The first delegation arrived with the measured steps of those accustomed to being received with ceremony. Three figures in earth-toned robes emerged from the jungle path, their movements carrying the fluid grace of people equally at home among trees and settlements. At their head walked a tall woman whose dark green robes seemed to shimmer with living patterns, as if vines grew directly from the fabric.
But it was what accompanied them that made Shimmer dive beneath the surface of her pool in distress.
Floating above the delegation was a creature that might once have been beautiful. A spirit of growing things, with bark-like skin and hair that should have been flowing leaves. Instead, corruption had twisted its form into something painful to witness. Withered vines hung from its limbs like dead snakes, and where flowers should have bloomed, only blackened stumps remained. Around its neck, a silver collar pulsed with binding runes.
