by Philip Read
Volvox has earned himself the respect of the other Awakened tribesmen fighting at the Awakened Arena, he even has managed to get himself a set of rooms at the exalted building. And with that resume it wasn’t difficult for Om to get him on the list of people permitted deeper into the tundra when being escorted, I’m just surprised Om cares for him enough to bother.
I’m not jealous of their friendship, that would be immature and petty. Since the party consists of only Awakened we have been able to run all out testing our new limits of how fast and how far we can go. Shooting through the grasslands like eagles through the sky as we open up our legs testing our new top speeds.
It’s soon apparent that Fenrir is the fastest in our group surprisingly followed by my love Kuyoki, then Volvox with me close to his heels, then Gorr a ways off and finally Om and da bringing up the rear. I have never run so fast and felt such euphoria while doing so as I sprint with every ounce of speed and energy I can master.
I’m slightly peeved that Volvox is faster than me but to be honest I think he is the exception not the rule since I have never even imagined a human could run at these speeds. The air bellows around my aura like it does when an arrow cuts through it rushing to a target as we run at full speeds whilst aura enhancing ourselves for maximam performance both in speed and stamina.
We slow down for an hour every hour and talk and check base that everyone is still okey before jogging forward another hour and then again sprinting for the next hour. By the time we finish the first 100 hour of the trip I am dead tired for the first time since Awakening and I’m happy to have finally reached the limits of my stamina.
Volvox sets wards so we can all sleep, something he has only recently been able to do as some nether realm secrets have apparently come to him through the creature squatting in his body. Since Awakening he seems to have gotten creepier with dark circles around his eyes that somehow still manage to make him look good the way Awakened seem to become as par of the course.
We get a solid 10 hours of sleep before each eating a roast cloud chaser hare and getting back on the road to the Dawn. Fenrir chooses the route and we follow as closely as we are able, to be honest I’ve never noticed how much faster 4 legged Awakened creature are until now. As he runs he seems to fly through the air hardly touching the ground for more than a moment even as he is able to change directions in a moments notice with his tail, the dire wolf is a majestic creature indeed.
It takes us 6 days to reach the edge of the Dawn Forest with our pace and the route we have been led through and from there its a slow track through the forest. It’s night time when we enter the actual forest and I realise it’s the first time I’ve ever come here during the hours of night, at least as far as I can remember.
We are attacked by a nest of magical vampire bats that Om eventually manages to chase off with a sonic roar that sounds like the challenging roar of a bear. The power and mana within the roar seems to debilitate them long enough for Kuyoki to easily pluck them from the sky using her bow. We collect the bodies we down for meat and alchemy ingredients since nothing in a storage ring ever goes bad.
We are attacked again by nest of snakes that though come in small sizes can down a grown elephant with their venom. I use my water affinity magic for the first time in front of people and cast a puddle in which the snakes get stuck in. It isn’t very original or impressive but it slows them enough for us to bypass them with relative ease.
We are stalked by eyes that shine in the night even as the bodies holding those eyes remain imperceptible to most. The darkness holds no surprises for me though as I work out my dimensional awareness in a thick forest with danger all around. But even though I see all around me in my own way I can’t pay full attention to everything around me and give it the attention it deserves.
Which means I don’t spot some predictors that remain still without moving until the last minute, but with Fenrir and Gorr present we are made aware of any potential threat long in advance, and there are a lot of them. The deeper we travel into the Dawn the more quiet and careful we have to be as we are stalked by increasingly more powerful creatures of the forest.
We are chased by a pack of bore that we try our best to avoid as they have natural protection against mechanical damage. We hack through a number of vines that turn out to be from carnivorous trees, we trudge through a wet land region with water up to our knees and mosquitos the size daggers harassing us and snakes that could swallow a man whole slithering through the water.
By the time dawn arrives bringing with it new forest scents and fully exposing the beauty of the Dawn Forest we are too tired from staying vigilant to fully appreciate it. And I’m reminded again that though there may be beauty in the way I now see the world there is also beauty in experiencing visible light that I would long for without my eye-sight.
We rest a few hours and we again follow Fenrir and Gorr through what they say is unclaimed parts of the Dawn though by our estimates seems to be protected by increasingly dangerous beasts. We encounter beautiful white antelope that watch us pass with only mild curiosity and we cross the path of an Awakened lone wolf that stares us down before retreating further into the forest.
There are multitudes of carmoflage spiders, flies, birds, lizards, and big cats that we encounter. Most of which retreat after a tussle with Fenrir who is much more powerful than he let’s on. We eat from the fruit of the forest and we eat the things we kill as is the unspoken law of nature not to be wasteful in any ecosystem.
We hardly sleep as the days flow by and we push deeper and deeper into the forest of my childhood fantasies and nightmares. How I used to imagine vast and powerful creatures inhabiting this place, creatures beyong human understanding even. We live by the grace of the land as we scavenge and hunt for food whenever necessary but we mainly keep going forward.
It’s another ten day before we reach a sort of clearing with taller trees that are not as closely packed together but are tall with big round leaves that keep most of the sun from reaching the ground. This is an area clearly more wooded than forested and it is were we see the first signs of humanoid habitation.
Fenrir is met by a pack of six wolves that circle around us sniffing the air, all bigger and meaner looking than Fenrir. Gorr trudges through them without issue and we follow in his wake. We are met by two bare footed dark skinned women, one of them clearly a Dawn Elf while the other seems human. Gorr hugs both then speaks to them quickly as we get closer.
I notice the huge wooden house that seems to have grown from a number of trees put together. Grown into the shape that is the double story very wide construction before us. It’s then when studying this wonder of multiple living trees shaped into a single seamless property that I feel his presence coming into my awareness.
I turn my head quickly to follow what I already feel to be true and there he is turning the corner as cool as can be, like we haven’t been separated for so many years he saunters over casually. His power somehow hidden but still evident at the base of my awareness somewhere as the vibrations he portrays scream of power and danger. He seems different, leaner, more casual but so much more than what he used to be, so much more than my little brother.
“Da, Sachi it’s good to see you.” He says with a little smirk and a moment latter da is there enveloping him in a hug.
*
We all seat together in a circle of logs after the initial introductions drinking a sweet tangy liquid produced from one of the fruit here, its delicious and somewhere at the back of my mind I’m thinking of how valuable it could be selling in Pangaea. Daewon is a celebrity today as we all crowd around him wanting to know everything he has been through.
Da can hardly let him out of his sight, I’ve never seen the old man this animated about a reunion before. Om and Daewon are talking amicably and laughing genuinely but I can feel the tension from them eying each other, they will have to at least have a semi serious spar or they just won’t see eye to eye for long.
Thankfully my broth
er and I are beyond such primitive instincts with each other and we carry on our relations as though we had just seen each other a month ago. I let them reunite as I talk with Gorr’s woman Martha the hedge witch and the druid Dawn Elf Elsa. Apparently Gorr, Daewon, Martha, Elsa and another woman who currently isn’t present are all undergoing training to become druids.
Druidry is a form of magic or discipline I’m unfamiliar with but the gist is that they get to attain power from nature and the planet itself. They increase strength, speed, agility and more than anything else vitality so long as they remain connected with the world.
They can shape change having three primary forms one a predatory form, one a bird form, and one an herbivorous form. Some get four forms the last being a water form, but each form as the druid develops in their path to power. When they Awaken their mana is specialised in that they learn a lot of plant, earth/prithvi, water, air, life affinity or their variants. A few getting rot, pestilence, beast taming or even death as it is also a natural part of life on Gaia.
Their master is apparently an Ancient Beast antelope that stands 2m heigh at the shoulder with a third eye on its forehead and uncanny magic that makes it possible for the beast to manipulate living flesh. Sounds creepy when they describe it, but with undeniable power. The Ancient Beast Elentril is apparently the entity behind the transformation of Gorr getting a wolf form.
She is not only a druid herself that can take on four forms but she is also a Flesh Mage, and the rarity of her power I’m sure could surprise even the fae. Erentil, an interesting name for an antelope beast if I’m understanding the meaning correctly. I’m eager to meet her when she returns with the other human from inspecting Dee’s dungeon or whatever else she may be doing.
*
We all participate in small talk and of course as a father and mate I can’t not mention my adorable girls to anyone that will listen. Dee sucks it all up eagerly, learning my children’s names and getting to know Kuyoki as well as any stranger could.
The other women are also social and I am shown around the amazing house that has been entirely built using living trees. Its a tree house on the ground with it’s foundation literal roots of the four trees that make up the cornerstones. There are green leaves here and there sticking out of the wall or interesting pink flowers with a refreshing scent that grow mainly on the ceilings.
The walls of the house are not just wood but bark providing a hard barrier that is comparable to a stone wall on Paradisum. Rooms are spacious with a laminated wooden floor in some of them while other have different types of floors.
The four trees join in the middle and one twists into a staircase to the second floor with even more spacious rooms mostly open to the elements with only a few pieces of furniture. Those being some curtains, sleeping coths and blankets, a table and chairs downstairs, a stone oven and there is even a fire place inside the house.
There are some runes carved at the doors of the house and along the big glassless windows otherwise beyond that the place seems mostly unprotected. But who would dare challenge an Ancient Beast and one that’s a druid in her own territory of all places.
Chapter 94
Volvox
I watch Om catchup with his old friend and Sachi go all gaga over the arrival of the beast who’s territory we are in. It’s pathetic how he is fawning all over the creature and falling over himself in his eagerness to kiss it’s ass, truly pathetic. Especially for a member of his specific brand of human, the Barbarians have impressed me with their marshal ways and enthusiasm for a fight.
And I can’t really blame them for the many areas they so far lack in because it isn’t their fault they find themselves in a primitive continent unable to Awaken even to the simplest thing for centuries. It will take them a while to buildup the depth necessary to be truly a people that are one of the movers and shakers of the world.
But in their current trajectory and if Om and Sachi and even that woman Ava is anything to judge by the name ‘Barbarian’ will be mentioned in the same sentence and with the same breath as Persian, Celestian, High Elf, Fae, Wizard, or Ancient Beast within the next 100 years. That Sachi I thought was the bigger threat when first I met him and crossed swords with but there is just something about Om now that isn’t quite natural. I wonder who would prevail between them if they ever had a serious disagreement.
I look again at the beast Sachi keeps bowing to and speaking to in that charming way he does whenever a woman is in the vicinity. From what I’ve seen I wouldn’t put it past him to fuck an animal, even an Awakened beast is still an animal by my educated opinion.
Rumour around the Arena is that he has wasted his Awakening Mana and Awakened as a sex stud which is why he is yet to fight any of the Awakened Warriors, from what I’ve seen of his movements I could almost believe it. And the number of children the man has produced lately adds credence to that rumour.
But as I said I’ve crossed swords with the man so I have a fair idea of how powerful he was when we left the Den Compound last year. And he has only become more dangerous since then; much much more dangerous. And his running speed is phenomenal, I had to dig deep into my almost fully warrior body Awakening just to stay ahead of him.
My eye keeps being pulled back to the tall intimidating sight of the ancient beast in our presence. I have never before actually seen an Ancient Beast and I have to admit to being a little impressed by its majesty. The things coat of fur is just beautiful, there is no other word for it. It is a dark navy colour that shimmers now and again as though it were slowly changing shades.
The things shoulder is higher than Sachi is tall as he looks up at it’s face. The face itself is slightly feminine even to my untrained animal eye, and the horns are twisted making a spiral that goes up from her forehead. I can almost see the amused smile on the things face as it responds to Sachihiro’s antics, I’m almost embarrassed in his stead.
The aura it conveys is one of utter peace, fulfilment, contentment, accomplishment that makes me wonder how old the creature truly is. As it arrived in came with an entourage of wolves the size of the cows penned in at Paradisum and a single human woman who is apparently one of the druids.
The one they call Martha and Sachi’s brother being the only two that aren’t full druids yet, though the one they call Martha looks to be very old and reaching the expiration of her life. If its only now that she is heading towards power and Awakening what has she been doing with her life all these years, what on Gaia does a hedge witch do that adds no years to ones life?
Om and his friend go out further into the woods followed by Damage, Sachi’s father. I’ve seen him around in the Awakened Arena and I’m sure I could take him if I ever got serious, in fact I’m fairly certain Sachi could take him as well but that’s probably never even occurred to the simpleton. How does someone surrounded by such ordinary role models become as strong as this young man is becoming, where does he get the drive?
It isn’t long before we hear the sounds made by Om and his eery friend duking it out in the forest somewhere. I should have gone to see that fight, I haven’t had time to gauge Om’s power level increase since he came out of his Awakening coma. I hear him roar for the second time since I’ve known him and I grin at that, I was surprised he had that in his arsenal when he used it on the bats.
I sigh and go sit by the wolves and I scowl when I feel one trying to contact me mind to mind. I ignore it as my eyes again go to the majestic creature, I wonder what forms it can change into.
* *
Elentril
The extra humans stay for 7 days in my home exploring the forest and visiting the growing dungeon area. I like the one with the playful spirit, Sachihiro he is called and he seems to have a varied array of interests.
The dungeon tree remembers them as well I notice as it opens a path for them as Daewon leads them deep within the heart of the still growing dungeon. They are in awe of all they see and feel and all the ether rich air around them as they go deeper into the dungeon terri
tory.
I use clairvoyance to watch them interact with each other and interact with the dungeon without leaving my home so as to give them the illusion of privacy as they explore the Dawn. The other beasts leave them be as they have been marked with my mark of guests but they are stalked and watched by some of the more curious creatures.
They eventually reach the Tree itself, the very heart of the unique dungeon and they are again in mouth dropping awe at what they see. The Tree’s bark is currently as white as snow with an inner glow that is luminous from within and without. The Tree has a curious aura and just being near it you can tell its sentient.
The are only two types of leaves visible so far on the tree, electromagnetic absorbing leaves at the top and fat flat energy storage leaves that can also be used in water absorption. The varied colours of the two types of leaves adds to the ethereal appearance of the dungeon heart and how the guests see it.
The power within the Tree is obvious to anyone with senses to see or feel even after its most recent expansion. The magic and mana in the air is almost palpable and I notice the human guests each react to a part of the Tree’s affinity that resonates with them.
They all decide to remain in the shadow of the Tree for a day and have a little picnic. None of them acknowledging to any other that they don’t want to leave because they can feel pure absorbable ether that resonates with them coming from the Tree. The woman Kuyoki resonates with the peace and patience and life energy that all Trees naturally have and grow into as a character trait.
The one called Damage resonates fully with the part of the Tree that is a martial warrior that it has inherited from its Keeper Daewon. The one with the hammer, Om seems to be enjoying the peace but also the ability to tap into the electromagnetic radiation spectrum and use that constant abundant energy for growth and development.
