Tree Uses Heal… Or Not? (1/2)

Year 168 (part 2)

“You don’t look in particularly good shape, for a hero.” I mentally spoke to Alvin, and he was powerless to resist. I sensed the swirling chaos within his body and I’m eager to see how it worked under the hood. First we start with comprehension, then, weaponization.

“And if I refuse?” Alvin said.

“Well, you’d rather live like this, bedridden for the remainder of your days, than let me try to heal you?”

Alvin didn’t reply.

“The next demon king will come in 10 years or so, and when it comes, it will come for you, because you are the last surviving hero. And they will find you in this state, and kill you. And destroy the city around you too.”

The weakened hero clenched his fists. “What do you even care?”

That offended me. Offended us. Have we not been fighting against the demons all these while? Have I not been resisting? What gave this hero the right to question that? Why, just because I wasn’t on the ‘same’ side. “I brought you because Kei asked me to help you. Because I happen to be one of the few people in the world that can even try to undo a demon king’s curse, and you question me?”

I was tempted to just keep him in stasis.

“By bringing you here, we have pretty much drawn the next demon king to us. To me. Do you think I would do so if I didn’t mean to heal you?”

“You could have brought me here to kill me.”

“I could.” Honestly, I could. In fact, if I found out how the demon’s poison or curse or whatever worked, I could be a dick to the world and not heal him. “But that would mean more unnecessary destruction, and more people dying while we wait for the gods to summon the next batch of heroes. As much as I dislike Kei’s request, I still saw some merit in helping you. And we need you to fix the locust problem that’s causing food disruptions all over the world.”

“And I am supposed to believe that you mean well for the world.”

“I do.” I meant it. I truly believe that this cycle is horrible. All the lives, all those forests, jungles, trees and habitats wiped out, just to serve as the playground for this game of gods. I’ve seen enough death to see this isn’t the way to go, and from what I can tell, many other, earlier precursor civilisations have suffered a premature death.

“Heh.” Alvin snorted.

“So, are you letting me help you or not?” If I have to kill him, I will. With the levels I gained since the fight with the demon king, maybe I could give him a run for his money. Still, the entire Valley of the Unrotten is loaded with bombs. If he’s going to start something crazy once I healed him, I would blow up the entire valley to take him down. I’ll live, but I don’t think he will.

“Fine.”

-

I made a giant attendant tree that’s focused as a biolab to house Alvin’s body, with all the best materials I could gather, and all the tools I may never need.

I activated all my sensors, and then dived into his soul spring, to see what is the magical equivalent of an oil slick.

Just like Meela long ago, there were these two large magical jugs in the sky that poured beautiful untainted, sparkly water into his soul spring, and the ‘lake’ around it. This sparkly water was star mana, and then, I saw these... strange spire like structures that resembled the demon’s homeworld. These emitted demonic mana in large quantities, and yet the star mana was still able to push back against the mana produced by these spires.

What’s really different, was something that looked like a single red crystal located right on top of his own soul spring that was surrounded by a red flame. I activated my soul-related abilities to get a closer look, whether this was just another type of curse. The flames seemed to burn the star mana that got near it, and in doing so, created an entirely dry, parched area.

[Greater Daemon Hybrid Parasite Spawn - nascent form]

What-in-the-fuck. I looked closer, and I saw, indeed, there seemed to be something resembling a.... I’m not sure what I’m looking at. It’s like a jellyfish, but incomplete.

In fact, once I observed the way the flames interacted with the star mana, I believe that thing may be ‘drinking’ the star mana.

-

“Alvin. I want you to tell me what the demon king did to you.”

He was still groggy when I woke him from the biolab’s bed. My vines and my own healing energies have taken over the role of his magical bed, and I could see he was healthier in most ways. But his skills and magic all remained off limits, so long as that... parasite, consumed all the mana that got anywhere near his soul spring.

He sat up, and told the story.

Both of them fought the giant worm demon king, and it went quite well. The temples provided some assistance, as they brought out old hero items to help provide cover fire and take out the mobs. They activated their powers, their star mana forms and went all out. The demon king caught one, but Hans managed to use his attacks at point blank range to significantly weaken the demon king before he was killed.

He fought the demon king to the end, but at the end, when he thought he won, there was a core in the middle. He thought it was going to explode, but instead, it just shot out the locusts to the entire area. In the middle was also this glowing blob of tiny red worms that attacked him. He thought he killed and destroyed most of them... but then he began losing his powers.

Within a month he was significantly weakened, and he thought he was going to die, but then somehow the condition stabilised. Still, he needed support, and so the temple brought out the ancient hero item, the Healing Bed. Honestly, the bed itself resembled something that would be found in a hospital. It’s clearly something made by a hero in memory of home.

“Those... little red worms. I thought I got all of them.” Alvin confessed. “But I think some of them managed to get into my body.”

The spawn in his soul spring. How?

-

I thought long and hard about this. There’s a parasite in his body, and it’s the thing that denies him access to his powers. It’s like somebody rerouted the electricity away from the main computer, so the computer’s unusable, but not necessarily ‘spoilt’.

The thing was growing. It fed on his star mana.

Honestly, a part of me was extremely curious of what happens if it matures? Does it burst out of his body?

The red flames protected it, but I realised that the protection was insufficient. Not enough to deny me.

I placed Alvin in my specialised soul forge, a set up I used to heal Stella of her void mana curses, and activated the various ley lines for the power I needed. The flames this parasite created, were meant to ‘consume’ star mana, and it was specifically tailored for it. It had pretty good protections, such that significant majority of healing or anti-poison or anti-parasite abilities could not get past those red flames.

But not me. The flames bent and went out to the touch of my overwhelming mana. And my vines reached out, and then touched it.

At that moment, a voice spoke back. ‘Tree, we believe we are on the same side.’

I mentally froze, and Patreeck quickly updated. “No mental incursions, master. It appears to be a telepathic message passed via the vines.”

‘Don’t remove me.’

The... spawn? Indeed, there really was nothing else but the crystal. “What are you?”

‘I am the demon’s bid to escape the clutches of our Slavers. A weapon created to kill heroes, but at the same time, use the heroes’ powers to grow. ‘

...shit. “I do not believe you.”

‘Certainly, you should not.’

“How do you speak so... well?” The level of speech and sentence structure suggested something a lot more intelligent than what I initially remembered of the demons.

‘We learn from the captured heroes. We learn from their memories, their thoughts. We leech off their minds, and pick the speech and language patterns. Even now, I tap into the hero’s mind.’

“You are a parasite.”

‘That I am.’

“Then tell me why I should not remove you?”

‘Because I can help you fight the Slavers. We know your kind is unaware of who we are. Who we serve.’

“Then enlighten me.”

‘The Ancient Slavers, and the Puppeteers, are but two large factions in eternal conflict over the multiverse. This world is one of the many ‘gateway-worlds’ at the edges between the realm of the Slavers and the Puppeteers. We, the so called ‘demons’, are but a race of animals, or monsters, that the slavers have ‘assimilated’ as their slaves of war. Our homeworlds are helpless, the slaver’s mind-touch is etched into our flesh, our souls stolen away and fused into the mass. Our leaders are forced to fight their wars, sent to your world as the demon kings.’

I wonder whether its’ lying. But it’s quite plausible. “Then what are you?”

‘I am a secret project, a weapon designed by our kings, with a spark to regain control of our own destiny.’

I’m getting some serious Xel’naga vibes here. No. Kerrigan.

‘But to do so, I must grow and mature outside the eyes of the Puppeteers and the Slavers..’

I had a real sinking feeling.

‘The Demon Kings believe we can have allies in this world. Those who can help us rebel against our Slavers. We have seen strong natives across the multiverse, and we have attempted to seek their aid. I am to be made using the magic of the Puppeteers, to wash away the corrupt stain of the Slavers that seeks to hold onto my will. With true independence, and the knowledge I have, we can retake my homeworld.’

Is this for real? No. Don’t demons always lie? But that’s the belief, isn’t it? “I have not decided to help you or not, but I need to know everything. And I mean, everything damned thing.”

‘Certainly. Our kings believe letting the natives know the truth of the conflict will convert some to our cause.’

Convert to their cause? That choice of word seemed to sound like the demon’s attempting to incite people to believe them. Isn’t this just a version of the Demon Cults I met a century ago? “Start from the beginning. Who are the Gods?”

‘The Slavers and Puppeteers are but a generation of mortals that gained apotheosis, perhaps a few million years ago. They come after three Parents, the Birth of the system-time and the Birth of the worlds, and the Birth of Souls, and rose to enslave them. They failed.’

“How do you know this, and how do I know this is true?”

‘It is our ancient belief which we believe is true.’

Oh lord, I’m dealing with demonic religion. “What do you want?”

‘We want to be freed of the Slavers.’

“What do the Slavers and Puppeteers want?” I presume these are the gods.

‘We do not know much. We know they seek to conquer the gateway worlds, and to do so we must defeat the Puppets, and claim the native magic of the world. In worlds where we have conquered, the slavers consumed the natives and turned them into new slaves, to fight other battles. The native worlds were stripped of certain types of energies, and the rest was left for the new slaves to use. The Slavers will change the natives, such that the natives become more... warlike.’

“How do you open the portals to our world? Where is your world?”

‘I do not know how to describe where my world is. It is just... there. As for the portals, the Slavers have unique individuals tasked with tuning the void-gates. The void gates are tuned to residual energies of your world, but I know not of their operations. These are the powers of the Slavers. Each of the demon worlds have agents of the Slavers.’

Each of the demon worlds? THere are more than one? “How can I know you are not lying to me?”

There was a moment of silence, then it responded. ‘So what if I am? Does it make what I say any less useful?’

I kept on with the Q&A session. “How do you break free of the Slaver’s hold?”

‘Their hold is written in the flesh, and in the stones of the soul.’

“What happens when you mature?”