~Garn.

I hold Alex to me. She forgets sometimes, or just gets lost. She knows that yelling at her family doesn’t help, but sometimes things just get to be too much. Bond royally fucked up this time though, hiding his work for her. We’ve journeyed together long enough, gotten close enough. He knows what her family does, who they hunt, why they have their position as a pillar that reaches even this far into the outskirts of civilization.

That he hid it from Ruby too? Dumb bastard earned where his actions have put him. On the same sidelines he tried to keep them, only able to watch and pray, like they did when he was ‘fine’ after we got back from here the last time. No longer sick all the time, but we were so used to it that we didn’t see the signs or recognize them I suppose.

The muse strikes where it will. Although, when I look over at Sid, him I don’t understand. I never really have, I guess. In a way, he’s like Bond and I, he loves his woman deeply. And sure, her magic keeps them close through their dreams and yet… We are out here, our partners at our side, touch and sight and sound and scent each day. How is what he gets enough?

I looked at him too long, or too intently and he turns to me. The need to growl starts in the pit of my stomach and now I can’t look away. Garnet doesn’t like this man, always so collected, so poised, straddling the edge of challenge. If he didn’t speak so plainly with me, we couldn’t work together, but I see how much effort he puts into keeping the peace.

When the screaming starts, Sid looks away and I just close my eyes and hold tighter to Alex. Ruby has become a sister to her and seeing her in pain hurts my love. I can’t bear to look at what’s happening myself. My control is hanging by a thread as it is, just by standing here. In a way, I’m delighted to have found something that even Garnet fears, a battle it would flee from rather than fight.

But today is also the first time since I was a child where I feel like a coward, and it makes me wonder if everything was for naught. All the pain, the rage, the violence, the lost camaraderie… Even the love I’ve found that I’m clinging to right now. Am I holding her back to protect her from Thing’s reprisals? Or am I covering up my own weakness. Would I, could I, follow her into a battle that even Garnet refuses?

More horrific sounds, once soothing balms or those that would stoke the flames in my rages, but here, bereft of Garnet’s hunger, and befalling a friend? They hurt far more than any wounds I’ve taken before, worse than the struggle of infirmity, the drudgery of rehabilitation. Worse even than the sting of seeing the fear in those that used to call me friend when they saw Garnet for the first time. Because this time, the fear is my own, the betrayal is like ash on the tongue, a cloying bitterness.

So lost in my own self-loathing it is only after a burst of light escapes Alex’s control as she desperately holds onto my crushing arms that I feel it. The same kind of weight and texture of me being held in same manner as I am holding her. When I glance up, there is nothing there, but the grasp tightens for a moment before the world whispers to me, “(This is harder on you than the others, and for that I am sorry.)”

I shake my head in denial, but that whisper continues, “(Hey, hey. It’s okay. It truly isn’t your fault. Smith’s told me about the Garnet Curse. It makes you more prone to violence, but also more susceptible to those same baser instincts. Thing’s arena is explicitly tailored to be the most horrifying thing imaginable, witnessable. Their prior successes for this operation were presented to those specifically chosen, because only with Pact of a reward could anything ever even make the attempt to approach.)”

The deep thumping of my heart calms in time with Alex’s struggles easing, all while the noises quieting down, and still the voice whispers to me, “(If you look into the branches, and you really search for them, you’ll see rats and birds among the boughs. They are lost to their packs and flocks. Bound here by their differences, their strangeness. It’s okay to hate being in this place. That’s its purpose.)”

Seemingly, the final part of the procedure is complete as Alex taps on my arms. I look down at her and feel unworthy of the love shining in her eyes, her smile as she looks at me, her thanks. I release her from the barrier of my arms and the weight around me does the same. But as she steps away there is a moment… I haven’t looked at the tree since before I crossed the threshold, and yet she’s walking towards it now.

That moment, that blink in time, somehow pulls a deep memory forth. I was always larger than others my age, but I was taught that my size, my strength made me dangerous, and so I was meek and just accepted the bullying. Despite my great bulk, I thought of myself as weak of will, weak at heart. But then there was that day. A wolf, one that was starved, crazed or just vicious attacked our little village.

I heard the screams as people ran, the growls and snarls of the beast, and so I hid. But it was too scary not to look, not to see. So, when I peeked around the corner, I saw it standing there, covered in blood as it was ripping strips of meat held down by its paws. More than that, I also saw a shoe nearby. Such a tiny little thing. I recognized it, who it belonged to.

The next frame in my memory was sitting in a puddle of gore, bawling. Not from the cuts, scrapes, and punctures on my arms, chest and legs. Nor from the bleeding tears in my hands after I ripped apart the wolf’s jaw. I was crying because of the shoe. My hiccupping and cries were interrupted by a tiny little voice, “Thank you, mister. I lost my shoe when mommy picked me up.”

The wonder and awe of the moment when I realized little girl hadn’t been killed, nor even hurt. The shoe had just been lost when the wolf crashed into the butcher’s stall. The little smile from the girl is something I somehow forgot after what happened next. When her mother pulled her away from me, I saw that look of fear in an adult’s eyes for the first time. One that would haunt me, again and again, as my little soldier’s family was moved from town to town.

That blink brought all of that in a rush, an instant. This time, it feels effortless, neither sharp nor blunt nor challenging, but smoothly, inevitably, my gaze lifts from the ground to the tree. And it’s just a tree. Sure, its limbs are bladed and thorned and dripping with a black sap. But I see the birds nesting, and the rats scurrying along the branches, squeaking in greeting and curiosity to each other and both groups of creatures looking upon the visitors to their home.

It doesn’t take me more than a few strides to catch up to Alex, so carefully contained that her desperation barely hurries her steps.

After she’s spent some moments reassuring herself that Ruby is fine, I quietly ask her, “What does a liver do?”

She glances up at me and then there’s a darting of her eyes as she thinks, “The liver? It, uh, filters the blood, detoxifies, helps some parts of digestion, stores a bunch of nutrients. It’s one of the prized pieces to eat. What bring up that question?”

Normally, I might just gaze at her, let her figure out why, but I’m serene at the moment, “We have one more {Boon} left. Ruby and Bond are out. You’re our healer and Sid?-”

A glance at him shows him shaking his head, “Pass.”

So, I look back at Alex. Her kneejerk reaction to protest is quickly swallowed. She’s always careful not to strike out at me, knowing me and my past as well as she does. As I see her beautiful mind working on an argument to articulate why I shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t want this, I cup her cheek, “Just say ‘No’ and I won’t do it. But this is a {Boon} from a Divine dungeon. This is a power unlike any we could find even with years of searching, of striving.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I lean down and kiss her gently, “But you’re our expert. So, what do you say?”

When she closes her eyes, crosses her arms and huffs out an angry sort of pout, I just wait. I know what I’m good at, and making this kind of big choice isn’t really one of them. So, I stand by patiently as she works out the problem.

When she finally sags down and sighs out a defeated breath, she raises calm eyes back up to my own, “Having an extra data point would be useful for when I’m doing oversight on Bond’s work-“ A spark of that inner fight ignites as she raises a finger to silence Bond’s stumbling start to a protest. She jabs it in his direction, “You! Don’t get to say shit. Stay silent and care for Ruby, or Wildfire, whichever name she wants to go by now. I’ll be settling your score later.”

She pops her neck and refocuses on me, a complicated smile on her face, “So. Which one are you picking?”

“Heart feels like power, lungs like stamina, liver… cleansing and health?” I look at my hand, and clench it tight, “Power without control is just danger. Stamina without clarity could mean when next I succumb to Rage, I may never wake up. Better health, blood and eating? Easy choice.”

Getting into position is easy after the decisions are all made. As I lay there in the waters, those terrible claws cutting and digging into me, there’s pain for sure, but nothing I’m not used to. I find it more interesting watching Alex as she studies what happens. Holding her hand tight as she stews and grumbles in rage after Thing reveals, “This should go much smoother with our second human patient. Even the elemental varieties tend to have Garnet facets in the beasts we’ve done this for before. Plus, it helps that the liver isn’t an immediately vital organ. Replacing the heart is always a race unless something is willing to be subjected to days’ worth of work.”

I look between Alex and Bond, “Talk shop. If Thing will give advice, take it.”

There are some loud squeaks I hear in response alongside some hearty far-off laughter in the wind, “Perhaps some other time would be best. Though, considering how daring ‘Bond’ has already been, I offer a professional warning. Father’s restriction of the brain not being an option was for a similar reason. If the heart needs days’ worth of work to smoothly transition, the brain would need months of constant monitoring and adjustments to have the barest hope of not causing a tragedy of monumental proportions. A broken mind merged imperfectly with a core’s lattice could be devastating.”

Large words and long speeches, all meant for others’ ears.

Time passes while I float in the shimmering fluid. Aside from most of me focused on Alex, I feel the shift inside. Garnet suddenly expands in depth, girth, affluence. I had expected it to be a gradual process, as I could feel the changes being made inside me, but it is only now that Garnet awakens. I worry about the greater piece of me that it now holds, but as I glance around, noticing my allies and frenemies, I begin to believe.

As I gaze upon the phoenix Lord there is a thrum of excitement from Garnet, but it is a peaceful enthusiasm, instead of the starving madness I’ve oft struggled to control, “Garnet… strange now.”

A great fluffy mouse walks out from behind the tree, “”

The mouse huffs out in defeat, “”

Bond speaks up from where he’s helping steady Wildfire as she stands, “What kind of changes?”

A soft sigh escapes from the mouse, “”

A gout of flame erupts from Wildfire’s mouth, the fire burst loud and based on the widening of her eyes, more than she expected. She coughs for a moment before a draught from her waterskin allows her to rasp out, motioning to hurry the conversation along, “Messenger. What changes?”

The little one cocks their head, “”

Alex’s hand goes limp within mine during the answer. When I look to her, she’s blanched more than I’ve ever seen from her, even more than when we confronted the tree itself, “All of them?”

Her whispered words apparently heard or relayed secondhand have Messenger turn to face her, “”

New Quest Generated! Gain enough personal and or political accolades to survive the Inquisition. Alexandra of Clan Silverlight is aware that once news of widespread distribution of {Kernels} amongst the wildlife reaches her Clan’s Headquarters, an Inquisition Squad will be sent to purge the area of undue influence. Build enough evidence to dissuade them from their Standard Operating Procedure of immediate isolation and exorcism. Or accumulate enough strength for a show of force that allows negotiations to be established.

Alex takes a heaving breath, “Sid! Did you get that too, or was it sent to just these three?”

Sid lets out a whistle showcasing his appreciation of the mountain of trouble that just landed on our plates, “Never a dull moment. I expect Sidi is going to be ravenous when I get back from this trip.”

Ruby and Bond stumble over their words, trying to apologize to him before he grabs hold of them and gives them gentle rattle, “Now, now. None of that. She’d turn me out on my ass if I even thought about backing out now that the story’s gotten this juicy. She thrives on this sort of drama. Besides, we’ve got at least some time, an amiable dungeon just jam packed with Challenges, and I believe the nearby Forge Lord offered at least the opportunity to acquire his services as well.”

“Procedure complete. Please exit the pool,” is sent to just me based on everyone else’s lack of reaction. So, I get out of the water which seems to have a strange sort of grip on itself. It doesn’t drip or splash like it should, surprising me as it leaves me dry, much like it did for Wildfire though I had assumed that was her heat magic at work.

Sid continues after the phoenix makes a gesture of compensation while glancing between us, “We’ve all made substantial progress in mastering our basics and building on them. With the quality of Mako from this place we’ll be able to rapidly advance to meet the potential we’ve carved out this last year. We just have to stay focused and keep alert for rumors. As the Pioneers for DNA, we’ll have more access to information about local incidents. This isn’t just a thing you can foist off on me anymore, everyone has to do their part.”

Alex affirms everyone’s commitment to our path forward before turning and kneeling towards the pull we can feel towards Life, “My apologies for the doublespeak, DNA. The revelation that your offered changes are not being granted as an exclusive boon to delvers, it becoming a widespread practice has some unintended consequences that I am privy to. My Clan, the Silverlight’s, are primarily Demon Hunters. However, one of the more common methods for tracking a demonic incursion is from reports of wildlife becoming afflicted with ‘corrupted organs’ and ‘mutated cores’.

“Due to my familiarity with their likely responses, a Quest was triggered for my party, to make ourselves ready for their eventual arrival. There is not much I can offer as assurances for the future, save that all of us shall strive for an ideal outcome. Despite our bizarre introductions to you and yours, I do not believe you are {Tainted}, but the words of a Novice don’t hold much weight in my Clan.”

That voice suffices the world once more, “(Doesn’t your Clan have ways of detecting these demons? /Like the fragment that was stuck inside Ruby?\ Wouldn’t they know I and mine aren’t infected?)”

The phoenix makes some sweeping gestures to the air before bowing for Alex to answer, “Apologies, Lord and Dungeon, but Demons and their ilk are an insidious threat. Only the strongest of our Order have senses and powers strong enough to cleanse their blight with limited collateral damage. The majority of the Inquisition, even those equal to Aurora Hephaestus’s stage, can only extinguish suspected demonic influence, not force them to reveal themselves when they are burrowed deep within. A vile corruption that has undoubtedly put many innocent lives to the sword, yet necessary to prevent the rising tide of another Demon King.”

It is on that somber note that DNA bids us farewell and while Wildfire, “Keep calling me Ruby,” looks for many more forlorn moments at the center of the grove, eventually Bond manages to have her join us as we leave. Despite the heaviness of the quest and the final conversation, I feel more content and confident than ever before. Each challenge we face on our way out nurturing the seed of hope planted by the mouse’s words; that my Garnet Curse may finally be broken.