When the deluge of fire stops, a piece of me sees Ruby faint and be caught by Alex, but that’s all background to the here and now. The scene in front of us is pure black, the stone scorched by the intense flame and heat, but we’re also still in shadow, as the solid wall of feather still blocks out the light of the sun behind the target.
My breathing is even and slow. My heartbeat is loud in my ears, but just as steady as my aim. Just waiting for that one moment where the wall of blades reveals one of those vulnerable eye sockets to fill with my arrow.
---
My next full thought, or observation is that there is a hand on each of my shoulders. I know these hands, these caresses of magic. They belong to Bond and Alex, but why?
I take a huge gasp for breath as the black is torn away from my tunnel vision and I hear her voice, “Stand down, Sid. Garn is fine. This isn’t a fight anymore.”
I cough and sputter, even as I keep my bow on target, “Wha- what are you talking about. Explain, Commander.”
“Aurora Hephaestus understands the {Garnet} influence well. He saw that Garn was struggling and wanted a bit of a spar himself. With their first clash, he got a feeling for his strength and when he smacked him off the cliff, he could already tell how resilient he is. We all know that Garn is a tough bastard to even hurt these days. More substantial than that though, we’ve heard him yell up that he’s fine, embarrassed, but alright.”
I finally start lowering my bow and easing back on my channeling, feeling Bond’s deft touch easing the burden of the overdraw even as Alex’s soothing healing washes in from the other side, “And the rest?”
“[I can answer that. Though first, may I lower my shield? The air is still thick with your killing intent and I wouldn’t want any more accidents to happen.]”
I glance between him and Alex as she nods to Ruby who is laid out but weakly smiles and waves, “She’s fine. Just overdrawn. She didn’t hold her attack like you did, so she’ll need some rest, but she’ll recover in an hour or so.”
I put away my weapons at another look from Alex before turning my attention back to the Lord, “Yes. I’m not aiming to shoot you at the moment. Explain.”
There is another unnerving snicker-snack of blades as he rustles his feathers before he pulls him back in a resting position silently. His pointed glances between each of us, though lingering more on Bond, who continues to cough on occasion. The phoenix’s roaming gaze made more irritating by a smirk on his countenance, “[I like you lot. All of you are going to be glorious fun. ~But, to answer your inquiry and reiterate the agreement your leader has forged between us.]”
He sweeps his wing out behind him and points at the distant, massive tree, “[You seek a way to either cure your companion, or find the source of his affliction? Head towards that tree. Follow the wind. But keep this last point in mind. As your large friend has learned, you will find what you seek. Choose your path wisely.]” He gives us another pretentious and ominous sweep of his eyes before leaning over the cliff and diving past the edge, “[Until next time, adventurers.]”
Breaking camp without the big guy helping takes a bit longer, and unlike him we’ll have to take a longer route to the bottom.
The journey to the tree is uneventful, even if the density of core beasts is unusually high. They haven’t been throwing themselves at us mindlessly, so there isn’t a berserk spring or Profane dungeon to worry about. Even if we were certain it would cure our friend, neither of those are things we’re prepared to deal with on our own.
The hike through the woods takes its time, though the closer we get the more noticeable the ‘wind’ that the Lord mentioned becomes. It’s similar to a whirlpool or tornado, just pulling more and more, not air exactly although the air follows the pressure too.
While we’re travelling, Bond’s condition flare up again, and we pause for a moment before he waves for us to continue. His speech broken up by bouts of coughing, even as we can see him shivering with chills and sweating heavily, “It’s definitely a Mana current of some kind. There’s a heavy mix of both Mana and Mako in this section of forest. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think we’d entered a dungeon’s domain. But these sensations are wholly different to those.”
I echo his sentiment, “Not even Profane dungeons feel like this,” the subtle haunted nod from Ruby goes unnoticed by the others, “and we’ve all been in enough Wild dungeons to recognize one of them. It’s definitely similar though, so keep on high alert and if it gets to be too dangerous, I’ll call for our withdrawal. There’s no timer on this part of the quest he gave us, so if we need to go back to the guild hall and barter or hire some additional help, we will. Got it?”
Alex is the only one that seems like she wants to protest, but we’ve adventured long enough that she trusts my judgement for these things. We’re all quite capable, and Bond can pull his weight even while suffering through an extensive episode of his illness. So, if I feel like we can’t handle something, we might not make it back if we don’t retreat.
Garn gives me a look and nods towards Bond while rolling his shoulders. As much as Bond hates being coddled, if Garn is the one to pick him up, he won’t protest it. With that in mind, I’ll let us push a little harder than I might originally. Because Bond’s flare up still hasn’t died down yet, even with him not channeling and Alex applying continuous healing as we keep up our march.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Thankfully, despite our worries about what sort of strangeness is happening with these woods, all that we really encounter are various groups of mice and rats. Some of them are rather vicious or nasty bastards, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. After the first fight where Bond channeled for Ruby to burn through the initial wave of fire-resistant mice, and the severity of his condition not increasing, he’s been amping all of us to make the journey faster.
And while I see the impatience from Alex and the concern from Ruby, I still insist we stop every couple of minutes while I cast my senses to scout for us. We’re making great progress, but I won’t let the extra energy from Bond, nor our concern for him make us sloppy. He’s not getting better, but he isn’t getting worse either, so it’s not an emergency, even though it sucks, and he looks like a corpse walking in the rain.
It’s during one of these pauses that I notice something… unusual even for our strange circumstances. It’s off the game trails we’ve been following, but there is a pool of thick liquid in the near distance. It’s not really water, and with my Sight from Shadows I can’t really make out many details. I mention it to the group and start to head that way for a better look when a gauntleted hand lands on my shoulder.
“You get to make the tactical calls, but I’m still the leader here, Sid. The Lord specifically warned us that we would find what we sought. Taking this detour, away from the wind’s pull, where are you heading?” Alex’s voice is clear, direct, and with the slightest challenge of curiosity.
With one foot off the path, it’s only now that I realize that the woods have gone completely silent and still except for that steady breeze. I scan the faces of my companions but don’t think they’ve noticed it yet, “Trouble. I’d be looking for trouble. You’re right. Let’s stick to the path for now. After we get Bond sorted out, we can consider curiosities afterward.”
As we continue our journey, Garn waves me over and whispers, “Silent. Noticed. Ready. Don’t stress others.”
There’s one last swarm of mice to deal with before we catch sight of our destination. That one was particularly large and relentless. It took a while for me to recognize that after the initial tide that came from all sides, that there were only a couple of funnels that the reinforcements were coming from. A quick sprint past a couple of trees pinpointed a brood mother and a swift arrow ended the first I found.
Though, after the first kill the waves stopped from everywhere and I only managed to track one more than was running away from its hiding spot. The other locations were empty or unidentifiable by the time I checked them. Despite the numbers, no one is any worse for wear, aside from Bond who seems to have reached the limits of his prodigious stamina. But with our goal in partial sight through the trees, we head onward.
The grove for the large tree, isn’t a cleared-out space, nor even one with strangled or dead wood due to the obvious headliner. Instead, the trees nearest have been warped, twisted in bizarre ways, and seem to have grown in such a way as to appear to be pushing back the encroachment of the rest of the woods. The sight is unnerving in the extreme, even if the open space would be relaxing for the absence of all the extra limbs.
As we approach cautiously, the fact that there aren’t any limbs below a ten-foot height is another mark of strangeness. Though more distracting is that with us now in this clearing, the source of the wind as a distinct rhythm to it, that I notice we’ve all unconsciously started mimicking. It’s as though the tree itself is breathing high above us.
“Guys? I know we said this couldn’t be a dungeon and all, but…” Ruby had walked only a couple steps past the ring of warped trees before stopping, and now she points towards the big one in the center, “That’s a Scion. A {Named} one at that.”
There is an ominous creaking of wood at her declaration as one of the warped trees on the far side begins shifting its limbs. Recalling our recent encounter with a showboating phoenix, I immediately go into overwatch on the trees nearest us. Unwilling to fall for the distraction of obvious noise now that I know that at least the warped ones can move.
We stand ready for a few tense moments as the creaking subsides, then starts up again louder, though still no movement from those within easy range of us, “Trees. Point. Follow?”
The creaking stops again after Garn speaks up and don’t start again, “What’s he talking about, Alex? I’m watching our backs.”
“He’s kind of right. The first tree that moved looks like it’s pointing at the main one. The second round was the pair next to the first pointing both inward and towards the first. Maybe, there’s something on that facing we’re supposed to find?” Alex’s confusion audible in her last sentence, even while I can hear the diligence and focus throughout.
“Okay then. Everyone? Weapons at the ready, let’s take it slow. Ruby, you’re our lookout for what the Scion wants us to see, everyone else watches for movement from the ground, the branches, anything. What’s the Mana looking like Bond?”
Bond has another coughing fit before responding, “There’s plenty of it in the area, though mostly there’s just a massive vortex high up. Before the trees moved there was a lot of flow between the big tree in the center and the ones that moved. Though I can’t confirm that wasn’t just for show. Sorry for putting us in this situation, guys.”
I’m about to correct him when Alex beats me to it, “You didn’t put us anywhere Bond. We’re here as a team, and even if Aurora Hephaestus didn’t send us to this tree, we’d’ve had to investigate anyways. This is just Guild Duties 101. That we’ve got a quest to try and help you is a bonus.”
We take an inordinate amount of time to walk around the clearing. As we get closer, Bond mentions another wave of power towards the warped ones, and again there is that awful creaking, groaning noise as the trees twist and bend around to resume their task of pressing against the outer woods. Ruby acknowledges that she’s got sight of what we’re likely meant to see and asks us to keep moving so we can all get a better angle on it.
“My quest says update pending, waiting for group. And also, yeah. You guys know how some people call the core room of a dungeon, its heart? I have no idea why this one is so strange, but I’m guessing That is a good excuse for why it feels so different from usual.”
I glance over at the hollow in the giant tree, see the mass of vines suspending the Mana Crystal heart that sits beating within. I get the quest update prompt but go back to overwatch while Alex deals with the next part.
“Alright Bond. The quest says we have to touch the tree to initiate a contract with the dungeon for your cure. Since we haven’t heard anything about this and there weren’t any trips already outbound to this place when we left, that means we’ll all probably going to get a Pioneer Perk.”
“I trust you guys making the contract. I’ll keep watching our backs while you guys go over the details with our host,” I call over to them as I keep my gaze scanning our surroundings.