Reincarnated As A Plant Life
chapter-180

For a moment, color returned to Lucius's eyes. The ghost-empty look that dwelled within them dissapeared for a fraction of a second, and for that second he pondered whether he had become sort of narcissist that fed on the praise of others.

"No, it's just the first time..." he whispered to himself as he followed close behind Shavak back towards the entrance.

This was the first time he had fought a war where the people didn't see him as an intruder. The first time that he was on the side of those that were suffering, and although his derealization returned just as fast as it had gone, atleast now he knew that this was something he could enjoy doing.

Just as his figure was about to be swallowed by the cave's exit, he raised his hand in gesture. Though the Chame did not know what it meant, they cheered.

A raised fist, whether it was a sign that Havon would beat the creature's that plagued the surface, or whether it was to show that he had strength they could rely on, it stirred up the same emotions.

~An infinite morale exploit... I suppose having your god fighting right beside you on the battleground will do that,~ Lucius thought to himself as he was led down another system of tunnels.

"Havon, before we head out there, I need to warn you. It's nothing like how you left it," Avankor said almost in a whisper, not once looking down to regard Lucius.

"The necromancer's decay..." Lucius whispered in understanding, he had completely forgotten about that little effect.

At this point Lucius felt a breeze of cold, rancid air wafting towards him. They were nearing the exit, and from the choking smell that hung in the air, he had a rough idea of how bad it was.

As they neared the exit, Avankor whispered something, and the shadows all around him began to twist and turn as if they had come to life. For a moment, Lucius paused, wondering if perhaps it was some sort of spell.

But once the shadows began grouping around Avankor, creating a sort of armor, Lucius recognised what this was.

It was similar to the time he had fought against the dragonkin, the time he had lost control of his body.

"Shavak, step back!" he shotued instantly, before pulling out his crux and preparing a high powered solar beam.

"Has he gone insane again?" Shavak asked instead, standing right beside the completely cowled Avankor.

"Havon?" Avankor asked, before the shadows that covered his head moved to the side, revealing a small portion of his face.

"You can still talk?" Lucius asked in confusion, hesitatnly recalling his crux.

"Shavak, it's okay," Avankor said, placing his hand on Shavak's shoulder as he approahced Lucius.

"How are you controlling that thing?" Lucius asked, as he instinctively took a step back. He knew the hell that came with the power it offered, the hell of watching your own body being turned into a prison.

"This is Mystic Mantle, a king's crown," Avankor explained calmly, before completely erasing the shadow armor from existence.

"It controls you no more than you control it... there should be an understanding between yourselves," he continued, before slowly willing it back.

The shadows appeared once more, this time slowly covering his body till his full armor was on once again.

Lucius was stunned at this... and for a minute he just stared in awe.

"I can teach it to you if you want," Avankor said after the silence had simmered for a while.

Realistically speaking, this was like a gift from the heavens. It had been clear to Lucius in his fight against the necromancer that most of his strength he had was magic based. And what combat he carried over from Earth didn't make efficient use of his new body. Sure it was the best a human could do, but it heavily restricted him here. So for him to find out that he could control this mysterious power…

"I'll... think about it," he decided after some thought.

Though the prospect of having that much more power would be a blessing, Lucius knew well he wasn't in the head space to be messing around with something like that. Perhaps if he had his children beside hims his mind would be more at ease.But as it stood, he knew poking around that wasps' nest would just make him a liability.

After travelling for a few more minutes the group found themselves staring right at the exit, and what an exit it was.

~No wonder the necromancer's forces haven't found this place yet,~ Lucius thought to himself as he stared down the cliff face that Shavak had been so fondly referring to as the exit.

It was atleast a 1 kilometre drop down a massive ravine into ink black waters. The landscape down there was even worse than that of the Black Forest. Lucius had no doubt in his mind that this was the Nightmare Forest the scholars had spoken about.

"The nightmare Forest, this is where the monsters dwell," Avankor added as if to ascertain Lucius's thoughts.

"Has anyone ever fallen down there?" Lucius asked, he never was one to be afraid of heights, but something about this place reminded him of hell.

"The Nightmare Forest swallows anyone it deems unfit to lay on its grounds," Shavak answered, as he pulled a vine-rope from somewhere at the top of the cave opening."Those who have fallen are forgotten," he continued as he handed it to Avankor.

"Swallow? Like they fall into a hole or something?" Lucius asked, the despair that came with staring at the Forest making him painfully aware that he was indeed in the real world.

"No, The Nightmare Forest lives, morphs, breaths," Shavak continued explaining, and right then Lucius could've sworn that he saw something deep within the Nightmare Forest's murky black water smiling at him.

"Even the dragonkin rarely go down there," Avankor added, as he started climbing up the vine. apparently this was the ingenious method they had thought of to get into and out of their dens.

Dangling right on top of certain death.