Chapter 37 – On the Shoulders of the Weak

A strange sight greeted Aenon as he turned around. The healer elf, Mave, was pinned down to the ground by Venge and her pups. Each of the pups had bitten down on one of his limbs while Venge sat on her haunches glaring death at the shivering man. Eskad and his party had entered the village but were surrounded by the remaining wolves, preventing them from coming to the elf’s rescue. Even Vincent and Blake were present, standing on the side with confused expressions.

“Are you alright, Alpha?” said Venge as she turned to look at him.

“I am ok. Tell me what happened?” Aenon asked aloud.

“Me and the pups detected your presence, so were on our way to greet you. That is when we saw this insolent rodent trying to attack you with a dagger. My pups pinned him down and held him there while you were casting your spell. You… you were lost to the world, completely unresponsive,” Venge explained.

“And that is where we come in, Alpha. We entered the village and saw mana running wild from a distance. We hurried over to find them like this, and these creatures tried to rescue their comrade,” Bane finished explaining.

Aenon understood and had a complete picture by this point. He didn’t need an explanation on what Vincent and Blake were doing here. They were probably drawn in to the commotion in their own backyard.

Aenon ignored the healer for now and walked towards the berserker and his party. He could feel the rage bubbling just below the surface and knew the man would have attacked if not for the woman desperately clinging to his arm.

“How well do you know this elf?” Aenon asked in a calm voice. The giant was surprised for a second before responding in a heated voice.

“You attack my teammate and expect me to just…”

“He attacked me,” Aenon cut him off.

“Like hell he did,” Eskad rebuked with a scoff. The fire mage clung harder to the brute to prevent him from charging forward.

Aenon knew that words were useless in this situation, so he turned to Venge and asked her to bring the elf over. Venge barked once, making the pups retreat, before she dragged the injured man towards his party. She tossed him over and sat behind Aenon, alert and ready for any confrontation. Aenon waved his hand, making the other wolves back up and form a larger circle.

The berserker glared at him for a second before kneeling next to the elf. He withdrew a vial with a dark red liquid in it and tipped its contents over into the bleeding man’s mouth. The bite bleeding reduced considerably, but the wounds didn’t heal.

“What have you done to him? The healing potion is not working,” the giant said with anger. When Aenon didn’t respond, he withdrew a bandage and wrapped the wounds.

When the elf got a bit of color on his face, Aenon spoke. “Speak. Why did you attack me?”

“You… you stole my seed. My Title. I was supposed to get the Nature’s Attendant title. You must have stolen that from me. You even overwrote my spell. You stole my destiny. You are nothing but a common THIEF,” the elf shrieked in defiance.

The wolves growled at the hostile display, making the party shrink back in fear. But Aenon silently waved at them to back off.

“You heard him. You are the thief here. He was just defending his property,” the berserker said with malice.

“This spell that I overwrote, what does it do exactly,” Aenon asked in a cold voice.

Aenon felt hesitation and guilt from the elf’s soul before he resolved himself and responded fiercely, “I am a nature elf from a long line of prestigious noble houses. We live in harmony with nature. The spell saps our strength to boost the growth of the world tree, benefiting the entire world. We literally sacrifice our lives for the greater good. Thieving rogues like you will not understand our noble purpose.”

Aenon stared silently for a minute, before saying maliciously, “Well then. If it is as beneficial as you say it is, you will have no qualms if I cast it on you.”

Aenon felt nothing but horror from the elf as he started crawling backwards, “That is not a spell you can replicate. It’s a secret art of my people.”

“If I can hijack your spell, why can’t I replicate it,” Aenon said before addressing the woman. “You, Fire mage. Have you seen his spell before?”

The lady visibly flinched at being addressed but responded nonetheless, “Yes, I have. I have studied magic for a long time, and that includes the spell the nature elves cast on their world tree.”

“So, you can tell if I deviate from it. Good, that is good. I want you to watch as I cast this beneficial spell on your teammate,” Aenon said as he started channeling mana and making the patterns for the original spell. It came as second nature to him for some reason, but he didn’t have the time to worry about that.

“No… You can’t do that. The spell is made for a tree, not an elf,” Mave said as he cowered.

“Oh, don’t worry. I know it is a spell to link you nature elves to a tree. So, I will be connecting you to your precious tree. The only change would be that the spell direction will be reversed. Instead of you nobly sacrificing your life to boost the tree’s growth, I will be making the tree sacrifice its life to boost your strength. Isn’t what you said the spell does?”

Aenon had almost completed the spell form that had taken the elf an hour of work and rare items. The extra 200 stats from his title when near the tree were no joke. He felt like his mana pool was bottomless.

“I am assuming you can tell which side of the spell connects to which?” Aenon asked the fire mage, even as the elf tried to crawl back further.

“Uh, yes, I can. But you need to stop. I know nature elf culture. They will not tolerate the destruction of a world seed. They will hunt you down till…,” the fire mage spoke with some hesitation. She was eyeing her teammate with hesitation and confusion.

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“Well, the way I see it, I am returning what I supposedly stole. His destiny,” Aenon said as he finished the spell form. He took two steps towards the elf before the man clung onto the fire mage’s legs, begging.

“You can’t let him put that spell on me, Lady Elara. Anything but that. I will tell you everything, truthfully. I lied. The spell doesn’t sacrifice my life to boost the tree’s growth. It siphons the tree’s soul to boost mine. Please, I’ll do anything. Just don’t let him cast that on me.”

Aenon stopped, the spell still held in his hand. The fire mage’s eyebrows went up in shock and disgust.

“You mean…, all those nature elves on your planet…,” she held a hand to her mouth as she came to a realization.

“What is going on?” Eskad was looking between the three in confusion, not following what was going on. But everyone ignored him.

After a moment the fire mage asked in a more horrified tone, “So your healing spell. It works by… But you said the seeds are just for channeling your healing spell.”

The healer looked away in shame but held onto her leg. The fire mage kicked his hand off and backed away, an extremely loathsome look on her face.

“Yes. My siblings. Hurt. Cried. Died.”

A childish voice filled the entire area, and it carried with it a tone of extreme sadness. A sadness that pierced them to their bones. It made everyone look around in confusion, before Aenon turned to the sapling. Making everyone realize where the voice came from.

“I. Witness. Sibling. Pain. Mother. Pain.”

The words the sapling spoke weren’t merely spoken to their minds, but deep into their souls. It carried with it the cries of anguish the other seeds felt as the healer cast his spells. Every. Single. Voice.

The dwarves, the humans, and even the wolves felt their hearts break at the tender voices, trying to convey their pain and hurt. Begging to make it stop. Before eventually reaching a deathly silence. The only ones the sapling spared from the horrifying voices were the pups, who looked in confusion as to why their mother was weeping silently.

Tears flowed out of everyone’s eyes, including Aenon’s, as everyone became silent to process what they had just heard. Everyone, except the elf. Who was desperately looking around for an escape route.

“You… heard all that? Every time you healed us?” one of the dwarves spoke up with red puffy eyes. A guilty silence was all the confirmation that anyone needed. The dwarves looked down at themselves with revulsion, like they wanted to rid their bodies of something extremely nasty.

“A thousand painful deaths would have been better to the condition you have put us in,” the berserker spoke with righteous fury.

“I have never despised anyone more than how much I despise you. I would pay any price to undo the day we decided to add you to our party,” Elara said, her voice dripping pure venom.

The wolves growled at the elf with extreme hunger and hate. If not for Aenon, they would have already torn him apart. Even the silent spectators, Vincent and Blake, were holding themselves back with a lot of effort. Aenon knew some of their background and could understand why they would hate those in power abusing the weak.

“I leave his life in your hands. You can do to him, what he did to your siblings.,” Aenon said as he held the spell towards the sapling. If it chose to use the spell to peel the elf’s soul to nourish itself, Aenon would not stop it. But Aenon knew what decision the juvenile would take. Their souls were linked, after all. He just needed the others to witness it themselves.

“I. Weak. Grow. Strong. Myself. Only. Rely. Friend.”

Aenon smiled and nodded with pride, “Good answer.”

He dispelled the spell and turned towards the berserker. No words were spoken, but the message was loud and clear. This is your mess to clean. The elf had visibly calmed down, now that the spell was no longer in play. But the boiling rage of the berserker made him shrink back.

“Es… Eskad. I… have saved… your life so many times. Surely, it should… count for something. You can turn me over to the authorities. I will confess to everything. Just…”

The elf’s voice was cut short as Eskad grabbed him by the head. His enormous palms completely covered the wriggling man’s head, as he kicked and punched, trying to break free. With a powerful crunch, Eskad crushed their former teammate’s skull like a melon and tossed him to the ground. Venge viciously barked once, and the pups ran in and tore into their meal. Within seconds, nothing of the body remained before a chest appeared in its place.

The Berserker spat in distaste, not even bothering to open the chest. He walked back to his wife, who hugged him and cried. After five minutes, the entire party dried their tears and walked up to the sapling, which was now calmly swaying in the ground. They all kneeled before it and bowed their heads.

“We are deeply sorry for what you and the other seeds went through,” Elara spoke solemnly. “Had we known what the healing entailed, we wouldn’t have gone through with it.”

“We are sorry, little one,” the dwarves spoke as one.

“I apologize for my failure as a leader. I didn’t realize the pain you all went through. We owe you multiple life debts, and I swear it on my soul I would die before letting any harm come to you,” Eskad said in a firm resolute voice.

The sapling stayed silent for a while before sending out a soothing wind around it. As the wind touched the party members, little specks of ethereal dust broke off each of them. Aenon used his soul sense to see what it was and saw the souls of the party members were flaking off these particles. As the last particles left their bodies, the wind picked up and carried them in a large tornado, encompassing the entire area.

But unlike a regular twister, the wind was mild and soothing. The entire area was filled with voices of children laughing and giggling. Everyone knew then what these specks were. They were the echoes of the lives snuffed too early. Finally at peace.

“I just lost stat points. If I knew why I was gaining them so quickly…,” one dwarf said before breaking down in sobs.

“May his soul rot in the deepest levels of hell,” his twin added with hate.

The whirlwind of soul dust concentrated around Aenon, with him in the eye of the storm. He was completely hidden from view, so he removed all his armor and held out his hands. Each speck briefly touched his skin, as he felt them all touch his soul space. It was just a way for them to communicate. And he heard hundreds of voices, each saying one word before rejoining the tornado.

“Thank you.”

As the last of the soul specks left, he put on his armor again and saw the tornado start to disperse. They all gathered in a stream of wind and flew towards the sapling, repeating their communication with their sibling before flying high. Eventually the ethereal wind dissipated, plunging the area into absolute silence.

The silence lingered on for a long time before an unexpected voice spoke up that snapped everyone’s attention.

“Is this… is this what this world is like? People… creatures… using the weak to advance in power. Erwin used me, when I was powerless. The talented healer many aspired to be used those poor … children. My moth…,” Jenny choked up but continued. “My mother and that monster used those who couldn’t defend themselves.”

No one responded to her questions, with everyone lost in their own thoughts. Aenon could feel hopelessness and misery at the words. Because it was true. That is what this world was like. Even Aenon had seen his fair share of entities using him to suit their own purposes. His extended family, the lawyers, the Overseer, the kingdom. And so, he was the first to speak up.

“The world has always been the same, Jenny. It was you who had her eyes closed the whole time. Your previous world was nothing but a reflection of this one, without the magic we now possess. The rich used the poor to get richer. Bigger nations and empires dictate the weaker ones. The famous harass the faceless ones in the crowd. It has always been so. The strong have always stood on the shoulders of the weak.”

Aenon used a bit of his soul presence in the last sentence, to convey the message deeper. He turned to the sky. The vivid foreign expanse that filled the horizon was the one thing that gave him hope in this world.

“And that is why I walked this lonely path. To get away from the world, living by myself in isolation. But I see that was a mistake. I was just running from the root cause of the problem,” Aenon said.

He raised his hand towards the sky, like he wanted to claim it for his own. He knew deep within him what he wanted to do. And knew how much of an impossibility it was. But it didn’t deter him in the least. On the contrary, it urged him on. When he spoke, it was more of a promise. To himself. And to the world.

“I shall be the shoulder for the weak to stand on. I shall be the breaker of chains.”