Chapter 3: The Not-So-Great Cleansing
Malakor didn't wait for an invitation. He began chanting in a language that sounded like gravel in a blender. Dark, oily energy began to swirl around the base of the Spire.
"Wait!" Elara yelled, leaning over the railing. "That's a Grade-6 Entropic Surge! You don't have the grounding for that! You'll destabilize the—"
BOOM.
Malakor's spell didn't destroy the tower. Instead, it backfired, feeding off the natural ley lines Elara had spent years carefully pruning. The ground heaved. A giant, purple, sentient bramble—the result of Malakor's magic hitting Elara's super-fertilized garden—erupted from the earth. It instantly snatched Mayor Pips by the ankles and began swinging him like a pendulum.
"Help!" the Mayor shrieked. "I'm being harassed by shrubbery!"
The villagers fled. Malakor, seeing his magic go rogue, did the professional thing: he tripped over his own chains and ran away.