07 

LOV: 05 ↗

NEW - [Sunkiss]{Active}

Spell Cost: {3} SOUL

Actively channel stored solar energy out through your petals up to a distance equal to your WIS in meters.

• Deals DMG to all non-rooted creatures for an amount that is equal to your INT.
• Heals all rooted creatures for an amount that is equal to your INT.

I do not understand what this means.

But my mushroom friend is very excited. I stare at her, wondering why she is looking at me, instead of the sun. Or is she just looking at the word-wood?

I suppose it is interesting in a way, just like the big rock was.

- That was very interesting.

Perhaps I have really been unkind to the word-wood? There must be some merit in it, no? If it can make a mushroom like her happy.

I shake my leaves, feeling good.

My friend tucks in my roots into the soil, gently burying them, for which I am grateful.

The night is coming once more.

I wonder what the sun will look like tomorrow?

She sits down next to me and the two of us watch as the ruby red sun slowly vanishes over the distant horizon. It is sad to see it go, like it does so every day.

The world grows dark and I turn towards the east, waiting in anticipation for the sun to rise again tomorrow.

My friend makes her fire and then lays down between me and it.

I notice that she also faces the east.

She is learning.

Good.

_________________________________________________________

We have found a gray place.

My friend is unhappy, despite the fresh sun that has come to accompany us. I do not understand her reasoning.

The gray place is odd. It is unlike any landscapes I have seen before. There is no grass. There are rocks, but they seem oddly square and uniformly shaped. They are stacked together and then, from the looks of things, have fallen apart again.

Cinders dot the soil and the little wood that remains.

Most of everything is covered in ash.

Ash is good for the soil. Fire is dangerous, but it is also a great boon, if used at the right place and time. It contains many nutrients and minerals and it makes the dirt rich and fertile, once the heat and the flame have died away.

The flame seems to have died away here. But the cinders remain. They glow.

- The fire is not that old.

My mushroom-friend does not like the gray place. I can tell because of the way she moves. She is jumpy and tense. Her demeanor and posture is unfitting to the sunny, bright day that holds the world captive today.

I find that I am indifferent to it, the gray place.

A bird sings off to the side and I nervously turn my head, but see nothing there.

Bones litter the streets. They look as they have been picked clean by both the fire and the predators of the gray place.

We pass by a small hole. Inside of it, I see a dead thing. It looks like my ugly friend. It is deformed with two stumps atop and two stumps below. It still has its flesh.

But it does not have a head.

How unusual.

There are more things like her. I was not aware of this. Perhaps she is not a mushroom after all? Perhaps I was mistaken? Mushrooms do not look like this and mushrooms do not have bones.

She can not be a mushroom.

What are you, friend?

I do not know.

I am a sunflower.

_________________________________________________________

We are hiding again.

Why do we hide?

I do not like it here. It is dark. It is cramped. The sun can not find me here. This is most unpleasant.

I am set into the dirt and I drink of the rich, damp soil of the secluded grove. I am nested between some trees, who steal most of my sunlight. My friend hides inside of a hollow log just next to me. She is quiet. I am quiet.

It is peaceful.

The not-birds are here. Are they pursuing us from the forest? Or are they a different group of not-birds?

I do not know.

I am a sunflower.

I watch them, the not-birds, as they scour the grove. They are small, sniffy creatures with long, jagged, stabby claws on their green, gangly hands. One of them eats flesh. It looks to be flesh of the ilk of my ugly-friend, judging by the shape of the stump-end it holds in its hands and gnaws on.

My friend has stump ends just like that.

Something screams.

I turn my head. It seems they have found her.

How unfortunate.

I watch as she kicks and fights, the not-birds surrounding the log as a series of clawed green hands tug at her. They seem to have a fistful of her brown petals.

- Are they petals? Does she have petals?

I do not know. I have never seen petals like them before. But if she is not a flower, then she can not have petals, I suppose.

How confusing.

I suppose it is bad luck for her, that she is going to be eaten. A shame. I rather liked being carried.

I turn back towards the sky, trying to see if I can find the sun. But I can not. The trees, tall and green, they steal most of its rays, blocking them from ever reaching me. Only one seems to find me.

I am unhappy about this. I would like more light than this.

The quiet is ruined as the screaming continues.

I am also unhappy about this.

How unpleasant.

Turning back towards the mess, I watch. They seem to have dragged her out of the log and she’s trying to fight them off, but there are many not-birds and just one her. Besides, she is weak, nourished only on sleep, water and sunlight.

Even I need minerals from the soil.

She falls down to the ground as she is grappled and she claws into the dirt, trying to get away from the not-birds, as they claw at her bark, tearing at it.

Please be quiet.

(Sunflower) used: [SUNKISS]

{3 SOUL}

SOUL: 02/05

(Sunflower) has scorched (Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin) with its [SUNKISS] for {5} FIRE-DMG

(Sunflower) has healed (Burch) with its [SUNKISS] for {5} HP

More screaming. How unpleasant. This is the worst. It is such a calm day today, can we not all just be silent and sit in the sunlight together?

The not-birds scream and screech, howling like dying animals as they fall away, down to the ground, clutching their faces.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

+1 SOUL

EXP: 8/55

SOUL: 03/05

My friend screams and looks at me, looking around at the not-birds who crawl back onto their feet. They seem angrier now than before.

This is troublesome.

Oh well.

What else is there to do?

(Sunflower) used: [SUNKISS]

{3 SOUL}

SOUL: 00/05

(Sunflower) has scorched (Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin) with its [SUNKISS] for {5} FIRE-DMG

(Sunflower) has healed (Burch) with its [SUNKISS] for {5} HP

Many screams are now quiet. I watch as the not-birds, as their seedy, bird-like eyes, set alight. It is as if the sun were inside of their faces, burning brightly.

How pleasant.

They fall over and die, spasming like little worms.

I like worms.

They make the soil rich and fertile. Worms are my friends.

…Maybe she is a worm?

I look at my wormy-friend, as she squirms too, pulling her hands free from the dirt, wiggling as she tries to get up to her shaking legs. She must be a worm.

Something stirs to the side. A not-bird, laying on the ground.

My friend screams and grabs a rock and cracks it against its head.

Please be quiet.

I am trying to enjoy the little sun that I can get.

She continues to scream and the rock continues to move. It turns red. What a beautiful thing. I have never seen a red rock before.

I watch her for a time, until her scream runs out. But she continues to smash the skulls of the not-birds with the rock.

Indifferent, I face back towards the sky. Maybe, if I am lucky, more sun will shine through this little gap here soon?

- I hope so.

I am a sunflower.

Something continues to crack and squelch off to my side. But at least there is no screaming.

How pleasant. It sounds like water.

Blood is good for the soil.

I am a thirsty sunflower.

The fight is over.

(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin)(Hobgoblin) have died.

+ 48 EXP

+1 SOUL

EXP: 56/55

SOUL: 01/05

[LEVEL UP!]

Congratulations! You are now level {4}!

HP: 11/11 ↗

SOUL: 07/07 ↗

- [Stats] -

STR: 02 ↗

DEX: 02 ↗

WIS: 06 

INT: 05 

LUK: 07 

LOV: 05

NEW - [Bloodmeal]{Passive}

• Undergoing a symbiosis, akin to one with a fungus, your roots can now thrive and embed themselves into any kind of soil, rich in blood. You will receive precious metals and the other will receive photosynthesized sugars.

Rich in potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen, blood-soaked soil, dried into blood meal, is a very potent fertilizer. Given its nature, it is difficult to obtain under normal life conditions.