Oko Egan

The sun had dipped below the horizon, painting the vast savanna in streaks of fiery orange and deep indigo, yet an unsettling stillness clung to the air. A colossal rhinoceros, its thick hide the color of sun-baked earth, strained against the harness, its powerful legs churning as it plowed through the tall grasses, drawing a sturdy wooden carriage. The driver, perched precariously at the front, cracked his whip with increasing urgency, urging the beast to greater speed. He would go no farther once the boundary stones of the village came into sight; even the rhino balked at the unnatural hush radiating beyond them.

Inside, a lone woman sat rigid on the woven seat, her gaze fixed on the blurring landscape outside. Her dark skin absorbed the last vestiges of the fading light, and her simple black dress mirrored the raven hue of her loosely coiled hair, each curl vibrating with the carriage's violent jolts across the uneven terrain. Sadia had abandoned her work in the capital to go home, but it wasn't the allure of home alone that propelled her onto this breakneck journey. Days ago, she had felt the protection spell she had woven for Leander, her husband, faltering. The ride back had taken too long.

The rhinoceros finally lumbered into a small village, a cluster of round huts nestled beneath the sprawling canopy of acacia trees. Dust swirled around the carriage as it shuddered to a halt. Sadia stepped out, her heavy black cloak swaying around her, and strode with purposeful steps along the worn path leading to the largest hut, its thatched roof a dark silhouette against the twilight sky. She paused at the intricately carved wooden door, her hand hovering over the smooth surface. The unnatural silence of the village pressed in on her, amplifying the gnawing dread in her heart. Something was wrong.

She entered the hut. The main room was dimly lit, black masks decorated the walls. Usually, the house hummed with a chaotic warmth, Leonotis' half-finished experiments bubbling on the hearth, the air thick with the aroma of his questionable but enthusiastic spellwork, and Leander... Her husband, should have been underfoot, a whirlwind of questions and restless energy, ready to berate her (affectionately) for her absence. Tonight, there was only silence.

Sadia's hand instinctively moved to the skull staff concealed beneath her travel cloak. "Leander?" Her voice, roughened by days on the road and the constant rasp of dark magic, echoed in the stillness. No answer.

Then, a thin figure emerged from the gloom of the dining room. Leonotis. He sat alone at the heavy wooden table, a half-eaten plate of stew before him, his face pale in the candlelight. Relief that he was unharmed warred with a fresh spike of unease. He should have been in bed, asleep. The stew smelled faintly metallic, as though the herbs had curdled.

"Mother?" Leonotis's voice was small, hesitant. Too quiet. And yet the air around him thrummed faintly, the pressure of his ase muffling the whatever quieted the rest of the village.

Sadia knelt beside him, her cloak pooling on the cold stone floor. She reached out, her slender fingers gently brushing his dark orange hair. "Where's your father?"

He met her gaze, his eyes fixed on her black ones. "He went to the cellar."

The cellar. A shiver traced Sadia's spine, a coldness that had nothing to do with the damp earth below. Leander rarely went down there. It was her domain, the place where she stored her more volatile ingredients, the artifacts she preferred to keep away from prying eyes... and where the orb, the prison was kept.

"What is he doing in the cellar?" Sadia asked, her voice low, each word measured.

"He said he heard... a voice. Calling him. He's been going in there ever since you left."

Calm down, she told herself. There was no need to worry. The creature was under an imprisonment spell. There was no way it could escape its glass orb prison. Or could it?

Sadia went outside, to the side of the house, to the cellar door. The door, which she always kept locked with chains, was slightly ajar. The chains were sticky with sap, and faint ward-lines across the jamb had been scratched through and smeared with crude overmarks by someone. She noticed Leonotis was following her, but she stopped him with a sharp look. "Stay."

Sadia descended the cellar stairs, leaving Leonotis at the top. A knot of unease tightened in her stomach. She'd told her son to wait, but the scene unfolding below was beyond anything she could have imagined. Leander was in the creature's arms. Its bark-formed body twined around him like a lover, its face pressed to his. It had shaped itself into woman's image, crudely sculpted curves and features stretched from wood and vine, a mockery of human form.

The dryad was a creature cloaked in bark and vines. Though its fundamental structure remained woody, a disturbing veneer had been meticulously crafted upon it. Soft curves, a familiar hourglass waist, and even the swell of her breasts were crudely replicated in hardened wood and clinging vines. The monster had not simply assumed a woman's shape; it had painstakingly mirrored the most intimate contours of Sadia, perverting her form for some design.

"Leander," she choked, "what is this?"

Her husband tore his mouth away, his eyes wide, pleading, but no words came. Around his wrist a vine-thin bracelet pulsed.

The dryad's black eyes fixed on her. Oko Egan. The prison had failed. Cracks veined the glass orb behind them, weeping green light.

You… you traitor! After all I have done… all the sacrifices… you defile our house with this… this abomination, her mind raced. No, my protection spell was broken. The village is silent. Oko Egan must have done something to them.

Oko Egan shifted, its black eyes focusing on Sadia. It lumbered towards her, its movements heavy and menacing.

"Leonotis, run!" Sadia cried out, overriding her shock. Disobeying, the boy crept closer to the cellar doors.

The creature surged upward, smashing through the earthen ceiling and spilling into the night. Sadia stood against it, her cloak flaring in the sickly green glow of its power. What was once a clearing behind their hut was now a riot of unnatural growth. Twisted vines writhed from the warped remains of what was once a garden, coiling back into Oko Egan. Sadia's eyes narrowed as Oko Egan’s once slender body grew, towering over her.

Oko Egan stood a towering mass of gnarled wood and grasping branches. Its roots tore through the earth, leaving trails of upheaved soil. Two hollow black eyes fixed on Sadia. A low grinding growl emanated from it.

Sadia could tell by the level of ase emanating from this creature that a single direct blow could spell her doom. She couldn't afford to hesitate. Already weary from travel, every spell would cost her blood. She spread her hands, whispered the harsh words of black magic, and a visible wave of dark energy pulsed outwards. The nearest vines recoiled, their unnatural growth halting for a moment. "I will not let you spread your filth any further," she said, her voice a low hiss.

Oko Egan roared again and lunged. Its massive, root-like fist crashed into the ground where Sadia had been standing a moment before, leaving a crater of earth. Sadia reappeared several yards away, her movements fluid and swift. She extended a hand, and a stream of viscous, black liquid shot towards the creature. "Withering Grasp!"

The liquid struck Oko Egan's trunk, and a patch of bark began to blacken and crumble. The creature howled, a sound of splintering wood and tortured life. But its leaf-shield shimmered faintly, drinking in the entropy and turning parts of it back ordered and sharp.

Sadia pressed her advantage, but each spell tore deeper at her. Still, she leaped onto the creature's trunk, her bare feet finding purchase on the rotting bark. "You are going to die here," she hissed. She placed her hand on Oko Egan's surface, and dark energy flowed from her, tendrils of black and purple spreading like veins across its wood. "Death Bloom!"

Oko Egan convulsed, flinging Sadia off. Cracks appeared in its trunk, and a sickly green light pulsed from within.

Sadia extended her hand, black poison swirling around it, thickening into a grotesque, bubbling mass. Oko Egan reacted, a surge of green energy erupting from its form. It thrust a mass of leaves from its head, creating a large shield of leaves shimmering with green energy. Sadia launched her attack.

The force of the blast sent Oko Egan staggering backward, but its shield deflected the curse into the nearest living conduit. Leonotis screamed as black poison erupted from his mouth and eyes, collapsing to the ground. Sadia froze as she realized her own spell was reflected back. “Mirror-ward,” she whispered in horror.

Razor-sharp leaves followed, one tearing into her gut. She cried out, collapsing to the ground.

Oko Egan turned its attention to Leonotis, who had been frozen in terror. The creature paused as if deciding, then carefully reached into its core and pulled out a pulsating green seed.

"Wait, no-" Leander began, but Oko Egan only growled, savage and intent. His pupils glowed green, words spilling out not wholly his own: "Son, do not worry. It won’t hurt. It will be over soon."

"Mother..." Leonotis whispered, fading.

Oko Egan thrust its arm, now a mass of writhing branches, towards the boy's chest.

"Stop it! You will not touch my son!" Sadia screamed. She lunged, grabbing Oko Egan's arm. The creature's arm sprouted more appendages, plunging into her flesh. Sadia screamed in pain, and with a desperate surge of effort said the words, "Dark decay," and the deadly magic spread forth, severing the arm of the creature.

But it was too late. The seed was already embedded in Leonotis's chest. As if having a mind of its own, it buried itself into the boy. The seed attempted to close the wound but the amount of poison in the boy paralyzed it leaving a gaping whole.

Sadia fell, the severed arm of Oko Egan withering into dust beside her. She looked to Leonotis, lying on the ground, his face contorted in agony. Then he lost consciousness.

Oko Egan, weakened and maimed, turned and lumbered towards the forest, its form shrinking. Leander staggered after it, as if pulled by root-strings, vines tightening around his wrist. He looked back only once, torn, before vanishing into the shadows.

The world narrowed to pain and choices. Chinakah, the village healer, rushed to them, panic in her eyes. She had slept for days under the creature’s thrall, waking only now as the earth split with the battle’s final convulsion. She reached the fallen mother and son. She began to use her magic, trying to heal them both.

"No, don't, Chinakah," Sadia gasped, her voice thick with blood. "You don't have enough ase to save both of us."

"Save him," Sadia gasped, blood bubbling in her throat. She pressed her palm over Leonotis's wound. The poison flowed out of his body and into hers, black tears streaking her face.

Her strength crumbled. "Now… heal him. Take care of my son."

And then she was still.

Chinakah's hands shook as she poured what little ase she had left into the boy. Against all odds, the wound closed, his breath steadied.

Leonotis lived. But as Chinakah looked up, she saw the wreckage: Sadia's body, the empty space where Leander had run after Oko Egan, and the monstrous shadow of Oko Egan retreating into the forest.