Waste Not Mind

Having settled in, Ariana closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Ellie came and set Tarry upon her bosom.

Ariana focused outward, trying to find the flow of magic. She could sense it nearby, but it was as if it had been disconnected somehow. Perhaps it was when the tree fell. She searched about her for something, anything to connect to the flow.

Then she felt something: a small net that was connected to the fallen tree.

It was a mushroom.

She felt it trace through the tree, through the roots, into the ground, and all around her.

If she could sense that… perhaps she could use mushrooms after all. 

Her free hand rested upon one of the upturned roots. She could feel the flow. Her mind reached out to the mushroom. She felt her awareness spread out. She weaved her magic through to the mushroom, and had it grow. The net expanded further, and further still. 

She felt it touch the net of another mushroom. The second was closer to where she sensed the flow. She jumped her magic to the next mushroom and had it spread. Then it touched another. And that one touched another. Her magic leaped from one to the next, building a long line along the network that inched ever closer to the source of the flow. 

She felt herself slowly connecting to the network, becoming part of it. She almost lost herself in it, but she felt the steady bouncing of Tarry on her chest. That kept her mind from wandering too far from herself. 

Her mycelium steadily expanded; some paths were less effective than others, and they were diverted. Whenever she touched a new net, it became part of her. 

Finally, she felt her mycelium connect to the flow. It sent a jolt through her, and the whole flow around them seemed to spark to life. 

She could feel it connecting her to things that felt impossibly far. She felt the pines from the battle with Millim. She felt the stone trees of Reddenton. She felt the cotton fields of Loomholm.

She wept softly. “Hayden… Sophie…”

Sophie had been holding her hands to Ariana’s stomach. Hayden leaned into the nook to check on them. 

Ariana took a shallow breath. “Give me about an hour… then both of you, use every drop of magic you have. Together. Nothing spared.”

Hayden stepped into the nook next to her. “You sure about this?”

Ariana nodded. “Whatever you do… don’t stop healing for anything. I’ll deal with the magic cost.”

“…Alright. I trust you.”

Sophie nodded. “Me too.”

Ellie settled down next to Ariana. She looked exhausted. Come to think of it, Everyone looked exhausted. Ellie swiftly passed out. 

Sophie switched places with Hayden after a while. 

She grumbled a bit. “You lied to me…”

Hayden sighed. “I’ve never lied to you. I just… left out some details.”

“Then tell me everything now… how bad is it?”

Hayden hesitated.

“Hayden…”

“Alright, alright… the attack went clean through you. Got your other arm, too. You’re… being held together by magic at this point. It’s… why we’re healing you round the clock.”

“…Oh my god…”

“Like I said… Alvin’s the reason we’re talking now. He basically glued you back together, but… that’s all he could do.”

“Am I… even alive right now?”

Hayden took a breath. “I choose to think so. Far as I know, healing don’t work on the dead.”

That was something of a relief to her.

She spent the rest of the hour preparing a closely packed Witch’s Garden. At the same time, she skimmed her skill list. She looked over the list, and it seemed a bit different. Her status display, too. 

Her level hadn’t changed since the last time she checked, but next to her name on the status display, there was a title. “Witch of the Wood.”

It seemed official now.

Her skill list had changed significantly. Her plant and water skills were gone. The Animate skill was gone, too. Instead, there was a skill called Mastery of Nature.

She had the Reaping and Churning skills still, but now there was one called Unique: Witch’s Garden. Could she really just make them up? There was also one called Phylactery. 

She had no idea what that word meant. She thought she remembered something about a “phylo” word in college. Was it plant-based? That sounded right to her. It kind of sounded like the word factory. Maybe she could make more plants? When did she get that skill? 

She still had about a dozen skill points remaining. It wasn’t much, but she had something she wanted to use them on. 

She’d experienced Sophie using a spell or skill that transferred magic to someone else. If she could use that skill and combine it with Witch’s Garden, she could supercharge Sophie and Hayden’s healing power.

Sophie was resting next to her. “Sophie… what did you call that one magic spell? The one where you gave Hayden magic.”

Sophie turned to her. “Hm? Oh, that one is…” Her eyes darted back and forth as if reading something in front of her. “…Mana Gift.”

“Thank you.” Ariana searched for that skill, and she fortunately had just enough points for it, with a single point left over.

With all that settled, she set to work sewing Witch’s Garden.

The hour passed, and Ariana had stockpiled a great mass of energy. With the mycelium acting as a proxy for her contact directly into the flow and expanding the flow where she willed it, she was able to accumulate numerous energy masses in a ring of flow around the nook. 

She let the others know she was ready.

Sophie and Hayden knelt down on either side of her. They both placed their hands on her stomach. They began to chant in unison. The chant took several minutes. Their signature glows emanated from their bodies. 

When they finally finished the chant, both pressed firmly to her stomach and shouted together. “Three Saints United Healing!” It felt almost like a gut check as the initial wave of healing magic slammed into Ariana’s body. There was a pins-and-needles tingle spreading out. She had a pair of mushrooms grow taller… taller… taller next to them. 

Whenever one of them would look tired, she harvested a node from Witch’s Garden and bopped them with mushrooms to transfer it with Mana Gift. This gave them surge after surge of magic to maintain a level of healing magic otherwise impossible. That would be what it took to heal Ariana. 

Ellie did her absolute best to make sure Sophie and Hayden stayed awake the entire time. 

The next day, Ariana felt a pin and needle sensation carving through her body like poison. It sent spasms into her arms and legs, which she hadn’t been able to feel until now. It hurt a great deal, but the fact that she could feel anything was proof enough that she was alive and in one piece.

After another agonizing hour of healing, everything and everyone was spent. Sophie and Hayden collapsed next to her. Ellie was quick to join them. 

Ariana tried to wiggle her other arm free of the bundle. It still had that static feeling of a limb having fallen asleep, as did everything below the waist.

She managed to free her arm. It was intact …but on her forearm just above the elbow, it was like a glittering gold band an inch wide. She sat up a bit from the bundle and looked at her bare body. That gold band was around her waist as well. It was like the gaps had been filled in with gold.

She felt the chill in the air and went back down into the bundle.

She was broken.

But they had all put her back together again.