Lord of Malice - Chapter Two - The Sponge

"Follow us, Lika.  Behind the altar that purifies the malice, there are berths and sponge pools to soak up the malice that the 'rest' brings to the surface.  It has to be pulled out of your body and diluted in the bath waters, then piped to the altar for purification."  Lika shrugged.

"Not understand. Rest good."  The female acolyte smiled softly.  They hadn't had a case like his in many years, but they had the experience to deal with it.

"This is your sleeping bag.  Just climb up into that stone berth right there."  She gestured to a recessed berth that was at waist height.  She chose the one she felt he would be most comfortable in.  "Just make sure to take all your clothes off before laying down.  Once the malice is partially drained away, we'll transfer you to the pool."  Lika shrugged again, and stumbled a bit while he removed his ragged leather armor, and worn leggings.  Since Lika hasn't advanced his physical abilities, he probably wasn't capable of making much coin, but if he had enough malice saturating his body, he could at least walk away with a bit of gold for some much needed self care.

"Oh."  Her mouth fell open.  Lika was full of scars, but even she could tell he would have been a great man if he was in better shape.  The results of malice saturation were easy to see.  Loose muscle tone, slightly emaciated, and near paper thin skin.  Whatever nutrition he took in was being converted into energy just to keep him alive.  A strange thing she couldn't understand though was the appearance of red lines beneath his skin.

"Lika, it is much worse then we assumed.  Please, lay down quickly so we may start right away."




"What have you two done this time!"  The acolyte's face reddened, while the female acolyte smiled benignly.

"Only what our training told us, Vahti.  We had the young man rest, and we transferred him into the pool to drain off his malice.  However...."  The Vahti sighed.

"When malice accumulates this much, the rest will do nothing for him! You have to purify him, drain away the malice, then let him rest!  This way, the normal way, is too hard on his body!  Keep him in the pool and keep draining the taint off until the water flows clear again!"  The guardian of the altar closed her eyes.  "What did you see when he tried to rest?"  They swallowed a lump.

"I'm not quite sure what I saw.  It looked like light shining out of his chest, and his advancement shot out of range of our devices.  We pulled him out in less then two minutes as he was convulsing, and put him in the water.  It turned the water pitch black, so we assumed he would start to balance out!"  The Vahti sighed.

"Its rare, but he is what's called a sponge."  They frowned.  "A sponge absorbs abnormal amounts of malice from creatures, and it saturates his body.  He's spent so much time hunting, and not enough time resting, that now his internal storage for malice is incredibly huge.  Dangerously huge."  She sighed again, and looked him over as they lowered him into the water.  "Oh damn.  He's absorbed so much malice, he even has veins filled with it.  Quickly!"

"Turn on the purifier, and begin conversion as its drained off.  There will be no way that we will keep up if we don't try to get ahead of it now.  Leave him to sleep in the waters, and keep circulating fresh pure water into the bath."  She sighed as she listened to the acolyte, and silently agreed with her.

"Its going to be a long night."




"General?  What are you doing here?"  The acolyte asked him quietly as he entered the temple.  He smiled softly at the female temple guardian.  He's spent many a long night cared for by this temple guardian, and her gentle touch was much appreciated.

"I've come to check on the young man who saved my miserable hide.  How is Lika?"  She lowered her eyes.  "What's wrong?"

"He's still being purified."  He frowned slightly.

"He's been in the city for three days though.  Did he only come to you last night?"  She shook her head.  "Then what's happened, Emilie?"  She smiled and blushed a bit.  Only the general could get away with using her personal name in the temple.

"He's been in the purifying baths for the last three days.  He's soaked up so much malice, we can barely keep up with it."  She sighed sadly.  "We thought we had taken care of it after the first night, but when we attempted to take him out of water, more seeped out like a curse.  We keep the water fresh, but as soon as it touches his skin, it turns as black as a moonless night."  He closed his eyes.

"Is there any hope?"  She shrugged.

"The veins are slowly disappearing, so it appears to be working." The general frowned.

"Veins?"  She nodded and gestured for him to follow her.

"He had veins of pure malice beneath his skin.  The amount of malice we've been able to recover from his body will keep this temple going for a year.  I've never seen such an abundance of pure malice embedded within any person's body."  The temple guardian whose title was Vahti, came out from behind the altar.

"We've done it!  He's free of the malice!"  Emilie frowned.

"How?  He was still full of it earlier!"  The Vahti smiled.

"We pierced the veins with a probe, and it seeped out like dead blood.  Thick, black, and full of malice.  See the results for yourself."  She gestured behind her.  The general went around the altar and watched as they laid Lika within the berth.  The golden light Emilie had seen the night before poured out of his chest, and they watched as it illuminated thick veins throughout his body.  Within a few minutes, Lika sat up, put his feet on the floor, and opened his eyes.

"How do you feel?"  Lika smiled, and even though it reached his eyes, they shivered slightly.

"Like a new man!"  The general turned to Emilie.

"What is his status?"  She took an instrument and touched the two prongs to his skin.  She jumped back.  "What is it?"

"Standard levels for a knight are ten, and you are a level fifteen, right General?"  He nodded.

"Yeah, it took many years to reach that height, and many nights in the purifying baths."

"Lika is level twenty."  Lika smiled happily, but that smile looked incredible spooky to everyone for one reason only.

When they drained his malice, it also drained away all color too.  His eyes, and his hair was a pure snow white.