Salt of the Earth

It was getting old. All of it. The never ending night, the crystals, the mushrooms, the sickness that spread through the pack like wildfire. It wasn't just their pack either. Bishop, her raven, traveled the land to seek and find. He returned with word of widespread illness, infection, madness, death. The healers had been working day and night to try and find a cure, but it seemed to Bowen that the source of the illness, or at least a major part of it, was tied to the mushrooms and crystals that littered the place. They attached themselves to the castle walls, the plants without. They grew from the very trees as though they were intent on taking over everything living and stationary. Now they were taking over her people as well. Haiku had mushrooms sprouting from his face. Artorias leaked the viscous fluid and worried that he was going mad. Bowen's nose and eyes were beginning to leak the green, luminescent liquid as well. There had to be an end to it. A way to ward off this insanity.

Bowen took her time thinking of a game plan. She could kill it with fire, but what would fire do to crystals? Then they'd just be hot and stabby rather than just stabby. Surely fire would consume the mushrooms, but as the thought about it further, the caramel cream fae worried about the spores that would be released into the air, possibly infecting more packmates. No, she couldn't risk that. Perhaps digging the crystals out at the root? But what would stop them from growing back just like they did every other time? It was definitely a predicament. The wolves of the world didn't seem to be having any luck with combatting this invasion, but she refused to just lay down and die. Not yet. The future would have her prepared for that, but today Bowen was feeling strong. She was feeling determined. The woman would fight for her family until she couldn't fight anymore. It was the Carpathius way, as their mother had taught them. Her dam had gone down fighting to save her family to her very last breath and Bowen, though not in a battling sense, would be no different.

Silently, the sable and fawn woman slid from the stony confines of the castle and moved down the path that led towards the beach. She always did her best thinking by the water and so she was naturally drawn to it when she needed to focus. What could she do? What would work? How did one eradicate crystals and mushrooms?

"Ye know," a voice sounded from beside Bowen, causing the girl to jump in alarm. An ethereal form stood next to her, shimmering, translucent. "Ye always did look so pretty when ye were thinkin'." The voice admitted. Taking a step back, Bowen's eyes narrowed, willing the shape to focus. It seemed as though giving the spirit attention helped to solidify him, for a moment later, Bowen gasped. The shape of her former captain stood there on the sand beside her, his earthen coat see through and scarred, but it was very much him. "Hale," she gasped. "Oh no... Hale..." The girl's brows dropped as she realized that her old captain, her sometimes protector and sometimes friend had died. "Oh, don't worry about me," he chuckled, his maw splitting to flash his trademark golden fangs. "Worry about you." The man looked around the beach, around the dark world. "Things have gone belly up for this place. Don't let it go belly up on you too, lass."

After some more conversing between the pair, they decided to try something. Salt. Salt killed plant life if sprinkled generously, so would it have the same affect on mushrooms and crystals? Captain Hale couldn't help, so Bowen did the hard work of scraping away crystals and mushrooms for a patch of ground. She tossed the remnants into the sea and, after collecting a bag of salt from the stores, came back and salted the ground. The affects wouldn't be instantaneous, though the crystals did tend to grow quickly. While they waited, Bowen and Hale spoke of times long past. In the real world, the old time, daylight would have waned and night would have taken hold, but in this day and age, everything remained the same. The sky was still dark, the auras of shifting stars streaked through the sky. The fireflies were everywhere.

Bowen and Hale rose, moving to inspect their work after what felt like hours of waiting. Realistically, it could have been hours. They had always had a way of talking and killing time. An easy relationship sometimes. A hectic and painful ones at other times. "Would ye look at that," the captain spoke as they stood before the bare patch of land. There was no sign of crystals or mushrooms. Surely the spiny gems would have started pushing up from the earth by now. Bowen's eyes lit up with green fire and she turned a triumphant smile to the specter. "It worked!" The slender, towering man grinned, his golden teeth reflecting the glow of the world. "Good on ye, lass. Just as determined as ever," he complimented. Then a cold wind blew... and he was gone.

"Bowen"