Magic Mites

Magic Mites are small microscopic mites that feed of gems and magic. They slowly consume parts of the gems and can  completely destroy very important magic organs inside the gems. They are contageous.

The Magic Mites are consumed by Glowslugs, so the best way to remove them is placing glowslugs on the gems.

Magic Mites are common in less sanitary spaces. Outbreaks of them happen often in the Forsaken's Cave and in the Frozen Empire Catacombs, but Glowslugs are common in both places so they rarely progress over the 1st stage. The Mites are easy to treat so usually they are not a big threat, but if left untreated they will progress as such:

1st stage

If the mites only make it to the surface of the gems, the gems can heal and grow back.

In this stage the gems start losing their shine and the grifix might notice small holes appearing in them but no other effects are noticeable, except the magic is slightly weaker.

It is important that the magic mites are removed in this stage, otherwise they might cause permanent effects.

2nd stage

Once the mites start feeding into the gem magic organs, the grifix's magic will start to act herratically. 

The sphirix will start losing its features, such as limbs, bits of fur, patterns etc. The grifix will start heaving memory gaps. As the corruption advances, they might forget what their sphirix looked like and the sphirix might turn into different animals - usually after sleeping or being unconscious. 

The grifix might have trouble recognising their sphirix.

The effects can not be reversed at this stage, but it is important to remove the mites or it will get worse. If the mites are removed at this stage, the sphirix willr retain its last shape. The grifix's personality will be affected by the lost memories and new sphirix shape. 

In this stage the gems start having deep holes that will never cover up.

3rd stage

The gems continue producing magic, but essential parts of them are missing so the magic is chaotic and inconsistent.

In this stage the grifix has severe memory gaps and the sphirix can rarely retain shape for a consistent time. It shanges shape every time the grifix looks away, as the grifix forgets how it used to look like.

The sphirix can even end up taking non-animal shapes, such as plants or objects. The grifix won't be able to recognise it, and sometimes walks away from the sphirix, ending up in terrible pain (because grifix can't be too far from their sphirix).

At the end of this stage the grifix becomes capable of seeing other sphirix cause their body becomes unable of recognising their own magic and they start thinking other sphirix are theirs.

4th stage

At the last stage, the gems are entirely hollowed out, left only with a thin shell. They stop producing magic and the grifix is left with no sphirix or memories. The grifix is entirely brain dead. They will not die but they are unable to act on their own. They can't eat and have troubke moving their body even when awake. 

They must be fed and taken care of otherwise they will die of starvation.