Syzar's Story

The following entries describe the rebirth of the faith of the Mycelyites, Syzar being the first of the new fold.

Part One: Death Before "Life"
He watched this soul stumbling about his Plagued Lands, with a trail of red blood flowing behind him.... Red. How strange thought Mycelyix, he had not seen this red blood in a very long time, instead he remembered the Dark Purple blood of those that Worshiped him long ago.

Worshiped he thought...only a few Worshiped him, most mortals with half a mind would stay away from his lands. However, those desperate or insane enough would seek out his lands and Pray for Acceptance. They would offer up riches that Cavilon himself would be jealous of. These gems had no meaning to Him, but they possessed something he wanted - something that made him jealous...Life. No man in his right mind would agree to give up their Spirit, but breathing in the Spores of Mushrooms long enough would drive them into insanity. Drive them to laugh at Death itself. Drive them to Slit their own throat in his Name. To offer up their Bodies and Spirit to Him, with their Last Breath. Mycelyix would reward their Sacrifice with a new chance at "Life", these Reborn would join the ranks of the others, join His children, the Scourge.

His trance ended when he noticed the Mortal fall onto ground, his wounds fatal. His bloody robes torn nearly to shreds, the tip of an arrow and half the shaft sticking out of his thigh. His right arm sliced parallel with the bone, deep into his flesh where infection would kill him over night. Perfect, thought Mycelyix...Perfect. He watched the Mortal struggling for his last breath, with barely a whisper he muttered "I would give up anything for another chance...."

With a motion of His hand Mushrooms began to appear in the pool of blood around the unconscious Mortal. Mycelyix wondered if the Mortal knew what he had just given up...

Part Two: First Breath
Come now, do you want to sleep away the day? Syzar awoke to raspy whisper that asked the question. His eyes opened, then immediately slammed shut, it was high noon, Deserma's Sun had just welcomed his eyes. Syzar opened his eyes once more but this time more slowly, adjusting to the bright light. He glanced at his right arm and screamed.

The deep gash was no longer there, but it had been filled with some strange purple mass. It seemed to be the same material that made up the land, but it grafted on to his flesh and taken its properties. It was however still releasing the Spores into the air though holes in his ..."skin"... Syzar would have thrown up if he had eaten in last three days. When Syzar could stand the sight of his arm, he touched it with his other hand. It felt no different to him than normal flesh, warm, Alive. He withdrew he hand quickly the feeling of it Pulsing with the rest of his body made him sick. He groaned in disgust as he looked at his other wounds, all filled with the same purple mass. He felt has he was about to pass out again when he heard whispers coming from everywhere in the same raspy tone, someone, or something was laughing; Laughing maniacally. He slipped back into unconsciousness, terrified of who was laughing.

Part Three: Mind Games
Syzar once again woke up, opening his eyes he saw Wintival's Moon. He sat up against a very large Mushroom, he could not see his sickly wounds that made him pass out earlier in the day. He sat there in silence, for a moment confused, terrified, exhausted. He brought his hands to his face to wipe away some blood when he noticed in the Moon light that his skin was oddly pale, and had a faint glow to it. "What is wrong with me?" He asked aloud. "Nothing" Came a reply from every direction.

The voice echoed in his head, the same raspy whisper that laughed at him while he passed out. Syzar forced his body to stand, and glanced back at where he had slept for the past day, two days? Where he had been sleeping was covered in Mushrooms and his own blood. The largest Mushroom had grown behind his head and it was what he had used to supported his body when he sat up. The ground all around was releasing Spores, he immediately thought of his arm and felt sick to his stomach once again. He started walking away from where he had slept, he didn't know where but anywhere was better than this Plagued Land.

After hours of walking, he found himself in a forest, exhausted he put his back against a strong Oak Tree and fell asleep. Mycelyix watch Syzar walk in circles around the Large Mushroom for hours, talking to himself about how beautiful the forest was. After quite some time Syzar had sat down in the same spot and fell asleep again.

This one was doing quite well thought Mycelyix, most had become completely insane by now..just hallucinating was very impressive...

Part Four: Imposter
The Mortal Syzar had awoken some time ago, and Mycelyix watched how he react to seeing he was still in the Plagued Lands. He watched with a Dark smile as Syzar had given up trying to flee the area and was asking for his Tormentor to reveal himself. He will show Syzar himself...

Syzar had be walking around the Plague Lands looking for the Source of the Voice, when he heard the laughing once again. But this time he could tell where it came from, from behind a nearby Giant Mushroom.

"I am tired of these games, Show yourself!" The figure that stepped from around the Mushroom was...Himself.

"You seem surprised...what did you expect?" Replied the Imposter with a grin.

"Not this, not me! What are you?! Some sort of Demon?!" Syzar shouted at Himself.

The Imposter's face quickly went cold. "Demon?! Is that what they call me me now? Hm?"

"I don't know who you are! And who are you talking about?" Syzar quickly replied.

The Imposter began to laugh once again " You should have seen your face! Did I scare you Mortal?"

Syzar said nothing, stared angrily at the Imposter in front of him.

The Imposter final stopped laughing after a few more seconds and spoke in the Voice that seemed to resonate from everywhere " I am Mycelyix, Deity of Mycelium and Plague!"

"Deity?" Syzar was taken back, he was standing in front of a god. "How come I have never heard of you? Did you abandon Planu and the others? Did you bring me back to Life? Where have you been? Why did you take my form? Do you have any followers?" He flung many questions at the Deity.

"I have one follower Mortal; the rest of your questions will be answered it time."

"But one follower, who is it? Who follows a lost god?"

Mycelyix smiled. "My dear Syzar, you do."

Part Five: Understanding
"Very funny Mycelyix, but I worship another Deity." Syzar said.

With a smile still on his face Mycelyix asked "Do you? Tell me now, which one did you worship?"

"I worshiped Deserma..no it was Cavilon...or was it Akwal...." Syzar replied, his memory failing him.

"I asked for one Syzar, not three. Try again, this time answer the question correctly."

"I... I can't remember. I can remember...passing out for the first time...that's the last I remember...nothing else." Replied Syzar realizing that Mycelyix could be right.

"You see? If you did worship a Deity before, I could not steal their follower. You just can't accept the fact that you asked for my help with your last breath. You cried out for help, saying you'd give up anything for another chance. I accepted your deal Syzar, I will give you a second chance, but I took your old life."

"You saved my life?" Syzar asked.

"Did you not just listen to what I said? Mortals, always asking things twice. Now I see myself as a Deity with a follower, but without a shrine. Do you see the problem? Go begin to embrace your new life, or loose this one as well." Mycelyix replied with a sharp tone.

"Yes Lord Mycelyix." Syzar replied, and set off to craft the shrine.

Part Six: Plague
Syzar had finished building the shrine to Mycelyix, not much of a shrine; but he had made due with what little materials he had available. In the process of building the Shrine, Syzar had collected a few Mushrooms and wanted to test some ideas.

Syzar sat in the shade of a nearby Mushroom, he seemed less tolerate of the Sun than he could remember, or maybe he was always like this, I didn't matter anymore he had begun to embrace his new life. Back to the experiment, in the pockets of his tunic he found a few Oak leaves, these would serve as a perfect test.

He set the leaves on a shred of his clothes, then took the Mushroom and ripped off pieces of it and dropped them on the Oak Leaves. What happened next amazed him. Immediately the Leaves began to decay, letting off a thin toxic smelling smoke, the Mushrooms however were growing larger, they destroyed the mass of the Leaves and used it as fuel for their own bodies. "Experimenting, are we?" Mycelyix spoke as he became visible, again in the form of Syzar.

"Yes, my Lord...I was trying to learn about the Mushrooms here, and why they destroy everything."

"You're barely scratching the surface...it takes more than the Mushroom." Mycelyix replied with a grin.

Syzar didn't reply, he was not sure what to say back, he had embarrassed himself in front of his Deity.

"You seem to have an interest in my Plague though, at an apprentice level now...but with some guidance, you might just become my new alchemist. Yes Alchemist, let’s call it that." Mycelyix said, a bit of excitement in his voice.

Part Seven: Whispers
Syzar had begun the collection of Mushrooms for the first batch of Plague, as Mycelyix had ordered. When the Whispers he had heard on his first day returned to him.

"Look at the new one.... why is he alone.... he’s a weak one I could kill him.... he not even a true follower.....only a servant..."

They spoke to themselves continuing to talk about him. He had finished collecting the Mushrooms and sat down in the shade. The Whispers had still not stopped, so he had decided to do something about it.

"Enough! You are driving me insane!" He shouted.

Silence. Then they began muttering to fast for him to understand. Silence.

Then one single voice spoke, "Finally answered us have you, about time...we were beginning to become quite annoyed with you."

"Who are you?" Syzar asked back. Speaking to himself no longer bothered him, he had become used to it by now.

"We are the followers of the Lord Mycelyix, well were followers...before the Purge".... Voices in the background began talking to themselves...."Before the Purge, we were called the Scourge. Named by those that didn't quite understand us, or maybe they did...either way they destroyed our Home and hunted all of us down that didn't offer ourselves to the Lord. Since then, we have looming over the last of the Plague Lands, waiting for Lord Mycelyix to choose a new follower, for a new generation." The single voice spoke, the tone it carried seemed to be one of power, perhaps the leader."

"Purge?" Syzar asked, his curiosity growing.

"Yes, the Purge, the reason why you are alive...listen closely. What you learn just might safe you and Mycelyix..." The Leader said. Much quieter in the background the other voices began mumbling to themselves, excitement in their voice.

Part Eight: Catacombs
The Leader had taken a break in his story, and had told Syzar to go explore, he was now allowed to enter the Ruins. The first of the Ruins was the Catacombs.

The entrance was, well, Ruined. The back wall had given way to the weight of the surrounding dirt, only a small entrance remained. He had been looking at the entrance when a voice, one he had not recognized, began speaking to him.

"This wasn't always like this; it was built using the finest Stone and embedded with Rare Gems. But even The Lord Mycelyix himself could not stop Time." The voice had a certain air of royalty or rather power to it.

"Who are you?" Syzar asked, curious.

"Forgive me, how inappropriate. I am Sacerdos, High Priest of Death and Departed. A very important role in Mycelyite culture and land." Sacerdos responded.

"I am honored to meet you, High Priest. Would you, perhaps, consider showing me around the Catacombs?" Syzar asked, worried he may have crossed a line asking the Priest for a favor.

"Of course, it's is imperative that you learn our ways and customs. I will never deny you knowledge, no one should deny you that." With saying that Sacerdos manifested before him.

Sacerdos had the same pale skin and purple eyes that Syzar had. He wore faded grey robes with a dark purple tunic underneath. He bore a strange black and purple marking on his left cheek. Syzar could not make out the marking in its entirety because of the hood he wore, it did not hang low as most did, but enough to cast a slight shadow over his face.

"Come now, enough staring." Sacerdos said walking into the catacombs.

The fist room they entered was circular, with three different paths leading out of it. The first path they took was the left one, it led to an outdoor area. It had two high arches that sat precariously on the cracked walls. The third arch had already collapsed; thus, the back wall could no longer support the dirt behind it. Only half of this area was still accessible. "Back when I still walk as a Mortal, this area is where the recently Deceased would be laid out in the Dawn of the day after they perished. All that served under The Lord Mycelyix would come to pay their respects. At Dusk, a final Ceremony would take place, led by me, after the Ceremony the body will be taken to its final resting place." Sacerdos said. "Where is the final resting place?" Syzar asked.

"We took the Left path to get here, the Middle path leads into the, well, those that have left us. I encourage you to visit, and to pay your respects. Now I must go, restore this place to its former glory and I shall be able to manifest myself once again and for longer durations." Sacerdos replied. Then disappearing.