Inside Dreroot's Death Wood

"Still got a trick up your sleeve, eh, Twiggy?" Despite having part of his neck, seemingly breaking down, Dreroot chose to joke around as part of his Death Wood was crumbling down like it was being drained of what little 'life' it had. "Does he have...? No, it's too soon to tell with just that...gotta wait this out a bit..." He took a step back while gathering some branches around him.

As for the wall Lu was inside of, within a few seconds of whatever was happening to it this part of the Death Wood was truly 'dead.' Gone were the bits and pieces of flesh that twitched and flicked, the stench of decay was replaced with stale air devoid of any odor, and the once sickly-colored trees of dark green and brown were nothing but greyed-out sticks.

"Ngh!" Which soon fell apart as dust after Lu's right hand broke through it. "Rah!" Followed by the rest of him walking right out of it like nothing was holding him. His now scarlet red eyes were locked onto his brother and stared into Dreroot's own pools of red. "Some Death Wood, huh?" Lu muttered, looking at a piece of the Death Wood he had in his hand that soon withered away.

Dreroot was as silent as his woods were and simply stared wide-eyed at Lu after his display of this strange new power which by the look of his face Lu himself didn't know what it was as he kept looking at his right hand in awe. "Now I'm certain he wasn't turned into a normal Elf! But I need to be sure of something..." He thought, taking a few back steps while his branches readied themselves. "Well, since you're back in it? Let's continue!" Dreroot threw a hand at Lu, and his deadly plants lashed out at his brother.

"Wha?!" Lu was still in a daze when Dreroot attacked. "Argh!" And was only able to put his arms up as the sickly plants whipped themselves at him with thorns and fangs. "Ngh!" He gritted his teeth once they sank into him, but as soon as the pain came, it went away. "Huh!?"

"What the hell!?" The two brothers gasped as the plants attacking Lu began to rot away while a strange misty aura was being sucked out of them and into Lu's body then his wounds began to close up.

"Well, let's try this!" Not giving Lu or even himself time to think about what was going on Drerrot chose to rush in on Lu with his branches going high while he went low.

"Tch!" Lu dunked under the swiping plants. "Gauh!" And got his neck caught in an iron vice and held up off his feet after Dreroot smashed his left palm into him. "Ngaaah!" He thrashed around in the air, trying to claw Dreroot's hand off him.

"Hah! I got scared there for a second, but it looks like you still need some practice with that new trick, eh, Twiggy?" Dreroot smirked, whatever his brother did to his plant wasn't working on him, and now all he had to do was put Lu down himself. "But I should thank you! I usually don't have to use my hands for anything like this!" He tightened his hold on Lu while making sure he didn't get kicked in the face by Lu's swing legs. "Don't worry I'll let that princess bitch know you tried your hardest and keep that little trick a secret as long as you do what big brother says, Kukuku!"

"Ngraaah!?!" Lu, on the other hand, was doing everything he could to make Dreroot let go of him, pulling at his fingers, biting his knuckles, and even peeling off some of his blue skin. "I'm not letting you or Dewran use us!" He held his brother's hand with his and tried as hard as he could to evoke whatever power he used before with that misty aura coming over him.

"Ngh! So, I was right!?" Dreroot watched in horror as his left arm was starting to rot right before his eyes. "Come on! That's the best you got!" He still held on tight even when his left arm's skin went white as its flesh fell off and its bones began to crack.

"RAAAAAH!" Then with all his might, Lu not only freed himself from Dreroot but ripped the Dark Elf's arm off now nothing but a lump of white dust.

"Aggaaah!" Dreroot clutched his left side with part of his left shoulder starting to fall apart as well but stopped it by wrapping his branches around the area and jumped away from Lu. "Ngh! Not bad! But I'm still in this!" He spat out and stood tall despite bleeding from the pile of branches around his left shoulder. "Tch!" When he saw Lu ball a hand into a fist that gave off the same white aura used to take his arm, the Dark Elf backed off more.

"Then I'll just hit you with everything I got!" Lu sent his brother a blood-red glare while rubbing his neck with his other hand once he was done the marks from where Dreroot held him disappeared. "HAH!" He slammed a foot down on the ground as he made his way over to his brother, planning on finishing this. "Ugahh!" But only got in two more steps as his red eyes went lime green before he hit the ground.

"Phew! I was wondering when you'd stop?" Dreroot let his knees hit the ground and put the rest of his energy into keeping his left shoulder together while he stared at Lu, slowly breathing in and out. "Can't believe you're a Siphoner..." He muttered, watching that white misty aura eat away at his Death Wood from Lu just lying there.

"What's that?" Lu whispered weakly, unable to move at this point but was still awake. "And is there a reason why I can't move right now cause I don't think I'm hurt anywhere?" He continued talking even while Drerrot stared at him wide-eyed. "...whoops guess I messed that one up, 'if you can't win; stay calm, gather your strength, and wait for a chance to strike.' Right, Dre?"

"Right, and I messed up too; 'even when you think you've won take 'em by the neck.' Kukuku!" Dreroot laughed as he stood up and made his way to Lu only after the aura around him went away. "Up you go..." With a tug of his one good arm, he pulled Lu off the ground and onto his shoulders. "Huh? I didn't notice it earlier, but you're heavier, been eating good?" He muttered while his Death Wood started to shrink and pool back into his back.

"Hmm? Are they finished?" Asked King Dewran watching from street level as the ball of sickly trees disappeared into Dreroot's back. "It appears the Spriggan was defeated or is that merely some kind of Dark Elf celebration?" He eyed Lu the most out of the two and tried to pick up on anything, but either nothing was there to find, or he did not look hard enough.

"Dre, you didn't answer me, what's a Siphoner and why can't I move?" Back on the rooftop, Lu didn't take to his brother's joking, especially when he was being carried like the day's best kill.

"Right to the point aren't we? Did you get that from working with those noble types? Or was it that Fairy bi-" The moment Dreroot was about to insult Rena but he felt Lu get heavier all of a sudden as if Lu was trying to weigh him down. "Can't move my ass!"

"Don't call her that..." Lu's voice was one filled with malice, and if it weren't for his inability to move, he would be trying to beat his brother up right now. "...Hey, stop laughing." He groaned when all Dreroot did was laugh at him.

"Kukuku! You really like that princess, don't you?" Dreroot teased, turning to Lu with a cheeky smile on his face while Lu blankly stared back at him, not showing any signs of emotion. "Or not...?" He gave up after staring at Lu a bit more. "...fine, I'll talk...first off a Siphoner, you see little brother there are two types of energy that run through our bodies from the time we're born and sometimes even after our deaths. The first one's mana which allows us to cast spells and such then there's..."

"Lifeforce? The energy used to...well? Stay alive for most of your life and is basically in every living thing?" Lu cut in, knowing what Dreroot was talking about somehow. "Huh?" Which got him a blank stare from his brother. "Oh? Yea? There were books in Silver Wood on all kinds of things while I was there, so I read up on a few things."

"Right? Then let this be a refresher..." Dreroot was partly dejected that he couldn't play the part of the knowledgeable older brother. "...your lifeforce is pretty much like you said; it's the thing that keeps your heart pumping, and your mind working in a way you could call it a part of your soul just like mana is but you can use up your mana and still be alive tired beyond anything but not dead. However, if you got your lifeforce suck out, you'd end up..."

"Dead on the spot, due to your lifeforce being linked closer to your soul than your mana is." Again Lu cut into Dreroot's explanation and got another blank stare sent his way. "Ugh, sorry but that's as far I got so do the rest...please?"

"Alright..." Dreroot got back to it after turning away from Lu. "...with lifeforce out of the way, we can get to what a Siphoner is. To make it simple think of yourself as a leech and lifeforce as blood, you basically have the power to drain it out of any living thing you get your hands on and make it your own, and from there you can either heal yourself with it, and extend your own lifeforce or you can fire it at the one you took it from or someone else with."

"Ugh? Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Lu asked if stealing someone's lifeforce would kill them wouldn't throwing it back do the opposite.

"That's if you want to...like I said; it's what keeps you alive, but if you had the intent to kill then you could turn it into a poison that eats away at the body and soul." Dreroot brushed his hand over where his other arm was. "I was pretty worried when it looked like you were going to punch me with all that stuff."

"Okay, I got what a Siphoner is, but why can't I move?" If Lu could nod right now, he would have been throughout his brother's lesson.

"Oh? That's 'cause you're killing yourself by doing that!" Dreroot answered in a matter-of-fact kind of tone with an almost whimsical look on his face.

"Huh!?" While Lu looked back at Dreroot in complete confusion and fear.

"What? You think just cause I said you could add a few years to your life that everything would be fine?" Dreroot asked while smirking at Lu's face. "Well? You would be if you stopped right now, but every time you use that power of yours, you're chipping away at your own lifeforce. You can keep it topped off if you drained some more but each time you're gonna need more and more until you either die of hunger or turn into a real leech..." He trailed off from there and let it sink in. "...But, I wouldn't worry about that too much we Elves have long lives which means a lot of lifeforce to burn, not to mention it looks like your eating through that princess' blessing first."

"What?" Once again, Lu was left confused and worried.

"Your eyes went red for a while." Dreroot pointed a pair of fingers to his eyes then at Lu's.

"My eyes." Lu wondered out loud, trying to move a hand to his face, which he actually did after getting the movement back in his body. "Ah?" But when he brought his right hand up, he noticed a patch of dark blue skin at the center of his palm. "Dre..."

"I wouldn't tell your princess or that Horny-king down there anything, Lutwig." Dreroot knew what Lu was going to ask as he stared down at Dewran who was looking back at him. "You know? I'm sure that little princess would be fine with her knight being a creature of the dark."

"She would be..." Lu agreed without a second thought from being around Risabeel he knew what you were didn't matter to Rena as long as you didn't try to hurt her, and Lu was the closest friend she had. "...but not him or any of them." His eyes fell on Dewran and the many Elves looking up at them. "Even if I was her choice they'd still want to keep me away from her...and that's something I don't want..."

"You pass..." Were the only words Dreroot gave to his brother as he jumped from the rooftop with Lu still on his shoulders.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"What do you mean!" Lu screamed as they fell to the ground and were caught by some of Dreroot's branches softening their landing.

"You passed the rite..." Dreroot answered now standing in front of Dewran and said nothing more on the matter as a few Elves, not in the know of who or what Lu was were around them. "Looks like our deal is off, Horny-king."

"That is a shame but nothing I am concerned with," Dewran spoke with the utmost of care as the other Elves looked at him and Dreroot. "Now then is there anything I can do for you after putting on such a good show?" He offered, keeping the lie he set up when Lu and Dreroot started fighting.

"Let me see my brother off to his princess without your nose anywhere near it." Was Dreroot's answer as he shifted Lu around on his shoulders. "And don't worry about me. I have my own escorts." He added when his group of Dark Elves appeared around him.

"So be it..." King Dewran allowed this to pass due to the looks he was getting from both Dreroot's and his Dark Elves, along with those of the common Elves sticking around the area with more on the way. "...but we shall have some talks, later on, Dark Elf."

"When I feel like it!" Dreroot spat at the Elf King before making his leave by being swung around by his branches as his Dark Elves followed behind him and Lu.

"Should I send some scouts after them to find out where the princess is, my king?" Voltar asked, coming to Dewran's side after Dreroot and his Dark Elves were gone.

"No need and the time is not right to act..." Dewran said only this as the Elves were gathering in greater numbers now and with so many sharp ears around anything more would spell ill outcomes for him.

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Blake's Guild House

"Seriously! This is where you live!?" Dreroot with some bandages around his left shoulder gasped at the sight of Lu's current home being a large mansion of grand appearance at the foot of a mountain.

"Yea? But it looked completely opposite the first time around." Lu back on his feet, smirked at his brother's awestruck expression, one he'd wanted to put to the man's face for some so long.

"Yo?" Came from Gram who was standing or rather laying guard at the doors of the Guild House with his nose twitching at the newcomers. "Bunch of dark long ears, eh?"

"And you have a talking Greater Wolf as a guard dog!" Dreroot pointed some of his branches at Gram with the wolf snarling at them once he got a good whiff. "Nice pet, Lu!"

"Better tell that brother of yours to shut his mouth!" Gram rose from the ground after getting called pet and made some of Dreroot's Dark Elves move in front of their leader.

"Nice sniffer there, wolf!" Dreroot smirked at Gram's warning.

"Gram, please stop! My brother's the type to make jokes about everything!" Lu ran up to stand between the Great Wolf and Dark Elves.

"Hmph! Fine, but you owe me some ducks later." Gram backed off after Lu nodded in agreement. "Good," And he moved away from the doors.

"~!~" As Nash came out of them, carrying two baskets of wet clothes on either side of him. "?" He raised a brow at this group of oddly colored Elves he knew nothing about with Lu standing next to them. He blew some air out of his nose then moved to a few clotheslines that were set up in front of the Guild House. "~!~" And started hanging some clothes to dry.

"Is that horse hanging clothes?" Dreroot asked, pointing at Nash along with his Dark Elves, all of them finding that to be the most interesting thing in the world.

"Yeah...that one I don't get either?" Lu admitted after shrugging his shoulders a little. He was seriously starting to think about asking Blake where he got Nash and how he raised him. "But thanks for bringing me here Dreroot...see you around..." He slowly waved at his brother as Dreroot got closer and closer until he was right in Lu's face. "...or you could come inside?"

"Why thank you, Twiggy, you're too kind!" Dreroot brought a hand around Lu's shoulders and then simply looked at his Dark Elves and they all disappeared into the trees without a word. "Didn't feel anyone on us but you can never be too safe..."

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Inside Blake's smithy

"Alright, that should do it!" Rena cheered, throwing a bit of cloth over something on a worktable where Lu's new bow was. "Hehe! Lu's gonna love it!" She giggled, floating around the gift with an all too-happy look on her face.

"Well, he better after all the redesigns you made me do," Blake muttered with a feathered pen in one of his ears while a pile of crumpled-up papers was at his feet. All with what looked like bow designs on them and a random drawing of Rena giving it to Lu. "But I have to admit this is pretty amazing!" His eyes were going over the design they went with.

"Hehe! That's because the Hor and I are amazing!" Rena cheered, flying over to the spot where the Heart Of Renaissance once was, which was now an empty spot with not even a stump or roots left behind.

"Now could you get rid of the rest of them? I don't want Vasha coming back here with it still looking like a forest in here." Blake waved a hand at all the other plants growing around his smithy.

"Mmhp!" One of which was a man-eating flytrap that caught Bread in its vines a few minutes ago.

"Can we keep the ones that make fruit?" Saffire asked, eating from a minecart of fruits Blake picked for her in exchange for making sure Bread didn't get eaten by something. "~Hmm~mmm~" Which she was doing by spitting some fire on the flytrap every time it tried to eat the boy.

"Maybe?" Blake wondered when the door to the smithy cracked open. "Ugh!" And he slowly turned to see Vasha staring down at him disappointed. "Uhm? I can explain Vasha! We were about to get rid of these things!"

"Yeah, sure you were? But that's not why I'm here..." Vasha muttered, keeping her eyes on Blake. "The Elf's back and he has his brother... who's a Dark Elf..." After that, she eyed an orange tree in the back. "...we're keeping that one."

"Sure, I'll put it next to Nash's apple tree," Blake muttered and was about to grab Lu's wrapped bow off the worktable, but it was gone. "Huh?" He followed a trail of Fairy Dust that went across the floor, up the ladder, and out the door. "He better like it..."

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Inside the lobby

"Wait!? He has a Merfolk too!" Dreroot and Lu were catching up with eachother while they waited for Vasha to get Rena with the younger of the two brothers having far more interesting things to talk about. "I guess that little princess bit-Hmm?" When he was about to say it Lu put a hand on his shoulder.

"Dre, you better stop calling her that..." Was all Lu said as a flash of green light blasted its way out of the door to Blake's smithy. "Rena?"

"LU! OPEN! NOW!" Rena tossed the wrapped-up bow at Lu with him juggling it between his hands. "YOU!" Then she pointed at Dreroot once she spotted him. "When did he get here!?" It seemed the only thing she heard when Vasha spoke to them was that Lu was back. "He's mine! RENA KICK!"

"Wh-Guah!" Dreroot got a tiny foot to his forehead which took him off his feet and put him flat on his back. "The hell just happened?" He asked himself while looking at the ceiling.

"Ugh, Rena? He isn't here to take you or me away, and neither is Dewran. He just wanted to drop me off at home is all." Lu tried to let Rena know what was going on, but all she was doing was looking at this thing she tossed at him. "Should I look at this first?"

"Yes! Yes!" Rena shook her head up and down as quickly as possible. "Stay there, you!" Then snapped at Dreroot trying to get up.

"HEY!" Who got wrapped up by his own trees following Rena's orders. "Ngh!" And had to put all of his focus into getting them under his control. "Damn, gnat!" He glared at Rena while she was fluttering around Lu as he unwrapped what got thrown at him. "Heh," And let out a small chuckle watching them play around with eachother.

"What is it anyway?" Lu asked, looking at Rena as he was about done with unwrapping...whatever it was she tossed at him. "Wha?" He found a mostly snow-white short bow on the small side as it was barely the size of his forearm. Near its center was a set of green lines that went into a spiral to the golden heart-shaped leaves at the ends of its arms.

"Do you like it?" Rena whispered, coming to rest on one of Lu's shoulders while playing around with her pigtails. "Uh? Blake said he needed to get some good string to finish it off at first, but I wanted to show you at least before today was over."

"That's okay...it's perfect..." Lu took the bow in his hands. "Ah?" It felt warm to the touch, almost alive. "Well? Maybe if it was a bit longer?" He thought and felt the bow twitch in his hands. "Whoa!" Then it suddenly grew in size matching his old bow. "What!?"

"Hehe! Aren't I amazing that's the power of the Hor!" Rena boasted as she jumped to Lu's head and struck a pose. "My Spriggan has been given his divine armament! Bow to me, world! Bahahahaha!"

"Uhm, what's a Hor?" Dreroot asked for the two brothers who were out of the loop on what Rena was talking about. "Hey, what's with that look?" All he got for it was Rena giving him a dejected look as if he should disappear.

"I don't trust you just yet..." Rena muttered, hiding behind Lu's head. "...Lu wanted a new bow, so I grew a supertree better than that dumb Naworth's Pride! The Heart Of Renaissance!" She pointed at the now longbow in Lu's hand.

"What!?" Lu gasped when he could get a full grip on the bow as it started to grow again and quickly let go as it turned into a full-grown tree, that stood tall right there in the lobby with its wide branches reaching out and over Lu and Dreroot to cast them in a veil of gold.

"Or Hor for short!" Rena took a seat on one of the Hor's branches to look at Lu. "And it's all yours..." She whispered, offering him her hand as the Hor did the same with its branches.

"Your heart...?" Lu took in the sight of Rena surrounded by golden leaves, sitting on a white branch with glowing green lines running along its length more enchanting than he ever thought she could get. "...Ah?" Safe to say words were not with him at the time.

"Hey, hey! No need to rush things, Twiggy!" Thankfully Dreroot was there to spoil the mood, putting his arm around Lu to give him a good shake to take him out of his trance. "What? No touching my brother?" He asked Rena when the Hor grew large thorns that drew near Dreroot. "Don't worry about me! I'm just making Lutwig understand where he stands."

"Where I/he stand?" Both Lu and Rean asked at the same time, giving Dreroot some questioning stares as he moved away from Lu.

"Yep! I mean he's got a few choices between the Dark Elves, that Horny-king wants you to keep under his roots and then there's whatever she wants out of you." Dreroot listed off the options that both he and Lu knew about, pointing at Rena who was beet red at the moment.

"Dre..." Lu was about to say something but stopped when Dreroot held a hand up.

"As much as I want you to come back where you belong, unlike Dewran, I care about you. Soooo? It's up to you, Lutwig. Maybe not now but later you'll have to pick a side, and I hope you pick what you want," Dreroot stated as seriously as he could get then bumped his arm into Lu's chest. "But just so you know anytime you need a little help big brother is here with all of his friends."

"Thank you, Dre..." Lu bumped his own arm to Dreroot's chest. "...and I'll think about it." His eyes went to Rena, who wasn't getting any of this as she was chewing on a weird berry from the Hor. "No matter what happens, I'll be by your side."

"Pfft! You better be!" Rena insisted as she flew into Lu's face with the Hor cupping his head for her. "You're Lutwig! The great and powerful Spriggan of Fairy Princess Renaissance after all, hehe!" She popped the rest of the berry she was eating into Lu's mouth.

"Sweet!" Lu smiled at Rena as she did the same to him.

"That's gonna be hard to beat..." Dreroot thought to himself as he watched Lu and Rena from afar. "Welp, looks I'm not needed anymore...hey, Twiggy..." He called out to Lu as he grabbed his long white hair at his neck and with one of his trees taking his dagger out, he cut his hair short. "...Here." He offered his cut hair to Lu.

"Eh?" Both Lu and Rena looked at him wide-eyed even the Hor seemed to do a double-take as it wiggled its leaves.

"You need a string for that bow, right? Well? What better than some Dark Elf hair?" He waved his hair at Lu, waiting for him to take it. "It's pretty tough once you turn it into some string and if that tree is as amazing as you say then this should work just fine." He went on further by taking Lu's hand to give his brother the hair then leaned in close. "Or you could make some gloves to keep your hands safe." He whispered to Lu, squeezing the hand where Lu still had a dark blue patch of skin on his palm.

"Right...thanks, Dre, I'm sure Blake's gonna have a field day with this." Lu took the hair with a partly forced smile.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask." Rena came in between the two brothers looking mostly at Dreroot. "...what happened to your arm?" She pointed at the bandages around Dreroot's left shoulder. "Hmm?" Then switched between him and Lu once their faces went dark.

"That's a secret between brothers right?" Dreroot smirked as he was making his way out. "See ya around! Twiggy!"

"Uh, right! Yea! Between brothers!" Lu wildly nodded as Dreroot left the lobby. "Ugh!" Then got stared at by Rena. "You heard us! It's nothing!"

"Yeah, right! spill it!" Rena demanded as the Hor started to wrap around Lu. "And what took you so long!? I was worried! Did Dewran make you do anything dumb!? And why didn't your brother give me anything!? All I did was kick him!" She went off as the Hor swung Lu around like it was hugging him.

Chapter End