Supreme Magus

Chapter 4508: Not a Hybrid (Part 2)

Baba Yaga gathered all the information she needed in three breaths, but she checked her findings multiple times, giving the artifacts time to complete their scans. Also, she didn’t want to believe her own findings and hoped the Menadion Set would prove her wrong.

"It’s your turn, Lith." She stepped away and conjured a chair. "I hope you have better luck."

The Crone sat down, trying to make sense of what she had just seen. When Lith approached the pregnant Dryad, she had another fit of rage that forced the arrays to suppress her powers until she calmed down.

This time, the silver flames of mother and child flashed briefly. Light Soul attacked Althika, while Feast Soul infused energy into Light Soul, but no barrier activated to stop either bloodline ability.

The sickly white lights bathed Lith with no effect aside from giving him the creeps.

He used his breathing technique, Abyssal Gaze, and noticed much fewer things than Baba Yaga, yet his diagnosis wasn’t much different. He turned to her and shook his head.

"Very well." The Crone stood up with a sigh. "I don’t have good news, child, but I need to know what led you to your current condition to be certain of my diagnosis. Lotho mentioned an accident during your training, but didn’t go into details.

"I assume he’s referring to this." Baba Yaga lifted the bedsheet, revealing the unsettling deformity of Althika’s left leg.

Her delicate toes and light green skin had been replaced by curved talons and a thick, black hide covered in bristles. The Crone furrowed her brows, noticing that the Vurdalak flesh covered the Dryad’s leg up to the calf.

When she had used Sun and Moon, only the left foot had been overtaken.

"Tell me, child, how did this happen, and why didn’t you cure it?"

"There isn’t much to say." The Dryad gasped, her body tensing as she suppressed another surge of hunger that demanded that she consume the life growing in her womb or at least her own.

"A few days ago, the silver flame appeared above my and my child’s head. I assumed it was the sign that his development had reached a new milestone and that he had awakened a new bloodline ability for both of us.

"My clan agreed with me, so I started experimenting with the silver flame while the feeling was still vivid in my mind. I had a vague idea of what I needed to do, like a long-forgotten instinct that necessity had stirred, and I followed it.

"When I activated the silver flame, however, it gave me no power. It sent my Upyr side into a rampage, and before I could stop it, the Dryad life force of my left foot was gone. It’s also when the hunger appeared for the first time.

"I didn’t understand what I hungered for at first, and tried to undo the damage to my life force. My regenerating abilities were helpless against the phenomenon, and so were all the healing spells I know.

"The Elders of the Redleaf family treated me with Body Sculpting, and it worked for some time. My life force still hurt, and the hunger abated, but after a while my foot reverted to its monstrous appearance, and the hunger returned stronger than before.

"I hoped that stopping the treatments would also stabilize my condition, but it didn’t." Althika arched her back in agony, needing sheer willpower to contain the wrath of the Vurdalak that craved to spill Lith’s blood.

"It only made things worse!" She started to sob. "The Upyr life force keeps trying to spread, and my hunger becomes stronger every time I fail to contain it. Now the effects of a Body Sculpting treatment last less than an hour before coming undone.

"That’s why Naphila called Lotho and asked him to bring you here."

"Is that true, Naphila?" The Crone squeezed the Titania’s flower, compelling her to answer without omitting anything. "Did your Elders really do their best, or did they just experiment on Althika?"

"We did our best!" The Head of House Redleaf writhed in agony. "Our absolute best. We plants are not versed in healing magic, though. We know Body Sculpting but rarely practice it. It was the perfect excuse to lure Verhen here."

"This confirms my suspicions." Baba Yaga nodded. "Sadly, it doesn’t make your situation any better, child. I have only bad news. The silver flames you and your son share are indeed a bloodline ability, but they are not the same.

"On top of that, they are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Your silver flame’s purpose, Althika, is not to heal or reinforce the vitality of its user, but to corrupt their life force and turn a Upyr hybrid like you into a Vurdalak."

"What?" The plant folks and Fae in the room and those listening to the conversation via surveillance mirrors went grey, the sap flushing away from their bark and skin.

"Are you saying that the Vurdalak bloodline can’t be integrated with the Fae?" Lotho asked. "That there is a compatibility issue?"

"No, I’m saying that the Vurdalak bloodline can’t be integrated with any bloodline." Baba Yaga shook her head. "An Upyr is not a hybrid as we classify them. It’s a step towards turning someone into a Vurdalak, just like becoming a Thrall precedes turning someone into an undead.

"The only difference is that the process involves the life force instead of the mana core, and it’s not a voluntary act. The Vurdalak blood is a parasite that enters the host disguised as a symbiote and tries to take over every time you call upon its powers.

"The silver flame is a bloodline ability meant to facilitate the invasion of the host’s original life force and replace it with the Vurdalak’s. As for your leg, the Body Sculpting procedure would have worked on a regular Upyr.

"You, however, have a little Vurdalak in your womb. His blood acts as a catalyst, reinforcing your Upyr side and accelerating the takeover with every beat of your heart. What you are experiencing has nothing to do wo with your Fae bloodline. The same fate would befall any woman carrying Meln’s child."

"So, this isn’t the right path to give birth to a plant Divine Beast." Naphila gritted her pearly teeth in frustration as her dreams of power shattered. "The Vurdalak blood would assimilate and replace any of us!"

"Correct." The Crone replied. "You can try mixing your bloodlines with normal Divine Beasts, but don’t expect different results from the past."

"What about my hunger?" Althika asked. "What’s wrong with me, and why do I feel the compulsion to hurt my own baby?"

"Great Mother, help me." Baba Yaga sat down, feeling the weight of her next word crushing her. "To understand your condition, you must know that Night is no expert on life forces nor a scholar.

"She’s a tinkerer at best, and not a good one at that. At first glance, one might think she took Orpal’s human, Dragon, and Vampire bloodlines and fused them in a pale imitation of a Tiamat.

"That somehow, things went wrong in the merging and harmonizing of the different life forces, and they all turned undead." It was the Black Throne’s conclusion, but Baba Yaga knew better.