The figure pulling Grant away from the side of the pilr was a bear, or at least, that’s what he thought at first. This person was not a wild-shifted druid, but an Arctrosi, ursine people native of Clydeth alongside the canine Latranians. He was wearing hide armor over his stocky build, armed with nothing more than a club.

  “What are you doing?! You can’t just enter the structure! It’s going to eat you the moment you stepped through the arch!” reprimanded the Arctrosi.

  “Hence the barrier,” said a nonchant Grant. “If the monster’s going to attack me again, it has to go through the barrier first.”

  “That barrier’s nothing but thin paper against that thing! It will erode that barrier faster than you can sustain it. Just stop and listen for a moment, will you? I know you are sent here by the druids to check on this structure. The others told me that you and that spirit commander entered the forbidden forest. I know what’s happening to the druids.”

  This intrigued Grant, who dispelled his barrier and sword.

  “I’m listening,” said the half-elf.

  “The druids sent people into this forest, chosen volunteers who embodied the best of the community. We are tasked with keeping a barrier that stops whatever’s inside from breaking free. This ancient structure is a prison.”

  “So, a warden,” concluded Grant, eliciting a nod from the bear person. “You’re doing a poor job.”

  The Arctrosi shifted his weights, letting out a grunt that voiced his displeasure. “We would not be talking if someone didn’t come in and sabotaged us. I thought he was chosen by the druid leader. Nobody would come in here unless the leader has a say about it. Perhaps he came from a rival faction, which I couldn’t care about.”

  “Why do you think he came from a rival faction?”

  “Why not? He wild-shifted into a reptilian creature and killed one of us. We dealt with him swiftly, but the barrier’s gone. You look like you know your way with barrier. I want you to help us sustain the prison with me until someone else can take over for you. I doubt you’re the volunteering type.”

  “I have a much better idea,” proposed Grant. “I am going in there and kill whatever’s inside.”

  The Arctrosi went wide-eyed. “Did you listen to what I said?! That thing—”

  “Is going to eat me the moment I went inside. Yes, I heard it the first time,” said Grant. “Your idea has merit, but whatever’s in there is a monster that needs to be sin, not imprisoned. I don’t give a fuck about your secrets, or whether this is the source of your power. Having this whole corruptive energy is not going to serve the community in the long run.”

  “I am not telling you this because we have some dirty secrets to keep away!” shed the Arctrosi. “That thing in there is truly dangerous! You’re not the first to have proposed to kill it! Several druids in the past tried. They joined that thing in there.”

  “Then tell me what’s in there instead of calling it something vague! It’s a monster, but what is it?! Put all the cards on the table, Arctosi! C’mon!”

  The Arctosi, despite his hefty size, was taken aback by Grant’s outburst. Grant, being an emotional person, was not against saying what he had in mind if the situation demanded it. A life and death situation warranted such an outburst.

  That did not work all the time. The Arctosi was unable to give Grant the answer, simply because he did not know what answer to give the demanding half-elf. All he could do was stammer a sembnce of an answer, unable to come up with something. He had never been inside and his every being, whether it was his honed druidic training or his beast person instinct, told him that whatever’s inside the structure was dangerous, and without the protection of the barrier imprisoning it, it would eventually be set free.

  The standoff was soon broken by someone else’s voice.

  “It’s this forest’s mother tree.”

  Grant turned towards the voice, helping Arrabi up after her ordeal was done. She looked like a beast person of a kind Grant had never seen before: a rabbit or a hare person, with the antlers of a deer and hoofed legs. Grant’s first thought was that she was a chimera, but chimeras could not speak. She did.

  “The druids are forbidden to kill it, even if it has clearly been corrupted,” continued the person. “And strangers beyond this forest had been killed in the past trying to destroy it. You and this young dy are not the first outsiders who tried to destroy that tree.”

  “She’s telling the truth, Grant,” said Arrabi. “The corrupted spirits that attacked me came from many sources. Humans, elves, beast people…many had fallen victim to the tree.”

  “But will it devour me the moment I step in?” asked Grant. “Will the shadows consume me like primordial darkness?”

  The leporine woman paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. It wasn’t a long pause.

  “No, it won’t,” she said.

  This answer was the answer Grant seek.

  “There’s only one way to find out if I know how to deal with the darkness.” He summoned his sword. “I just hope I’m wrong.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  The Arctosi’s question came just as Grant threw his sword into the darkness. Suddenly, there was a creaking sound, just as blue fme burst from among the darkness, momentarily illuminating the dark room. There was a silhouette of something within resembling an overgrown tree.

  “Fuck,” mented Grant. “Just my luck.” He then shrugged. “Well. No time to test it like the present.”

  The others did not have the time to ask what he meant by that when Grant said, “Cover me while I prepare a spell. You’re allowed to defend yourself from the tree, right?”

  “Do what he said,” commanded the leporine woman.

  The ursine druid nodded and cast a translucent green shield as Grant stood in front of the opening. He started his incantation, which was longer than the usual, combat-oriented ones. He held out his hands and started to incantate in elvish, preparing a spell that could end this whole problem in one fell swoop.

  The corrupted tree, sensing what Grant was trying to do, furiously attacked the mage, who was only protected by the druid’s shield, which had begun to shatter the moment one of the tendrils attacked Grant. The half-elf turned towards the Arctosi, silently telling him not to screw up, while he kept incantating his spell.

  Yet, the corruption effect from the mother tree was enough to overwhelm the druidic barrier, which drew its power from the nature around them, which were susceptible to its corrupted energy. Even the leporine woman’s barrier, which was multi-yered and generally much powerful than the Arctosi’s, couldn’t hold back the degradation that threatened Grant, who kept focusing on his incantation. Drops of sweat filled his eyes and mouth, but he maintained focus, though deep down he knew he would not have enough time, and he had to step aside and stop, which was a shame.

  That worry was soon alleviated when he noticed that the barrier was holding on. The degradation somehow stopped before it could break the second yer. He would thank the druids if he wasn’t too focused on finishing his incantation.

  Unknown to her, but known to the leporine druid, Arrabi commanded the spirits in the forest to form a spectral guardian that only she could see. As the spirits were hardier than pure natural energy, they held back the corruption much longer than nature’s barrier. However, Arrabi could see that they were still susceptible to the corrupting effects of the mother tree, baffling even her.

  She instead directed her surprise into encouraging Grant, knowing that worrying about it would only distract him, the only person who seemed to know what he was doing against such a dangerous enemy.

  “Finish the spell, Grant! Now!” demanded Arrabi.

  Her worry pushed Grant to finish the incantation immediately. He skipped a word here and there, but he did not need them. All he needed was to see if this counterspell would work in the scope he was hoping for.

  “I’ve done it!” decred Grant. “Let down your barriers!”

  “What?!” excimed a baffled Arrabi. “After all we did to protect you!”

  “Listen to me and do it now!”

  The leporine druid was the only one who realized what Grant was attempting.

  “Do as he say,” she commanded.

  Arrabi was unsure, but she also knew she had no idea how to counter this. Reluctantly, she let the spirits disperse, letting the corruptive energy to hit the barrier, which immediately eroded the barrier in an instant. Grant was already prepared for this as he held his hand out.

  What happened next happened in an instant, to the astonishment of everyone who witnessed it.

  The tendrils that were so intent in skewering the hapless mage immediately withered the moment they touched his palm, though not without one of them successfully impaling his hand due to residual force. Grant grunted, but he knew the injury was negligible when he felt joy upon realizing that the spell that he dedicated his life to perfect was a success.

  The counterspell coursed through the tendril, disintegrating them in a fsh, until they reached the mother tree, which let out a terrible creak as it withered away from the counterspell. The feedback from the counterspell also released light energy that destroyed parts of the structure, causing both Grant and the Arctosi druid to get to safety before chunks of marble could crush them. The others shield themselves from the dust and rubble. The structure, surprisingly, was still standing despite the energy feedback.

  Everyone was unsure what to expect from the conclusion, but one thing was clear. There was no corruptive energy detected around them, though lingering corruption were still there. It would still spread, but not at an arming rate.

  “I didn’t think that would work,” said Grant, followed with a chuckle. “Next time, I should make it more combat ready. That incantation’s far too long for my liking.”

  “What…was that spell?” asked Arrabi. “It looks like it was made out of pure light.”

  “It was a purification counterspell specifically made to combat a very specific dark magick. A simple counterspell will not do against such a big, concentrated source of magick.” He winced from the pain of his hand, which had a big, gaping hole from where one of the tendrils hit him. “And the only way for it to work is by touch. Projectiles won’t have enough concentration, as do an area effect. It’s incredibly risky and takes too long to cast, so I wouldn’t recommend it. You’d need to learn elvish, anyway.’

  “You said it was to combat a very specific dark magick,” asked the leporine woman. “How do you know your spell will work against it.”

  “Because your mother tree was corrupted by the same magick that put me here in the first pce,” said Grant. He then turned to Arrabi. “And frankly, Arrabi, too.”

  His expression darkened, knowing what he was going to say was not going to be something light.

  “It’s Vyrnian Magick,” said Grant. “Which means Rogaria is just the start.”