Secrets of the Swampland

Content warning: gore to do with injury, body horror, mentions of snakes/snake attack

Sevi pulled her scarf quickly to cover her face as if that would allow the guards to let her pass through the gates if she were discovered. Even at night, her linen clothing clung to her skin, the humidity of the swamplands forever unforgiving.

The swamplands, a sinister and encroaching force, were not just a physical barrier but a symbol of the Rovnish government’s iron grip. They surrounded and encompassed Rovinia like a persistent shadow; their energy never left the city or the souls of its inhabitants. It was the very essence of Rovinia, a constant presence in the thoughts of its people. To be born Rovinish was to know that the swamplands reigned supreme and the government as a result. The Rovinish government forbade any Rovinian or traveler seeking refuge to travel outside the city limits lest their lives be claimed by the most sinister of the swamp spirits.

Some, like the Onteriks, lived to heal the swamplands no matter the cost, and the price had been dear. This was the family Sevi belonged to. Whether it be death, imprisonment, or a much more onerous fate, the Onteriks faced much hardship in pursuing their path of morality. And the government had essentially put a “wanted” title on any Onterik member, no matter their supposed innocence. Smugglers may be looked over if they were slipping outside the city proper, but an Onterik would surely be thrown into jail. So, no matter how frivolous it may have seemed, Sevi Onterik remained adamant in concealing her face by whatever means necessary.

It didn’t help that the Onteriks had a distinct look; many healing families did. All healers originated from the same magical lineage, comprising a few notable clans. These clans shared the same pale amber skin, while most other Rovinians had darker copper-brown skin hues. Eye colors varied, but Onteriks typically had forest green eyes, the color of Sevi’s. Nearly all Ravinians had black hair, including the healer clans. Sevi was no exception, but she had notable yet subtle red strands. It made subterfuge quite the effort.

The guard's torchlight at the gate started to bob away, meaning the shift change was occurring as Sevi had expected. Keeping her back to the wall, she slowly made her way to the gate. The closer she got, the faster her heart raced. Holding her breath, the minute that spanned an hour passed, and she was on the other side of the city walls.

Immediately, the air felt heavier, the mist of the swamplands thicker and darker, almost crackling with nefarious energy. A protective aura encompassed Ravinia, drawn up by designated government clerics, but it was Sevi’s first time outside the city walls. Traversing outside of those walls did not often occur, even for healers. Typically, the healers had smugglers bring any people or animals caught in the swamplands' miasma. 

However, there had recently been an influx of the afflicted into Ravinia, causing the council of healers to send a healer to investigate the source. Sevi had always been naturally gifted and was one of the most potent healers in Ravinia, undoubtedly the strongest of Onterik. The Onteriks were the only healing clan with combat abilities, resulting in Sevi being the healer chosen to traverse into the swamplands.

Transfixed by the dark aura of the land before her, Sevi had forgotten she was still well within view of the city gates until the dim torchlight of an approaching guard bounced into her periphery. Sevi murmured an incantation, which drew a protective shield around herself, although a much lesser one than the clerics could conjure up. Still, it should suffice for her purposes.

Darting from tree to tree, the mud and waters of the swamplands caking up to her knees in a matter of minutes, she assured herself she was out of view from the city and away from any light source. Isolation helped her feel for any impurities and disease in the land or its inhabitants.

She removed her shoes, which were just mud anyway, and laid them beside a tree. Leaning back to the tree, she wiggled her feet into the mud and placed her palms on the trunk. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply to meditate on her surrounding energies.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her fingertips and into her spine, causing her to let out a gasp and furrow her eyebrows. Gritting her teeth, she focused on maintaining her concentration through the pain.

It’s not real, she thought.

A new surge of agonizing pain jolted her eyes open, the moisture of the swamp mixing with the sweat oozing from her skin. At first, she thought she saw pinpricks in her vision, but she realized they had a purple hue, which was abnormal for this kind of experience for her. Squinting to focus her eyes, she saw what appeared to be dust motes with a dark plum glow. The light was so dim that only the near absolute dark of the night would have let only the observant notice them. The moonlight and starlight through the clouded skies still made it nearly impossible.

After a few minutes of viewing the specks of light, she noticed they were drifting from the same direction—more like part of the mist of the swamplands than dust motes. Sevi closed her eyes and reached out to see if she might feel any energy from the mysterious vapors, trusting her shield to protect her from anything too treacherous.

When she must have been a moment from the mist, she heard a noise that was distinct from the swamps' natural ambiance. She jerked her attention and swiftly pulled out the dagger hidden beneath her robes, tied around her thigh. The temptation to call out to whoever, or whatever, remained unseen in the swamplands was stifling, as it could be a person or creature that needed healing. Trying to remember her self-preservation, Sevi knew it could also be someone or something that wished to inflict her harm, so she had to exercise caution first and foremost.

Whatever it was, it most likely sensed her presence and withdrew into the shadows, keeping very quiet. Straightening her posture, she lowered her dagger to her side and closed her eyes once more, stilling her mind to pick up whatever lurked in her vicinity.

Eyes snapping open, she turned to a nearby tree. Whatever it was, she sensed, was fearful of her. Raising her daggerless hand, she conjured a calming blue flame from her palm. While healing the afflicted survivors of the swamplands, a healer who was not directly working on the patient would conjure the flame for them to have a comforting focus point.

“Hello? Is someone there? I promise I am not here to hurt you,” Sevi called in the direction she sensed moments before.

Sevi heard a nearly imperceptible rustle by something stiffening to the sound of her voice. “If you are hurt, I can help you. I am a healer.” She might have been speaking to something without an understanding of language, but her senses told her otherwise.

After a few moments, “H- heal?” came a gravelly, strained voice.

“Yes, healing! I can offer you healing. Please come toward the light,” she responded, trying to keep her voice level and soothing.

The source of the voice slowly stepped into the light, and Sevi had to swallow a scream lest she offend or scare the being. The creature was humanoid, most likely a twisted descendant of humans themselves. But they, indeed, were not human anymore.

From where the legs of a human expand from the hip, four legs appear instead. The spine was curved back more than a human, giving the humanoid an almost mantis appearance with the additional legs. The arms looked more or less the same, although more slender and bony and with massive black claws that replaced the fingernails. The eyes were slightly bigger than normal humans would possess. They were completely black save for one pinprick of light in the center, a somewhat brighter color from the vaporous lights Sevi had previously been investigating. The nose was more serpentine, reminding Sevi of the snakes that slithered through the swamps. The creature’s mouth was slightly ajar, and Sevi could barely perceive that the teeth were a bit more pointed than her own, but not by much. Unlike the light in the eyes, the creature's skin was a bit darker than the lights she saw, giving her pause about their relationship.

Worried at seeing Sevi’s wide eyes, the creature repeated, “H- h- heal?”

Nodding off her shock, she asked, “What’s hurt?”

The creature lifted its left arm to reveal a gash where its lungs were. A gash of that size would typically take out a human, so she noted that these creatures must be more resilient. This meant that this creature must have been desperate to ask for her assistance.

Sevi motioned for the creature to come nearer to her, letting them set their own pace. They came very slowly, moving quite gracefully through the swamp's muck. As they drew closer, Sevi suddenly realized she still had the dagger in one of her hands.

Slowly raising it to the side, she warned the creature, “I’m going to drop this; do not be afraid.” Not thinking it quite possible, Sevi looked the creature directly in the eyes as they widened, ready to flee if Sevi crossed their comfort threshold. Before they got too frightened, Sevi tossed the dagger away, using her senses to keep track of where it landed to grab later. Sensing the danger had ultimately passed, the creature crossed the remainder of the distance between them and looked at Sevi expectantly, eyes darting to the blue flame every couple of seconds.

“It is so I may see better; it is too dark for my eyes,” Sevi tried to explain.

“Dark?” the creature seemed curious about the word.

“Yes, it means I cannot see, cannot use my eyes,” she pointed to her eyes, fanned her free hand into the sky, and shook her head. Although still confused, the creature made a noise of approval.

“Do you have a name?” she asked, pointing to the creature.

“Name, Dew,” they paused. “Name?” it asked Sevi.

“Sevi,” she said while placing her hand on her chest.

“Sevi,” Dew repeated.

Sevi smiled gently at the creature. How had she never seen a creature like this brought into the city for healing? Were these the sinister forces the Ravinia’s government always claimed would ensnare anyone who wandered beyond the walls? It was a thought she would have to mull over more another time.

“Can I look at where you are hurt?” she asked Dew.

“Yes, hurt,” they sat before her, lifting the same arm as before.

Sevi kneeled to examine the creature more closely, drawing the flame nearer to the injury to see more clearly. It appeared to be two large puncture wounds, much like a snake, but far more monstrous than the snakes she was acquainted with. She also became very aware that Dew could draw down their claws in an instant in this position, likely killing Sevi if they did.

“Did a snake do this to you?”

“Snake hurt Dew,” as Sevi had suspected. It must be one of the varieties of snakes that the city protected from entering the city proper and that the smugglers would have no reason or ability to bring to the healers.

Focusing her energy on healing, a light similar to her flame light emanated from her palm. She nodded to the injury and looked to Dew for consent to place her hand upon it. Dew made a sound of approval, and Sevi lowered her hand. Healing was as much a battle as it was an exchange. The pain from the patient and the healing power from the healer intermingled in the cellular space between the contact, the healer taking on some of the patient’s pain while using their power to essentially destroy the injured cells and revert them to their whole form. It was hard for any healer to truly explain what happened or how it felt, as it came from an intuitive place.

After a few minutes, Sevi withdrew her hand and inspected the injury to find it fully healed. It was hardly the most complex injury to heal. Dew had been lucky that the snake's venom appeared to be absent, as that would have taken more time and energy from Sevi.

“Better?” Sevi asked Dew, although she was sure the job was done.

“Yes, better,” Dew responded.

Sevi slowly stood to her feet and extinguished the light in her hand. Although the darkness quickly engulfed them, she could see Dew’s pinpricks watching her. After her eyes readjusted to the night, she found the mist with twinkles of light again. She pointed to them and turned to Dew.

“Do you know what this is?” She hoped they would give her something to go off of.

Dew looked to where Sevi was pointing. “Poison” was all Dew had to say on the matter. Sevi pursed her lips, thankful she had been interrupted before she had touched the poisonous mist, although her shield would have likely protected her.

Just as before, the mist appeared to be drifting from one direction. “Do you know where the poison is from?”

Dew made one of their sounds of affirmation and began to go in the direction the mist was streaming from. Sevi quickly darted to where she tossed her dagger and then took off after Dew, who did not seem like they would accommodate her less swamp-acclimated legs. Trekking so quickly through the mud and swamp waters rapidly depleted her energy, but she fought through her exhaustion to keep up with Dew. Sevi focused her senses to listen to where Dew was going, as her vision was useless in the darkness, brushing off vegetation and barely dodging trees in her path.

Suddenly, Dew came to a halt, as did Sevi a few paces ahead. She was hip-deep in a slightly luminescent body of water—the same glow as the mist they were following. A tingling sensation crawled up her legs from the contact with the water, causing her to cry out and jump back to the slightly more solid land.

“Poison,” came Dew’s voice.

The tingling sensation was more likely the result of her shield blocking out something harmful than something poisoning her. Inspecting her surroundings, she saw that the body of water was the size of a small lake. Towards the apex of the lake, she saw what looked like a giant crystal protruding from the water. It emanated the same light from the mist and the lakewater but much brighter. It was still relatively dim compared to the sun or daylight, but it seemed to eclipse the sun in these surroundings.

She noticed what appeared to be a stone structure behind the crystal, but the light made it hard to make out. “What is that, Dew?” she asked as she pointed toward the crystal.

“Bad. Poison,” Dew said, sounding afraid.

Sevi began to circle the lake, careful to step where the glowing water faded. Much to her surprise, she could hear Dew following at a distance. After some time, she made it to the crystal. Some slivers of light danced behind the clouds. She would need to return home soon or find a place to camp until the next night. It was too dangerous to pass through the gates during daylight.

The small amount of light made it easier for her to see the structure behind the crystal. It was a significant drain gate. Looking in its direction, she could see the walls of Ravinia.

Strange, she thought.

Carefully stepping, she got as close to the crystal as she could to quickly look over it before returning to the city. Something seemed very sickly about the crystal, poisonous. She frowned and noticed a glint towards the base of the crystal. She squinted, trying to discern what it could be, making out what appeared to be chains. Sevi studied what she saw a moment longer, making out a broader base of the crystal chained in place.

She gasped, her mouth hanging open in shock. It couldn’t be a coincidence that a sinister crystal was poisoning the water chained at the end of the Ravinia drainage system, feeding toxin into the swamplands. It had always been a point of control for the government. Looking back to the city walls, Sevi made a split decision. She focused her healing powers on both palms and plunged her hands into the water.

At first, the waters turned the same blue as her palms in their direct vicinity, but soon, the water turned on her and began to bubble, turning back to the same plum color as before, but much brighter.

The water snaked up her arms, still bubbling as it quickly encapsulated her. She could feel herself being propelled upwards before being slammed into the lake water when she heard a small yelp from Dew. The water dragged her to what must have been the bottom of the lake, the water swirling around her.

Pain erupted from Sevi’s body, and it felt as if her skin was boiling. Her mind grew muddled, and she felt her skin and limbs split and reform into something new. She grew additional limbs, and her body was no longer her own, followed shortly by her mind. And then Sevi succumbed to the dark.