I Spy

“Quenton, your people must understand you have great power. This makes the outsiders afraid,” said High Council Verous.

“We, the all-seeing eyes, are not afraid of the two legs. It’s they who are failing to follow the compact,” replied Quenton.

When humans first came to the Yung-Dow mountains, they were greeted with kindness. It quickly became clear that the two legs had no intention of honoring their pledges.

“The two legs cut down our forests and stole the best lands for themselves. We of the forest will no longer allow this. Tell the outsiders to leave or prepare to give up their lives,” said Quenton.

Verous shook his head. “Can’t we all get along?” said the High Council as he crawled away.

The following day, the two legs burned the forest. In a short time, everything was destroyed.

“It appears the all-seeing eyes weren’t as powerful as they thought,” said Proctor Melak.

Those forest dwellers who had escaped the inferno left the land as refugees. “The eyes were right to distrust the two legs,” said Verous.

The humans built homes, started farms, and dug wells. The land greened and prospered.

On the sixth cycle of the moon after the conflagration, Proctor Melak received troubling news. He was informed that the village’s children were dying of some unknown disease.

“It’s horrible, Proctor,” said the physician. “Their body seems to decompose overnight. It leaves only a few small patches of white frilly mushrooms.”

With no exceptions, every member of the village was dead within days.

Over time, the small patches spread across the village, decomposing everything in their path.

On the full moon of the sixteenth cycle of the moon, large bulbous pods grew from the mushrooms.

When dawn broke, the bulbs bloomed to reveal enormous eyes.

“It is good to be out from under the earth once again. The two legs thought that fire would destroy us. They were fools,” said Quenton.

In the less-traveled lands of Asia, the locals tell of a place where death awaits all who walk the land. A place where all-seeing eyes wait for fools to feed them on their flesh.

Whoever heard of a mushroom that can see with eyes? Not me, but then again, I once saw a pig fly.

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