Almost seven days have passed since the events that shook the western rim of the Woods of Prismor.

When it was reported to the Guild that an Outrealm creature of ruinous powers almost took root near the western entryway to Prismordia, it was at first met with doubt and a request for another investigation was made.

However, when it was found to be verified by none other than Jortus himself along with supporting testimonies from Loen, the Guild had to move without hesitation and request assistance from the High Tower.

No one in the frontier of the kingdoms of man would question the words of the Magister of the Wilds nor that of the Western Warden.

The Guild and the High Tower immediately sent a team comprised of top-tier mercenaries and tower mages to deal with any remnants and to verify the integrity of the Materium in the region where the Outworld taint was discovered.

In one of many villages that lined the fringe of the Prismor Woods, an average middle-aged looking man wearing brown robes and had a long fuzzy beard with a gnarled long staff at his side, sat on a small wooden stool near one of the village gates with a long pipe in his hand as he stared far off into the woods.

“Grandpa Jors!”

A frown formed on his lips while scrunching his face when he heard a cute cheery voice calling him as such.

“Little Misha, how many times must I tell you. Call me Uncle Jors.” He turned towards a little girl with light red skin as if in a permanent blush with two little horns poking out of her forehead. What set her aside from the other children, was that half her body appeared to have horrible burn scars.

“But dad said you’re older than you look. He even said you might even be older than Elder Ur – “

“Ah ah ah, tut tut.” Jortus waved his hand to interrupt her while bringing a finger to his lips in an expression of silence. “You know it’s not nice to bring up a wizard’s age. Also, there’s no way I’m older than that old goat.”

The little girl giggled at his words then suddenly had a look of confusion. “I thought you said you were a mage?”

“Wizards and mages are similar enough to almost warrant being described as the same thing. What that means for you is to respect your elders, young lady.”

With another confused look she asked, “I though you said you weren’t that old?”

“Misesha, that’s enough. Stop tormenting poor Jortus.”

A one-horned man with pale red hair walked up smilingly from behind the gate.

“Dad!”

The little girl leapt energetically and hugged him as he got closer.

“Rakai, you brat. What have you been teaching little Misha?” harumphed Jortus in silly manner while crossing his arms.

“Nothing that isn’t true, old mage.” Chuckled Rakai as he put Misesha down. “I see you’re still out here looking out towards the woods.”

Jortus relaxed as he brought the pipe to his mouth. “Those folks the Guild sent are a reliable bunch. I just hope they don’t go too crazy with the tracking. I’d like to know the whereabouts of our friend, but not to the point of causing it any harm.”

His look then turned stern. “As for the mages sent by the Tower. I may be not be as powerful as I used to be, but I still know my magics. I have to make sure they did a good job with the mending.”

Rakai shook his head as he looked at Jortus. “Friend, huh… I admit that what the beast did was truly a blessing, but I still don’t know if it really considers us as friends.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ve come to an understanding at some level.” Jortus said laughingly as he puffed some smoke. “At the very least I believe it isn’t hostile to us. After all, if it was, then…”

Rakai patted Misesha’s head with a faint smile. “Indeed. We would’ve lost so much more if it weren’t for what it did.”

Nodding in response, Jortus then sighed. “The Green Cradle, huh… Even in my best years, I was never able to venture so deep.”

Rakai had a thought as he asked, “What do you think is within the Cradle? Even after the many generations of our people, no records have ever been kept about the deepest parts of it. Only…”

“Only a short verse that’s been passed on in every village, isn’t that right?” Completed Jortus as if in a trance while Rakai nodded in confirmation.

“As it was foretold, tread lightly into the heart of green, lest darkness be unfurled.”

“Ancient blight unbound, devourer of gods, an abyss that swallows the world.”

***

A long dreamless sleep.

That’s how it felt the experience was like when it finally opened its eyes.

Its vision was at first blurry, but after some time, shapes and colors started to form.

It was confused. Colors? It had never experienced so many variations of the spectrum before. Seeing so many colors in the world for the first time made it feel everything was so… vibrant.

Not only sight, but many sounds have become so much clearer to it. It could now hear frequencies it never realized existed and the sounds became so much more diverse.

It truly liked these new sensations, but it also didn’t like how its body felt really numb, itchy, and heavy. There was a strange sensation of something physically covering and weighing down its entirety.

As it slowly moved its limbs, it could feel the blood flowing within its veins. Its other sensations were coming back, if only slowly.

During this time, it also came to realize that some new biological imprints, gene strands, and overall knowledge have appeared within its information storage. Not only were they new, they were even complete and didn’t need further assimilation.

So much new information such as the existence of other creatures that possessed similar traits but were different on a biological level were now accessible. An example of this new information would be the difference between antlers and horns.

It even came to possess more genetic information of humanoid entities. Most notably are the horned humanoids it encountered before. Their best traits have now been integrated into its biological composition, but for some strange reason, some of their general knowledge had been passed on to it as well.

Which brings it to its question, when and why did it receive so much new knowledge and genetic information?

As its mind began remembering the events that took place, it suddenly remembered the two little white furballs.

In a panic, energy surged through its limbs as it tore free from its fleshy and waxy bindings.

Bursting through its prison, it came to see the whole world around it.

Standing at the edge of a rocky cliff, it saw a vast land of greenery. Expansive grasslands and plains that stretched as far as the eye can see with large herds of four legged creatures running across it being chased by packs of other predatory beasts.

Great rocky spires and cliffs dispersed throughout the region with even massive overhanging rock formations. A massive flying whale-like creature flying by as it cruised along the cliffs.

And one gigantic lake visible in the distance with titanic creatures with incredibly long necks that grazed around it.

It was an incredibly vast and open world.

It didn’t know how it came to be here, but it was stunned at the vast sight before it.

Hearing barks, it was shaken out of its reverie when it turned around and got jumped by the little pups. Licking it all over, relief came over it when it saw they were fine, but then changed to confusion as to how they’ve been caring for themselves while it was unconscious all this time.

It then turned to see a mass of corpses that were encased in its preserving goop; the same goop it used when it first dragged the corpse of what it now knows was a female moose.

Apparently, they were hidden away in a cave that was on a tall cliff face. When it was in the process of stabilizing its gene anchor, a self-preservation program must have activated to accrue biomass whenever it could along the way in order for it to have a source of energy. There also appeared to be a small pond close to the entrance of the cave.

The program seems to have selected prey items that it had consciously hunted and recognized since most of the corpses were that of moose, several goblins, and one bear. It’s a wonder how it never targeted the wolf pups since it hunted wolves before, but perhaps the program identified entities it wanted to preserve or protect.

It looked at the two wolf pups and noticed one had severe looking burn-like scars. It didn’t even have any fur.

At first it was worried, but then it remembered that the grafting it did was only a placeholder solution until it was finally stabilized with its transformation and was able to properly finish the healing process.

Without thought, it simply moved its two hands forward and from its palms came out dozens of tendrils. The tendrils circled around the hairless wolf pup in order to begin the rejuvenation process.

Curious but unafraid, the little pup panted playfully when it was lifted into the air as the tendrils encased it, forming a membrane around it until it looked like a little cocoon.

Within the cocoon-like casing, it studied the little pup’s body and made alterations where necessary, especially some injuries that weren’t properly healed. Submerged in the rejuvenating fluid with anesthetic properties, the little pup’s crooked bones were realigned and its flesh was restructured.

Curious at what was happening to its sibling, the other little pup simply watched the entire process and waited.

After some time when the sun was high in the sky, the process was complete and the cocoon was laid down onto the ground.

Bursting apart like a bubble, the little pup emerged while shaking away the fluid covering its body.

It looked completely healed and whole again except for one detail; its fur was now completely black.

Confused as to why the pup’s fur turned black, it looked into its previous configurations and found that it may have awakened one of its parent’s more dominant genes while it was enhancing its body overall.

Seeing its sibling looking different, the other wolf pup was cautious when it first approached its sibling, but then jumped in to play-wrestle with it when it found the scent was the same. The two then rolled around playfully.

Seeing that no real harm was done, it then remembered there were some details it may looked over regarding itself.

Earlier, it put forward “hands”.

Looking at its limbs, it did indeed have clawed hands with rough bumpy skin and bristle-like fur over the back of its hands and knuckles. It also had two jointed legs like that of a wolf or canid.

It had no tail, but its upper body had tough carapace-like skin in certain areas, while more thick fur lined its shoulders and upper arms.

Feeling horns growing on its head that pointed backwards, it could also feel a strange bone-like armor over its face and muzzle.

It could also feel something dangling just under each of its horns, but it couldn’t determine what it is.

Confused, it unconsciously made a gesture of crossing its arms while in its deep thoughts.

It needed time to assess its new form and powers, so it ventured back into the cave and for the first time, saw what encased it earlier.

Before it was the remains of the abomination it used to be.

Stuck to the wall with natural adhesives, it seemed that its previous body acted like the casing of a chrysalis until it fully metamorphosed.

Going by the stages, it should currently be at the imago stage(*). Sensing a little bit of discomfort and resistance with using its abilities, it may not have fully settled to its powers yet and thus needed more time to fully become an “adult.”

A new region, new abilities, new needs, and new dangers. It seems the path to the peak is still quite far.

***