01-26-2026, 07:35 PM
Kaelan was stunned into stillness, as the black once again coiled up Nazariy's hand like ivy chasing sun. The filaments responded to him, maybe even recognized him, and Kaelan felt the electric rush of realization bloom behind his ribs. This wasn't an anomaly. This was a relationship.
When the black retreated from Kaelan like he was poison, it was like watching a door slam shut. He couldn’t move for a full three seconds. His brain tripped over itself, too full of questions and equations and implications to speak.
Then finally, he managed, "It… likes you?"
Kaelan nodded absently as Nazariy shared the story of the garden, the chickens, and the burned house. He filed that information away somewhere for later consideration, but all he could think now was: You’re coming with me.
He lowered his voice with what he hoped passed for calm.
“Nazariy, listen. What you have here… it’s important. I mean, world-altering kind of important.”
He crouched beside him, close, but not too close, aware of the line between friendliness and fear. “You can’t stay out here like this. I mean. Why would you want to? You live in a ruin, you talk to rocks, you’re eating boiled cloth and rats.”
His voice caught on that last word. But he pressed on. “I can take you somewhere warm. Clean. With proper food, real beds, walls that aren’t rotting.” He smiled, nervous but earnest. “Electricity that stays on. Hot water. Company. You don’t have to be alone.”
He looked again at the black smear on the concrete.
“I have a laboratory. In the city. You’d have everything you need; anything you want. You like your rocks? You can have a whole room for them. But you’d be safe. And we could study this together.”
He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice. Tried not to say please.
The implications buzzed in his skull: This wasn’t just about fungal intelligence. This was symbiosis. Mutation. Selective bonding. An entire class of biological behavior the scientific world didn’t even know it was missing.
And Nazariy… Nazariy was special.
Kaelan imagined it already: publishing the findings, presenting to stunned academic halls, becoming the man who unlocked an entirely new kingdom of life. Mycelium that thought. That chose. That maybe had a mind of its own.
His pulse spiked. His hands were sweating.
Kaelan smiled again, awkward, hopeful. “What do you say?” he asked, voice quiet now. “You’d never have to worry about this place again.”
He didn’t say You’d never be alone again. But it was there.
When the black retreated from Kaelan like he was poison, it was like watching a door slam shut. He couldn’t move for a full three seconds. His brain tripped over itself, too full of questions and equations and implications to speak.
Then finally, he managed, "It… likes you?"
Kaelan nodded absently as Nazariy shared the story of the garden, the chickens, and the burned house. He filed that information away somewhere for later consideration, but all he could think now was: You’re coming with me.
He lowered his voice with what he hoped passed for calm.
“Nazariy, listen. What you have here… it’s important. I mean, world-altering kind of important.”
He crouched beside him, close, but not too close, aware of the line between friendliness and fear. “You can’t stay out here like this. I mean. Why would you want to? You live in a ruin, you talk to rocks, you’re eating boiled cloth and rats.”
His voice caught on that last word. But he pressed on. “I can take you somewhere warm. Clean. With proper food, real beds, walls that aren’t rotting.” He smiled, nervous but earnest. “Electricity that stays on. Hot water. Company. You don’t have to be alone.”
He looked again at the black smear on the concrete.
“I have a laboratory. In the city. You’d have everything you need; anything you want. You like your rocks? You can have a whole room for them. But you’d be safe. And we could study this together.”
He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice. Tried not to say please.
The implications buzzed in his skull: This wasn’t just about fungal intelligence. This was symbiosis. Mutation. Selective bonding. An entire class of biological behavior the scientific world didn’t even know it was missing.
And Nazariy… Nazariy was special.
Kaelan imagined it already: publishing the findings, presenting to stunned academic halls, becoming the man who unlocked an entirely new kingdom of life. Mycelium that thought. That chose. That maybe had a mind of its own.
His pulse spiked. His hands were sweating.
Kaelan smiled again, awkward, hopeful. “What do you say?” he asked, voice quiet now. “You’d never have to worry about this place again.”
He didn’t say You’d never be alone again. But it was there.
![[Image: Kaelan-Signature-1.png]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Kaelan-Signature-1.png)