Weighed Morality

It was hard not to just look down at the floor when he said it was beneath us. That was a rather strange direction. So I shared his confusion in that matter. Though that did make it a lot more clear where, even if that remained an unclear location.

I looked over to Eri’Sol. “Do you have some ruins or sewer system under the town?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

That was what I was afraid of. It was a direction to go, but it wasn’t like we could just dig down. I wasn’t going to doubt the guy about what he read. This just wasn’t the answer I was expecting to get from him. Complications seemed to be the nature with demons. But we thanked the Scryer and departed with our answer.

We stood out in the street as people walked around us. Pensive expressions held between us stall our progress. As much as I tried to find another answer, I kept coming back to a single option. “Think the Markets would know anything?”

Part of me realized that we hadn’t really told anyone about what we learned. And asking questions with the Markets might expose that. Given how shaken that Eri’Sol was about a demon, I could only imagine the fear and panic that might spread if people learned that a demon was so close. They were literally under the town.

If we did explain to them the situation we might be able to get more resources to aid us or even support. But the way Eri’Sol described them, a handful of adventurers that fight monsters wouldn’t be enough. Hell, the two of us weren’t even worth a fight to them. What we were doing was dumb and suicidal even if that was what we settled on. Would we even get volunteers to fight a demon?

“They might have records if nothing else. But how much should we tell them?”

I nodded with her. “I’m not fond of lying. Though there’s as much good as there is bad that I can see in telling them. What’s your opinion? This is your home, I’m the outsider.”

She didn’t have an immediate response for that. We sort of ran on ahead with the idea that it was just going to be us. But in hindsight now, it was rather silly of us to think we should be approaching this alone. More people would be of help, though who would want to trust me with their healing. If we had someone else healing that would make things easier.

Eri’Sol finally looked up from her thoughts. “We should tell them what we’ve learned. They should know.” That was something I could agree with. We would just have to deal with the fallout and the risks. The Markets should have some answers.

Being midday, there were a few more people out in the streets as we approached the Markets. The clock tower loomed high over the town square. I leaned up for a moment to see the time, but I heard a scream rip through my ears. The same sort of deathly scream filled with fear and terror knowing it was helpless. My body started to sweat with the flashes of the woman.

Though the voice was different this time. It wasn’t a woman, but a deep bass of a man and it was still filled with the same grip of horror. “It’s happening again…” I reached out to grab Eri’Sol with my shaking hand. My body remembered the scene still. It locked down my feet like I was buried in concrete.

But worse this was happening in the middle of the day in front of everyone. The moment someone broke through the confusion and saw the man, new screams of panic rose from the town. Like a plague fear spread around to everyone near us.

I forced my body to move.

“Minoru! Over there, is that the curse you saw?” Eri’Sol tugged on my hand to show me what freaked everyone out. The last time the woman was almost completely consumed by the curse, but this time the man was still mostly human. His feet had already burst from boots into roots that snapped and drilled through the stone tiles. Brown and black spots grew over his skin as it transformed almost like it was ripping through muscle and skin as it did.

And then a second and third scream came from around us. I snapped around seeing a woman and child being warped by the curse as well in painful displays of endless agony. It quickly changed the child with half of them consumed almost immediately, while the adult woman was much slower.

Yet worse still, as if this nightmare couldn’t already be a painting within hell, the child didn’t become a tree like the woman I saw in the morning. He looked to be changing into a plant and it had long whip-like vines with spikes jutting out. I couldn’t even react as it lunged its vines at me and fleeing townspeople.

“Snap out of it!” shouted a voice, just as a flash of metal arced through the air slicing away the vine. Another couple of small arcs whipped around saving the people trying to escape from a second figure joining. But in front of me was a massive figure that started to look familiar.

“Denica?!” She slowly turned to check on me as she blocked with her shield.

Spear in hand cutting through more attacking vines as the child was nearly completely transfigured now. “What the hell’s going on?!”

I couldn’t keep being useless. Messily, I went for my weapon so that I could at least provide some protection, even if it seemed like she was doing fine without the help. Once the silver of my barrier wrapped around Denica, I looked around the plaza to see the situation. Flame walls came up out of the stone folding earth back to halt and burn away attacks.

Four in total joined us outside to hold off the attacking flora. ‘The last two were passive, why are these aggressive? What’s happened? Is this an advancement of the curse?’ Denica shouted out orders keeping control. A high roar came from my left as Eri’Sol streaked past me drawing her massive sword to cut off roots that were trying to get around Denica’s defenses.

The victims were almost completely consumed with more joining. I could see a total of ten that succumbed to the curse. Part of it had to be obvious, but I leaned towards Denica. “This is the work of a demon! We just learned about it! This is a curse they’ve placed, turning people into trees and plants.”

Denica staggered back a little with her shield, losing some of her fierceness. “Did you say demon? You’ve got some explaining kid!” A grunt came from her as vines and a heavy branch from a tree assaulted her. It forced her back into full attention. “Let’s clean this up first! Focus everyone!”

Looking around, everyone was getting attacked or putting up defenses. There were too many choices, but I had to pick Eri’Sol. We were the least experienced, they should be able to handle themselves in the fight.

The Exchange placed on her, I targeted the plant that had Denica held up with Eri’Sol. My weapon began to orbit with the spheres lit up in blues and silver, but Eri’Sol jumped in front of me, distracting me. “Eri?!”

“You can’t, they’re people! We can’t kill them!”

When she said that I realized what I was trying to do. I had just been trying to defend myself. They were innocents caught in the middle of this. But they were trying to kill people. My hand hesitated.

A spear slashed through with its cutting edge before glowing bright green. It stabbed into the ground as a dozen or more transparent glowing green spears sprung from the ground. They ripped apart the violent plant until most of it calmed down. Denica turned back towards Eri’Sol. “You can’t have doubts in a battle, Eri! Protect those still living and yourself, then those that can be spared. This is what it will mean to face a demon with the hero! If you can’t handle it, you don’t deserve to stand here.”

And as though to deliver the point home, Denica took one final swing at the plant, cutting it down at the base of the stalk. It slumped over completely dead. A cruel reality to face, one made darker when I remembered they were a child. Even if she was right, the pain didn’t make it any easier.

Denica charged off leaving Eri’Sol with her thoughts. I stared at the catgirl for a moment. Different words came to mind that might help her, but they all felt hollow in the end. What did I know? I was an university student from Japan, killing was something that happened on a screen in front of me, not by my hand.

In the end, I could only turn and walk away towards the fighting. My aid seemed superfluous, but I wanted to help even as a token. ‘They’re just plants, trees. Don’t think about it…’ It helped a little, but I still gripped my weapon roughly with each spell I cast as though I could feel the Ray ripping from my fingers.

Denica and the others worked quickly through the cursed flora. Some peace returned along with silence as the screaming ended. The horror would haunt my sleep for days I knew. I didn’t look forward to the night. Then I remembered. Spinning around, I found her still standing there. “Eri’Sol,” I whispered to myself.