Curselock

Chapter 90: Lord of Nature

Leland arrived in a veiled overgrowth of plants, trees, and shrubbery. A world of dense shadows and denser foliage greeted him, all of which was covered by the sounds of birds, the chirping of tree frogs, and the cries of small primates. Life was everywhere and anywhere, a scene untapped by man, monster, or time.

A place with only the governing law of strength, a law set above all and at the same time, no one. There were no thoughts of philosophy, no great ideas, or imaginative dreams. There were only the primal aspects of nature.

Watching a frog croak, Leland found himself enthralled. A bright blue creature so small yet reeking of poisonous sweat. It jumped around, taking cover below long dead leaves or between a trickle of water dripping from a root system that peaked out of the ground.

A group of ants moved to and fro, bypassing the frog as it continued to lick up their fellow ant-men. The ants either didn’t notice or didn’t care, battling a creature many times larger than a single soldier ant was more trouble than it was worth. Especially since the mindless drone had a job to do and a queen to protect.

Leland felt he could watch the jungle for hours and never fully capture the beauty of it. He had been in forests and on remote islands before, yes, but there was never so much life. The forests would make noise and an occasional bird or squirrel would come close enough to be seen, but there were times there was a drought of life other than trees and plants.

Seeing so many animals crammed together put a smile on his face, especially when it came to the lack of monsters. Most monsters were invasive and territorial, making it so that unlucky benign animals often died before they could truly prosper.

It's almost like one of those ecosystems in a bottle, Leland thought, remembering a small shop in his hometown that had two large glass brewing jars brimming with unpruned life.

It was then Leland remembered just where he was. The domain in which he stood probably was pruned. It probably was enclosed, studied, and maybe even gawked at just like he did those jars in that store… Or this whole place was the Lord of Nature. The ground he stood on, the air he breathed, the sweet smell of sap that wafted in the air.

He was being watched that much he was sure of. Call him paranoid, call him cynical, but Leland had been through enough meetings with different Lords to know that everything was under their control. At least in their personal domains.

“Hello?” Leland asked just louder than his normal voice. He quickly added, “This place is beautiful and I fear my presence is corrupting it.”

At his words, a flock of birds suddenly took off from the upper canopy. Leland swiveled to look, the sound catching him off guard. He could only see shadows against the underside of the leaves, the denseness too much.

“Indeed you do.”

Leland spun at the voice, finding nothing but more trees, plants, and bugs. A small monkey jumped around the branches in the distance but it was too far away to be speaking so close.

“I would kneel in your presence, Lord of Nature, but I am afraid of crushing this ant colony below my feet,” Leland said, looking at the small mounds that breached the soft, moist dirt.

“No groveling needed.”

Again Leland spun and he felt sure he saw a four-winged dragonfly looking at him. He addressed his next question to the insect.

“My name is Leland Silver, and it was suggested by the Lord of Healing that I petition you for a spell called Touch of Regeneration. Might we make a deal?”

A presence stirred behind him. Slowly Leland turned, finding a pair of eyes slowly fluttering open. They were embedded into a tree trunk, yet completely flush with a vine that crawled up the length of the bark. As the eyes blinked, so did the vine and its accompanying anchor stems.

Then, with a yawn, a mouth appeared on a separate tree a few paces away. Again the foliage shook with the sudden feature, bending like fluid skin despite being solid wood. There were even teeth and a darkened void deeper into the tree’s throat.

From the angle Leland stood, the mouth and eyes were in line with a face, the eyes were above the mouth at a proper distance. But as the eyes and mouth woke up, another set of eyes appeared in Leland’s periphery. They blinked a few times, focusing their wooden iris on the human before them before closing, returning the tree to normal.

Leland raised an eyebrow at that but stopped when another set of eyes and mouth appeared quite a bit in the distance. He only saw them because of the unnatural movement, the foliage camouflaging the oddity otherwise. A few more eyes and mouths later, the first set eventually stilled and truly looked at the young Warlock before them.

“Touch of Regeneration?” the Lord of Nature mused. “Perchance… Perchance… Tell me, why would you want such a gift.”

Leland didn’t need to think about his answer, after all it came from his soul. “I want to be able to keep my friends alive and healthy.”

Each tree that had an open set of eyes all rolled their eyes at the same time. The trees with a mouth frowned. “Not because you want to heal nature, or anything I’d be interested in?”

Sputtering, Leland hesitated. Did he lie and try to appease the Lord, or did he tell the truth and hope his words didn’t come back to bite him. As far as he knew, each of his thoughts were never truly his own within the realm of a Lord. The Lord of Nature’s magic might not be as subtle as reading emotion like the Lord of Spirits, but he felt sure that a being of such unimaginable power had a trick up its sleeve.

After all, a Lord wasn’t born yesterday. Simple common thought might be enough to see through any lie he told.

“Truthfully, no. I’m not opposed to the idea of healing nature, but I have my own goals, most of which don’t involve nature.”

“How quaint.”

Leland forced himself to maintain a straight face, especially as the eye-trees looked as if they were deliberating.

Eventually the Lord of Nature spoke, “My condition for such a spell is simple: protect my Sproutling as he fulfills a quest for me.”

“Is this ‘Sproutling’ human?” Leland asked.

“Yes, he is human.” The word was said with disdain, like the presiding Lord hated the term or the species.

“And what would I be protecting him from?”

The Lord scoffed, each mouth-three spitting a bit of sap. “You call yourself an adventurer, do you not? What difference does it make?”

“Just… wanting to make sure I don’t get in over my head. I won’t be able to heal my friends if I die first.”

The jungle went silent at that for a moment. “A crystalline scorpion nest has found its way out of their native region, thus making them an invasive species of magical monster. You will be protecting my Sproutling from the scorpions while he eliminates the nesting structure.” The voice paused before returning with more disdain. “Do you need to know the exact species or will this information suffice?”

Leland knew of crystalline scorpions although he had never encountered them. As far as he understood, they were insects just bigger than the average cat and they could inject you with a magical poison. As long as they were careful, they shouldn’t have a problem, especially if they stocked up on alchemical antidotes.

Leland nodded along. “No, that is fine, thank you. One last question. Will I be receiving Touch of Regeneration before or after your quest?”

Again the eye-trees rolled their eyes. “Before, obviously. If you fail, I will strip the spell from your soul.”

With that, a sapling grew a single step away from Leland. It grew with great speed, reaching full maturity in a matter of seconds. A small stem with a single leaf was all the plant was, yet the leaf was bursting with a green magical glow.

“If you accept, pick the leaf and chew on it. If you don’t, then leave.”

Again, Leland didn’t hesitate and quickly began gnawing on the leaf. It tasted like mint.

With a sudden wash of vertigo, Leland’s world went dark and he was cast out of the Lord of Nature’s domain. Although, he did hear the Lord curse using the word “calamity,” before he was fully out of the jungle.

Leland’s consciousness reentered his body in Ice Castle’s arena. Beside him Jude and Gelo were cuddled together, both sleeping. Glenny was tending to a small fire and heating up some preserved meats. More importantly, however, was Gelo’s mom. She quirked an eye at Leland as he sat up, yet refrained from speaking.

Leland’s grimoire, meanwhile, opened and flipped to its newest page.

Cursed contract of the Lord of Nature:

Use: For the duration of the contract, access to the spell, Touch of Regeneration, is available. Contract is usable once per hour.

Return: Protection of one of the Lord of Nature’s Sproutling while he completes his own quest.

Touch of Regeneration:

Type: Spell (Nature)

Rank: Equivalent to Harbinger Halo’s rank

Call upon the Lord of Nature to imbue the target with brimming lifeforce.

Wounds are healed significantly faster. This spell heals based on rank and mana used.

Leland could mentally sense where the nest was and when he was due to arrive. He had about a week, which gave them plenty of time to exit the dungeon and return to the mainland. The nest also wasn’t very far away, needing only a half day’s travel from Frostford.

With the business part out of the way, Leland pressed his palm into the page activating the curse. A violet halo brimmed to life above him, and knowledge came to him like a dam had broken. A green glow appeared on the tip of his pointer finger and he slowly touched his frostbitten arm. Before his eyes, his darkened flesh brightened and the wound slowly closed.