Chapter 90: The Botanical Promise

  The grueling ascent directly up the flooded, entirely vertical access shaft was an absolute, suffocating nightmare of pure physical endurance. The freezing lake water actively and aggressively sapped the vital, burning heat completely from Lyra’s muscles, turning her typically highly fluid, graceful strokes into jerky, agonizing, desperate struggles. Her lungs burned with an intense, fiery, terrifying desperation, actively screaming for oxygen that simply wasn't there.

  She kicked furiously, her tired legs feeling entirely like solid lead weights, fighting endlessly against the crushing, absolutely impossible burden of Zeno’s massive frame, his heavy Rock Serpent gauntlets, and his absolutely absurd, completely un-aerodynamic iron cauldron. She entirely refused to let go of the thick leather strap. If she dropped him even for a second, he would sink directly to the absolute bottom of the flooded vaults exactly like a stone, entirely unable to physically swim back up.

  The needle absolutely does not break, Lyra repeated internally, a fierce, highly desperate, unyielding mantra entirely driving her forward through the freezing dark.

  Ten feet from the surface, her vision began to violently darken at the edges, small black spots dancing in her sight. The burning pressure in her chest was entirely overwhelming. She was completely out of air. Her kicks began to slow, entirely losing their powerful, driving rhythm.

  Zeno, sensing her sudden, failing momentum and feeling the terrifyingly erratic rhythm of her kicks, completely understood the dire, lethal reality of the situation perfectly.

  He didn't panic. He entirely stopped struggling against her tight grip. He didn't try to aggressively swim upward, entirely knowing his heavy, uncoordinated movements would only drag them completely down much faster.

  Instead, Zeno placed his massive, heavily armored boots firmly against the smooth, slippery stone wall of the vertical shaft. He bent his incredibly thick knees entirely deeply, completely coiling the massive, dense muscles of his legs perfectly into tight, heavy, highly compressed springs.

  He patiently waited for Lyra to align perfectly above him in the water column.

  Then, utilizing absolutely every single, remaining drop of his monstrous Strength stat of 26, Zeno entirely launched himself violently upward directly from the solid stone wall, executing a massive, explosive underwater leap aimed directly toward the glowing surface.

  He didn't jump past her to save himself. He aimed his broad, heavy shoulders perfectly.

  The sheer, overwhelming kinetic force of his massive underwater leap physically slammed directly into the soles of Lyra’s heavy climbing boots. The incredible, sudden upward momentum entirely transferred perfectly to the exhausted scout, violently catapulting her straight up through the remaining ten feet of freezing water exactly like a fired torpedo.

  Lyra burst violently from the surface of the freezing water, flying completely out of the heavy iron hatch and tumbling heavily, but safely, onto the dry, white stone floor of the lower maintenance tier.

  She gasped, an incredibly loud, desperate, entirely ungraceful sound, violently sucking the sweet, stale air deeply into her burning, screaming lungs. She coughed up a massive mouthful of freezing lake water, clutching the glowing silver core entirely tightly to her chest, her vision rapidly clearing.

  She spun around frantically on her hands and knees, looking back down into the dark, flooded shaft.

  A moment later, a massive, heavily armored hand violently gripped the edge of the heavy iron hatch. Zeno hauled his massive, incredibly heavy frame entirely out of the water with a loud, incredibly satisfying grunt, completely dragging his massive iron cauldron onto the dry stone behind him.

  He collapsed heavily onto the dry stone right next to her, completely soaked to the bone, coughing loudly, but immediately offering his signature, incredibly bright, entirely unfazed, cheerful grin.

  "That was a very, very long swim," Zeno noted cheerfully, casually wiping a thick strand of wet, jet-black hair completely from his amber eyes. "My boots are entirely full of water. It feels very squishy."

  "You... you threw me entirely up the shaft," Lyra panted, her voice entirely hoarse, staring at the massive boy in absolute, profound awe.

  "You were pulling incredibly hard, but you looked very tired," Zeno reasoned simply, standing up and shaking the excess water entirely from his dark red Crimson Spider-Silk tunic exactly like a massive, highly enthusiastic wet dog. "I just gave you a very little push so we wouldn't drown."

  Lyra didn't have time to properly process his casual dismissal of saving her life. She looked down at the glowing silver core resting safely in her hands. The incredibly pure, soothing light it emitted was absolutely beautiful, but the thirty-minute botanical timer was still violently ticking.

  "We absolutely have to get back to the Apothecary," Lyra commanded, forcing herself to stand, her tired legs trembling violently beneath her. "Right now."

  They practically sprinted back through the narrow, damp stone staircases, completely ignoring their soaking wet clothes, the incredibly cold air, and the exhausted burning in their lungs. They burst entirely back onto the pristine, highly polished white marble walkways of Riverbend, immediately drawing numerous alarmed stares from the elegant, completely dry scholars as they rapidly left a heavy, highly visible trail of lake water and faint toxic sludge entirely in their wake.

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  They crashed violently through the towering glass doors of the Grand Apothecary and ran directly to the heavy, reinforced glass door of the botanical isolation chamber.

  Master Elara was waiting for them, completely pacing the pristine floor. When she saw Lyra enter securely holding the glowing, highly volatile core, her emerald eyes widened in absolute, profound relief.

  "You actually did it," Elara breathed, quickly locking the heavy glass door securely behind them. "Place it directly on the petrified wood table. Do absolutely not drop it."

  Lyra carefully set the glowing, pulsing core down on the dark wood.

  Elara moved with absolute, highly practiced, completely surgical precision. She absolutely didn't use crude iron knives. She pulled a completely specialized, incredibly sharp scalpel forged entirely from clear, flawlessly sharp crystal.

  She carefully pierced the incredibly thin, translucent outer membrane of the core. Instantly, a small, highly concentrated pool of incredibly thick, glowing silver liquid spilled flawlessly onto the dark, neutralizing wood.

  "Sit down on the table, Lyra," Elara ordered, entirely filling a specialized, completely clear glass syringe with the raw, unrefined catalytic nectar. "This highly experimental procedure is going to be incredibly, entirely unpleasant. The extract is highly volatile. It will actively hunt down and violently untangle the embedded spores directly from your magical pathways. It will feel entirely like your veins are filled with boiling acid."

  Lyra sat completely still on the edge of the heavy table. She absolutely didn't flinch as she entirely rolled up her left sleeve, fully exposing the dark, incredibly angry crimson lines completely wrapping her pale wrist.

  "Do it," Lyra stated simply, her voice entirely devoid of any fear.

  Zeno stepped close, completely placing his massive, heavily calloused hand gently onto her right shoulder, offering a silent, completely unyielding, heavy pillar of absolute, grounding support.

  Elara carefully inserted the incredibly sharp crystal needle directly into the largest, most prominent pulsing crimson vein on Lyra’s wrist, and slowly, entirely injected the glowing silver nectar directly into her deeply infected bloodstream.

  The physiological reaction was absolutely instantaneous and entirely terrifying.

  Lyra screamed. It was a raw, entirely unadulterated sound of pure, searing agony that completely echoed in the small, soundproofed glass room.

  The glowing silver nectar visibly tracked directly up her arm, burning brilliantly and beautifully beneath her pale skin. Wherever the incredibly pure silver light met the highly toxic crimson lines of the Snare Vine spores, a violent, visible, microscopic biological battle entirely erupted beneath the surface.

  Lyra’s entire body convulsed violently, her back arching completely off the table, her teeth entirely grinding together in pure agony. The excruciating, searing pain felt exactly as if pure, liquid fire was violently coursing directly through her delicate veins, actively, aggressively ripping the deeply embedded roots of the parasitic infection entirely away from her highly sensitive elemental Tena pathways.

  Zeno didn't speak a single word. He simply held her shoulder entirely steady, completely absorbing her frantic, desperate thrashing with his massive frame, acting exactly as a completely immovable, heavy anchor entirely in the raging storm of her intense pain.

  The searing, burning agony lasted for exactly three agonizing, incredibly long, terrifying minutes.

  And then, incredibly suddenly, the violent thrashing completely stopped.

  Lyra collapsed heavily forward onto the wood, entirely exhausted, completely gasping for air, her entire body heavily slick with cold, shaking sweat.

  Zeno looked closely down at her arm.

  The terrifying, highly toxic crimson lines were entirely, completely gone. The faint, deeply embedded pink hue that had haunted her for weeks and dictated their entire journey was absolutely, entirely vanished. Her skin was incredibly pale, heavily bruised where the long needle had violently entered, but it was entirely, wonderfully, flawlessly clear.

  "It's entirely gone," Lyra whispered, her voice incredibly weak, but entirely filled with a profound, absolute sense of sheer, unadulterated relief. She slowly lifted her hand, tentatively entirely engaging a tiny, completely safe, exploratory spark of her pale green wind Tena. It flowed flawlessly, perfectly smoothly, completely without a single shred of pain or hesitation. "I can absolutely feel my magic again. It’s entirely clean."

  Master Elara let out a long, heavy sigh of immense professional satisfaction, completely setting the entirely empty glass syringe down. "The parasitic integration is entirely severed. The spores are completely, utterly eradicated. You are entirely cured, young scout."

  Zeno let out a massive, highly satisfying, booming laugh, completely clapping his heavy, spiked gauntlets together in pure joy. "The apple is officially entirely clean! The bad pink dust is completely gone forever!"

  Elara looked at the massive, beaming boy, entirely recognizing the sheer, terrifying depth of his completely unwavering loyalty. She then looked down at the remaining, highly valuable, glowing drops of the pure silver nectar resting safely on the petrified table.

  "You retrieved a completely intact, fully matured Abyssal Lotus core from a highly lethal, submerged environment," Elara stated softly, her emerald eyes looking deeply and respectfully at the two battered adventurers. "The Alchemists' Guild would gladly pay thousands of silver for that specific, incredibly rare biological sample alone. And you completely risked your lives solely to cure a single, solitary infection."

  "The needle is vastly more important than the silver," Zeno reasoned simply, completely failing to understand the complex economic argument. "A needle absolutely helps you fix your torn clothes. Silver is just a pile of very shiny, heavy rocks."

  Elara smiled softly, a genuine, highly respectful expression completely replacing her clinical demeanor. "You are completely, entirely right, Zeno. Keep your heavy silver. The highly complex procedure is entirely free of charge. Consider it absolute, fair payment for entirely clearing the highly dangerous botanical hazard from our lower containment vaults."

  They finally left the Grand Apothecary an hour later, entirely stepping out into the bright, warm afternoon sun of Riverbend. They were completely exhausted, absolutely soaking wet, and still entirely broke after paying heavily for their secure lodging.

  But as Lyra entirely engaged her wind Tena, flawlessly and completely painlessly propelling herself completely lightly across the smooth marble walkway with her signature feline grace, she felt an absolute, profound sense of true, unadulterated freedom for the first time in months.

  "Alright, sledgehammer," Lyra smiled brilliantly, her emerald eyes entirely clear and fully committed to the incredibly long road ahead. "The infection is completely gone. We have a highly magical, First Era map completely showing the invisible roads of the entire world, and we have a very fat, well-rested mule waiting safely in the stable. Where exactly do we walk to next?"

  Zeno smiled broadly, entirely adjusting the heavy leather straps of his beloved iron cauldron, entirely ready for the next massive chapter of their journey.

  "We absolutely find a nice place that sells very big, incredibly spicy apples," Zeno decided flawlessly, his priorities completely re-aligning. "And then, we learn how to read the absolute rest of the alphabet."