Blight

I woke with the rising of the sun from an uneasy sleep. My mind was weighed down heavily with worry about what I would have to do today and the memories of unpleasant dreams. The image of a dark figure laughing within a dead land sent a shiver up my spine. The dream felt strangely specific to my situation and I wasn’t sure if it had any meaning beyond a manifestation of my fears.

Today was going to be my first real test as a guardian of the forest. Everything I had done up to this point was simply growing in strength and gathering skills that would help me to succeed. I had prepared to the best I was able and now it was time to fulfil the first part of my promise to the heart tree.

Stroking the flower in my hair with gentle touches I made my way down from the tree I had slept in. Once my feet touched the ground I took in a deep breath and gathered my resolve. “Are you ready for this Mel?” I asked, more to fill the silence than looking for any reassurance. In her usual fashion Mel only pulsed happily against my chest. “Okay then let’s go.”

Just as in the previous day I started to run. However, today the only magic that I preformed was to create a bubble of air around myself and a separate one for Mel. “Now it is very important that you don’t eat this barrier Mel. I don’t know exactly when we will pass the boarder into the blight and I want you to stay safe.” I gently chastise my seed. Mel seems to give an indignant huff as if saying she already knew that. Knowing that the point was made I let the topic drop as I continue on my way. I didn’t want to cast any further magic as I wanted all of my resources available to me once reaching the blight.

For over an hour I ran. The closer to my goal I got the quieter everything became. The gentle rustling of wildlife in the underbrush was the first thing to go. Next, the buzzing of insects faded into nothingness. The last thing to go was the singing of the birds. The only sounds that could be heard were the crunch of leaves beneath my feet and the soft cadence of my breathing.

The silence was like an unsettling blanket hanging thick over the forest. Nature knew that something here wasn’t right and everything had fled from the area. In the silence my nerves only grew. If it is this quiet here, then the situation must be much worse than I had thought. All life has been driven from the area and refuses to come anywhere close.

When I found what I had been seeking there wasn’t a slow increase in sickness. There weren’t a few plants showing the first signs of disease leading up to those who were more and more sick. No, it was as if I crossed a line and the blight was there. I passed by one healthy tree and a vast swath of sick and dying trees appeared before me.

Trees that should have bean a hearty healthy green were instead sporting leaves of a sickly yellow brown. Their bark once colored in browns, greys and greens were now either pale white or deep black. Large seeping wounds adorned the bark leaking a viscus black fluid. Fine dark spores coated leaves or drifted freely through the air. Even the ground didn’t escape the ravages of this disease. Dried and cracked the earth seeped the same dark fluid seen on the trees.

The sight made me sick and I had to fight the bile rising in my throat and struggled to hold my tears at bay. How? How could I alone fight against something like this? Nothing I have, no skill, no magic is able to fight what can kill the very ground I walk upon.

Heart heavy with despair I walked deeper into the blighted land. Passing by a tree covered in weeping sores I had to stop myself from reaching out to touch it. Radiating a feeling of pain and despair the trees around me were threatening to break my will. Clutching the fraying ends of my resolve I kept walking.

The state of the forest weighed greatly upon me but some of the strangeness was forcing me to press on. How the blight seemed to be contained to this small area was one of those driving factors. It was not natural for it all to be held here as it currently is. It should be much further spread from what I have seen. Something must be holding it here. Maybe if I can find whatever is keeping the blight from spreading, I can find a way to stop it.

Driven to find the answer to my curiosity I forced myself to travel deeper into the infected area. The further I went the worse things got. The trees no longer had leaves in sickly yellow, but now were adorned with leaves that were either grey or so covered in spores as to turn completely black. Even further in they now longer had leaves.

I now stood among nothing but death. The trees here were so drained that they were nothing more than tall twisted sticks. When I reached out to touch one its bark crumbled to dust beneath my fingers. Thick dark fluid leaked from the newly opened gap and dripped onto earth that was little more than black sand.

This is the fate that awaits the rest of the forest if I can’t stop the blight here. The life drained out leaving nothing but dust behind. This is the same landscape that I saw in my dream if only smaller. A forest of death. Nothing left alive, not even the earth.

Crouching down I let some of the black sand trickle through my fingers. It was so dry and fine that rather than fall straight to the ground it almost seemed to disperse into the still, dead air. Getting back up I pushed onward having not quite reached the center of the area.

I knew I was at the center of the blighted area when I saw it. The tree stood no taller than those around it but it was unmistakably older. This tree was also still alive, if only just. Its wide trunk was a patchwork of the same weeping sores sported by the other trees and its leaves were starting to turn from yellow to grey. Spores hung thick in the air around it and I could tell it didn’t have much time left.

This was no heart tree, but it was clearly the power that had been holding the blight at bay. The sight of this great tree using all of its failing power to hold back the disease from the rest of the forest rather than healing itself was truly heartbreaking. No longer able to keep the tears from my eyes I let them fall to the dead earth as I approached the tree.

Placing my hand on it I was instantly buffeted by a tide of information. The tree couldn’t quite speak but it was trying to communicate with me. I could feel its desperation, fear, and pain. In those moments it told me a story of how it had realized too late what was happening and had only been able to quarantine the area. A story about how it had fought to survive, and one about how it had watched its brothers and sisters slowly die around it.

The tree was begging me to help it and I could only feel worse for its efforts. I had no idea what to do.

“Please. Show me how I can help. I- I don’t know what to do!” I begged the tree, fresh tears falling down my face. Rather than respond with anger the old tree sent me soothing images. It filled my mind with thoughts of warmth and a gentle hand wiping away my tears. It helped, a lot. Stifling my sobs and wiping at my face with one hand I was slowly able to bring my focus back to the tree.

Sensing my attention returning to it the tree did something strange. It extended a thin thread of deep green mana toward me. Remembering what I had been shown by the wind I extended a thread of pearly white mana to meet it. I was expecting it to show me how it used nature magic to fight off the blight but what it showed me was so much more than that.

The instant our mana was connected my mind expanded. I was no longer just within my body, I was inside the entire blighted area. The great old tree was connected to every other tree and being connected to it I was joined into the network. The scope of it sent my mind reeling. Every tree, bush, and plant was connected. They were all able to talk to each other, share resources, and give power.

Before this I had thought that each of the trees were individuals, and for the most part that was the case, but now I could see that they were also all one being. Before seeing this I had though the old tree had been sustaining everything on its own but I could now see every tree in the entire area was working together to give the old tree the strength it needed to keep up the quarantine.

Beyond this vast network I could also see magic. A grand circle beyond my ability to understand covered the entire area, and on a smaller level within each tree a beautiful dance of shifting mana was being performed. Threads of earth and water mana were being drawn from the ground before they were braided together. This precise meshing of two primal elements formed something altogether new. Nature mana. The resulting streams of nature mana were then braided into the smallest magic formations I had ever seen. The trees were repeatedly casting some type of cure spell to fight the disease on almost a cellular level.

The display although futile was utterly mesmerizing. The disease was multiplying faster than the trees’ small spells were able to account for. The beautiful display was only fighting off the inevitable. It was clear that none of the trees possessed the art of splellweaving as they repeatedly cast the same small spells. It must have been a natural defense that was developed to fight off small diseases but was not well suited to fight off this blight. To do so the spell formations would need to be adjusted to release a massive sure of cleansing power. The amount of power that would be required to cure the entire area was mind boggling.

I watched the movement of the mana within each tree slowly learning how it worked and realizing that it would be of little help to me. With despair mounting I started to search for other solutions. I looked for a while and eventually noticing something that seemed promising. Just like me the trees had natural paths within them to circulate energy. Perhaps if I can move those energy channels a little bit I can hind some way for the trees to use a variant of the energy healing technique.

Given fresh hope by this latest spark of inspiration I set to work. I picked one tree at random and pushed my mind into the network of energy flowing within it. With slow deliberate effort I moved the veins of energy into a new pattern. The process was tiring and didn’t move nearly fast enough. I could feel the old tree watching my actions with bated breath hoping for good results.

At long last the lines of energy within the tree for the pattern that I feel should best help to heal it. Taking a deep breath I start to push the energy around the pattern. The results are immediate. Cracks on the tree begin to heal, nutrients surge through it, and it seems to grow a little taller, but the blight doesn’t die. Just as quickly as it had seemed to heal the tree once again withers.

A long litany of profanity I hadn’t even been aware I had known spews from me as I curse the blight, the lack of results and my inability to help. Filled with an indescribable rage I plunge my mind deeper into the network, past the trees, through the spell formations, and deep into the ground. “If magic is the only thing that can kill you then I will show you magic!” Letting out a mad cackle I plunge even deeper into my insane idea.

Roots twist and turn under my direction, and the very earth bends to my will. I work frantically, beyond any semblance of rational thought I push onwards. Just as I am about to add the finishing touch to my mad design I am forcibly ejected from the network of trees.

Mind spinning at the sudden loss I am snapped from my madness and collapse to the ground. For a long time I lay there trying to piece myself back together. Shame and guilt at my actions war with hope that my plan might work. Gathering my courage, I get back up and reconnect myself to the tree.

The first thing it does is harshly chastise me for my mental breakdown. The images of myself that it shows me make me cringe and hang my head in shame. Seemingly satisfied the tree ceases its chastisement and new images start flowing to me. More images of me are sent but these ones show me carrying myself with confidence, possessing an unbreakable will, and never loosing my focus in a crisis. The images say “you are a guardian. This is how you should be. There is a time for fear, a time for tears, let them flow then. You are the guardian, the guiding force, act like it.”

“Th- thank you. I- I’m sorry for my loss of f- focus and r- rash actions.” I stammer, still trying to fight back tears. The tree sends back a confused feeling. This in turn confuses me. The tree seems to understand the cause of the feeling and instead of explaining I reopens my connection to the network and shows me what I had done.

Beneath the ground the roots of all the trees have been twisted into a circle, no, a circle of circles. Formations within formations, the entire underground of the blighted area has been shaped into a single massive spell array. An array with the potential to wipe any disease off the face of the planet.

I stare dumbstruck at the array. I- I did this? All without thinking I was able to change the land into something completely new. As I stair at the array the tree brushes my mind again. It sends a stream of thanks and a feeling of joy mingled with sadness. I send back only confusion. “Why are you thanking me? This array… I can’t power it. Even if every tree worked together, they couldn’t produce enough energy to activate it.” In response the tree sends back the same confusing mixture of joy and sadness before it gently separates me from the network.

As soon as I am disconnected a massive buildup of energy starts. I watch in awe as energy and mana gush from the great tree in a tidal wave. As the display continues, I notice something that sends fear down my spine.

The leaves on the great tree are dying, no the entire tree is dying. Realization about what is going on hits me like a ten-ton brick. The tree is sacrificing its life essence and converting it into power for the spell array.

“No! What are you doing? Stop! Please!” I desperately beg with the tree attempting to force my way back into the network. Nothing I do works, and I can only watch with tear filled eyes as the tree withers away in front of me. In its last moment the great tree sends me a stream of thought. It is a warm tide, like a tight hug and I can almost hear a voice as it whispers, “Thank you.” and then the array lights up. A massive burst of energy fills the area as a pillar of green light pierces the heavens.

Blinded by the light and consumed with sadness I fall to my knees in front of what remains of the once great tree.

An unknown amount of time passes before my blindness fades and my tears recede. Looking around I see a forest filled with life. Every trace of the blight is now gone, wiped away with the energy provided by a willing sacrifice.

A familiar ding breaks me from my introspection, and I open my notifications.

Ding!

Mana manipulation has reached level 12!

Quest update!

Quest Alert: Guardian of the Forest

The heart tree is dead. You have agreed to take up its duties. This forest is now yours, but you do not control it. To carry out your new duties there is much that is required of you.

- Defeat the 4 forest queens

o Queen of illusion

o Queen of shadows

o Queen of deception

o Queen of ?????????

- Cure the blight (Complete!)

- Drive out the drakes

- Fix damage caused by the outsiders

- Grow a new heart tree

“It’s done Mel. We did it.” I whisper in a voice tight with emotion.

For a while I just walk through the newly cured trees. The ones that had died are gone but everything else is brimming with life. Each tree that I touch sends me a little pulse of comfort that I gladly take.

I stop next to one of the dead trees resting my hand against it. For a while I just look at it until my thoughts are interrupted by a scream from somewhere deep inside me. MOVE!

Not pausing to ask why I throw myself to the side just as a long black spear whistles past my head to embed itself into the tree. Reaching up to touch the hot line burned across my cheek my hand comes away bloody.

Primal Senses has reached level 3!

Turning around the sight that greets my eyes turns my blood to ice.

A woman clothed entirely in tight fitting black leather armor stairs at me with hatred in her eyes. As I stair back a small box appears over her head and a glowing red box flashes in my mind.

Quest Alert: Defiler!

You have found the source of the blight that threatened the forest. Enraged by your actions she has sought you out. If you fail to stop her, she will continue to spread her poison wherever she goes.

Defeat the Defiler or die.

[Defiler, level 53]