Kahula danced and sung around Koa’s feet, and all around him birds shook their headfeathers and wobbled their necks and cried out in the countless voices of eternal summer. Mele watched cautiously from the sidelines, but she was the only drab soul in a sea of festivity.
Koa was entranced. He laughed now and again, a helpless sound, bubbling out of him. He had no intention to be happy– he clearly wanted to be furious with me and my servants.
But Kahula’s joy was infectious, and he cried up, “Come on! Come on! Move! Move! Dance with me!”
I watched as the man slowly climbed to his feet and began to dance, hands upraised and feet stomping to the rhythm of his hips. I let him…
The boy was laid in my hut, where the cool dark and lack of sunlight would soothe his fever. I examined him. Diseases were known to me. They were tiny creatures, after all, spore sized flecks that represented life at its smallest scale. Bacteria were largely harmless except in great number. Viruses, far more deadly but so simple they could barely be called true creatures– almost mechanical in their elegance.
This was neither. The boy boiled up with some kind of spiritual filth, which manifested both in the scarred rashes on his skin and in drifting motes of blackish, polluted energy that lifted out of his chest with each breath.
He had been cursed.
I could do nothing at this moment– but I had something that might ease the symptoms. I had earned a water crystal from the quest to hunt for fish. Now I summoned it, a vortex of watery light cascading into being above the boy’s chest and collapsing down into a single teardrop of blue stone, which drifted down to settle on his skin with motes of blue-tinged mana trailing behind it.
Water mana wasn’t unique in its capacity for healing, but in terms of purging hostile magics, it was the best. And its presence would cool him.
Only when that was done did I return to the matter of Koa.
The other humans had joined him– there was joy on their faces as they took turn dancing among a thousand bright feathers.
I summoned a spark in the air in front of him. Then another and another, drawing out the letters: COME ASIDE FOR A MOMENT. I WISH TO SPEAK DIRECTLY.
He paused, and his face darkened and set hard before he nodded, waving to the birds to keep dancing as he stepped out of their circle.
When he was in the woods alone, I spoke again: THERE IS A SICKNESS AMONG YOUR PEOPLE.
“It is true– how do you know this?”
AND YOU SOUGHT TO ESCAPE BECAUSE OF THE ONE YOU LEFT BEHIND.
Fear flashed over his face.
I WILL DO THEM NO HARM. I AM TRYING TO CURE THEM.
“You– would have my gratitude.” He admitted. “This is why we came to you, but after you imprisoned us, I–”
I UNDERSTAND. BELIEVE ME. The need to protect one’s children was dear to my own heart. THEY ARE AS SAFE HERE AS THEY WILL EVER BE. IS THIS SICKNESS COMMON AMONG YOUR PEOPLE?
“More and more.” I felt relief in him. I had no ability to read his mind– but you could taste fear in the sweat. He was glad to be unburdened of this, his true mission here. “And it claims the food as well. Nearly all the fruit and game. We have fish in the sea, but we run out of fishermen.”
FOOD I CAN PROVIDE, AND MEDICINE TO LIMIT THE EFFECT. This was perfect. They were in such dire need– of things I could easily provide– that their loyalty was all but assured. AS FOR CURING THIS ILLNESS, IT IS DIFFICULT. IT IS NOT A TRUE DISEASE BUT A CURSE.
“We suspected as much. But our own magic is… not as it once was…”
YOU HAVE NO GREAT SPIRITS LEFT, DO YOU.
He nodded. “They abandoned us.”
GO BACK. DANCE. LET ME HANDLE THIS. IF IT CAN BE DONE, I WILL DO SO.
Again he nodded, and clasped his closed fist to his chin with one knee bent in salute. And as he walked slowly back towards the dancing flight of birds, I watched him slowly stand taller and taller, as if a weight was beginning to rise from his own shoulders.
I had of course increased my own burdens, but curing this illness would buy me a village of warriors, useful hands, and desperately-needed knowledge. The hermit farmer had known next to nothing of the world’s current state after he retreated to this island…
– Schema –
Precursors
Thorn Mango x Island Gourd
Level 1.
“Volcanic Boulderfruit”
A massive relative of the mango that grows from the earth, swelling from a stalk supported by deep roots. Born from volcanic soil, it is well adapted to tropical climes and grows at remarkable speeds with sufficient water.
Relevant Traits:
Fruiting Body Size: 64 to 72 cm
Water Absorption: 20-24 ml/day
Thorns: Level 1
Deep Roots: Level 3
Poison Rind: Level 1
Rapid Growth: Level 3
—
Cost: 2.2 iota
I felt my thought begin to tick along as I worked on my first gift– the food I had promised. Soon my garden bloomed with massive, colorful fruits, their oblong bodies swirled with colors of green, red, and yellow, their thorns prickling out like the curved fangs of a dragon. Each one was truly massive, with a thick peel that would require an axe to break through– but the flesh within was soft and juicy.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
They would grow extremely quickly, so long as they had fresh water and sunlight. Little more was needed.
– Schema –
Precursors
Tropic Lemonblossom x Creeping Groundrot
Level 1.
“Bitterbalm Lemon”
Never developing past small, unripe buds, these deeply sour lemons contain vicious bittering agents that serve as powerful medicines for all manner of sickness.
Relevant Traits:
Fruiting Body Size: 4 to 6 cm
Mana Capacity: 2 iota
Antiseptic Properties (Peel): Level 2
Opioid Properties (Peel): Level 2
Antibiotic Properties (Juice): Level 2
—
Cost: 1.3 iota
As for medicine…
It was more difficult, by a league. Most medicines had to be specifically tailored to the disease– and a magical disease required magic of equal power. But easing the symptoms would be simple enough. I combined many useful but basic medicinal traits into a single plant, and heightened its mana capacity until it would serve as a significant boost to the body’s natural healing.
I had yet to uncover any plants or creatures with natural healing magics. I knew such things existed– the basis of alchemical healing was in the natural manas that plants accumulated, and the properties that slowly built up as the mana adapted to the nature of its host.
But listening to the memories of my hives, I learned where they might be found.
One of the newer hives was arrogant and eager to prove itself, frequently squabbling with its sister colonies. For this reason it had been pushed out of my immediate domain– forced to relocate farther afield to a fallen log. As a consequence they wandered further than any of the other hives, and roamed through the low swamplands.
That was where the Lily of Paradise bloomed. A multicolored flower that sprouted on the back of an enormous lilypad, dominating the swamps. It was surrounded by small native spirits, drawn by the pure mana that poured from its many-layered petals. Numerous smaller lilies sprouted in the surrounding waters, the children of this emperor among flowers.
Simply collecting its nectar and pollen had been enough to revitalize several drones that were near the end of their life. As I summoned forth the worker bees who had visited this perilous swamp, inspecting their memories, I saw that the ones who had directly interacted with the flower had gained a new trait.
Demi-Mortal: Level 1 (Locked)
To my frustration, this was not a trait I could absorb into my archives. It was something else, the lily’s influence. It had made the bees immune to aging, and fortified their bodies so small bruises and injuries simply faded away.
Fascinating…
I ordered that the honey collected from this flower be brought to me. It was a small amount, a single golden droplet upon a leaf, carried by four bees like a queen upon a palanquin. But it was precious beyond any wealth.
I had it brought into my den within the house and laid down before me. If push came to shove I was willing to spend it on the boy– but I would rather wait until I had a ready supply to replace what I gave. One drop of honey wouldn’t make anything larger than a bee immortal, but it could heal many wounds.
Capturing this flower was now my first priority– it would allow me to create so much more than a droplet. Its pollen, nectar, and seeds were each a treasure. I doubted I could breed another flower half as powerful– the lilly was likely the result of decades worth of mana accumulating– but even small, weak offshoots promised to retain some of the emperor lilly’s healing powers.
But the swamp was beyond my immediate domain.
It was perilous wetlands, a mix of water and earth and canopy. Predators from all over the island congregated, feeding off a foodchain that was both deadly and ruthlessly efficient.
The bees had been harassed by vivid orange dragonflies that dove at them, spearing them with razor-sharp limbs. Their bumbling, awkward flight was no match for the dragonflies’ four-winged agility in the air. They had been devoured by toads, the flash of a pink tongue ripping them from the air. Quicksilver fish had leapt from the waters to seize them, and in one case– captured in the memory of a lucky drone who’d survived the onslaught– been snatched midair by a massive blue-feathered bird that moved on scaly legs and struck like a descending spear with its needle-sharp beak.
That was the lowest rung of the foodchain. The dragonflies were eaten by blind, skeletal bats and spiders that cast their webs like a fisherman casts a net. The frogs were prey for birds and massive centipedes– or their own bloated parents, who grew to massive size and frequently cannibalized their own young in blind stupidity. For every fish, there was a bigger fish, and when the biggest fish grew too slow it was gobbled up by a scissor-jawed gharial.
Plainly speaking, every creature in that swamp was an enemy to me and mine. My strongest warriors, the massive ground sloths, were still at a disadvantage due to the terrain– a gharial only needed to drag one into the water to win the battle conclusively.
No, they were large and clumsy. A battalion of them might be able to clear the way, but that was a massive investment I wasn’t ready to make…
Hmm hmm.
A more specialized fighter would be able to invade and force out the larger creatures, leaving more room in the biosphere. Then I could slowly choke out the frogs, dragonflies, and other pests that threatened my bees with fungi or predators designed to drive them to extinction.
But what I was contemplating was the whole-hearted extinction of an ecosystem…
Was there another way?
I considered carefully. Rather than adapting the environment to my worker bees, I could adapt the bees to the environment. The main problem was the sheer number of different predators. Even if I could make them unseen, there were bats that hunted by sonar and insects that hunted by magnetic impulse. If I made them poisonous, I’d risk contaminating the honey they made from the lily..
But there were other ways.
The main problem I saw was that I was simply too far away– if my domain extended nearer to the swamp, I’d have access to the outer edges of the ecosystem. The less distance between me and my creatures the more I’d be able to direct them.
It was beginning to irritate me, the sharp edges of my power. A god out to 700 meters– but absolutely no power beyond.
Yes there needed to be a solution, and soon.
I considered the lemur that Mele and Kahula had helped me capture. It was an ideal creature to make into my eyes and hands beyond my domain. For one thing, it had hands at all, which was a rare gift in the jungle.
– Schema Absorbed –
Lionsmane Lemur
First brought by a trader from a distant land, these small primates have expanded to fill many niches in the upper bounds of the island ecosystem, moving through the trees in social packs. This particular species has developed a terrifying call that it uses to intimidate larger creatures and compete among its males.
Level 1.
Relevant Traits:
Advanced Intelligence (General): Level 1
Dexterous Claws: Level 1
Pack Mentality: Level 1
Terrifying Roar: Level 1
—
Cost: 11 iota
Already, a useful base to begin with. I only needed to change a few traits– Advanced Intelligence, Pack Mentality, and Dexterous Claws were all incredible abilities that had allowed a meek and unimpressive physical base to survive the rigors of the wild.
To shore up its weaknesses, however…
I would need to capture more specimens.
By the time I was done with my work the dance was over and the birds had returned to their homes. The humans in their camp were settled down to rest, the news of what had transpired with Koa slowly passing between them as they chewed small treenuts containing bitter stimulants. They had fruit, water, and safety here– there was little for them to do, and I could see some of the group already beginning to itch with captivity, unable to sit easy for long.
“I have an offer to make you.” I said. “Who among you wishes to go hunting?”