The Beast Within
Chapter Thirty-Three – Genius Loci
The giant tree was still there. Its thick branches curled out and spanned into the soft grayness above. Heavy, lush leaves fanned down toward them. Golden sunlight still drizzled generously around the giant of the forest. Birds hoped in and out of the thick layers of leaves, tweaking. Between its twining, bulky roots, fresh green grass carpeted and expanded over the entire glade. Buttercups, dandelions and other small wild flowers were scattered generously across the grassland. The sound of wind rustled gently through the leaves.
Leela threaded carefully out of the thick snow. Her feet touched the soft grass, her boots clogged with mud and grime. Placing hand above her eyes, she scanned around the glade cautiously. It wasn't long to locate what she was after.
"Over there." She pointed at the glowing golden figure standing by the tree.
Nadaj appeared a lot different than when they first met her in the garrison. Her hair was now in disarray. Her mask and robe was askew. Seemed in some kind of trace, the young hathran stared straight ahead, oblivious what's going on in her surroundings. Small smile rested on the corners of her mouth. Humming some unknown tune, she turned as the air genasi and her companions approached.
"Demon!" Dalenka cried out, her voice trembled, clearly in pain to watch her sister in such a state: "What have you done to Nadaj?"
"Demon? Cha-cha, You couldn't be more wrong, hag. Such a shame my scheme eliminating you failed miserably." The ethran talked in echo-ish voice again: "Tsk-tsk, Nadaj you knew is no more. She had become our vessel now."
"Our?" The crease on Leela's forehead deepened: "You mean there is more than one of you?".
"Yes, us." The young witch turned and glared at her: "We are the outrage, the fury, the vengeance. We are one. Long have we festered, desiring only to protect, yet bound and suppressed by the one who purports to speak for these woods."
"The Wood Man?" Safiya arched her eyebrow: "But he's the protector of this land, isn't he?"
"And where is he now?" Nadaj waved her hand and laughed wickedly: "HE HAS FAILED! Has faded to nothing. Now we are all that protects this place. We are the need, the distress, the suffering!"
"But those people…and Dalenka…" The druid asked: "They had done nothing wrong! Why did you want to get rid of them?"
"We were threatened. We burned, we wilted, and we yielded to parasites. The same forces that freed us—they encroached upon us!" The hathran snorted: "And yet here you said they did nothing wrong?"
"Parasites?" Okku growled with displeased: "You called these loyal servants of the Ashenwood parasite?"
"You brought disease, you brought despair, and you brought suffering." Nadaj pointed her finger at them and hissed: "PARASITE!, you are."
"Nadaj!" Dalenka seemed like couldn't bear to see her fellow hathran like this:" Don't be like this, if you are still in there, don't be like this!"
"My heart." Derek appeared next to his lover and placed his hand on her shoulder: "I'm afraid Nadaj is long gone.
"I still don't get it." Leela cocked her head sideway: "What is she, exactly, if she wasn't possessed?"
"This woman...I don't think she's just simply being possessed. She's a cipher, a shell and a garment worn by the feral instinct of the forest. Ashenwood," Gannayev's hand on the hilt of his dagger tightened: "And…I fear, she's about to shed this husk, and our blood may soon follow."
Nadaj laughed wickedly: "We needed a vessel. An instrument. One, whose will would be fused to our own. The ethran fit perfectly. We took her, with little effort. We are the protector. We are one."
"Nadaj…" Dalenka covered her eyes. This seemed too much to bear for her.
There was something stirred around them. The air genasi looked around and found they were surrounded by telthor spirits, all glaring and snarling at the Genius Loci angrily, prepared to lash out at any moment.
"What? Displeased?" The Genius Locis' eyes narrowed: "Traitors! We protected the forest. We saved you from despair. We removed the threat. Siding with parasite? Then you shall die along with them!"
The blinding light on her body grew even brighter. The five smaller guardian-like trees around the glowing Ashe suddenly shook violently. Winds whirling around the glade blew harder and harder, picking up leaves and small twigs with them. Eventually the winds were just so strong none of them were able to stand straight.
The ground quivered. Several treants and elementals pushed past the thick fog and stomped into the glade. Eyes glowing red and glaring at them in fury, minions charged toward the group straight away. At the same time, Nadaj cast Contagion Spell, followed by an Earthquake Spell, on Leela and her companions. Dalenka murmured and waved her magic staff, casting a protective counter-spell over them to block off the Genius Loci's attack. Gannayev's hand shimmered with light. He summoned an air elemental into the battlefield to fight the minions. Kaelyn also called the Planetar for assistance. One of the treants shot twisting vines toward Okku, attempting to refrain him on the spot. The twisting plant attached to the spirit easily, but they did not seem to delay or stop the bear spirit much. The telthor god merely writhed his body and shrugged the vine off effortlessly.
A pack of wolf spirits engaged the fight with an earth elemental three times the size they were. Transparent body shimmered in blue light; they took turn leaping onto the tainted creature while the rest tackled it from the bottom. Group of telthor badgers, working nicely with Fluffy the spider, pinned one of the treants on the ground and sank their teeth deep within its barks. Derek threw his throwing axes at a earth elemental. Nearby, Leela leaped onto the back of a treant, clamped her legs around the thick branch, both hands waving daggers, carving away barks and chips from it. Safiya's outstretched hand was in flames. Firestorm fell and bombed around them, turning several of the minions into walking fireballs. It was followed by massive blizzard. Chilling air soaked them to the bone, made them too weak to cast a strong attack. Kaelyn sprung her quarterstaff skillfully, blocking off Nadaj's aggressive attack, while careful not to move outside the protective spell diameter the othlor had given them.
With the aid of Derek and other telthor spirits, the minions fell surprisingly easy. However, they noticed new ones just kept appearing in waves, tiring their strength and energy after a while. Kaelyn had to cast the delay spell repeatedly to allow them to have recovery time.
"This is not going to work, if they keep popping up in waves!" Gannayev shouted at the air genasi, in air elemental form, busy attacking two other ones, while he was trying his best not to be squashed by an earth elemental.
The Red Wizard was leaning against a tree, trying to catch her breath. She lifted her head up briefly, glinting her eyes and attempting to look past the whirling wind and debris around them: "Where…where are they all coming from? I've never seen this many of them in my life!"
Nadaj laughed hysterically. Her high pitch voice echoed throughout the glade. More spells flew out of her outstretched hands. The twirling winds circling around the glade blew harder. More minions emerged from the deep forest. Okku soon engaged in yet another heated battle with a few of them. Kaelyn the Dove was off-guard for one split second and was now being trashed about in the air, vines tied tightly by the ankles, with feathers from her wings flying everywhere in the howling wind. Then the tentacles finally released her, the half-celestial landed heavily on one of the small tree, knocking it off.
Suddenly they heard a loud, blood-curling scream, enveloped Nadaj's and reverberated back and forth in the field, as if the small tree felt the pain and was shrieking because of it. Every minion in the battlefield seemed panicked by the noise. Some even ran off and disappeared back into the woods. Staring at the falling tree in disbelief for a few second, Safiya's clouded face suddenly cleared up. She jerked her head up and shouted toward the others.
"THE TREES! IT'S THE TREES! ATTACK THE TREES!" The Wizard of Thay circled her hands around her mouth and called out as loud as she could.
She must have guessed it right, because the young witch suddenly turned her head around, her face bright red and glared at her with fury. The next thing they noticed was that the spells she cast out became even more aggressive. Several elementals and treants moved toward the trees, attempting to guard it instead of attacking their opponents. The Red Wizard aimed her fire spells at the nearest tree and began to torch it. As the stem completely engulfed in flames, more ear-piercing scream followed. One of the treants was torn into shreds by Leela in air elemental form.
Each of them quickly abandoned their opposition as much as they possibly could, picked a tree and began to cut or slash it as much as possible. Dalenka cast out more protective spells around them, preventing them from being harmed badly by her junior hathran. More minions fell followed by each tree's devastation, and the Genius Loci gradually became weaker. At the end, when there was just the badly slashed Ash Tree left standing in the glade, Nadaj couldn't even move.
"Parasite!" She growled as blood pouring out of her mouth: "We fail! We will not yield! We will not beg for mercy! Kill us, kill us, KILL US! "
The twirling mass slowly spun and paused next to Gannayev. The density of its center slowly became higher and gradually formed a human shape. Finally, Leela returned to her humanoid form and stood in front of the seething abomination. She managed to steady herself, tilting her head and stared at the young witch in silence for a long time, before finally opening her mouth tiredly.
"No, I will not kill you, hathran." Said the air genasi exhaustedly.: "You will face the Wood Man once we find him and he shall decide what to do with you."
She turned, and was about to inspect the Glowing Ashe Tree before hearing a loud yelp over her shoulder.
"No! You will not find the Wood Man. We will not succumb and give ourselves to that old soft piece of arse! We would rather die!" Nadaj's haunting voice snarled as she summoned the last bit of strength and came to her feet. Her arms outstretched, her fingers spun wide and was ready to fire a spell to the druid. Before any of them could react, something slipped out of Leela's shadow and slithered toward the Genius Loci. It changed shapes and expanded into some dark matter with multi-tentacles. The tainted witch stopped her attack, her eyes immediately widened with fear. She started swarming backward. Her whole body began to tremble.
"Leela!" The blue hagspawn reached out and grabbed her arms. To his horror, he noticed the air genasi was no longer conscious. Her eyes rolled up and her body was limp.
"Shit!" Safiya swore: "The curse seized the chance, overtook her while her body was drained and could no longer held it behind!"
The dark shadow kept gathering and gradually hovered over the Nadaj. The young hathran shrieked, looked beyond herself and absolutely terrified.
"Do something!" Kaelyn looked around helplessly. Her opaque eyes stopped at Dalenka, who shook her head and gave her a shrug.
"I do not think, in my power, I can refrain it within the genasi anymore." The olthor sighed, with tears brimming in her eyes: "The hunger had been suppressed for so long, now without the host's suppression, it will be drawn whichever has the strongest spirit power… Oh, Nadaj…."
The dark shadow continued to advance on the hathran. Its shape now expanded to a degree, it resembled something like a beholder. Its whisper could now be heard by everyone in the glade.
HUNGRY…
SO HUNGRY…
Crimson red smoke poured out from the center of the hunger. It taunted in hair-prickling voice as its tentacles reached Nadaj's robe. The young girl screamed even louder. Lights trickled out of her eyes, mouth and fingers; as if the spirits inside her were attempting to flee but realized they were trapped within the vessel.
FEED…
MUST FEED…
The gash at the center of the shadow grew larger. It was now laughing wickedly and slowly crawled up the poor hathran's leg. The young witch, now too frightened to scream, was hiccuping as she watched in horror as her legs disappeared in shadow.
ARH…
The dark shadow snickered evilly. The red smoke poured out more and fast, slowly covered Nadaj's rigid body.
HUNGRY…MUST FEED…
The hathran's gulping sound could still be heard through the thickness of red and black smokes. The golden glow shimmered around her body was almost gone now. Her widened, blood-shot eyes could still be seen behind all the darkness.
NOW…
The hunger leaped forward abruptly, engulfed the Genius Loci in one go, making a stomach turning 'BLOB' sound. Almost as soon as it was done, the shadow quickly retreated back to Leela's body. The area became clear and the wind whooshed past their ears once again. Other than the hundreds of Spirit Essences left by the minions they fought earlier, it was as if nothing had ever happened here at all.
For a while, no one talked. Kaelyn covered her mouth with both hands to stop herself from crying out loud. Her eyes were filled with tears. Safiya's face was just as grim as hers. Her tattooed eyebrows were in knot beyond the point of telling which one is which. Okku stared at the spot where Nadaj was a few minutes ago blankly and seemed to be in the deep thought. Dalenka buried her face into her wrinkled hands and did not move for a very long time, while Derek bowed his head with a hand across his chest, as if paying his respect on the young hathran—the one before Genius Loci took over.
Gannayev gave the empty spot one last look, before turning his attention back to the air genasi. The blue Hagspawn reached out his hand tentatively, gently touching her ebony shoulder and gave it a slight push: "Leela?"
The druid's body stirred and let out a sigh. Leela turned and her eyes fluttered.
"What happened?" She moaned.
"You were exhausted." Answered the dreamwalker: "So you decided to enter the dreamscape without me."
"What?" The air genasi gasped as she dragged herself to sitting position: "Wait…where is Nadaj?"
"You ate her." Replied the Red Wizard simply.
"WHAT?" Leela's face turned white: "Come again?"
"It wasn't your fault, little one." Okku sighed: "We've done nothing but traipsing through the snow and fighting over the last couple of days. You, or the spells of any kind, could not keep the curse within you any longer."
"I…I ate her?" The druid stuttered.
They all nodded silently.
Leela's shoulder slackened, as if all her energy was drained from her. All the effort since she discovered the curse cast upon her had been completely wasted. She cursed inwardly a thousand times. If only she was more vigilant. If only she could be stronger…
She bit her lower lip. She had promised herself not to devour a single soul, spirit or not. And now she had broken that promise. How would she stop herself from lashing at the others in the future, should the circumstances occurred again?
"Lee, don't be too harsh on yourself." As if reading her mind, Safiya looked at her worriedly: "There was nothing you could do. The hunger inside had been always waiting for the chance to lash out, there's no way you can see that coming, and your condition a few minutes ago…"
"Safiya is correct, Leela" Kaelyn nodded in agreement: "Now the only thing we can do is find out how to remove the curse, fast."
"How?" Leela arched her eyebrow slightly. Half of her still submerged in her own thought: "We did all of Nadaj's quests…and yet the Wood Men still…"
"The Wood Men is closer than you think." Dalenka chimed in. They turned their head around and saw the old witch was smiling tearfully. She cocked her head sideways, indicated them to look at the glowing Ashe Tree.
They jerked their heads back, and saw the giant tree now glowing even brighter, despite the injuries they had just inflicted upon it. A ray of light separated from the tree and landed on the grass patch in front of them. It began to circle and twirl, forming a tube above the grass. When the sparkles finally faded, a large treant like spirit stood before them. Towering above them, the vast spirit in the form of a tree, much like Gnarlthorn in shape. Only the eyes were different—they were huge and lustrous and brown, shinning with savage awareness.
"Never in my days I dreamed of seeing it, but it is him." Okku gushed.
"Who?" Asked the air genasi absent-mindedly.
"The Wood Man." Replied the telthor bear god. His voice was filled with respect and worship.