“I want to do it.” Ryka took a single step inside the cave and spread her roots again.
The world energy flooded her, making her skin turn violet as the light reached her mana core. Her body swelled, shrunk, and snapped trying to accommodate the raging flow of energy.
Less than one minute later, cracks appeared on her bark and green sap bled out of her wounds and orifices. Her body jolted back like she had touched a high-voltage cable, sending Ryka writhing on the ground in a seizure.
A thin smoke came from the burned roots on her hands and feet which smelled like charcoal.
“Stay back and don’t use any kind of mana on her. She’s about to burst.” Lith said while watching the Titania’s core pounding against her life force.
It was overloaded with world energy that the core couldn’t assimilate fast enough. Her body broke down and regenerated, holding itself from falling apart by sucking the nutrients in the fertile soil around her.
If not for the Fae’s unparalleled regenerative abilities and the Griffon-like constitution of the Titanias, Ryka would have already died. If nothing changed she was still going to die, just in a slow and excruciating way.
She couldn’t use darkness fusion to suppress the pain. The slightest stimulus to her mana core hastened the collapse of her body.
“Follow my lead!” Lith cast the tier five Spirit Magic spell, Sealed Space.
It cut Ryka off the world energy and, once her core absorbed what little was left inside the emerald cube, the area around her was devoid of natural mana.
Solus was the first to cast another Sealed Space and the members of the Hand of Fate quickly followed. Bytra and Xenagrosh had no access to Spirit Magic so they both cast all six elemental sealing arrays to keep the world energy at bay.
Due to the vacuum in the Sealed Space, no more world energy entered the Titania’s body. Her mana core processed the energy overloading it, slowly but steadily reducing the burden on itself and the strain on the life force.
The multiple Sealed Spaces and the elemental sealing arrays ensured that the vacuum was contained and preserved. Nature abhorred a void and the world energy would have slowly seeped through the first Sealed Space Ryka if not for the multiple layers delaying the process.
After a while, the spasms ended and the cracks on the Titania’s body started to close.
“Let’s keep Ryka sealed until all the world energy has been converted into mana.” Strider said and Lith nodded.
“Agreed. Then we’d better move her to a safe distance. It’s dangerous for her to stay close to such a high concentration of world energy until she fully recovers.”
An hour later Ryka sat up and knocked on the Sealed Space asking to be freed.
“Thanks for saving my life, guys. I’m fine now.”
“I’ll be the judge of that!” The Zouwu roared. “Try using fusion magic again. If there’s no trace of pain prepare to be Warped away.”
The Titania experienced no discomfort so the group employed a Warping array to get everyone away from the cavern’s entrance. They couldn’t risk meeting their mark while they were unprepared and one of them was injured.
“Thank you for saving Ryka with your quick thinking, Verhen. I misjudged you.” It was the first nice thing that Strider said to Lith without a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I owe you one.”
Alas, even though his tone was sincere, his gaze reminded Lith that of a hungry vulture disappointed in his meal. Not because it was all skin and bones but because it was still alive, delaying his dinner.
“I’m a healer first. I did what I had to.” Lith shrugged. “I guess this disproves the ‘hastened evolution’ part of the legends. Probably a Garden can help a plant folk Awaken or, in Ryka’s case, help to achieve enlightenment after having long researched the violet.
“Yet tapping directly into it is risky and the Garden can’t be used for long.”
‘Yeah, too bad.’ Solus inwardly sighed via their mind link. ‘I hoped we could mark the Garden and bring the tower here to recover all of its floors in a few days but I’m afraid the tower core would end up the same as Ryka.’
‘Solus, if these Gardens were so amazing, don’t you think that people like Silverwing, the Guardians, or Baba Yaga would have monopolized them by now? There’s always a catch.’ Lith replied.
‘I know. When something is too good to be true, it usually is.’
“You can say that.” The Titania still didn’t dare cast one single spell or use a breathing technique. “You were right, Azhom, it was all malarkey.”
“Magic is science and Mogar is no god.” The Lich gave her a small bow, accepting her apology. “Just damn powerful and with a flair for making things interesting.”
“How long do you need to be back in action?” Strider asked. “If necessary, I can relieve you of duty. The four of us are going to be enough if not redundant. I feel our guests outmatch us big time.”
He said pointing at the Abominations, Lith included.
“Just a minute.” Ryka replied. “Even though the legends are inaccurate, there’s a reason only plant folk can use the Gardens.”
She disappeared into the ground and split her body into countless roots and vines. The small pieces of the Titania fused temporarily with all forms of plant life, using them to ground the excess mana and world energy that afflicted her.
On top of that, the phenomenon allowed her to stock on nutrients and replenish her vigor without the use of a breathing technique. When she emerged from the grass patch, she was back to her peak condition.
The group whistled in admiration, wishing they could recover so quickly from such grievous wounds.
“Not to mention that I might remember something useful while we are down there. The legends are all we know about the Garden, or rather, I know. Without me, you guys would be lost.”
They returned to the cave on foot, scouting their path like it was the first time. The entrance was still open and unguarded but this time they went in without hesitation.
Xenagrosh went first, using her nose to lead the way. Ryka was behind her to look around and notice anything that might indicate the presence of their mark.
“Let me try something.” She touched the inside of the cave and used her Eldritch side to absorb the world energy.
Xenagrosh felt pain, the flow was so intense that it was smothering the Chaos and invading her troll side, making her hand swell until her fingers looked like sausages.
“Sadly, I was right. Even we have no use for this thing.” She stepped away and her hand returned to normal. The Chaos fed upon the excess world energy and Decay on the excess side, restoring the balance.
‘Unless I get Tezka to teach me that energy into matter thingy.’ She inwardly added.
The tunnel was large enough for two of them to walk abreast but they preferred to advance in a single line to buy time for those behind to react in case something happened on the front.
