-=Shiona POV=-

We get to the forest a distance away from the city and just as I’m about to grab Plush and fly to the mountain to search for the oranges I remember we’ve a third person with us now.

“Excuse me Kosei, but can that armour of yours fly by any chance?”

“How preposterous, of course it can’t.” Responds the armoured elf while sounding annoyed, giving me the impression this is something he’s had to deal with quite often.

“...Well can you run then?” Asks Plush from next to me.

“That I can do, and where are we going by the way?”

“We’re going to get some oily oranges for a quest, I’ve been told they grow at the base of the mountain.”

“Hmm… That means there’ll be bandits…” He says while holding his faux arms to his faux helmet despite not actually having his arms or head in there.

“First of all you’re very good at acting as if this was a normal suit of armour, secondly why does that mean there’ll be bandits?” I ask at his remark.

“Thanks, I’ve been practicing a lot, turns out people think it is creepy seeing a walking suit of armour with no body language.”

“...”

“...”

“And about the bandits?”

“Right, I forgot you were both from far away, maybe it’s different over there but around here most mountains don’t actually belong to any country or city, everyone just seems to think it’s to bothersome to have to take care of the steep cliffs and harsh terrain so it’s a free zone for whoever wants.”

“And why does that mean bandits?” Asks Plush.

“Think a little, a place completely devoid of guards, soldiers and people in general, it’s a perfect hideout for the unlawful.”

I smile wryly and I’d imagine Plush would be doing the same if he showed his mouth as it seems the elves don’t know about the pickits or the stories of the spirits of the mountains.

Being the socially awkward people we are we end up not telling him, you know, just in case we’re wrong and there actually are bandits here.

“Well, that armour looks really heavy so just shout if it gets tough with all the trees in the way.” I then grab Plush with my talons and fly off towards the foot of the mountain while we hear loud rumbling from behind us, most likely Kosei’s heavy armour thudding along the ground.

We get to the base of the mountain, Kosei arriving a few minutes later complaining about how we didn’t hear him shout, we then start looking for any trees which look different from the rest since Red told us they grew on tropical looking trees.

“Hey Shiona, are those... Palm trees?”

I look where Plush is pointing and see that indeed there were trees which looked just like palm trees growing out of the sides of the mountainous cliffs, and among the leaves of these trees there were coconuts.

“How the hell…?”

We’re both stupefied at the sight of a beach tree growing out of solid rock, we then look around and see that it wasn’t just palm trees, but rather every tree around here looked different from one another, different shapes and colours of the leaves, they’d grown in different ways and had a different colour of bark, however one thing they had in common was that they were all growing out of the cliff side.

We look around at all the trees, see a lot of familiar fruit and even more which were unfamiliar, some looked like they were just the same fruits as we knew from earth but were a different colour, such as a blue avocado looking thing, while some were the opposite, it had the shape of a pear yet looked to have the peel of a banana, and some were completely different from anything we’d seen.

“Is that it?” Asks Plush and points towards one of the more normal looking trees, I look at it and see black citrus fruits hanging from it like apples and take out the quest note to confirm it.

“Yeah that’s it, we need ten of them it says.”

I then fly up next to the tree and put ten of them in my bag, I then take a few extra in case they actually taste good, then while I was already in the air I ended up doing the same with all the other trees and throwing down the fruits to Plush who put them into the inventory.

As I land on the ground I suddenly feel something shaking, looking down I see that it’s the belt, and soon the ground joins in and a rumbling sound can be heard from the cliff wall.

*BOOM*

With a loud sound another tree had suddenly sprouted above the others, launching the rocks which had been in its way all around us.

The tree then looked to be shedding, just like when a treant dies, revealing not the light blue heart leaf which we were used to, but rather what looked like a vaguely humanoid shape made entirely of wood, its body was covered in bark while its face looked as smooth as though someone had peeled off the bark of a tree, on the back of what I assume is its head there was bark going down the back, looking like long hair and giving it a feminine feeling.

Suddenly three gashes opened in its face, two in the places where the eyes would have been and the last where the mouth would go.

With creaking sounds it moves its body slowly and rigidly.

“!”

Then suddenly without warning it stretches its torso and appears right next to me, staring at the belt on my waist, she now looked something like a bark covered half-snake coming out of the mountain.

I stagger backwards in surprise only to find that there was now a concave wall of wood there, blocking any attempts I might do at running away, it was eve to close for me to swing my wings properly.

Just as I’m about to reach for the fire fruit on the belt the creature which I can only imagine being a dryad speaks while clear liquid starts dripping from the corners of what’s supposed to be her eyes.

“... I’d thought they’d gone extinct...” Says a voice, the voice sounding much too human and catching me off guard.

“You! Where did you get this?!” She suddenly shouts while roots appear from the ground and point at me.

“I- I grew up in a nest next to it, when I left it wrapped itself around me!” I explain with a panicked voice as I see Kosei swinging around a giant war axe at roots which had sprouted around and were trying to slash at him while Plush was cutting down the ones which came at him from Kosei’s blind spots, phasing himself whenever any of them tried to get to him. The few that had gotten through had created gashes in the armour metal, almost severing one of its arms.

The dryad looks at the copper tree belt once more and after a few seconds all the roots around me go back underground and both me and the dryad sigh, my sigh was in relief and by the sound of it so was hers.

She then starts grabbing at the belt with her smooth bark less hands and trying to take it off of me.

“I can protect you! Why must you insist on staying with these people!?” She screamed at the belt when it didn’t come off, tears now streaming down her face.

Feeling like I had had enough of this I grabbed a red fruit using two of my sturdier feathers (Something I had been practicing behind Plush’s back) and ate it, the dryad then quickly let go, most likely expecting me to burst into flames like the bird I had tried feeding it to earlier, however when she see that I’m completely fine she gasps and stares at me and my now red tinged feathers in awe.

Still having no idea what I’m supposed to do right now I just stand there and glare at her, trying to do my best at looking as intimidating as possible.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

She casts her head downwards, closes her eyes and clutches her hands in front of her chest.

“I see…”

She then looks up, this time looking at me rather than the wooden belt.

“You! You’d better take this! If you get this young one killed due to your own stupidity you will have me after you!” The dryad then tosses me a seed the size of a walnut.

“Tha-Thank you?” I respond while stuttering due to surprise.

“Plant it as soon as you can, it will help you stay alive.”

She then turns her elongated body towards the others.

“And you! Elf! Your kind abandoned me and my god’s ways! You are not allowed here! Leave!” She screamed at Kosei as a large root launched him away from the mountain like a catapult.

“I will now if it perishes, don’t even think about tricking me.” Says the Dryad while scowling, she then retracts back into where she had sprouted from, the tree she came in covering her back up.

“Shiona! Are you okay!?” Shouts Plush as he runs towards now that he doesn’t have to protect Kosei anymore.

“I’m, I’m fine Plush. But right now we need to hurry, you wouldn’t happen to have something in that book that lets you grow plants? I don’t think it’s a good idea to piss off the dryad any more than we already have.”

“Actually I think I have the perfect thing.” He responds, taking the seed and putting it in his pouch before his legs split in three, signifying that he’s gone inside the book and that Cy has come outside.

[Hello.] She says after she takes out the talking machine from their inventory.

“Hello… just, you know that Plush has a telepathy magic item around his neck right? I don’t think you need to use your machine.”

[Telepathy would make it sound like my real voice.] Says the machine while the number of red circles on her face increased from eight to ten due to her starting to blush.

[Here.] She says after she recovers as she takes out a white object, the chimera egg, from the inventory and hands it to me, when I grab it I can feel it shaking.

*crack*

Suddenly a small clawed duck foot cracked the eggs surface, creating crack all along the egg as the creature inside tried to force the shell apart.

-=Plush POV=-

I find myself inside Cy’s apartment when I enter the book, I would’ve switched with Lizz but Cy said she needed to talk with Shiona.

I walk out of Cy’s room and towards Lizz’s, although Cy’s still looked like the one I had in my previous life it had been renovated way too much and I doubted it still had the thing I needed.

I enter Lizz’s apartment, the one that looked almost exactly the same as the one I used to own and prayed that it stayed true to my memory.

Personally I didn’t have to worry much about the dryad as I was impervious to everything I knew of when I phased myself, however I was unable to fully phase both myself and Shiona so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to protect her, this seed might just help if what the dryad said was true.

I walked into the living room, Lizz flying behind me and wondering what I was planning to do, she had been staying here for a fair while yet had no idea what in here could help a seed grow.

I take the seed from Lizz who had flown into the fridge room when I asked her to get it and stand in front of one of my shelves.

I ask Lizz for help and we push the shelf, revealing a door behind it.

‘I never thought I would ever end up being thankful for this.’

Lizz looks at the hidden door with expectation and intrigue once she hears that, I then brace myself and open the door after returning my shape to that of my previous life.

*CREAK*

With a creak much louder than any I’d ever heard from a door before it opens and we go inside.

Inside the room where three long and thin tables, on the tables were pots filled with dirt and above it were some very strong lamps meant to imitate sunlight.

Yes, just a few weeks before I was hit by the train I found out that the previous owners of this apartment had been growing drugs in this hidden room, now I normally don’t care about what other people do, do whatever you want, but when the reason I found out about this room was due to the police having found it and started accusing me of being the one taking care of it my life became very hectic, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if they chalked up my death as suicide due to that whole mess.

I go into the middle of the room where there was a much bigger pot than the ones around it and buried the seed within.

I wipe my now human forehead out of habit and go back outside into the living room and fall down face first into the sofa.

‘I missed this.’ I thought as I felt nostalgic about my life on earth and drifted off into sleep now that I could relax.

“Hey! You can’t just show me that secret room and not tell me about it!”

However her complaints simply fell on deaf ears as I was already in deep slumber.

*            *            *

‘This has been a while.’ I think as I find myself inside a world of black and white.

I looked around and saw that  was on a beach, I could see blobs of very faint colour flying floating around in the sky, some faster than other, as I decided to explore and try to find out why this was a place I wanted to be.

I walked in the way I was facing when i first came to and entered a forest which was next to the beach, I then followed a path further and further in.

Although I had called this a forest I wasn’t sure if I really could, all the trees were missing their leaves, they looked old and decrepit and the ground lacked any grass, in fact the path I was walking on wasn’t a normal forest path but rather it was covered in what looked like some sort of dust or soot.

As I walk further and further into the depths of the forest the trees start thinning out and my surrounding start becoming illuminated in a blue light.

I look towards the centre of the clearing I found myself in and see four stone pillars surrounding a fifth one, this one shorter, and on top of the fifth one was a bright glowing blue piece of paper.

A page of the book of knowledge.

I looked around as I heard the sounds of dead twigs being snapped in half and footsteps on top of the dried dirt, I hid myself behind a boulder while peeking over at where the sound came from, there stood a lone figure wearing a dark robe and carrying a staff.

I couldn’t see the figures face, nor its gender, however just like everything else here he was coloured in black and white, whatever part of me it is that decides that this is a place I want to be in doesn’t seem to think that this figure has any relevance to the one thing that’s in colour, namely the books page.

The man stands before the four pillars and taps his staff forwards, suddenly I see a light grey dome cover the pillars and what’s inside them, suddenly I can see a fog similar to the one which was inside the en-gem Cathy showed us get drained out of the page and sent towards the figures staff, the figure then motioned with the staff, and judging by its chest movements it was either in pain or it was saying something as well.

*rumble rumble*

The ground he started shaking around us and the dirt right around where the figure was standing started bulging upwards, eventually falling off of whatever was rising from below and revealing bodies with fatal wounds and gashes who were rising from below the ground.

Once thirteen bodies had climbed out of the ground the figure seemed satisfied as it turned around and started leaving in the direction it came from, only to suddenly stop and turn my way.

“I know you’re there creature.” It then said in a weak voice which sounded more like a wheeze than like someone actually talking, and when I don't respond the figure seems t sigh and keeps talking.

“You seem to think I’m not talking about you, let me clarify then.”

The creature then put its free hand in a fist in front of where its face should be and cleared its throat.

“You there with the ghostly disposition. I’ll have you know I am very adept at telling when there are spirits nearby. Your disposition may be what allowed you to get this far on the island without getting attacked but your luck ends here!”

Suddenly he waved his staff and a black stream started flying towards me, seeing this I phased my body fully in preparation.

‘!’

However the black strings and shapes still managed to pick me up as though I hadn’t been doing a thing.

“You’ve grown cocky. Thinking you could ambush me. As if any self-respecting necromancer wouldn’t have any way of dealing with ghosts!” Said the figure while letting out weak laughter.

In order to get out of this bind I tried a gamble, I used Solidification all around me, and luckily it paid off as the black shadows were solidified along with the air around me, after they were solidified I was able to phase through them like normal and dropped to the ground below.

When I landed I swiftly phased myself into the ground and fled by sliding myself away from the figure, I could even hear it gasp in surprise, though I didn’t know whether that was due to my hasty retreat or due to me being able to get out of the shadows at all.

Seeing that the figure was able to keep up with me also told me that for whatever reason I wasn't going as fast as I should've been, if I had I would've left him chewing dust miles behind.

‘The book said the Revenant Reconnaissance lets me survive even if my projection dies so I won’t have to worry about that, but let’s at least find out where this place is!’

As I thought that I could see something glow as i shot past me, barely missing my head.

Since I was traveling by phasing my body I was allowed the luxury of turning around and seeing behind me without need to worry about going slower or crashing into anything, there I could see the dark cloak flying towards me while waving his staff, any of the trees in his path seemed to move out of his way when he got close as though alive.

“I don’t know what sort of ghost you are or why I can’t see you clearly, but if I catch you I will no doubt be able to create something spectacular!” Stated the figure with a voice as sure of his victory as if he’d been playing catch with a toddler and he started slinging more glowing projectiles at me.

Since I was able to see him while moving I was able to dodge all of them, as well as when one of them passed me a bit closely I tried to solidify it and found that it was possible just like with the shadows, however when I dropped the solidification and the projectile fell to the ground it spread a small distance along the ground like Shiona’s Ice shots.

‘If I get hit by that I will probably have a hard time moving around anymore.’

We then came out of the deceased forest and onto the beach, and I started turning my head towards the waters every so often to try and see if there were any landmarks I could spot as I went along the beach, the self-proclaimed necromancer still following me, now laughing as though enjoying a sport. Eventually I finally saw something of note, on the other side of the large lakes I could see structure.

A large wall.

A walled city.

Eastern lake city.

“The town caught your eye eh?” Heckled the necromancer as it seems to have realize I was looked at the city. “It’s a pretty gem alright, though a bit too, how should I put it… Alive? It needs to be changed! Come winter and ice I will march over there with an army and start my descent into the history books!” The necromancer then started cackling like a madman as it started to raise its magic output.

Feeling like I had seen what I needed to see I tried to cancel Revenant Reconnaissance, something I had never had the time to do on my own before, and then for a fraction of a second everything turned black before I found myself back on the sofa in Lizz’s apartment, breathing heavily and covered in sweat.

‘I have to tell the guild!’