The return trip to Sha-Laial was still a trek. The detour through Jai-Najan had only cost them a single night's worth of time, and Alvec seemed especially light on his feet and damn near radiant as they departed. It made Naya's heartache. Everyone seemed to be getting a chance to see their family, yet hers still seemed so dangerously out of reach. She buried her hands into Echo's mane as they road, giving him the best frustrated scritches she could manage.
The path back to Sha-Laial brought them through familiar territory. The forests had begun to yield to open fields, some still overgrown since the Anarchy and Ageneon's war. They had traveled this path the first time they had journeyed to Sha-Laial. It felt like forever ago, despite it only having been a few months. They'd saved Mel and encountered their first sleepwalking incident. They were still no closer to figuring out what that was even about.
Screaming interrupted Naya's reminiscing and snapped her sharply into focus. She spurred Echo on and clutched tightly at his mane. Echo sprang forward, racing out before the rest of the caravan. Only Illaria, with her heavenly speed, could keep pace with her. The two women and the horse-sized wolf arrived back at Mel's farm. Mel and her parents stood in the wagon yard; their feet were rooted to the ground most literally as vines began to choke around them, and their very flesh was slowly being replaced by plant life. A large, gnarled creature stood before them, directing his hands at them. She had seen these same roots once before slithering away from Lom-Itoti. The dark had hidden this creature fully from sight, but now, she had a clear view. Its large gnarled tendrils gave way to a strange hybrid body. It was vaguely humanoid, with large tree-like limbs and a face composed of branches and roots in a pattern that resembled a human face.
"BRISTLECONE!" Naya howled as she dismounted Echo, drew both blades, and dashed toward him. She didn't even speak the words to activate the newest magics Alvec had graced her swords with; her sheer will sent electricity cackling through the blade in her right hand. The air around the scimitar in her left hand burned acrid as she brought both blades to bear against the creature. They bit in, tearing a chunk of bark from its torso. Her momentum carried her forward, stumbling past him. She screamed again, a guttural noise that spurred the rest of her allies to come running as fast as they could. Illaria wasn't far behind her, her wakizashi in hand as she rounded the entrance to Mel's family farm.
"Ah, so this be Elder Bristlecone. Might we be convincing you to stop with the green sleep long enough to speak with us on the matter?" She asked.
"Tainted children there is no hope beyond the embrace of the green. They will be saved, their bodies changed, but never broken. When the world is remade in his image, when flesh and spirit rip and contort, they will stand strong as the oak that is my flesh." The creature was practically crying as it, too, screamed its words to the group. The remainder of the group came in hot behind them.
"Bristlecone, you rat bastard! Just stop for a moment; we just want to talk!" Mavec shouted at him. The ground shook as vine-like tendrils pierced the dusty brown soil of the wagon yard and whipped around menacingly at the party.
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"You've failed. You've all failed. No one honors the old accords. Gone is the song, gone is the dance!" the spirit lamented as he directed one of the tendrils at Illaria, who brought her blade up with deft confidence, slicing deeply into it as she parried the blow harmlessly to the side. Another came for Mavec, who wasn't as fortunate. He took the brunt of the vine whip to the face, spinning round and rolling onto the ground from the force of it.
"Fucking rat bastard!" Mavec shouted again as he staggered to his feet and let loose a blast of electricity, which jolted the vine that had hit him, threatening to catch it on fire.
"Bristlecone, focus!" Alvec said as he moved forward. "We don't want to fight; just help us put an end to this. There has to be something we can still do." He quickly traced red runes of magic in the air and arced fire out towards the vines. The flame hopped from the first vine to another, and one then hopped again to a third vine. The vines writhed and withered at the flame's touch.
"There is nothing, you poor cursed children, that can be done. You will perish with the rest of them. I must save all that I can. If only the Emperor still danced upon the small mount, perhaps then we could still awaken my father. Bring Akrixi's might to bear against Kavaas. What hope is there that he even knows the steps to the dance? Modernist that he is. Spiritual traitor that is Ageneon."
"Bait no think Tree-man listening." The goblin stood upon the top of the wagon and rained down bullet after bullet on Bristlecone's main body, scattering inch-thick shards of wood into the ground around him. Echo pounced on one of the tendrils, snapping his fangs around it and pulling it harmlessly to the ground, where the large wolf used his size to keep it still and away from his friends.
Naya continued to let out a blood-curdling scream as she laid into him once more. Her blades were relentless, hammering down blows rapidly, each slash biting a bit deeper than the last. She felt, with her final strike, her blade slice clean through. A look of shock crossed his face.
"What have you done, child. I do not have time for this! So many more will die because of your short-sighted tantrum." With that, his body began to retract into the very earth itself.
"Is there truly nothing we can do?" Alvec shouted one last time.
"Dance and sing! Praise Akrixi! Venerate upon the small mount with Aegeneon." With those final words and a pop, he disappeared again beneath the ground. Naya threw herself to the soil, instructing Echo to join her in digging.
"You don't just get to run away! I'm not through with you yet! Fix Lom-Itoti!" She shouted at the dirt beneath her feet. Her fingers bled as she ignored even her own safety in the name of speed. Pushing as much dirt out of the way as possible.
"Naya, he's gone. Come on, we can't keep making a scene here." Mavec said as he approached her.
Alvec approached Mel and her family, bowing his head in apology. "Please forgive her; I promise I'll fix the damage before we go. Before that, I'll have our cleric check you out if you don't mind." Alvec waved Sarbie over. Mel and her parents were thrilled that a cleric of the church was attending them and graciously accepted her offer. Alvec smiled as he watched her work, breaking away from her to join Mavec, who was standing over Naya and Echo. The girl and her wolf were still digging deeply into the ground. Mavec's arms were crossed as he stared down at Naya.
"She won't stop for me; you want to try?" He asked.
"No, I say we leave her alone for now. We've got another theory we can follow up on." Alvec said.