Zalia stood looking at the array of poultices and ointments that she and Ember had made from the various herbs she had.
Bitterbalm Poultice (Potent) - Bronze rank.
Will cause necrosis to the applied wound along with an ever-present sense of dread.
Frozen Heart Poultice (Potent) - Bronze rank.
Will rapidly heal cuts, abrasions and other surface wounds.
Flame-root Oil (Potent) - Bronze rank.
Extremely flammable.
Dodge-vine Oil (Potent) - Bronze rank.
Can be applied to armour to provide a slight enhancement to its protectiveness.
Manifest Paste (Potent) - Bronze rank.
Capable of solidifying incorporeal beings.
Zephyr Mist (Potent) - Bronze rank.
When breathed in, can replace the need for breathing for an extended time.
Water Lily Stem Juice (Potent) - Bronze rank.
Wonderfully tasty drink not much different in effect to eating the stem of the Water Lily
Water Lily Petal Ointment (Potent) - Bronze rank.
Can drastically reduce fever and other side effects from sicknesses.
Cavern Fungus Shade (Potent) - Bronze rank.
When poured over an object, will hide it from sight for an extended period of time.
Adastem Juice (Potent) - Bronze rank.
A creature that drinks this will be able to adapt to their environment for a short time.
It had been a fun experience experimenting with what kind of refined material the herbs would turn into. The poultices were kind of pasty with pieces of solid plant all through them, with the others turning into oils, paste or even juice. The two that were most interesting to Zalia were Zephyr Mist and Cavern Fungus Shade. They sat in two separate bowls, Zephyr being a white mist and the Cavern Fungus Shade looking like liquid darkness. She might have called it an oil, if not for the little box of information describing is as a shade instead.
Some of these, unlike the Snow-leaf Ointment, might actually be useful to her. Putting aside their usefulness as something she could give to people, they were also able to do some things that her rituals couldn’t do easily, not without preparation at least.
She went to find Aylie, wanting to talk to her, and found her playing with the starlight puppy.
"Hey Aylie, how are you doing?"
Aylie looked up, the puppy gnawing on her hand a little.
"Okay."
Zalia sat down next to her, lifting the puppy into her lap and patting it.
"I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for disappearing for all that time. Some very... insistent people wanted to talk to me. I hope you've been alright."
Aylie looked down, fiddling with her hands.
"At first I was very scared. It was such a long time and I didn't know where you had gone. But then, I remembered that you came back last time and knew you would this time too!"
Zalia pulled her close for a hug, her heart feeling warm and fuzzy.
"Of course Aylie and I always will."
She felt a little bad for making the promise, not knowing if she would be able to keep it. Despite that though, she felt good, better than she had days before, that was for sure. It was good to just do something simple, easy and consequence-free for once. An evening with Ember messing around with plants followed by a heartwarming talk with Aylie was exactly what she had needed.
As it always did, however, reality soon came knocking.
Ro arrived back at the little campsite, seeming excited and invigorated. Zalia could immediately tell the difference in the spirit, a mixture of strength and joy practically visible all over his body.
“There is just so much nature here! Alive, thriving, chaotic, beautiful nature.”
His words brought a broad smile to her face. She had felt similar things when first arriving in Endaria. Compared to the world she had come from, it was basically a wild forest, untamed and untouched. She leaned against the inside of her vault portal, looking out at him.
“I’m glad you are feeling a little better.”
He was practically glowing.
“Very much so. To be in a place so fresh and clean, free of the corruption. I had forgotten what it was to soar skies filled not with the dead but the songs of birds and breeze.”
“Feeling eloquent are we?”
“The beauty of nature requires more complex language to convey. You will understand when you are older.”
She snorted a laugh, stepping fully out of the portal as Ember walked past to check on Aylie.
“You were just reborn, which basically makes you a child.”
“Being reborn is a fact of life for an Ascendant. Perhaps you’ll understand that one day too.”
Zalia turned to look at the starlight puppy running around Boreal, nipping at her gently. Thankfully, Boreal had apparently grown the patience of a saint being around both Aylie and now the puppy, only giving half-hearted retaliatory swipes.
“Speaking of being reborn. What exactly do we do with them?”
Ro turned to follow her gaze, his beady dark eyes focusing on the pup.
“An excellent question. Much as the story told, when I was younger Starlight guided me to become what I am today. I feel that I should do the same for them, yet I have a feeling that Aylie will be a better guide than I ever could.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
She looked to where Aylie was still kneeling, also watching the pup.
“Aylie? Why?”
“For the reasons we spoke of earlier. At this time, she might be young and inexperienced. The lives of Ascendants are long, quite long indeed. I believe it will not take much time before Aylie is better at seeing hidden truths and divining the secrets of the world than I am. I may be a spirit of mysteries, yet Starlight is a spirit of the stars. Oftentimes they could unveil things even I could not. Yes, I think that the blessing Starlight has given the child was for this very reason.”
Something about that didn’t quite play right to Zalia. She had urged Aylie to trust the starlight wolf, to accept the blessing and the class that had come with it. Had the wolf only done that so it would have a backup in case it needed to sacrifice its knowledge and life to Balance?
Thinking that though, wasn’t it fair for the wolf to want some way of regaining what it needed to sacrifice, even if it might take a long, long time? It wasn’t like the wolf had harmed Aylie in any way. It had given her a class that would end up beyond what any normal Endarian would ever expect to gain themselves.
“Well, first thing’s first then. We gotta give them a name. Or maybe we let Aylie give them a name.”
“Starlight is a perfectly apt name for them.”
“Look, I don’t disagree with that. But, I think we should give them one anyway. I mean, I gave you Ro-ak and you like that, don’t you?”
Ro’s large head covered in vines turned to look at her.
“I will concede that point. A name then.”
Zalia walked over to where Aylie and Ember were chatting and sat down on the ground next to Aylie.
Ember was talking to Aylie about her powers, going over a few of the things that they had learned from Ro earlier that day. While Aylie had been there for the conversation, she had also been a little… in the clouds. She had been more interested in Ro’s aura than the words he spoke.
Zalia only spoke up once Ember was done.
“Hey, I think we should give the starlight pup a name. I thought you should give a name to the rebirth of the creature that gave you your blessing.”
“A name,” Aylie said thoughtfully.
She was playing around with a few strands of grass using Plant Manipulation and they danced and twirled under her directions.
“Something to do with the stars, maybe.”
Aylie nodded in agreement, still looking thoughtful, though her gaze had turned to where the puppy was chewing on Boreal’s tail.
In the fading light of the day, the pup was beginning to glow gently. Light, blue light reflected off the crystal shards that grew from Boreal’s back and shoulders.
“Luminescence.”
Zalia considered it.
“It’s a little long. How about Lumin for short?”
She looked to Ro, who seemed fine with the idea.
Aylie nodded and Zalia urged her to go teach the puppy their new name. For her own, somewhat selfish reasons, she wanted Aylie to grow a bond with the pup. If she did, then Aylie would grow up protected by an Ascendant being. Zalia wasn’t her birth mother, but was starting to properly think of herself as that to the girl. And what mother wouldn’t want an extremely powerful being protecting their child?
Zalia sighed, realising it might soon be time to get back to reality. Hildebrandt would no doubt be arriving soon and then they’d have to go back to the war camp. From there, she didn’t really see any path other than to use her newly Silver rank Healing Presence and the aura of Ro to push into the capital. There, they could take down the thousand-eyed one. It would be a huge strike against the invasion, taking out their most powerful piece on the board. If she was right about the demons fighting out of fear rather than loyalty, it might even cause some of them to start fighting amongst themselves.
She settled in as Ember cuddled up next to her on the ground, intending to fully appreciate the last few moments of peace they might get for a while. The idea of taking Ember, Aylie, Boreal and the new member of their family, Lumin, away to some remote spot once the invasion was over grew more and more in her mind. Freeing Cormaine was still in the plans for her, but why not wait until Aylie was grown and stronger, until Ro had gathered more strength, until she herself had ranked up to Silver, maybe even Gold rank.
⪼ ⪢ ℋ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℋ ⪡ ⪻
Zalia was right in her assumption, as Hildebrandt arrived in a flash of movement less than three hours later. She was covered in dust, dirt and various pieces of destroyed plant matter. It was almost like she had forgone going around the plants and had just gone through them instead.
She looked at Zalia and Ember, looked at Aylie and Lumin, then at Ro. Then, she sat down on a log, dropped her tower shield to the ground and Zalia watched in amazement as all the stiff, tense, ready-to-fight energy fled from her body.
In a moment, Hildebrandt went from dangerous almost-Emerald ranker, to relaxed woman that just so happened to be wearing plate armour.
Once she’d had a few minutes to settle in, Zalia began to explain who Lumin, previously the starlight wolf, was, who Ro was, what had happened with Balance and how they had gotten here. She explained the significance of having Ro on their side now and what it meant for their plans going forward. The one thing she didn’t reveal, was Ro’s explanation about Aylie’s powers. That was something she wanted to keep secret.
Hildebrandt took it all in with near silence, then told Zalia that she had destroyed the entire keep that she’d found her in. Apparently, there hadn’t been anything of importance there, though Zalia had no doubt the woman would have found the cell as well as the power-limiting bracelets.
Then, Ro repeated a question from much earlier.
“How do you want to proceed, Zalia?”
This time, she was quite a bit more ready for it.
“I think we should go back to the war camp and convince them that now is the time to strike at the capital. What has happened there since I’ve been gone?”
This wasn’t something she’d considered yet, and Ember replied.
“A force to the south of the capital has slowly been making its way east and north to meet up with the main camp. They had just arrived when we left to find you, Zalia. Larel was with them and she took over command of the Morning’s Shade while Hildebrandt came to get you. Now is as strong as that army is going to get and the camp is completely overflowing. We managed to get the Morning’s Shade settled in to your Grove well enough though. I think they might be of the same opinion that now is the time. We only lose out by waiting, we’re as strong as we’re going to get.”
Hearing that only reinforced Zalia’s idea.
“Right, then we go back and strike at the capital. I was thinking we take only the strongest people and strike quick and hard at the thousand-eyed one that lives there but maybe a bigger attack is a better idea. Hildebrandt? You’d know better than me.”
The woman looked up from where she was chewing on some type of hard ration, dried meat perhaps.
“Well, we certainly could try that. If we failed it would be the end of any chance to take back the capital though. I don’t really know their numbers and how many high-rankers they have, do you?”
Zalia shook her head. She knew that there was one Ascendant but what about Gold rankers? There had to be a few at least. If she remembered correctly, the king was and he was definitely on the enemy side.
“Ah, we should probably leave the tactical decisions to the generals. Either way though, now is the time.”
Ro shifted from where he stood, head turning.
“I am in agreement. I am stronger now than I was in Cormaine. The sheer presence of nature here has revitalised me more than I thought possible and I believe I can take down one of the thousand-eyed ones in a one-on-one fight. Are you sure there is only one there?”
She’d almost forgotten he was there, he stood so still. Like he was a part of the forest around them, which he was in a way.
“I think there is only one, though it’s hard to tell. What else can we do though, none of the other nature spirits or gods will help us. Lumin has already tried to push them to action.”
“If there are two, I might be able to hold them back long enough for you to do your work. This one might be strong enough to help me in destroying them once your fight is over.”
Ro turned his piercing dark eyes to Hildebrandt, who looked a little uncomfortable under the gaze. She wasn’t as used to being around powerful gods and spirits as Zalia was, evidently.
“Alright, well not much more we can do without talking with the generals. Let’s get a good night's rest and be off for the camp in the morning then.”
The others all nodded their assent and packed in for the night. Not Zalia though, she stayed awake staring into the small crackling fire as thoughts tumbled through her mind. Similarly, Ro stood there a part of the forest around them, motionless.
All the mystery, pain, fear, desperation and hard work that she and the others had put into figuring out the rituals and events surrounding them was coming down to this one final fight. Whether they freed the capital and took out the thousand-eyed one and the king or not would decide the fate of Endaria for the years to come. Zalia just hoped they would come out on top.