Chương 47: Chapter 40 – Beneath the Tree

The bolt slammed down from the charred stalactite and struck the pond beneath. Water exploded upward in a violent plume, part of it vaporizing instantly into hissing steam while the rest was hurled outward in a crashing ring. Droplets sprayed across the basin beneath the Great Tree, splashing against the ground where Cade lay curled beneath his tortoise shell. The water did not soak in.

Instead, it rolled and slid across the earth as if repelled, flowing back toward the center in thin rivulets until it rejoined the pond. Within seconds, the surface was smooth again. Cade waited. His heart hammered so loudly he was sure that if the leech could hear, it would instantly know his location. Slowly, carefully, he shifted his head just enough to peer out from beneath the rim of the shell. The giant leech was no longer moving towards him.

It had stopped dead in its tracks, its enormous body coiled and tense. The circular mouth at the front of its bulk had turned away from where Cade hid and now faced the stalactite above the pond. Rings of small, serrated teeth flexed and opened, tasting the air. Cade frowned. Was it afraid? The air was sharp with ozone, the acrid scent lingering from the lightning strike. Cade wondered if the smell interfered with whatever sense the creature used to track him.

If it followed breath, followed the invisible trail of carbon dioxide he exhaled, then maybe the lightning had masked his presence. He didn't dare test the theory. He stayed still beneath the shell, muscles trembling, lungs burning. He held his breath again despite the ache clawing at his chest. The last thing he wanted was to announce himself now. Above, the veins within the stalactite began to glow once more. Purple light pulsed through the blackened stalactite in a slow, ominous rhythm.

Each beat sent a shiver through the air beneath the tree. Static crawled over Cade's skin, raising goosebumps along his arms and neck. His teeth clenched as his body reacted before his mind could catch up. Hunger surged. A deep, ravenous pull that seized every cell in his body. The same craving he'd felt with the Stormseed. The same aching need that whispered promises of relief and wholeness if he could just get a taste. Cade pressed himself tighter to the ground and forced the shell down over him.

He couldn't afford to let the hunger take over with that leech nearby. The leech began to move its head again, sweeping side to side. Each slow arc ended with its mouth pointed toward the stalactite, lingering there as if tasting something Cade could not sense. The purple light brightened as energy built beneath the Great Tree, the air growing thick and charged. Cade timed his breath, counting in his head. When the pressure peaked, he exhaled. Lightning fell again.

The second bolt struck the pond with the same explosive force as the first. Steam roared upward. The basin flooded and drained itself once more. Cade flinched at the flash but kept his eyes open this time, fixed on the stalactite. Just before the lightning struck, he saw it again. At the base of the stalactite, partially obscured by shadow and steam, was a recess in the wood of the tree. Too straight to be natural. Too deliberate. For a split second, he saw horizontal lines set into the cutout. Rungs. Wooden rungs.

There was a ladder leading upwards. His breath caught. That couldn't be real. Trees didn't grow ladders into themselves. Magical Great Tree or not. The light faded and as the steam condensed back down he saw the leech was frozen in place. Its head locked in the direction of the tip of the stalactite. The massive body coiled inward, muscles bunching beneath slick crimson flesh. Cade's confusion spiked as the creature compressed itself like a spring. Then it launched.

The leech shot upward with terrifying speed, its elongated body stretching impossibly fast as it surged toward the ceiling of the dome. Cade's eyes went wide as the creature's mouth clamped onto the tip of the stalactite with a thunderous snap. It hung there suspended by just its circular jaws. Its lower body writhed and twisted in the air, no longer touching the ground. The entire length of it dangled, swaying slightly above the pond. With the creature distracted Cade fired off a quick [Identify].

Corrupted Mature Swamp Leech — Level?? An apex predator twisted by unknown corruption. Its body has adapted beyond its limits, allowing it to absorb and metabolize volatile energies.

"What the hell…" Cade whispered. Purple light surged again through the stalactite, brighter this time, racing downward toward the tip buried inside the leech's mouth. Cade braced himself for another strike. The crackle came but no lightning fell. Instead, the light vanished into the leech. Cade stared as the creature's body shuddered. Veins of violet flared beneath its translucent flesh, spreading outward from its mouth and down its length.

The leech convulsed, not in pain but in something disturbingly close to satisfaction. A cold realization clicked into place. The leech wasn't being harmed. It was feeding. It was absorbing the lightning. Another pulse built—and again, the leech drank it in. With each surge, its bloated body seemed to contract slightly, growing more compact, its color shifting from raw, blood-red to a deep, bruised purple. Cade's stomach twisted. The hunger in his cells flared to life, that aching, gnawing need to consume.

Watching the leech gorge itself on energy that should have been his ignited something ugly inside him. Something jealous and possessive. That was his lightning. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. How could something so foul, so mindless, devour what belonged to him? Rage boiled up from his gut. He wanted to rip it off the stalactite and tear it apart with his bare hands. He blinked hard and shook his head. No. Those thoughts weren't his.

The leech was enormous and he was unarmed. Even if he did attack it, he doubted he could pierce its hide, let alone survive a direct fight. A new thought took root. One less suicidal. What if he didn't need to fight it? The lightning had to come from somewhere. System or not, trees didn't just fire bolts of lightning out of their ass. There had to be a source—and if Cade had to guess, it was up there in that cutout. The one he'd glimpsed near the base of the stalactite, just above the leech's head.

The wooden rungs climbing into the hollow trunk were no coincidence. Cade's eyes flicked from the creature's swinging body to the shadowed opening in the bark above. His pulse quickened. He didn't need to feed here. Not if he could get to the source. The hunger deep inside agreed. Cade swallowed and tightened his grip on the shell one last time. He drew in a steadying breath, then another.

"Alright," he muttered under his breath.

"Let's do this." He got up, planted his feet beneath him, and prepared to run. He was going to climb the leech. The moment he moved, the static in the air surged again. Purple light pulsed down the stalactite, racing straight into the leech's gaping mouth. The creature shuddered mid-swing, its body tightening as it drank deep. Cade felt the charge ripple through the space beneath the Great Tree and his skin prickled violently, every nerve lighting up as if in recognition. The leech was changing.

Its already massive body tightened, flesh compacting with each pulse of absorbed lightning. Veins beneath its slick surface glowed faintly violet now, no longer just red and wet but tinged with something unnatural. It was feeding, growing stronger with every heartbeat. Cade didn't slow. He hit the base of the leech at a run and jumped, arms wrapping around its swinging body. The impact nearly knocked the breath from his lungs.

The leech's flesh was warm and surprisingly yielding, compressing beneath his weight like overripe fruit. For a split second he thought he had it. Then the creature swung. Cade's grip slipped as the leech's body lurched sideways. He scrabbled for purchase with one hand while the other awkwardly clutched at the shell shield. The leech twisted again and Cade lost what little balance he had. He slid.

"Shit!" he yelled as his fingers tore free and he dropped into the shallow pool of water below. The impact sent a wave splashing outward, soaking the ground beneath the Great Tree's canopy. Cade coughed, sputtering as he pushed himself upright, water dripping from his arms and face. His knees scraped against something hard just beneath the surface. He looked down. The bottom of the pool was not soft mud like he had expected. Instead, it was packed tight and unnaturally smooth.

Pale, dense, and brittle-looking in the places where the water had sloshed away. The earth beneath him felt sterile. As if all the life had been burned out of it, leaving behind only bleached and compacted ground. He did not linger. He scrambled out of the water, breath still heavy, and looked up at the hanging leech. He needed both hands if he was going to make it up there. Cade stared at the shell and realized that he needed to let it go. It lay heavy in his grip, ash-scarred and familiar.

It had saved his life in the Ashen Wastes, his only piece of equipment that survived being dissolved by ash. It had been his shield against the storm and deflected countless leeches scrambling to suck him dry. Letting it go felt wrong. But the hunger inside of him roared again as purple light surged overhead. He was sure that if he didn't act now, the leech would drain the stalactite dry.

"I'm sorry," Cade muttered as he set the shell down carefully at the edge of the pool. Then he turned back toward the leech without another moment of hesitation. Cade leapt and wrapped both arms around the leech's shrinking body, fingers sinking into pliant, rubbery flesh. It molded around his grip, deforming under the pressure of his hands. He gagged as warm slime smeared across his palms but forced himself to keep climbing. His feet kicked in, finding purchase as the leech's body compressed beneath him.

Each step left shallow indentations that held just long enough to use as footholds. The creature writhed beneath him, its movements throwing him side to side, but Cade clung on with grim determination. Purple lightning pulsed again and this time, Cade felt it. The energy surged through the leech's body and brushed against his skin. His vision flashed violet for a split second as a thin trickle of power bled into him through his hands and feet.

It wasn't much, barely a whiff, but enough to send his hunger into overdrive. It wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. He needed more, he needed the source of whatever was creating this lightning. He climbed faster. The higher he went, the worse it became. The leech's flesh was slicker near the top, muscles tightening and releasing in slow, powerful waves. Cade's arms burned, shoulders screaming as he hauled himself upward inch by inch. More lightning flowed, more violet light pulsing through the creature beneath him.

Each pulse fed the leech and the trickle that followed teased Cade, driving his hunger further. By the time he reached the upper third of the leech's body, his muscles were trembling violently. He risked a glance upward and his breath caught. The cutout was real. Just to the side of where the stalactite met the tree, a circular opening lay in the wood. Thick, wooden rungs were set into the inner wall, forming a ladder that vanished upward.

Deep inside, a warm amber glow flickered softly, brightening in time with the purple pulses overhead. Hope flared in Cade's chest but was immediately squashed when he realized the problem before him. The leech's body didn't reach the opening. There was a gap of several meters between the top of the creature and the lowest rung. Too far to step across and too far to climb. He'd have to jump and hope he had enough strength to reach and hold on. If his grip failed, he'd plummet at least 10 meters down to the ground.

The hunger surged again, sharper this time. Part of him wanted to abandon the plan entirely. To climb higher, latch onto the stalactite like the leech had, and drink the violet lightning until nothing remained. But the memory of the last time he had been struck by violet lightning rose in his mind like a warning flare. That strike had stripped away everything he had gained from the earlier, gentler bolts, leaving him broken and emptied. No, he told himself firmly. Not again.

He forced his gaze away from the stalactite and locked onto the ladder instead. Inside the tree. That was where he needed to be, that was where the source had to be located. Cade drew in a shaky breath, muscles screaming, and prepared himself. One chance. That was all he was going to get. He waited for the next pulse. The moment the purple light surged through the stalactite and down the leech's body, he moved. The lightning had just fired—he had a few seconds before the next one built up.

He scrambled upward, climbing fast along the last stretch of slick, pulsing flesh. He didn't let himself think about how high up he was. Or how much the leech was shifting beneath him. He just moved. Hand, foot. Hand, foot. Then there was nothing left to climb. The top of the leech curved away beneath him, its body anchored by the circular mouth still latched to the stalactite's base. The cutout to the ladder was off to the side and above—just out of reach. Cade inhaled once. Then he jumped.

He pushed off with everything he had, launching himself off the leech's face. For a moment, he was weightless, airborne under the dome of the Great Tree. His hand stretched—fingers grazing wood—and caught. His fingers closed around one of the wooden rungs. Pain screamed through his shoulder as the momentum yanked him hard, but he held on. His feet scrambled against the air, searching for a foothold that wasn't there. He clutched the ladder with everything he had and hauled himself upward.

A moment later, a thunderous splash echoed beneath him. Cade twisted his neck and caught a glimpse of the leech's massive form writhing in the shallow pool below, purple veins still glowing faintly beneath its skin. A shaky laugh escaped him. He'd made it. He was alive and the massive leech couldn't follow him up here. Cade lifted his gaze. The ladder vanished into the faintly glowing hollow above, where even the air seemed alive. Static crawled across his skin and buzzed through his veins.

Every cell in his body ached for energy. The lightning had a source somewhere inside this tree. And whatever it was, he would find it. And he would consume it all.