Spring Has Sprung
Buried deep in the forest of Necmir lay a quaint cottage. With an unassuming outward appearance and twisting vines weaving over its exterior, not many would take notice of it. Not that many traveled the surrounding lands. Among the vines grew various other forms of vegetation, herbs, and a plethora of fungi. It was paradise for the cottage's only occupant.
Invigorated, Salix stirred from his slumber, stretching and taking in the morning light. Well, what light that could be had in such a shaded plot. Most of the light came from the stub of a candle that Salix had lit the night before. Scattered over nearly all of the usable surfaces in his home were remnants of herbs and plants, various vials of compounds and experiments. Shelves were lined with jars of specimens, both preserved and not. This was his sanctuary, his haven of solitude.
Outside, winter was reluctantly releasing its grasp. Spring was encroaching, and quickly. With it came opportunity. Salix had spent months waiting to be able to cultivate the new growth that would arrive with the changing of the seasons. Many new ideas had formulated over the winter months, his experiments having slowed, or at least, restricted to more innocuous trials.
Little else interested him as much as herbology and apothecary. His fascination started even before his corruption. In fact, it was his corruption that drove him even further in his search for knowledge and understanding of the laws of nature. And how to break them. He strove to understand how it was that corruption could take hold and alter a being to its very core. In a way, he was studying himself. Whether or not he could "cure" himself was never really the question. It was more the notion of, 'what more could be achieved through this process?'.
Opening his eyes fully, Salix stood from his bed -- or at least, what one would call the simplistic platform on which he slept, covered only by a basic mattress of fibers, feathers, and woven grass. Lighting one of his burners, he placed a carafe of water above it to bring it to a boil. He needed his morning "tea". In a mug, he mixed an assortment of herbs and dried flowers. A robust concoction that he found would both energize him, as well as bring focus to his mind. He found this an important part of his daily ritual. Without it, he sometimes felt lost and out of place. Ironic, for someone whose very nature was "out of place".
Granted a sense of focus from his tea, Salix stepped outside to tend to his labyrinthian garden. Outwardly it appeared haphazard, growing wildly without any constraint. Truly though, everything was growing in accordance to Salix's careful planning. He knew which plants would conflict with each other and which would grow in harmony. Conflict was not always unwelcome, he found. Sometimes it led to an unexpected harmony, with one plant adapting to its threatened environment by hybridizing with its would-be killer. The result? New foundations for his research and a further understanding of how the corruption of one could lead to new strength and vitality.
Inevitably, some plants had to be kept solitary, as their untamed growth could threaten to wipe out everything Salix had established. They almost seemed to pulse with a dark energy, harboring secrets even Salix had yet to unlock. With meticulous care he tended to his garden. He made sure to prune each plant with precision, so as not to endanger any of them. He inspected each plot, taking note of any changes that may have occurred. His journals were filled with notes and calculations and pontifications. Sketches outlined many of the pages, a way of making mental notes on each subject. Traits from various essences and extracts were precisely recorded, giving further insight into how they could be combined to attain potent potions -- and conversely, what to avoid combining to avoid a lethal cocktail.
Consider... life and death. How easy it was to move from one extreme to the other with only a simple substitution. Many of Salix's elixirs could act as remedies for common ailments, pain, and sickness. Others could just as easily bring about those same conditions. For the most part, his experiments were mainly relegated to his own body. Not all, though. Curiosity had led him to administer compounds in various forms to animals on more than one occasion. It was the only way to safely observe the results of some experiments without risking his own life.
And once spring had finally sprung, there would be plenty more life to experiment on. It wasn't the most charming aspect of his research. It's just that he still had so much more to learn. Especially about...
Life.