In the days that followed the hatching of the being, it worked to grow itself. At first, it was the slow moving digestion of the food remnants that had been left behind for it as its body grew into a full mycelial network wrapped around the amber. Should it be dug up now, the quickly-growing fungal infant would be full encased around its amber - no orange would be visible through the black rhizomorphs that now tangled tightly around the crystal.

Which meant it was time to begin its expansion. The tree it had been buried under was its first target - it had a wellspring of nutrients that would support its living functions for quite a while.

The roots began to spread, slowly, but far quicker then an average, non-sentient fungus, given the blessing of gembound vitality. And yet it sped its growth even quicker with the magic it was beginning to grasp more confidently.

It only took a single day from when it started to reach for the tree for the mycelia to get in range of the roots. A final push with its magic and it felt its own body react with the spell and spread faster - visibly faster, if anyone could see it. A few seconds later, it cleared the last of the gap and the rhizomorphs burrowed into the roots.

Ah, at last...the sweet taste of a tree's lifeblood, nature's gift to its many feeders. The tree was tall and strong and would serve it well for quite some time.

Following its infection of the tree roots and slow expansion, it began to send out cords in other directions as well - there were many plants in the area, and trees elsewhere. Even in just the soil, there were enough nutrients from long-decayed plant matter to sustain it well. It was slow going, even with its magic pushing it along, but in the mycelial world, there was nothing faster. As it expanded, too, its perception of being began to widen.

When it had been but a few fungal strands wrapped around an amber crystal, it had been one creature. A poor desperate collection of hyphae, barely a network. But now that its amber was hidden deep within a thick weave and its arms were reaching out in all direction, it felt its own sense of self expanding. Farther did its senses reach, no longer contained to the one spot, but now within the roots of the trees, within the soil to the other side, it could feel the faint vibrations of birds landing in the branches above, the occasional pawsteps above as creature stepped across, the soft sounds of bugs digging through the soil and their occasional test to nibble on the mycelia (of which it immediately scared them off with a burst of unsavory chemical signals), it was growing so large.

Large enough to be more then it had been.

It still existed as it had, but it was no longer simply it, but many its. Multiple. Hundreds, thousands, maybe millions in the future. All voices singing along its network, feeling and experiencing separately and as one. Feeding on different parts of the tree, feeling different spots of the soil, perhaps each and every voice would one day fruit on their own.

The first of this choir, however, still saw itself as the central one, and it formed its own name Abdicus, the network sang. The one wrapped around the heart, the one that was the heart. But it wasn't simply Abdicus anymore, but many.

There was Aartulum, the one that had first touched the tree roots and had a hard grip on the ends. He was the bridge between the heart and the tree. There was Malake, she led the expansion outwards, away from the tree, determined to stretch as far as possible. She always sang songs of expansion and conquering, never one to settle for a single tree or spot in the soil. No, no, she could keep stretching while others climbed onto roots and into fallen branches and shed leaves.

There was also Etu, it wavered around the heart with Abdicus, starting a secondary shell of protection against potential predators. There was Nilsine, who had found a deep spot within the first tree, and a wellspring of sap that xe happily feasted upon. There was Neferre, who had found a nice fern to start nibbling on. There was Rue, who wanted to be the first to fruit.

And there were more. So many more. Uncountable numbers. All existing as one, a Chorus, all leading back to the heart that was pleased, oh so very pleased with how things were going. It was behind the schedule it had set out for itself, but it was not a massive setback. Its magic would continue their push. They were patient.

Many of the voices began wishing to fruit. If only to break from the soil into the world outside. They considered it a good opportunity to explore - after all, in the open air, they would be able to feel wind patterns, attract potential animals looking for a snack to spread farther. And, of course, release spores that would take them beyond this place. The Chorus agreed, for it wondered if it fruited, and the walking one that had helped it came back, they would at last see it again. The were yet unaware that their savior had been blind.

Excitement had the fungus rolling forward. Magic surged from the amber and travelled through the mycelial cords. It had done work getting into the trunk of the tree and now moved that magic close to the base of its roots. The rhizomorphs surged forward, threading up up up and, at last, felt the free air above. Magic compelled them to bundle together and begin fruiting. Within just minutes, the first mushroom emerged.

Where the mycelia of the Chorus was jet black in color, the mushroom that pushed out from the ground was bright orange, the color of honey. The cap formed quickly and the magic at last stopped, leaving it at a young stage, where the frill had just begun to push out from the stipe. They celebrated, then, for it had only taken a few days from hatching to fruit their first cap! They wondered how the other fungus could stand to be so slow, taking weeks to grow and fruit into a body when they could do it in mere days with magic's aid.

So excited where they to have their first fruit that they pushed more magic into the effort and more strands of mycelia pushed forward, growing up and out and blooming just as the first had done. Now that they had done it once, the next few times came much easier. Next to the first mushroom emerged more honey colored caps, a small cluster of them as the many voices burst from the ground and sang into the open air.

Chemical joy rippled through the network at the feeling of the open air again, but this time free of the fear that had come with its vulnerability. It still had yet to figure out to see properly as other creatures did, but it could feel the movement of the air, the subtle changes as things in the forest moved. The Chorus went silent as they listened, a moment of serenity as they paused their expansion to simply Be. With all the points of sensation they had already, this at last was a new one. A pleasant one. A beautiful one. Well...it would then have to fruit more, once it grew more. Perhaps one day it would fruit enough that the sensations would give it a full idea of how everything looked. They would See, as others could See.

Now that they had fruited, it was time to see what they could do with their fruition. Spores were already building up within the gills of the mushrooms, although none of the caps had matured enough to release them. However, they would get lucky soon - vibrations in the earth told of the coming of some forest creature. It wasn't unusual - there were many gembound that passed overhead each day, none taking notice of the sentient being growing beneath their feet. This one didn't seem to possess this same sentience.

It had started to dig around the tree, the chorus of mycelia waited patiently for their fruits to be discovered. And discovered it was, when the creature at last moved around the side of the trunk and began to sniff around the mushrooms. They felt its muzzle against the stipe and cap, small sensory whiskers checking for food, which they eventually would confirm - yes, this is food! So it began to nibble on one of the young growths.

Now, what the mycelia expected to happen, was their sensory intake would feel a sharp snap of pain as they were bitten off, but then ultimately settle as they were swallowed and digested, broken up into tiny pieces and excreted elsewhere in the cave. There, they would settle into wherever they had fallen and grow their own hearts, to eventually connect back to the central amber.

But that was not what happened. As soon as the creature bit down on the mushroom, indeed they felt a small sting of pain, but it was negligible. Pain was only one facet of their entire sense of being. But as soon as the pain was gone, so too was It gone. Mycelia separated from the heart. They could no longer feel that part of the being they had felt on the mushroom's end moments ago. It was gone.

A song of confusion ran up and down the network and magic followed soon after, to calm the many, but too much chaos had overtaken it too quickly and all it felt was its own self, a brief look and feel of its own mycelia, instead of chasing the senses of the fungal strands that had been consumed and lost. There was little they could do as the creature continue to nibble on the mushroom caps, although it seemed when they got to the stipe, it found it unsavory and quickly left.

The chorus mourned for poor Rue, whose voice no longer joined the swell. She had wanted to be the first, and she had, but she had also been the first one to die. Let her song be remembered! Rue! Rue! The first to fruit! The mournful echo ran through the network and they decided not to try to fruit again, for now. They would let the ones that had fruited grow, and see where the spores led them.

They waited a while, relaxing their magicka to allow the mushrooms to fruit on their own. They grew, over the course of a day, and eventually were ready. The caps were filled with spores collecting on the gills, and at last they were released. All it took was another creature brushing against the fruit to bump the spores off, which attached themselves to the one passing, and scatter on the ground.

They attuned their magic to it, and followed. It got farther away, but the spores remained, as did the ones scattered on the ground. They held onto it for a while, waiting, patiently waiting...but then again, confusion, for the spores were dying. They had held to the fur of whatever had passed by, and they'd held to the ground but...they were withering away, even though there was plenty of time remaining and fresh soil for them to burrow into.

They were dissolving now, into nothing. No mycelia would grow from it. No expansion through the traditional means.

They considered this for a while, trading ideas, tossing around things that they knew and didn't know. They settled upon this conclusion: only that which connected to them physically would survive. They were one being, and they could not detach themselves. As long as it led back to the amber heart, they were part of the chorus. But the spores that had been carried through the mushroom and upon the fur had been cut off from their magical source. And so...death. They would not last long

It was a shame. Spreading through spores would have saved them quite a bit of time. Although they supposed if the spores had fallen to the ground and grown their own mycelial network, it might be a child. An alien. Not part of them. They could take it over, sure, but that was no different then how they had devoured the other competitors around the tree. Consumption, not addition.

So...they would simply have to keep growing in the soil. Spreading out their cords farther and farther and fruiting when they could.

And they did so, over the span of a few hours, they allowed themselves the natural cycle of growth before spurring forward to push themselves forward with magic.

But they stopped, for the voice at the end of the line signaled back a terrified cry. It had detected something, chemical signals in the soil. Growing closer, closer, closer...

The ends of the Chorus's network recoiled at the feeling of something else in the soil. All senses alert, each voice looked towards it, attention drawn from all over, from the caps blooming on the tree, to the rhizomorphs spreading in the other direction. For they sensed something, something that wasn't an easily beaten competitor, but something quite large. Strong. And feeling for them.

They felt back, sending their own chemicals signals, curiosity overtaking them as they reached for this new Thing. They could tell where it was, it was another fungus, with many blooms upon the surface already, in a neighboring tree. It was grayish in color, it could tell from its signals, and a spark of excitement drew magic to the Chorus's fingertips.

"You are alive? Do you think as we do?" They had yet to meet one larger then them, and so they cautiously offered it forward - a white flag, an olive branch. Perhaps...they could be neighbors...friends?

Hopes were dashed almost instantly as further unintelligible fungal communications revealed more about the one they'd found and a moment later, the ends burned. The alien rhizomorphs were wrapping themselves around the voices on the ends and no matter what the Chorus did to free them, they would not let go.

They cried in horror and continued sending signal after signal, attack after attack to free themselves from the cords crawling slowly upon their body, screaming silently as the voices began to dissolve. They were being devoured. A parasite was slowly climbing onto them, one that was resistant to their natural defenses.

If they did nothing, it would eat them. No, no, this was not a killer, this was a parasite. It would drain them slowly until they withered and leave their corpse to dissolve beneath this tree. Nobody would ever know.

They shouted and roared and magic wrenched from the amber, grabbing onto the ends of their attacker. The mushrooms on the surface visibly quivered from the anger and the force of the magic as it surged through every nerve of the network and ripped the parasite right off, taking some of their own hyphae along with it. The voice sighed as they were ripped away, happy to sacrifice. Happy to die so that this one would go with them.