Finch looked up into the sky, a strange sensation rippling through his spirit. Something had changed, and the chief would need to be informed. The head priestess had been ailing for many years, and he had taken on her responsibilities as augur since. Now it seemed he would finally be able to exercise some of his newfound abilities
Rushing down the heavily forested path he started releasing some of his spores, allowing them to propagate outwards into the surroundings. Best to check if there were any untoward effects before reporting in, the chief wasn’t the most patient of men. Fortunately Finch didn’t have to communicate with the man much, it was much more convenient to send one of the acolytes to get yelled at. He chuckled, it wasn’t so long ago that he himself had been one of those unfortunate acolytes, working like a slave for the chance to awaken as a priest himself. The joyful poppies adorning his brow flowered, releasing a pleasant scent. That life was behind him now, from here on out the world was his delectable oyster.
For now though, he had a job to do. The forest had not been disturbed, and no core systems had suffered damage, but all around him people were feeling the effects of the shockwave. More than one seemed to have suffered more severe injuries as confusion set in. Most people seemed to have suffered only bouts of mild confusion and fear, but a few were going out of control. Finch activated the local defensive measures to keep the peace, he didn’t have time to babysit some spoiled sprouts.
Making his way to the chief’s not so humble abode, Finch navigated through the sea of glowing blue leaves to the enormous world tree. A squadron of indigo wraiths had posted up outside of the entrance to the inner sanctum of the magnificent organism, tensing for a moment before parting to let him in. Nodding at the squad’s captain, he walked into the palace of his people's’ leader, head held high and whiskers perked up. The man before him might have been the chief, but he was the keeper of the sacred grove, the first lord of the underworld, and today was his day to finally make use of his impressive array of powers.
“Finch, I’ve been waiting for you,” the thin sprite called out to him from a rather impressive throne, “What happened? Just a little while ago I felt a strange disturbance and now the elders tell me the entire world is in chaos. Did something happen at the core?” He paused for a moment, as if considering what to say next. “I don’t have to bring mother into this, do I? I was hoping you would be able to deal with this yourself.”
“Chief, there’s no cause for immediate alarm,” Finch reassured the weary looking man, “Everything is working within acceptable parameters. Whatever that was, it came from somewhere beyond, outside of our sensor range.” A look of relief crossed the chief’s heavy set face before passing quickly.
“So what do you think happened Finch? This sort of thing is your specialty right?” Now the man had a slight condescending look on his face, his eyes glinting mischievously and grass-like hair rippling madly. Even in such troubling times it seemed that his peculiar sense of wit was unchanged. Perhaps that was why Finch had never found him to be as bad as the others seemed to think, he had never liked the political maneuvering that was so common among the hierarchy, and this chief was a refreshing change from the man that ruled all those decades ago when he was just a child with dreams big enough to cover the starry sky.
“Something bad chief,” Finch sighed, “I’m not sure what it was but I don’t think we could handle something like that if it got worse. The blast came from somewhere in the center, we should make our way outwards and make sure we can handle the situation the next time it happens.”
“Is that likely?” the chief asked, fidgeting atop the gilded monstrosity he called the seat of his power, “It’s never happened before, and I don’t see why you think it would happen again.”
“Chief, this isn’t just some isolated incident,” He insisted, “Something’s changed, and I’d bet my life this won’t be the end of our problems.”
Walking past the throne he started feeling around the walls of the room as the shorter sprite peeked curiously around his seat. After a minute of searching and enduring the chief’s yawns, he found what he was looking for and the throne room started to transform.
“Isn’t that a bit much?” the ivy-covered sprite asked, “Even if you’re right, it’s not like we’re in any danger right now, right?”
“You may very well be right chief,” Finch walked over to one of the the smaller emerald green thrones now arranged in a semicircle before his liege, “but let's not take any chances. We don't know enough about the situation right now to take it easy.”
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Sitting on the somewhat less than comfortable chair, a pop up appeared before him. ‘welcome high priest’ it read, and he allowed himself a moment of satisfaction before dismissing it and getting to the task at hand.
“Mimameior,” he commanded, shifting to find a comfortable position, “plot a course to the outer reaches, and restrain any citizens acting up. Also, activate experimental measure 1.072, and 1.546 as well.”
“What are 1.546 and 1.072 again?” the chief asked, “it’s so hard to remember which is which with no proper names.”
“1.072 is the special spores I developed your honor,” Finch leaned back in his chair, “and 1.546 is the shield your mother was working on before she passed the position on to me.”
“The… shock absorber things you were talking about? I didn't know the specters were involved.” Finally Finch could see the man taking the situation seriously.
“Not the specters chief,” he corrected the now rather somber sprite, “but you're not too far off. Unfortunately, this might not be so easy a problem to fix as the wraiths were all those decades ago, not if we felt it from so far away.”
The man was silent for a moment, “And the prisoner?”
“I’ll be on my way there once we’re finished chief,” he assured the man, “but I don’t anticipate any problems.”
“Alright Finch, you've convinced me. Keep me informed if something new comes up. And be a little more concise next time, we could have gotten this over with faster if you'd just gotten to the point immediately about the wraiths.” Finch’s hair went yellow in embarrassment at the last jibe as he was clearly dismissed. He could hear the chief busting his gut as he made his way out of the room, clearly enjoying his discomfort.
“Had a good time in there?” the wraith captain, clearly distinguishable by his pure black eyes, chortled.
“Oh shut up and get back to guard duty Bernard,” he snapped back with a grin. His longtime friend was always ready to push his buttons, but he supposed he wasn’t much better. Pointing out towards the west he decided to have a little fun with the lithe wraith captain, “Hey, keep a whisker out for anything that feels like a specter. There shouldn't be any left in this region, but there's a few we've kept prisoner under the nemeton on top of that mountain over there, and I have a feeling they’re not going to be happy. Im headed there myself at the moment though, so no need to worry.”
Bernard gaped at him, “What do you mean we have specters under the nemeton? Why wasn’t I informed of this before? Seems pretty fucking important for you to just hide from everyone else don’t you think?” He paused for a bit before coming to a decision. “I’m coming with you, you’ll need the extra muscle and the chief isn’t in any danger at the moment. My men will take care of security.” Looking around at the men around him he barked, “I’d better not see any of you dumbasses slacking off when I get back, keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
The two headed for the sacred grove among a chorus of “Yes Sir”s, breaking into a jog at Bernard’s urging. By the time they had gotten halfway however, Finch had already started to wilt from exhaustion and had to be carried by the wraith captain. “You really should consider becoming a wraith yourself Finch, this routine is starting to get old and you’re way too heavy for me to carry like this every time we go out” The disgruntled captain managed to grunt out from under the Priest’s weight.
“Fuck you too man, I’m a prime specimen among the normals, this mountain is just too damned tall for anyone to actually climb.” Finch groaned back at him, still slightly shrunken from exertion.
“And here we are!” Bernard exclaimed as he dropped Finch down into the crater at the top before falling in himself, rolling ten feet down before bumping into the disgruntled augur and coming to an abrupt halt. The two lay there panting for a few minutes before finally pulling themselves together and getting up.
Walking towards the entrance of the nemeton the wraith turned to Finch, “So what’s the plan bro? How much specter ass are we going to have to kick before we’re done?”
“None probably,” The now sullen plant man muttered as he gestured to the guards lining their path to the gate grown out of two surrounding trees, “You’ve probably done more damage to me by throwing me down that wall then I’ll take for the entire next week”
“Cheer up man, it’s not like you didn’t recover already, what’s the big deal?” The bestial looking indigo plant laughed as he clapped Finch’s back before a more serious look crossed his oaken face, “And I hope you’re right about that, I don’t want to be the first Sprite to fall to a specter in the last hundred and fifty years.”
The somber mood was infectious and the two walked in silence through the gate, finding themselves among a couple dozen spruce monstrosities. Tramping through the thick vegetation and are patches covered in brownish needles they made their way to a black colored tree with red leaves. After feeling around the sides to check the logs Finch pressed his hand against a bulbous protrusion on the north face of the tree. Accompanied by a few tiny rumbles the bark slid apart revealing a partially hollow interior and a set of stairs leading down into the depths of the earth. Gulping in anticipation and fear, the two descended into darkness.