I was looking at some kind of well. The gentle susurrations of flowing water filled my ears, otherwise I might have never guessed the structure's purpose.
My eyes had never seen anything like it before. Made of roughly shaped stones with, seemingly random, whorls carved deeply into their surfaces. I think I had seen something with markings like that on the History Channel once, a long time ago. However, I couldn't remember what it was about exactly. Some of the engravings reminded me of the moon, in several different phases.
The truly bizarre part was the water itself. This water was spilling over the edge of the well, into a small shallow moat. The moat had a stream leading off from it, which glowed with a silvery blue light despite still being translucent.
There was some kind of blue flame at the top of the well, but I got the sense it wasn't really fire. This was a small blessing at the moment, because, judging by the visible sky it was nighttime. The soft light allowed me to see some of my surroundings, keeping me from stumbling around blind in this new environment.
The Branch on my arm gave a rustle.
[ Adjusting...]
[ A Moon Well linked to an extradimensional water source. The water inside is clean and pure, while being infused with the essence of Elune. Slowly infusing mana into the environment. This will provide mana, both to yourself and your troops.
While in its vicinity gain +10 Mana Regen.
Drinking the water straight from the well is not advised. ]
Yeeeah. I was totally going to take a drink from strange glowing water. Not.
None of the information meant a thing to me. I didn't even know where to start. The fact that a floating screen was presenting description to me, was challenging to unpack to begin with. I didn't even question the screen, because that was hardly the strangest thing going on right now.
But at least the structure looked like something you'd call a Moon Well. So that was an easy adjustment.
"What is mana?" I asked to no one in particular. The word sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
[ Mana, also known as magical energy, is the Fuel of Life. ]
"Magic? Really?" Despite everything, I had a hard time believing that. On the other hand, The Well was glowing and that fire did look pretty odd. But just because I didn't know how it worked, didn't make it magic. An odd chemical reaction perhaps.
I thought back to the Rooms, shuddering, maybe it wasn't so insane to think that magic might exist.
Forcing my attention back to my surroundings, the stream the glowing water flowed into had a cobblestone path running parallel. Both lead down an obvious slope. So I was on a hill, or a mountain? Could be.
I looked back up at the night sky, searching for something familiar. I could make out a few constellations. Hey, that looked very close to the sky from home, except there were a couple of extra lights I didn't remember. Satellites maybe? I could also make out the glow of a City's lights bouncing off the sky in one direction, must have been a big one. Maybe I could get home if I found this city, or at least answers to why I was brought here.
Later, let's put a pin in that.
That helped me frame out the horizon though, which lead me to the thought that I might be in a valley. I was surrounded by mountains, insofar as I could tell in the darkness.
I looked at the path, well when in doubt follow the trail. There were stones standing next to the path, about waist high also with whorls carved into them. These stones had a hole toward their tops filled with more of that blue flame. There was something sad, but also cheery about them. Bittersweet. Like they meant something more than I could understand. I checked over the closest one, and slowly placed my hand next to the flame. I felt something, but it wasn't warmth like from a normal flame. Huh.
Wait. I knelt down and looked more closely at the grass, there were two types. One type was blue, which was just right around the Moon Well. The other type of grass was purple, the vast majority of the grass was this type. File that away under the growing pile of other shit that I didn't understand.
Walking along the path I must of passed a hundred of those stones, when I came to a pond. The water filling the pond still glowed with the silvery blue light. What caught my attention here though was the tree growing on an island in the center of the water. I had started seeing it's outline on the way down, but didn't think too much of it. Now that I was closer to it, I was shocked. First it was pretty big. Somewhere over 50ft tall, and it would take maybe three of me with arms fully extended to surround it. I noticed the bark was silver and the tri-pointed leaves were purple, just like the Branch I had embedded in my arm.
"Is that where you come from?" I questioned the Branch. It twitched but nothing else happened. I guessed that was a maybe?
I found a bridge, leading to the island, and thought it might be interest to see the big tree up close. The bridge was made out of purple wood also covered in swirls and whorls. The anchor posts had small holes in them that also had blue flames in them.
As I crossed the Bridge I saw a giant face had been carved into the tree. The face somehow conveyed a sense of timelessness and wisdom.
My Branch rustled,
[ This is Meadran, descendant of the Great Trees. He has agreed to act as your Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life is the heart of your outpost. If Meadran falls, you lose any chance of achieving the Company Goals.
Trees of Life produce Wisps of various types. Wisps have many uses, including building and resource gathering. ]
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
The eyes of the Tree began to glow.
"HELLO YOUNG ONE!" A booming yet gentle voice filled the Valley. It's echoes vibrated for a long time.
"Ahh!" I tried to backup but fell on my ass.
What the fuck?
"H-hello? Are you Mr. Meadran?" Well it would have been rude, not to return his greeting. I cringed at the thought that I was on my ass talking to a tree. A tree that had just punked me.
"HO HO! I HAVE NOT GOTTEN TO DO THAT IN A LONG TIME." He had toned down the volume some, but as giant Tree Person, he had a massive amount of bass.
A talking tree. A tree that can talk! That was pretty cool.
"It was funny. I guess everyone where you are from knows about you?" I got back to my feet and brushed myself off.
"YES. AT LEAST OF MY KIND. YOUNG ONE, I KNOW IT IS SUDDEN BUT TOUCH MY BARK, SO WE MIGHT BETTER INTERFACE." Huh? I kind of wanted to touch him anyway. A talking Tree!
My hand already reaching for him froze as years of training kicked in. As an electrician, you don't touch strange things without testing them first.
The inner battle didn't last long, I got a stronger sense of trustworthiness from Meadran than I had rarely gotten from any human I'd ever met.
The bark was warm and gave off a current of the same kind of tingles as the blue flames. Was that Mana? Seemed like a safe bet that it was a related force at the very least.
[ Adjusting...]
[ Tree of Life Meadran is connected to the Great Tree Network.
Options:
Choose Class
Raise Level
Create Wisp ]
'Ah, better, now we can communicate like this, up to a distance of 50 miles.' Now that it was in my head, his voice sounded kind of like my Old Gramps. It was bizarrely comforting. Gramps had been a skilled carpenter, so I had gotten along with him far better than I did my father.
"That is much better, Thank You!" Maybe, I could start getting some answers. Below my calm exterior, I was frightened, pissed and confused in equal measure. I needed some kind of touchstone, a stabilizing force. Meadran seemed like he could be exactly that.
'You need not speak, Young One. With concentration your thoughts can reach me.' I got a sense of amusement in his thoughts, that bubbled into the air around us.
I sighed, trying to hold myself back. No, I couldn't do it, I couldn't hold back any longer. 'Mr. Meadran what is going on?' I'm sure my frustration was carried over in my thoughts.
'Oh right, you were picked by { THEM }. They are always stingy with information, knowledge is power after all, and they can not bare to part with power cheaply.' (This is going to be hard to describe, { } will denote Layered Words or Thoughts. You hear the word but multiple meanings are forced into the same space. Even this way of looking at it isn't quite accurate. In this case the layered meanings are, Annoyance, Grief, Sorrow, Obligation, and faintly Hope. There won't be too much of this, but it will contain important hints when it happens.)
I wobbled this was like someone pushed me from every side, but in my head. 'Ouch.'
'Sorry, I forgot how the Elder Speech can affect the very young races. The Company's agents are all like that. They just understand what they need to understand, just because they want to know something, and forget or can't imagine that other species can't do the same.' He paused, I could feel a sense of loss in the air now. 'We, but mostly you, are here to Grow, Adapt and Propagate, in order to return Harmony to this Corrupted World.' He was emphasizing those concepts as if they had a much deeper meaning, 'Mana and by extension Life must be spread and defended, so that the planet itself might Reawaken.' A sense of sorrow from him, and disappointment.
I could kind of see what he was talking about in my head, a verdant World full of massive trees and huge megafauna. I had the sense that it was a savage paradise, red of tooth and claw, but beautiful and majestic.
'So "Save the Planet" but for real?' I tried to show him all the bullshit I had encountered in the past.
He chuckled, that was a neat thing. A tree chuckled, in my head. 'Yes, exactly so. You have been given options for spreading Life, yes. But also you have been given options for war. I imagine the people of this world will not let you carry out your task peacefully.'
'War, but I'm an Electrician, I don't know anything about war. I barely know anything about fighting.' Panic, yeah that's panic. I sat down. My mind noticed that the purple grass was very comfortable. Almost like a natural cushion. It also had a gentle mint-like scent.
'Fear not, Young One. We shall teach you.' He projected peace at me, or at least I think that's what he did. I started feeling better.
[ You are not Alone. ]
A vast forest existed within the greater context of reality, and for a brief moment I was a part of it. This forest was made up of all the versions of all the Greater Trees, in all the universes all at once. It was too much for my fragile human brain to remain connected to, but it had given me a moment of purpose.
'Now we have to get you a Class, and the rest of your Starting Package. Then you have to meet the other side of your forces.' He seemed sad that these other forces were necessary.
I accessed the menu by touching him again. 'Choose Class.'
[ Class Options,
Please note you may change your Class in certain circumstances.
You may also Multiclass. This can be potent but it has draw backs. ]
[ Druid of Balance
+2 to Will
+3 to Spirit
A Druid of Balance keeps the natural world in order. Removing Corrupting Influences.
Starting Spells: Moonfire, Blessing of Elune ]
[ Druid of Renewal
+1 to Will
+4 to Spirit
A Druid of renewal heals the land, and it's creatures. Makes clean the polluted.
Starting Spell: Regrowth, Blessing of Nordrassil ]
[ Druid of Extremes
+3 to Will
+2 to Spirit
A Druid of Extremes finds the Middle by adding pressure at the Ends. Often they become unstable themselves, while gaining great power.
Starting Spells: Sunfire, Blessing of Terra ]
'So I'm going to be a Druid then? I mean I've heard the name, but I have no clue what it means.' I felt like I was getting shoehorned again. A forced choice with limited information isn't really a choice.
'To be a Druid is to seek Wisdom. Understanding not just knowing is the goal of a Druid. For example, you know I am a tree, but do you understand what it is to be a tree?' I had activated his teaching mode. Again images of my Gramps teaching me to work with wood filled my mind. He used to say that understanding the grain of the wood was critical.
Being a tree. Well, no, I couldn't say I understood a tree's perspective. How would I even start to understand what it was like to be rooted in place, to breath through leaves or the draw in nutrients with my roots?
'Seeking that understanding is the primary difference between a Druid and say a Wizard, Arcanist or Mage. Knowing is the Wizard's struggle and passion. For a Druid, it is not enough. You might never gain the breadth of knowledge of a Wizard but you will live and breathe what you do know.' Yeah, that kind of went over my head. 'Well it is better experienced than explained. That why the many awakened beasts follow the path of the Druid, when they find their minds expanded. So learning by doing is the best.'
I was sure he was poking fun at me. I was okay with that. It was a normal thing in an abnormal situation.
I was already sitting down, so I took my time and thought about it. Rolling the bits and pieces around in my mind. So far, I got that I was here to heal the World, somehow. So it seemed best to be a Class that was structured around that concept. It also sounded like I would get some kind of troops to protect me. Yeah, and if I don't like it I could change it. Maybe.
'Druid of Renewal.'
[Adjusting...]
Green energy rose from the Earth and sank into me. Everything burned, but in that good way, like after a great workout. Of course, that was a little messed up when it happens in your eyeballs, and other places that don't have muscles. Odd and disturbing but not completely unpleasant. It kept going.
[ You have gained +1 Will
You have gained +4 Spirit
You have gained the Ability: Mana Sense
You have gained the Ability: See Ley Line
You have gained the Ability: Shape Mana
You have gained the Skill: Ritual at rank 1
You have gained the Skill: Concentration at rank 1 ]
'HA HA, Welcome Ryan Crestwood, the newest Druid of Renewal.' Meadran sent his joy at me, and our sense of connection strengthened.
I passed out.