CHAPTER 33: REAL MONSTERS

"I think I’m done."

Calen stopped the flames for the final time.

The magic circle was no more - in its place there was a perfectly circular, shallow black cavity.

Suddenly he felt weak, and his knees buckled.

"Whoa, are you alright?" Isara caught him.

"Yeah I’ll be fine in a minute, using flame this many times in quick succession is a bit draining."

Seeing that they were done with their task, Cassian and Elira left the shrine, and approached them.

"I assume we’re safe from magic mass murder now?" Cassian asked.

Calen nodded.

"As soon as I can stand again, we run for the council chamber. I’m amazed they managed to keep Trent there for this long, and frankly I’m starting to suspect something happened."

Cassian frowned.

"Wasn’t the plan that they would keep him there for the entrie time?"

"Yeah, and I was certain it wouldn’t work." Calen slowly stood up. "Now let’s get out of here."

***

Trent was attacking viciously, throwing punches with his enormous arm, while using the other as a whip.

Baor has managed to block most of his blows so far, and even land a few attacks of his own, but the mutated Elder was unrelenting.

"Any idea what did he do to become like this?" Lydia asked Vinifer, simultaneously raising her axe to parry a stray attack with the vine whip.

"I think he used an Everbloom" Vinifer dodged a punch from the enormous fist.

"What the hell is an Everbloom!?"

"An experimental drug, previous Elders made it based on something they stole from a Blightborn long before you joined the council." He studied Trent’s new body. "It’s supposed to strengthen the person who ingests it, but the effects aren’t supposed to be this... chaotic."

Lydia sidestepped, and chopped off a few meters of the vine tentacle - unfortunately for her, it grew back a few seconds later.

"So he took an enchanced experimental drug, wonderful. Any way to stop him?"

"Well, the effects will wear off on their own."

"How long will it take?"

Vinifer sighed.

"At least a few hours."

"Not really a viable option then. Any other solutions?"

"Kill." Baor growled, as he delivered a devastating punch to the mutants face.

"He’s right, the only other way to stop him is to end his life." Vinifer admitted.

Lydia locked eyes with him.

"You’re not going to try to stop us?"

The Archdruid shook his head.

"Not even taking the array into account, he endangered the entire circle today - I have no sympathy left for him."

She nodded.

"Ba, on my signal grab the old fart and keep him in one place for a few seconds."

The four armed beast roared in agreement.

"Wait." Vinifer grabbed her arm.

The Archdruid extended his quarterstaff.

"Take it. It should be yours anyway."

Lydia quietly accepted the weapon, and brought it to her axe. The vines untwisted, and wrapped around the sacred wood, as of they always belonged there.

The delicate carvings adorning the wooden surface glowed with soft green light, and the two weapons merged together.

A flash of light later, the vines were gone, and the sacred wood has changed its shape - on one of the ends a fearsome axe head rested, its dark surface more akin to metal than wood.

Lydia didn’t get the chance to admire her new weapon, as suddenly Trent’s larger arm shot towards her-

She jumped back, and retaliated by cutting off one of the three wooden claws. Surprisingly, it didn’t grow back.

"Well, here goes nothing." She prepared to run. "Now, Ba!"

The mighty beast grabbed its opponent with all its arms, at the same time it’s feet changed shape to burry several long roots in the ground, locking it in place.

Lydia took of running, when she reached her brother she didn’t hesitate, and jumped on his back.

She continued up, until she reached the head crowned by four curved horns, where she leaves into the air directly above Trent.

Lydia screamed as she brought down her axe, the sacred blade easily splitting both flesh and bone, sinking deep into the Elder’s face.

When she landed on the monstrosity, it stood still for a moment - then swayed, and fell down.

She jumped off the corpse, and approached Vinifer. Baor was still in his full transformation, suspiciously eyeing the dead Elder.

"The old fucker was hiding even more secrets than we thought, you should apprehend all his-"

Mid-sentence the mutated body started convulsing.

They all assumed battle positions, but then the monstrosity started shrinking - a few seconds later all that was left was a lifeless human body.

Baor released his transformation, approached the corpse, and checked its pulse.

"He’s fully dead." The large druid confirmed, and proceeded to search the body.

Lydia sighed in relief.

"How’s the rest of the circle?" She addressed Vinifer.

"They’re fine."

He pointed at a large dome made of roots and vines attached to the doors.

"Like I said before, before we release everyone you should apprehend-"

Vinfer raised his hand to interrupt her.

"I’m no longer the one in charge." He pointed at her weapon.

Lydia realised that he was right - the fact that the sacred wood changed shape meant that the great tree recognised her as the Archdruid.

"Very well then - since you know who exactly collaborated with Trent, grab them and put them in cells, we’ll deal with them once this mess is over."

Vinifer smiled slightly.

"As you command, master Lydia."

He walked off to get people out of that protective barrier, and arrest the suspects.

"Sis, could you come here?" Baor yelled.

She quickly approached her brother and the corpse.

"What is it?"

"Well, first of congratulations on taking your rightful place." He grinned.

Lydia crossed her arms.

"I always thought you had no idea about politics."

Baor didn’t respond, but instead changed the topic:

"There’s something you should see."

He rolled up Trent’s left sleeve just enough to expose the elbow - the flesh around it was gray and withered, covered in disgusting veins and boils.

"He was corrupted? But when? He never left Greenheart, where could he have come in contact with blight?" Lydia was full of questions.

"That’s not the worst part actually, judging by its state the infection must have happened centuries ago."

Lydia scoffed.

"That’s impossible Ba, he would have been dead or withered within a year."

The large druid simply pulled up the sleeve a bit higher.

Just above the dessicated skin, a small magic circle was tattooed, the symbols far too small, neat and precise to be made by an amateur.

"What the hell is that?" Lydia asked with a shaky voice.

"The old fart was syphoning divine power directly from the great tree to stop the Blight from spreading."

Lydia’s blood froze.

"How... How much time did we lose because of him?" She was almost afraid to hear the answer.

Baor sighed.

"With our current usage, at least a few decades - maybe a century."

It took all of Lydia’s willpower to not bring down her axe and chop off the head of the already dead Elder.

"How could he?!"

"Some people will do anything to survive and gain advantage, and we’ll learn more about his motives and methods from his accomplices, but I think it all makes perfect sense."

She threw him an unimpressed look.

"Oh yeah? It makes sense?"

He nodded.

"I don’t agree with his decisions of course, but I can see his line of thinking - the great power is running out of power, and the sacrifice he was going to make was his last chance for survival."

"Survival? He just wanted power, plain and simple."

Baor shrugged.

"Maybe it was self preservation instinct, maybe it was power lust - whether he was an animal or a monster, he’s dead now, isn’t he?"

Lydia looked at the pitiful corpse.

"I suppose that’s true. That reminds me, we’ll have to ask Calen to burn the body, even if the Blight technically can’t infect people inside the barrier it’s better to not take any risks."

A few moments later Vinifer joined them.

"I informed everyone of what transpired, and caught Trent’s closest confidants - I suggest we lift the seal and meet up with Calen and the others."

The three of them approached the seats of the council, and each of them placed a hand on their respective chair.

"I formally declare the end of the 1436th grand council." Lydia said.

There was a click, bright light, and the doors opened widely. The chamber quickly emptied, leaving only the three Elders inside.

"We need to appoint another Elder." Baor pointed out.

"Yeah, we’ll talk about it on the next Elder meeting, for now wrote down your suggestions if you have any."

Calen and his companions entered the chamber at this moment.

"Mission accomplished." He looked around the partially destroyed auditorium, and his gaze fell on the body. "Is he...?"

"He’s dead, yes." Lydia confirmed.

"Considering you’re all in one piece I consider it a win. Did you manage to get anything out of him?"

Vinifer shook his head.

"Not much, but we have his subordinates, and we’ll interrogate them later."

Lydia addressed Calen.

"Can you stay for a few minutes? I have something you need to take care."

"What?"

"You have to burn the old fart to a crisp."