Chapter 14

Silas strained his senses as he looked out over the cavern. It seemed to be an empty open space filled with rough, rocky ground save for the rolling roots jutting from the soil periodically. The walls and ceiling were covered with gigantic roots that swirled around, creating a dome of gnarled wood throughout. Around the edges, lining the walls, were strange dark pools that set his hair on edge when he looked at them. He sensed nothing living in the area besides the abundance of nature and earth mana, but it reeked of metal and death above all else. Still, he found no sign of life.

“I feel nothing here. Are you positive you sensed this keeper, Xavi?”

“This is not a game master. Our lives are not a game,” his bright yellow eyes darting around, face filled with fear, “Not even the gods dare tread on the ground of a keeper's domain, and we are at its heart. It was a mistake following this trail. I understand you feel responsible for this human girl, but she is not more important than your life. No one on this continent is more important than you, master.” Xavi clutched his head and dropped to the floor from his hover, landing on his knees. Silas ran over and tried to help him but was swatted away by the imp. “I have said too much too early, master; I will be fine, but we must leave now before it comes.”

“This is blood! These are all filled with blood!” Antony called.

Silas turned from his familiar in the direction of the voice to see Antony knelt beside one of the nearby pools. At some point during his search, he had walked off to investigate without him noticing.

“Get away from that, you stupid human! Do you not understand what I am saying? Get back here!” Xavi yelled in a rage.

As the man rose and turned, a giant bubble formed. Just as he was about to take his first step, it popped, covering him; he disappeared before the splash hit the ground.

“No!” They shouted together.

“So, this is the little warlock the gods are whispering about.” A feminine voice boomed, followed by a crazed laugh.

Silas twisted around, looking for the source, but nothing was there.

It continued, “I thought I had you before, but it was only an imposter. Your false god has been obscuring you from all of our senses since you woke, but instead, you willingly walk into my home. Oh, what joyful irony.”

“What do you mean? I have no god. Where are my friends?” Silas demanded, searching for the source of the voice.

“No? How sure are you of that?” With its question, the ground began to quake. Debris from the ceiling and walls fell, sending a cloud of dust and dirt into the air. The blood pools spread out further as the trembling ground calmed.

“Where are you? Show yourself!” Silas stole a look back at Xavi, only to find him missing. He tried to touch their connection, but a searing pain erupted behind his eyes, dropping him to a knee. As he released the connection, his vision returned. Silas drew his sword as he stood. “Xavi!”

The feminine voice laughed again, “Do not worry, little warlock, they are safe for now. I needed a private moment for you, so I sent them away. It will be up to you if you retrieve them. Why don’t you put your weapon away and let us speak? It will not save you here. It will only be a distraction.”

“If it will not save me, then what does it matter? Why do you hide if you do not fear it?” Silas shifted his weight, searching.

The air began to shimmer and vibrate. Around the epicenter, forty yards away, roots began to move. They twisted and turned as a chasm opened in the cavern floor. Wet dirt rained down from the ceiling. Silas tried to step backward to avoid the clots, but a giant root blocked his path. He looked around the edges to see massive, gnarled roots uncoiling, blocking all the pathways and sealing him in.

The churning soil pushed up a twenty-foot ball of mossy green wood from the center of the chasm. The nature, metal, and death mana were so dense it was palpable. Once it fully reached the surface, it began to elongate and rise until the form reached thirty feet tall. As the mossy branches unfolded, they took the shape of a female humanoid made entirely of mahogany brown wooden branches, deep green moss, topped with light green flowing leaves. Finally, as it grew its full height, it morphed and settled into a curvaceous humanoid with leaves cascading down from its head just past its mid-back with flowers forming a crown that bloomed from around the leaves. The moss moved and stopped over its main body, covering its modesty. The mahogany branches wound together until they fused into an epidermis covering the legs, arms, and face. She took a deep breath and let out a giggle. “There we are.” She smiled with the creaking of wet wood. “Do you feel better now, little warlock? I believe you are the first mortal to see my true dryad form in nearly three thousand years. Do you feel special?”

He stared in awe for several long moments. ‘If I were to squint my eyes, she would almost be beautiful…bah,’ he shook the thought from his mind.

“Oh, how delightful,” she said in a sensual tone, “fearless and resistant to my charm, too? My, aren’t you a strong one? I see Pathezaus has chosen well as always.” She cooed.

“Who?” He asked as he straightened himself.

Laughing, “By the gods, boy, do you truly not know the god who granted you his power?”

Silas only stared as he shifted his grip.

“Pathezaus the Redeemer? Archdemon of the pathless realm? God of the Shadowfire? None of this means anything to you, does it? You hold his mark and part of his soul in that book of yours, yet you know nothing of him? How strange. How did this come to be?”

Silas reached down and touched the grimoire. He had hardly thought of it since the first few days of training with Xavi when he told him it would take time to unlock its secrets. He had been more focused on mastering the fireball and his control, like his familiar had said, than studying it, given that it had gone blank. ‘When was the last time I checked for changes?’

Silas sheathed his sword and opened the book. He looked in shock as two more spell pages were open to him. He quickly memorized them in case they disappeared again and closed the grimoire. “What do you know of this? Why have you been hunting me?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She used a finger to push a strand of leaves from her face and slowly started to walk towards him with a soft smile, “Before I answer your questions, and I will answer them, I need to ask you some of my own. Firstly, do you know the purpose of the keepers?” She raised a hand level to her shoulder, and the remaining roots wormed together to create a makeshift seat. Then she sat down, crossed her legs at the ankles, and folded her hands in her lap.

“The keepers? Very little. Only that you rule over ecosystems. I was only just told of your existence.”

“Hmm. I suppose that should not be surprising. That is only a small part of our existence. Our true purpose is to protect this world from outside threats. Beings so powerful that even the gods may be unsuccessful if they struck.”

“Many eons ago, the gods of this plane noticed that another of their kind was attacking other worlds and claiming them to grow their power. This being became so vast that it took all the gods from several hundred worlds to come together to destroy it. In an attempt to prevent this from happening again, they came together one last time and fused portions of their power into fourteen of the strongest beast kings and queens in each world. They dubbed these new beings keepers.”

“In our domains, we can contest with the gods; if the world's keepers unite, we could destroy even the strongest of the gods. However, they stripped away our ambitions for more for their protection.”

“Several thousand years ago, your god found a loophole and began marking the chosen from other worlds, particularly ours, for an unknown reason, circumventing the eye of the keepers and growing his strength. These humans became known as warlocks, and with his growing powers, they could contend with the keepers, though none were destroyed, thankfully. After Pathezaus was stopped, he was banished back to his plane and has not been heard since. It seems he has found a new way to reach us through you.”

The weight of these events dumbfounded Silas. He ran his fingers through his scruffy beard in thought before he spoke, “Is this why you’ve been hunting me? What would you have me do? I’ve been searching my whole life; my whole purpose was to find this, but now I feel lost with no goal. If you wish to end me, I know I have no hope of fighting you with even a fraction of your might, so all I’ll ask is you release my friends. They have no part in this.”

The keeper sat wordlessly for what felt like an eternity before she finally laughed loudly, “My, my little mortal, what a surprise you are. I have met many of your predecessors, and I see that you are truly unique. Brave, selfless, honest, no, you are nothing like those horrendously bloodthirsty fiends. No, little warlock, you’ve passed my first test; you will not die today.”

She shifted her weight and continued, “To answer your question, yes, I had fully intended on eradicating you while you were weak, and I still have not fully decided that I won’t,” she winked. “I sense an heir of destiny about you that I cannot ignore for now. Please, young one, tell me your story of how you came to be so I may make my final decision.”

Silas looked down in confusion, “Just like that, you would take that chance? You know nothing of me, yet you are willing to let me live? You contradict yourself.”

She unfolded her legs and leaned forward, “I contradicted nothing. I am just not as quick to spill blood as my siblings. Convince me, little warlock.” Leaning back in her chair, waiting.

Silas took a deep, uneasy breath and began his tale from his earliest memory. It took a full two hours to repeat the excruciating details of his life since he was awoken in the capital. Several times, she interrupted him to ask strange questions about feelings or emotions, but mostly, she just listened. By the time he finished, the dryad sat in contemplative silence. All he could do was sit and wait for her judgment.

Finally, she stood and turned her back to him, crossing her arms, “Everything is different this time. It’s as if an entirely different being is using Pathezaus’ tricks, yet I feel him in you. Something is wrong...” She turned to him, “I will speak with the others and warn them of my findings. So far, you are the only emergence; we should hope it stays that way. You have a choice to make here and now: use your power to do as your predecessors or use it to destroy your god. To do so, you must first destroy his nine conduits to this world. You have already encountered one down in that cave where you gained your strength. The others are scattered over the continent, but you should be able to track them down with your connection to him and your grimoire. After you destroy them, use your familiar to gain access to the pathless realm and end him fully. You alone have this ability.”

“You will have one last test from me. Defeat my spawn with everything you have, and I will let you and your friends leave.” She stretched out her arms, and as she did, the pools along the edges grew, rolling and bubbling violently. “We will not speak again after this; if we do, it will be before your death. Do not make me regret this little warlock.” She walked over to the center of the dirt-filled chasm and began to sink in.

“Wait! What is your name?” He yelled, trying to send his voice over the growing tremors and falling debris.

She looked over her shoulder and smiled as her head sunk under the soil, “Kioko, Queen of the Dryads, Keeper of the Forests. Good luck, Silas Dreamwhisper.” Then she was gone, leaving no trace of her mana behind.

“Thank you, Lady Kioko,” he bowed.

Silas was jolted as a screech scraped against his ears. He rolled to the side to see a hundred blood-red blobs squirming his way from the edges of the room. Slowly, they morphed into a cacophony of screams from different evolved animals and beasts one would find in the forest. Their bodies morphed to match the sounds as Silas readied himself for a fight. He recalled the newest pages and got to work. Pulling the grimoire from his belt, he opened the book and started to cast. Mana shot through his channels from his core into his throat as he raised his hand, palm out.

“Shadowfire.”

Grey and black flames blasted out in a cone that spread fifty feet wide. Every blood fiend that was touched ignited, causing their bodies to boil. The flames spread like wildfire until every one of them was covered in the spell. They did not die outright, but it slowly ate away at them. As they closed in, some blood fiends shaped like the weaker beasts, like birds and lizards, dropped to the ground and disappeared in a splash. A fireball blasted apart one evolved beast that looked like a cross between a horned owl and a horse swooped low with its claws outstretched, meaning to end the fight solo. Silas replaced the grimoire, favoring the double cast, and started raining fireballs as fast as possible.

Beasts burned. Blood boiled.

A full five minutes later, only a third remained. He dodged to the side as a leopard-like creature flew past him. He missed the counter spell as the flaming ball he released flew by it only to strike another, closing in behind. ‘I need to end this,’ He thought.

Silas had cast shadowfire once more while he fought, which doubled its potency. However, it was very mana-intensive, and his reserves were waning. He decided to try the other spell he had read about earlier.

“Reign of Fire”

Silas screamed as mana burned through his channels as he held the spell. Green and purple orbs the size of his head rocketed to the ground. Hundreds of them slammed into the remaining blood fiends, causing splashes of blood and flame to light up the cavern. Finally, he collapsed to the ground, completely drained of mana. Head spinning, he looked around, expecting to see more beasts flooding over him, but only silence remained.

A whisper came from behind him, “Good job, little warlock. Be strong. I hope never to meet you on the battlefield.”

“Silas!” Kara slid into his side and rolled him into her lap. “Are you alright? Can you hear me?”

He laughed, “Yeah, just a bit of mana exhaustion. I’ll survive. How are you? Where are the others?” He tried to sit up, but she held him down.

“They are with us. Just rest.” Kara said as she brushed the dirt from his face.

“We are here, master. What happened? How did you survive?”

“She’s gone,” he told his friends everything that transpired while they were missing.

After he was finished, Xavi held up a hand holding the bulging questions from the twins. Xavi held Silas’ glare for several heartbeats until he finally sighed, “I will answer everyone’s questions once we leave this place. Master Dreamwhisper if you have regained enough mana.”

Silas nodded and got to his feet. Kara grabbed his hand and held it, “What are you doing?”

He smiled at her, “Grab onto me, all of you. I’m getting us out of here.”

Silas closed his eyes, and they disappeared in a flash of green and purple light.