The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith

by Justin Miller

  I recalled the last dream I experienced, and closed my eyes. Moving my hands, I performed the actions as if I was going to stand up normally. To my great surprise, I found myself on my feet within moments. “Walk the path unseen, huh? Well, how am I supposed to find the fucking path if I can’t see it?”

  “You know where the path is. You just have to find it.” The same voice echoed through the darkness, and I found myself standing atop a mountain surrounded by a forest. Guess this is the same one.

  “I have to find a path that can’t be found, yet somehow already know where it is. I can tell you right now, I have not seen any way into this mountain.”

  “No, you have not.”

  “You seem to know everything, so tell me. Why me? Why are you doing all this shit to me?”

  “You will understand, when our paths finish crossing. For now, you must focus on the task at hand. If you fail at this junction, there will be a great many deaths to follow.”

  “So no pressure… just got to find out what can possess an entire forest, find an invisible path into a mountain, and then somehow solve this crisis before it unleashes a cataclysmic event.”

  “You are the one that has chosen this path to walk, as much as this path has chosen you. But remember… if you fail…” Suddenly, a shadow was cast over the mountain, engulfing it and the entire island as trees withered and died, the darkness flowing outwards.

  “I got it. Any more vague advice you can give me before I go back?”

  “Trust your companion, and trust yourself.” Yup, a great big helping of vague. “You did ask for vague advice.” Was there a bit of attitude in the voice that time?

  The darkness returned for just a brief moment, blocking out my vision of everything, before I awoke in the stone shelter lying next to Denise. Maybe it was the dream, but I was feeling particularly grumpy.

  Sleeping past that point was impossible, so I got up and checked the area to make sure we hadn’t been attacked or invaded by man-eating vines. Seeing that everything was okay, I sat down on a large rock next to the shelter. Assuming that was a message from ‘god’ or whatever, how the hell am I supposed to find a way in that can’t be seen?

  “Trouble sleeping..?” Denise yawned as she walked up next to me, eyes mostly unfocused, and her blonde hair a mess from the uncomfortable sleeping conditions.

  “Kind of. I think someone sent me a message in my dream, but it’s annoying and I can’t figure it out.”

  “Oh? What kind of message?” I had never told Denise about my first dream, so started by explaining that usually I don’t dream on this side. Then I went on to tell her about the dream that I had last night, with the prophecy of mass death if we didn’t figure this out, and how it all relied on us finding some path that couldn’t be found.

  “Eh? You mean all that hiking yesterday was for nothing? We wouldn’t be able to spot the way in if we stumbled right on top of it?” She huffed out, shaking her head. It seemed that she couldn’t make any more sense of it than I could.

  “Yeah, that would appear to be the case. So… shall we go for just blowing the mountain up?”

  “...You scare me sometimes, because I know you meant that seriously.”

  “What? It’s not like we have any better ideas.”

  “How about we try something else first? Your earth magic obviously works on the mountain, or else we wouldn’t have had a roof over our heads last night. Think you could make us a tunnel?” She looked up to me with pleading eyes, easily conveying the request to not blow up an island because I got pissed off.

  “Fine, fine… Give me a bit to work out a spell for that. I could probably use my sculpt spell, but it would use way too much time and energy.” I activated Sculpt Earth and Stone, and began etching out a diagram for a tunnel spell.

  “Thanks. I don’t want to hike anymore… but I really don’t want to blow up a mountain that may or may not contain some terrible creature too. I mean, what if you just ended up letting it out?”

  “Yeah, I get it. I don’t have to like it, but I get it.” Either because of the genuine effort I had put into researching this world’s magic system, or the passive bonus from my skills, I was able to come up with a suitable spell easily.

  Create Passage has been added to your Spell List.

  “Okay, got it. Now… let’s just make a nice convenient door for us to use…” I pointed my Sculpt Earth and Stone spell at the ledge next to us, gradually carving out a flat platform and wall in front of it.

  “You cheat so bad.”

  “I cheat so good.” I grinned to Denise, walking up to the new wall. “Alright… I’ve got no idea what we are going to be running into. So keep your demon weapons ready.” I grabbed my magic staff and struck it to the ground as I activated my new spell. It didn’t really help to strike the ground, but I always wanted to do that, just to feel more like a real mage.

  In front of me, there was the sound of stone rubbing against stone. A large rectangular section, about six feet wide and seven tall, pushed inward in front of me. From the center of the affected space, the stone gradually rolled towards the edges as if it were being pushed aside. The result was a small hallway that opened up before us.

  Unfortunately, it was only a few feet deep, and I had to constantly reapply the spell so that we could move forward. I was keeping a watch out for any of the usual suspects, such as a sudden increase in heat that could indicate a volcano, or any sounds of drilling. All that I could notice, however, was the wall forming in front of us as we walked forward. On the bright side, this was a brilliant way to level up a spell and a talent, and I was gradually gaining experience with both.

  The walls formed by my spell were smooth, but looked closer to being a mine shaft than anything else. That thought worried me more than it should, because mind shafts tend to use supports to prevent cave-ins, and we weren’t. “So… just keep going straight?”

  “Right into the heart of the mountain….” Denise nodded behind me, making sure nothing jumped into the tunnels after us.

  “But… what if we aren’t on the right path? What we’re looking for could be closer to the top, or one of the other edges.”

  “...Don’t think about things like that. We’d have to dig out this entire mountain.”

  “You mean I’d have to dig it out…”

  “I’m here for moral support.”

  “Yeah… thanks.” I tried to check my mental map of the area, but saw that it was being blocked just like my Scan spell. Thus, I had no idea how deep I was in this tunnel. After another ten minutes, Denise had to pull out our illusion torch because the light wasn’t reaching us anymore.

  Thanks to all of this tunneling, I had gained two levels in my nature magic, and my new spell had already risen to Advanced level. At this point I was just pointing my staff forward and channeling the spell while walking casually.

  “We’ve got to be getting close, right? I can barely even see the entrance anymore…” Denise muttered from behind me, not wanting to keep this up any more than I did. Suddenly, we heard a new noise, and it was like the two of us jumped in joy. At least, until we identified the noise as a loud cracking. “That’s a bad noise. That’s a very bad noise!”

  Both Denise and myself immediately turned around and ran back towards the direction we came, as massive roots shot out from in front of where we were digging, shattering the wall and revealing a writhing mass of plant life. Aiming one hand behind me, I shot off a blast of hellfire down the hall, hoping to destroy the plants as we ran. I heard the screeching of the roots, but I dared not look to see if it killed them. “Why the hell are there plants here? Weren’t they avoiding this place?”

  “Question later, run now!” Denise shouted to me, keeping her pace deliberately slow enough to match me in case she had to grab me. Eventually as we drew closer to the exit, the sounds of stone being brushed aside by the plants died down.

  When we finally jumped out of the entrance, we looked back and saw the distant s
hadows of retreating vines. “Okay… I think it’s time we call our nature expert..”

  “There is no way anything about that is natural.” Denise pointed inside the passage. And what happened to them needing sunlight? Isn’t that the whole reason the trees don’t attack at night?”

  “Like I said.. I think this is when we should summon Dariel.” As I said that, I called up the spell in my mind, and the white doorway appeared beside us, the elf maid stepping through in casual hunting clothes.

  “You need something, Jin?”

  “...You weren’t watching?” I blinked, having been sure that she would be up to date on the situation.

  “Ah, sorry, no. Ever since you went to Hell I wasn’t able to get a lock on you, and I didn’t know you were out yet. So, mind explaining?”

  “Okay… so… we came to this island to train, and there is a giant forest here. Except, the giant forest is full of man-eating trees that have caused the disappearance of every other living thing on this island except a band of small tribesmen that have moved to the beach. The trees had been avoiding this mountain, so we thought that the secret to defeating it was inside… except there were even larger roots that just attacked us when we went to investigate.”

  “A forest of man-eating plants… a mountain full of ravenous roots… you don’t take an adventure half-way, do you?” She let out a small smile, and then laughed. “Sorry, I see why you called me. There are a number of things it could be. Do you have any other information that could narrow it down?”

  “Uh… the trees only attack during the day, but there wasn’t any light in the mountain so I can’t explain that. Also, the mountain itself blocks any attempts at divination or detection magic.”

  “Seen any dryads, or treants?”

  “...No? Unless dryads are midgets wielding stone axes and wearing loincloths, we haven’t seen anything like that.”

  “Okay, let me do a quick communion, see if I can find anything.” Dariel walked over to the edge of the mountain, while Denise and I readied out hellfire attacks in case the plants decided to attack her. Once she was at the border of stone and soil, she kneeled down, touching the ground. “I speak as one who knows the truth, has seen the past, and journeys onwards. Wayward souls of wind and rain, earth and fire, grant me the wisdom I seek.”

  “I need to learn that spell.” I sighed, thinking it would have saved us so much time if I could just ask the dirt what was wrong. Hey dirt, what’s eating you? Oh, nothing, just a few moles.

  A few moments later, Dariel nodded, rubbing her hand along the ground. “I see. Thank you.” After that, she stood up and walked back over to us, her face grim. “It would seem to be a bit worse than you imagined. Or better, depending on how you look at it.”

  “I’m going to go with worse.” Denise shook her head, stating immediately. I had to agree, things suddenly getting better were unlikely.

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about the thousands of entities it appeared to be… this is all one giant creature.”

  “You mean… that forest, and what is in the mountain is the same thing?”

  “Well… that’s where things get to the ‘worse’ stage.” Dariel’s face was grim as she said this, and I couldn’t even ask her not to say it. “That’s no mountain.”

  Turning around, I looked at the… mountain. Yep, it was a giant peak of stone rising out of the ground over a thousand meters into the air. “It looks an awful lot like a mountain.”

  “Yeah, I’m no expert.. but it does look like a mountain.” Denise readily agreed with me. I mean, if that’s not a mountain, what is it?

  “It’s not a mountain… it’s an egg.”

  “It’s a what now?”

  “Yes.. it’s an egg. Whatever this creature is, it’s growing inside that mountain. According to the nature spirits, that mountain didn’t exist until three months ago, before it suddenly appeared and started growing.”

  “And all of these trees connect back to it? What, through the roots or something?”

  “Exactly. The trees are absorbing any life energy they can find and feeding it into the mountain. It would likely grow with just the sunlight, but feeding it the energy of creatures appears to have accelerated its growth.”

  “Again, we’re talking about a creature so massive, a fucking mountain is nothing but an egg for it. What kind of plant monster could be so terrifying?” I couldn’t help myself, this shit is just wrong.

  “I honestly don’t know. The shape wasn’t clear because of all the roots. All I can tell you is that it takes up almost the entire space of the mountain.”

  “So when we were walking through the mountain earlier..”

  “You were walking under it, yes.”

  Denise decided to ask the million gild question. “How do we kill it?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Jin got some kind of dream prophecy that if we don’t deal with this, a bunch of people are going to die.” Denise summarized half of my anxiety into a simple sentence, and Dariel glanced towards me.

  “I see.. Have you consulted with Lilith on the matter?”

  “Until you said just how big the scale of this thing is, we really hadn’t seen the reason. You were our nature consultant. We didn’t know that we would need the most fearsome fighter of Hell to join us too.”

  “Well.. you might want to call her.” Dariel spoke softly, obviously not wanting us to take whatever this is on alone.

  “Alright. Open, Hell’s Gate.” I pointed towards the mountain, and a black gate rose up, tearing through the stone. When it was fully above ground, it opened up to the Queen’s throne room. “Hey Levy, we got a problem. Mind asking Lilith--.” I never got to finish my sentence because I was being suddenly tackled by a hundred and twenty pounds of demon.

  “Oh good, you’re safe! Levy lost you for a little while so we were worried!” Lilith was hanging on tight to me, and I thought I heard a bone pop from my back.

  “Need… breathe… air..”

  “Oh! Sorry!” Lilith blushed, releasing me to take big gulps of air. “What happened?”

  Chapter 28

  “Oh dear… so that’s why Levy couldn’t track you.” Lilith nodded after I went through the situation with her, including the information we just learned from Dariel. “You said it was dark, but I couldn’t hear you either. Whatever this is can soak up detection spells far too well if it can block my power.”

  “Yeah.. and given the scale of it, I think you can see why we called you in.” I glanced up to the mountain again, thinking this was still quite a bit bigger than the sea monster she humiliated the other day.

  “I understand, and thanks for counting on me. Though, truth be told I’ve no idea what I’m up against either. Is it alright if I bring one of my generals in on this? Dremor is known for knowing about pretty much everything.”

  “If you think he can help, then please. The only thing we know for sure that works is hellfire, so we’ve been using that to attack.”

  “At least we know something that works. Alright. Dremor the Wise, your queen requests an audience with you.” Lilith raised her voice as she spoke to the air, her words carrying on the breeze. Moments later, a blue swirl of light erupted beside her, turning into a blue demon wearing a robe.

  The demon-- Dremor, I assume-- kneeled down in front of Lilith. “You have summoned me, Queen Lilith?”

  “That’s right. It appears that there is a creature growing within this mountain which may well threaten countless lives. From what Jin has told me, the mountain itself is little more than an egg, while the surrounding forest feeds it nutrients by consuming any creatures it comes across.”