Curselock

Chapter 107: Lighthouse

The boys stared at Melody’s creation with uncertainty and unease. She had scraped away a bit of dirt with her fingernail and put a small green seed into the impression. From there, she muttered an incantation and sent threads of mana from her bare feet into the seed. A moment later, a single leaf had grown from a tiny steam.

“All aboard,” Melody said, creating the hesitance the boys felt.

“You want us to get in that?” Leland asked, circling the leaf.

The leaf had grown in a “U” shape, thick and fibrous like malleable wood. It was the size of a set of double doors, enough room length wise to hold the three boys and Melody. It was a boat, that much was apparent. But besides the general shape, that’s where the comparisons ended.

Most boats, especially the ones around the local waters, were non magical. Melody’s leaf-boat was the opposite. Its “hull” was glowing brilliant green, something which Leland supposed was for integrity and protection.

Whatever the spell was, Leland recognized a summoning spell for what it was. While the catalyst was a seed rather than an etched circle, the outcome was wholly what he had come to know as a summoning. That was, unless Melody had the power, talent, and finesse to create the leaf-boat with just pure nature magic manipulation, something which he did not expect.

No shame to Melody, but Leland didn’t even think his mother could create an elemental manipulation construct like how the leaf-boat was formed. Which, in all honesty, kindled something deep within his heart.

Magic was epic.

The simple thought bolstered Leland’s spine and courage. He straightened his back, lifted his chin, and truly digested what was happening before him. From the leaf-boat to the nest of vile Lord corrupted scorpions, there was some dangerous, and impressive, magic involved. And that got him fired up for what his newly acquired hand tattoo would do.

“Yes,” Melody said to his original question.

Magic was epic and all, but Leland was going to be careful. Still being hesitant to follow a complete stranger’s order, he begrudgingly clambered into the leaf-boat ready to spring to action. The others followed suit, and soon everyone was standing in the green summoning.

With a whistle, Melody commanded the stale air of the nesting tunnels to awaken. Starting as a gentle breeze against a brick wall of people, the air began to rapidly roar past everyone, eventually shifting the Leaf-boat. Only the Legacy of Nature kept her legs, the boys suddenly finding themselves falling on top of one another.

As soon as they regained their footing, the boat finally caught against the wind and set sail.

Magic was epic, but at that moment Leland found himself wide eyed and internally screaming as they sailed into the hole where the scorpion horde lay. They went fast and hard, dipping nearly straight down through the stone tunnels and landing with a gnarly splash of yellow liquid.

Almost instantly, the scorpions turned and moved to attack the invaders. All notions of fighting one another were thrown away as the nest was in danger. The scorpions weren’t a hive mind but with the Light Architect’s corruption, they might as well have been.

Melody, during all of this, never lost her sea legs. She held onto the leaf’s petiole like a nautical rudder, controlling the group’s movement with power words and quick hand movements.

“Thirty nine approach!” she announced with a certain degree of malicious joy.

Leland didn’t have any time, nor mental capacity, to think about their guide and her oddities. Instead he, Jude, and Glenny all took up arms.

Jude stood at the bow, his axe hoisted over his shoulder and a smile on his face. Again, Leland didn’t think about his friend’s weirdness, instead glancing at Glenny.

In one hand, Glenny held a familiar crimson spear, in the other, a malformed circle shield. Sweat was forming along his cheeks and forehead but as the first scorpion breached from under the yellow liquid, attacking the leaf-boat, his struggles of forging something other than a straight weapon already paid off. The scorpion collided with the crimson shield, rebounding off like a fish trying to jump out of a tank.

Glenny then thrust with his spear, stabbing the creature. A shrill screech escaped its monstrous body, along with a sun-yellow blaze of light.

Leland and the others grunted at the sight, snapping their eyes closed. The light was gone as soon as it arrived, along with the troubled call of plenty more enemies. Urging his grimoire to the correct page, Leland slammed his palm into the contract with the Lord of Magic, gaining a small potency boon to his curses.

A whistle escaped his lips next, along with the call for his flock to attack. Crows dived through the nest without care for the yellow liquid, their ethereal bodies acting as a vaccine to the vile Lord’s corruption. Each bird took a separate target, charging the scorpions with razor-sharp talons out and ready. The horde of enemies were battered down, the crows doing everything in their power to slow the assault.

Melody suddenly shouted something, her voice shrouded with raw magic and mana. The leaf-boat lurched, rising as the wind picked up like a dolphin leaping through the waves. The group sailed over the horde, landing on the far side of the nest with another splash.

Crows attacked a few straggling scorpions, spreading through the crystal-like armor with fury and ferocity. Melody didn’t wait around, however, and commanded the leaf to move to each individual battle one after another. Jude and Glenny assisted Leland’s birds when they neared, dispatching the monsters rather simply.

And just like that, the group found their path to success. Crows would lock-down a few scorpions, Melody would maneuver around the slowly dwindling horde, and Jude and Glenny would pick off what they could. It took thirty minutes, but eventually the nest was butchered and the group was only met with silence.

The silence was ill fated as Melody maneuvered the boat across the yellow liquid. She didn’t stop to look around the nest or wade through the corruption. She knew exactly where she was going, deeper, into the desolation.

“End your light barring spells,” Melody said to the group, smothering her light-ball spell.

Leland canceled the cantrip making his fingers glow and Glenny banished his conjured spear and shield, sending the group into darkness. Only a brief and hollow glow remained, the yellow liquid shining with muted enthusiasm.

They traveled for minutes, minutes that seemed to stretch. Leland was the first to notice, but the scorpion nest had long ended and only a man-made perfect tunnel remained. Entirely smooth and cut from stone, the pathway led to a raised mound of crystals and dirt. Like an island arisen from the depths, the only salvation from the yellow liquid was ahead.

The leaf-boat docked, fluttering directly onto the island. Melody was first out, her quick stride urging the boys to follow suit. The low light kept the boys close and focused on what details they could notice.

Patches of crystal emerged from the dirt ground, like stalagmites in a damp cave. The dirt was odd, Leland noticed as his feet sunk deeper than he’d assumed. It was like marsh land or particularly fluffy sand. He had to focus on each step, so as not to lose his balance – something he noted Jude and Glenny did not suffer from.

Melody stopped abruptly.

The Boys mimicked the movement.

Before the Legacy of Nature was a black stone monolith a few feet taller than Jude. It had golden etched cracks, ones in specific patterns and stripes. It radiated corrupted energy, like the yellow liquid set around the group, but with authority and tenure. It had been down here a while, filling the surroundings with its seed and call. It was the source, the catalyst of Harbingers.

The runic language was obvious, but like the scroll and subsequent tattoo dungeon reward from killing King Everald, Leland had no clue what any of the symbols were. He was sure, without a doubt, that it was the same language now on the back of his hand.

He tried not to think about the implications of such a thing, instead focusing on Melody.

“This is the lighthouse,” she said. “Be ready for battle when I destroy it.”

“How many scorpions can we expect?” Glenny asked, stepping back and waiting to create new weapons.

Melody stuck her hand deep into her pocket, far deeper than the pocket actually went. She shuffled around, fishing her hand like she was straining to reach something in the gutter. Grunting in success, she retrieved an acorn which she promptly set on the lighthouse’s flat top. She pressed her hands together, and spoke.

“Just one.”

Green then ignited from her palms at the same time her eyes turned rabid. The wind picked up in the silent tunnel, along with the scream of a beast. The ground rumbled, the crystals shaking with unholy force. Melody began to chant, her words sounding more like guttural grunt than actual language. Power still flowed, however, gathering until her eyes began to bleed.

Leland watched red drip from their guide, and suddenly he had a horrid sense of vertigo. His mind connected something he’d been missing and he felt like his eyes had been opened for the first time.

As Melody shoved her blazing palms at the lighthouse, Leland truly looked at her. Who was she? Why was she the one that was tasked with investigating a vile Lord’s work? Why had the Lord of Nature sent him to assist her? She was obviously well above his rank, maybe even the Huntress.

Melody was, after all, on a quest for her Lord and his battle with the forces of evil.

The ground continued to shake as she kept her hands on the monolith. The acorn atop the construct began to wildly grow, creating roots, vines, flowers, plants, and even trees at an astonishing rate. Soon the small island of dirt became a lush jungle, all of the soft dirt covered like dust in an attic. From Melody’s hands, however, was the most impressive show.

Emerald power so strong the others felt physically suffocated. There was no malice toward them, however, only undying resolve to destroy the Harbinger’s corrupted construct. It resonated, compounding like an echo against a cliff face.

Golden light screeched in pain, fighting the green like two tidal waves. They clashed, the small construct’s power easily dwarfed by Melody’s might. She never relented, forcing the gold to surrender. The light of the lighthouse began to wane, sundered by the godly energy before eventually shattering completely.

Melody stumbled back, falling into Leland arms. All of the power had drained from her, her eyes returning to their natural color. Blood streamed from her eyes, nose, and ears like geysers blasting hot steam.

Leland forced his grimoire to flip to the Lord of Nature’s contract, but before he could heal the wounded champion, she whispered directly into his ear.

“Ignite the flame of the Calamity.”