Over a week had passed since Grimlok left, and now Acacia was standing in front of ten gremlin subspecies in various different clothing, and markings. He expected their to be some sparsely scattered villages, but this slightly exceeded his expectations. Grimlok slowly walked next to Acacia, and made a report.
[Tree, these were the chieftains I found willing to listen.]
[Did you tell them my message?]
[Yes, however many remains unconvinced, and some of the ones that refused are even considering hostile actions to forcibly take the cure.]
[Heh, how lucky.]
[Lucky?]
[Just sit back, and watch.]
Acacia stared at the black tower.
[Lumina, I need your assistance.]
[As you wish master.]
In moments a black, and gold blur rushed from the tower, floating beside Acacia, her appearance startled many of the chieftains, causing some to stumble. Acacia clicked his tongue at their show of cowardice.
Lumina nodded, and quickly flew around the group, the pollen from her wings flew to the ground, and formed a simple magic circle.
[Greetings chieftains, my name is called Acacia, since you no doubt heard the message from my servant, I will keep my words brief. In return for me curing your clans, I want your people to lend me their powers. Naturally aside from getting rid of the black death disease, I will also provide you with many benefits to be discussed in the future. Are there any questions?]
[How can we believe you?]
[Isn't it possible you were the one that started the disease?]
[Hey he's just a kid, if we gang up on him....]
[This is just a plot to enslave us, like all humans do!]
[What kind of stupid name is Tree?]
As the chieftains continued to voice discontent, Acacia turned his eyes to a clearing where over thirty armed gremlin subspecies were coming. They were armed with primitive spears made from rocks, and wood. They came forward in a disordered, and amateurish fashion. The leader of the group was slightly larger, and wore a black fur cap with a rusted sword.
The creature in the lead shouted loudly, and made various declarations that threw the chieftains in a frenzy, but since he was not linked to the communication magic; Acacia could only vaguely guess the intent.
Grimlok turned to Acacia.
[That one is the chieftain of one of the villages that refused, he leads one of the five great clans called the black root gnawers. Right now he is threatening to take your head, if you do not hand over the cure.]
Gold, and black light were already gathering in Lumina's fingertips, as she stared at the direction of the hostile force, her face remained casual, and impassive. Acacia smiled at how composed she is. Was this because of her age? Her new found power? Or was it simply a racial characteristic?
[Lumina stand down, this is the perfect opportunity for me to handle.]
For a primitive society, the easiest form of domination was to show overwhelming power. Acacia just walked towards the new hostile force casually, and with confidence. This was not meant to be a duel, war, or fight, it was meant to be a stage for a grand play, meant to bring him into the spotlight, with the other chieftains as the audience, and the antagonist as the willing sacrifice.
The hostile chieftain looked visibly shaken but continued to shriek, and chatter something incomprehensible to Acacia. The silver lake slowly formed underneath him, the ghostly liquid started to push forward, while also wrapping around Acacia's legs, arms, and hands.
The liquid looked more like an transparent ghostly image, rather than something with physical substance.
With a loud shriek the attackers rushed forward.
“Primitive, no hint of formation, or strategy, and the weapons are a joke.”
Acacia lifted up his palm. A geyser of water burst form the ground, and rushed into the air, sending several flying. On Acacia's fingertips five orbs of water, the balls of water formed spikes, and quickly froze over into ice, as the geyser ended, the bodies were about to drop to their deaths. He smiled as he swiped his hand, sending the spikes of ice, flying through the air, impaling each body, as they smashed into the floor, leaking dark blood from their broken bodies, and forming a small pool of thick, red liquid.
Acacia continued walking forward to meet the charge, the next one he met was immediately impaled by a pillar of newly frozen water, that tore a fist sized hole into it's belly. Acacia formed a fist towards the impaled corpse, the water surged around the corpse forming a ball, and flung itself into another group.
Spears flew through the air, but the water on flowing on Acacia's skins started to bubble, and shoot water bullets to intercept the spears, breaking the cheaply made projectiles, and knocking them away.
All around Acacia spikes of sharpened ice started to dance around him, impaling everything that got within a certain radius, sending red blood flying in the air. The blood frozen by the water's mist made it seem like rubies were raining from the sky, and dancing around him.
Acacia twitched at seeing the blood but continued to maintain a smile, albeit a very stiff one. Each attack caused the silver lake to shrink, eventually the lake formed a small puddle, and in that puddle a large carnivorous face resembling a wolf was formed.
Acacia flung his hands forward, the large wolf head made of water, flew from the remaining silver water leaving a trail of ice particles, and dived into the black root gnawer chieftain, and his guards. They screeched, and shouted in alarm, as the giant wolf opened it's jaws to swallow them whole, and caused an explosion of frozen mist, and water.
Moments later when the mist subsided, statues made of ice were the only thing left, and the silver water disappeared.
“Disappointing, I was going easy on you just to see what you could do, but this really is disappointing.”
Acacia truly wanted to test the limits of his would be followers, but this truly was below average.
“At the very least you guys saved me the trouble of threatening the other chieftains.”
Acacia looked at the fear, and surprisingly awe in some of their eyes. Needless to say the conversation later went smoothly. In the brief meeting he went over what he could do for them, and that they would see the results in the long run.
He, and Lumina would later spend two weeks visiting all of the villages, and forming contracts. During that period he would take volunteers from several villages to help collect edible plants, and be briefly taught by Grimlok.
One week later, Acacia successfully created enough elixirs to cure the villages, those who became alchemists were taught 90% of the cure, but only Acacia knew the final piece. For the moment even though the villages were already under Acacia's control, nothing dramatic changed, and no new rules were provided.
He was currently staring at a large list, while frowning, and Lumina was floating next to him while looking over the paper.
[Lumina, how is your colony coming along?]
She smiled, as if beaming in pride.
[Thirty seven flowers blossomed, ten of them should reach maturity soon.]
[ So around three failed to bloom huh?]
[Yes, sadly they were premature, it may take longer for them, not all the children will grow according to plans.]
[Well at least that's some good new, but the Grems are a problem.]
[Grems?]
[Honestly those guys don't have an official name so I just gave them one, they call themselves grakalifusan which is a not something I want to use.]
[So what is the problem with the Grems?]
[Everything.]
[What do you meant by that?]
Acacia started to go down the list of cons. They had a primitive society, cowardly social traits, lack of commitment, and concentration. Did not have a concept of math, or cohesive written language. Did not have farming methods, do not have the concept smithing, the wheel, animal domestication, or even literature.
Their methods are crude, their discipline is lacking, their thoughts are narrow, and they lack curiosity, and drive.
What he wanted aren't mindless dolls to act like zombies, or primitive animals, but moving, thinking, and constantly evolving servants seeking to push the limits, and conquer the unknown. How on earth could they compete with the angels, devils, adventurers, wizards, templars, and whatever else in the world.
Thankfully Lumina, and hopefully her children have high intelligence, and learning capacity, so they could master concepts easier. He would have to thoroughly train Grimlok, and have him instruct the other grems.
“No, I'm thinking too far ahead.”
[Grimlok.]
[Yes, Tree.]
[Call me master.]
[.... Master..]
[How many of your kind is not under my control?]
[The villages living in the northern region where the disease did not reach them, and also where the five great clans reside. Of the ones that attacked before, only a small portion of the black root gnawers were infected. So they were not too pressed for a cure.'
With a tired nod, Acacia walked towards the second floor where large flowers were in bloom, that were over one feet tall. They had green inner, and red outer petals, and on the centre of the blooming flower, gold, and black light danced.
Lumina was flying over the three flowers that were still closed, and was paying more attention to them. Her wings were constantly sending bursts of wind around the room. It would have been better to place them in a space where the sun's ray could reach them, but there was a concern for security. Therefore they relied on the mirrors located around the tower, to refract light into the second floor.
[Lumina, can I have you deliver a message?]
She stopped what she was doing, and floated next to Acacia.
[Deliver a message to all the Grems' villages under my control to send forth five of the brightest people from their respective villages, and five of the most hard working. Tell them the deals I made before, I plans to put them into action. Can you make the journey?]
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
[I've honestly never tested the limits of my endurance, but I feel it should be doable with this current body.]
In mere moment she flew out of the tower in a blur. From what Acacia surmised, while her wings allowed for fast acceleration, it did not allow her to reach high altitudes.
[Wait for the good news master.]
Later in the day, nine tired looking grems alchemists lay, Grimlok the leader of the bunch was now adopting Acacia's methods, and drilling information into their tired bodies. Acacia was meanwhile observing the inventory left in the tower.
“Dust of the lesser fire elemental, scales of the land wyrm, feathers of the gold roc....”
A light fluttering sound interrupted his inventory counting. Lumina was now right next to him.
[Master, they will be here in about a week.]
[Thank you.]
[No, it was an honor.]
In a weeks time one hundred grems from the ten villages under his control showed up. Fifty of them would be trained in magic like Grimlok had been, but they will be focusing on it as a specialty. In the mean time they were to make their homes in the fifth floor. The black tower was originally made to resemble an academy for like minded students, and sages, so a few hundred was not an issue.
Lumina who was familiar with magic to begin with, was asked to to go over theories, and experiences in magic, for the sages in training. The other half was led by Acacia himself, they were all parked in the third floor, as they would be going outside fairly often.
There were many, many, things Acacia needed to accomplish, but not enough resources. So barring all the complex things, he focused on more simpler matters. Dealing with the grems more basic problems, like food, and security.
In front of the fifty grems he placed several items on the ground.
[This is a hoe, these are seeds, and this is a picture diagram.]
Slowly but surely began his long lecture on farming methods, soil nutrients, types of seeds, and how to assemble simple tools. He led them on trips outside to look at the soil, sources of water, and good spots to plant for specific foods typical to the region. These lectures lasted months. During the process he told them how to scavenge for food, eat bark, and edible plants. He showed them the usefulness of the wheel, and planning ahead.
When the lecture ended he had them return to teach their villages, and brought in their hunters. There he taught lessons regarding pit fall traps, rope traps, proper hunting methods, usage of nets, and conservative hunting to ensure future reproduction of food. He taught them on how to domesticate animals to help with hunting like hawks, and wolves. Then used the humans as examples on what they have accomplished.
Then he showed them how to move silently, and efficiently in order to stalk prey. Acacia taught them to always use up every single part of the animal they hunt down, from the bones, to the fur, to even their blood, and organs.
Lumina had taught her students magic concepts related to theory, concept, and utility. The existence of other types of magics available, the existence of foreign gods, and the utilization of mana.
Acacia also taught the ten alchemists more information on herbs, plants usage, recognizing diseases, poison, and proper handling methods. He would sometimes go into theory, and force them to join the lectures with the sages in training. He also imposed a 'game' where he would split them into teams to answer test questions, the losing team would be forced into manual labour to scavenge food for the winning team.
Of all the groups, the alchemists, and sages were taught the longest, and most thoroughly.
He taught them the concept of math, written language, and the benefits from it. A majority of their lessons were related to their specific fields, but Acacia, crammed every extra piece of information into them when possible. He especially drilled them on the concept of philosophy. Occasionally he would find chances to force discipline into them by giving them chores, tasks, and goals to achieve within a time limit.
Well over a year had passed, and Acacia was now twelve years old.
The grems students went from fur clad, and dirty, to clean, and wore fresh robes taken from all the left overs in the tower. During a lecture on gravity, a grems raised his hand.
[Master, why should we care if an apple falls from the tree?]
[Let me ask you this, why is it that the apple doesn't remain still?]
[Isn't it obvious, that's just how it is!]
[Can you explain why though?]
[Eh, what's the point?]
[Why do you exist? For what purpose do you live? Why can you speak? Why do you have eyes? Why do you have two hands? Why is the sky blue? Why is my skin pale? Why do you need food?]
[Eh, umm.. Er?]
[Asking questions is a fundamental part of life! To stop asking questions is to stop being aware! You might as well be dead!]
The grems students were all shocked into silence.
The students all clasped their hands, and bowed.
[Yes, great master!]
One month later the ten direct students have been selected, and the forty were now standing outside the tower waiting for Acacia's departing speech.
[We have been together for over a year now, you have endured harsh training, rigorous lessons, and barely took any breaks. You have learned much, but know you are still lacking, as there is so much more in this world to learn. Never stop learning, and moving forward. Every obstacle is not there to get in your way, but there for you to overcome, and be that much stronger! Use that knowledge to lead your kind into the future, and for the prosperity that is your birth right!]
A loud clear message reverberated in his mind.
[Yes, master!]
[Continue to learn, and continue to advance in your magic, the goal, and ambition we hold is not something so simple as to be confined in a mere village. One day I will need you to come back, and for you to answer my call. Sharpen your minds, and skills, until that fated time of our reunion!]
[Yes, master!]
[Good! You may leave! But remember, I will be keep tabs on you, so if you go astray, realize there will be consequences!]
[Yes, master!]
With a single unified screech the robed grems left for their respective villages, to bring enlightenment to their kind.
Acacia turned his back, and entered the black tower, when he reached the 2nd floor he noticed it being filled entirely with black Light pixies, unlike Lumina they were only 3 feet tall, and sported child like looks compared to their matriarch.
[Lumina.]
[Yes master?]
[I think it's time to claim territory for your kind, or else their growth would be limited, and this place would be crowded.
[Yes, I have already considered that master, I found a large valley surrounded by mountains, shall we inspect it together?]
[Later.]
[As you wish.]
He turned to Grimlok.
[How is the news with the northern tribes?]
[It's as expected, seeing the resurgence of the southern villages, and their expanding culture, a lot of defectors from the north are showing up, and moving into southern villages. It would not be surprising for the great clans to act.]
Acacia turned his head to stare at a black light pixie in the corner, he motioned for her to come.
The pixie wore something resembling a satchel, and a cap. He had formed a small communication network of black light pixies that delivered mails, and messages. Unlike the previous pixies, the black light pixies had larger wings, and could fly faster.
[Go to break jaw village, and inform that chieftain to deliver any emergency messages related to the northern tribes, to me.]
The pixie nodded, and immediately flew away.
He turned to Lumina.
[How is your kind doing in relation with combat?]
[As a pixie we do not have aggressive tendencies, but after becoming a black light pixie, the concept of battle no longer frightens us, if anything, we are strangely excited.]
[Hmm so the fusion process changed your psyches abit, I guess that came from the devil kin genes.]
Acacia murmured gently.
“I need a favor.”
“Mew?”
Later that week, all the northern chieftains of the great clans were found murdered in their homes, as well as their families, sowing chaos in the north, and infighting broke out to fill the missing power.
In the middle of the night Acacia was now fast asleep, sweat poured from his face, and minor black scars started to leak out. Lumina was watching all of this from the side of the room. She floated silently next to Acacia, and stretched out her finger to wipe of the sweat.
The black scars emitted a dark aura, as it latched unto her skin. Her round emerald eyes, formed an eagle like glare, crushing the black scars biting into her fingertips.
Who are you? What are you? And how many secrets are you hiding? Your eyes, actions, and words do not suit someone of your age.
She thrust her hand out, taking in all the black scars digging into his body, she felt the dark tendrils eating away at her flesh, and biting at her soul. They engulfed her; covering her in black decay, like ants swarming over food on the ground. Lumina revealed a vicious smile, as she ripped away the darkness trying to violate her.
“Do you plan to dye the world red? And will the path you take lead us to ruin? No, I suppose it doesn't matter at this point, I can only move forward.”
After that silent whisper, she slowly started melt into the shadows.
For the sake of our collective futures, that is. Let's do our best.
Notes:Power void = power vacuum