The Chaos Lands (Part 3)

Idris pointed out in the direction he thought the ironwood trees should be, “And that’s why we’re heading out there. We don’t belong here, Yahn. It’s like Conrad said, you can only go so far with training. We have to get into the thick of things, really see what we can do and let that show us what we’re made of.

“So, are you ready to do that with me? Ready to get out there and make it worth it and find out just how far on the path we can travel?”

Eana grinned and at the sight Idris couldn’t help but be impressed with himself. It wasn’t so bad a speech was it?

“Yeah!” Eana said, “Yeah lets do it!”

They set off in the direction Idris had indicated. If they didn’t run into the grove of red trees after a couple of miles or so, they could always turn around.

The surrounding forest was replete with the sounds of nature. Birds chirping, wind rustling branches and leaves and, behind them, the now receding sound of the river separating them from Irondale. There was nothing truly menacing about it - it was just another forest after all - and yet Idris felt more profoundly now than ever before that he was adventuring into the Chaos Lands.

“Keep your eyes on the lookout for monsters,” Idris said, doing a slow scan of the surrounding woodlands as he spoke. Part of him hoped at least one of them would spot something he could get some real experience fighting.

Eana just kept on walking, a thoughtful look on her face. It was like she didn’t even see the forest around them.

“How does it even work?” She asked, suddenly.

“Huh?”

“The Chaos Lands. Monsters. Magic. All of it.”

That was a strange question for Eana to ask him. She had had the same lectures and education on Order and Chaos as he had. He glanced at her and realized she meant something more. Something deeper. Deciding to let her puzzle it out he carried on walking.

After another minute or so Eana spoke again, “Why do we hunker down behind the borders of the node? I mean, I get the monsters don’t like the node but why?”

“You know as much as I do, Yahn,” Idris said, brushing aside some low hanging branches for her to go through, “Monsters infest the Chaos Lands and we push Order forward into the world by building and maintaining nodes.”

He continued, his voice taking on the tone of a memorized speech, “And traveling Order’s path…”

“...gives us powers beyond the scope of devotees of Chaos,” Eana intoned, joining him.

They both chuckled and continued walking. The catechism was well known and the Path Guide’s that sometimes came through Irondale made sure to embed the idea in every person they encountered. Over and over.

After another few moments Eana continued, “We know Order is real, it’s easy to see in our Path Interface. We know Chaos is real…well, we’re pretty sure it’s Chaos when we cross the border from a node.”

“Don’t forget the monsters, the treasure adventurer’s go after, not to mention the dungeon,” Idris said.

“The dungeon!” Eana said, “Where does it come from? Nothing about Order and Chaos and two gods battling it out eternally means we need dungeons, does it?”

Idris gave his sister a quizzical look, “That… is actually a pretty deep question.”

“Right?” Eana said.

“And I actually have some idea about that.”

“What do you mean?” Eana suddenly looked interested. More so than she had in her initial querying.

Idris hesitated a moment. He had been working on his only questline for months now, The Shimmering Rocks, but it was only now that he started thinking of it in the grand scheme of things.

“Remember I told you I had that quest to gather odds and ends and take them up the mountain?”

Eana nodded.

“I feel like, I mean not that I’ve had that many quests, but that this one is unique. It’s not just a single quest, it’s called a quest line which makes me think there will be more coming once the first is done. But also, it didn’t come to me as a result of any interaction with other people or my skills. It just appeared. Like it came straight from Order. Or maybe…”

He shrugged a bit and Eana punched him in the arm, “Or maybe what?” she asked.

“Maybe it’s from Chaos. I got it when I was outside the node, near these strange rocks. I passed by the place probably a hundred times and never saw them before and then one day they were just… there. And when I walked up to them I got a quest. It was almost like the rocks were the things that gave it to me. Which seems crazy but still, there it is.”

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“But what is it? What’s the goal?”

“I’m supposed to bring items - anything - to a space by the rocks and when I do it vanishes into the ground. Just sinks in.” Idris said.

“Weird. Do you get anything?” Eana said.

“A little bit of XP. I get more for bringing new things and practically nothing for things I’ve brought already. But I’ve taken all kinds of stuff. Bits of metal, other rocks, pinecones, clothing scraps, even a dead animal once.”

“Eww!” Eana said, smiling, “...What did you take?”

Laughing, Idris replied, “A mole. And a squirrel. Nothing big.”

“Ugg, that’s so gross! I bet if you had your inventory skill when you killed the drone you would have packed up the body and brought that,” Eana said, smirking.

“That…” Idris said, “is not such a bad idea.”

“You’re so gross!” Eana said, then after a moment, “You sure we’re still heading in the right direction?”

Idris waved a dismissive hand, “We’re fine. But thinking about what you said about dungeons… I think that since the Hive wasn’t there before that something like what I’m doing brought it into existence. Chaos brought together all kinds of energies or creatures or whatever and the end result was the dungeon. And dungeons are basically the most Chaos thing we’ve ever seen come out of Chaos. And so in my case it’s like Chaos is using Order to bring another dungeon into existence, deliberately instead of by accident.”

“You think you’re building a dungeon?” Eana asked, skeptical.

“I think it would be pretty amazing if I was,” Idris said, not the least bit ashamed.

“Making your own dungeon… have you tried to do something specific like… like only bringing it certain types of rocks or animals or something? The hive is pretty specific.”

Idris shook his head, “Honestly the only thing I’ve been paying attention to is the XP rewards so I toss it whatever I can carry.” He stopped a moment and glanced back at the mountains, just visible through the tree canopy, “We should be there soon. Didn’t look that far from up at the mine…”

“So maybe Chaos and Order work together sometimes?” Eana said, sounding hopeful for some reason.

“What do you mean?”

“Well you got a quest to make a dungeon - you think - and quests are part of Order. So if you’ve got a quest to do something for Chaos, maybe it’s Order and Chaos working together. Maybe Chaos things… are sometimes part of Order… things?”

“That goes against literally everything we’ve been taught about the eternal fight between the gods and our purpose in following Order’s Path but… why not?” Idris said before adding sarcastically, “Maybe everybody is wrong.”

Not hearing any sort of reply, Idris looked back and saw Eana had stopped. Eyes down but with the characteristic glazing that said she was looking over her interface. Idris thought she looked frustrated, and just had time to wonder about why before she wiped the expression from her face.

She carried on as if nothing had happened, “Yeah. Stupid question.”

Idris put up his hands in a “what can you do?” gesture and they both carried on walking. Not long after the greens and browns of the trees gave way to deep orange that faded, distinctly, into red.

Ahead of them the grove they had been looking for stood in stark contrast to the forest around. Not just in color, but in the uniformity of their shape and positioning. It was as if the entire grove had been planted and tended by a careful hand. But there was nobody in any direction for miles except for the people of Irondale, and Idris couldn’t think of a single person there who bothered to leave the node except for short trips. Even then he would have heard about one of his neighbors tending an entire grove of trees that, as far as he knew, grew nowhere else in the area.

He and Eana took in the expanse of the grove and, for Idris’ part, he couldn’t help but feel like they were trespassing on private land.

The leaves of the ironwood trees, strangely, did not cover the ground. There were a few here and there, but Idris reached out experimentally to pluck one off the low hanging branch and found it took serious effort. Even with his high strength.

Eana, looking nonplussed, took a turn and couldn’t even remove a leaf.

“Maybe we get lucky and there’s some decent branches lying around?” she said.

Idris, though? He felt a surge of excitement.

“Let me see that ax,” he said.

Eana handed it to him and he hefted it and looked around for a suitable target. The Ironwood trees appeared to not grow as thick as trees with softer wood, and despite their varying height, all of them over about twice Idris’ height were fairly similar in girth. He picked one slightly smaller around than the average tree, figuring there wasn’t any need for a taller tree just to make a staff.

He took an experimental swing and the ax blade turned as it struck the trunk, causing idris to stumble. Both he and Eana bent in close to examine the result.

“I think it’s safe to say this wood will make a great staff,” Idris commented.

“How hard did you actually swing?” Eana asked.

“Pretty hard. Not as hard as I can though.”

“Do it again,” Eana challenged.

“I gotta. Not because you told me to though,” Idris said, “Step back.” He set his feet and readied himself for another swing. As eager as he was to imbue the weapon and see what would happen, he wanted first to test the limits of his strength.

Preparing as much force behind the blow as he could muster, Idris took a shuffling run toward the tree before swinging with all of his 54 points of strength, pressing forward with his leg and putting his entire body behind the blow.

The ax bit deep into the wood and, incongruously since the tree remained completely intact, a loud cracking sound reverberated through the small grove. A flock of birds took flight and both Idris and Eana looked around like they expected suddenly to be in trouble.

Completely outside his expectations, a quest prompt entered Idris’ vision:

Quest

Ironwood Vandal

A few scraps of wood is nothing. Bringing down a few trees though? That kind of vandalism invites retribution. Attract a Forest Guardian Spirit and defeat it. If you can.

Reward: 100XP

“Whoa,” Eana said, eyes wide as she read her own quest prompt.

“Did you get the same one?”

“Mine says I need to land the killing blow on a Forest Guardian Spirit. 200XP reward!”

“200!?” Idris said, “Mine is only 100! No killing blow stuff though - I just have to defeat it. Technically it doesn’t say ‘I’ have to be the one to defeat it, but still.”

“My quest doesn’t explain how to find it though,” Eana said.

“I’ve got a feeling that if we chop down enough of these trees, it’ll find us,” Idris said, preparing his ax for another swing.