The Corruption Within

Vince frowned as he stared up at the sky.

The light was dim as the sun was just starting to rise and the sky was covered with a thick gray overcast.

Zihark and Vince had already left the village and were on their way to the other side.

Vince wore a thick light colored woven cloak and hood over his body to hide his Asmodian features from Elysean passerbys as they traveled back through the forest. The assassin sighed and stared blankly at the boy guiding him. "So what are you supposed to be?" He asked finally.

The boy ignored him completely and continued moving forward.

Vince raised an eyebrow. I wonder if he even speaks asmodian... He thought. "I really appreciate the help."

Zihark turned his head and glared at Vince briefly but said nothing.

"Alright then! Alright then, I get it." Vince sighed. "You can't talk, but that's okay. I just wanted you to know, that's all-"

"Will you please shut up?" The boy finally told him in perfect asmodian.

"Oh." Vince was speechless for a moment. "So you can talk?" He smiled.

Zihark groaned. "Be quiet before someone hears you or else we'll both be in big trouble."

Vince remembered the fact that he was still in Elyos territory and that the boy definitely had a point.

The two continued on in silence.

They passed through the trees which were still lush and green even when the air was cold. Flowers and mushrooms also littered the ground, both big and small.

They were almost out of the forest when Zihark stopped.

Vince looked at him patiently as the boy stared into the air contemplatively.

The boy muttered something in his language before heading back the way they came.

Great, now we're lost. The scout wrapped his cloak around himself tighter and continued to follow wearily.

The two continued until they came to the clearing of that giant tree again.

Zihark rushed up to it and looked all around.

The assassin watched him curiously as the boy mumbled something inaudible. "Is something wrong?"

The boy shot a glare back at the asmodian. "Shhh."

"Okay then.." The scout withdrew to himself.

The boy stared up at the tree anxiously. He looked down and around but didn't seem to find what he was looking for. "Taloc is not well." He finally said.

"Eh?" Vince stared up at the tree. "The tree?"

The boy nodded. "He is the voice of Aion and the guardian of this forest."

The scout raised an eyebrow. "The what, now?"

The boy looked around before speaking again. "Stay out here. I need to check on something."

Vince's mouth hung open for a moment. "What, you can't leave me out here!"

Zihark glared back at him in silence.

"You know... Elyos and all of that?" Vince reminded him.

The boy sighed. "Taloc does not allow strangers to enter. I will only be a moment."

Vince exhaled as he watched the boy climb into a crevice within the tree's roots. He gazed up and around before he noticed small flakes of snow falling slowly from the sky.

Just great. The assassin pulled his cloak even tighter against his skin.

The Reian boy continued into the tree until he was inside.

Moss covered the ground and the inner walls. Glowing mushrooms and clusters of aether illuminated the inside along with light peering in from the outside.

The boy continued to go deeper as insects scurried away at the sight of him.

He couldn't see anything that would be the cause of the disturbance that he felt so suddenly. The boy kept going until he noticed another tunnel littered with spider webs.

The boy swatted the webs away from his face and ventured farther. He stopped a moment and ran a hand over the wooden walls.

You're dying... Zihark frowned. But why...?

He knelt down and gathered some of the soil from the ground and let it run out through his fingers. After a moment he looked around again.

The insects watched him curiously behind growths and mushrooms.

The boy shook the rest of the dirt off his hands before continuing on. He was lost and clueless until something did catch his eye.

A tiny blue creature peered at him from down the tunnel way in the next alcove.

"What the hell?" Zihark eyed it curiously before drawing his staff from its place on his back and slowly approached it.

The little creature watched him for another moment before sprinting off into the next hall.

The boy's eyes narrowed with disconcertion as he chased after it.

The creature lead him further along before finally stopping at a dead end and turned around.

The boy rushed to catch up to it when a mass of long azure tendrils thrust from the walls in front of him and cut him off and stopping him right in his tracks.

Zihark's eyes widened. "What in the name of Aion is this?"

After a moment of hesitation, the boy hacked at the tendrils with his staff to force himself passage through.

After a moment of the beating, they quickly retreated back into the wall.

The boy, however, continued to stand there dumbfounded, staring at the creature peering at him from the other side and at the wall.

Finally, the Reian took another step forward.

When he did, the tendrils plunged back out of the wall and snatched the boy up into the air and against the wall, constricting him.

The boy swore when his staff fell out of his hands onto the ground.

He couldn't move and this thing was threatening to crush him alive.

The creature felt slimy and its body pulsated with aether that the tree did not have.

Some kind of... parasite? The Reian wondered for only a moment.

He cried out in pain when the tendrils constricted him harder, crushing him.

The boy shut his eyes tightly to brace himself for the pain. He couldn't breathe. He thought that he was going to die.

After another moment, however, he felt himself torn free and falling to the ground when someone almost materialized from the shadows and cut through the tendrils with the blunt edge of a blade.

It was Vince.

The boy gazed up at him, gasping for air and hardly believing what he was seeing. After another moment, his face became twisted with annoyance. "Why are you here?"

The assassin looked down at him and raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be thanking me right now? I just saved your life didn't I?"

The boy hissed and grabbed his staff as he pulled himself up again. "So you were following me this entire time."

Vince wore a devious look on his face. "So what are you checking on, exactly?"

The boy's angry expression faded into a melancholy one as his gaze fell on the remnants of the tendrils. "I don't know what's wrong. Taloc is very ill." He hesitated. "I have to do something."

The assassin tilted his head. "What will you do? Should we go back for help?"

The boy looked back at Vince and sighed. "It was my job to protect this tree. I don't understand how this could have happened without me noticing something..."

"Your job?" Vince asked.

The boy looked away from him diffidently. "Many years ago, Taloc saved my life when I was in danger. I left with the life that I was allowed to keep and went back to the village and swore I'd protect it. The balaur took my sister away and tried to kill me, but I was spared." He paused. "And I am sure my sister is alive out there somewhere too."

"Wait." Vince lit up. "Your sister?"

The boy nodded and his face grew longer. "It's not uncommon. The Reian people are shrinking in number because of the Balaur exterminating us and capturing our people and putting them under their control."

"So that's what you are?" The scout asked. "Reian?"

"Yes," Zihark told him. "This place has been our home for a very long time. Even before Elyos and Asmodians arrived here not all that long ago." He paused. "But your kind came too late and most of our kind have already been almost completely diminished."

"I see." Vince continued. "So this tree. What's special about it?"

The boy looked up finally. "Taloc was a tree that lived long before the cataclysm. He is both ancient and wise." Zihark told him. "When the tower of eternity shattered, a fragment of the tower found itself in his roots. It is because of this that he has grown so colossal and why he knows the will of Aion."

"The will of Aion, huh?" Vince frowned. "Interesting."

The boy shook his head. "But he needs our help. I think we can handle this on our own. We just need to find the source of the infection."

The assassin nodded. "I'm right behind you," he told him.

Zihark nodded. "Thank you." The boy turned back to the little blue creature still staring at them from the other end of the hall. With nowhere for it to run, the boy lunged forward at it with his staff.

The boy missed utterly when the creature dashed from beneath his feet and disappeared into the crevice from which the tendrils sprang.

Vince laughed.

Annoyed, Zihark sighed but said nothing. The Reian continued back towards where he came with the assassin following behind him.

The two continued down another tunnel which eventually separated into many other tunnels.

The scout scratched his head. "Is this place some kind of maze? We're going to be in here forever."

"Hmm." The boy looked around for a moment before continuing forward.

The next room they were in was littered with silk cocoons and webs that hung from the ceiling.

"Disgusting..." Vince remarked at the surroundings.

Zihark frowned. It appeared that Taloc was infested with more than just parasites.

The boy walked up to one of the cocoons and studied it for a moment before his eyes widened and his skin ran pale.

"Eh?" Vince raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

The Reian swallowed hard. "These are people in these cocoons."

"What!" Vince started. "How?"

"I don't know." Zihark started. "But they don't seem like they're alive."

The assassin walked up beside him and looked over all of the cocoons. After a moment of hesitation, he cut through one of them with his scimitar and spilled its contents.

A Reian warrior fell out and onto the ground, though he didn't look like he was breathing.

Zihark knelt down and checked for a pulse before finally looking up at Vince and shaking his head.

The assassin frowned and cut through another and then another.

The results were all the same until they heard a voice from one in the back of the room.

The two paused for a moment and looked at eachother before they dashed to the back and Vince hacked open one of the cocoons.

It was another Reian warrior. He had pale eyes and very short pale hair.

The man fell out onto his knees and panted and coughed as he was finally free.

Zihark quickly knelt down beside him and put an arm around him. "Are you alright? Can you tell us what happened here?"

The man paused for a moment and looked around him and then at Zihark. "Everyone else... Are they..?" He spoke in Reian.

Zihark shook his head.

The man's gaze fell back to the ground in silence. "We were sent in here on an expedition and it ended badly." He paused. "Giant insects overwhelmed us and, well..." The man grew silent again and dug his fingers into the ground beneath them.

"Stay strong," Zihark told him. "We'll get you out of here."

The man nodded.

"Does he have a name?" Vince asked aloud.

The Reian man looked over at the scout. "Engeius." He told him.

"Oh good, you can understand me." Vince told him.

He nodded again.

Zihark sighed and looked around and then back at Vince. We should keep going.

Vince acknowledged him and went ahead of him and the other Reian.

Zihark turned to Engeius. "Can you stand?"

"I can," He told him. The Reian proceeded to pick himself up.

"Let's go." Zihark continued forward with the warrior behind him.

The three continued on into the next alcove.

As they entered, they all heard the sound of the wood creaking behind them.

They all looked around in unison to see that the way they came in was completely blocked off by a sudden growth of vines and foliage.

"What the?" Vince stared for a moment and looked back at Zihark. "What's the meaning of this?"

But Zihark wasn't paying any attention to him. He was too occupied with what was in front of them.

Vince turned back around to see what looked like a giant parasitic worm standing before them. It's mouth bared razor sharp teeth and it didn't look friendly.

The assassin sighed. "Well, isn't this lovely."

"Nothing? At all?" Tina frowned.

Sophie shook her head. "The patrol said that he left sometime last night but no one has any clue as to where he could have gone."

"Hmm." Innes scratched his head. "Maybe he couldn't sleep again and went for a walk...and got lost?"

Tina sighed. "Idiot. He'd probably do something like that too."

Sophie said nothing.

"Look," The red head continued. "We can go searching for him or ask around. Someone is bound to have saw him somewhere further up the road."

"Maybe." Tina's gaze fell to the ground.

"Alright" Innes started. "Let's go."

"Be careful." Sophie told them.

Tina nodded and her and the mage headed off.

The weather was a little cold today, but relatively nice for asmodians.

Tina finally got all of her strength back, though she wondered why if it wasn't one thing, it was another. First her, now something might have happened to Arthen. Her skin ran pale at the very thought.

"Don't worry so much, Tina." The mage told her. "Even if something did happen, Arthen is strong. He can take care of himself."

The cleric smiled a half smile, now somewhat relieved. "I guess you're right."

The two continued down the path until they came to a large gate guarded by Asmodian soldiers.

Tina rushed over to them. "Any of you wouldn't have happened to see someone pass through here late last night would you?"

Most of the guards looked at her but said nothing.

Finally, one of them answered. "Yes, an asmodian did come through here last night. Don't recall anyone else. Why?"

Tina continued. "We're looking for someone. He's rather tall, blue hair, and I'm sure he was wearing his armor."

"Sounds like him," the guard replied.

The cleric smiled. "Thanks for the help!"

The two passed through and headed farther down the path.

They came to a giant waterfall where they stopped to look around.

"This place is amazing. I've never seen anything like it." The cleric gazed up and around as ksellids eyed her from the water.

Innes didn't seem to be paying any attention. He followed the water to the ledge and looked over.

Tina walked up beside him and frowned.

The mage sighed. "I wonder if he'll come back if we just wait?"

Tina tilted her head. "Wait?"

"Yeah," Innes continued. "Back at the village."

"Oh." She looked down at the ground. "Maybe." She sighed. You better be alright...

Arthen's vision was hazy at first. As he was regaining consciousness, he felt his body completely constricted and the feeling of what seemed like hairs tickling his arms and neck. His head was spinning.

When his vision finally came back to him, so did the realization that he was trapped. Half of his body was cemented in place by sticky hardening insect fluid.

Arthen gasped when he saw his captor before him, a giant arachnid.

Immediately, the templar fought to break himself free. He managed to get an arm free and swatted at the spider instinctively.

The arachnid reeled back, hissing at the sudden inconvenience before baring its fangs. They dripped with venom.

The templar struggled to break himself free with no luck. He swore and panicked.

The arachnid lunged at him and sunk its fangs into exposed flesh.

Arthen gritted his teeth. He stood there for a brief moment before finally smashing the spider against himself and dropping it to the floor. He quickly worked to brush off any remnants that stuck to him.

The poison burned his body like fire. He took a moment to gather his stamina before finally wriggling free from the spider's silk.

He paused for a moment and looked around himself. Where the hell am I?

The walls were made of wood, some covered with dirt and moss. It appeared to be some kind of insect nest he'd fallen into. He needed to find a way out. Tunnels and alcoves ran in every direction.

He sighed, but he knew that he wasn't going to make it out standing in one spot.

The templar headed forward, ignoring his wounds and the poison. As he made it down the tunnel, more insects gathered to watch him. Spiders, worms, beetles, and flies. Giant ones.

Arthen drew his sword and shield and prepared himself for an engagement.

They charged at him almost fearlessly as he swung his sword, hacking away at them. They died easily, but they seemed to come at him endlessly, from the walls and out of the ground.

Arthen gagged at the sight of it. He felt himself grow weaker and fatigued.

They started to overwhelm him.

He felt himself fall to the ground. Tiny jaws and stingers scratched at his skin as more fiery poison seeped in. He wondered if he was going to die here in this place.

He whispered a quiet incantation that surrounded himself with an impenetrable shield, but even then, he wasn't sure how long it would last as his strength was being sapped away by the poison.

He shut his eyes closed as tightly as he could and dug his hands into the ground.

Fight.

Now he was losing it.

Fight. He heard it again.

The templar looked up to see a small red bead materialize in front of him. Desperate and curious, he grasped it tightly in his hands.

Fight.

Almost instantly, a destructive wave of energy pulsated from his body, sending the predators spinning and lifeless.

The hollow grew silent. No more chattering and hissing of insects.

Arthen felt his consciousness start to fade again. He was dying.

He really thought he was losing it when he saw the ethereal outline of an elim standing before him. He gazed up at it but said nothing.

The tree spirit also said nothing for a moment, but offered him a strange looking fruit.

Eat this and destroy the corruption in my boughs. It will unleash latent power within.

The templar took the fruit in his hand and studied it before looking back up again.

The Elim was gone.

Arthen didn't hesitate any longer and did as he was instructed. As he ate the fruit, he did indeed become stronger. His strength returned to him and the effect of the poison dissipated from his body.

The azule haired knight picked himself up with his new found strength. Then he looked at his body. Thick wooden armor materialized over his body and leaves sprouted from his arms and legs and he had become giant.

Hurry.

Arthen nodded before finally continuing forward again. He felt invincible.

He realized that he must have been inside a giant tree. The corruption in my boughs...

Arthen needed to go higher.

The knight hurried off down the tunnels ahead of him and made his way up the winding path.