Update October 2021: Since this story was first posted I've changed and rewritten it as part of a compilation. If you want to read a better version of this story, along with others like it, click the link below for directions on where my chapbook Death of Dreams can be downloaded or purchased.
The forest giant stood tall amongst its brothers. Towering over brush and flowers it seemed invincible. But it's height could not save it from the rot taking hold at its roots. It had started slowly, just one or two pale caps near the soil, and the tree thought nothing of it. What were a few mushrooms?
Two became four, four became eight, and on and on it went. The tree learned to ignore them, and the tingle where they sat. It had lived for hundreds of years, it would live for hundreds more. But each day it’s sap flowed slower, it’s leaves wilted, it’s bark cracked. It began to lean towards the ground.
The tree continued to be reassured of its invincibility up until it finally fell over as it’s wet weakened trunk gave under its own weight. Dying, it rested in the soil it had sprung from. It’s once-great girth caving into a rotten middle.
And the mushrooms continued to multiply, two by four by eight.
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