“What’s magical essence rot?” Slater asked, making a face at the rot of an oozing dark green substance that leached from the ground near the monument. It grew outward, webbing into the surrounding forest as if it were spilled ink. “It’s gross.”
“Anddangerous,” Coralynn emphasized. “It’s like a virus that doesn’t exist on its own or in nature, but when it’s brought somewhere, it spreads and consumes all the magical energy it can. It’s one of the possible side effects of dark magic rituals. Whether they’re successful or not. It eats away at magical essence and will drain any nearby supernaturals’ reserves unless it’s purified by a purification ritual.”
“Purification ritual?” Aura asked, tilting her head and blinking her big blue eyes. “How do we do that?”
“Arcane specialist should know,” Coralynn suggested, glancing at Slater.
“Don’t ask me.” Slater held his hands up, and his chaos manifestation curled around his neck. “I have no fucking clue. I’m not a warlock.”
Coralynn smiled slightly. “I have a friend who is super into anything to do with witch magic. She’s told me a lot about rituals, and purification rituals are usually done by a witch or warlock. However, theycanbe done with other supernaturals. It just takes more focus and more magical essence. Either way, we should probably do it before it eats away at our magic.”
“That’s a good idea.” Eleanor wobbled on her long legs as she took a step away from the rot. “We should do that now.”
“We need to figure outhowwe are going to do it first. Everyone besides Rune needs to stay hidden. We need to hole upin one of the houses before the warlock comes around,” Dimitri spoke, and the way he talked sounded like he’d done this before. He took the lead so effortlessly it was impressive.
I found myself nodding, planting my hands on my hips. “He’s right. Jesper said the warlock would be around. I should startobservinguntil you guys figure out how to do the ritual. Slater, you should find the trapped phantom.”
“I think Rune should find it then come get Slater,” Dimitri suggested. “The warlock should only see you until we need to take care of him.”
“No way.” Slater shook his head, side-stepping away from the group. “To be brutally honest, I know jack shit about arcane anything. Not sure how I got the role. It seems Coralynn knows more about the ritual than I do.”
“Idohave extensive arcane knowledge thanks to my friend. She has always been extremely intrigued by the arcane arts.” Coralynn nodded politely. “I feel confident in my knowledge for us to be able to purify the rot without him.”
Dimitri winced. “Stay out of sight while you search.”
Slater saluted him. “Demon’s honor.”
Dimitri’s lips thinned into a line. “That doesn’t fill me with any hope that you’ll stay hidden.”
“Stop believing the bad shit about demons.” Slater rolled his eyes dramatically. “Believe it or not, I’m super badass at staying out of sight. You know, my bio dad was a serial killer. He stayed under the radar for decades. I’ve got this.”
I blinked at him in surprise but bit my tongue. That was something I could ask him about at a later date. “I’ll start exploring and see what all I can find,” I told them.
“Ditto, venom baby. I’ll stick close to you.” Slater winked before doing a weird roll on the ground and rushing off.
I stifled a laugh as he threw himself behind a dilapidated building.
“That house looks good.” Eleanor pointed toward one of the only houses not sunken in or crooked that was in front of the monument. “We can set up shop there and then do the purification ritual as a team.”
The rest of the group agreed, and they headed off to the house.
Koa hesitated behind for a moment, his brown ember flecked eyes staring at me. “Be careful.”
“You too.” I smiled, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach at the way he looked at me.
“I’ll try to find you a replacement knife,” Zuko told me.
“It was a dagger not a knife,” I clarified.
“Same difference. Both stab and cut.” He winked before he followed the others into the house and shut the door behind them.
I was left to explore with Slater somewhere around me, even though I couldn’t see him. Somehow, I knew he was around. I felt him watching me.
I walked around, avoiding the dark green all over the ground as I did. Despite it all, the village wasalmostbeautiful in its ruin. It had a haunting,stillkind of beauty. As if it were frozen in time.
The first hour was simple. I explored the village, avoiding the magical essence rot. The dark green substance crept over the ground in all directions.
As I neared the southern edge, where the crumbling fence bled into the dying forest, a raw and guttural scream exploded from within the forest.
