Chapter 261 - Chained Lightning (1/2)
The iridescent Salamander walked down the rows of her peppers, her sleek head raised slightly as her nostrils flared. Shae loved the sweet scent of the plant nearly as much as the taste.
[Whisper: Ducky to Shae] Nix has been exposed to something bad. Come to Loki!
Shae disappeared from her garden and reappeared next to her mate a moment later. The appearance of Shae in her natural form caused everyone to take a step back. Nix lay on the sand next to Chiba and Fajii. The Aquarion was still semi-conscious, but the other two were not. Small black veins were visible under Nix's and Fajii's skin, oddly enough Chiba's skin seemed unaffected.
The Salamander touched his forehead, her eyes closed while she explored with her senses. ”Nether contamination, mixed with something else. What happened here?”
Semmi's bright blue eyes shone with emotion. ”We were fighting next to this basin of liquid Nether. Chiba and Nix were exposed during the fight.”
Shae's fine scales reflected every color in the spectrum, her body glowing while she checked the other two. ”Fajii was exposed after?”
Semmi nodded. ”Nix fell in, she jumped right in without even thinking.”
Shae moved back to Nix. ”It's a persistent poison. It says Nethradic contamination.”
/Alpha Team: Pon: F*ck! That's the kind that stays with you even in you die right?
/Alpha Team: Wind: Aye.
”Nix!” Ducky called from the gate, her feet covering the distance to them in an eyeblink. She knelt next to Shae and put a hand on his head, her lower lip was sticking out like a little kid trying not to cry. ”I've got this!”
Shae changed into her human form and took the small vial from her hand. ”This is the contaminant?”
Ducky nodded. ”Our ally sent it to me.”
Semmi glanced at the other members of Alpha Team, they were all thinking the same thing.
/Alpha Team: Wind: The same one who opened the breach?
/Alpha Team: Pon: Damn that boy and his secrets.
[Whisper: Shae to Deidra] Come to Loki.
Deidra saw the message, her face showing an un-dragon-like surprize in front of her two pupils. She cleared her throat and opened a breach. ”It seems I've been summoned by a salamander.”
Deidra stepped onto the sandy beach a few meters from where the three members of Inferno lay. Almost immediately she shook her head. ”Nether liquid... nasty business.”
Shae moved to one side and let the dragon examine them. ”This is a sample of it.”
Deidra took the sample, immediately she swore under her breath. ”Not good...” She glanced at Chiba and motioned for Ducky. ”Remove that ring so I can see her exposure level.”
Ducky nodded and removed the plain-looking ring from Chiba's finger, the entire group gasped in shock.
/Alpha Team: Pon: The f*ck is that?
/Alpha Team: Wind: No way...
/Alpha Team: Semmi: Who is that?
The old woman's countenance changed completely when Ducky removed the ring. Her stringy gray hair turned into thick golden blonde curls and her wrinkled ugly face changed into a goddess.
Deidra always knew of the disguise but didn't realize the extent. Without a question, Chiba was the most beautiful human she'd ever seen. She touched the perfect skin, small black veins were clearly visible just beneath the surface. ”We have a problem.”
Shae had moved around Nix and was holding his hand. ”Can we burn this out?”
Deidra shook her head. ”Normally that's exactly how you deal with this sort of poisoning, especially among fire creatures. Unfortunately, that's not going to work.”
Shae caressed Nix's cheek, her warm brown eyes staring at him. ”Why not?”
”This Nether liquid wasn't made with normal blood. It's combined with dragon blood.” Deidra frowned at the thought, where would someone get enough of it to make this.
Pon cussed loudly, the old man's face showing more anger than usual. ”Let's go back and burn that f*cking place to the ground. We can...” He trailed off for a moment before looking back at Deidra. ”What about Nix's flames? The Ice one?”
Deidra smiled slightly. ”A good idea. Unfortunately, Nix is the only one who could do that and he's unconscious.”
Shae had been listening to the conversation, her thoughts were in complete disarray. ”And we don't know what would happen to Fajii and Chiba if they were exposed to Ice Flames.”
”There has to be other options.” Semmi considered the normal cure. ”You said that fire is usually the treatment?”
Deidra nodded. ”Dragon blood makes that impossible.”
The blonde-haired officer pursed her lips while she considered the problem. A moment later she snapped her fingers together. ”What about lightning?”
”Lightning? I've never heard of anyone trying it.” Deidra stood up, her eyes straying to Nix. ”The problem is that a lighting strike powerful enough to cleanse them might end up doing irreparable damage.”
”We may have a way around that.” A calm voice spoke from behind them, announcing the arrival of the Gemini priestess. Elune's dual-colored face frowned when she saw the Gemini Lord. ”We are Gemini after all, together we are strong.”
Wind nodded. ”That's right, we're strong together.”
”Strong as f*ck.” Pon agreed.
Elune moved from one patient to the next. ”All three are Gemini, so naturally they will create a Gemini chain.”
”Chiba is a Gemini?” Pon couldn't bring himself to look at the blond goddess, it completely twisted his sense of reality.
Elune nodded and stood up. ”Nix gave a Gladiator stone to Chiba and a Defender Stone to Vooni last month.”
/Alpha Team: Semmi: Must have been right before they were captured.
/Inferno: Elune: Esta, we need you to meet us at the Gemini Training yard.
Shae stood up and picked up Nix in her arms. ”Thank you for coming Deidra, we will take it from here.”
Deidra nodded even though she wanted to see the cure in action, she understood that no outsiders were ever brought to the mysterious Haven. ”I'm sorry I couldn't do more. Please keep me advised.”
Jun Li stood at the front of the three lines, her eyes scanning over the list on her hud. ”Did I miss anyone?”
[Gemini List]
Nix: Gemini Lord
Jun Li: Gladiator
Sharl: Defender
Chiba: Gladiator
Vooni: Defender
Milat: Trickster
Floyd: Trickster
Semmi: Thief
Wind: Thief
Pon: Mage
Fajii: Mage
Ronnie: Ranged