Path of Dragons-8-84.. A Thousand Strings

Elijah sat crosslegged upon the surface of the desolate island, his eyes closed and entirely focused on the ground before him. The seed was down there, but he’d yet to prompt its growth. Indeed, with Nature’s Design, he held it in stasis until he could figure out how to get the results he needed.

And it was slow going, sorting through those subtly different threads of ethera. In a way, it reminded Elijah of a stringed instrument. He needed to pluck those chords in the perfect order, or everything would go wrong. The problem was that he was far from a master musician, and the instrument in question had thousands of strings, each one only a little different from its neighbor.

But with eight facets of his mind focused on the task, he was making progress. However, one thing was abundantly clear – he didn’t have enough magical oomph to get the result he wanted. At best, he suspected he could usher the tree to maturity over the course of a year – and that would take constant supervision.

Elijah would do that if it was the only way, but he had an idea to push things a little faster. Before he went down that path, he needed to create his plan, though.

After a few more hours, he opened his eyes, made some notes in his own notebook, then dismissed that along with Lucy’s into his ring. It was time for his daily chores.

He’d been at it for a week, during which time he’d accustomed himself to the rhythms of the island. Just as it had in Hong Kong, the ethereal density on the island had already begun to climb in the wake of his conquering the Primal Realm. It was a long way from reaching its former strength, but it was still powerful enough to affect the environment.

Most of those effects were harmless to him, but there was one particular problem that he preferred to take care of sooner rather than later. Any other strategy, and the issue would grow out of control.

So, leaving the seed in its place, Elijah headed toward the mountain. There, he found hundreds of juvenile harpies. The things weren’t particularly dangerous to him, but he still slaughtered them indiscriminately on his way to the source. At the top of the mountain was another sphincter, pulsating and slowly disgorging goo-covered harpies. Elijah killed them, too.

But he was more interested in the full-grown creature roosting nearby.

It attacked him, but it hadn’t had time to grow powerful enough to truly challenge him. If he’d been a few dozen levels lower, that would not have been the case. Elijah ended it by shifting into the Shape of the Master and unleashing a twenty-five charge Ignite directly in its all-too-human face.

Once that was done, Elijah scoured the rest of the island for any other mutated monsters, killing any he found. There weren’t that many, but it still took him a few hours before he’d finished the task.

Only then did he return to the seed and continue his study.

Over the next two weeks, he continued along the same pattern. In a lot of ways, it was tedious work, but it was also fascinating and engrossing – to the point where he needed to devote one facet of his mind to reminding him to eat, sleep, and take care of the island’s pests.

However, at the end of the third week, he was forced to acknowledge something – he would need a lot more power if he was going to accomplish his goals. To that end, he retreated into the sea and headed back to the grove, where he found Nerthus.

“You use that Primordial Loam yet?” he asked.

“You would notice the difference if I had,” Nerthus answered.

“Well, I need a little bit of it.”

Nerthus narrowed his eyes – an odd expression on a tree man, but the spryggent had become more and more human, both in terms of his appearance and his mannerisms, with every passing year. 𝐑ÃŊȏᛒÈ𝐒

“Okay – I’ll explain,” Elijah went on. Then, he told Nerthus his plan, finishing with, “So, I need the loam. I will probably need to use Conduit, too. Probably want to prepare for that.”

Nerthus frowned. “Then the time for a true decision has come,” he said. “Very well. I will use the Primordial Loam on the ancestral tree.”

“What? Why? You don’t have to make a decision just –”

“I do. Breaking the seal of the vessel will expose the Primordial Loam to the world. It will begin to break down soon after. If you choose to use a portion of it now, then we must use it all.”

Elijah ran his hand through his hair. It was greasy and unkempt, but that was expected, considering that, lately, he’d mostly ignored minor issues like hygiene. He probably needed to add that to the facet of his mind dedicated to keeping his schedule.

“Can’t you split it up? Use some of it on yourself, then a little for my project, and the rest on the tree?” Elijah asked.

“No. Splitting it even once is too much, and I will not risk its efficacy by further dilution.”

“Are you sure about this? You know I’m perfectly onboard with you using it to augment your own power.”

“I am certain,” Nerthus stated. “That I even considered the other option is mere weakness on my part. It is a question of immediate power versus long-term planning. The latter will always win out. I should know this.”

Elijah could see that Nerthus was committed, and what’s more, he could understand the logic. However, he wasn’t certain if he could have made the same decision. The idea of giving up immediate power for future development was, rationally, an easy one to make. But in a world where the next day was never guaranteed, that was a difficult choice.

Still, he knew better than to insult Nerthus by questioning the decision a second time. So, he just nodded and said, “Let’s do it, then. What do you need from me?”

“Nothing,” Nerthus answered.

Then, he melted into a nearby root, appearing beneath the ancestral tree. There was a small cavity down there that Nerthus used as a storeroom. The seeds Elijah had bought at the auction were there, as were a host of other items necessary for the management of the grove. More, Elijah recognized that it was Nerthus’ personal space. The spryggent didn’t spend much time there, but it was his.

More than once, Elijah had considered offering Nerthus something more substantial. A house of his own, maybe. But he knew it would just come off as condescending. If Nerthus wanted a house, he would have already grown one, just like he’d grown Elijah’s or Carmen’s.

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And besides, Nerthus spent most of his time within the ancestral tree itself, so the whole idea just seemed unnecessary.

In any case, Nerthus retrieved the jar stored in his small room, then reappeared next to Elijah a few moments later. The small vessel still glowed with ethera. Then, together, they approached the ancestral tree. After a few seconds, Nerthus dug a small hole near one of the roots. Then, he broke the seal on the jar and, before too much of the ethera could escape, poured the contents into the hole. When he was finished, there was only a tiny bit left – maybe a tablespoon of the spongey black dirt – which he resealed a second later.

Before he’d even covered the hole, Elijah could feel the difference. More importantly, he could see it. Not only did dense flows of ethera shoot up the ancestral tree’s trunk, but Elijah could feel it spreading through the dirt and across the entire grove. It didn’t stop there, either. Indeed – it kept going even after it passed the shore and didn’t stop until it reached the edge of his domain almost two miles out to sea.

Elijah had obviously noticed that his area of influence had grown – his locus wouldn’t let him ignore it – but it was easy to overlook just how much the boundary had moved.

Would it one day encompass Ironshore? Would it go even further? Elijah had no idea, but he hadn’t forgotten the tales of Druids whose groves stretched across entire galaxies.

Still, he was a long way from that, so he pushed that thought out of mind. Instead, he focused on the subtle rise in the ambient vitality.

“It will take some time before it is completely absorbed,” Nerthus stated, handing back the jar.

“What can I expect?”

“Power. Increased ethereal density. More vitality. You may even receive a notification offering an evolution of your grove, much as you did when you were given the opportunity to evolve Ancestral Circle into Roots of the World Tree. The spell itself may change, or it may simply add an effect. Regardless, this will take at least a year. Perhaps as many as five.” ƒrēenovelkiss.com

“That long?”

“Nature does not move at a fast pace.”

Elijah nodded. He knew that much.

Nerthus added, “In any case, you must use that loam soon or it will lose some of its power. I assume you do not want that.”

Elijah immediately dismissed it into his ring, where time would not touch it. It was only then that he realized his mistake. “Shit. I didn’t even think about it, but my astral space could have preserved the loam. Maybe not indefinitely, but we could have split it up and –”

“I made my choice, Elijah. Splitting it was never an option. Go. I need to meditate on the changes to the grove so I can adjust accordingly.”

“Alright – but here’s the thing. I’m probably going to have to use Conduit, so you should be prepared for that.”

“I will be. Do what you must.”

With that, Elijah shifted into the Shape of the Sky and sped in the direction of Chimera Island. When he came close to the storm, he took on the Shape of the Sea, then splashed down into the ocean. He plunged deep beneath the surface, then continued on his way, only resurfacing when he reached the calm at the center of the storm.

Once there, he patrolled the island and killed a few juvenile harpies before heading to the spot where he’d left the seed. Another week of meditation, and he felt prepared to do what needed to be done.

With that, he dug his way to the seed – which still hadn’t even begun to sprout – then summoned the jar containing the last bit of Primordial Loam. It looked pathetic – just a spoonful of black dirt – but it radiated enough ethera to give even Elijah pause. Without further hesitation, he twisted the lid and dumped the entire contents onto the seed.

The impact was immediate.

In only a second, the seed tried to sprout. However, Elijah clamped down on that and covered it with more dirt. Around him, he felt the tiny insects and other creatures react, rustling across the island as their little worlds were unceremoniously disturbed. Elijah ignored them.

Indeed, he ignored everything but the seed. Or rather, the threads of ethera that flowed through the whole thing. By that point, he’d all but memorized them right down to the tiniest flows, and he used that knowledge to guide him forward. Embracing Nature’s Design as well as Blessing of the Grove, Elijah plucked one of those strings. It sent a ripple of energy across the entire island.

Elijah kept going, and bit by bit, his ethera drained into the thing. Most of his focus remained on the manipulation of that ethera, but one facet of his Jade Mind was required to keep the seed from sprouting. If it grew too early, everything would be ruined.

So it went for three whole days, with Elijah slowly molding it to his vision. Most of the time, he knew precisely what he was doing. But then, at others, he followed his instincts. It was not unlike how he carved his staves. He knew what he wanted, and his intuition supplied the method to make his madness a reality.

Still, letting it rampage unchecked was a mistake. It needed more than just a guiding hand, which Elijah provided with the full weight of his power and multiple facets of his multi-faceted mind.

On the third day, he felt that it was complete.

And it was just in time, too, because he knew the harpies were due to return. If he didn’t keep a handle on that problem, he would regret it. So, he loosened his grip on the seed and let the primordial loam finally push it forward. Immediately, a tiny sprout formed and began to snake its way through the earth. Elijah watched it closely, ensuring that it grew precisely how he’d planned.

Seeing that, he headed to the mountain and executed an extermination. He didn’t take his time, either. He ruthlessly crushed any harpies that had managed to climb free of the pulsating sphincter. He wasn’t certain if it was a two-way entrance to the Primal Realm instead of just an exit, but he suspected the former.

Hopefully, that would come in hand for what came next.

Regardless, it was only a few minutes before he returned to the sprout, and he was alarmed to see that it had grown to a height of almost a foot. Clearly, even that small amount of Primordial Loam was incredibly effective.

Elijah once again settled into a rhythm. Days passed, and he followed his schedule down to the minute. Not only did he continuously keep both Nature’s Design as well as Blessing of the Grove going, but when he ran dry of ethera, he was forced to use Grove Conduit as well.

But none of that vitality went into the surrounding plant life. Instead, it all went straight to the budding tree. Even then, it did not grow quickly. Part of that was because Elijah refused to let it. It took time to guide it properly, and if the tree’s growth would quickly outpace his efforts unless he kept it under control.

As he worked, Elijah was absolutely astonished by the sheer power of the Primordial Loam. It seemed an endless source of vitality that would have absolutely overwhelmed him only a few years before. Now, it was just enough to accomplish his goals.

Because without that vitality, he couldn’t guide the flows of ethera in the right directions.

In the end, it took more than a month before Elijah found himself looking up at a juvenile tree. The thing pulsed with dense vitality, but even more interestingly, it acted like a lodestone for the local ethera, pulling it in via its roots, then filtering it before spitting it back out. Already, Elijah could feel the effect on the atmosphere.

Disappointingly, the flavor he associated with the chimera was not gone, though. Weakened, certainly, but definitely not gone. However, the primary purpose seemed to have been accomplished. It siphoned enough ethera out of the air to keep the Primal Realm from spreading its influence. Instead, it remained almost perfectly balanced. Just strong enough to support the Primal Realm, but not so strong that it posed a worldwide threat.

Finally, Elijah sat back and let himself bask in his accomplishment. He had solved the problem he’d set out to solve. However, there were a few issues. First, he didn’t think it would work very well if a Primal Realm was already overflowing. That meant that each one would need to be conquered first before he could drain its influence.

Second, the tree was still extremely vulnerable. If the wrong person came along, they would assuredly try to take it for themselves. There was so much ethera flowing through that slim sapling that Elijah couldn’t even blame someone if they wanted to harvest it. It was a potent natural treasure, and would need to be protected.

And finally, he had no more Primordial Loam. That meant he would need to gain quite a bit more power if he wanted to enact his plan to drain every Primal Realm on Earth.

He sighed.

He’d accomplished the primary goal, but it seemed that doing so had only created more work.

“It never ends,” he said to himself. But in the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but feel a note of satisfaction. It was nice to have a purpose, even if he suspected he could never meet its requirements alone. Thankfully, he had friends who could help him out. With that in mind, he activated Roots of the World Tree and returned to his grove.

He had a lot of work to do, and there was no time to waste.