Chapter 5: The Cure Beyond Reach
The palace walls, once alive with color and celebration, were now blanketed in the cold hush of dread. Servants no longer filled the halls. Music had vanished. Laughter had long been buried.
The disease was no longer a shadow in corners—it was now everywhere.
In the towns, in the farms, in the castle's heart.
And it was killing them.
---
Isen stood in the middle of the royal infirmary, his fists clenched, his eyes burning red with helplessness. Rows of beds were lined against the marble walls. People of every age lay wrapped in sweat-soaked sheets, their faces pale, their chests heaving for air.
Elia hadn't spoken in days.
Three guards had died the night before.
And now… Tenley coughed blood.
She had hidden it for as long as she could. But Ivy saw the stained cloth in her hand—and panic rushed to her bones.
"No," Ivy whispered. "Not her…"
Isen pulled Tenley aside. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Tenley gave him a weak smile. "You needed me to stay strong. So I did."
Then she collapsed in his arms.
---
That night, Isen gathered his council. The few that remained.
"We cannot wait for the cure to come to us," he said. "We must go and find it."
Orien, still healthy but visibly shaken, stood tall beside him. "Where? We've checked the archives, the scrolls, the temple books… There's nothing."
Isen turned, unrolling a map older than the kingdom. "There's one place we haven't gone. The Forest of Eldros. South of the mountains. Beyond the ruins of Thalor."
Whispers filled the room.
"That's cursed land," one elder said. "No one returns from Eldros."
"I'd rather die in that forest than sit here watching my people rot," Isen said fiercely.
Ivy stepped forward, her necklace glowing faintly. "I saw it in a dream. A tree. Its roots glowing with life, not death. In the center of Eldros. The cure may lie there."
"And what if it doesn't?" Orien asked.
"Then I'll find something else," Isen replied. "But I won't let Delhelm fall. Not after everything we fought for."
---
The next morning, before dawn, Isen, Orien, and a small scouting group set off. Ivy remained behind, tending to Tenley and the growing number of sick in the palace. Aiden wanted to come—but Isen made him promise to stay and protect his mother.
"I'll return before the third moon," Isen said, gripping his son's shoulder. "You be strong, alright?"
Aiden nodded, fighting the tears behind his fierce expression.
---
The journey to Eldros was brutal.
Thick swamps. Mountains cloaked in fog. Creatures that whispered in the dark. Even the sky above Eldros was darker than the rest of the world.
And yet, after days of travel, they reached it—the Forest of Eldros.
The trees were ancient. Their bark twisted like screaming faces. Strange red mushrooms pulsed with light beneath their roots. And in the distance, far beyond the mist—a silver glow.
Isen's heart leapt.
"The tree," he whispered.
But getting to it… would not be easy.
---
Back in Delhelm, Ivy knelt beside Tenley, wiping her forehead. "Just hold on. Isen will come back. He'll find something."
Tenley, barely conscious, smiled faintly. "He always does…"
Just then, Aiden burst into the chamber. "Mother! You need to see this."
He dragged her to the southern wall of the palace—where one of the black-flowered vines had broken through the stone.
The cursed plant was blooming inside the palace now.
And this one was different.
It pulsed with light. As if… aware.
---
Far away, in the heart of Eldros, Isen approached the glowing tree. Its bark shimmered like crystal, its leaves gold and silver. But before he could touch it—a voice echoed in the air.
> "Who seeks the heartwood of life?"
A spirit stepped forward—formed of leaves, eyes like fireflies.
Isen knelt. "I seek a cure for my people. For my queen. For my son."
The spirit studied him. "And what will you give in return?"
Isen hesitated. "Anything."
The forest rumbled. The tree glowed brighter.
And the spirit said, "Then you must give a part of yourself… that cannot grow back."