803 Smokescreen Part 1 (1/2)
As Kalla talked, her body constantly shifted from a normal appearance to a skeletal figure enveloped in living shadows, very similar to what happened in her Wraith form.
”I didn't choose this form to be pleasant to the eye, nor to make friends.” She explained once she noticed Lith's surprise. ”It's just that being a giant bear makes it really hard to work with little things and I can't use spirit magic in front of humans.”
”Have you discovered anything with Invigoration that we can use to develop a cure?” Lith asked.
”Yes and no. You'll understand once you see one of the infected. Is Solus with you?”
Lith showed her his right hand, where a stone ring was wrapped around the cloaking device Solus had forgemastered to hide her existence.
”Excellent move. I couldn't even perceive her even from this close. Nice to meet you Solus. I hope one day you'll show our human form to me as well.” Kalla said.
”Just come visit me once.” Solus used air magic to speak to her friend. ”I've invited you to the tower more than once.”
”I know.” She sighed. ”My children always rebuke me for my long absences, but my research is too important. If not for the crisis at hand, I would have not left my lab.”
”I would have never thought that you cared so much for the human world.” Lith was surprised by Kalla's words.
”I don't. You are misunderstanding my words. Undead plants are much more dangerous than normal undead. No matter if they feed on regular humans or beasts, their victims always have the opportunity to call for help or to band together to better defend themselves.
”In the case of undead feeding on plants, their victims are sitting ducks. Entire regions might be infested with undead and no one would notice until it is too late. Without the green, herbivores would starve and once they fall, everyone else will follow.”
The tree hosting the labs was bigger than the White Griffon hospital, forcing the two Awakened to take a walk to reach the stairs for the lower floors. Lith noticed immediately that the underground facility was made entirely of rock and enchanted with an earth blocking array.
”Here we keep the patients that are willing to be cured, no matter the cost.” Kalla explained. ”Rock to prevent them to feed on the nutrients of the soil and the array to stop them from escape with earth magic once starvation kicks in.”
Everything from the bare stone corridors to the thick metal doors made the place look more like a prison rather than a hospital ward. Kalla led Lith to one of the cells, showing him the enchanted padlock and the sequence of runes necessary to open it.
Inside, there was a Treantling, a tree who had gained sentience. Lith had no idea if plant folks had a gender or if it was just a matter of how they choose to appear, but it looked like a male to him.
The bark of the Treantling was nothing like the sample Lith had seen upstairs. It was of a dull black, creaking every time the plant folk moved. The creature's eyes were two black holes lit by a fierce red light that proved how the hunger of the symbiote was consuming its host.
The creature snarled at their entrance, yet he didn't move. Their stench was so disgusting that the Treantling was able to suppress his violent instincts.
'This is interesting.' Solus thought. Metal doors and walls didn't impede her mystical senses, so she had taken a good look at all the inmates before sharing with Lith her findings.
'Just as I expected, this Treantling has a blood core along with his mana core. Marth's therapy works because a weakened blood core can be easily destroyed by darkness magic but the resulting pain is inhumane.