In a forest within the continent of Arreniel, on the world of Dorvorsh, a fierce battle rages within the valleys connecting the nations of Underhill, Secundus, and Herbinx. Hunters and soldiers alike fight desperately against the woods itself as every plant has become a weapon capable of ripping a man apart. Many creatures called the valleys and forest of the area home, but all of them are gone now, rendered into nothing more than food for the plants, who now viciously attack any living thing within their grasp. Only one denizen of the forest remains, the one responsible for all the death and destruction. But her time is running out, the clock ticks as a group of elites slowly cut their way through her defenses. She knew they would be coming once they discovered her, but she thought she would have more time.
Sunflower (Dryad Level 321, Level 320 Absorber, Level 200 Life Shaper)
She has watched them for decades from the shadows, slowly learning things from them and biding her time to consume them all. But over the years she learned many things listening to the ‘civilized’ races as they trespassed through her domain. Decades she had watched them, learning everything from them she could; how they had special systems for keeping track of time and date, how they preferred the coverings they wear for more than just protection, how they learned to prepare their food so it was more than just substance, and so much more. But throughout it all the goal remained, consume them all. She knew not why the supposed gods had created her this way, but she knew her purpose. All that isn’t her must die, but there was a problem. She knows she can’t kill them all. There are simply too many, they are too well prepared, she can not amass enough power to slaughter them all by herself. So how would she do it then?
Many days and nights she had pondered this question, how does she complete this impossible task? Then one day she had overheard some trespassers talking, one of them was talking about his latest creation. He had built a golem to perform tasks he himself could not accomplish. That’s when the idea had come to her, if she couldn’t do it herself, maybe she could make something that could, something better than herself. And thus, her greatest project had begun, her new dream to create the perfect child, the ultimate successor to her. To have all of the strengths and none of the weaknesses was her goal, but that had proven much easier to dream about than to accomplish. Even still she persisted, whittling away for close to two decades on her project. She came so close many times, but ultimately failed each one.
Sometimes it was too violent and would attack anything and even her with reckless abandon. Other times they were too skittish, hiding away doing nothing even in the face of death. Creating life was no easy feat, but she has learned from each of her mistakes.
Finally, Sunflower realized something, the bodies she was creating were almost perfect. But something else was disrupting the process. She was so close, she just had to push it a little further, to create something greater than just a dryad. Countless hours she toiled and crafted, manipulating mana, essence, life force, and any other aspect of life she could until finally it happened. The body was perfect but it was lacking a key component, she knew from her years of experience that it was the soul. It was an empty shell waiting to be filled, and she needed to appeal to the gods to fill it. Only gods could manipulate souls, or so the ‘civilized’ race’s priests would say. So, she had no choice but to wait while searching for a way give it a soul.
Unfortunately, that waiting was her downfall. During a summer morning five of those hunters the civilized are so fond of had broken their way into her inner sanctum despite her diversions and protections. She managed to kill two of them outright but the other three fled. She managed to pick off two more before they escaped her domain but the fifth escaped. She knew her time was limited, so she lashed out. Everything within her large domain was slaughtered, man, woman, child, monster, none were spared. Whole towns were consumed as the very plants they cultivated for food turned on them.
And then they came, thousands of them. Of all shapes, sizes, and races, all working together with the sole goal of killing her. She knew their tactics, first they send in the weaker ones, to weaken her, make her waste energy. She only killed as many as needed to route them, but they just kept returning day after day, slowly using her supply of minions, nutrition, and spare mana. Finally on the fifth day they had enough, the leaders showed themselves and lead a concentrated push straight to her location. She looked again to her greatest creation, cursing herself for not being able to complete it, until she noticed something different.
Petal (Willow Dryad Level 1)
It was alive, still dormant, but very much alive. All she could do was laugh to herself; she was so busy with the invaders she hadn’t even seen it happen, she doesn’t even know how it happened. But that didn’t matter now, her perfect child was finally complete, and all she needed to do was ensure it escaped. Then the true slaughter of everything could begin.
“HAHAHA, Finally! Now the real fun begins!”
But the invaders were dangerously close, she had to stall them while the escape device finished its construction. And so, she turned her attention back to the invaders. Just as the head of the offensive front entered her sanctum.
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Carlos (Human, Level 259 High Paladin, Level 77 Holy Knight)
Mildred (Elf, Level 301 Fire Aspect, Level 137 Wind Walker)
Kyle (Dwarf, Level 266 Master War Smith, Level 104 Soldier)
Drazin (Kobold, Level 255 Battle Fiend Barbarian, Level 50 Berserker)
Pheobe (Catlanx, Level ??? Shadow Assassin, Level ??? Dark Caster)
“So, the cowards who have come to claim glory finally show themselves. Tell me, how many have you sent to the slaughter to reach me?” Sunflower asks.
“Silence vile demon, your rampage ends here! We will avenge all fallen you have slain.” Carlos shouts.
“You killed a lot of people beast, now it is your turn to die.” Kyle says.
“Your interference has cost me thousands of gold and years of work. I’m going to kill you slowly for that you glorified plant.” Pheobe says.
“I’m going to enjoy this!” Drazin shouts with glee.
“Enough, kill it and let this catastrophe finally end!” Mildred declares.
And with that the five move, the Pheobe disappearing from sight and sense. Mildred flies up above the battle field and prepares to rain fire. Carlos, Drazin, and Kyle charge straight for her, intending on cutting straight through to her. Sunflower reacts instantly, springing a thorn wall into existence between herself and them and several small trees containing exploding acid fruit grow from the ground. The problem is the lack of defenses within the sanctum. Enemies were never supposed to make it this far. Instantly the trees are all destroyed by the mage who remains hovering, waiting for the next move from sunflower.
“I got this one, time to trim the hedges!” Kyle shouts
Kyle's golem battle suit switches form, the right arm shifting and rearranging into the form of a rotating saw, which he uses to cut holes in the thorn wall large enough for the other two to fit through, which they do. Sunflower keeps the thorn wall up and lashing out at the dwarf and his creation, lest she have another combatant to fight off up close.
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“Bitch! I’m gonna pluck you like a flower!” Drazin screams while charging her.
Drazin then jumped into the air and swung down, intending on hitting the dryad from above. She tried to skewer him with vines while he was airborne, but several fireballs raining from the sky burned away all the plants within range. Growing bark claws on her hands, Sunflower parries the blow.
“Clang!”
“Hey Mildred, burn a hole in its flank would ya.” Pheobe says.
“I’m working on it, this accursed thing has too many vines!” Mildred says.
Sunflower knew she couldn’t survive their onslaught. It was five versus one, maybe if their group was only three she could handle them, but as it stood they would slowly wear her down. But slow was fine, all she needed was a little more time. She did what they wouldn’t expect, she stepped forward towards the barbarian and took a counter swing with her claws. Drazin was forced to jump back, and Carlos came up from the right and took a swing, forcing Sunflower to step back and guard against his assault.
“Go for the connecting vine!” Carlos yells.
With that the flying elf turns her attention from the constantly writhing vines trying to swat her out of the air, to the large singular vine attaching the dryad to her pod. She prepares a fire beam spell, intending on cutting the vine or forcing the dryad to retreat to its pod. But Sunflower does neither, instead she grabs the connecting vine and whips it out of the way.
“What!” Mildred says.
“I will not let you touch her, I’ve come too far for the likes of you to undo all my work!” Sunflower screams
“Silence evil beast, we will send you to the gods so they judge you for your sins!” Carlos shouts back.
“If your gods disproved of my methods, they would not have gifted me the means to your end, you hypocritical savages.” Sunflower says.
“Big words for a monster that’s about to die.” Drazin says.
“Perhaps, but I never intended to live.” Sunflower says.
Confusion spreads throughout the group of five, but it’s quickly replaced by fear bordering on terror as Mildred notices the spell that was slowly being conjured around them.
“Watch out, it’s casting a powerful spell!” Mildred yells.
“Feel Devil’s wrath!” Sunflower shouts.
As the four invaders visible to her take defensive stances the trees surrounding the clearing begin to course with mana, causing runes on their surfaces to light up. What follows is a maelstrom the likes of which is only seen on the high seas. High winds batter the remaining four, threatening to carry even the dwarf in his heavy battle suit into the sky and drop them to ground from above the clouds. This continues for a few moments until suddenly Sunflowers world is turned upside down. Her connection to her domain is cut, her senses left blinded, and a debilitating pain sends her to her knees.
She looks back to see the Catlanx who disappeared at the beginning of the battle sitting atop her pod, casually swinging her legs, and playing with her daggers. On the ground below her, Sunflowers now cut connecting vine.
“Did you furget about me? How unfurtunate for you.” Pheobe says, followed by a laugh.
No, it can’t end like this. She was almost ready to send the child away, just a few seconds more and it would be her victory. The escape pod was charged, it just needed to finish the wind catchers. Sunflower could see the pod at the back of the clearing, it was ready to begin it’s journey. The strange creation looked like a giant walnut, but inside the protective shell was the pod of her perfect child, the thick leaves at the top were ready to catch the wind she would use to launch it, sending it far away from the invaders. She was so close, it’s not fair, IT’S NOT FAIR!
Sunflower clenched her fists and let out a low growl. The five interlopers paused their forward advance, despite having her surrounded.
“Pheobe, why isn’t it going down? You cut the connecting vine, right?” Carlos asks.
“I don’t know, and yes, I cut it. I even used a poisoned blade, it should be dead!” Pheobe says.
Then Sunflower looks up at Carlos, with blood red glowing eyes that screamed for murder.
Sunflower (Dryad Level 321, Level 320 Absorber, Level 200 Life Shaper) Enraged, Berserk
“Shit, watch out!” Drazin screams.
Sunflower bolts straight for Carlos, fangs bared and claws out, ready to rip him to shreds. Carlos holds his shield up and braces as the full force of the enraged monster slams into him, pushing him back a few inches. But Sunflower didn’t relent, instead pressing her deranged attack and ripping into the shield with her claws and teeth with reckless abandon. Drazin runs up and hacks away at the deranged monster with his dual axes but she ignores him in favor of ripping Carlos to shreds. Pheobe appears somewhere in the mix, delivering a few poison laced stabs to vital organs before disappearing into the background again. Mildred attempts to burn it with a fire beam, but has to hold her attempts as the chaos of the fight makes her just as likely to strike her allies as her target. Finally Carlos manages to push Sunflower off of himself using the remnants of his now shredded shield. The moment there is enough distance Kyle brings the spinning saw of his battle suit down on the deranged monster, slamming her into the floor, sending a spray of blood into the air, and ripping off her right arm.
And with that, the forest was silent. The sounds of fighting in the distance died down as the corrupted land was finally released from the clutches of the monster. Everyone was relieved, it was finally over. Carlos walks up to the dying dryad, a thousand-yard stare in its eyes.
“Any last words demon?” Carlos asks as he raises his sword.
Sunflower turns her head slightly to look at Carlos then cracks a small smile.
“You will not take my perfect child.” She says.
Then her left hand squeezes the vine she is holding, sending a final pulse of mana out and causing the dryad to go limp. Carlos realizes his folly and brings his sword down, but it was too late.
Defeated: Sunflower (Dryad Level 321, Level 320 Absorber, Level 200 Life Shaper)
+20950 Exp
Then a rumbling overtakes the glade, the five look up to see a second structure just past the now wilting pod of the dead dryad. It was being raised into the air by the roots around it, and several runes started to glow on the strange creation itself and foliage around it. Before any of them could react, a massively tall tornado appeared around the device and started to carry it into the sky.
“Mildred, don’t let it get away!” Carlos yells.
“I’m on it.” Mildred says
And with that she bolts into the air, as fast as her primitive flying magic could carry her. Drazin, Pheobe, Carlos, and Kyle all run to the base of the roots and start hacking away at the foliage, attempting to break the rune spell before the strange creation gains to much height. Despite their furious hacking it takes ten seconds to finally cut away enough of the runes to disrupt the spell. They look up and can only hope Mildred has caught and destroyed the strange device.
Mildred however was having no such luck, after gaining a mile height the device had been lost to her in the clouds. She searched where she last saw it but could find no trace of it. Desperately she searched blindly for several minutes until at last giving up and preparing a spell. If she couldn’t find the device, she would just destroy everything she could as far as she can. She prepared Solar Nova, her most powerful spell. It had a huge range and damage but required almost of minute of charging to fire off, but time is one thing she had plenty of.
Once it was ready she cast the spell, releasing a torrent of fire that tore through the sky for a mile around her in a spherical radius, burning away clouds, killing flying creatures an monsters alike, and scorching parts of the forest with its heat. She checked her kill notifications and saw nothing noteworthy, then she turned her attention to the sky itself. Falling all around her were the bodies of monsters, but not the device she was trying to destroy, it had eluded her and escaped. She could only pray it was a fluke of a deranged monster and would do no more damage. Returning to the site of the battle she regrouped with the others. Upon landing they were waiting for her.
“Well, any luck?” Carlos asks.
“No, I lost it in the clouds, and I don’t think I hit it with the Solar Nova.” Mildred says
“What! The most powerful mage in the world and you cant find and burn an oversized walnut!” Pheobe shouts.
“Pheobe calm down, now is not the time to fight one another. I’m sure Mildred tried but no one expected a flying walnut to make a great escape. I don’t think Kyle could even do that.” Drazin says while pointing a thumb at Kyle.
“No but seeing its design gives me a few ideas I could try. Unfortunately, nothing that could help us find it.” Kyle says
“So, what now then?” Pheobe asks.
“Now, we return and …” Carlos says.
Before he can finish his sentence, Pheobe disappears into thin air and presumably runs away.
“Bye then, like I’m going to stick around so you all can try to stab me next.” Pheobe says.
“Pheobe we agreed we would not attack you until after we finished the mission AND went our separate ways after returning to the coalition’s capital.” Kyle said.
“Yea not risking it, byeeeeee” Pheobe says, her voice slowly getting quieter as she runs off into the distance.
“Pheobe we are not finished, we still need to spread out and find that device.” Mildred says.
But Mildred’s complaint was met with nothing but silence. The catlanx had run off to where ever she intended to disappear too.
“So, where is this perfect child it was rambling about? I want to smash it!” Drazin says with glee.
“Drazin, I think that device was the perfect child.” Kyle says.
“Oh….. crap” Drazin says with a hint of disappointment.