I asked for prompts regarding mushrooms here for The MicroPrompt Giraffe Call. This is written to Rix’s Prompt here and is set in the post-apoc of my Fae Apoc ‘verse.

“You know what this is, right?” Essie touched the mushrooms lightly with her toe. “It’s a fairy circle.”

It was a circle, all right, wider around than either of them were tall, in a clearing in the forest that seemed tailor-made for it. P.J. mmm’d dubiously.

“A fairy circle? I mean…”

“You’re not going to try to say ‘fairies aren’t real,’ are you?” Essie leaned forward. “I mean, really. Fairies ruined the world. My dad says so.”

“Those weren’t fairies, not really fairies. I mean, they were gods. Not things that are… what, born out of circles of mushrooms?”

“One and the same, my dad says. All the same, gods and little fairies with wings.” Essie paced around the circle. “And places like this, this is where they come from. Big circles, little circles, mushroom circles – they’re fairy rings. My dad remembers.”

P.J. sighed. You couldn’t argue with what Essie’s dad said, what he remembered, especially not as paraphrased by Essie. He was one of the oldest people left in their little settlement, and his youngest daughter idolized him. “Okay. SO maybe it’s a fairy ring. How to fairies come out of it? Are they born out of the dirt or something? Do they just… plop out?”

“I don’t know! My dad didn’t tell me tha…” Essie trailed off.

The ground was splitting. A pair of horns and gossamer wings were rising, slowly, out of the dirt within the ring.

“Returned gods!” Essie ran away, leaving P.J to stare as the fairy rose from the dirt.

Tip ‘Shroom 😉

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