175 Genius Loci
The root shook Arad. Jack rushed to explode it, but a root grasped his hand. "Jack, wait! The magic around here is different." Aella called him.
CREEK! The ground started shaking as a hole emerged in the ceiling. A root staircase reached all the way to the surface.
Jack sighed, "Are you the fairy he talked about?" Jack glared at the root. It let go of his hand, nodding.
Jack walked toward Lydia, picking her on his back. "Let's go outside. Arad needs to rest a bit."
Aella and Mira tried to carry Arad, but they couldn't. The only one who could carry him was the fairy's roots. They walked out until they reached the forest.
"Let's set camp here and wait for Arad to wake up. We can't carry him to the city like this." Aella put her backpack down and started preparing for the camp.
After setting everything, Jack laid Lydia in her tent and took her armor off. She had multiple muscles torn off, broken bones, and burn marks from overusing her magic. "A potion it is." He pulled one and poured it into her mouth. "You might take longer to wake than Arad."
Aella and Mira looked at Arad, he didn't seem injured. It was probably exhaustion. In reality, it was more than that.
Arad doesn't have full control over his void. When he changed it to only erase the fungus. He changed all his voids including the one in his body instead of just the breath.
That sudden change gave his body a shock which knocked him off. It was as if a human ate too much salt and his blood became too salty.
Time quickly passed and it became nighttime. Arad opened his eyes alone in his tent.
~You're awake?~
The fairy sat on his forehead, glaring down at his eyes. "No, I'm asleep." Arad stood and she flew to sit on his left tight.
"Was that all the fungus?" Arad stared at her.
~No, but that was its heart. I should be able to recover in a few weeks now.~ She smiled.
"That's good to hear, I hope the elder tree is still intact so we can submit it." He glared at her.
~Don't worry, your breath didn't erase it. It's the fungus's reproductive organ so it will remain for a while to spread the spoors.~ The fairy smiled. ~Of course. I ripped it off from the roots.~
"That's good. We don't want it spreading seeds and infecting other fairies like you. In fact, what are you?" Arad poked the fairy's head with his hand.
The fairy giggled, ~I'm not a fairy, and there isn't other lime anywhere close. I'm a genius loci, the living incarnation of a place.~
When parts of the land remain undisturbed for untold eras, and with mana flowing through it. A genius loci can be born.
Genius loci mean the spirit of place, but in reality, they are the place. One can be a mountain, an isolated valley, a small lake, a deep cavern, or a single field. Even a tiny moon in the night sky.
~I'm the forest, you're on my body now.~ The fairy smiled.
"Wait, this whole forest is you?" Arad gasped.
[Whole forest? Was that fairy a genius loci?]
^She is. Wait you know about them, why didn't you say anything?^
[If this whole forest was her body, she could have manifested something to contact us. I suspected she was a dryad or something like that.]
~The fungus weakened my body beyond belief. I was already dying when I first spoke to you. You can say I was asleep like you earlier, only my mind worked.~
Arad stood, lifting the fairy with his hand and putting her on his shoulder. "Can't you speak to the others? And why could you talk to me?"
~I should be able to speak to the other when I heal. But since I spend most of my time hibernating, my base ability to talk to children remains active.~
Arad nodded, "So you remain asleep most of the time, and only children can wake you up?"
~Yep,~
Arad walked out of the tent to see the others sitting around the flame. "Arad! You're awake!" Mira and Aella rushed at him. "I'm fine. What happened to Lydia?"
Jack pointed at the tent, "Asleep. She should be fine tomorrow." Arad sat beside the fire, and a vine moved out of the forest.
"Arad this is..." Aella tried to explain but Arad nodded. "I already know. She's sitting on my shoulder." He pointed to the empty space on his shoulder.
Aella smiled, "She helped us get out."
"She's a genius loci. This whole forest is her true body. Every tree, flower, and spec of dust is a part of her. The fungus barely controlled a fraction of her power as she was sick." Arad looked at the wood burning in the campfire.
^Those are parts of your body?^
~They are. But don't worry, they are like hair. Feel free to cut trees like any other forest.~
"Those trees are her hair." Arad looked at everyone.
^By the way, how large are you?^
The fairy closed her eyes. ~My body is still a bit numb, but last I remember. The close city at the forest edge is built on my body.~
^Alina city is built on you? Does that mean that my house on the other side is as well?^
~Most likely, yes. But I wasn't focusing on everyone living on me, you would have to wait a few weeks till I recover.~
Arad giggled, explaining how massive the genius loci was.
Jack gasped, "Wait! Can she fold the city like a book?"
~It takes too much energy to do that. I'm not used to moving. But once in the past, I could move those two mountains on my body.~
Arad started sweating as he saw the fairy point at the mountains behind his house. The one he took Aella to.
"Are all genius loci this big? My house is definitely on you if you can move those mountains."
~I doubt it. I grew this large because too many powerful mages lived on my back. Even now, there is someone in Alina who I can't fathom the power in him.~
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