"A fine name indeed for such a noble creature," Harn said with a smile as Axel introduced himself and Drago. "And I guess you're not so bad yourself, kiddo."

"Thanks," Axel chuckled at the Bird-man. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm a Mystic of Nature," Harn said, extending his hands to his sides and showing off his clothing. "More civilized areas might call me a druid or something, I guess."

"I thought about trying to become a druid," Axel told the man. "Seemed like a lot more 'care for the land' than the 'tame cool animals and fight beside them' that I was going for."

"Druids, as they truly are, are much more violent with nature than I am," Harn told him. "Druids seek to form a symbiotic balance with an area, forming it into a grove. More powerful druids draw their powers from the grove they have formed, and the grove is a reflection of them in the world. If you're ever unsure of the nature of a druid, examine their grove. It will reveal all."

"Mystics, such as myself, are more at one with nature," he continued. "We do not have a grove or other connection with nature, rather we listen to the land around us as it cries out. If a population of deer grow out of control, we either seek to introduce a predator that will cull them before they destroy the balance around them, or we cull them ourselves. If a monster is lost from its home, we seek to return it before it can attempt to settle in place. Ours is a battle that pits us against druids and even each other, but we still seek to help the land above all."

"Cool," Axel grinned. "I can kinda get behind that idea. I love animals and if there was something that was threatening them, I'd try to fix it before it became too much for them."

"A noble ideal," the Mystic grinned at him. "Most of my bretheren think that animals are a means to an end for the land. They are fools, animals are a valuable source of the land's cries and often the balm it requires to begin healing. Even if that healing must occur by the expansion or culling of more civilized populations."

"So, I guess that means that this corruption stuff is something that you're trying to stop?" Axel asked.

"That's correct, Little Pup," the feathered man said with a nod. "On behalf of the Windy Hawks that live around these cliffs, thank you for your help, and for burying their dead."

"Just seemed wrong to leave them lying out there," Axel said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

"Had they remained above the ground, in the numbers that they were in, they would have attracted scavengers and made the cliffs more dangerous for the Windy Hawks for a time," Harn told him. "Burying them, prevents those scavengers from coming."

"I don't think the corruption is solved yet," Axel explained to Harn after a moment. "Do you know how to find the source of it?"

"I do not," Harn told him. "King Burny and your Drago do though."

"They do?" Axel asked, confusion coloring his voice.

"Oh yes," Harn nodded. "We Beastkin are endowed with greater senses than our brother races, but even our greater senses are no match for the raw ability of magically endowed beasts such as them."

"Can you do that, boy?" Axel asked Drago as he knelt next to him and scratched him behind the ears just the way he liked. "Can you find the source of that nasty corruption for me?"

With a contented woof, Drago answered in the affirmative as his tongue lolled from his mouth.

"Okay then, buddy," Axel grinned. "Can you track that for me?"

Nosing Axel's chest, Drago stood from his sitting position and began to sniff the air, searching for the scent of the corruption. After a moment, he let out a bark and set off in a direction.

"We'd best keep up with him," Harn said from beside Axel as the Wolf-man stood to tower over the Bird-man. "Come on, King Burny. The Rockwolf is better help than you at this."

With an indignant screech, the hawk with orange and red feathers rose into the air and wheeled above the wolf as he tracked the corruption to its source. Axel followed after them with Harn bringing up the rear.

"Going to be dark soon," Harn observed as he and Axel followed after Drago while King Burny preened himself on Harn's shoulder.

"Should we stop for the night?" Axel asked.

"No," Harn told him. "We're close to our destination. I'm just worried about the possibility of the corruption being empowered somehow by the night. Stranger things have happened."

"What exactly is the corruption?" Axel asked the older Beastkin.

"It's difficult to say," Harn began. "Could be one of the Outsider's Planes trying to intersect with ours and it's their form of magic leaking through. Could be an Archdruid went nuts and corrupted his grove before he died, turning it into a vile, desecrated land that infects everything around it. Could be bad cheese."

"What do we do if it is an Outsider's Plane?" Axel asked.

"You keep me from being killed while I call on the leylines to strengthen me so I can heal the land," Harn told him.

"And if it's a corrupted grove?" Axel wondered. "The same thing?"

"Nope," the Mystic answered him with a grin. "Then we let King Burny do his thing and start a forest fire at the center of the grove."

"Do we eat the cheese?" Axel asked warily.

"You can," Harn said as his grin widened even further. "I was just going to destroy the stuff with fire, but you can eat it if you're that hungry."

"We're here," Harn's grin suddenly dropped as he came to a stop and Drago began to growl threateningly toward a large, black tree that was devoid of leaves.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"What's wrong with it?" Axel asked as he looked as the tree. "I don't know what I expected but if that's a druid's grove, then it's a lot smaller than I thought it would be."

"You and the other two will have to protect me," Harn said. "This is a tree from the Faerealm. An Outsider's Plane. I'll have to purify the corruption from it and then you'll have to fell it. Do you have an axe?"

"Nope," Axel told him. "I've got a skinning knife and Drago."

"Hold your hand out," Harn ordered as he raised his staff and King Burny took flight from his shoulder. Axel did as he was told and, instantly, a large, wood-handled, stone-headed axe appeared in his hand as a notification flashed before him.

Quest Updated: You have found the ultimate source of the corruption. Cleanse it.

"Are you ready?" Harn asked as Axel felt an electric power buzz from the feathered Mystic and his eyes flashed with a mottled green and brown light. "I'm starting."

Before Axel could ask what to expect from the tree, a loud roar shook the forest around him and he turned to take in the sight of a massive bear. Fur patchy and bald spots showing on the beast, it's red eyes locked on Harn with hatred and it rose to stand on it hind legs towering nearly fifteen feet above the ground before roaring louder and slamming heavily to the ground sending, a ripple outward.

Reacting to the ripple running towards them, Axel drove his Manipulate Earth spell into overdrive and with an audible growl stopped the corrupted bear's attack from reaching him and Harn. Angry that it's attack had been stopped, bear lumbered forward, growling.

Screeching, King Burny dove from the sky and raked his talons down the side of the bear's face, opening a trio of lacerations that bled red smoke into the air. Roaring in pain, the bear swiped at the hawk as he fled out of range and Drago leaped from the side, claws flashing to open more wounds in the bear's thick hide.

Whirling to face the new threat, the bear snapped it powerful jaws at Drago and drove him backward as Axel raced into the melee and drove his axe heavily downward in a cleave that split the bear's front left shoulder. Bellowing in agony, the bear swiped out with its injured arm and connected heavily with Axel's torso, throwing the Beastkin away.

As Axel rolled to a stop, he watched as King Burny and Drago both charged the wounded bear from the side and above. Unable to face both creatures at once, the bear ignored them and charged toward Harn as he stood there silently, power building around him as the plants around him grew uncontrollably.

"Not today, fucker," Axel growled as he called his spell and opened a massive pool of soft soil beneath the bear, burying it to the shoulder in the earth, before he hardened the ground around it, halting the creature's momentum. Wheezing from the pain in his chest, Axel pulled himself to his feet, gasping as he felt his clearly broken ribs rub together. Step by painful step, he moved toward the struggling bear as it attempted to free itself before he raised the axe into the air and brought it down to be buried in the corrupted bear's head.

As the bear fell silent, dead, Axel yanked the axehead out of the beast and readied himself for the Risen Corruption that would flow out of the bears wounds. Drago and King Burny made their own preparations as they surrounded the corrupted bear's corpse.

"Ready yourself," Harn called. "I will purify the magic of the Faerealm, soon. Bring the tree down quickly, before they attempt to establish a connection to the tree's life and open the way between our realms!"

"You guys got this," Axel encouraged the two beasts as he turned away from the rising smoke that was forming itself into the shape of Axel's body, without the axe he held. "I'll be back soon."

As the Rockwolf and the hawk fell onto the Risen Corruption with a vengeance, Axel approached the tree as the power around Harn flared further and he felt the world hold its breath before releasing a roar that Axel heard with his spirit. A roar he answered as he raised the axe and pushed his Manipulate Earth spell into its head, forcing the stone to grow and sharpen, before he swung the axe at the trunk that, even as the axe bit deeply, was turning from the sick black of the corruption to a healthy, deep brown.

Screaming from the pain in his chest as the feedback from swinging the axe reminded him, forcefully, of his broken ribs, Axel pulled the axehead from the tree's trunk as the branches above him filled with colorful blooms. With a second swing, Axel drove the axe's stone head into the tree again as he felt a build up of power from within the tree. As the third swing bit deeply into the tree a keening cry rose from behind him. With a fourth, full-powered swing, Axel finally severed the tree's center, cutting the flowing power in half and causing the axe in his hands to begin to vibrate.

Flooding more mana into the stone head, Axel took a batter's stance and brought every ounce of power he could from his battered body, driving the axe's massive head through the last of the tree's trunk with a roar of pain and rage. With a harsh creak and violent crack, the massive tree began to fall, sending a booming noise throughout the forest that was darkening to night around them.

Breathing heavily, Axel leaned on the handle of the axe and looked behind him to see the glowing form of King Burny illuminating Drago and Harn as they stood watching him.

"Bravo, Little Pup," the Mystic said tiredly. "Bravo. Let's return to a more developed area for the celebrations and rest. And of course, you'll need to be healed before we go."

With a wave of his hand, the Bird-man sent a soothing, cool wind flowing around Axel as the magic within seeped into his chest and healed his broken ribs. A sigh of relief fell from his lips as Axel felt the pain fade and his breathing ease.

"Thanks," he said to Harn with a grateful smile. "Let's get back to Hero's Crypt."

"A fine city," Harn said. "Though perhaps not one suited to our feathered ally. Will he be accepted?"

"If you can convince the guards to let him in, I don't see an issue," Axel said. "Otherwise, I guess I can put a collar and a nametag on him while we're there. That would definetly get him in."

"Then let us go," Harn said with a tired sigh as he set out, supporting himself with his staff. "It's been some time since I've had a proper drink, and I don't care what some of my cohorts say about the effects being the same, fermented coconut milk is not the same as a good whiskey."

"I hear that," Axel grinned as he followed behind the Mystic. "What should I do with the axe?"

"Just drop it," Harn told him. "Nature gave it to us for this task. It would not do to force such a powerful weapon to be parted from the land because we did not wish to give up the power it let us borrow."

"Dropping the axe," Axel said as a muted thud sounded out. "I've got just the place when we get to the city. You'll love it. Good food, great drinks,-"

"Pretty women?" Harn asked with a grin.

"A few of those," Axel returned his grin. "More as the night goes on and the drinks go down."

With a laugh, Harn and Axel moved through the forest as the night deepened around them. As they walked and talked, Axel checked his notifications.

You've completed a Quest!

Find the Source of the Corrupted Blood: You've found the source of the Corruption that was infecting Astrana. With help from allies met along the way, you managed to remove the corruption and prevent the denizens of the Faerealm from establishing a doorway into Astrana.

Rewards:

Perk: Touched by Nature: Nature has seen your efforts to aid its balance and protect the world. All nature will accept you within it. Spending long amounts of time in natural environments will increase your regeneration. You will be better understood by the denizens of nature.

Feat: Fae Hatred: None have ignited the hatred of the Faerealm such as you who has ended the efforts of many centuries in a single day. All Faerealm denizens will be filled with an uncontrollable hate upon seeing you. You will bypass the natural defenses of the Fae more easily. Fae will be unable to charm you due to their hate for you.

Favor from King Burny: King Burny is grateful to you for your efforts to protect one of his flock, he will repay you soon with an appropriate gift.