Aqua followed the stench deep into the forest. Soon she arrived at a large clearing. The trees were cut, leaving only stumps. However, what caught her attention was the pool of rot in front of her.
Around it, the life was consumed, absorbed by the pool.
Aqua stepped forward and leaned over the pool. "The beast of 10 eyes," She said through her teeth.
She conjured black flame in her hand. The rot caused by the entity had to be destroyed anywhere it was found lest it spread and consume the world. Sun God never allowed even a single pool to appear.
The corruption would eventually consume the world's soul, turning the world into a lifeless husk.
I believe my time at the academy might be shorter than I expected. She let out a sigh, and a pillar of black fire mercilessly consumed the rot.
Using Black Fire to consume the rot. Ironic. She chuckled to herself and looked around. The Crimson Flame would clear the rot, it would return if not consumed, thus the black fire was required.
She sniffed the air, searching for similar nasty odours.
When there is one. The illusion broke, revealing her blazing wings. She rose into the air and looked.
Gods can wait. She closed her eyes and focused. Her senses spread.
The rot was negligible right at the moment; however, if left to its own devices, it would be too much.
She detected four pools in the elven kingdom, five in the south, and a dozen in the surrounding kingdoms. However, The Red Dawn only had one. Leave it to Red Dawn to be an exception.
The main issue was that the rot within the Elven Kingdom smelled the worst. Likely caused by the war against the savages.
I can't run around the planet to clean it.
Just destroying the pools wouldn't cure the world. Only empowering the world soul would be enough. The rot was akin to a virus.
At least the other pool near Onost I should deal with.
A dark swirling portal opened before her, and she stepped through.
The wind above Onost was strong, and the tempestuous clouds gathered above it. However, she cared not for a natural phenomenon; she empowered her senses again, focusing on detecting the exact location of the rot.
Aqua clicked her tongue and flew above a large pool of rot.
Unlike the pool near the academy, this one was much larger and was surrounded by the corpses of both elves and beasts. Her eyes widened, and she landed with a soft thud.
The corpses were yet to be consumed by the rot, they were covered by dark, oozy liquid. She approached a small elven corpse and crouched in front of her. "A child…" She whispered, her face contorting in disgust.
Next to her were corpses of what she assumed to be her parents, and a dozen armored male elves, surrounding them were four dead bodies of beasts.
Her eyes threatened to tear up.
So the beastmen are using the Beast of 10 eyes to wage war. She bit her lip, drawing blood. "Are they stupid?!" She shouted into nothingness.
The moment enough rot was present in the world, the beast would appear.
A small shiver ran down her spine. Fighting it would ruin the world beyond repair.
However, she was still in a standstill with her knowledge of the world soul. She needed a way to talk to it.
How do I do this? She pushed herself up, she ascended into the air, and a pillar of black fire consumed the nest of rot.
She combed through her memories and past knowledge. Sun God was too powerful for the beast to ever appear, but this world was so weak that the mere presence of the beast could cause a swift end.
Yet, she knew not how to contact it reliably.
She disappeared in blue light and appeared inside her dorm room. She circled around before collapsing onto the bed.
"This is so difficult," She muttered, reaching toward the ceiling.
She rolled onto her stomach and exhaled into the bedding. "I will have to leave Azu and Sheira until I deal with this, won't I?"
As much as she wished to bring her Azure with her, it was far too dangerous. The rot could corrupt her, forcing Aqua to either kill her or use time to fix her.
It was a risk she would not be willing to take.
She pushed the air out of her nose and sat at the edge of her bed. "I need to get her a gift."
I already gave her that necklace. What else? She hummed, her hand searching through her void storage.
Azure deserved the best Aqua could offer, so she would not give her anything but the very best.
After a moment of search, Aqua pulled out a ring. It's form radiated faint light, and its large ruby stone worked as the key of power, on its flat surface, aether circles were inscribed.
[Divine], [Arcane], and [Time]. A rune combination that would dampen the effects of divinity near the user, including their own.
On the band, the runes of [Arcane], [Void], and [Space] were drawn, allowing the ring to work by drawing the world's mana instead of the user's.
While a greater blessed child could still hurt the wearer, albeit with great difficulty, a weaker blessed child's powers would simply cease to work.
She brought it before her eyes and smiled. This was one of many creations she had worked on, while by far not being the most impressive, it was something she had poured her heart into in the past.
This should stop her curse from growing while I am away.
She quickly stashed the ring into her pocket and retrieved a bracelet.
While she worried about Azure, she was also worried about Sheira. The girl was growing so fast that if Aqua had been forced to leave for a while, the entirety of elven kingdom would have become dust.
Her Aether should be stable for now, but divinity needs dampening.
The bracelet she had intended to gift to Sheira had the same effect as Azure's ring, but the bracelet contained three sets of circles, which would suppress Sheira's power just enough not to break the kingdom.
Unless she suddenly grows too fast for the bracelet to handle it. However, even if the bracelet broke, it would suppress the outburst enough to engulf only a building or two. That, at least, is fixable.
She stashed the bracelet in her other pocket and got up from the bed.
This world is so messed up.
She approached the door, and a spark of remembrance appeared in her mind. "Avaros! His family should know about the world soul more than any other!"
She turned the knob and opened the door, meeting face to face with Azure and Sheira.