She jumped from the cliff edge onto the ash below. It was soft and chalky under her feet, muffling the sound of her landing. It would be easy to sneak up on soul in this desolation. The air was thin, cool, and dry with light filtering through the ashy haze from a wane sun ahead. Rae realized she shouldn't have wasted her Radiant earlier as there was little of it to absorb naturally here.

She scooped up a handful of the ash and let it filter through her fingers. It drifted down lazily, still carrying the scent of embers and molten earth. Rae licked at the small mound in her hand. Her throat tingled and burned for a moment as her aura neutralized the Blight spores present within. Enough of the original material lingered that Rae picked out different flavors within the ash. Part of it was natural material, something had caused entire forests to burn. The volcanic matter was distinctly Infernal. No doubt black mountains dotted the world, pumping out fumes as their demonic denizens worked in the scorching magma pits below.

That Rae didn’t see any of them right now was a relief. She was not a Warrior but a Mender and a weakened one at that. Heading into a demonic fortress would be suicide and having one nearby would hinder her work as she’d have to hide herself.

The last element of the ash was despair and stasis. Vuuthas had mentioned that Shal had slipped its planer alignment, meaning it was dipping below the Middle Realm into one of the Lower ones. This was a natural process and something Rae would expect of an ancient world near the Rim. Worlds were far more like the mortals they gave birth to than the Celestials that governed them. The cold, bleak flavor Rae tasted in the ash, the way it urged her spirit to lie down and simply accept her fate, told her Shal was dropping into the Hadean Realm.

This was both to Rae’s benefit and detriment. Slipping into the Hadean Realm had likely slowed whatever disaster had befallen Shal, giving it more time before it collapsed completely. It also meant that it would take longer to right things.

She dropped the ash and sunk her hands deeper into the ground. Below the softer surface was a mix of harder materials, a combination of course sand and chunks of rock. Pulling up a large piece, it was obvious to Rae that this was a part of a building. The sand was of a similar composition, suggesting that the ruins had existed for long enough that the elements had worn down the remains. The cliffside was smooth, Rae realized, almost polished in places, which suggested not rain but strong, persistent sandstorms.

Dropping the piece of debris, Rae headed for the tower in the distance. Her pace was a meandering one as she was primarily interested in what was scurrying around the shattered buildings. While the reddish Blight dominated, there were a few low, thorny bushes clinging to life. In the shadow of walls, clusters of sharp, pale grass sprouted and she heard the occasional call of a bird, though everything fell silent when Rae was near.

While spiritual energies were easy for her to pick up, feeling life itself was a struggle, especially given the background radiation of the Blight and the Infernal sunk into the soul. It took her several minutes before she stumbled upon an oddly shaped mound and thrust her hand in to pull out a large insect.

It was a heavy arthropod, perhaps eight inches in length, with a tough horseshoe-shaped covering over its head and thorax and a tapered, teardrop abdomen. It frantically tried to sing her as she turned it over and studied it wriggling legs and mouthparts.

“What do you eat?” she asked. “Other bugs? The plant growth? The Blight? Bits of the buildings?”

Rae settled a finger between its angry mouthparts and it gave her a surprisingly strong bite. Yes, that would be enough to break down small pieces of stone. Lifting the shell, Rae scowled at what she found: the wriggling infestation of the parasite moon. Dark tendrils shot from where the exoskeleton was thin and soft. It hadn’t overwhelmed the beast or she’d have sensed it as soon as she picked the bug up.

Eventually, the parasite would consume the host’s brain and nervous system and then pilot it around. It could do so for any living organism as well as some magical constructs. Even her simulacrum was in danger of infection were her aura to become too weak. But the parasite was not a mindless entity; it was an intelligent and malevolent collective. Hives of infected from many species would work together and the parasite could slow the infection so its host could remain undetected if that were advantageous.

With a sigh, Rae blasted Radiant out of her hands, immolating the bug she held with celestial energy and purifying its ashy remains.

The parasite moon was an impossible task. No matter how well she healed the planet and caused life to flourish, it would loom overhead and infect the world with its progeny. In that matter, her only hope was to restore the pathway to Axis so a proper host of Warriors and Sages could scourge and destroy the moon.

She spotted a nearby building corner that jutted about three stories about the landscape. Climbing atop it, she spent a moment reorienting herself–it wouldn’t do to lose the shrine’s location–and following the rise and fall of the land. There was a small valley not far from her and Rae took off at an easy run towards it.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Groundwater was the most important thing she could find, but she wanted to see if there was any surface water or traces of it. She was rewarded with a dry stream bed she followed downward to a small pond of chalky white water.

Expecting the worst, she cupped her palms in the stuff and lifted it to her lips, sipping it down. Her mouth immediately burned as her aura encountered an assault of violent spiritual influences. It was impressive the sure amount of impurities in the water: Infernal, the Blight, the Parasite, some Necrotic, and even a hint of Sylvan. That was in combination with the regular toxic mixture of mercury, lead, arsenic, and other trace chemicals. The water was so vile that Rae wouldn’t be surprised if it sprang to life and attempted to choke her as she drank from it.

As she spat it out in disgust, an angry, bestial whine came from her left. Rising from the ash in which it had partially buried itself was an enormous, shaggy boar. Quills of black iron erupted from its back and flank, its curving tusks were glossy obsidian, and its eyes glowed with a terrible red light.

The beast burst from its shelter, a squeal of fury rolling from its mouth, and charged at Rae. She quickly summoned a crescent-headed staff, twisted out of the boar’s path, and struck as it passed. She had no interest in killing the creature or even harming it. With a deft movement, she slipped the crescent under its neck and twisted. The boar’s momentum caused it to stumble and she pinned it down to the ground.

While Rae had no interest in harming it, the boar was hungry for blood. It screamed, it thrashed, it waved its broad head back and forth in an attempt to catch her with its tusks, and kicked its sharp hooved feet, digging into the soft ash in an attempt to right itself. Rae merely leaned on it, letting it tire itself.

“What beautiful eyes you have,” she murmured. They smoldered with Infernal fire like hot embers burning in its skull.

Placing her hand on the boar’s chest, she felt a raging machine of a heartbeat in its chest. There was no sign of parasite infestation in the delicate skin around its eyes and its hot flank was smooth and muscular. As she tried to check its belly, the boar responded by trying to pee on her, and its piss caused the ground under it to steam.

It was a demonic beast, no doubt, but it was a beast. It had to be eating well to grow as large as it had.

“Are you an ambush predator or simply protecting your watering hole?” Rae asked as she snapped off one of its quills. It answered with the same incoherent rage as before.

She pulled the crescent staff up, releasing it. It rolled onto its knees and shook the ash from the side of its face.

“Don’t attack me,” Rae said.

It sprang up and attacked her.

This was completely expected and she booted it, sending it flying back several feet and crashing to the ground. It grunted and rose again, squinting at her.

“I’ll do it again,” she said.

The boar squealed in defiance and rushed at her. She sent it flying again. And again. And one more time. After its fourth trip airborne, it hesitated. Its rage spurred it to action but something about the situation had permeated its brain, so instead of attacking her, it ran around the pool, attacking the stone and digging up the earth.

“That’s right. Show the dirt who’s boss,” Rae murmured as she flipped the quill over in her fingers. It was thin and brittle, having snapped off easily, but it was iron. Such a thing wasn’t for fights with other boars or attacking prey but a defensive measure. When attacked by another creature, the quill would break off and its jagged teeth would make it difficult to dislodge.

Rae climbed up a nearby building and sat on the edge of the second floor. The boar’s sight was poor enough that it didn’t notice her there. As she watched, it rushed to where she had been, sniffed at her footprints, eliminated on them, and then kicked its back legs as though it had done something impressive. Already riled up, the boar began to wander, constantly sniffing at the ground. Rae followed above it silently. She wanted to see what it ate and what tried to eat it.

That boar spent much of its time snorting at the ground and digging things up. There were a fair number of pale tubers that Rae had missed that seemed to be the bulk of its diet. It also uncovered more insects and grubs. One time it burrowed into the den of a small rodent--the creature had disappeared into its gullet with a squeak and crunch before Rae had gotten close enough to identify it.

Thus far, nothing had come out to attack the boar as it wandered the ruins and they didn’t encounter any other boars. There were signs of them, however. A few buildings had tusk marks rubbed into them and the boar would eagerly head to them, sniffing, adding its own scrapes, and peeing again.

Rae spent an hour following the animal as the sky darkened. She wanted to see what it did come nightfall. It seemed to be heading back to its watering hole when the boar’s head jerked up and it gave a familiar angry squeal before bolting off.

Running and leaping from ruined building to building, Rae followed it.

In the dim light, she saw a small figure, wrapped in cloth and huddled over a fire. It drew back as the boar ran forward.

Without hesitation, Rae summoned a javelin of pure sunlight to her hand and threw it with deadly accuracy. There was a brilliant, blinding flash of light as it hit the boar’s back and in an instant, the demonic beast was gone. All that was left was its hurried hoof tracks.

Rae leapt forward, landing neatly before the figure.

It was a goblin, a bloody bandage wrapped around one twisted leg. He blinked rapidly, shaking his head back and forth even as he raised his hands defensively. After a moment, the goblin realized he wasn’t being gored and looked around. Rae waited for him to notice her, realizing she must have hurt his eyes.

When he finally recognized that someone stood before it, the goblin made a whimpering sound and tried to shrink even further back into its nook.

“Don’t be afraid,” Rae said, soothingly. “I’m here to help.”