The Storm King

Chapter 1127: Redspark Forest III

Trudging through the Redspark Forest was quite calming for Leon. The forest atmosphere, the storm above filling him with power, and the sensation of being watched from all around were experiences that Leon hadn’t had in many years.

The possibility of being stalked by a werewolf, of course, only added to that pleasant feeling, for there was no better forest in his mind than one that held genuine danger. Still, for all his appreciation of the Redspark Forest, he kept vigilant; his magic senses were projected, his head was on a swivel, and his ears were tuned for any unnatural sounds he might pick up in the forest.

He didn’t perceive much, unfortunately, as the fog and general ambiance of the forest masked most of it from his senses, both magical and physical, and Davin’s magic lantern continued to emit a foul aura that, while keeping many monsters and other beasts away, also felt horrendous to perceive with his magic senses.

As they moved down the path, Leon took in the forest as best as the thick fog allowed him to. Many of the tracks in the earth were familiar enough to him, the smaller markings he noticed indicating that not everything in the forest was a man-eating monster, but others were far more alien. He didn’t notice any further werewolf tracks for a while, thankfully, but he had to ask Davin about some of what he saw.

The first set of tracks he asked about was from what seemed to be a mass of snakes as thick as his leg, and he was dismayed to hear that that’s precisely what had left those tracks—the poil snake, Davin told him, was a large snake that operated in packs of several hundred or more. Black hunters, bats the size of a man, and even larger birds of prey could pick off dozens of these serpents whenever they moved nests, and their numbers would hardly be affected.

Thankfully, they were generally weak, as their reliance on packs implied, and Davin’s candle would keep them away if the aura of the party didn’t.

Another set of tracks Leon noticed were impact craters with a diameter about as long as he was tall, with many root-like tunnels branching through them.

“Sometimes the trees migrate,” Davin told him. “It’s damned rare, but it’s the smart man who keeps his distance, an’ the fool who doesn’t.”

“The trees migrate?” Anna asked skeptically. “Are they home to tree sprites or something?”

Davin glanced over his shoulder and gave her a slightly confused look. “I got no idea what tree sprites are, but no, these are proper trees that move about.”

“Are they intelligent?” Leon asked. “Are they capable of communication?”

“No to both,” Davin answered. “Them things sprout a pair of legs from their trunks an’ they walk to a spot where they can eat more lightning. These trees can toss around a sixth or seventh-tier human an’ are capable of defendin’ themselves, but they don’t respond to nothin’ else. People tryin’ to talk to ‘em have about as much luck with it as tryin’ to talk with a normal tree.”

Leon nodded, absorbing this information.

‘Might be some value in having Tikos check this forest out,’ he thought.

After several more hours of moving as quickly as they could through the dense forest, they came upon a river. The forest had darkened considerably by then as the foliage grew denser, and the river was black as pitch. It wasn’t the heavy boughs of the trees preventing light from reaching the river, however, that caused it to be so dark; the water itself—if it even was water—was black. So dark and foul was it to all of Leon’s senses that he wasn’t surprised to see that even the thickening fog of the forest didn’t approach the river, leaving a thin line cut right through the cloudy fog.

No bridge led over the river, though a large stone protruded out from the river bank on the inside curve of a bend.

“That boulder right there is it for the path,” Davin said. “Most pilgrims shiver an’ back down long afore this point. Lots’a dangers scare ‘em off.”

“Aside from that one bout of unpleasantness, this has been a fairly peaceful trek,” Anna said. “I had worse hunting trips back on our home plane, where monsters were considerably less powerful on average.”

Davin smiled. “That makes plenty’a sense to me,” he said. “Monsters get smarter as they get stronger. Usually. I’m sure most of the creatures can sense the strength of this party an’ stay outta our way. That ‘bout of unpleasantness’ that you saved me from is more what others can expect, and for weaker mages, even getting’ this far alive can be an adventure worth braggin’ about. For you, maybe, it’s hardly worth more’n a casual mention ‘round the campfire.”

“We’ve had our fair share of adventures,” Leon said with a wry smile. “Tell me about this river. How are we going to cross it? I assume swimming would be a bad idea?”

“Terrible idea,” Davin said with a look of muted horror. “Awful, really, really shit idea. These here black waters flow everywhere in the forest. No one has ever been able to find where the rivers come from or where they go, but enough mages have fucked with ‘em to know that they’re cursed worse than a kinslayer: all these waters touch lose the will to live.”

“That’s… what? What do you mean ‘lose the will to live?” Gaius asked with a startled look, one that was shared by many in Leon’s party.

“A few drops’ll make someone tired,” Davin explained. “A cup of this cursed water’ll make a fifth-tier mage sleep for days. Submergin’ some poor bastard in the black water’ll prevent them from movin’ at all; they just stare ahead, like a damn statue. Fallin’ into the river would make a man lose all strength and either drown or get swept away, their fate in the gods’ hands.”

“What kind of magic does that?” Leon wondered aloud.

“The water’s hard as shit to study,” Davin further explained. “Many’ve tried, but if they’ve discovered anythin’, they ain’t shared it; Redspark knows ‘bout as much ‘bout this water as we did when the city was first established. Which ain’t much.”

[Devil’s water,] the Thunderbird whispered from Leon’s soul realm.

[Fucking shit,] Xaphan responded. [Don’t touch that shit, Leon! It’s toxic, polluted by dark magic!]

[It has little effect on those of my blood,] the Thunderbird smugly stated. [All others of lesser blessings will have trouble dealing with such foul water.]

[What is ‘Devil’s water’?] Leon asked as the rest of his party assembled near the boulder sticking into the river to watch the black water stream past.

[What it sounds like, dumbass,] Xaphan sharply replied. [It’s also not even remotely related to the Primal Devils. At least, not this paltry thing. The Devils used to piss these waters out wherever they lived. Borders of their domains were marked by black water, and all who fell within were swept into the arms of the first demons who served the Devils. Those hapless fools were some of the first blood sacrifices that empowered the demons.]

[Is it the same here?] Leon asked.

[No,] Xaphan bluntly replied. [This river has no connection to the Elemental Planes that I can sense. But… it’s dangerous, so don’t be your usual self and go touching it. Keep your fucking distance!]

[Still have to cross it,] Leon said as he turned his attention back to Davin.

“How do pilgrims usually cross this river?”

“By waitin’ for the river to weaken,” Davin replied. “When the current’s down, we can make a bridge.”

“If all we need is a bridge, what’s stopping us from making one right now?” Alix asked.

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Davin shrugged and waved at the boulder. “Go ahead an’ see.”

Alix frowned deeply, then glanced at her son. Felix dutifully stepped forward and waved his hand at the boulder, causing stone to burst forth from it and arch over the water.

However, this arching stone hadn’t even made it across the river before drops of water hit the bridge, causing Felix’s magic to spiral out of control and the bridge to shake itself apart. In the end, the boulder was left almost exactly as it had been before, with Felix’s bridge crumbling into the rushing black water.

Felix himself stumbled back, his face rapidly paling. “Shit…” he murmured.

“Aye, natural reaction, happens whenever someone tries to fly or jump over, too,” Davin said as Alix held her son and Gaius laid a hand on Felix’s shoulder. “That’ll pass. But real fuckin’ bad feelin’, ain’t it?”

“Awful,” Felix stated. Fortunately, he appeared to swiftly recover, and he said, “It felt much like being hit with antimagic. It was sickening, like the flow of magic from me to the stone started shaking and rebelling against me. I started feeling dizzy and lost control over my magic.”

Leon frowned lightly, having watched this happen with his magic senses. The water in the river flowed quickly, but smoothly, and it was only when Felix tried building the bridge that the water started getting choppy and tossing droplets up to hit the stone. Now that there was no more magic around, the water had returned to relative calm.

He glanced over at Maia, wondering how she felt about this river. The moment he focused on their connection, he felt such revulsion that his stomach almost flipped, and he wavered on his feet for a moment. His river nymph wife made eye contact with him as he steadied himself, a look of profound disgust on her face.

[This river is profane,] she silently declared. [Its source must be found and obliterated. This thing cannot be allowed to exist!]

[That bad?] he asked.

[Worse,] she replied. [I would rather throw my daughters to a kraken than allow them to live near such a foul place!]

With a grave nod, Leon turned back to the river. [We’ll see what we can do in the future. For now, we have to focus on getting to that tree.]

Maia snarled but didn’t push him on his decision. Time was of the essence, and saving Artorion took precedence over everything.

[Will our power help?] Leon asked the Thunderbird.

[Of course,] she replied, pride dripping from every syllable. [Such dark magics are repelled by the purity of my lightning. They can’t stand to exist in the face of such majesty!]

Leon smirked but didn’t allow her words to unduly affect his attitude. Instead, as Davin explained that they’d have to likely wait days for the river’s flow to abate, he stepped forward and raised a hand. Silver-blue lightning streamed forth into the water, and Leon was almost blown backward as the conflicting magics detonated.

Screaming and shouting commenced as water was splashed everywhere, and Leon himself was rather drenched. However, he didn’t feel any lethargy from the water, nor did he sense any kind of magic within it. The water was, as far as he could tell, completely normal.

This realization had everyone breathing a sigh of relief, and Davin staring at Leon in awe.

“Now I ain’t never seen anything like that!” he exclaimed. “Had me goin’ there for a second, thought that we were in for a rough night with all this water splashin’ everywhere!”

“I didn’t think the reaction would be quite so… immediate,” Leon responded.

[Crude,] the Thunderbird stated with a hint of reproachment. [The water is repelled by my power. You don’t need to strike it directly, you need only repel enough to build a bridge and cross the river that way.]Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Leon sighed and quietly laughed at himself. Then, with his body sparking with silver-blue lightning, he stepped forward again and marveled at how the river seemed to bend further away from him.

“Start building a bridge again,” he commanded, and Felix leaped to fulfill his order.

With Leon’s lightning crackling through the air, Felix was able to build a bridge over the river with ease, and Leon’s party, with Leon himself standing on the edge of the bridge to make sure the water flowed beneath it instead of leaping up to shatter it, hurriedly crossed.

Leon was the last to step off the bridge, and the moment he did and ceased using his power to control the river, a few drops splashed up and shattered it instantly.

“That was… mighty impressive, King Leon!” Davin declared. “You just saved us days.”

“How close are we to the Stormborn Oak, now?” Leon asked. They’d already been moving for more than half a day, and at speeds faster than a mortal could muster; they’d covered a tremendous amount of ground, pushing deep into the forest. More than for that reason alone, however, Leon knew that the Stormborn Oak was close; the glow in the fog had grown so much stronger that he almost couldn’t see ahead of him for all the bright fog.

“Should be quick now that we’re on this side,” Davin said.

“Then let’s get moving,” Leon commanded, and Davin nodded, then set off into the forest. Leon followed close behind, the rest of the party falling back into single file behind him.

The journey remained peaceful, for the most part. Leon could still sense that they were drawing attention, but no monsters or beasts that may have been hiding amongst the trees and the fog jumped out at them, hoping for an easy meal. The red lightning striking nearby trees was more of an obstacle as it momentarily captured their attention and caused them to slightly slow down.

The brush grew thicker as they continued, any traces of human traces before them vanishing into the thick soil, thicker foliage, and curtain-like fog. The ambient noise, too, decreased with every step they took, until even the booming of thunder dulled to a distant roar.

“I never get tired of this…” Davin said as he easily pushed past thick grass in a small clearing. “Nowhere else in all the universe is this peaceful.”

Leon smiled in response but kept his mouth shut. His magic senses were picking up a tremendous amount of power ahead of them, shining as brightly as a star. However, it was a gentle power, flowing evenly down defined currents, and vanishing at some point that Leon couldn’t yet see.

“On matter what you’ve seen afore now,” Davin continued, “it pales…”

The guide trailed off and stopped in place. Leon almost bumped into him out of surprise, but when he looked over Davin’s shoulder, he understood the man’s sudden stop.

On a tree in front of them were distinctive claw markings—the same claw markings they’d seen at Ulthric’s camp. Leon noticed more tracks in the loamy soil at the foot of the tree.

Fresh tracks.

“It’s close,” Leon said as he pushed ahead of the guide and focused his magic senses, attempting to cut through the intense interference of the ambient magic power in the area. With the backing of his origin spark, his magic senses burst from him with such force that the fog around his party was momentarily pushed back.

Almost immediately, Leon noticed a hulking mass of fur about five hundred feet ahead of them, just barely visible to his magic senses through the fog, even boosted by his origin power. Without hesitation, he drew Iron Pride and began slowly advancing. At his word, the rest of his party spread out a bit into the forest so that they were no longer walking in single-file, with Davin and the other guide behind them where they could be protected.

The mass of fur was barely moving, struggling to even crawl. Around its legs were the tattered remains of trousers, and about its neck were a few scraps of cloth stubbornly clinging to the beast’s form. It breathed slow, ragged breaths, interrupted by the occasional canine yelp and human-like whimper.

Leon advanced slowly, hardly making any noise. The rest of his party wasn’t quite as stealthy, but even so, the collapsed beast didn’t so much as flinch as Leon finally drew close enough to lay his eyes upon it.

It was certainly a werewolf—matted brown fur covered the thing’s body, and its formerly human hands and legs had bent and twisted into something decidedly more wolf-like. Its hands terminated in vicious claws, while its head had elongated, a snout protruding from its face rather than a nose or a mouth.

The monster’s bloodshot eyes fluttered open and closed, and it hardly moved at all as Leon drew so close now that his presence couldn’t be hidden.

Through its half-formed snout and sharp, canine fangs, the creature moaned, “Heeeelllp…”

Leon twitched in response, having been in the process of raising his blade to end this creature’s miserable existence. He could see wounds on its back, and several of its claws were broken. He guessed there were additional serious injuries he couldn’t see, too.

But that one plea for aid froze him in place. He stared down at the pitiable creature as it struggled to move, its claws digging into the earth beneath it to haul itself another inch deeper into the forest, closer to the Stormborn Oak.

“Pleeeeaaassse,” it murmured.

“Is this thing… trying to talk?” Anna asked as she approached the monster from the other side.

“… Seems so,” Leon whispered.

“Odd,” she responded. “I hunted a couple when Helen and I lived in Attica. I’ve never heard of one this far gone retaining its mind.”

“I’m not sure it does,” Leon said as he crouched down closer to the creature’s head. His magic senses surrounded the monster, and he could see from how labored its breathing was to how much its aura was flagging that this barely sixth-tier monster was incapable of anything more than its current struggles. “Not fully, at least.”

“What… do you want to do?” Anna asked as the rest of Leon’s party surrounded the beast.

Leon stared at it for a long moment, its eyes fluttering open once more, barely seeming to even realize his presence as it again put all its remaining might into crawling forward another inch.

“How close are we to the Stormborn Oak?” Leon asked Davin.

The guide glanced in the direction of the bright silvery glow piercing through the fog and the trees, and responded, “’Round ten miles.”

With a deep sigh, Leon returned Iron Pride to his soul realm. “This thing’s no threat. If they want to get to the Stormborn Oak, let’s take them with us.”

“Is that… the right choice?” Anna asked. “We have some countermeasures, sure, but… bit of a risk, isn’t it?”

Leon’s eyes flitted to Valeria. “We can use ice to carry and restrain this guy.”

“We should just put it out of its misery,” Alix said with an apprehensive and disgusted look on her face, but Valeria did as Leon suggested, forming a platform of ice beneath the creature that also tightly wrapped around its limbs.

“It’s just to the Oak,” Leon said. “We can decide what happens there. Now, let’s just get there and see this tree for ourselves…”