Liana's wagon was like a miniature traveling vault, crammed with curiosities of every kind: dried organs from strange beasts, minerals suspended in phosphorescent liquid, bundles of herbs each carrying a different scent, even fragments of ancient machinery long since broken. Before long she had set up a modest stall beside the clinic, trading a few potent salves and anti-miasma draughts in exchange for the townsfolk's gratitude.
But it was clear her true attention lay elsewhere. Her gaze, no matter how subtle, always drifted toward the Sanctuary Soil behind the clinic—and toward the man who spent all his days within it.
That morning, Raine was at his usual work. He carefully coaxed a thread of faint emerald energy into the roots of a drooping Moonfern—one of the rarest herbs on Hank's list. By rights such a plant should not survive in this blighted land, for it could only grow where lunar essence was purest. Here, it clung to life only through the Bloodcrystal's resonance and Raine's own vitality.
"An elegant manipulation of energy," came Liana's voice from beyond the stone wall. She wore a hunter's outfit that allowed freer movement today, her crimson hair tied back into a sharp ponytail, amber eyes fixed on his hands with avid curiosity. "Not pure druidic force. Not elemental sorcery either. More like… the essence of life itself? And yet—there are discordant notes woven through it." Her analysis struck like an arrow.
Raine's hand stilled, though he did not look up. This woman's perception was unnervingly sharp.
"Hank tells me your arm was the result of an accident," Liana continued, drifting closer and resting one elbow on the wall. Her gaze fell on his right arm of black-gold crystal, tracing the veins that pulsed in faint sympathy with the Bloodcrystal. "But I've traveled far, seen alchemical prosthetics, arcane constructs, even cursed limbs. Never one like this. It's… alive, isn't it? And feeding on the Bloodcrystal's power."
At last Raine lifted his head. His left eye, gray and steady, met hers. In his right, the gear-like iris contracted as it processed: Musculature—balanced, explosive potential. Subtle energy flow—pattern unorthodox, not mage-trained. The paired weapons at her back—magical resonance, faint. Danger rating: moderate. Unknown variables—high.
"It has nothing to do with you," he rasped, voice edged with distance.
But Liana only smiled. From her pouch she produced a slender metal instrument capped with a clear crystal shard. "No need to be so guarded, Gardener Raine. I'm a physician as much as a scholar. That arm of yours—its energy is unstable. Over time it could wreak irreparable damage on your body. This"—she gave the tool a playful shake—"is a Conduit Probe. It can safely chart the flow of energy. Nothing invasive."
She extended the probe toward his crystalline arm.
And in that instant—the anomaly struck.
The half-buried Bloodcrystal in the corner flared violently, without warning. Light throbbed from within it like the pounding of a colossal heart. A brutal, greedy pulse of energy rippled outward, laden with hunger and the will to devour.
All the herbs Raine had nurtured in the Sanctuary Soil began to writhe violently. Their glow flickered painfully, leaves trembling as if possessed, and dark red droplets—like blood—condensed on their surfaces. The crimson veins along Raine's right arm flared hot, radiating an intense pull that greedily drew in the energy emanating from the Bloodcrystal.
"Ugh!" Raine groaned, a searing pain shooting through his arm. An alien, ravenous impulse surged into his mind—an insatiable hunger for life force, a destructive, devouring instinct! Small crystalline nodules began forming on his arm's surface, resembling the grotesque growths of deep-dweller flesh.
Almost simultaneously, the corrupted mist around the town swirled violently, shrieking like it had been provoked. Shadows streaked through the fog at terrifying speed, charging toward the settlement. No longer lowly slime monsters, these were true Deep-Dweller hunters—humanoid horrors with slimy gray-blue skin, webbed fingers and toes, massive pupil-less crystal eyes, and gaping, toothed mouths stretching to their ears. They wielded crude weapons of corrupted crystal and bone, wrapped in nauseating violet-black mist.
"Enemy attack! Deep-dwellers are breaking in!" The watchtower bell clanged—a rusty iron rod striking a half-track of rail—piercing the morning silence.
Hank and Meryn rushed from the clinic. Meryn gasped at the chaos within the Sanctuary Soil, her eyes wide at Raine's tortured expression. Hank's face darkened; he turned to Liana, yelling, "What have you done?!"
Liana's amber eyes widened in shock as she withdrew the probe. "I didn't do anything! It was the crystal—it just—"
But explanation was impossible. Three Deep-Dweller hunters, drawn by the Bloodcrystal's violent energy and Raine's arm, smashed through the Sanctuary's stone walls with terrifying speed.
"Shadow Whip!" the lead hunter bellowed, swinging a bone staff, a solid purple-black energy lash aimed at Liana.
She reacted instantly, amber eyes narrowing. Like a sleek cat, she leapt back and drew a slender, silver-tipped needle from her pack. With a flick of her wrist, the needle struck the whip's weak point, a burst of pure energy scattering the dark lash instantly.
"Holy Needle? Are you from the Dawn Church?" Hank shouted, firing a paralyzing ray from his staff, only for another hunter's crystal shield to block it.
"Former—apprentice cleric," Liana replied smoothly, planting another needle in the ground. "Divine Seal!"
A gentle white rune glowed beneath her feet, causing the nearby Deep-Dwellers to hiss in aversion and falter for a moment. Her fighting style was surgical, precise—striking energy nodes and weak points rather than clashing in brute force.
Meryn's poisoned bolts hit thick hide with little effect. Hank's spells were repeatedly deflected by their crystalline equipment.
Meanwhile, Raine faced a catastrophe from both within and without. The Bloodcrystal's rampant energy tore through him, attempting to consume his life force. His crystalline arm threatened to extend to his shoulder. The shrieks and chaotic energy of battle only fanned the inner storm.
"Raine!" Meryn shouted desperately.
Through pain and chaos, Raine's gaze caught another hunter circling past Liana, heading straight for the Moonfern—the culmination of days of effort, and a herb Hank desperately needed.
A surge of protective instinct overrode fear and pain.
"Get away!" Raine roared—a guttural, non-human sound. Instinctively, he unleashed the chaotic torrent within him: a fusion of the Bloodcrystal's wild energy, the Moonfern's verdant life force, and the dark-gold power of his right arm—through the crystalline limb.
He used no known techniques, only raw, primal energy.
A twisted fan-shaped wave of black, green, and red energy erupted. The ground scorched and crystallized, sprouting jagged thorns wherever it passed. The hunter attacking the Moonfern bore the brunt—its shadow shield shattered like paper, its body assaulted by three distinct energies: flesh corroded, limbs frozen in crystal, and portions grotesquely sprouting twisted plant matter. A piercing scream tore through the morning air before it collapsed into a bubbling, ever-shifting puddle.
The horrific, surreal scene left everyone—humans and Deep-Dwellers alike—frozen in shock.
Liana's amber pupils constricted sharply, her face a mix of disbelief and... something more—an unspoken, almost feverish fascination. Her gaze was locked on Raine's still-smoking crystalline right arm.
The remaining Deep-Dweller hunters faltered. They hissed, wary, and slowly retreated, eventually leaping back into the still-churning corrupted mist.
The attack had come and gone in an instant.
The Sanctuary Soil lay in ruins. Stone walls were toppled, most herbs destroyed, the soil tainted. The Bloodcrystal's glow dimmed, as if the previous eruption had drained its strength.
Raine knelt on one knee, gasping violently. The searing heat and chaotic impulses in his right arm gradually receded, leaving a profound emptiness in their wake. That strike had drained nearly all of his strength.
Meryn ran over to support him, her face pale as paper. Hank's expression darkened as he inspected the wreckage, particularly the Moonfern that had survived—his lips twitched with frustration and grief.
Liana sheathed her needles and approached. Her eyes remained fixed on Raine's arm, but the earlier thrill had shifted to a colder, more clinical scrutiny—obsessive almost, yet professional.
"Chaos energy compatibility... life, machinery, corruption, and a trace of... dragon breath?" she murmured, barely audible, yet Raine's mechanical ear caught the words. "Impossible… unless this is… a product of 'that plan'…"
She drew a deep breath and stepped in front of him, her expression deadly serious, all playfulness gone.
"Listen, 'Gardener Raine,' or whatever you used to be," her voice was low, meant only for Raine, Hank, and Meryn, "your arm is far more dangerous than you realize. It's not a curse, nor a simple alchemical construct. It is a beacon, a prison, and a key. Stay here, and next time, it might not just be a few hunters—it could be Deep-Dweller high priests, or something even closer to the 'Red Moon Source.'"
She paused, glancing at Hank's grim face. "I can help you. Not with probe tricks. I know how to temporarily block its energy emissions, maybe even help you control it—or at least trace its origin. But not here. It requires specialized equipment and a safer environment. My caravan has the tools, but I'll need your cooperation and…"
Her gaze swept over Hank and Meryn. "…absolute silence and secrecy. You don't understand him—or what that arm represents. If this leaks, it won't just be Ash Town that's destroyed."
Hank's murky eyes met Liana's, then Raine's weakened form, before letting out a heavy sigh. Meryn clutched Raine's coat, worry and confusion written all over her face.
Raine lifted his head, his left eye weary and muddled, his right mechanical gear-eye analyzing Liana's every subtle expression. Trust? That was long gone. But this woman—she seemed to know something. About his arm. About his past. About the betrayal…
The Red Moon still hung ominously in the sky. The town had temporarily returned to calm, but a greater storm was quietly brewing, arriving with this mysterious healer. Raine's "peaceful" life had ended the moment Liana appeared.