The feeling of wrongness stayed with me during my morning patrol of the southern side of the Grove. My mind went through countless scenarios to explain the disappearing bodies from the clearing the day before. Running through the border of the forest and checking all of my traps allowed for plenty of free time to drive myself crazy.

Marci should be returning this afternoon from delivering the report to Nadia. That would give me the flexibility to scout the northern side of the forest and southern area of Norx. As far as I knew there were no more villages remaining of living humans in the entire country. The fall of Arda and Commander Lucien's retreat to the forest would have eliminated anything stopping Allain and Lautree from outright control of the country.

Lost in my thoughts, I decided to climb to the top of the canopy and look out over the large grassy plain to the west of the forest. I picked a tree that was at least fifty feet around and had to be hundreds high. Old, gnarled bark made for easy hand and footholds as I cleared the canopy after only three or four minutes of climbing. The dense cover at the top gave way to a blinding brilliance from the sun that rarely reached any part of the forest.

It took a few minutes to readjust my eyes to be able to see through the natural light of the sun. As my stats and bond has grown with Marci, my eyesight was improved as well. I could see for what I figured was a hundred miles in a straight line. The vast and wild ocean as always bordered Eter, the plain stretching for eighty some miles before running into the sea. Scanning up and down the treeline I could see halfway to the south end of the forest and the entirety of the northern end.

No hordes or signs of life at all moved across the plain that I could see. Lautree had long ago trained mages to hide his army from the naked eye. The illusions always fell apart under close observation but were effective at this type of scouting. Forest apes were stationed every half a mile constantly observing for the slow moving hordes for this reason. By now the party from last night would have died down and the apes would have returned to their regular patrols.

The area of the forest leading to the Old Mining Camp was too far away to see anything from my current vantage. The last update I received was that all of the damned had been pushed back out of the forest and there was a safe zone of some twenty miles surrounding the camp. Lautree was far more active sending his forces against the defenders there. I knew my time of seclusion was coming to an end and that I needed to rejoin the survivors eventually.

I began my descent of the giant tree and ran through my plan for today. I needed to scout out the northern and eastern borders of the Grove to the territory of the Norx survivors. The former men and women of Norx were fierce fighters in their own right but lacked the numbers to patrol the vast territory they had claimed. Their ability to erect and fortify defensive positions was the only thing stopping Lautree from launching a combined attack from both of his armies against the survivors.

I passed by two ape senties and flashed a hand signal indicating no visible movement from up above. Sending a mental ping to Van to ask if he wanted to join me on my scouting. He affirmed and I could feel him start moving in my direction. I reached out mentally to Marci but she was still too far from me to get a gauge of her position, but she was alive and in a normal emotional state. Likely enjoying the attention she received from the Old Mining Camp inhabitants.

Van quickly caught up to me as I jogged through the northern side of the Grove. When I first secluded myself up here I had foolish thoughts of finding out what had happened to my father. His last known location was scouting the area around the former village of Grove which was nestled just to the west of the forest line. All that remained of the site of the village were burned down husks of buildings. There was no evidence despite how hard I looked of any survivors still remaining in the area.

We reached the northern end of the defended border, north of the Giants Grove but well short of the plains of Norx without any sign of incursion. I checked my trip wires and stake pits to be sure, there hadn’t been any sign of the damned in this area for months. Lautree seemed content to funnel his army farther east against Lucien and south against Nadia. This area was home to a few fearsome beasts as well. Mostly they minded themselves and stayed in this area, creating a natural barrier against the unintelligent and weak damned.

I viewed my map interface again to scout out any resources that had regrown in the area and set off to collect a few. Flowers, plants, berries, roots of all types filled my pack and reminded me of the need to resupply at the camp. I didn’t have the correct supplies and equipment to fully restock my bombs, despite my mobily alchemy kit. I could trade for some of it to the defenders with Lucien, but I knew I was just delaying the inevitable.

Moving east at a quick pace, none of the traps had been disturbed. After two hours we reached the border of the Norx survivors and saw a few sentries on patrol. I slowed my jog and pulled down my hood, changing it from the camouflage of the forest I normally wore to more obvious and relaxed clothing. Most of the defenders knew of Van and I but it wasn’t worth scaring one and having to defend myself. I walked towards the patrol with my arms out wide in a non-threatening gesture.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Sylar?” One of the patrolmen asked loudly, eyeing Van at my side.

“That’s him alright. Pulled us out of a nasty scrap a few months ago, my entire unit would have died without him and his companions.” The second sentry said. The three men, actually two men and one woman, visibly relaxed.

He walked up and offered his arm. “Good to see you again. Officer Jaxe. What brings you this far east?”

“Just out scouting the northern and eastern borders.” I choked out awkwardly. I rarely spoke out loud anymore and my voice felt strange to my own ears.

“Any sign of trouble? Any news from the front?” He answered, gracefully ignoring my discomfort.

“No news from the front yet. I destroyed three hordes in the last week trying to breach the western side south of the Grove. Three to five hundred damned in each, no elites. I expect a report later this afternoon though.” I answered.

“Ah strange that is. It seems that all of the elites have pulled out of this area as well. We have had a trickle of damned every day just to keep us honest, but no real force behind it.” The first sentry commented.

“It is strange. One year of vicious fighting without any breaks and now we only have to deal with a few stragglers at a time? Got us all on edge I’ll be honest with ya.” Officer Jaxe added.

“Yesterday in a clearing between some of the Giant’s I found three bodies. Not damned, not obvious where they came from. No supplies and not dressed for traveling. When I returned to the clearing later the bodies were gone. Keep your eyes open for anything like that and send word if you see anything.” I said to the three sentries.

“No signs of anything like that out here, Sylar.” Officer Jaxe responded, looking uneasy at my story. “Are you still camping in the same area? If we need to reach you.”

“I am as long as I’m not patrolling. Same general area, the apes know to watch out for friendlies and can find me easily enough.” I replied. “I’m going to go speak with Lucien and resupply.”

“Sounds good. Shouldn’t be any more patrols between here and Fort Arda to trouble you, not that they could if they wanted to.” Jaxe replied, chuckling.

Moving deeper to the eastern side of the forest, Van decided to return to his pack. He didn’t enjoy the closeness of the nascent Fort. I said my goodbyes and Van started back on his own, it would only take him a few hours to rejoin his pack. Nothing on that side of the forest posed a threat to him at this point. Fort Arda was an hour away at a hard run so I pulled up Van’s companion interface and marveled at the growth of the ape.

Van - Forest Ape

Level

60

Health

900/900

Armor

120(125)

Strength

90

Stamina

81

Agility

51

Intelligence

35

Wisdom

35

I wasn’t sure if I could take him in an all out fight without using bombs at this point. His growth was incredible, he was a Regional Beast Lord in all but framework recognition. Much of his rapid growth had happened in the early days after the fall of Etes. He had roamed far and wide through the forest venting his anger on any available enemy. He had built his pack on the back of his combat prowess and the apes revered him for it.

The sound of shouting and hammering broke me out of my daydreaming. Fort Arda was constantly growing as the survivors of Norx recreated the legendary walls of Arrya, their former city. The walls would have never survived in the former world, the humidity of the forest and rampant tree roots would have crumbled them eventually. The framework however, granted skills and bolstered the ability to build astonishingly durable structures. The walls were built out of a mix of granite mined locally and wood from downed trees. The fusion of the two defied conventional wisdom but proved incredibly strong.

Approaching the wall in construction, I was stopped briefly by sentries on high alert for sabotage. As before, my name was well known and I was escorted directly to the Commander. He was finishing a meeting with his captains so I waited patiently off to the side while I inspected the fort. Fort Arda had improved massively since the last time I was here. It now had enough room for thousands inside its laid out walls. Soon the former Norxmen would be able to move from the safety of the camp wholly into the fort.

Lucien was a tall man, half a foot taller than myself with broad shoulders. He looked like a typical story book hero with long gray hair falling to his shoulders. His armor shined a silvery glow, a translucent outline covering it, likely a defensive skill. He used a massive greatsword that shone anytime it was out of its sheath, the sight of it had an inspiration like skill for his army. He was known as a fair but stern leader, a stalwart defender as his class suggested. I had great respect for him after leading his people for so long despite the conditions.

“Sylar, I’m glad you are here. Fate has brought us together today, I am afraid I have grave news.” Lucien broke me from my thoughts, his face drawn and grim.