Chapter 46: Back Pain

When an elder struck Tree Two, Trint's already bubbling anger surfaced at the unprovoked strike. His anger manifest as a surge in the area's spirit density. Everyone besides Trint began to lock up as if encased in cement.

Trint was angry, but he also turned to look at the spear that had pierced the tent behind him. The spear point was about 12 inches from his spine. Trint turned and extended his Spirit into a blade, slicing through the tent, exposing the frightened spearmen who had sat tensed and ready to defend their elders if the time came.

Trint yanked the spear from the spearman, tossing it in the fire before the elders. He then released his Spiritual hold on Tree Two.

"Quickly, tell me why he hit you and why they hurt your wife and threatened your son!" Trint was not ready to kill them, but he already started with disgust for the leadership. After hearing of their living conditions in the subsystem, he was more sympathetic. Seeing more mistreatment and even a possible assassination attempt had been too much.

"Please, Sovereign, don't kill my people or me. They…they help keep us alive in this place, and they are the strongest of us. Without them, many here would die. Yes, I hate them! But I don't want them killed when I depend on them."

"Would you say the same if you were not dependent on them? Wouldn't you want vengeance for their involvement in hurting your wife and son? Don't you want freedom from all this? Don't you want anything more for your son?"

"Yes, I want freedom, but this is my life. What can you do to make anything better?"

"Would you fight if you had the strength? Would you follow me if I led you and your son away from here?"

"You would take us both away from here? But to what? Joppa? That place is worse than here. I cannot expect you to protect yourself and my son, and we would be swallowed by the forces there.

"I want you to help me find the Sovereign Sect, and I believe they will help me. I cannot guarantee your safety, but I might have some say eventually with the Sect. I am asking a second time; would you follow me if you were strong enough to fight for yourself and your son?"

"I don't know; I have only known this life for so long." Tree Two considered. "I would do anything for my son. Can you promise to help him also?"

"I believe I can uniquely free you both," Trint stated. "I am a Sovereign with a keeper class, and I believe I can make a summons contract bond, and I have some more slots to add summons. But if you do this, I believe you will become like me. The last time I did this, the subsystem being who I contracted with became a human like me and gained options for new classes and professions. Quickly consider whether you want this for you and your son, and decide before your people suffocate."

Looking around, Tree Two realized that no chests were rising. Trint had restricted them so much that they were unable to draw breath. Only wide eyes stared at him.

"Then I accept your offer for my son and me," Tree Two said.

"Welcome to the family, my friend," Trint extended his hand, gripping Tree Two's wrist and pulling him in for a quick embrace. "Also, you will gain a new name and no longer be called Tree Two. And hold still one moment."

Trint cast [Cleanse] on Tree Two and then released the restriction on the room. They all collapsed, gasping. Fear and anger filled the room.

"You can't do this; Tree Two is part of our people," one elder said. At the same time, another grabbed Tree Two's arms from behind, and they were holding him in place while shielding themselves.

"Stop!" Trint commanded the room. "You promised to honor our contract and answer my questions, then you tried to attack me and now have attacked my friend."

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"The elder who grabbed Tree Two now let go. He had been the one to form the contract, and he now knew they were in trouble.

"Kill him!" The chief commanded, desperately hoping they could get him."

"You are so foolish," Trint angrily spat, "haven't I proven I am beyond your ability to attack?"

Trint froze the room again. He grabbed Tree Two by the arm and walked him out of the tent. "Grab your son and meet me out front. Be quick, or I will kill them all."

'Trint, are you going to slaughter them?' Pneuma asked.

'No, but I want to go quickly,' Trint admitted. So I was only partially threatening them, and those listening would have heard the threat. So maybe they will not act against us after we leave.'

'That is a relief,' Pneuma relaxed, 'I felt your anger. And your control over Spirit here is far greater than we have seen before. It seems the density is many times greater than the System, and I would guess the density to be close to the Ancient Realms. Yet they claim no one here can harness it unless in the instances. I don't know what to make of that, but I'm glad you didn't use it to kill these miserable people.'

'Well, I intend to find out what is happening with the spirit in the Subsystem,' Trint stated. 'At least I have an increased chance of not getting killed here if all the people here are weaker than I expected. That's also why I don't plan to kill any of these people if I can help it.'

Trint waited out front, and after a minute Tree Two exited the cave carrying his son.

"What do you plan to do now?" Tree Two asked.

"I plan to take you away from here and give you a better life," Trent calmly stated. "Let's head to Joppa. Which way is it?"

"It is in that direction," he pointed to the right toward the direction the sun had set.

"I have a way to increase our speed. Give me one moment," Trint began his transformation. He formed the suit of spiritual armor, and it looked like an 8-foot-tall knight in black armor. Once done, he added other longer legs for movement and a tail. Then finally, an additional pair of limbs on the back.

"Do you mind if I carry you?" Trint's voice was much more profound and a little sinister.

"Do I have a choice?" he asked,

"Not if we want to get to Joppa in less than a year." Trint determined, "I'll carry you behind my back. Climb up the back of my legs on the rungs.

Trint extended a make-shift ladder of Spirit for Tree Two and his son to climb up. By the time they got to the top, Trint had formed a place for them to sit and look over his left shoulder. They could see well sitting now at 10 feet high. Once they were on the ladder, Trint raised his body higher with the other legs. He felt creative and added another set of legs making the form like a black skeletal horse. With that done, he decided to remove himself from the main body. His body passed from inside the oversized chest of the large form to sit inside the now larger carriage positioned on the back of a centaur-looking black transport. The back of the vehicle was eight feet in the air, and the whole creature was over 15 feet tall. Trint felt good about it and began their trek.

Four legs were moving in motion, but they took trint a moment to get the cadence down. At first, he and his passengers had to hold on, but he quickly figured out how to progress to a smooth gallop. Their speed increased until they were like a bullet train moving across the plains. Trint couldn't help but wish he could fly.

'Pneuma, can I fly yet?' Trint asked with childlike excitement.

'I don't know, but I imagine you could if you were not carrying passengers and found a perfect model to transport your form. The Spirit here is so dense I wouldn't be surprised. But for now, you should let me worry about directing this carriage, and you should make those two into bonded summons. Then you will have some explaining, and they will have to get accustomed to new forms and class options."

"Ok, are you two ready to become my summons and be permanently changed to humans?

"Yes, I am ready; as for my son, I leave that choice to him." Tree Two questioned, "what do you say, little warrior? Do you wish to become this one's companion and learn to grow strong?"

"Yes, father, I do. If you are going with them, then I will follow too."

"Ok, if you receive this contract I have for you, you will become my bond after we both accept, and I share some power with you.

All three accepted the contract, and then something new happened. Pneuma maintained the transport but had to lash a leash of Spirit to each of the three. Trint's sphere of Spirit appeared around them and pushed the top of their carriage off and lifted them like a balloon above the carriage. The process locked Trint's focus in place as he had to strain as if passing a hot ball of lead through his chest. The grid formed into place. Spheres appeared on the surfaces of the grid. Next, the 122 spheres started to rotate around the three passengers. Then currents of powerful Spirit began arcing, gold, blue, white, and black. The arcs struck the rotating balls, stopping all in line with the grid shapes. No one could tell whether they had settled back into the same starting position or not, but they had been moving insanely fast then they were stopped with no transition. Then two spheres moved from the grid and stopped a foot in front of the father and son.

Then the spheres moved the remaining distance and entered through the chest of both of them. They screamed, and a blinding light poured off both of their bodies.

Trint, Tree Two, and his son woke up to the sound and jostle of the carriage moving along the terrain. They were progressing despite Trint having passed out after the bonding was complete.

'What happened after the blinding light? And how long was I out for?' Trint asked.

'You were out for about 3 hours, but which blinding light do you mean?" Pneuma joked with a laugh. 'There were several that I know you were awake for and another few after you passed out.

"Well, thank you for returning us to these seats. I guess it took something out of me. I felt a strain, but it felt natural and easy to initiate. Still, it was formidable, like lifting just enough weight to be a challenge."

'Can you tell us where we are and maybe estimate how long this trip will take?' Trint asked.

'I have no idea, but from what our new companion said, I think we have a long way to go. Knowing they walked and would likely stop daily, my best estimate is a couple of thousand miles. I didn't want to wake you, so I slowed our speed to about 150 miles an hour. At this pace, I can adjust our form to stay relatively stable. If I increase it to 250, we could potentially get there in 4-8 hours, depending on what the terrain and the actual distance turn out to be.'

'Let's keep this pace till they wake up,' Trint decided. 'I still need to talk to both Tree Two and his son. If they don't wake up, stop us after a few hours or before we cross any significant civilizations.'

'Sounds good,' Pneuma agreed. 'We could set up camp and get them comfortable on the ground if they are still asleep.'

'Tell me what you have seen while I was out,' Trint requested. Anything interesting?'