When everyone woke up Calen informed them of what happened before he went to sleep - predictably, Isara didn’t remember most of it, with her only recollection being the fact that she did wake up and talk about something.
"Did it leave a mark or something?" Elira asked.
"I don’t know actually..." Calen shrugged.
"It did, look." Cassian pointed at his Flamebearer symbol.
Underneath the golden sun there was a smal symbol he didn’t recognise - it didn’t look like letter or number, but it wasn’t a rune either. It glowed with the same light as the mark above, which confirmed it was connected to his power.
"Let’s ask Sylara about this, were supposed to discuss the purification of the Serakhiin anyway."
"Now that I think about it, how the hell is she supposed to know what your powers do?" Isara frowned.
"No clue, you can ask her when we get there."
This time Sylara didn’t invite them to the same room as always, but rather directly to her office - the room was small but tidy, with just enough space for five people to fit in.
"You’ve discovered quite a lot by yourself." Sylara nodded on approval. "You are right on the money about the truth ability, it does in fact allow you to see flaws - only physical ones for now, but as the flame gets stronger you’ll also be able to see the flaws in personalities of people, and maybe even the imperfections in their souls."
"Okay, but how do you know that?" Isara raised an eyebrow.
"I might be weaker than a god dear, but the range of my abilities is no less expansive - checking what another person is capable of is a child’s play." Seeing her unconvinced expression she added: "I can perceive divine power in a way different than mortals, allowing me to easily interpret it."
"Alright." Isara relented. "What about the promise thingy?"
"You were on a right track - the ability grants you more power when you keep your word about something. The longer you keep the promise, the greater the boost."
"What about promises that can be fulfilled? Something like finding an object for someone, or keeping a secret until someone reveals it?" Cassian questioned.
"In the first case the power boost would be inversely proportional to the time taken to fullfil the promise - in the second it would work normally."
"And if by a mistake I promise something that simply isn’t possible?" Calen asked.
"If you don’t know about the fact that it’s impossible, them the promise will be just void - otherwise it might cause some sort of punishment, just like breaking a promise would."
"Got it, be careful what I promise" He nodded. "The third power?"
"It is related to purification, but it also has a price - you can take the burden of another creature’s corruption on yourself, and allow the flame inside you to destroy it. Unlike what you did with the animals it will not harm the corrupted creature in anyway - but it could harm you."
"The process will be extremely strenuous and will leave you weakened for a time - additionally you cannot take on more corruption than your flame can handle, or you’ll risk being corrupted yourself."
"And how much is that?"
"Less than a partially corrupted animals you purified earlier - for now you can’t really use it properly."
"So we have to do the purification the old-fashioned way..." He sighed. "At least the sight ability will be helpful with visualising the corruption.,"
"You should really name those abilities." Isara commented. "You have to call them something."
"Um..." He scratched his head. "How about True Sight?"
"Hey, if you don’t like my ideas how about you come up with them yourself?"
"It’s fine, I’m just teasing you." She chuckled. "But since you offered I’ll gladly name them - Vowkeeper and Martyr."
"Fine by me." He shrugged, and addressed Sylara. "When do you want to do the purification? I assume Kaerith won’t come out of his own free will, so you have to incapacitate him somehow."
"I’ll just use the same thing you did when you captured him to initially knock him out, and then we’ll inject a solution of the thing to his veins - that’ll keep him unconscious for at least a day."
"When are we doing that?"
Just like the first time Calen visited Kaerith, Alison led them to the cell.
"Any changes in behaviour?" Sylara prompted.
"No, he only meditates and eats - the only time he speaks is when you visit him, my Lady."
"What do you feed him?" Elira questioned. "I assume he can’t eat human food."
"He can - it’s just not particularly nutritious for him, apparently he needs corrupted flesh to survive." Alison explained. "And it just so happend that we had unprocessed bodies from the fatties we killed in the tunnels, so we gave him that."
"Did you manage to finish the tunnels before the festival?" Cassian asked.
"Yes, they’re fully functional and only need one final inspection before we move the city."
"We’ll only transport it after you’ve left Mountainfall though." Sylara clarified.
"Well, your next target is the Order, is it not? You’ll need more power if you want to take on the usurper, so I suggest you restore at least one more temple before you do that."
"What does that have to do with moving the city?"
"Its current position is significantly closer to both the temple you’re capable of cleaning and the Order than the next one. You’re welcome to stay longer if course, but it will mean several weeks of trek trough the wilderness for you."
"We’ll leave as soon as possible then." Calen announced. "Within the next few days if possible."
"Good, now let’s talk to our guest."
Alison opened the heavy metal door and let them into the room that hosted the mobile cell. The prisoner’s gaze fell on them as soon as they entered the chamber.
"There’s quite a lot of you." Kaerith pointed out. "Is it time for my death?"
"We will attempt to purify you, yes." Sylara nodded. "We’ll drug you with the same substance as before, so you likely won’t experience any pain"
"My commander would be offended at the thought of painless death." He chuckled. "My kind is expected to die in battle."
The Blightborn sat on the floor of the cell with his back against one of the walls, so that his body wouldn’t slump once he looses consciousness.
Sylara took out a fist full of the green powder, and blew it inside of the cell. A few seconds later she nodded at Alison and the captain left the room in a hurry.
"Where is she going?" Elira looked at the door to the chamber.
"We need some tools to transform the cell to to our needs, she’ll bring them here." She pointed at the mobile cell. "Since it’s the only thing that keeps him safe from the barrier we’re going to transform it into something like an operating table."
"Sort of, we don’t know how long the enchantments from the box will hold out in the open, but Geodor, Martha and Joel were optimistic about the transformation."
"And if it doesn’t work?"
"He dies and we’re back to square one."
A few minutes later Alison came back accompanied by another prison guard, both of them holding a few tools.
It took a half an hour and a few advices from Calen and Isara about the enchantment, but they managed to reassemble the box without disturbing its magical properties.
The mobile cell went from a standing box with a prisoner inside... to a lying box with a prisoner on top.
The visual transformation wasn’t the point though, what they now had was a table projecting a bubble of protection for the Blightborn.
"Couldn’t we have done this while he was just inside the cell?" Calen raised an eyebrow.
"No, unless you have a method of squeezing both of us in that box." Sylara shook her head.
"We could’ve kept the door open and purified him from outside, you don’t even need to be close to do your part."
"But you do." She pointed out. "Do you really think you could’ve spent several hours crouched over someone sitting in a small box while maintaining full focus?"
Sylara took a syringe filled with eerily green liquid and stuck it in the Serakhiin’s arm, slowly injecting the substance.
"Okay, one more thing and we can begin - give me your lantern for a second."
He handed over the flame with a confused expression.
She took out a small translucent crystal from her pocket, and held it next to the flame - in response its surface turned pale gold, as if absorbing the element.
Sylara returned the lantern, but she wasn’t done with the crystal, as under her touch the colour grew stronger and brighter, until it looked as if it contained real flames inside.
"Use this to feed your True Sight, it will last much longer." She handed him the glowing rock.
He nodded and activated the ability, ready to begin the purification.