Chapter 1128: Stormborn Oak
“You sure about bringin’ that thing with us?” Davin asked Leon apprehensively as they moved through the forest with the werewolf in tow. Restrained though it was by Valeria, Leon couldn’t blame anyone for being nervous about it—if the werewolf got loose and managed to bite any of them, the possibility of being infected was high.
Leon glanced back at the creature, a frown lightly etched upon his face. “He’s contained. He’ll not survive this, but it costs us little to give him a bit of peace and dignity.”
“If you say so…” Davin murmured. “I’ll be keepin’ an eye on him anyway…”
“I’d rather you kept an eye on the path ahead, not on our newest package. My people will keep an eye on him.”
Davin frowned much more deeply than Leon but did as he was bid and turned back to focus on the last leg of their journey.
The fog continued to intensify as they advanced through the Redspark Forest, and red lightning fell in much greater quantities. The trees, so tall that they vanished into the fog above until they were struck by lightning, drank in this lightning magic greedily, leaving Leon’s party untouched by the otherwise violent magic.
The forest, aside from the sound of wind blowing through the trees and the rather muted booming of thunder despite more intense lightning, grew more and more silent as they drew closer to their destination. The birds and beasts appeared unwilling to come this close to the Stormborn Oak—or at least, were quieter when in its presence. Leon, at least, was unable to sense any creatures around them, though the fog interfered more and more with his magic senses even with his origin power in use. The Stormborn Oak itself was so thickly enshrouded in fog that he couldn’t see bark or leaf of the thing even from a distance of only a few miles.
His anticipation grew in proportion with the glow coming off the tree. It acted as a bright beacon to his party, shining through the fog, telling them where to go even with the trees in the way. He could sense a tremendous amount of magic, and as they drew ever closer, he could feel static rippling across his skin. Though it wasn’t all that he could sense from it, he could already tell that the Stormborn Oak lived up to its name when it came to the magical element of lightning.
“We’re close,” Davin whispered, the relative silence of the forest seeming to affect him, too. “The tree’s in the middle of a big clearing. Camp is best made at the edge.”