Basilisk (Dark Ominis Gaunt x OC gothic romance)

Chapter 121: Tangled

~~Sebastian~~

He peered down at the strange vine with a frown, wondering how it could have gotten below the floor boards to the point of loosening them. It meant that the area below the house was probably infested.

"So do we think it's a type of hybrid plant of some sort?" Ominis frowned, holding his wand over the vine as if trying to sense any hint of remaining magic within it. "And if so- where did it come from? Can something like this happen naturally?"

"I highly doubt it... if that were the case there'd be other records of plants like this but I haven't heard of any." Veela said anxiously.

"So something new." Sebastian picked up the vine to inspect it closer. "It has thorns on it... and I see what you mean about the leaves now that I'm looking for it."

"But how did it get here?" Ominis scoffed. "Is it something from my family's past or is it something new?"

"Is there a way to tell how old the plant is? Maybe it's been here the whole time and we just haven't noticed because it hadn't grown enough." Damien said, looking to Veela for the answer.

"No... this is an ivy type of plant- see these nodes-" she pointed to the raised sections between each leaf. "Each node can create its own roots... so a section of plant can be self sustaining. I think the only way we'd be able to estimate is by getting to the base of the original vine to see what it looks like. tentacula always come from a main stem... perhaps this is the same?"

"Well, we should find where it's growing from either way. We need to cut it back so it doesn't overtake the house." Sebastian shook his head. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Yes please, I have enough tripping hazards as it is, thank you. I'd rather not live in a jungle." Ominis said in a flat tone.

"But if it's a tentacula... it'll be venomous, right?" Ariadne said uneasily.

"Hmmm I'm not sure. Unfortunately there's not really a way to find out unless-"

"Someone gets jabbed?" Sebastian said with a poking motion and a smirk.

"I mean... yeah." Veela said, looking at the poking motion he gave with a bit of an odd expression.

"Unfortunately I won't be very useful in this scenario. The best I could do to help is cast shields and heal you two... but I won't be able to see any vines at all." Ominis said in frustration, turning his head to the side with a smile with Ariadne touched one of his arms reassuringly.

"Don't worry about it, Damien and I have got this, right?" Sebastian said in an eager tone.

"R-right." Damien said rather anxiously.

"Such confidence." Ominis noticed. "What's wrong?"

"I... I'm not fond of tight dark spaces." Damien muttered.

"Oh, right." Sebastian said in realization, followed by a wave of guilt as he knew he was partially responsible for that new fear in Damien.

Sebastian noticed Damien looked up and into the distance, what he'd come to know as a sign that he was listening to Ronan. He wished there was a way they could hear him too.

"You have? When?" Damien said aloud in confusion.

"What?" Marie moves toward him, because the question confirmed he was talking to Ronan.

"A sword?" Damien said in further confusion.

"What about a sword?" Marie asked curiously.

"Ronan offered to take over for the task, and said he had hacked through lots of things before... but he requested a sword. I doubt we even have a sword here he can use." Damien shook his head.