Leor blinked a few times rapidly, his face taking on a dazed expression as he listened to Alina's exclamation.
"S-Surely you are not suggesting that we engage in such a thing! Light above us, Alina! What would your father say if he knew that his only daughter had become a lowly Beast!" Leor shook his head hard, "He would blame me for this, I know it! He has always held a grudge against me for befriending you, since we were small children! This time he might even claim my head! The wrath of a Master of Willpower is a terrifying thing."
A look of anger flashed across Alina's eyes as she listened to Leor's complaints. "My father will be lucky to see me alive again. He could hardly complain about the methods I used to preserve my own life if that time comes! I am disappointed in you, Leor. We are not in a position to pass on such a powerful ability. You might not realize it, but our time left to live is quite limited."
Leor's eyes narrowed as he listened to her final sentence. "What do you mean? We are quite safe within this fortress. Sure, it's not the most comfortable life, but we are hardly in danger of perishing any time soon. Look at Drelk, he has survived in this place for decades and decades!"
Alina slowly shook her head as her gaze turned deadly serious. "You're wrong Leor. Had we arrived in this Realm a dozen years ago, we might have an abundance of time on our hands, but that is not the case anymore. The Elder dragon's powerful body has been fighting a losing battle against the defilement for nearly a hundred years. How much longer do you think it can hold out?"
Leor's eyes went wide as he understood the implication of her words.
"You mean…"
"Yes, Leor. Once the dragon's Beastly body succumbs to the corruption infesting his will, a magnificent evil will be born into this fallen realm. An Elder-Abominable Dragon. Such a creature would stop at nothing to devour every uncorrupted soul on this planet. There can be no survival when that occurs."
Leor's face went pale as he understood the terrible gravity of their situation. Something inside him had begun to make peace with the fact that they were trapped in this place. He had comforted himself with the knowledge that he wasn't alone. Him and Alina might grow old in this cursed realm together, that was what he had imagined. Now those daydreams were shattered. There would be no growing old in this cursed land. They would either find a way to triumph over this fallen world, or die.
"How much time do you think we have?" Leor asked, half of him not wanting to hear the answer.
Alina shook her head as she turned her attention back to the list of ingredients in her hand, "I can't be sure. A few years. Maybe less." She pulled a notebook from her leather pack and began hastily copying down the instructions on the page. "We must find a way to either slay the dragon, or destroy his tower before that time is up. For that we will need every ounce of power available to us. Even if it means transforming our very bodies with the terrible power of the Beasts."
Alina read through the instructions of the ingredient list one more time before sticking the copied recipe into her pack.
"This recipe uses a strand of human hair as the base of the spell. This is how the Beasts are able to achieve a human transformation. But what if we used a piece of a Beast in the potion instead?" Alina suggested.
"Then… Rather than allowing a Beast to achieve a human transformation, it might allow a human to achieve a Beastly transformation. Is that what you're thinking?" Leor asked.
Alina flipped through the thick stack of papers attached to the recipe, reading through them as she spoke. "We don't have to guess. Viridrak performed the experiment himself. It's right here in his notes. The potion was sometimes used as a reward for loyal dark elves who served Viridrak well. I guess we can't ask them how it went though, they've all been consumed with defilement by now."
"Okay, but even if we want to do this… We still need the leaf of the world tree sapling. Do you see any of those lying around?" Leor said, raising his arms out to his sides in frustration.
"No… I don't. But there must be some left around here somewhere. Even if we can't find the world tree sapling itself. Drelk was able to continue bestowing the Beasts with humanoid forms, so he must have a stash of sapling leaves. We just need to get him to give us one." She explained before placing the ingredient list down and continuing the search.
"Come on, we shouldn't stay here for much longer. Let's check the last area before we go." Alina suggested.
Leor followed along behind her as they made their way to the very center of the large room. As they got closer, they began to hear the sound of breathing, along with tiny feet shuffling across the floor. The duo looked up at each other at the same time, before turning and heading toward the noise. Something, or someone, was alive down here.
As they arrived at the center of the room where the noise had come from, Alina cast the light of her torch forward, exposing a wide sealed off area. A large metal cage the size of a room was placed in the center of the floor.
Leor and Alina stepped closer to the cage to get a better look inside. A look of confusion filling their faces as they did. Inside the cage had been decorated like a child's bedroom. An assortment of children's toys, a large pink bed and comforter, as well as various dressers and other girly items.
Except everything inside looked like it had been gnawed on by an animal. As Alina stepped close enough to stand directly beside the cage itself, her face only a few inches away, a tiny figure dashed out from under the bed. Jumping directly toward her.
Alina stepped back in shock as a tiny body slammed against the bars of the cage, its childlike arm reaching through the bars towards her with an angry snarl.
Leor stepped forward, raising his own torch to better illuminate the creature. Only then did he discover that it was actually a child. A dark elf child, to be exact. Only the child had been consumed with defilement.
It was no normal defilement either. As soon as Leor brought the light closer, the tiny corrupted creature hissed in anger, covering her face as she fled from the light back underneath the bed. She had been exposed long enough for the two humans to get a good look at her though. Wearing a tattered pair of children's pajamas, the small defiled girl had long teeth like a predatory beast, and eyes that glowed a deathly red.
Even stranger, the girl's power was immense. She had managed to move the entire massive cage across the floor a few inches just by slamming her tiny body against the bars.
Alina took a deep breath as she stared at the cage in alarm.
"The child has a rare form of defilement. It appears to be especially virulent. Twisting her features slightly even though she's still a simple defiled. Drelk was likely unable to cleanse the child, but couldn't bear to kill her, so he kept her here."
Alina stepped forward once again, this time holding her torch out in front of her as she pressed her fingers against the large cage. Leor kept a close eye on the shivering dark figure beneath the bed as Alina used her talent, just to be sure nothing went wrong.
After a few minutes, Alina stepped away from the cage with a pale expression. "We can go. We have what we came for. Drelk will give us whatever we want, as long as we cleanse the defilement from his niece. She's his only living family, afterall"
Leor nearly choked as he listened to the casual revelation that Alina let slip, glancing back toward the defiled child with newfound appreciation.
The two made a hasty retreat, rushing back out the large room and down the long hallway. Alina slipped back under the cloak as the reached the door, and they spent a minute struggling to push the heavy exit open before finally reaching the outside one again.
Leor rubbed his freezing arms as he waited for Alina to reseal the lock, shivering slightly from the excessive cold. Then the two tiptoed back across the street, slipping through the door to their building like they had never left.
Alina folded up the cloak, prepared to return it to Drelks manor in the morning, then the both of them returned to their beds. After all, like Drelk always said, nothing good could come of staying awake late into the night.