9 months after the invasion’s end
Zalia walked through Nature’s Reclaim with her family, the five of them enjoying the sunny day. She was ahead of the rest of them, eyes closed and face raised towards the warm rays of sunlight.
When she opened her eyes, Ember was standing in front of her but something was wrong. The flesh was melting from her face, revealing a grinning skeleton beneath. Zalia spun around to see the fur and skin sloughing off Boreal like she was melting in the sun. Aylie was curled up on the ground, turning to dust.
She turned back around and grabbed Ember’s hand, holding it tight.
“No, no no no. Please, not you, not them.”
With a single blink, Ember was back to normal. She heard giggling behind her and turned to see Aylie rolling on the floor laughing, trying to push away Lumin who was intent on licking her face. Boreal was standing over both of them with her signature look of disapproval.
“Come on darling, it’s time to wake up.”
She turned back around and Ember was smiling at her warmly, a deep love in her eyes.
“What?”
‘Wake up.”
Zalia opened her eyes with a start, looking around in confusion. She was in their living room in the statehouse, head in Ember’s lap as her partner gently stroked her hair. Aylie and Lumin were sitting by the crackling hearth, keeping warm in the winter cold. Boreal was stretched out cozily just beneath the couch that Zalia and Ember were on, the firelight reflecting off her mottled white fur.
She’d been having a nightmare and not the first since the battle for the capital. Her subconscious continued to think about her family being turned undead even when she tried to avoid doing so whenever she was awake. Luckily, her daughter was capable of manipulating dreams.
“Thank you Aylie.”
The girl, still very quiet for her age, gave Zalia a gentle nod and turned back to watch the fire in the hearth. The inside of the statehouse had been significantly changed by the creation of the Grove. It had reformed to reflect Zalia’s needs, as well as those of her family. It had rooms for her and Ember, as well as Aylie. In addition, it had a few different living spaces. They were currently in with a comfortable, soft, leaf-padded couch and a beautifully carved stone hearth depicting Boreal, the stars and flames frozen in time, which Zalia thought represented Ember, had become their favourite once winter had rolled in.
She had missed the middle of the previous winter during her time in Cormaine. It had become her favourite time of year already, with light snowfalls that covered the land, dulling down any sounds. Many animals went to ground or huddled quietly in nests, making it the most quiet time of year. Zalia loved that, more than anything else. She had been tempted to go north and see Glemp, to see what it was like up there at this time of year if it was covered in snow all year long as it seemed to be.
When she had first thought about that, it hadn’t made a whole lot of sense to her. Why was it that the season for snow was so short down here, yet year-round in the north?
Then she had remembered about how she could create little ecosystem rituals, living rituals, using plants. They would help maintain the environment they lived in just as it maintained them. Here, where there was magic, the way nature worked wasn’t entirely the same. It could be snowy year-round to the north because it was the plant's magic that maintained that.
It made her wonder how hard it would be to affect the seasons herself. Could she make it some kind of fake winter in Nature’s Reclaim all of the time? She was tempted to try but didn’t because, well, it didn’t seem natural. Even if what was “natural” was something entirely different in this world.
“What are you thinking about?”
Zalia looked up at Ember who was watching her.
“Just thinking about how different nature is in this world.”
Ember poked her in the forehead.
“You know, you’ve spoken around the subject a few times, mentioning bits and pieces, but I don’t think you’ve ever told me where you come from.”
Zalia fought away the offending finger with a gentle smack, frowning a little.
“I guess I never have, probably because I don’t like talking or thinking about it.”
Ember stayed silent, watching her with those warm, caring eyes.
“But, I suppose I could tell you a little bit.”
She sat up, trying not to smile at how excited Ember looked.
“Well, where do I start?”
“How about with your world?” Ember suggested.
Zalia chewed at her lip, thinking.
“Ok, my world. It is much, much further ahead of this one technologically. There are things that they have figured out how to do there that I couldn’t even begin to explain to you, there’s just nothing like it here. There was no magic there though, none at all. People were just people, animals were just animals. The problem that the mixture of these two things created is that the technology had far exceeded what any animal was capable of. Nature began to disappear from the world, piece by piece, as the population of humans in the world grew and grew. You would have hated it there, I think.”
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Ember tilted her head, looking confused.
“What do you mean by technology?”
Zalia looked around the room, trying to find something so that she could explain.
“Hmm. People learned how to create things that were capable of feats more powerful than magic yet available to anyone. Imagine if, anyone and everyone in Endaria had Bronze rank magic, or the ability to talk to anyone else in the world, or… they could travel at extremely fast speeds and all they needed was a key to do it. I’m not explaining it very well but in essence, they learned to make things that had the potential to make everyone’s lives better, yet more often than not these things were used to harm or take advantage of others.”
Ember pulled her in again, laying her head down on Zalia’s shoulder.
“I can see why you hated it.”
“I didn’t love it, no. But that isn’t why I don’t like thinking about that place. No, that is because of my parents. They were, for lack of better words, crazy. In my world, there are religions and gods too but not in the way you have them here. The gods there aren’t really ones you can meet, at least as far as I knew about. They also don’t manage the people who follow their teachings. Because of that, many extremist groups exist across the world, ones that take things too far, or do horrible, horrible things in the name of those ‘gods’. My parents were a part of one such group and I did not like it. They… hurt me in ways that only a parent can. When I was twenty, I up and left without a word and never spoke to them again. I moved away from where they lived, to a far, remote place of the world. Somewhere they wouldn’t find me, a small piece of nature I hoped would survive the plague that was humanity, at least until I died.”
Ember took her hand.
“And then, you lived there for a while until one day you arrived in Endaria?”
“Yep, that about sums it up. It was a pretty hard first year, learning what to do and what not to do. There were a few close calls but I made it through, with each year becoming easier than the last. Then yeah, I got sucked up by some portal that dragged me here. I’ve got barely any idea how that happened still, though my best guess is it was the Astar.”
Ember squeezed her hand.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
Zalia shrugged, gently so as not to disturb Ember too much.
“It’s alright. It was a long time ago, and I had a long time after it alone to think about why they did what they did. I think deep down they were really just scared, scared of dying, scared of confronting the world if there wasn’t some mysterious god up there with a ‘plan’ for everything. I can understand that. I just couldn’t deal with how it made them act.”
Ember lifted her head up and nodded.
“I can see that. Thank you for telling me.”
Zalia hugged her closer.
“Thank you for listening.”
She hadn’t missed that both Aylie and Boreal had been listening closely as well, her two children that she had saved after their own mothers had died. It hadn’t occurred to her before, but maybe she had felt the need to care for them because her own mother had never really cared for her. She didn’t want anyone to have the childhood that she’d had. Like the childhood that Ember had had as an orphan.
“How are you doing Aylie?”
Zalia had noticed that Aylie had gone still.
“Yes, Astral Walker just reached Bronze!” she exclaimed.
Zalia jumped up from her seat in excitement. It was her first Bronze ability, a long time coming since she had reached Iron some eight months ago.
“Well then, show us what it does!”
A list of Aylie’s abilities popped up.
Druid
Active skills
Active 1 - Plant Manipulation - spell - targeted
Tin - You are able to manipulate plants within a small distance from yourself.
Iron - The range of this ability increases and you are able to manipulate the shape of the plant’s spirit as well.
Active 2 - Nature's Wrath - spell - area
Tin - You invoke the wrath of nature. Nearby enemies are bound by vines, sinking sand or other area related hazards. Enemies are also subjected to a damage over time effect relevant to biome that lasts until the restraint has ended. The damage over time effect deals moderate damage per second.
Iron - When used, Nature's wrath now summons two short lived allies of nature. The allies are one rank lower than this ability. The allies are of a type based on the surrounding environment.
Active 3 - Worldweave - spell - varies (Previously Dreamweave)
Tin - You may weave the dreams of creatures that are asleep. The more familiar you are with the creature the further away you may use this. Additionally, these dreams can have an effect on the targets real body.
Iron - If the target of this ability is tired but not asleep, you may weave a waking dream that has only minor effects on them.
Passive skills
Passive 1 - Healing Presence - passive - aura
Tin - Your very presence grants life to all around you. You, nearby allies and any flora and fauna you so choose within your aura are affected by a heal over time effect. The heal over time effect heals for low health every second.
Iron - Healing presence now heals the most grave injuries first and you may focus it onto a single target, increasing that targets healing while reducing the healing other targets receive
Passive 2 - Spiritual Connection - passive - enhancement
Tin - You have a strong spiritual connection to the world. You are able to interact with the spirit and soul of creatures and plants alike, living or deceased.
Iron - When interacting with spirit and soul, you are able to discern things about it that others would not. This can include things such as lies they tell themselves, wounds to the soul and other similar things.
Starlight Priestess
Active skills
Active 1 - Starfall - Spell - Area
Tin - You may cause stars to fall in target area, dealing a high amount of damage to enemies in the area.
Iron - Enemies struck are temporarily blinded and inflicted with a starlight fire.
Active 2 - Starlit Portal - Spell - Target
Tin - You may teleport a short distance
Iron - You may create a portal that you and one other creature are able to step through, that travels a longer distance.
Passive skills
Passive 1 - Astral Walker - Passive - Enhancement
Tin - Part of your soul walks the astral plane, allowing you insights into otherwise invisible or unknowable things.
Iron - You are able to see into the Astral Plane.
Bronze - You begin to touch the Astral Plane.
“Ok, now what does that mean?”