The "island" didn't just shake; it groaned.
As the peat beneath their boots shifted, Alhen realized with a jolt of horror that they weren't standing on land at all. The mossy mounds and ancient willow trees were growing out of the colossal, ridged shell of a Great Fen-Back—a prehistoric turtle-like beast that had slept for centuries in the black muck of the marsh.
"Lira, move to the center!" Alhen shouted, grabbing her arm as the "shoreline" began to rise five feet out of the water.
Water cascaded off the creature's sides like waterfalls, black and smelling of ancient decay. The massive eye they had seen earlier was now level with them, a golden orb the size of a carriage wheel, pulsing with a slow, rhythmic intelligence.
"It's waking up because of Quon's light!" Lira yelled over the sound of rushing water, her rapier drawn but looking like a toothpick against the scale of the beast.
Quon stood his ground at the edge of the shell, his white fur glowing like a star. He let out a resonant, deep howl—a sound far too large for his small body. The Essence from the Frost-Bound Crypt within him was reacting to the primordial energy of the Fen-Back.
Suddenly, the creature didn't attack. It let out a low-frequency hum that vibrated in Alhen's teeth.
"It's... communicating?" Alhen whispered.
He closed his eyes, reaching out with his own silver Essence. Instead of a fight, he felt a vision: a memory of the Fen-Back being a guardian of the southern border, now plagued by the same "purple shadow" they had seen in the Whispering Peaks. The mist-walkers weren't just illusions; they were a disease eating the Fen-Back alive.
"It's in pain, Lira! The parasites... the mist-walkers are feeding on its life force!"
Alhen looked toward the beast's massive neck, where thick, purple vines of stagnant energy were wrapped like suffocating snakes.
"We have to clear those vines, or it'll sink and take us with it!" Alhen commanded.
He didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, his silver Essence flaring. This wasn't a battle for a guild plate or a Baron's favor—it was a battle for the life of a titan.
"Flow like the waves," Alhen muttered, his blade becoming a blur of white-hot light.
As he struck the first purple vine, the forest of the Glimmerfen erupted in a shriek of shadows. The parasites were fighting back.