Training had stopped, when Sunika had come over and demanded the presence of everyone on the dinner table. There, they feasted on the soup she had made with a whole lot of herbs and a little bit of housewife magic. Despite the texture of lung which was, all things considered, rough, unique, and weird, it was all very tasty.
The group of six talked over the table, shared bread and drank a bit of ale produced in a secret basement hidden somewhere on the property. Syl was gloating, satisfied and sighing deeply after every bite of food. Her victory had done wonders for her mental state.
Mery and Dakini bickered a bit but they were not actually angry. It was more expected than anything, that the Second Tier Aimon would win despite the incredible handicap she faced. The two had made a lot of progress but nowhere near enough to leave them satisfied, and Myron would not want to disappoint them. The Training would continue at another time.
“Syl, there is something I want to talk with you about.” Sunika eventually said when she had moved the tables and cutlery to the wash-basin and brought out a little pudding for desert. It was, like everything in this farm-estate, a delicacy like no other.
“Privately?”
“No, it’s nothing I can’t share with you all. It’s just that meeting another of Ilana’s worshipers is so rare that I can’t let the chance slip by.”
“Go on then Sunika, don’t leave us hanging.” Myron commented.
“In Great Oak, there is a Priestess of Ilana. She has founded a secret church, and school of the Gods. She shares wisdom with all those that her Trainer considers safe and tries to do Good by letting their names be heard.”
“Truly? There is an entire class of believers?”
“I don’t know if many of them hold true faith in the divinity of Ilana and those of the Pantheon, but they certainly know their names, and have learnt a bit of the history. So I want you to meet her, the Hare of Ilana.”
“Who is she? How do I know that I’m facing her?”
“Marissa, The White Priestess of Loyalty. That is her Title. Be discreet about your search. I don’t know where she lives or who her Trainer is. But I have seen her, and you will recognize her when you do. Her congregation, when I used to go there, gathers in the Craftsman district.” Sunika tapped her temple as if pulling out information right then and there.
Myron sniffed a little something going on, but let the smell pass him by. There would be no harm to come, should they be truly discreet about their search of Marissa, and seeing the happy dance Syl’s antennae begun to do above her head, it was a given that a search would be held.
Instead he eyed the other two girls and they went to the room provided for them to pack what little stuff they had. By the time they were out Syl was holding Sunika’s hands in her own as if the woman had just saved her first-born child.
“You’re exaggerating Myron. I’m just thankful for the opportunity to meet with someone of my Faith. You probably don’t understand.”
“True enough.” Myron shrugged. “I don’t believe in God anyhow.” Myron said and let the shock roll off his shoulders. He was getting pretty good at it, what with all the exclamations he seemed to be getting.
“Relax. If I meet your Gods, or see their divine power. I’ll believe. In my world, there just wasn’t much direct intervention. Religions did exist and people went to war for their shared Gods, in older times at least.”
“It’s just that you decided to go against the grain and not believe in any of them.” Dakini nodded, she could understand going against the grain for the fun of it. Myron rubbed his knuckled into her head.
“Know, you knucklehead. It stopped being popular when it stopped being needed. Gods in my world, as far as I know even now, living in the World of Aimon for a week and having seen the things I have. They simply didn’t exist. My opinion hadn’t changed. Though if they did they weren’t personified like your Pantheon seems to be.”
“Our Pantheon isn’t personified, The Gods are literal beings of incredible Power. Aimon born of the Aether, of All Types and Combinations of Types, they were born sentient and incredibly powerful, and they have existed long before Humanity came to this world.”
“Oh. Oh! I get it.” Myron nodded. Imaged from his childhood of mythical birds, and creatures that were so rare and unique that any child would salivate at the mere thought of meeting one of them. “They’re legendries. Duh.” He said to himself and waved off the questioning eyes the other cast.
“It’s time we head out. We want to get to the Capital as soon as possible. Don’t we?” He asked Syl pointedly to get her to move on from the topic of religion. She nodded and was out of the door like the Wind. Dakini followed her, galloping on the dirt path.
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“Thank you for everything you two. I hope you live a long and fulfilling life.” He bowed to their two hosts and Mery rushed to do the same. Her hair fluttered in delay as she moved and all the old couple chuckled heartily.
“Take care young man. Keep your secrets close, and your adventures fun.” Farmer Keeg reached forth and grasped Myron’s forearm; near the elbow. The young man answered in kind. “I’ll do my best not to cause too much havoc. If news of me ever reaches your ears, then I’ve gone a bit too far. I hope to visit again one day.” Myron grinned and departed, the sun overhead, warm food in his belly, well rested legs, and supplies to keep them going. He begun to whistle a tune, a song from the time of his parents.
One he had long forgotten. Mery bobbed and hopped by his side.
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“UGH! When will this hill end!” Myron shouted as he looked up and saw the seemingly ever approaching crest, retreat further upwards. The Gorge from which they had cut across nowhere to be seen as the gentle slope which they were ascending had ate it up in its smooth incline
He tossed the his backpack and moved it, to try and get some comfort, but the heavy thing dug into his back and all his sore spots with a vengeance. They had rested for a mere five hours in the night, and rushed from the more till now, late in the evening to get to the capital.
Syl swore it was right over the bend, but Myron was feeling sore all over, the incredible feeling of a well rested body and a warm meal from yesterday, now a distant memory. Though he guessed this was good and different in and of itself. He had signed up for this and he better get used to it, so he bit his lip and stopped whining.
He thought back instead to the current reason for his unreasonable burden, the lungs which they had extracted from a herd of mutated rabbits and which the girls where carrying in a way to not get tainted by blood. He thus had to carry thrice the weight he would have, fitting more bags on his back than he though possible.
The fight had taken them out of their route, and had been concise, annoying, and brutal. Forty some jacked up rabbits hopping and biting and spinning with their horn drills on their heads. Syl restrained them, Dakini put them in a haze and afterwards the three of them begun cutting them apart. Mery used [Surge] on a dozen that escaped Syl’s [Bind] but even them some slipped through and begun to escape, leading to a bit of a chase.
All in all to any Aimon, Mutated beasts did not represent a threat, on a one-v-one. Even the weakest, juvenile Aimon that are stuck at Level 1 could take a bear out if it had a sliver of instincts.
Thus they had dealt with it, and continued in their rush. Now Myron was regretting not spending more time sleeping in the night.
Until, finally, the incline stopped, his trembling legs begun to recover as his mind reeled back. At first he saw the fluffy canopy of a tree. Just the top. ‘Some shade wouldn’t hurt.’ He naively thought.
Then the canopy got bigger and bigger. They walked up the gentle slope and the dark green leaves of the tree spread wide, half of the horizon was taken up by those leaves. ‘There has to be a massive cut-off right here, that tree has to be right in our faces if it is so big, and it’s leaves so small.’ He was puzzled.
Then the slope stopped and they stood on flat ground atop rustling grass meadows with the sun off to the side painting the parse clouds in the violet sky with dashing shades of orange, red, and a pink, a golden halo crowned the setting star.
Myron stood still. The tree was big. So big that it reached above the clouds. Its canopy was as big as a city, the shadow it cast was of leviathan-esque proportions. Its root system spread out from the hill it stood on and dug into the ground, and the earth slope around them, forming hills and gorges and mighty rivers. Myron bugged out.
“Are we walking on the roots of the Great Oak all this while?”
“That we are.” Syl and Dakini nodded, the only ones capable of speech. Mery stood right next to Myron absolutely stunned, with stars in her eyes. A City sprawled out in the shade of the enormous mother tree, one made of wood entirely and from the barks of the Oak waterfalls fell down in a rush of water, tears and open wounds so big that they could irrigate a whole city, nay, create rivers for him and his Team to cross, to help provide water for a whole Duchy of farmers and villages, to change the ecosystem so intensely that not a single bit of Aether was left to roam free.
“Is that the Duke’s Aimon?”
“Pfft! HAHA! Myron, no! Come on.” Dakini fell over herself, her little vulpine face twisted into the most hysterical version she could muster. Syl also chuckled a bit but didn’t mock him. “The Duke is the proud owner of a Green Tier Aimon, a Fourth Tier. There are only two other people with Fourth Tier Aimon in the Empire. The Shinka Dynasty, and the Leader of the Daimyo alliance. Traditionalist Clans that have uphold the old ways of Warrior culture.”
“Then what is that thing? It rid the whole place of Aether, it creates rivers and hills, it is raining under its canopy, I can see it! It has it’s own ecosystem. And don’t mock me!” He chided Dakini whose laughter pattered off. She hopped up and hugged him giving him a sloppy lick on the cheek.
“It’s a Tree created from Himself and his Aimon somehow. She Sprouted it, and somehow got it to suck up Aether independently of her. It is also the reason why the Duke’s Territory is considered one of the only true Dead Zone in the Shinka Empire. Other than a few other, ancient, places and territories.”
“Whatever it is, and despite all the bad it has done for Aimon and Humanity, as the two of them go hand in hand, it is wonderful to look at, and to think about. Something Great that could have a lot of uses if done less… Big, and more spread out. Imagine having one of its seeds and placing it in Taher’s toy region… Boom! Instant reincarnation.” Myron commented and Syl nodded, sharing his awe but not his respect. There was nothing grand or great about it, just awe-factor and suffering.
In awe silence of the Great Oak, they approached the city walls, joining many other travelers, farmers, trainers, and merchants on their way to the city. Rushing to get in before the sun set, forcing Myron to catch up to the girls who also had the same thought in mind. Cursing within his thoughts for every step he took.