Return to Jorgaldur Volume V: Reunion (2)

Vortex (I)

"Don't cry, sister. I returned to the soil, where I belong. I returned to the plants from which I was born. My only hope is that, one day, another sister will be born here, and then I'll be part of her," Maldoa heard a whisper among the plants.

It didn't come from any specific place, but rather from all of them. She could feel it through her roots, that continued to spread throughout the Origin.

"That unnatural force came suddenly. Its explosion began nearby, so it hit us very violently. I hope it affected my sisters less, so they survived," the voice continued to speak.

"They survived. They're fine..." the drelf answered, crying, although she knew she could no longer hear her.

That was a kind of recording. A last will that the plants had retained among all of them, to transmit it to one of her sisters. It didn't matter if she was a dryad or a half-dryad.

"All my power, all my self, was necessary to protect the Origin. It's a shame I couldn't protect more. The garden on the other side was beautiful, full of vitality. Now, I'm part of the Origin again. I know you'll come. The girl told me. She's funny. She didn't even know she was announcing a prophecy. I didn't understand it until now. I'm glad to know that my home will survive. Take care of it for me."

"I will," Maldoa assured, her eyes blurry.

In a way, she could feel Calenwua's presence throughout the Origin. It could be said that she hadn't died, she had simply changed form. Although, that wasn't enough to stop her from crying.

Maybe because of the tears, maybe because of the presence of the drelf, maybe because of the roots that were reaching every corner, or maybe because of everything at once. The truth is that the plants began to straighten up, to grow new shoots at a speed that seemed impossible. Even buds formed, and they opened in the form of beautiful flowers to greet the drelf.

It was the power of the Origin, the origin of life, that had been reactivated again.

"Thank you for accepting me. Now, I need your help to find our sisters," she asked.

Following her wishes, roots emerged from the Origin. They crossed the dimension to penetrate the corrupted ground, and headed towards the Source from where they had arrived. She knew that she would find her sisters there. She only hoped to get there in time.

Kan Golge appeared in another room, in another building, although not far from the previous one. The artifact only allowed him to travel short distances, and only to that point.

He had had other more powerful ones, but they had been destroyed, or the destinations had been compromised. They could no longer be used.

"Father! What happened!?" Warkmon was surprised to see him.

"A small setback. I'm going to need you to give me your heart."

"My...? Aaaargh!"

He didn't even have time to process the words. Halfway through saying them, Kan Golge's hand had already pierced his son's chest and grabbed his son's heart.

The latter stared at it in disbelief, unable to move. In a way, it was hypnotic to see how it still beat. The sight was also terrifying. It didn't take long for him to collapse lifeless on the ground.

"His level isn't very high, but it'll have to do for now," the ancestral vampire lamented.

As he had done with the fake core, he opened his chest to extract said core and put the new heart in. Then, he angrily stepped on the fake Heart of the Eternal Flame to destroy it. Meanwhile, by controlling his blood, the necessary connections were established.

"It's nostalgic to have a heart again, and weak. It's not entirely compatible. If only I knew where Gantila is... Her heart would be much better. It'll have to do for now," he wished to find his daughter, who had changed her name to Ljila.

After the operation, he left the room, and left behind the corpse of one of his most faithful children. Kan Golge knew that he had failed, and was weaker than ever. He needed to hide and gather strength again to re-emerge. After doing so, the vampire promised himself to take revenge on all his enemies, starting with that ancestral vampiress. He would make sure that she and all her people paid. However, for now, he had to be patient.

"How did they find me so quickly!?" he cursed them as soon as he left.

In the distance, the figures of his enemies could be seen running in his direction. He knew he could no longer escape.

"You forced me to do this!" he exclaimed, before raising both hands.

Suddenly, the miasma around him began to spin with force and converge towards him. The effect wasn't limited to his immediate surroundings, but it expanded more and more, thus attracting the miasma from miles away. All that miasma was being absorbed by the vampire.

Obviously, such movement of the miasma didn't go unnoticed by the shadows, which approached with curiosity and fear. So much so that they brought thousands of losts with them, as they feared that there was a terrifying enemy from which they needed to be protected.

All of them were on edge. Many had died in recent times, both in the war against the living and inside the Lost Forest. What was worse, they didn't know how these latter had died.

The first ones to arrive, contemplated the spectacle with astonishment and admiration. It was dark and gloomy, but they thought it was wonderful.

"Father is becoming one with the miasma!"

"Father is more father!"

Meanwhile, Kan Golge's skin was blackening. His aura, previously pure of an ancestral vampire, was mixing with the miasma. In a way, it seemed like he was becoming a lost, but it wasn't difficult to imagine that it was something different.

Not only was the amount of miasma overwhelming, but he retained all his faculties. In addition, he wasn't at the service of the shadows, rather the opposite.

Goldmi, who was watching with Goshawkeye, was between horrified and worried. She didn't know what he was becoming, but she knew that it wasn't going to be anything good.

She had wanted to attack him, but it was impossible to control her arrows inside that vortex of miasma.

"Aunt Omi... cold..." the fairy complained.

A great amount of miasma was passing through them, and none of them were affected as much as the fairy. Immediately, she took a certain container, applied Consecrated Ground to it, put the fairy inside and sealed it. There, she would be safe.

"This's too much, I don't know if we can resist it for long," the elf warned.

Her sisters were also suffering, except for the goshawk. In the sky, it was safe. Even the miasma was diminishing up there. Down below, the miasma kept moving in the direction of Kan Golge, impregnating them along the way.

Except for Gjaki, it was beginning to affect them.