The Path of Ruin

*******

Kael looked at the vines with great interest. Closer and closer to the wall, he stared at a part of it that passed right in front of him.

He slowly raised his hand and touched it.

But nothing happened.

He closed his eyes this time, leaving behind only the sense that allowed him to feel eon.

And...

'Woah...'

He was shocked by what he discovered.

'Is it possible that this... could have happened naturally?'

The vines... on the walls, on some of the buildings, directly across the whole town... they were all connected to each other.

'Ah, no...'

Yes, they were all connected, but not because they were in contact with each other.

All these vines were the same. They all had the same origin, root... whatever it was. They were all... actually part of the same plant.

Kael took his hand off the vine, opened his eyes.

Now... there was only one question on his mind.

What was the deal with these vines? Could it be the cause of the madness in the town, was it causing a completely different problem... or was it completely harmless?

'I suppose I should tell the baron and his knight about this...'

After this quick thought, though, he paused for a moment, his brow furrowing.

'Though... Amar is a follower. He must already be aware of the vines. Then... the baron must know too. Why didn't they tell us?'

Even if the vines were harmless, they should have told them so that they could avoid speculation about them.

He turned around, about to turn back to the baron's mansion... but then he paused.

When he saw the figure standing only a few meters away from him, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous and surprised.

"Is something wrong?"

The figure in his path, Matthew, with his eyes fixed on the wall, did not react to the question. On the contrary...

"I think you noticed it too."

Kael could see where Matthew was looking. With that, his nervousness faded a little, and he sighed lightly.

"Yes. The vines aren't separate creatures, they're all part of one plant. And they have a lot of eon..."

Matthew nodded his head, not taking his eyes off the wall.

"Do you think it has anything to do with the insane?"

Kael shook his head from side to side.

"Amar is supposed to know. He's a follower after all. They would have figured it out by now. So... no."

Matthew was silent for a while. Kael continued to stare at him.

After a short while, he focused fully on Matthew's azure blue eyes. And... he asked in a calm tone.

"You're not a bearer, are you?"

Matthew's eyes quickly traveled down the walls and fixed on Kael. His lips curled upward slightly.

"On what basis do you draw that conclusion?"

"From your eon."

"So your senses are that sharp... even though you're just a bearer?"

Kael shrugged.

"I'm good at sensing, let's say."

"Ahahah... then I'm a bit good with my eon, what do you think?"

Kael couldn't help squinting. He was not satisfied and opened his mouth again. But then...

"H- huh?"

Both Kael and Matthew's eyes quickly turned toward a point on the street.

There, they saw a man leaning against the wall of a building. Another man was standing next to him, staring at him with dilated eyes. He was the one making the noise.

"H- hey? Are you okay?"

The man leaned slightly towards the other, who was probably someone he knew. He also didn't seem to understand what was happening.

But it was different for Kael and Matthew.

The two moved quickly to the man's side, drawing attention to themselves in the process... but they didn't care much about being out in the open.

"Get away from him."

It was Kael who said this. His words quickly caused the crowd to frown. But before they could, Matthew continued.

"We were sent by the Empire, and the person you see is... going insane."

And indeed he was.

Immediately after Matthew had finished his words, the man leaning against the wall began to tremble, and slowly, as he slowly removed his arms from the wall, he straightened up and stared at the sky with glazed eyes. The corners of his lips curled up slightly as drool dribbled from between them. And then...

"Hah... Hahahahaha..."

He started to laugh.

But before he could continue laughing, two figures suddenly appeared on either side of him. Without the man being able to lower his eyes from the sky and look at the figures on either side of him, Matthew slammed his hand down hard on the back of his neck.

The man's eyes slid back and closed as his body slumped to the ground.

*******

Whatever was driving the town mad, after its new victim had been placed in an empty cell in the dungeon, Kael and Matthew were standing in front of Scher.

Scher was looking at them with sparkling eyes. But his expression remained serious.

"What did you see? Tell me from beginning to end."

And it was Kael who answered his question.

"The man's body suddenly started to draw eon from his surroundings. If I understand correctly, all the eon entered his brain, and then he started laughing."

As usual, Scher scribbled in his notebook with every word Kael said. Then his eyes turned to Matthew.

"And you? Did you see anything remarkable?"

Matthew shook his head from side to side.

"Nothing different from what he said."

Scher looked down at his notebook, changed a few pages and read them. Then he started muttering to himself.

Neither Kael nor Matthew could understand exactly what he was saying. But they didn't try to. Scher was smart, he knew what he was doing.

"Did you see anything else, then? Anything that might be relevant to the situation?"

Kael and Matthew looked at each other briefly, then turned towards Scher at the same time. But it was Kael who spoke.

"The vines... the ones all over town."

Scher tore his eyes away from his notebook and looked at Kael with raised eyebrows.

"They are not separate from each other. It's all one giant part of a single plant, and it wraps around the whole town. It also has quite a large reserve of eon. I don't know if it's relevant to the situation, but we weren't informed about it..."

"A single organism covering the whole town, huh..."

Scher closed the notebook.

"I'm not sure if it's related to the situation, but... it might be connected to something else, maybe. Let's ask the baron about it."

Then he turned and walked out of the room. He was heading straight for the baron's office... Kael and Matthew followed him.

*******

"So you were... aware of this?"

The baron nodded at Scher's question.

"Of course. Those vines are the reason why the town, this whole area, is so green. Do you think it might be connected to the situation?"

"Yes..."

Scher sighed slightly after his answer.

"But apparently, they are not doing any harm."

He wasn't simply relying on what the baron had said. He had a book in front of him that explained exactly what vines were. And notes, of course.

When Kael learned what the vines were all about, he couldn't help but be surprised.

These vines had been alive for centuries. There was a large part of it under the town that acted like its brain, and it was maintained directly by the town. And according to the people, it did more good than harm. It actively cleaned the air and purified the eon in the town, for example. There were many other good things like that...

'Interesting...'

"Have you found anything so far?"

The Baron's voice was a little shaky with that sentence. His eyes seemed to sparkle with anticipation. He seemed to really want something to be found.

"No."

But Scher's answer caused his eyes to go back to the way they were before, and for a brief moment, the hope he had had disappeared.

"I see..."

He took a deep breath in and out. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

"You may go, then."

Kael, Scher, and Matthew walked slowly out of the baron's office. They had heard everything they wanted to hear, and the baron... didn't look well. So the three of them didn't say anything.

After closing the door to the office, though, they looked at each other and stood where they were for a short while. Scher narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Those vines... investigate them yourself."

Kael and Matthew nodded quickly.

Scher didn't seem to believe that the vines were completely harmless. Kael and Matthew, too...

Before they went their separate ways, Scher turned towards Kael.

"You can even try to infiltrate the place under the town. The townspeople seem to take the vine seriously, they may have even deified it. So let's tread carefully."

"Understood."

And so, they finally went their separate ways.

But Kael paused and turned slightly after walking along the corridors of the mansion for some time.

"What do you want... Matthew?"