The Revelation of the Vine: Graft

Chapter 12: The Light Ascends and the Truth Descends

Even after the Light had vaporized the Corruption from the room, the spiders were still corrupted and vile looking. Their soul-essences were black, volatile and chaotic, as the Corruption that consumed them was erupting and bubbling out of shape and then folding in. "Since when do animals get changed into All-flesh," Solanicus cried. His words formed wide sound-waves that flowed through the chamber and were absorbed by the oozing Corruption on the spiders. The Corruption boiled into thick smog as the sound-waves hit, and then the smog was vaporized by the Light that we radiated, but the Corruption continued to issue forth from within the All-flesh spiders. "Something must have caused a mutation in the Corruption," Feng replied. "The poor creatures look even more warped and wicked than normal. This isn t good at all." "Then let s give them peace," Zahk said, holding his sword down and to the back of his right thigh with two hands. "Everyone attack together!" I yelled, watching the Seeds funnel into the cave in the background. The spiders lifted up their two front sets of legs, vibrating their fangs together. I charged forward, heading between the spiders in the middle. Feng charged on my left, Solanicus on my right. In the distance I heard a loud explosion, followed by terrible cries of anguish. The sounds were coming from another section of the cave-system, muffled by the walls and curving tunnels. "Bloody shadows," Jurgen s voice echoed from far away. "There's too many!" The spiders pivoted with me as I sprinted between them. They grabbed at me with their legs and clacked their fangs as I passed through, turning their backs on the two knights who had stopped short. The distant sounds of a horrible battle lingered in the background of my hearing. "Get to the tunnel," Jurgen hollered, "Go now!" I felt another surge of power. The Knights and I flashed brighter, stunning and blinding the spiders, freezing them in fear where they stood. More of our brothers had fallen, increasing our strength once again. The men brought their swords up over their heads, as the energy flashed in rising waves of pure white, gripping them firmly with both hands, and then slashed downward, slicing through the arthropods abdomens. Corruption poured out of the wounds, as the spiders back legs lost their strength, bubbling and boiling into fading vapor. The back half of their bodies collapsed to the floor, forcing 3 of their remaining legs to carry the weight. I turned and faced them, as they limped backward with one twitching foreleg raised in defense. Feng and Sol had already jumped away, helping the other Knights finish off the remaining spiders. "May you find peace in the Vine," I said, plunging my sword into each of their brains. The corrupted cells of their body shattered as the light traveled through my sword and vaporized the mutated DNA. Their black souls spilled out as I removed my blade, dissolving in the light, and then returned to the Vine. I walked toward the cavern, and shifted back to normal. The blue-white light faded in a flash of black. I was met with amazed looks from the Seeds as they camped a short distance within the entrance of the cave. The other Knights shifted down behind me, and we regrouped with the Seeds at the mouth of the cave. "What are you guys," Tenbu asked, face smirked with astonishment. "I could barely see anything it was so bright." "We are Lemniscata," Sol said, sheathing his blade, "The Knights of the Vine." "We've heard of you before," Atreios beamed, "They call you Lemnis Knights in Empirium, right Rahlix?" "Yea, that's what the kids always called you," Rahlix said, blinking, "I still can t believe my eyes. The rumors were nowhere close to how awesome that was." "Well, Vine-Shift is the second most important ability we have," I said patting the boy on the shoulder, "It s the only way to destroy the All-flesh and Soulless." "Vine-Shift is essentially the exact opposite of Vine-Step, but not utilized in the same manner as Vine-Surge. It allows us to manifest our soul-essence in the Transition phase, converting it into light molecules to reinforce our physical cells. In this form, we can totally destroy any form of matter within the Transition, be it corrupted or not. Otherwise, the chaotic Corruption of the Soulless would simply warp around our attacks. "But, those spiders were something different. We were able to strike them physically without the Shift, but they were regenerating. That s something we've never encountered before, and even though Vine-Shift worked in the end, it still has me worried about possible mutations. Let s keep moving, we have to hurry," I said, finishing my explanation for now. The tunnel grew narrower as we made our way deeper in, barely allowing 2 of us to walk side by side comfortably. We walked briskly, further and further into the passage. The walls, floor, and ceiling began to turn black ahead of us like they were covered in a dark sludge, but it wasn t the Corruption. Warping bands of color swirled around the surface layer, as we walked beyond the last stretch of rock. "Don't worry," I said. "This isn't Corruption." We entered a round cavern in the tunnel, but with no apparent way forward. It looked like we were inside of a giant oil bubble, and the space was big enough that we had room to spread out. "What is this stuff?" Tenbu asked. Our steps made sucking sounds as we walked. "It feels sticky, like sap," Teion said, pulling his fingers away from the wall, and rubbing them together. "Turn the lanterns off," I said, "and you'll find out." The Seeds looked at one another with questioning glances, and then shrugged. Falkir and Vhalrin extinguished their lanterns, and a faint glow began to shimmer in the background of the black sap. "Welcome to the Holo-History," I said, snuffing the flame of my lantern. A brief moment of darkness fell on the group, highlighted by the faint shimmer in the depths of the goo. A hard, short tremor shook the floor, and the faint glow began to brighten. It was no longer possible to tell direction. We were bathed in a pure white light that was bright, but not blinding. It felt like standing in the center of eternity. Streaks of black rushed past us, widening as they did until the spectrum inverted. Colors then began streaking by in thin, effervescent strings, growing in number and intensity. It looked like we were travelling through the universe at the speed of light, and felt no different in my mind. A bright tunnel opened in the space in front of us, and warped around us, as we passed through. The colors slowed, and swirled, filling in the black spaces between the streaks, and then came to a stop. An endless city loomed around us. "This is amazing," Teion said, his eyes wide, looking all around him. "How did they do this? I feel like I m really here." "I think I m gonna be sick," Falkir said, squatting with his head hung down. "Breathe deep, Fal, it's just motion sickness," I said, trying to calm him. "your mind thought you were moving but your body actually was standing still." The other Seeds looked around in awe, and craned their necks to look up into the illusory sky. Crisscrossing lines of vehicles flying through the city were everywhere. A soft white cloud floated by us with thin sunbeams striping the interior. We stood on what looked to be the platform of an observation tower in the middle of a congested thoroughfare. Tall, slender spires and thick, towering buildings rose into the sky all around us, shrinking as they faded into the horizon. Some had domed rings rising along the shaft, others, had flat protrusions jutting out at varying levels. The sun burned in the blue-black sky above the upper atmosphere, sending long beams of brilliant light across the city. Massive barges --outfitted with flat, metallic panels on the top and bottom-- floated along in the highest part of the sky, spinning on a slow, vertical axis as they crossed the expanse in all directions. Below us, the city's structures extended upward through platforms made of a hard and nearly invisible material. Trees, grassy patches and decorative fauna were placed throughout the city in aesthetic patterns. The lowest layers became nearly impossible to see through patches of cumulus clouds floating through the city. Millions of people milled about going from place to place and hanging around in the wide streets and courtyards. Some walked along catwalks on the buildings, some climbed up and down ramps, and others zipped through long tubes on flat, circular platforms. A pleasant female voice began to speak, coming from no distinct direction, but sounding loud enough to be right next to us. "Welcome to the Hall of History, young Seeds. My congratulations extend to those who have made it this far and my condolences to the memory of those who did not. My name is Mara and I will be your guide through your journey to Old Atmos. For your own safety, and the ensured continuity of this experience, please do not wander around inside the Holo-Tunnel or attempt to disrupt the images in any way. "While it does appear that you have been transported to another place and another time, you are still within the confines of the cavern and are slowly descending through an elevator shaft. Please keep the realization that what you are about to see is just an illusion in the back of your mind."