Chapter 8: Moss Pixies

Crystal woke to dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy. She stretched, working out the kinks from sleeping on jungle floor. Nearby, Kaji uncurled from the tight ball he'd formed overnight, his tail flicking as he yawned.

"Morning, eh? Dreamy-dreams good or bad?" He rubbed his eyes, fur sticking up in odd directions.

"Neither. Just strange." Crystal pulled her hair back, tying it with a strip of cloth. "Spohr awake yet?"

The Myconari stood motionless at the edge of their camp, cap glowing faintly in the dawn light. At the sound of his name, he turned, mycelium tendrils retracting from the soil.

With his psychic spores, Spohr showed Crystal and Kaji an image of a similar grove in an area with stones jutting out of the land like tall sentinels. The image changed to a montage of the sun rising and setting three times.

Kaji's ears perked up. "The Standing Stones? That's not Boneback land. It's nobody's land."

"Nobody's by choice or by danger?" Crystal asked, packing her few loose items into her inventory with a thought.

"Both-neither-both." Kaji shrugged, tossing a piece of fruit from hand to hand. "Place has stories. Bad ones."

They ate quickly—wild berries and something like a banana that Spohr assured was safe. As they set off, Crystal felt it again—that strange humming beneath her skin. It pulsed through the ground, vibrated in the trees, whispered in the morning breeze.

"Do you hear that?" she asked, pausing to press her palm against a massive tree trunk.

Kaji tilted his head. "Hear what? Birds? Insects? The sound of my empty stomach, eh?"

"It's like... a heartbeat." Crystal closed her eyes. "It's everywhere."

Spohr's gill-like eyes rippled with interest, but he didn't communicate anything further.

As they traveled deeper into the jungle, the humming grew stronger. Crystal felt it in her bones, in her blood, in her breath—the living pulse of this world connecting everything. She didn't understand it, but somehow it felt familiar, like a song she'd forgotten she knew.

Crystal stopped mid-stride, her head tilting as if listening to something distant. The humming had changed—not louder exactly, but more insistent. It tugged at her awareness like an invisible thread.

"I need to..." she murmured, already veering off the path they'd been following.

"Need to what? Where are you—" Kaji's question hung in the air as Crystal pushed through a curtain of hanging vines without answering.

"Ah-woo! Kreecha! We're supposed to go that way-way!" Kaji pointed in the opposite direction, his tail flicking in agitation. When Crystal didn't respond, he turned to Spohr. "Is she broke-broken? Did her brain gloop-rot overnight?"

Spohr's cap pulsed with concern as he watched Crystal disappear into the dense foliage. He extended a long-fingered hand toward Kaji and released a small cloud of communication spores.

"Follow-follow her? But she's going the wrong—fine, fine." Kaji sighed dramatically. "Are all hoomans flip-noodles, eh?"

They hurried after Crystal, who moved with uncharacteristic sureness through the unfamiliar terrain. She ducked under low-hanging branches and stepped over root systems without breaking stride, her eyes fixed on something neither of her companions could see.

"Crystal!" Kaji called, scrambling over a fallen log. "What into you? Is this some strange hooman ritual? Are you zoodle walking with your eyes open?"

[New word added to Simari dictionary: Zoodle – Sleep]

She didn't answer, nor acknowledged the Verdant Path. The humming had become a song now, pulling her forward with gentle insistence. It felt right—like finding the perfect stance in taekwondo, that moment of balance when everything aligned.

After several minutes of brisk walking, Crystal emerged into a small clearing dominated by an enormous tree. Its trunk, wider than her car had been, rose like a cathedral column, branches spreading out to form a living dome overhead. The entire surface was carpeted in luminous moss that seemed to pulse in time with the humming she felt.

Crystal approached slowly, drawn to a peculiar bulge in the trunk—a gnarled knot that protruded at eye level. Unlike the rest of the tree, this knot remained bare of moss, its surface smooth and polished like aged wood.

"There you are!" Kaji burst into the clearing, Spohr gliding silently behind him. "What seven winds are you—"

Crystal raised her hand, silencing him without looking back. She stepped closer to the tree, her palm outstretched toward the knot.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Spohr's eyes widened, the gill-like structures rippling rapidly. He released a warning cloud of spores, but it was too late.

Crystal's fingers made contact with the smooth wood. A jolt of energy—not painful, but intense—surged through her arm. White light sparked from her fingertips, dancing across the surface of the knot like lightning in miniature. The wood began to glow, then split along invisible seams, unfolding like a flower in bloom.

Inside the hollow space revealed by the opening knot was a tiny creature. No larger than her thumb, it appeared to be a diminutive female form with translucent dragonfly wings that caught the light in rainbow prisms. A red mushroom cap crowned its head, with wisps of moss-like hair flowing from beneath. Its skin had the pale green tint of new growth, with moss-like textures covering parts of its limbs.

The creature blinked up at Crystal with oversized brown eyes, their depths reflecting the same bioluminescence as the surrounding moss.

"It's beautiful," Crystal whispered, transfixed.

The tiny being rose on delicate wings, hovering at eye level. It studied Crystal with unmistakable intelligence, head tilting curiously. Then, with a decisive movement, it darted forward and placed a minuscule hand against the tip of Crystal's nose.

The touch was feather-light, but Crystal felt a warmth spread through her, like sunlight flowing beneath her skin. The humming she'd been feeling all along suddenly harmonized into perfect clarity.

[Familiar Bond established. This creature has chosen you as its companion. Would you like to name your new familiar?]

The system notification appeared in Crystal's vision, glowing green letters that seemed to float among the moss-covered branches.

"A familiar?" Crystal breathed, barely registering Kaji's mouth hanging open without a joke behind it.

The tiny being circled her head once before settling on her shoulder, its wings folding neatly against its back. It emitted a soft, musical trill that somehow conveyed both question and contentment.

"Roots and riddles," Kaji whispered, his usual bravado momentarily forgotten. "That a moss pix-pixie. They just stories—old myths the Simari tell leetle ones."

Spohr moved closer, his movements reverent. He extended one long finger near the creature, who acknowledged him with a polite nod but made no move to leave Crystal's shoulder.

[Awaiting name input. Choose wisely, as this bond is permanent.]

Crystal hesitated, studying the delicate being. Its moss-like hair reminded her of cotton candy in texture, soft and billowing. The mushroom cap atop its head gleamed with tiny speckles of light.

"Cottonmoss," she said finally. "Your name is Cottonmoss."

The pixie trilled happily, the sound like tiny bells. It—she—spun in a quick circle, leaving a trail of sparkling spores that dissipated into the air.

[Familiar registered: Cottonmoss. Bond level: Nascent. New abilities now available through the Companion Affinity Web.]

Cottonmoss nestled against Crystal's neck, her tiny form radiating surprising warmth. The humming that had guided Crystal here now settled into a pleasant background rhythm, no longer pulling but simply present—a connection to this world that felt more real than anything since her arrival.

They made their way back to the path, Crystal's step lighter than before. Cottonmoss flitted between her shoulder and the air around her, occasionally darting off to inspect a flower or leaf before returning to her perch.

"So, Kaji, what did you mean about moss pixies being myths?" Crystal asked, carefully ducking under a low-hanging vine.

Kaji bounded ahead, then circled back, his movements restless but his eyes fixed on Cottonmoss with undisguised wonder.

"Stories, just old stories." He hopped onto a fallen log, balancing with his tail. "Storykeeper tell leetle ones that moss pix-pixies are guardian spirits of the deep jungle. They say they are vine-tied to trickstahs the jungle chooses."

He leaned closer to Cottonmoss, who had settled on Crystal's shoulder. "Ooh, look at those leetle wings! So shiny-pretty!" He wiggled his fingers at the tiny being, who trilled in response. "The stories say they can heal oo-oos with their touch, hide travelers from danger, and speak to planty-plants."

"Are they dangerous?" Crystal asked, watching as Cottonmoss preened under the attention.

"Dangerous?" Kaji laughed, a sound like rustling leaves. "No-no! The opposite! The stories say they give their magic freely to their vine-tied one and never leave them." His voice dropped to a reverent whisper. "Simari who claimed to have moss pix-pixie friends were either great heroes or great lie-liars. No one's seen one in my lifetime."

Crystal turned to Spohr, who glided silently beside them. "What about the Deep Spore? Does it have any records of moss pixies?"

Spohr's cap pulsed softly as he released a cloud of communication spores. Crystal felt rather than heard his response—images of tiny winged beings flitting through ancient forests, memories preserved in the fungal network. Then a sense of time passing, forests changing, and the gradual fading of these beings from the conscious memory of the Deep Spore.

The message was clear: the Deep Spore remembered moss pixies, but they had vanished around the same time humans had disappeared from the jungle.

Crystal absently stroked Cottonmoss with one finger, the pixie leaning into her touch like a contented cat. What did it mean that both humans and moss pixies had vanished together? And why had one chosen to bond to her now?

The questions tumbled through her mind as they walked, the jungle growing denser around them. Sunlight filtered through the canopy in golden shafts, illuminating particles of pollen and spore that danced in the air. The humming remained, a constant presence that no longer seemed strange but comforting.

After several hours of walking, Crystal's thoughts circled back to the moment of discovery.

"Spohr," she said, breaking a long silence. "Do you know anything about the magic that came from my hands?"

The Myconari tilted his head, his gill-like eyes rippling with interest.

"When I touched that tree—the knot where Cottonmoss was—there was light. White light, like electricity, but it came from my fingertips." Crystal extended her hand, examining it as if expecting to see some visible change. "It felt like... like energy flowing through me, not from me. Do you know what that was?"

Spohr studied her for a long moment, his cap pulsing thoughtfully. Then, slowly, he shook his head. No communication spores followed—a simple, direct answer that spoke volumes in its silence.

Whatever had happened between Crystal and the moss pixie was unknown even to the ancient wisdom of the Deep Spore. If even the Deep Spore didn’t know…was this magic older than its memory? Or was it just buried too deep to reach?

Cottonmoss trilled softly, wings fluttering as she rose to hover before Crystal's face. The pixie's tiny features held an expression that seemed almost knowing, as if she understood far more than she could communicate.

Crystal smiled despite her confusion. "Well," she said quietly, "I guess we'll figure it out together."