Before luring the Calamity monster away, we needed to find its position. Our only trail was the location where I originally heard the screech. Since it has been weeks since the event, there was a good chance it wasn’t there anymore, but we needed to verify either way.
We set off to the location on our flying mounts. Lavanda was on Randal, and I and Caryly were on Lendwrek. For multiple reasons, Mendry and Tara would be staying home for this scouting expedition. Since Lendwrek never got a saddle in the first place, I used vines to do a makeshift one, I needed to remind myself to make a proper one later. Randal saddle wasn’t made to accommodate multiple people, but instead, prioritize comfort and manoeuvrability.
If we squeeze enough, we might have been able to fit all together on Randal, but this would have hindered his speed. With Lendwrek, we were able to travel more easily, but also more safely. Its size made him a dangerous foe that no monster could ignore if it wanted to fight us.
But we were not here to fight today, only scout the monster position. High above the sea of clouds, we had to rely on eyesight and visual cues to find our target. The chance that it was a grounded monster was slim considering the location, but it would make it easy to find and kill if it was the case.
A few hours after departing, we notice some deranged monsters coming from a different direction than our destination. They were acting exactly like the monster back then.
Lavanda and Caryly had a quick chat about what to do, and it was decided that Lavanda would go investigate the new trail while Caryly and I were to continue on our original track. If the place was too dangerous, or she was to find the monster, Lavanda would quickly escape, Randal was fast enough that nothing should be able to follow after them.
When we reached the area where I fought alongside Lendwrek, I was shocked. The once beautiful forest and inverted waterfall were now burned away, with charred remains littering everywhere. A few fish and monsters were still alive. They looked normal as far as I can see, and even calmer than I expected. Seeing that the insanity was temporary was good news.
Lendwrek was a bit sad, and I could understand him. We were the ones who caused the fire that burned this place. Even if we didn’t have a choice, it still stings to think about it. From our perspective, our lives matter more than this area, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could have handled the situation differently and saved myself from this view.
“Emery, can you get us to that part of the forest over here,” Caryly said while pointing at an unscathed area. This was the one place that seem to be entirely fine. No burned tree, no corpse to be seen, or any living thing for that fact. This was as if everything was avoiding that particular spot.
“Okay got it, Lendwrek if you would,” We descended to a clearing in the middle of the wood. When I reached the ground, I regained full connection to my roots’ detection skill. Just as I thought, there weren’t any animals nearby.
Leaving Lendwrek in the open space, we walked deeper into the forest.
“What are we looking for exactly?” I asked. Scouting expedition was a rather broad term and, except for searching the monster, we didn’t really have a specific objective in mind.
“You said that that burned part of the forest was where you heard the screech, correct?” I answered with a nod.
“Then this place was mysteriously spared from the carnage? If it got the ability to enrage monsters, it might also have other variants, like scaring them away or giving them orders.”
“If it can control them, we are in real trouble if it finds our home.” Our area is less populated with monsters than these parts, or at least how they used to be populated, but it would still be hard to defend. In the case that it brings its own coordinated army, we won’t have any other choice other than fly away.
“Don’t make that face, it's just a theory. With a Calamity monster, you never know how strong it can be until you fight it. The only thing we can do is prepare ourselves and try our best to lure it away without a fight.”
“What did you say your job was?”
“Researcher in magic-related subjects.” Seem a bit vague, if I believe what I read, almost everything is influenced by magic somehow. Since she knew Lavanda before she got exiled, she was at least 300 hundred years old.
“Did you ever kill a Calamity?” I asked her.
“No, otherwise I would be eating with the king every day or be in the monster's stomach,” She joked. “You don’t just kill a Calamity, you either run away with your life or die trying, entire kingdoms had fallen because of them.” Her toned was sadder than I expected. “Remember this Emery, as long as you live there is hope, if you need to run away, degrade yourself, sacrifice what you have to save your life, do it. We elves learned that lesson a long time ago.”
I don’t really know the history of the elven race, but from what she said, it must not be pretty. The book I read only mentioned that they are very few of them and that they are more adept than other more common races. Even half-elves are only a shadow compared to full-blooded elves. One book even mentioned a cult dedicated to them.
As long as you live, there is hope… what a positive thing to say. I guess even when I was on Earth, this was true. It is because I survived this long that I got my second chance in this world. I just hope we won’t have to sacrifice our home to stay alive. Having somewhere to go back is better healing for the soul than I’m willing to admit.
“Remember Emery, I was serious with the offer I gave Lavanda, if this place turns out too dangerous, I expect you to help me convince Lavanda to move out. She been alone far too long, but she won’t admit it. She maybe won’t listen to me, but she will listen to you.” She said. I do feel like Lavanda is an overprotective mom, but would she really leave just for me?
At some point during our talk, I detected something strange hidden in the ground. There was a huge cave under us, one with no entrance. Judging the area with my detection ability, whatever lived here was big, maybe as big as Lendwrek.
When I shared my discovery with Caryly, she pushed me to search further, having no search ability as I did. Scouting for any possible hole that could let us get in, it took me a few minutes to find the only entrance.
“I found it,”
“Good, where is it,” She asked.
“Under the island,”
“...”
“It's a huge hole, we could use Lendwrek to get in,”
“I so won’t leave this place without you two,”
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Lavanda
On Randal's back, there were few worries to have, even with the monsters coming at us. It was less crowded than I initially thought, either this area had fewer monsters than others or the madness started hours ago.
I made sure to pack two heavy pouches of burning sand with me and multiple bottles of water, but it seems I won’t have to use them.
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Looking around, I could see monsters, monsters, and monsters. No sign of a Calamity anywhere. My only worry was that it had been here to at least start the madness. It may have already left but with Emery and Caryly inspecting our only other trail, there wasn’t much more I could do.
“I hope that thing is nearby,” I muttered.
If it was close to them, it could go ugly. Caryly was an expert in the matter, but Emery was still just a kid, a hasty one at that. I knew Caryly would not let anything happen, but it did nothing to ease my fear.
If anything were to happen to them, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I insisted on staying here, while the wise choice would have been to go with Caryly. I should have at least considered leaving Emery in her care, but for some stupid reason, it didn’t cross my mind at the time. Now I was putting all of us in danger. I had been too emotional from the start, I needed to do better, to be better.
Luring a Calamity away, what a fool I was. These things can level a country, control aspects of magic never researched before, and annihilate everything you loved.
Once I get back home, I will put serious thought into leaving. Putting my life on the line was something, but deliberately getting Emery in danger was not an acceptable option. Caryly saved my ass, too many times back in our glory days, and even now she tried to help me again. Having a home was useless if I was to lose Emery and Randal.
As I was lost in thought, Randal signal me to look ahead. Far in the distance, I could see a shadow. The fact that I could see it from here, mean that it was bigger than other monsters. From far away, it seems like it was flailing its head nonsensically, but it was not madness, otherwise, it would be fighting with others.
As its head was sticking out above the trees, I order Randal to hide in the forest and get as close as possible. Even if our goal was to scout and run, as long as we were undetected, it would not hurt to gather as much intel as possible.
At a closer look, it was not just flailing its head, randomly, but trying to eat the corpse of a griffin with its nine heads stealing bites from each other. It was an enormous black flying hydra.
Having already fought a hydra before, albeit smaller and with only 5 heads, I knew that it could spew poisonous acid, chomp on steel, heal almost indefinitely, and do much more overpowered things.
Normally a hydra would not be able to fly, but this was the kind of bullshit balancing you could expect from a Calamity monster. At least it wasn’t bigger than Lendwrek.
Now knowing what it was, it was time to fall back, without attracting its attention, and very carefully. If I was reading a book, this would be the moment where I step on a stick and get our cover blown, but I was more careful than that, … I hope.
Before we could properly retreat, having finished its meal, the hydra opened its wings and took for the air. Thinking we were safe, we let out a sigh.
Without warning, a green gas came out of the sky, aiming at the remains of the hydra feast. We were fast enough to get out untouched, and when I spotted the hydra, it was already searching for a new meal. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to notice us and went in the opposite direction.
The gas covered a sizable part of the forest before vanishing. With the hydra gone, a few flying monsters dived for the leftover meal. They all fell dead to the ground, saliva and blood coming out of their mouths.
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We were exploring the underground cave, Lendwrek followed behind us, but he had to keep his head low to not hit the ceiling. With the entrance being only accessible from under the island, whoever lived here needed to be able to fly to get home. With some luck, it was already out for dinner.
We walked down the tunnel, with our only source of light being the light ball I created with magic, our sight was limited. Fortunately, my ground scouting ability was not affected by the lack of light. As long as I nourish a plant with magic, I could move it and scout any weight shift ahead of us. Although it wasn’t perfect. As long as something didn’t move and was small enough, it was perfectly hidden from me. Also, I had no way of knowing if a flying monster not touching the ground was there.
As we reach deeper into the cave, a faint spicy smell and taste reach my nose. Smelling it too, Caryly let out a big sneeze.
“God bless you,” I said.
“Thank you,” She replied as she lifted her hand up and cast a spell.
“What did you just cast?” I knew it was a light spell from the mana she used, but I didn’t recognize its effect.
“A purification spell to clean my system and keep me safe from the poison in the air. Didn’t you notice the putrid smell?”
“Putrid? It’s just a little stronger than a very spicy pepper,” I said while taking a big breath. The air filling my lungs didn’t do me any harm and actually felt good, I could stay here all day.
Watching me, she got a little panicked by my action but calmed down when she saw that I was feeling even better than her.
“Do you have a plague affinity? No wonder you like the smell, it not only protects you from the negative effect of poison but also makes it beneficial. But please do not scare me like that again,” She said relieved, by my smile.
We continued down our path and soon reached the end of it. The spiciness of the air, getting up as we walked. In front of us was a mountain of decaying corpses. No sound came from it, even the flies were long dead because of the poison. There were jackalopes, Cortatrik, and lots of other monsters I never saw before. Some of them were around the size of an elephant.
Flesh open, dry blood, and broken bone, this place was not somewhere I want to stay, I take back what I said earlier. The idea that this pleasant smell came from that vile feast didn’t soothe me anymore.
“I think we found the Calamity monster nest,” Caryly remarked.
“I guess a garden of flowers would have been too much to ask. There must be hundreds of monsters in that pile, what is it used for? Food storage?” If it needed that much food in the first place, I doubt it would ever be home. Hunting must be the only thing it can do in its free time.
“Don’t know… yet. Can you climb the pile and see what's on top?” She asked me.
“Huh, why, why me, you want me to touch that shit? Out of question, you do it!”
“My spell won’t protect me from that much filth, and your plague affinity will keep you safe from any disease and poison in there,” I am not convinced.
“Why don’t Lendwrek do it,” I said while turning to the dragon. “Can you do it, big boy?”
He approached the pile but quickly stepped back. The smell near it was too strong for him to handle. Caryly too was keeping at a decent distance away from the feast. I truly was the only one who could get near it.
“Please do it, Emery,” Caryly said apologetically. If it was for Lavanda's sake, I guess I just steel my resolve.
I start climbing the mountain, one corpse at a time. It wasn’t very slippery with the blood and other fluids long dry up. I tried to avoid touching anything that look too disgusting but was forced to step on unspeakable things and even brain matter from time to time. My sense of smell contradicting my sight, helped make the experience surreal, but unforgettable.
When I reached the top, I took a look back. I was almost touching the ceiling and could barely see around me. Caryly already had summoned her own floating light ball when I started climbing.
Looking around, if I forget the remains and unsettling sight, nothing was unusual. This was until I looked at what was just at my feet.
A shiny obsidian rock, with white veins. It didn’t reach my knee, but it emanates a faint magical glow. It felt like plague mana, but different.
Caryly shouting took me back to the moment. “DID YOU FIND ANYTHING?”
“THEY’RE A STRANGE MAGICAL ROCK UP THERE, WANT ME TO BRING IT TO YOU?” I shouted back.
“PLEASE DO SO, IT MIGHT REVEAL US SOMETHING ABOUT THE CALAMITY,”
“OKAY,”
As I crouched down and touch the rock, I felt my mana being absorbed by it, specifically my plague affinity mana. After a few seconds of absorption, it stopped.
“Crack,” Did hear something?
“Crack, crack,” It came from the rock! The white veins were spreading and glowing more intensely.
“Crack, crack, crack,” It gonna break!
“What the…” I scream as I cover my eyes. The light was blinding me and I couldn’t see anything. I could hear Caryly screaming something, but it was hidden behind the cracking of the rock.
With a final “CRACK” the light faded out. When I open my eyes, the rock was split open, shards of it broken from the inside out.
Before I could react, something crashed into me and made me fall off the pile all the way to the cavern floor. The corpses made for a softer cushion than I am willing to admit.
As I recover from the initial shock, the thing that initially crashed into me was still hooked on my chest.
Obsidian scales were covering its body, with a snow-white line tracing its spine. When I met his head, tree heads to be precise, my eyes looked into his green eyes, and I knew that we were now bonded forever.