Elijah sat on the edge of the bed, trying desperately to get his thoughts in order. He had so many things to do, and it felt like the clock was ticking on his opportunity to do them. More than anything, though, he was eager to get back on the proverbial road. Now that he had a lead on where to find Seattle, he felt the call of family even more keenly than ever before. If he hadn’t been called back to defend Ironshore from the orcish invasion, he would have almost assuredly already reached the city.

Of course, that was no guarantee of finding them. Last he’d spoken to Alyssa, they had been living just outside of Seattle in a sleepy town called Easton. And it was far enough away from the city proper that there was every chance it had ended up in a different part of the world. When the World Tree had touched Earth, the planet had been transformed. Those very first notifications had claimed as much, saying that it had selectively randomized the planet while also increasing its mass. However, Elijah hadn’t really realized what that meant until he’d set off across the wilderness.

Since then, he’d spent months traveling through the wilds, and he knew he’d barely scratched the surface of what Earth now had to offer. Never was that more obvious than when he’d learned that the once-coastal city of Seattle was now nowhere near the ocean. He didn’t know how that would have affected the place, but he suspected it wouldn’t be a positive change.

More than that, he’d also learned the scope of Earth’s casualties. Millions, if not billions, of people had already died, and if the recent orcish invasion had taught him anything, it was that the dangers had yet to pass. If anything, things would get worse before humanity caught up with their new world’s development.

Which meant that Elijah needed to get to work.

So, he pushed himself upright. He’d once again chosen to stay in the Imperium, largely because it was familiar, but he could admit – at least to himself – that he enjoyed the luxury. Before the world had been transformed, he’d never had the opportunity to stay in a truly extravagant hotel, so now that he had some money, he wanted to take advantage. However, he knew he couldn’t make a habit of it, because his funds had already begun to dwindle.

Woefully, he looked at his folio:

Copper

Silver

Gold

Platinum

211

309

18

0

He still was far from destitute, but Elijah knew that if he continued to spend without thought, that could change in a hurry. Besides, it wasn’t as if the Imperium’s rooms were any more luxurious than his tree house. The only difference was that if he’d gone back home for the night, he’d have had to paddle to shore in one of his rapidly dwindling supply of rowboats. Despite the fact that doing so would only take about an hour, Elijah had convinced himself that he couldn’t afford such a delay.

It was a lie.

But it was one he’d readily chosen to believe.

Whatever the case, it was with some regret that he pushed himself to his feet and glanced at his reflection in the gilded mirror on the wall. The person staring back at him was almost entirely unrecognizable from the man who’d survived the plane crash. Though he’d never be bulky, Elijah had put on quite a bit of muscle over the years since the world had transformed. However, due to his active lifestyle – or perhaps his body cultivation – he barely had any fat on him. As a result, his muscles looked like they’d been chiseled from marble.

Of course, that body was marred by plenty of scars, too. Most of his right arm bore the puckered scars he’d gotten while being digested by a monstrous orca, and his torso was crisscrossed with the results of his many battles. He had not lived a peaceful life over the past few years, and he didn’t expect that to change anytime soon. As he’d acknowledged only a few minutes before, the world was a dangerous place filled with powerful predators, and he had little choice but to become dangerous and powerful himself.

He ran a hand through his curly, blonde hair and muttered to himself, “God, I need a haircut.”

The assessment was just as appropriate for his beard, which had grown out of control in the past few months. In his defense, though, there wasn’t much call to trim a beard while in the wilderness. It was possible, but it was tedious enough that he’d chosen to simply let it grow. Now he was regretting that.

That just reaffirmed the first item on his list – he would go the barbershop to get something done about his hair. But first, he needed to get a shower. So, he headed to the connected bathroom, where he enjoyed a long, hot shower that served to unkink his tense muscles. After spending a little more time in the shower than he’d first intended, Elijah stepped out, dried off, then found his pack.

It was a little worse for wear, with plenty of scuffs and minor tears, but he suspected it would last a good while longer. Reaching inside, he retrieved his clothes. The night before, he’d used plenty of cleaning powder on his entire wardrobe, and to his surprise, it had worked exceedingly well, even leaving behind a pleasant floral scent that reminded him of fresh laundry. So, he dressed, ran his fingers through his hair – he still lacked a comb – then popped a few berries into his mouth before heading out.

As he had planned, the first stop was the barbershop, which served as another reminder of everything Ironshore had lost. Once, there had been three gnomish barbers, but now, there was only one. He made a show of joviality, channeling some of the trio’s old banter, yet Elijah could tell that the barber’s heart wasn’t in it. And he didn’t blame him, either. After all, he’d lost his companions only a couple of weeks before. In the barber’s place, Elijah wouldn’t have been up for genial conversation either.

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In any case, the barber made quick work of his hair, trimming it down to something far more manageable. He even took care of Elijah’s beard, shaping it into some semblance of tidiness. Before he left, he bought a portable grooming kit that included a couple of brushes, a comb, and some scissors that he shoved into his pack. Now that he was making a habit of visiting civilization, he needed to be more cognizant of his appearance.

To that end, he stopped by Mari’s shop, too, and purchased a few more sets of clothes. They were only a little nicer than his current wardrobe, but according to her, they featured a minor self-cleaning enchantment as well as one for durability.

“Now, they won’t clean major stains, so keep some cleaning powder handy,” she cautioned.

“I will,” he added. “I’m also going to bring that bear hide by here sometime soon. I still need to tan it, but once I do, I think we should go with a cloak.”

“Hmm. I’ll start preparing for it, then,” she stated. “Once we settle on the price, of course.”

“How much?” he asked.

“How much are you willing to pay for a one-of-a-kind creation from the best tailor you’re likely to meet on this baby world?” was her responding question. She asked it with a slight smirk playing across her face.

After that, they went back and forth until they’d settled on two whole gold ethereum coins for the project. Elijah transferred one to her folio as a deposit, promising to bring the hide as soon as possible. He could only hope that it would end up being worth it, though considering the quality of the materials – and what he had planned for preparation – Elijah expected it would be.

In any case, the negotiation left him feeling like he’d run a marathan, and he was more than happy to leave Mari’s premises behind. Once that was done, Elijah swung by Druid’s Park to check the ancestral tree sapling, and he was happy to find that there were a few children running around and enjoying the park. That felt appropriate, and he even recognized little Rosabella playing tag with her friends. When he waved, she just rolled her eyes before hesitantly waving back, as if doing so was so far beneath her that she had to force herself to be polite.

After seeing that the tree was in good hands, Elijah went in search of Ramik, but his attendant – or perhaps secretary was the proper term – told him that the mayor was inspecting the site meant for the wall. That was interesting, so Elijah quickly found his way to the outer edge of town, where Ramik stood conversing with a few other gnomes, dwarves, and goblins. They all had a rough-and-tumble look about them, which suggested that they were builders. It also made Ramik look entirely out of place, with his prim three-piece suit and bowler hat.

“What’s up?” Elijah asked when he approached them.

“Up?” asked Ramik, glancing toward the sky. For once, it was completely devoid of clouds, and the sun shone, bright and warm.

“Just an expression,” was Elijah’s reply. “It means what are you doing. So, what’s up?”

“Ah. Human vernacular is odd,” Ramik said with a nod. “The system’s translation feature helps, but for idioms it is often insufficient.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Elijah agreed with a grin. “So, I hear you’re building a wall. Want some help?”

“We don’t,” said one of the builders – as surly a dwarf as Elijah had ever met.

“What if –”

“Said we got this, Mr. High-and-Mighty druid,” he growled. “And I meant it. So, why don’t you go run off to your –”

Elijah stepped forward, and the dwarf cut himself off in a hurry when Elijah said, “Let’s get something straight here. Just because I helped with the orcs doesn’t mean I won’t rip you to pieces if you offend me. You were at the battle, weren’t you?” He nodded. “Then you know that’s not an idle threat. So, I’ll ask you to shut up while I’m talking to my friend Ramik.” Then, he turned to the prim goblin and, using a much more genial voice, asked, “So, do you want my help?”

“Ah, what sort of help?” he asked.

Elijah shrugged. “I don’t know. I was thinking maybe a bramble wall? I’ll have to think about it,” he admitted. If he was going to do something like that, he’d need the proper types of plants, and that meant a significant time commitment. That wasn’t even considering how long it would take to coax those plants into growth. Still, he did like the idea of surrounding Ironshore with a dense wall of brambles. If they’d had something like that for the orcs, the invasion might’ve gone a lot better.

“We will of course accept any help you might offer,” Ramik said. “For now, though, we will proceed with our builders’ plans. With the enhanced ethera density, we should be capable of supporting proper defenses.”

“Like what?”

“A stronger boundary, for one,” Ramik explained, referring to the aura that persuaded beasts to leave the city alone. The current version was enough to keep smaller animals away, but anything with even a smidgen of sentience would ignore it. “And one can never underestimate the value of a proper bulwark.”

Elijah knew there was probably more to it than that, but he didn’t want to push. He didn’t think of the people of Ironshore as enemies anymore, yet he knew how quickly that could turn around. They still didn’t completely trust him, and if he was honest, that feeling was mutual, though with a few exceptions like Ramik and Kurik.

After only a little more conversation, Elijah bade them goodbye, then headed into the wilderness. The biggest task of the day was far closer to his heart than getting a haircut or commissioning a new piece of equipment. Instead, he intended to ascertain the cost the war had exacted on the environment.

Most of that had been the result of the orcs’ voracious appetite. However, Elijah had helped implement a plan to deprive the horde of prey by hunting everything themselves. They hadn’t gotten everything – that was all but impossible – but Elijah was worried that he’d helped do irreparable harm to the local ecosystem.

It was worth it. He didn’t regret his actions. Without that, the orcs might have been far stronger than they had been when they’d reached Ironshore. Or they might have approached with more caution. Either way, the plan had been successful, and by any measure.

Yet Elijah had become a Druid for a reason. He hadn’t been the one to pick his archetype, but his compatibility with it was well warranted. On top of that, he walked around with the One with Nature ability active at all times. As a result, he could feel every living thing in a way no one else could. And as a result, he couldn’t remain unaffected.

So, it was with some trepidation and anxiety that he entered the wilderness. Elijah didn’t bother shifting into his draconid form. Instead, he remained a human, though he cast his awareness as far as possible as he strolled through the forest.

And what he saw nearly brought tears to his eyes.

The orcs had torn through the area as only a ten-thousand-strong band of voracious devourers could, and they’d left few stones unturned. Trees had been ripped from the ground and knocked aside, and the underbrush had fared no better. It looked like a category-five hurricane had passed through the area, though with the added effect of most of the animal life having been killed.

Elijah saw hundreds of rotting carcasses. Some were small, clearly having once been rats and squirrels. Other bodies belonged to half-eaten birds. There were a few larger animals, too. And not just herbivores, either. Even mighty predators like birds and wolves had been killed by the insatiable horde.

But there was cause for optimism, too. The area wasn’t nearly as devoid of animal life as he’d expected. In fact, if he hadn’t known what had happened – or seen the evidence every time he stumbled upon a corpse – he would never have guessed that the area had been the site of a mass slaughter of animal life.

It was just further evidence that the local fauna was far more durable than he’d ever suspected. If he’d had to guess, he would have said that it would only take months for everything to return to normal. A year at most.

That was a comforting thought, and though his guilt still remained, it was somewhat assuaged by what he’d found. So, it was with some degree of optimism that he engaged Ancestral Circle and returned to his grove.

After all, he had a lot to do before he could resume his search for Alyssa and the rest of his family, and it wasn’t going to get done until he settled in and did the work.