Lharus didn’t share my hair color, a beautiful silvery white, nor his mother’s dark locks. No, his hair was red like a burning flame, and long down to his waist. Maybe if he hadn’t been born during the war, he’d have had a better life than what I could give him.
In the forest outside the city, hidden between a rock formation and a dense canopy was a small camp with three raised tents. Moonlight scattered through the leaves, adding some light to the dwindling campfire that crackled with a melancholic melody. Muffled footsteps resounded in the air as branches snapped. A bush rustled as two figures passed through it, walking with hurried urgency toward the middle tent.
They were Kai and Léandro, their hastened footsteps living deep imprints in the dirt. Onyx followed closely behind them and took a whiff of the air. As the curtains of the tent flew open, three pairs of eyes turned toward the two, greeting them with hope and confusion.
“Who’s the guy?” A man with a rotund figure and brown eyes stood up from a crouching position. His facial expression yelled caution, yet his apprehensive look made him look more like a mouse than a threat.
“From back then?” Another man with a slim figure and short white hair asked, not bothering to stand up.
Léandro nodded and invited Kai in. Onyx didn’t enter, though, and stood outside as well. He took a look around the tent, its small interior clearly suited for a single person. It had the fragrance of a rose garden mixed with the bitter smell of sweat and tears. In the center of a tent stood a woman whose flushed face cringed with pain. Surrounding her were the thin and fat men, as well as a man who was on the much larger side.
“He’s out keeping guard.” The thin man said as he followed Léandro and Kai with his gaze.
“I figured that much. How’s she?” Léandro replied, hurrying on over to the woman’s side. He took off the blanket covering, revealing an extremely anorexic body covered with red dots. Her pale skin contrasted against her firey orange hair, a few sun freckles kissing her agonized face. Léandro’s face widened in shock, but he dared not touch her more than that. “Worse,” Léandro replied to his own question, biting his lower lip. “Have you given her the medication?”
The large man grunted and took out what looked to be an empty box. Upon seeing that, Léandro shook his head and took out the wooden box. The Blood Flowing Stalk rested neatly within, mana barely leaking out of it as it remained under a tight seal.
“Zeliph, what’s the situation?”
The man’s eyes shone with a soft light as he scanned the woman’s body, his eyes flying over every inch. “Her mana veins are all clogged up and about to burst. The weird energy that nested in her body split and… well you can see the result. This is too strange.”
Léandro nodded and clicked his tongue, frustration overwhelming him. “But before that the weird energy fed on her mana, now she has too much mana. That means the plant I have…”
“Is useless.” Kai cut him off and grabbed the woman’s hand, his fingers pushing against the newly manifested red dots.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The brown-eyed man with a slight roundness to his figure lashed out as he tried to remove Kai from the woman. Léandro signaled for him to stop and shook his head. “He studied under The Lordship of the South Gate. He may be able to help. If not… we can…”
“Your Majesty!” Zeliph cut out Léandro’s words but quickly covered his mouth as he realized the gravity of his words.
Kai gave Léandro a weird look but didn’t split his attention from the woman’s body. He injected light amounts of mana into her mana veins, threading carefully so as to not interact with her own energy. The man named Zeliph followed what he did with the utmost attention. His pupils widened, though, as he noticed Kai maneuver so gently around the affected areas.
The woman’s mana veins had expanded by about forty percent and were put under constant pressure by something. Kai couldn’t be sure by what right away, but the more he pried the more shocked he was. The mana is unnaturally dense. It could be the reason as to why it’s not flowing, but… He diverted his attention toward her core, a shiver running down his spine the more information he had about it. The weird energy invaded more than her body… it invaded her core. It’s… replacing the mana inside with itself and multiplies after devouring it.
After thoroughly inspecting the energy, he noticed that an extremely thin thread connected the core and the red, pimple-like dots. Dwelling further into the core, or at least as much as he physically could, he felt his mana getting stolen. Taking a break, he increased his mana output and scanned as much of the surroundings as he could, then…
Kai removed his mana from the woman, cold sweat dripped down his trembling hands as he recoiled. All the people in the room stared at him with concern and intrigue, especially Zeliph. He cleared his throat and then said with a half-confident voice, “I think the situation is… dire. Well that much is obvious, but I’m not sure you know how bad it really is.”
“The mana inside her veins is too thick and dense, blocking the passageway. And the weird energy… it… it’s assimilating… her core. I think the red dots are also helping with that by absorbing mana from the air and digesting it into usable energy for the… thing.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Thing?” Léandro inquired as he handed a glass of water over to Kai. “What thing?”
He refused it, unable to take his mask off, then continued talking. “A worm-like parasite, I suppose. I couldn’t catch what it looked like but it was long and thin, digging into her Mana Core and consuming it. It wanted to attack me too, probably sending an egg or fragment of itself through the mana channel I created. Luckily I cut it off before it was too late.”
“How… how did you do that? Navigating through her mana veins and gathering information?”
Kai shook his head and let out a nervous chuckle as he remembered everything that he had gone through and how careful he had to be. “Let’s just say I have experience.” He said simply and leaned back, trying not to fall.
Zeliph didn’t pry but it didn’t look like his curiosity lessened. Regardless of the case, Kai had no plans of telling anyone what he went through… although he already told Barhm.
Léandro grabbed Kai’s arm and tried to look him in the eyes, though the mask covered them for the most part. Kai could see his ocean-blue eyes trembling. Even his body shivered, though Kai could not tell what happened or who the woman was to him.
“I don’t have any idea at the moment. The books don’t speak of such an illness… This is most likely recent but… I’ve heard of it. Once. The wife of a friend showed similar symptoms… Before she passed away.” That last sentence made the expressions of everyone change. Although it was the truth they needed to hear, it was too brutal.
The mood darkened even more as an awkward silence descended within the tent. Kai looked at every member and could see the deep care and love they held for the woman whose hopes of surviving were almost null. A hint of jealousy sparked in his heart, but he quickly suppressed it and stood up. He turned around without saying a word walked out of the tent and headed toward the Obborik.
He caressed Onyx’s fur as he looked at the stars and sighed, his breath wavering. A set of footsteps rang out behind him, though he immediately knew who it was. “I’m sorry.” He managed to say but didn’t turn around.
“No worries,” Léandro said and sat down next to Kai, leaving about an arm between them. “I didn’t expect anything else anyway. I just had… hopes.”
Hopes… Kai echoed Léandro’s words as he looked up at the stars. “It’s good to have hopes, you know? As long as they’re not unrealistic.”
“Unrealistic, huh?” Léandro mimicked Kai and looked at the stars. The clear sky revealed many more than otherwise, each of them shimmering on the dark canvas of the night. For a moment they sat in silence, Léandro’s head filled with unknown thoughts while Kai tried to find ways to help the woman.
“What’s her name?” He asked out of the blue, taking Léandro by surprise.
“Lilith,” he said, his voice scraping against his throat as it struggled to escape his body. “She’s been a good friend of mine ever since… Not only her, Jerry, Zeilph, and Melon… We went through so much together I- I don’t want to think about a journey without either of them.”
Kai didn’t turn to face him, but Léandro’s voice told him more than enough. To have such close ties with someone… He gently caressed Onyx’s back, his fingers sinking into the fluff. Kai couldn’t help but think about venturing without Onyx, and how depressing such a life would be.
I woudn’t whanneh do it alen either. We are pack, brower.
The Obborik’s gentle feelings warmed up Kai’s heart, despite the cold wind blowing through the leaves. Léandro’s feelings for Lilith were as true for her as his were for Onyx. Were he in his shoes, Kai would do everything to save his companion even if it meant passing through the gates of hell.
Sensing Kai’s thoughts, Onyx’s tail wagged behind him, and he placed his snout on the boy’s shoulder, snuggling comfortably. If only Rodney had some medicinal knowledge… all he knew were theories about physics and chemical reactions. He could have at least dabbled in them. Ivan was a warrior through and through, only things in his mind were the sword and that lord of his.
Aina’s medicinal books and records don’t have anything that comes even close to what this is. Madness… where did this originate from? Karfi’s wife had the same symptoms but it all started with a mild cold from what he told me. I am not sure I can do anything about it.
And that parasite thing… what’s the deal with it, then the red dots… this isn’t a normal illness at all…
A light sigh escaped his body, and he stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes and some of Onyx’s fur. Léandro followed Kai with his gaze, though their color dimmed to a darker blue. “I’m going to look at her again,” Kai said as he turned around, his cloak fluttering in the wind. Onyx followed as well and entered the tent alongside his companion under Léandro's gaze.
The three inside the tent flinched at the sight of the Obborik, who didn’t seem to care much for them. He walked to a remote part of the tent and cuddled himself as he watched Kai kneel in front of the woman. He took her hand once again and focused on her outward symptoms, namely the red dots. His fingers brushed them gently, and then he applied some pressure, wanting to see how her body would react.
Much to his surprise, though, she didn’t groan or flinch even as he applied more and more sudden pressure. That means the thin threads don’t affect her or the pain receptors are numbed… That also means we can attempt to remove them… Wait… removing… parasite… ah!
“Zeliph,” he raised his head and addressed the thin, androgynous man. “Do you think she can live without any mana in her body?”
The man stared at Kai for a moment, his vision unfocusing as he got lost in thought. “Yes… she should be able to. A lack of mana doesn’t mean you’ll die. Why…. why do you ask?”He sounded worried, a hint of worry hiding in his voice.
“This problem might not be as complicated as I thought originally. The red dots feed the parasite with mana, but the mana within her body is condensing and slowly enlarging the mana veins. Then what if we removed the red dots? What would happen then?”
Zeliph’s pupils widened as he realized what Kai wanted to do. A brief smile creased his lips as he nodded in agreement. “If the parasite doesn’t feed, it will eventually die without reaching maturity. Is that what you want to say?”
“Sort of, yes,” Kai replied, placing Lilith’s hand down gently. “But I think we need to free her Mana Core as well, so we might have to kill it entirely after it’s weakened. I am… not sure how dangerous this will be. Could be easy, could take a day or a week… but I don’t have the time. We need to start now.”
His urgent words fell into Léandro’s ears as soon as the curtains parted, a puzzled expression decorating his face. “Start what now?”
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What is that thing?
