Without the weight of the pack and with just my ax on my back, I surged forward, my feet ripping out chunks of the grassy soil. Within seconds I was a hundred meters away and still speeding up. Even the wind seemed intent to help me as it pushed me forward. My eyes constantly looked for a smidgen of green in the grey and brown hills. An angry scream came from behind, and I suddenly remembered the insects.
How could I forget those? I wanted to turn back but suppressed the desire. I had to hope Eli could take care of herself. She was obviously doing something, and if she thought it could stop a deity, it had to be enough to stop some cloud of insects. Right? I wanted to roar in anger and frustration.
Rathica, what is going on? I screamed, praying she would answer. All I got was an odd mental nudge like someone trying to connect to me, then it disappeared.
As I ripped along the edge of the rocky hills and turned around the curve, a rocky outcrop blocked my view of what lay ahead. It seemed like a small landslide had happened long ago, and boulders, loose gravel, and sand had flowed out onto the grassy plains.
There had better be trees beyond that!
Ten seconds later, I reached the four-meter high roadblock. Instead of going around, I just slowed a little, leaped, and scrambled up the sharp incline before levering myself up. As I did, the wind turned slightly, and I suddenly smelled fire and smoke.
Far ahead of me, pillars of fire dotted the landscape, and dozens of small dots were moving between them with torches. They were slowly moving my way, and in between, I saw a dozen of the verdant, towering green trees.
They are burning them… I thought in dismay, scrambling forward. I jumped from the ledge, landed on the ground, and made a beeline for the nearest tree.
"STOP HIM!"
A loud voice echoed through the forest, and ahead of me, the figures turned and spotted me. Torches were dropped, and then figures began rushing my way. Even from this range, I could see the bows they were carrying.
I was almost fifteen hundred meters from the closest tree, and they were double that, but within seconds I saw some of them outpacing the main group. Covering two or three meters per jump, they were moving so fast I knew it would be close.
I can't hold them much longer! Rathica's agonizing growl reverberated through my mind, and I could hear a mirror of my own anger and annoyance in it. Hurry, Est! HURRY!
"What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" I roared, trying to squeeze more speed from my already over-performing body.
A hundred meters from the trees I knew I was going to make it! I could see four of the Preyatar hunters closing in, but I would be there first.
Something shuddered in the air above, accompanied by the sound I'd come to associate with incoming deities, shattering of plates and glass. Before I could blink, I saw the afterimage of a brown-haired, one-eyed man in front of me, glaring at me and raising his hand to grab me. Just before he reached me, a blue bolt of lightning slammed into the man knocking him away. It happened so fast I had not enough time even to react as a shockwave of sound and air blew my hair back and knocked me away and onto my back. I slid across the dirt for a few meters before scrambling up with ringing ears.
All around me, I saw flashes of things moving, too fast to make it out—a red and a green bolt that constantly tried to reach me, intercepted by a blue one. Where they touched each other, explosions blasted small craters in the ground, and dust, sand, and small rocks were spraying everywhere.
Covering my eyes with one arm, I struggled forward towards the trees. Air pressure from the explosions constantly pushed me around, but I had just one goal. Touch those bloody trees.
Ten meters from the closest, I saw the Preyatar hunters had reached the other side of the small cluster of trees. They were closing in on the explosions and couldn't get past, glaring at me as they began circling around to get to me.
Four meters from the closest tree, an arrow slammed into the ground beside me, quickly followed by more. Looking up, I saw the hunters target me, and the only reason they hadn't touched me yet was due to the explosions of air from the still blinking bolts around us. Stumbling from another burst, I jumped forward, reaching for the tree.
For an instant, I saw a blurry, reddish hand grasp for my arm, then my palm touched the tree, and I screamed the word that had been at the front of my mind.
"Ulderion the Greenhaven!"
Something knocked me away, and I rolled across the floor, dizzy and blinking. In front of me, where the tree was, stood a flaming-haired, bare-chested bear of a man. He grabbed the tree and ripped it from the ground in a single heave, tossing it away as if it was a toothpick.
The explosions around me stopped, and a grey blur and a green blur turned into Lischen and a black-haired, handsome man with haunting eyes in light leather armor. Both were covered in small cuts and scrapes.
The three of them were ignoring me, staring intently at the uprooted tree as if anticipating something.
Two feet slammed into the ground beside me, and I looked up at Rathica. She was bleeding from innumerable cuts, her armor ripped to shreds, and the golden glow from her eyes dim. She gazed at the tree while dropping to one knee and putting a hand on my arm without looking. A shock ran through my arm, and my status window pinged twice in quick succession. I felt myself grow slightly weary, and the boundless energy I had been feeling vanished.
Come on, you old tree! Hurry! Rathica's voice sounded weak.
For a few more moments, nothing happened, and I felt Rathica tense.
Just when Cinderage righted himself, his flaming hair bursting out with his soft laughter, the tree shook, and its roots pulsed with a green light. One of them slammed into the ground just as a massive ball of fire raged over it.
The tree burst aflame, but another one two meters away, scorched though it was, shivered and shook, then the one behind it. Within a moment, the trees in front of me began shivering, shaking, and a soft glow emanated from their leaves. Not the sickly green of Lischen, but a deeper, darker green.
Cinderage raised his hands, and balls of fire began streaking for the trees.
"Too late!" Rathica suddenly said, getting back up. A green shield blocked the balls of fire, and a massive, hulking figure that dwarfed even Cinderage surged out of the soil. Sand and dirt clung to a wooden chest covered in leaves and vines while four burning golden eyes sat above a massive beard of brown leaves.
"What took you two so long?" an annoyed voice grumbled, and Ulderion turned to Rathica and me. The other three Deities were glaring at the newcomer.
The air filled with buzzing, whistling vibrations.
"Bah!" Ulderion growled, stepping forward. As he did, the burned trees behind him shook and began growing at a continuous speed. All around, small saplings burst from the soil, stretching up and up as a verdant green forest formed around us.
"This. Will. Be. MY. Place!" Ulderion roared, punctuating each word with a stomp of his feet. Massive surges of energy spread from him as he did, and the ground below my feet started rumbling. More trees shot up, reaching for the stars, and the one Cinderage had ripped out and torched began healing. A large hand made of thick vines and leaves erupted from the soil next to it and lifted it in the air before shoving it back into the hole it had come from.
The buzzing and whistling increased, and Rathica stepped forward, her eyes blazing with energy.
"Enough! You have lost and will need to deal with the consequences! You can't defeat both of us, not anymore! A new balance will be made, and we will discuss this later! Now. Leave us," she shouted at the three Deities who just looked at her with disdain.
Preyatar and Lischen stared at her in anger, but Cinderage stepped forward, the fire in his eyes blazing, tendrils of flame licking his golden-red eyebrows. His face contorted, his hand clenching as fire began licking all around him.
He's losing it! I felt the temperature increasing and began shuffling back when a drop of water struck the soil beside me. Another fell on Cinderage, causing a hissing sound and water vapor to rise up from his shoulder. The fire deity snarled and looked up. More drops fell, and suddenly it was like the floodgates of heaven had opened as we sat amidst a deluge that turned everything to mud.
A blueish water ripple occurred in mid-air, and Flowheart stepped out, standing slightly away but still beside Rathica.
"So. You've succeeded," she said, her voice sounding like it could freeze water. She was staring at me, and I shivered.
How about you don't bloody put any attention on me, I thought, glancing aside and suddenly seeing the three deities stare at me. My eyes involuntarily met those of Lischen, and a cold shiver ran down my body as my skin began to crawl. Literally. I scratched my arm and looked down to find small insect heads burrow out of my flesh, mandibles clicking. Trickles of blood ran down my arm, dripping on the floor. Images of turning to compost surged through my mind from an outside force, causing it to buck and heave.
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"ENOUGH!" Rathica's voice caused a second jolt to pass through me, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Energy surged from it, and the insects were forced out of me, dropping to the ground. They quickly burrowed away. The holes in my skin healed in the blink of an eye, but as I looked at it, I couldn't help but swallow. A root of fear began settling deep in my mind before warmth and power flooded me. I felt Rathica's presence wrap around the fear, crushing it and washing the remaining tendril of it away. Feeling a vague memory disappear, something I only knew I was too glad to be rid of, I stood back on my feet, looking at my arm as if nothing happened.
Rathica stood before me, shielding me from the three deities.
"So. Decided to come and help after all?" she growled.
It was obviously meant for Flowheart, but her eyes were staring daggers at Lischen, and I could see heat vibrations flow through the air between the two.
"No. I'm here because I was promised something," Flowheart hissed back. But at the same time, she moved to stand between Rathica and Ulderion, who had moved closer. They formed a single front now, not as close together as the three other deities, but together nonetheless.
Soft laughing, smooth and clear, came from Preyatar. He was the only one of the three who had yet to act, and he had been quietly observing what was going on so far. Now he looked between the three deities opposing him.
"You three do realize that even if you can stand against us, even if only a little, you do not have a strong enough foothold in this world to oppose us?" As he spoke, a whirring and whistling sound accompanied his voice, showing he was saying more than just what I could hear.
"Not yet," Rathica said, raising her chin as she stared down at him. She towered above the slender lord of hunters.
"We will come to an arrangement that is beneficial to us," Preyatar said as he gestured beside him to Lischen and Cinderage. "Or, our followers will set out to burn every forest, destroy any temple dedicated to water and ice, and hunt all of your primes, no matter the cost to us." As he spoke, his voice became emotionless and uncaring, making the threat sound even worse.
The lack of warmth in his voice made me shiver with a cold that even surpassed what Flowheart did.
"This isn't the time to discuss this," Rathica said.
"We shall discuss it now!" Preyatar hissed. "You," and he looked at Ulderion. "Don't think we don't know you have more of those ancient seeds, nor that we are unaware of the importance of those earthlings! We will take them."
Preyatar's words held no room for rebuttal, and as he spoke, I felt a dangerous vibe begin to spread from him and the others. The air began rippling as ringing sounds showed the deities had taken the conversation to one I couldn't hear.
As the conversation continued, I wholly expected them to come to blows. Instead, slowly, the imminent threat faded, and to my astonishment, at some point, I could see from the reactions of the deities that they were bargaining. Or at least, that's what it looked like to me.
Letting out a breath of air I hadn't noticed I'd been holding, the tension released slowly from my body as I gazed at the ground.
After some time, I don't know how long, something changed in the lighting, and I looked up quickly.
Preyatar, Cinderage, and Lischen were gone, and Flowheart had a final exchange with Rathica before taking a look at me that made me cold. Then she disappeared in a shower of raindrops. The torrent of rain that hadn't abated quickly turned to a drizzle before stopping altogether. A clear blue sky sat above us, with no cloud in sight.
It was silent for a moment, then Ulderion turned his golden eyes to me.
"So, these, are the mitigating circumstances you spoke about?" he grunted, waving his hand at Rathica.
Completely taken aback, it took me a moment to remember the conversation we had back in his domain. I shrugged, not sure what to say.
"Bah. Whatever." The massive golem turned to Rathica, scrutinizing her.
"This is a vast improvement over your previous dandelion shape. The name is better too."
Rathica chuckled, and I saw some of the wounds covering her body closing slowly. Only those with greenish pus on the sides stayed open.
Probably Lischen's doing. I didn't think deities could be poisoned, I thought, wondering how that could even work.
"No poison, Est. More like a disease," Rathica said. She raised her arm and looked at a gaping wound, a finger long and an inch deep. "It will take a long time for this to heal, but it's fine. Contrary to what you are thinking now, it's more of a superficial problem."
Ulderion let out a short burst of rumbling laughter before snorting. "What she means is, it just looks ugly, but it has barely any consequence. Yet."
As I was pondering about the implications of what he just said, Uldrion scrutinized me.
"So. I presume you want your rewards now?"
I swallowed, then quickly nodded.
"Bah. Fine. I've been looking into what is happening, and together with the seeds those three bastards stole from me, I can't give you more than six. The rest I'll keep. I've seen some interesting types in that world of yours, who will fit much better following me than…" he glanced at Rathica and his four eyes narrowed as he looked at the ax symbol on her chest. "Some deities." As he spoke, a small sapling grew from the ground beside him, thickening till it was almost a meter thick. Half a dozen seeds hung from it, and I recognized them as the same I had found in Ulderion's domain.
What happened to the, 'as many as you need, bit'? I thought, but I kept my complaints to myself. I had no idea how strong the current alliance between Rathica and Ulderion was. I didn't know how many he had to give to the other three to get them to leave.
"Ulderion, you stingy old crouch!" Rathica snorted before stepping forward and touching the tree. Five of the seeds vanished in a golden shower of sparks, while one disappeared into a watery puddle.
"Don't you give me that, Rathica! If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Ulderion growled, glaring at her. "The others might not know, but I do! After everything is set and done, we are going to have a long, long, conversation about what your shortsighted decision-"
Ulderions words turned to garble, and Rathica glared at him. "That's low!"
The massive golem deity laughed as he turned to me. "My offer still counts, mortal. If you ever get sick of this one, come to me. The others might not know how to poach, but I do!"
Rathica growled angrily, but Ulderion just let out a deep, rumbling laugh as he sank into the ground. His rumbling laughter seemed to pass into the ground that began rumbling and bucking. More and more trees began shooting up from the ground.
"Let's go, Est. This old tree is making a haven for his people and will be busy for a while. Besides, we have more important things to worry about."
As soon as she said it, I thought of Eliandra, and I shot up, blood draining from my face. "Elia-" The area around me turned to a streaking plethora of color, and then I stood somewhere else, my stomach heaving. "-andra," I finished before throwing up on a carpet of black insects that lay unmoving on the ground.
Wiping my mouth, I looked around and saw a dozen Preyatar hunters lying on the ground surrounding the two unmoving wooden mounts. They were cleaved and cut apart, and beside them sat two figures, in the process of wrapping themselves with bandages.
"There you are! Did the world come falling down where you were?" Haltir rumbled as he looked at me. He had a long cut on his cheek, blood smeared everywhere, and marks and cuts covered his previously old but wearable leather armor. A tightly wrapped bandage covered his arm that he held close to his chest.
"Eli?" I said, coughing out some more phlegm as I looked at the motionless figure behind Laurel.
Laurel, using two hands to hold a thick wad of bandage against a bleeding gash in her belly, stepped aside.
I rushed forward, hearing her stammering something about how Eliandra fell unconscious after casting a massive frost spell and ending the insect swarm, but I didn't pay attention to the rest. I knelt beside the black-haired woman I loved, searching her for wounds. She had some scratches but nothing that seemed dangerous, so why was she unconcious? Her breathing was soft and labored, and her face pale and drawn. I gazed up at Rathica, who was looking at Eliandra.
"She did something dangerous…" Rathica said softly, a worried look on her face. "She managed to keep at least one of the Prime spells from Flowheart and somehow managed to cast it. But without being a prime…"
Rathica blinked forward, moving in a way I hadn't seen her do before, and appeared beside Eliandra without any noticeable effect before placing her hand on Eliandra's head. It began to glow, and I sensed something moving between them.
"She and I are going to have a talk later on about how she managed to do this..." Rathica whispered, and I could feel her disbelief through our connection.
A soft sigh came from Eliandra, and she began breathing easier. She didn't wake up, however.
"I can't help her more than this. She will need to come to my realm and stay there until I can make a second Prime. That's the only way to cure what ails her."
"Flowheart?" I asked carefully.
"She didn't do this, but she won't help either, although she could. At least she has withdrawn all of her remaining influence from Eliandra's mind from what I can sense."
I felt a little of the fear drain from me, and wearily I looked around us at the tapestry of dead insects. "So…?"
Rathica rose and looked at me and the others. "Now it's time to go and show you my realm and prepare for a mass of new followers."
Rathica turned to Haltir and examined the worn ax in his hand for a moment. "You're old but resourceful, and you must know this. Only followers of mine may enter my realm…" she let her words linger for a moment, and for the first time since meeting the old soldier, I saw his face jump through a list of emotions: surprise, awe, but mostly enormous desire.
Rathica laughed softly and stepped forward. "That's as good a yes as I've ever seen," she said and put her hand on Haltir's shoulder. "Good, you can train the whelps how to do battle with a true weapon."
A whoosh of air rippled from Haltir as he closed his eyes, and his head dropped back while a short wave of golden energy coursed through him. His ax fell from his hands as his fingers spread apart. I marveled as I saw some of the wrinkles on his face ease away while his grey hair regained a small bit of the black luster it must have once had. The effect was so much more powerful than what I had seen with Laurel.
When Rathica removed her hand, Haltir sighed and looked at her, smiling like a child would at its mother. It lasted for a second, then his normally stoic face returned, and he just nodded before bending to pick up his ax.
"It's because he matches us better than I could have imagined," Rathica said, turning to me with glittering eyes. "Deities can sense kindred spirits, but not very well how kindred."
It made sense, I thought as I recalled how deities were made.
"Right! Enough, it is time to leave," Rathica said. She turned and moved us all closer. When we stood around her, she frowned at me.
"Try and keep your stomach under control this time."
Sure... easy for you to say! I thought as the world turned into a blur as we were moved across a vast distance in the blink of an eye.