The Mantis Variant - Book One - 5. Chapter 5 - Dozi, Part Two

A series of shrill repetitive noises coaxed Dozi from her delirium. The warm summer sun was shining through the gap in the roof of the cave when her eyelids fluttered open. She blinked a few times, sat up, and adjusted her disheveled clothes. The baggy and layered garments became twisted in her sleep, but she was dry; the cave protected her through the night. She did not know how long she slept.

As Dozi rose and began to explore, she realized that in the hidden space all around her was an assortment of different varieties of mushrooms. One type grew on the walls of the cave. Farther back, there was another species thriving around a little pool of stagnant water with an old piece of driftwood that was partially submerged, and even more mushrooms were growing from the log.

Dozi then noticed the dried-up puddle of her vomit. The mushrooms she so enthusiastically consumed were a psilocybin variety, and they sent her on an internal journey. Her years of foraging in the mountains trained her well, and she should have known better than to just eat a mushroom without determining which variety it was.

Beneath the opening in the stone ceiling, off-white trails streaked down the interior wall, and many psychotropic fungi were growing below them. Dozi then made sense of the harsh noises that were coming from above her head.

The call of seagulls was not one she grew up hearing in the mountains, but every time she was allowed to make the journey to the city during her youth, she felt like they announced her arrival. The gulls always sounded mournful when she left with her group.

Dozi knew that money was a necessity for city life, and that it was not easy to come by, but an idea began to coalesce in her mind.

She reached down and plucked another clump of the very special mushrooms★