“My Lord! Urgent news from the front!”

Kain didn’t need this messenger to tell him that something had changed down in Arcfira. Hell, anyone with even a halfway decent ability when it came to magic would have felt the shockwave coming from that place, but the nature of that shift was something that he was unaware of. Therefore, he didn’t need this person to give him information that he already knew, but what he did require was information about what had actually changed, if anything.

“Speak.” He said in his typical voice. The everyday man on the street would have been under the impression that he was either annoyed, angry, or simply being hostile, but to those who knew him he sounded relatively normal, if not a bit inquisitive.

“Yes, sir. There has been a change in the forces arrayed against us in Arcfira.”

“It is not as if such a surge would have left our foes unscathed. Something must certainly have changed, otherwise, I would be both disappointed and amazed at their resilience.”

“Of course, sir. As for what the change is… well, they seem to have devolved into a continent-spanning civil war. Likewise, the native flora and fauna are no longer acting as the same impediment that they were previously. The animals that were working together despite the laws of nature have now begun to act according to their own primal instincts, and the flora no longer actively attempts to harm our soldiers.”

The messenger could not witness Kain’s countenance due to the angle, but on the Abominable King’s face a single eyebrow had been raised. However, despite the fact that this mere mortal could not see the expression Kain bore, he was still experienced enough to read the atmosphere. The silence, therefore, was not a danger to him, or so he reasoned. Rather, Kain was now in thought, mulling over what could be thousands of possible scenarios regarding future events.

In reality, though, Kain was simply trying to wrack his brain about how the hell the massive, oversized shrub that called itself a God managed to fuck up his own side so badly and in so little time. There had been obvious tells that everything in Arcfira was bound to that up-jumped bush’s will by some damn powerful magic, but for that to simply evaporate in a single moment would have taken even more power.

Then it hit him. He finally got around to checking where that massive floating battle station had gone off to after he had told it to go and add its power to the war effort. Sure enough, the gigantic, city-sized construct had much less ambient power than it had when he had sent it off. Plus, right beneath the battle station, there was a source of magic that was both eerily similar to the so-called ‘Great Tree’, yet also entirely different at the same time.

Great. Now there were two oversized bonsai trees with lots of power that he had to deal with. Maybe the smarter thing to do would be to just let the two sides duke it out for a few years until they had both been bled dry and then swoop in to take down both at once. Then again, the other tree felt a bit less… warlike? It was an odd sensation, but he could feel much less animosity from it than he could from the first wannabe God-Tree that he had been forced to deal with.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As if to add to the concern that he was feeling, Kain felt a slight connection trying to form with him. It was loose at best, hindered by countless wards and the overall weakness of the attempted connection, but it was still there, nonetheless. It was kind of like someone had just tried to call a cellphone that was on mute and had its vibration off, that also had its call volume set to near silent.

Kain could easily tell where this attempted connection was coming from, but from the fragility of the connection, he could also tell that he didn’t need to fear something like a mindjacking attempt. He was curious about the ‘caller’ and let the voice of the other giant tree enter his mental space.

“It is good that you would allow me to contact you so freely.” Said the voice on the other side. It was… well, it was not nearly as arrogant and haughty than the first tree had been. “I know that you have met my brother face to face, and I know that, if this war continues, there is a good chance that Nature Itself will be critically wounded.”

“Then you would know that the only way to escape that fate is to yield everything unto me.” Kain replied in his stern mental voice. “Your ‘brother’ refuses my will, and he also struck first. This is a war that neither of you can win, and if you want to survive, then coming beneath my banner is the only logical choice.”

“I agree.”

“I knew you wou-… You agree?”

Kain was taken aback. He didn’t expect that this other massive shrub would be so willing to just obey him. He figured that he would have needed a bit of physical force to change its mind, but this was both an unexpected and welcome surprise.

“Yes. Ever since I touched the Gallows Wood ages ago, I saw the fate of your world. A world covered in metal, stone, glass, and wires, where Nature has nearly died and rebels against its murderers with its last desperate gasps. I do not wish for such a world to come into existence here, and I know that trying to stop you would be an exercise in suicidal idiocy. Thus, to preserve Nature and Life, I have long since felt that coexistence and cooperation were the only viable paths.”

“And that is why your sibling locked you away?” Kain asked.

“Among others. His ambition was something Nature desired to become reality, up until he picked the wrong fight and Nature saw that his way only led to its own destruction. The war is yet to end, though, and Nature, while slowly coming to the proper conclusion, is now no longer entirely on his side. It is more… how do you say it? ‘On the fence’?”

Kain’s mouth began to twist as he heard the words from his newest vassal. He now had a good way of sending his soldiers into the depths of Arcfira to finally take the fight deeper into the continent without causing enough wildfires to put California to shame. The conversation continued after this, but while the two talked over a flimsy mental connection, there was a ‘third’ person in the room.

And for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why Kain was now grinning like a madman and practically oozing a mix of terrifying vibes. He would ask to leave, but at this point, he was getting too scared to even attempt to move. It would not be until about an hour later that Kain finally realized that he had neglected to give this poor man leave to, well, leave and finally let him run away with a sizable bonus added to his next paycheck for the trouble.