balance
is not something you find. It is created.
1172 Words
“Please stahrt at de beginning.”
Cassiti sat among the people of this small village, within the large tent that served as their public meeting house. A few of the citizens sat behind her in rows, watching the proceedings either with interest or concern, though the concern was not born from the strange woman in their midst. The village had been plagued lately from an unknown affliction that they believe was being ingested through their water. While Meliora Vitae had not been established as a guild for very long, they had quickly made a name for themselves as far as what they stood for, even here in this most remote corner of the world. After seeing the flier requesting aid from these innocent and desperate people whose lives had been turned upside down from the loss of their most precious resource, Cassi had set out at once to represent her goddess and her guild to see what she could do to set things right again.
Before her sat the encampment’s small panel of council members, with their mayor at the center. He was an older man, most likely the oldest in the village, with thinning grey hair and a number of sun spots along his tanned skin. He and the rest of the panel had been having some difficulty understanding her thick accent, but to their credit they were being patient and diligent in their attempts to communicate with her, understanding that she was there to help them. “Our people started getting sick about a month ago,” he explained to her. “It wasn’t all at once. At first it was just some who had weaker immune systems, but only about a week later it was most of the village. At first we thought there was something poisoning the water. People became ill, their skin as pale as death. But then some people began to experience magical oddities, like floating into the air and becoming temporarily invisible.”
Cassiti listened thoughtfully without interrupting, her face scrunched lightly in contemplation. “Et could still be poison,” she told them slowly, her mind still churning over the possibilities. “Et eez naht as common, but magic cahn be poisonous as well. Does your village haev any enahmies? Anyone who would wahnt to hurt de people here?”
“Not really,” he told her. “There are certainly some that have voiced their opinions on foul play, and it is possible that there is a dark mage or someone out there looking to take advantage of us out here where there are not Rune Knights to protect us. However, we are really the only ones out here. The mountains are a difficult place to make a living. You’re the first visitor we’ve had in probably three years.”
She nodded. “Is dere someone who cahn take me to de spring? I parhaps I can find some clues dere.”
A few minutes later, she had been brought to the source of the water by a young boy from the village. While the river ran down to the encampment itself, she wanted to take a look at the spot the river started to see if she could find anything trickling down. There was a reasonably sized pool of water being fed from a cliffside waterfall. It was quite pretty, actually. The mist in the air from the water falling into the pool created small, beautiful rainbows when touched by the sun, and the area was surrounded by a great deal of trees and bushes and grass. However, it was obvious that the greenery around the pool had dulled, slowly dying from the corrupted water the plant life was trying to take in. She could see evidence of several smaller dead animals scattered here and there, herbivores that likely had been feeding on the grass and foliage. Whatever was going on here, it was affecting more than just the village -- it was harming the ecosystem of the area.
However, as she looked about the pool, nothing seemed to stand out as a source of corruption. She looked all about the area as the boy watched curiously, trying to see if anything stood out of place. But, there was nothing. Frowning in thought, she looked up at the waterfall itself. “What about de top of de waterfall? Has anyone been able to check de water dat flows into de pool?”
The boy shook his head. “No, miss. The cliff is too high for us to climb, and there ain’t no easy way to go around it.”
That had to be it, then. “I weel look,” Cassi assured him. Closing her eyes to focus, she reached her magic out to Kismet. The winged mare had been loitering outside the village, nibbling on small patches of grass that had yet to be infected by the water. She came quickly to Cassiti’s side, trotting in and shaking her mane with a soft snort as she approached the woman. “I ahm sorry to call you. I need help to see de top of dis cliff. Dat may be where de poison eez coming from. Will you halp me?” The mare snorted softly again and, much to the awe of the bewildered boy, knelt her front legs down so Cassiti could more easily climb onto her bare.
In a jiff they were off, soaring up toward the top of the cliff and the source of the waterfall. It was there she found what she was looking for. The corpse of a creature had been slain near the river, and from the decomposition of the body it had been killed quite some time ago. She did not recognize the creature itself, but could sense the traces of magic in its remaining flesh to know that it was not a mundane animal. When it had lived, it likely utilized magic. Yet somehow, another predator had managed to turn it into prey. Its blood had been spilt rather heavily, sinking into the ground and in the water where it rotted. And that rot was likely where the magical poisoning was coming from.
Cassiti gently slipped from Kismet’s back and moved over to the corpse. She knelt gently beside it and held her hands over it. Closing her eyes, she tapped into her magic and her body took on a faint, ghostly green glow. “Rudi duniani, na hapo ukumbatie amani,” the Oracle whispered softly, almost in a chant. Her time magic sped up the decomposure of the corpse until it was nothing but dried bones. Then, she shifted her magic to the ground and the water, reversing it to the point before it had become tainted with rotting flesh and was once again pristine and safe to drink. With any luck, that would be enough to solve the village’s problems and allow their people and organic property to heal. Once she was done, she took a moment to offer a soft prayer of thanks to Aryannrhod for her guidance before fetching Kismet and returning to the village to let them know what she had found.
Cassiti sat among the people of this small village, within the large tent that served as their public meeting house. A few of the citizens sat behind her in rows, watching the proceedings either with interest or concern, though the concern was not born from the strange woman in their midst. The village had been plagued lately from an unknown affliction that they believe was being ingested through their water. While Meliora Vitae had not been established as a guild for very long, they had quickly made a name for themselves as far as what they stood for, even here in this most remote corner of the world. After seeing the flier requesting aid from these innocent and desperate people whose lives had been turned upside down from the loss of their most precious resource, Cassi had set out at once to represent her goddess and her guild to see what she could do to set things right again.
Before her sat the encampment’s small panel of council members, with their mayor at the center. He was an older man, most likely the oldest in the village, with thinning grey hair and a number of sun spots along his tanned skin. He and the rest of the panel had been having some difficulty understanding her thick accent, but to their credit they were being patient and diligent in their attempts to communicate with her, understanding that she was there to help them. “Our people started getting sick about a month ago,” he explained to her. “It wasn’t all at once. At first it was just some who had weaker immune systems, but only about a week later it was most of the village. At first we thought there was something poisoning the water. People became ill, their skin as pale as death. But then some people began to experience magical oddities, like floating into the air and becoming temporarily invisible.”
Cassiti listened thoughtfully without interrupting, her face scrunched lightly in contemplation. “Et could still be poison,” she told them slowly, her mind still churning over the possibilities. “Et eez naht as common, but magic cahn be poisonous as well. Does your village haev any enahmies? Anyone who would wahnt to hurt de people here?”
“Not really,” he told her. “There are certainly some that have voiced their opinions on foul play, and it is possible that there is a dark mage or someone out there looking to take advantage of us out here where there are not Rune Knights to protect us. However, we are really the only ones out here. The mountains are a difficult place to make a living. You’re the first visitor we’ve had in probably three years.”
She nodded. “Is dere someone who cahn take me to de spring? I parhaps I can find some clues dere.”
A few minutes later, she had been brought to the source of the water by a young boy from the village. While the river ran down to the encampment itself, she wanted to take a look at the spot the river started to see if she could find anything trickling down. There was a reasonably sized pool of water being fed from a cliffside waterfall. It was quite pretty, actually. The mist in the air from the water falling into the pool created small, beautiful rainbows when touched by the sun, and the area was surrounded by a great deal of trees and bushes and grass. However, it was obvious that the greenery around the pool had dulled, slowly dying from the corrupted water the plant life was trying to take in. She could see evidence of several smaller dead animals scattered here and there, herbivores that likely had been feeding on the grass and foliage. Whatever was going on here, it was affecting more than just the village -- it was harming the ecosystem of the area.
However, as she looked about the pool, nothing seemed to stand out as a source of corruption. She looked all about the area as the boy watched curiously, trying to see if anything stood out of place. But, there was nothing. Frowning in thought, she looked up at the waterfall itself. “What about de top of de waterfall? Has anyone been able to check de water dat flows into de pool?”
The boy shook his head. “No, miss. The cliff is too high for us to climb, and there ain’t no easy way to go around it.”
That had to be it, then. “I weel look,” Cassi assured him. Closing her eyes to focus, she reached her magic out to Kismet. The winged mare had been loitering outside the village, nibbling on small patches of grass that had yet to be infected by the water. She came quickly to Cassiti’s side, trotting in and shaking her mane with a soft snort as she approached the woman. “I ahm sorry to call you. I need help to see de top of dis cliff. Dat may be where de poison eez coming from. Will you halp me?” The mare snorted softly again and, much to the awe of the bewildered boy, knelt her front legs down so Cassiti could more easily climb onto her bare.
In a jiff they were off, soaring up toward the top of the cliff and the source of the waterfall. It was there she found what she was looking for. The corpse of a creature had been slain near the river, and from the decomposition of the body it had been killed quite some time ago. She did not recognize the creature itself, but could sense the traces of magic in its remaining flesh to know that it was not a mundane animal. When it had lived, it likely utilized magic. Yet somehow, another predator had managed to turn it into prey. Its blood had been spilt rather heavily, sinking into the ground and in the water where it rotted. And that rot was likely where the magical poisoning was coming from.
Cassiti gently slipped from Kismet’s back and moved over to the corpse. She knelt gently beside it and held her hands over it. Closing her eyes, she tapped into her magic and her body took on a faint, ghostly green glow. “Rudi duniani, na hapo ukumbatie amani,” the Oracle whispered softly, almost in a chant. Her time magic sped up the decomposure of the corpse until it was nothing but dried bones. Then, she shifted her magic to the ground and the water, reversing it to the point before it had become tainted with rotting flesh and was once again pristine and safe to drink. With any luck, that would be enough to solve the village’s problems and allow their people and organic property to heal. Once she was done, she took a moment to offer a soft prayer of thanks to Aryannrhod for her guidance before fetching Kismet and returning to the village to let them know what she had found.
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