Chapter 237 – Shadow of the World Tree

Lilyth - Now

‘Is she going to be okay?’ I asked, looking at Caei’s prone form through the entrance to her tent in the field hospital.

She was sleeping in a fetal position, clutching that bat creature plushie of hers.

‘The doctors are saying “yes,”’ Phosi replied. ‘She will have some scars, but you got her out of there before the acid could do too much permanent harm. Caei did lose the little and ring fingers on her left hand, but that's the only non-cosmetic injury that the Life mages were unable to deal with.’

I wished I could have been with Caei, but at that moment she didn't want to see us. I understood why. Even from outside the tent, I could see the large, uneven stripe of discoloured red skin on her right forearm, and I was told there were quite a few of those on her body. Luckily, Caei’s face was spared so she didn't have to deal with this particular piece of baggage. Still, adjusting to all that would take her time.

Lilyth -Then

Those few frantic minutes kept replaying in my head over and over again. The spikes in my back. The desperate attempt to tear the vines from Caei’s body and only getting acid burns on my fingers to show for it. I managed to cut through the tentacles with the Moonlight Rose, only to discover that the weed wasn’t using acid just for digestion, and a much more corrosive version ended up spraying on my left arm. Pushing my way through the blinding pain as well as a coughing fit all the caustic shit in the air was about to bring about, with my one good arm I finally managed to rip the vines off my lover’s body and push her to safety. My right leg suddenly began collapsing under me then, so I jumped towards Caei using my left while I still could.

After briefly switching to [Shadow Form] to avoid crashing onto the ground and to further delay my lungs throwing a bitch fit, something I knew I would pay for, I rummaged through my satchel and pulled two “emergency” healing potions out of it. I downed one of them and poured the other into Caei’s throat.

That should stabilise her for long enough.

A quick look at her horribly burned body told me she needed immediate medical attention, so, making the easiest, most difficult decision of my life, I pulled out the portal prism I had in my satchel, placed it in Caei’s less burned hand, closed it around the item and squeezed it, crushing my emergency escape route. There was a brief flash as a portal opened, and moments later my wife was safe in the Ror-Bhyk keep’s portal room. Through my mental link, I screamed at Nyx to get Jillyead there, and to my surprise, she told me that the Life mage was already on the way there.

‘Get out of there!’ Nyx begged me.

Lilyth - Now

I looked at the stump where my lower right leg once was. Due to the pain of my left arm being corroded right through, I missed the acid dripping on it from the cut vines.

The doctors who performed surgery on me after we evacuated couldn't save either of my limbs, and they had no idea why. They should have either regenerated or outright grown back; the fingers of my remaining hand healed fine after all, but it didn’t.

There were many theories about that… maybe the Hellborn transformation fucked with my regenerative capabilities too much, maybe the curse said “no,” maybe the defensive acid was too caustic for my slime side to be able to handle, or maybe it was the combination of the three.

And I would happily sacrifice them again.

‘Take me to Aki, please,’ I asked the Phosi who volunteered on wheelchair duty with me.

‘Yes, morsel,’ Phosi replied, oddly happy about it.

Lilyth - Then

With Caei in a safe place, I dragged myself across the floor over to where Aki fell. Persephone and Phosi were already by her side doing their best to treat whatever wounds they could, but it was clear that my blue-haired lioness also needed medical attention as there were four large spikes embedded in her body - one under her right breast, two in her stomach and one in her upper left thigh.

‘Can you teleport again?’ I asked Persephone.

The sorceress wasn’t in a terribly good shape either, as she was sporting a spike in her right shoulder and another in her stomach.

‘Haven’t tried it with other people yet,’ she groaned.

‘First time for everything,’ I wheezed.

I knew that was a warning sign that I wouldn’t be able to stop the impending coughing fit, so I had to hurry. Every second counted, and I couldn’t let Aki suffer a second longer than necessary.

‘T-take her to the Ror-Bhyk p-portal room. NOW!’

‘I won’t be able to directly come back down here,’ the sorceress cautioned. ‘Too much shit in the air. I think the safest spot would be air above the compound and then just come back down here again.’

‘JUST GO!’ I shouted, using up the rest of my composure.

I managed to hold on until the two women disappeared. Then the storm I was keeping at bay inside my chest finally broke free.

Lilyth - Now

I was surprised that I woke up in a field hospital in Kalaade rather than in Ror-Bhyk.

Wait. That's not right.

I was surprised that I woke up.

Better.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh. Right.

At first, I was happy I would get to recover among friends. Then I learned that Kart was dead, as were hundreds, if not thousands, of people across Serrezht. All because of the Harvester plant.

Both of these were major gut punches to me. Especially Kart. I was the one who led her here, so her death was on my conscience. I was her actual boss, so I was responsible for her safety. And yet… I failed.

I fully expected my unwanted passenger to call me weak again, but Wither had been quiet since I went all Zeus on that fucking weed. Maybe she really was just a figment of my imagination.

As for the dead Serrezhtians, I did feel bad about them, but, to my horror, I wasn't wracked by guilt. Maybe at some level I understood it wasn't my fault. Nobody saw that one coming, and, ultimately, the weed had to go.

Phosi - Then

I was hit by a darkly amusing thought that Lilyth was definitely easier to drag around without her limbs.

Maybe I should cut off her other arm and leg. That way I can just carry her outside.

As it stood, I had to play Nurse Phosi again.

How far I have fallen…

I sighed and got to work, though I quickly realised that there was almost nothing that I could do, as one close look at Lilyth told me everything. Despite the healing potions she drank, her body still looked horrible. A lot of the flesh of her right leg was gone below the knee, and I could see its bones. The tibia had been eaten through, and the fibula was visible. Most of the foot was also missing.

Hopefully it will regenerate…. But I have a feeling Her Furry Highness’s dancing days are over.

As for her left arm, it ended in a half-burned ragged mess of tissue about ten centimetres below the shoulder.

First, I removed the plant spikes from her back. That was simple enough. Then, I ripped off parts of Lilyth’s shirt and used them to form tourniquettes on her arm and leg stumps to halt any bleeding. The limbs were likely goners anyway, so I didn’t have to worry about help arriving too late to save them.

I can just pray it will be enough to keep her alive for now.

Something was telling me it wouldn’t be, though, so I went scrounging for one of the emergency medkits on the floor, and for once I was lucky. There was an untouched metal box hanging on the wall of a room that once served as a dissection lab. I opened it to see if its contents were still there. Magical healing potions didn't go bad, so I had no worries on that front, and seeing there were some still inside, I grabbed the entire medkit and went back to Lilyth.

She was still unconscious, so I could work without interruptions. First, I poured Yhantyr Pharm Wide-Spectrum Toxin Neutraliser into our furball’s mouth, hoping that it would neutralise any toxins introduced to her body by the spikes or the acid.

Then I tried another healing potion, but it failed to make any visible improvements.

Fuuuuuuuck.

Lilyth began to stir, so I did something she would likely hate me for and grabbed another potion: Noehl-Sainyr And Sons Draft of Restful Sleep.

Now where the fuck is Persephone?

Persephone - Then

The Life mages at first weren't happy that I diverted their attention from helping Aki and Caeileera, but understood once I pointed out that I still had two people to rescue. They weren't particularly gentle when removing the spikes from my body, but that was what I asked for, wasn't it?

Still, I thanked them and teleported back to the RMAI facility, choosing to appear in the air above it, which turned out to be a very good idea, as I spotted two figures in white robes standing in a secluded position and intently observing the loading bay entrance.

Lighties… What the fuck are they doing here?

I landed on the compound’s roof and considered my options.

Direct confrontation was right out. If they were hostile, something I had no doubt about, they would wreck me.

Waiting them out was also not on the table. They could sit there for hours or, worse, decide to go in. I doubted Lilyth had much time left, assuming she was still alive to begin with, and Phosi wouldn't fare against two lighties any better than I would.

Time for Plan C then.

I switched to my [Ethereal Form] and used it to fly through the roof and into the building. That was an insanely risky thing to do, as the spell wasn't really designed to pass through solid objects. You could do that, but it drained Mana like crazy, which could be problematic if you didn't know what was on the other side of the wall you were trying to pass through and you ran out, and, let's face it, dying due to my pelvis materialising around a table would not be a fun way to end this particular dungeon crawl.

It wasn't until I was inside of the building that I remembered that the building must have had some sort of roof maintenance access hatch.

Fuuuuuuuck!

Lilyth - Now

I hated how we left the job unfinished, but a single trap nearly killing most of the team put an end to that expedition. I was told that once I was safe, Persephone and Phosi did consider finishing the job on their own, but ultimately decided we needed to regroup and come back in force.

The lighties were a concern, but it was a risk we would have to take. And let’s face it - chances they would survive inside of there were nearly zero. We barely did, and we were prepared.

Or at least we thought we were.

I couldn't help but be worried about their presence, though. I agreed with Persephone that the lighties weren't there for a benign reason, so they would need to be dealt with, even if we had to force a confrontation to fight on our terms.

Will this never end?

We found Aki in another tent, her and Persephone playing with Veenaya. Both of the women were looking terrible. The Children of the Elements confirmed the spikes were covered in some sort of toxin, and you could see its effects on Aki’s and Persephone's bodies - their skin was pale, and my blue-haired lioness had thin black lines spreading from the corners of her eyes. Apparently those were also present around the wounds.

Hopefully, those will go away.

Veenaya must have smelled me coming because she barked happily, and then ran over to me and jumped up into my lap. I began giving her head scritches with my hand.

‘Sorry, girl, limited service for now,’ I smiled at her.

Judging by her purring, our furry bundle of joy didn't seem to mind.

‘Lilyth!’ Aki exclaimed happily seeing me.

She started to run over to me but stopped seeing the state I was in.

‘Oh, gods,’ she muttered. ‘I didn't… I mean… I wasn't…’

They didn't tell her, did they?

‘Come here,’ I said warmly and, when she did, awkwardly hugged her.

‘It is not your fault,’ I smiled. ‘This happened to me when I was saving Caei. And I would do it again.’

The story of what exactly happened did bring her some solace.

Guilt sucks.

‘Nyx is already working on getting me replacements. They should be ready in a few days. Then the leafy fucker is going to pay for what it did to us and the people of this land. Mark my words.’