High Guardian Spice Twice

Ch. 4 - The Petals of the Rose. (Part 1).

In another place far from the academy, things were not as calm as one might think. In the Witch Country, time hadn't stopped at all. In a hallway of the Triumvirate's castle, Smoke Face and Lavender were conversing.

«We are making interesting progress on what the Triumvirate requested regarding the Rot. The experiments are splendid.» said Smoke Face, smiling as usual.

«But sir, I know you say it's the Triumvirate that requested it, but we both know it's the Runic Empire giving the original orders.» said Lavender with a curious look.

«Yes, you know I don't like talking about them. Those damn bastards released the first prototype of the Rot on our borders with them, forcing us to move some cities and cede territory. Once they had us by the balls, they made us their vassals... THOSE BASTARDS IMAGINE! THEY TOOK THE ENTIRE WITCH COUNTRY AS IF IT WERE A SIMPLE VASSAL STATE!»

Lavender signaled Smoke Face to lower his voice as they could be overheard. Smoke Face merely adjusted back to his usual demeanor.

«If only we had known back then what the Rot really was and how to stop it, we wouldn't be in this situation.»

«Sir, if I may, what exactly is the Rot?» Lavender asked, curious.

«It's true, all these years and I've never really told you what the Rot is. Allow me then.»

Smoke Face proceeded to transform into a smoky screen in front of Lavender. At first, it was just a swirl, followed by figures related to his narration.

«The dominant kingdoms: the Crown Country, blessed by the gods; the Witch Country; the Runic Empire; the Kingdom of Bestiaria; and the Kingdom of Demons. Each kingdom had its GroundHeart. Did you ever see one before you betrayed the Royal Crown?» he asked expectantly.

«Yes, my lord, the GroundHearts are the soul of a kingdom's lands. The High Guardians are responsible for protecting them. When I reached that title, I saw the GroundHeart of the Crown Country, Lyngarth, and Pebble.»

He nodded and continued explaining. Each kingdom had its GroundHeart. However, the Crown Country was chosen to illuminate areas without GroundHearts, creating small GroundHearts for future small kingdoms, cities, and more. The lands were distributed as best as possible, but not everything was good, especially for the Runic Empire. They had reduced territory and kindly asked to the Crown Country to illuminate new territory filled with beasts and dark forces.

Unfortunately, the Royal Crown had a scarce amount of power left, having almost completely exhausted what the gods had given them. So, the Runic Empire had an idea. They would use the power of their most powerful runes and magic to try and recreate a GroundHeart. The problem arose when they presented this proposal as an alternative to the gods' power.

At first, they demonstrated by using shadow earth in a pot with a small runic crystal. Initially, everything seemed fine; plants flourished in the pot. But at some point, the earth became corrupted, becoming more dangerous than the shadow land, distorting the flowers and killing everything that had grown. All the other kingdoms saw it as sacrilege...

At that moment, the atmosphere became surprisingly heavy and grim.

«So, the Crown Country, the Witch Country, and the Kingdom of Demons voted to cancel the project, leaving the Runic Empire without the possibility of gaining more territory. And as if it were a divine punishment, disasters struck the Runic Empire. The king, enraged by the actions of the other kingdoms and the way the gods spat in their faces, decided to continue the R.O.T project in secret... No one knew the project continued; only we found out a few years ago, before you joined us. It happened spontaneously. Our border territory was attacked by a sort of plague that rotted everything in its path, forcing us to relocate all those people to safety. Not knowing what to do, we tried everything we could: all types of magic, sacred weapons, cursed weapons, nothing seemed to work. Until one day, he appeared before us...»