The flight to the god’s island was a tense one. Zalia was a little stressed about leaving her cave home and the rest of the collective unprotected, though she was sure they as a group were significantly more powerful than she was. She wasn’t really certain what kind of abilities they had other than Delphi’s ability to see some of the future.

The way Delphi had spoken of that though, she was certain that it wasn’t something that every member of the collective got. They had told her of the cycle keeper, a member of the collective who counted the cycles across their entire lifespan, keeping count from the very moment that the collective went underground in the first place.

She had never learnt just how long ago that was but maybe it was something she should talk to Delphi about. Another day perhaps. Today, she had to talk about relocation.

She arrived at the god island, flying down in a curling path around one of the pillars. Landing in a crouch in front of the temple, Boreal soon landed just behind her. Her thick fur was ruffled and messy, having been blown around by the quick flight. They went inside and down to the room below.

“Delphi?” Zalia called out as she entered the room.

“Zalia,” Delphi replied.

“I’ve got some… bad news,” Zalia said, going straight to business.

“And?” Delphi asked.

“We found some creature hunting around the cave entrance, a humanoid figure with six wings. We killed it but the cave might be compromised,” Zalia replied, frowning a little. Shouldn’t Delphi already know? Or was this something they didn’t foresee.

“That is… concerning. Are you certain it knew the cave entrance was there?” Delphi asked with a hint of worry.

“Not entirely. We came back from the game of hunting Boreal and I have been playing and Boreal attacked it immediately. I was a little behind, can’t keep up with this terrifying furball much anymore,” Zalia explained.

“Smelling the air! Feeling, corrupt, enemy. Not tasty,” Boreal added.

The sentence, long for Boreal’s standards, came with images of what she saw before attacking. The creature had its face up in the air in an action that looked like smelling the air.

“Definitely hunting for something. I’m afraid that the ritual arrays I put up were felt or seen somehow. I’ve just put up a few to block more senses but I don’t know if that will work or not,” Zalia finished.

“What do you suggest we do?” Delphi asked.

Zalia was taken aback again.

“I don’t know, I thought you would have an idea. Can the collective move?” Zalia asked back.

“... We will discuss,” Delphi replied.

Delphi hopped away from Zalia back towards the other four members and they sat in a little circle.

Zalia looked towards the god who had been observing them through the conversation. Ro was right there, hopping around the gods feet as if trying to perform some kind of dance for it.

“Have you ever met these creatures before?” Zalia asked.

“I have no memory of them. Delphi has shared images of the world above with me. It was… not like this when I was previously alive. There was no ceiling above us, only open sky. This much I remember. The forests… the forests were so much more alive,” it replied.

“I found a map of the Bathar kingdom and the surrounding lands in the keep, on another island. Do you remember the Bathar people? Tall, fur covered, long arms. Anyways, they had a kingdom that is on another island now and it had a map that shows a very different surrounds to what we see now. Maybe I can get it for you, to jog your memory?” Zalia said.

“The Bathar… yes, they are… were believers? Once, maybe. A map is no replacement for a memory but maybe it would help. I would appreciate that Druid,” the god said.

“Druid, how did you know that?” Zalia asked.

“I… I just do, it is part of you is it not?” the god asked in kind.

“It is, yes. The other god I told you that I met also referred to me in this way without being told. Is it something you can see?” Zalia asked.

“See? No. It just is,” it explained.

“I won’t pretend I fully understand,” Zalia admitted.

“Neither do I,” it replied calmly.

“I believe we must go talk with the collective,” Delphi interrupted.

“I figured as much, want to go now?” Zalia asked.

“As soon as possible. This is an important decision,” Delphi urged.

“Let’s go then,” Zalia said.

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She collected the collective of frogs and placed them on her shoulders. Small as they were, they fit with one of them being placed on Boreal’s back. Leaving the temple, they once again took flight towards the island they called home.

After the short flight, Zalia landed back at the cave and deposited the five frogs to go talk with their collective. She promised to be back soon and Boreal and her took off again towards the ruins of Hetheir.

She flew near the ceiling across the gap before dropping by a pillar to the ruins, flying low towards the keep. Arriving, she entered through the tower balcony and quickly made her way down the now familiar stairs. First, she entered the second floor that held the royal families quarters, gathering as many of the maps as she could find and storing them into her vault gauntlet.

Going to the bottom floor, she also decided to grab the large sword she had found deposited in the skull of the body she had taken her armour from. The details surrounding that whole situation were still very much hidden to her. All she knew was that the person must have died before the corruption had come to the city as the person was dead not undead. Unless sword-through-skull-itis was a chronic condition that stopped one from being raised from the dead.

Either way, with both sword and maps in the vault, she left the keep once more, not wanting to bring the attention of the possibly Gold ranked undead in the other room. Deciding to fly back to the collective first, they took to the skies and quickly crossed the gap between once more.

They arrived back in their icy cave home just as Delphi exited the pond in the room.

“Decided?” Zalia asked.

“The collective will not leave,” Delphi replied.

“Care to explain why?” Zalia asked, though not with surprise.

“It is safe for us to remain,” Delphi explained.

“It is safe for you… and for me?” Zalia questioned.

“... yes,” Delphi said.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Zalia replied, a little wary.

“You have nothing to fear,” Delphi said calmly.

“You say that Delphi, but I have a distinct feeling that doesn’t mean the same thing to you as it does to me,” Zalia retorted.

“We cannot explain what will happen. You must trust in our sight,” Delphi replied.

“Trust in your sight?” Zalia asked in exasperation, “what the hell does trust in your sight mean? What am I living on some kind of predestined path? No, I won’t trust your sight. My instincts tell me that we need to leave this place or we are going to end up having to protect it with more than sense blocking ritual arrays and a well hidden location. I will not fight an unknown enemy for no reason.”

“Zalia,” Delphi warned.

“What do you want me to do?” Zalia said in frustration, throwing her hands up, “I do not want to live by your prophecies and warnings, trusting my entire future to your hands. I have lived independently for a long, long time and I’m not about to throw away my years of learning and hard earned wisdom because you say it will be fine!”

“The collective will not leave,” Delphi repeated.

“That is your choice to make, I will not make you leave but I also do not wish to stay here. Not without knowing what is coming,” Zalia replied, holding her ground.

“Telling you may be dangerous. We do not know what will happen by our intervention,” Delphi explained.

“Could it be worse than me leaving you all here?” Zalia asked.

That was met with silence.

“Go talk to your collective, I’ll be back,” she finished, turning on her heel.

She left the cave, Boreal close on her heels. She had decided early on to trust in Delphi’s visions despite how much it got on her nerves to do so. She had always been one for freedom of decision and making one’s own path. Hell, she had even moved by herself to an uninhabited land so she was the only one with a hand in her future, amongst other reasons. The fact that Delphi was very obviously hiding knowledge of a future encounter that was possibly harmful to her or Boreal did not sit well with her.

Hiding things from her was one thing, hiding possible dangers from her was another.

So, she took off and flew towards the god’s island.

Throughout the flight she turned the conversation over in her head. She knew she was being slightly hotheaded about it but had come to the conclusion that she really did not like having her future… planned out for her.

She landed at the temple, hoping showing the maps to the god would be a little less of a frustrating experience. Ro hopped out of the temple to greet her, hopping a circle around Boreal before heading back inside. Following along, Zalia carefully stepped past all the roots growing across the floor.

Arriving in the god’s chamber, she opened the vault and collected the stack of papers from the storage indent. Picking the largest scale map she had found, she walked over to it.

“So, this is the map the keep held that shows the lands all around the city. It looks like it used to be surrounded by rivers and forests,” Zalia explained, holding the map up for the god to look.

“Yes… this is- this is it. I remember the rivers, the trees. The way the birds sang and the Esebers dug in the dirt. The sounds of nature, now so quiet. So, so quiet,” it said in a sing-song voice.

“You are the god of the forests aren’t you?” Zalia asked.

“Yes, that was one of my titles. I remember it now as you say it, as if I never forgot. The god of the forests, the god of mysteries. Those were my titles, yet my name still eludes me,” it said in agreement.

“Were you… tied to nature? Is that how you died, the sudden destruction of all you stood for?” Zalia asked quietly.

“Yes, yes I think it is. One moment it was all there and the next, shattered. Torn apart. Torn apart and eaten,” it whispered, a visible shiver going through its leafy feathers.

“I’m truly sorry for what happened to you,” Zalia said.

She used her manipulation to move the earth into a small patch and then grew a single stone pole out of it. She planted some Dodge-vine at its base and funnelled her healing through it until the plant grew up the stone pole.

“This plant is protection. It both protects what it grows on and is protected by the very same thing. Like a symbiotic relationship between the plant and what it grows upon. I leave this here as my promise to you, a promise to protect you just as you once protected nature. One day, you will be strong enough to do so once more,” Zalia explained as she worked.

The god watched her silently, closely watching the plant grow.

“I have to go talk to Delphi but I’ll be back as soon as I can. Ro will keep you company,” she added, standing up and making to leave.

“Druid,” the god said.

“Yes?” Zalia asked, looking back over her shoulder.

“Be prepared,” it said.

“Prepared for what?” she asked.

But there was no response as the god focused back on the Dodge-vine she had grown before it.