Denton witnessed with glowing red eyes how both members of the Triumvirate took both a seat on the triangular table and that in a weird fashion. Their chairs looked quite uncomfortable, solid black meteorite ore, it would seem. Canals are reaching out from the rocks, across the floor and upwards to the statues on the walls. Denton was able to see that each statue of a former leader was connected vie one of such canals to the meteorite chair.
A moment of absolute silence. Then a whispering of countless witnesses rose in the ceiling, crawling slowly down the rows. Denton watched in awe as the eyes of the statues in the ceiling faded to black and went on their journey downwards to the current living member of their cause. With each row quenched, the remaining statues' eyes began glowing brighter, bichromatic, then multifaceted. It was as if all the souls of his past leaders slowly became one to aid their descendants in making decisions. A long minute passed, and finally, all eyes got quenched of their shimmering glow. The canals leading to the two members of the Triumvirate were shining bright, illuminating the chair in all colours of the spectrum. Then the glow vanished, sucked into the living member of their cause. One moment everything was dark in these sacred halls; only a flaming red pair of eyes were witnessing the scenery from the ivory rows.
Weird ... oh well. Seems as if at least one ivory jack is interested in our doing. I take that as a compliment. Gonna make it count for sir drake up there.
Finally light returned. The eyes of the silver king and the bronze queen, who remained closed until now, finally opened, unveiling the shining beauty of over a hundred souls possessing a single body. Denton understood now why his leaders wanted to hear them out in here. This is the only location, where they can witness the true leaders of his country. Astounding! Then the silver king rose his thundering voice. His hissing 's' was gone, his tune clear and multifaceted. The word of his was the word of the Silver King, of all of them:
"Denton Peritl and Bianca Peritl. We got summoned today to witness the miracle you two have connived. Please. Enlighten us. Do you vow in front of the Triumvirate to speak and show us the truth and only the truth? We are listening. Arise!"
"In the name of the Bronze Queen, we welcome you, young kobold doctors. Our faith in koboldkin is unbroken; the era has come where you will rise to the top, showing the world your worth. Enlighten us! Show us that the trust we laid into your paws finally bearing fruits."
Denton was sure that the kobold praise originated solely from Lady Bisfourth, but he accepted it with a deep bow speaking softly:
"We will not disappoint you, my lords. Let us demonstrate. Bianca? We need your bag. Let me help you."
The kobold left the platform he was unknowingly walking automatically on, a golden pedestal amidst the triangular table. Waking swiftly over to his weakened sister, he offered her his shoulder to lean on. Like that, the two returned to the platform, where Bianca, surged with newfound strength, did everything to show herself, raising her olive shoulders, focusing on the two members of the Triumvirate with her captivating amber eyes. Her voice was weak but determined; it was the very moment they both worked for so hard:
"My humblest greetings, your shininesses.", the kobold brushed nervously through her feathery orange hair, "We come from the slums of Leaston to bring you a miracle. I am a cleric, my lords. But my powers alone are only used to heal, to restore what is lost. We witnessed it many times. Clerics have tried to cure cancer numerous times, but all we were able to do was to heal everything around it ... and if we are not careful, we even activated the cancer cells to grow with the restored flesh. Not desired. Not desired at all. But we tried to find a solution. Introducing the powers of a Labicer."
Denton was amazed by Bianca's performance, and their automaton friends were as well. They were practising a small speech while waiting in the Spearhead headquarters. It was now his part. He cleared his throat and tried to put as much compassion as possible into his words. He spoke slow and loud, trying to pronounce every word correctly, not succumbing to his nervosity:
"Ehem.", great start, he curses to himself, "Labicer, yes. Introducing my powers. We Labicers are known for our destructive capabilities; heck, we could degrade and delete organic matter fully and entirely. That would be perfect to battle the cancer cells, wouldn't it? Just delete them and restore the healthy flesh afterwards. People have tried that before, combining the magic of life and death, and failed catastrophically. The magic of degradation is way too wild, uncontrollable; touch-based. And cancer cells are not known for resting on the skin. We need a way to control the uncontrollable, leading it to its destination without harming tissue, letting it only destroy what requires extinction. How?"
The true silver king grew impatient. It was a mixture of curiosity and a creeping doubt that they after all have no direct solution on hand. He rose his clear and booming voice:
"Interesting. But what have you found that circumvents all these issues? I only accept a clear answer."
Denton gulps, his crimson red eyes flaring up. He points to them, a mad grin widening on his face. He had that one chance. Better make it flashy:
"Bear witness to our solution to the Labicer issue. Look at my eyes!"
Denton concentrates and repeats what he had done this morning already: Combining the gate of devastation with the gate of winter. To create the degradation bubbles. His sclera first taints in purple, as it always was the case when he uses his ability. Bolts of lilac lighting appeared behind his eyes. Everything was normal, not exciting at all. But what happened then managed to raise numerous brows. Singular blue bolts appear in his eyes, tainting the gleaming purple with an azure blue. A lavender shine illuminated his eyes, and the destruction magic in his palm got encased in a runed azure bubble. The albino smiles now even wider while presenting the pulsating blob to the Triumvirate. The true bronze queen recognized what they were looking at, gasping audibly:
"A second gate! Fascinating! But how does that serve your goal, mister Peritl?"
"That's the interesting part, my lords.", the kobold is visibly enjoying the power resting in his paws and continued to speak with lavender glowing eyes, "By combining my gate with that of my sister, the gate of winter, which I achieved through many overstretching attempts, I unlocked a useful power to aid our cause. We mortals consist mostly of water. Then why shouldn't we use exactly that to not only shield the devastating effects of my magic from the tissue but also guide it below the surface to its goal? Let me explain."
Denton inhales and exhales, finally breaking the incantation and continues normally. He grins; his performance served him well:
"The bubble allows us two things. I can send minuscule 'bombs' that way through pores and the bloodstream to its destination; the cancer cell. That, of course, requires coordinates. Now, let us imagine that the bomb reached the cell, encased the tumour, and deleted it. The ball is, however, still in the flesh. If I would break my concentration, the bubble would burst and spread its destructive capabilities. Not desired, this could cause the death of the patient. Degradation is aggressive. But retreating the bubble in the same way out of the patient's body would have other issues. We would be left with a path of destruction, causing further issues. Now how to 'cure' that issue?", he nudged Bianca, who continued where he left.
"Here, we reintroduce the healing capabilities of a cleric. The operation we developed is a combined effort. The overstretched Labicer guides the death ball, and the cleric continuously channels faint traces of healing rays along the dug path, enchanting the bubble with a healing pulse 'after' it reached its destination. That is necessary to refrain from healing the cancer cells. Has the threat been dealt with will the healing pulse activates the surrounding tissue. That is necessary to close the resulting hole and repair all damage the bubble has caused. And to prove our claim, we would like to show you something."
Bianca reached into her bag and took out two of her cell cubes. In her left the one they healed in the prior morning; the rat cells without the grape. In her right paw, however, one of the other boxes, featuring a grape in its midst:
"We would have performed the procedure for you, my lords, but with my reserves being completely spent you have to believe my words. Both of these cubes had a grape in them from the very moment on we cultivated the experiments. We, however, managed to remove the grape in the left cube with the described procedure. You won't spot a single scar inside the cell cube. The grape is gone, and the flesh is healthy. A full success, proving the success of our way."
Both kobolds pant, having reached the end of their presentation. Amber and crimson eyes looked in anticipation at the many-coloured eyes of the true Triumvirate, trying to read their emotions. Have they succeeded in cultivating their interest in their discovery? Would they be interested in supporting their cause, training a new generation of healers, escaping the slums? Maybe even becoming big names in medical history?
