As Fern slowly came out of the trance like dream she was still confused, why should she have to make a choice like that. All of their voices made her shiver and feel as if she was being hunted as prey. The elementals spoke as if she had no choice but to pick one of them, it was all so confusing.
For the rest of the week, she absorbed the excess energy, healed as many as she could and worried about how to solve the most immediate problems. The burrows for some reason seemed to attract the elemental spirit particles so she suggested that the weres build housing above ground.
The families instantly moved out but the Shaman of the tribe said she needed to see something within the old burrows. On the way she saw a field covered in small rounded dirt mounds, she asked about them and found out they were made by moles and other below ground critters.
Before they even arrived, she could sense the twisted concentration of elemental warping it was so bad at the entrance she staggered and almost throw up. "What the hell is down there? It's so overwhelmingly wrong, unnatural and in so much pain Its hard to believe it lives. Why have you brought me here?"
The Shaman said in a voice barely hearable, "Not all the babies had died with their mothers and they had tried to heal them and ease their pain as much as possible. They seemed to be a little quieter lately and so I hoped you could try to help these poor souls within. We have to wait till the males arrive to help control them or you might get injured or even killed.
Soon Full Moon and several others came and led her downward into the old burrows to help her face a new challenge. She had thought that the other burrows were heavy with elemental poisoning but this place she could even see the different colors of their powers and the seemed to lead towards further back into the burrows.
Soon growls and roars accompanied by loud thumps, digging and numerous moans, the smell of urine, feces, pusculants, death and blood became prevalent and thick in the air. If I ever visited a dungeon this is probably what it would smell like in my opinion. The first few opening held small twisted forms that could barely moved or for that fact even breath. Their pain hit me in pulses and I staggered back, but forced myself into the first room.
The poor thing laying in front of me had a withered stub for a arm and three legs which each had differing lengths. Sadly as I looked within its body I found most of its organs were too small or only partially funtioning I could see only death in its future. From what I could tell three different elements had twisted this young one every soul but with out a natural pattern emerging it became this.
I tryred to draw out the poisoning but it was within its very code of life all Fern could do was pull some of it pain within herself. She closed off various nerve endding and numbed the nurve bundles within its brain. It's crys of pain constant twichings quieted and the child fell into sleep.
With the next several rooms I found that they consisted of the same outcomes just being able to patch them temporarily and give some relief for their pain. Only death could bring them final relief, and with each one I felt more and more useless and sad for this unnatural situation.
As we neared the back of the burrows the rooms were barricaded and the ones inside were chained and/or restrained in numerous ways. Just coming closer to them resulted in madness, vigilance, and violent behaviors, these mutants were able to move an function, their organs and parts intact.
However pain and the genetic makeup of their minds seemed to be scrambled with anger being the prevailing emotion they felt. These I might be able to help if they were not to far gone and had not lost all their sanity. The first had severe damage to its mental processes it's ability to learn severely impaired. By placing a block on its rage center it became calm and docile but ot would need assistance for the rest of its life.
The last three rooms were occupied by weres affected by height and musculation mutations, their bodies constantly growing. Plus bodies constantly bombarded by hormone inbalances, growing pains, and frustrations they don't understand. Their minds a battlefield of constantly changing emotions mostly triggered by anger.
The first had mostly a were's appearance just to gigantic proportions he just wanted out, to break, hurt, or to destroy, it throbed over and over in his mind. She saw that he had absorbed part of a dark elemental soul piece into his and hated the light. His earth soul still was fighting back, this one might be savable.
She had to have multiple weres hold him still so she could try her type of healing. The dark energy soul scrape had tried to take control but this ones soul was strong enough to stop it even half way was remarkably. Sadly the part in side was trying its best to concur it still and that things essence was causing him to slowly go mad.
She set her head closest to the soul fragment and tries to intice it to enter her core but got little response. How could she heal him, she poured more and more of her sprital sense into the weres inner life souce. Dam if only she could cut it, or dig it our but no matter how hard she tried nothing happened except the other elements roll around inside her.
Then she heard their voices again use us, let us help you and show you our powers then you can understand what we can offer you. Use me the light I shall burn that fragment to nothingness. However Fern answered in her mind, and will that hurt this child some of the darkness is part of him now. What of it, it's existence is unnatural and should be cleansed.
Suddenly they were all shouting to aid her but none offered to do it in a way that would not harm the were. Tears sprung from her eyes as she felt this was not a problem she could deal with then she realized that darkness had not spoken up at all.
Darkness why do you stay quiet, what is your opinion after all it is part of your soul they want to destroy. Darkness sighed and finally spoke I guess you are right I rather have a piece of my soul back then watch these fools destroy it. I can call the fragment out without killing the host but it will all way carry a small darkness within.
Then I suggest you call it before it gets destroyed by one of the others and explain how you are going to do it before hand so I can help you control your powers. This child had not a clue to what she was or the powers she had this would be a delightful experience. For this job she just had to open the pathway into her soul and let him call the fragment an his job would be done.
As soon as darkness called the soul fragment pulled out and entered back into its original source. Fern used her innate healing to seal the hole in it soul wall that would last till it healed naturally. In addition she absorbed as much of the excess elemental poisoning as possible which would stop it wild mutations and growth patterns. She could not reverse the effects done till now but she stop its rampant erratic changes.
Finally Fern felt she had let the were body find balance in maybe even have a possibility of a better and more normal life outside this diseased den.