Chapter 219 Curse Research

A bright light woke up Lee Seng. The room was fairly lit as he blindly tried to rub his eyes while also blocking the immense amount of light from blinding him. Small giggles came from the right of him.

'What time is it?' He wondered. He remembered the watch on his wrist and moved it to his face. '3:57… Why is it so freakin–' He stopped his thoughts and remembered he wasn't on Earth anymore. 'I'm in the Life Realm still… Right, right.'

"Whoa!" Keng's voice excitedly said too loud. The light moved again and Lee Seng groaned, louder and sat up in bed. Keng played with the small lights floating around him. He technically needed sleep, too, but learned quickly, only one of them needed to sleep. He still found doing the actual 'act of sleeping' enjoyable and did try to sleep, but found himself playing with the new light manipulation ability.

"Keng, what're you doing…? It's bright in here." Lee Seng rubbed his face and yawned. Keng giggled , again, and looked behind him. He raised the small little lights up.

"Look!" Keng waved the small lights in his hand like a child. "I figured out what light manipulation is."

"Can we create small lights?"

"Small lights that apparently like to blind people." Keng crushed the lights in his hand and the room became a little dimmer. Lee Seng blinked, furiously, before his eyes finally adjusted.

"Is it day, already?" Lee Seng asked.

"I think I heard someone get up a bit ago." Keng answered. He swatted at the other lights and watched as they started to fizzle out. A small set of firefly lights, above Keng's head, dimly lit the room. Lee Seng stood up and stretched, groaning as his body cracked.

"God, I'm so sore." Lee Seng yawned. He moved to open the door, Keng standing up and following him out. Lee Seng looked left and right. "Did you wander around last night?"

"A little bit, why?" Keng stuck his head out to look around.

"You found their bathroom?"

"I found… enough of those, I guess." Keng turned left and Lee Seng followed after him. Keng led Lee Seng to the end of the hallway and then pointed at a couple of wooden doors. "These are 'bathrooms.' You can use these to wash up." Lee Seng nodded and patted Keng before trying one of the doors.

It opened, easily, and he stepped inside the dark room. He closed the door behind him and noticed there wasn't a lock. He assumed they would've had rope or a wooden plank to lock it. He shrugged and turned around. The room was lit enough from the small glass window, that he could maneuver over to the hole in the ground. He relieved himself and looked around for a water bucket.

"Where's the water…?" Lee Seng whispered. The door opened and Keng stepped in.

"You didn't see the runes?" Keng pointed at the wall. Lee Seng leaned over and looked at the runes. They looked similar to the runes on Earth, but were written in the Fox language. His finger hovered over the 'water' rune and watched as water started to spill out.

"Woah." He gasped as he began to wash his hands. He pulled his hands away and watched as the water rune fade and the water immediately stopped. "Damn, why can't we do this? These runes are so useful. Imagine using them in the Human Realm… It would make things so much easier."

"Yeah, well… You'd have to learn the runes here, then."

"I'd be okay with that. If I can use these runes, imagine the possibilities!" Lee Seng wiped his hands on himself and started to excite the room with Keng. Lee Seng closed the door behind him and then looked back down the hall.

"Let's check out the library, then. It's probably still messy after the incident with the ghost and you." They began to wander through the halls.

"I didn't do anything. Krystofer decided to do it to scare me." Lee Seng reminded him. They eventually made their way to the library and noticed the room was lit. "Who's in there?"

"I dunno." Keng shrugged. They slowly moved into the room and listened to the noises of books and papers fluttering through the air. Floating crystals on candelabras were lit. The large chandeliers in the library were also lit with magical energy. Lady Vix'i hummed away as the sound of fluttering continued.

Lee Seng and Keng peeked to the left side of the room and watched books and papers fly past them. Books were flying back onto the shelves while Lady Vix'i was flipping through a book.

"Ah, Lady Vix'i." Lee Seng spoke. "You're up first?"

"Ah, Lee Seng. Keng. You're up." Lady Vix'i greeted.

"What're you doing in here?" Keng asked.

"I'm scanning through the Saviors' texts and scrolls." Lady Vix'i answered. She closed the book and held up the book for the two to read.

"Curses, Volume III?" Lee Seng translated. "Straight to the point."

Lady Vix'i began to toss it into the air when Lee Seng piped up. "Could I see that? I'm curious about the curse on this forest." It made a path straight into Lee Seng's hands. Lee Seng opened the book and began to scan the different curses the Saviors had documented.

"That one documents curses mainly on living things. It seems like it's one of the more serious volumes of curses." Lady Vix'i told him as she grabbed another floating book and took a peek at the title. She opened it and began to scroll as LEe SEng skimmed through different curses.

"I need a book that could explain how a single tree could corrupt majority of the forest…" Lee Seng whispered. The book in his hands flew off and as the bookshelves on the otherside began to shake.

"What's happening?" Keng and Lee Seng turned around to see a book flying straight for Lee Seng. Lee Seng snatched it and the book flew open, automatically flipping to the correct page. Lee Seng stuck his finger in it and closed the book.

"Territorial Curses, volume I." Lee Seng read aloud. He opened the book and began to read the new section. "Conqueror. There really isn't a better name for this territory curse than conqueror. It sets out to do its name – conqueror. We've seen conqueror curses take over environments, biomes, cities, etc. Conqueror curses are the result of ill intent born from a single seed. The more powerful of an intent, the curse changes as stated in the other curse books.

"With the conqueror curse, it does begin its life as a single seed, but it seems to attach its destructive and greedy intent onto something. The seed takes refuge in anything and quickly begins to conquer the area around it. If the conqueror grows too strong, any Realm could become dead because of it. Land, bodies of water, the earth below, the sky above and all living things will be afflicted by the curse and change to its will.

"The biggest case of the Conqueror curse we've seen was in the Realm of Glaciers. The Realm of Glaciers was fully affected by the conqueror curse and the icy and desolate wasteland was very hard on the Saviors. Many died to the cause of clearing the Realm of Glaciers, but we managed to find the source and kill it because the curse was too greedy.

"I should probably mention the most obvious case of the Conqueror curse – the cursed forest that the Tomb sits upon. This variant of the curse is harder to spot, but blessings and the God King's light pushes it from growing out of control." Lee Seng cleared his throat and flipped the page until he landed on a rough 'how to get rid of conqueror curse' section.

"To get rid of the curse involves someone who is naturally perceptive of things normal Foxes do not see. The Saviors' are all blessed with many different things to combat the curses and evils, but amongst them are the Seers. The Seers have a natural gift to see the energies around them. Some speak of it as colors while others see it as tendrils. Find a Seer to pinpoint it out.

"Once your Seer finds the condensed energy, you will need to search around for the heaviest area of corruption. The seed will be nearby and if you get too close, it should react. With the forest that the Saviors have decided to put our home on, the curse has grown strong enough to move itself after killing and wiping out a large area of forest.

? "The Conqueror curses have different strands but the movable ones are the hardest (and that's the cursed forest). If you manage to find it, it'll react to strong energy. You'll need it to make the move and reveal itself. In that time, purge the curse by converting the corrupted energy into pure energy.

"Conqueror curses are tricky because of their innate ability to split themselves if they grow too large in an area. (That's why the Realm of Glacier was a long and harsh journey. There were hundreds of split conquerors.) I will continue to ramble on if I write any longer, so I wish to end this… If you manage to come across the conqueror in the cursed forest, kill it while you can before it spreads to the Family lands."

"How're we gonna get a Seer?" Keng asked. Lee Seng shrugged as he closed the book. He released it and watched as the book flew straight back into its place.

"You didn't see any weird purple energy when we were leaving?" Lee Seng asked. Keng began to think about it.

"Have I…? Oh, yeah I have." Keng nodded. "It was pretty much being replaced by normal forest colors, though…"

"We'll have to do scouting when we come back, then."

"For now," Lady Vix'i closed a book. "We should get ready to leave."

"Oh, d'you think there's a book on Fox runes here?" Lee Seng asked.

"Why do you ask?" Lady Vix'i released the book in her hands and watched as the books began to filter back into their places. "Are you interested in Runes?"