Exodus

Woodpecking noises could be heard for a quarter mile as Vixen was trying to pry the artifact put of the tree.

It took nearly an hour, but between Ferde'La using his claws and Vixen using her sword the artifact came flying out of the tree with a sickening crunch noise. Luckily Loralei was there to catch it. Vixen quickly threw it into her spatial storage and they departed the trees area. 

Several minutes after leaving they could see the tree rotting at a speed visible to the eye. To avoid the same guard they met on the way up they wrapped around to the west side of the mountain before heading down. 

It was dusk by the time they got to a spot they felt safe. The three of them checked to see if they were alone and once confirmed, they transformed into their swarm of bats and took off for the captial. Vixen, however wanted to make a quick stop.

***************

"What in the bloody hell is going on with this mountain," an older man whose hair was just starting to grey complained. 

"What do you mean master," asked a young boy who was an aspiring alchemist.

"This place is cursed! The moment we arrive here the massive tree in this distance wilted before our very eyes. The higher grade plants, of which we only saw two with how rare they are, were all rotting away as of they couldn't maintain their energy. To make matters worse even the common grade plants are now becoming increasingly rare. The prices of said plants have tripled since we've been on this mountain."

"Did the grandmaster know something?"

"Why? What happened to Furnsville's grandmaster?"

"I heard she had up and packed up just days ago. By the sounds of it she left right when the tree started to wilt."

"I don't know my boy, I don't know. It seems to me there is magic a-foot and I don't like it. Let's get out of here before something bad happens to us."

*********************

"Hmmm aahhh hmm," the girl moaned as she held tightly to the headboard. Maxwell was behind her grabbing a fistful of hair and her hip for leverage to pull the girl onto him as he thrust into her.

A rhythmic banging on the chamber wall echoed drowning out another more frantic knock.

When the knocking went unanswered the door opened and a nervous attendant ran in sweaty and out of breath.

"What have I told you about disturbing me during this time," Maxwell asked without slowing down. 

"H-hero, Sir," the attendant stuttered, "it is of great importance or I wouldn't of had the inclination to disturb you. As a matter of fact if I had left this issue to rest for when you were available I fear retribution."

Maxwell stopped his immediate thrusting and sat down on the corner of the bed and leaned back slightly. He beckoned the girl over and had her face the attendant before having her continue riding his dick. The attendant briefly fantasizing about the woman as she bounced feverishly. 

Through the Invigorating moans Maxwell asked his attendant with a sigh, "ok what is so important that it could not wait a day or two?"

"Well Sir, alchemist mountain range is dead. Furnsvilles economy is shot and most of the alchemists have packed up shop, even the grandmaster who apparently was the first to disappear."

If Maxwell was mad he didn't show it, he increased his pace as he came inside the woman who then squirted all over the attendant. The attendant quickly wiped himself off as Maxwell started to put on a robe.

"That is not possible. It must just be a thief hoarding some of the more valuable ingredients. See the world tree I planted provides all the plants there with their magical energy. Even if all the ingredients are plucked, they'll grow back."

The attendant squirmed in place and a bead of sweat dropped from his brow. Maxwell did not like this look, it gave his heart some pause. 

"About that sire, the massive tree on that third peak...witnesses say it wilted at visual speed our sources say you can't even find a trace of it anymore."

"WHAT!!!" 

Magic fire erupted out from around Maxwell engulfing both the attendant and the woman. Their charred bodies smoldering in the destroyed tower room.

'There's only one person who'd do this, but where are they? That was a good chunk of my profits. That sly bitch, I'll get her for this.'

Maxwell ranted and raved for another fifteen minutes while getting dressed. He was going to check out the scene himself. If the artifact was gone, he'd just have to wait for it to pop back up, a world tree can't be made quickly. 

****************

"I mean no offense when I say this, but I have not had anyone turn an elder before," Vixen confessed to Grandmaster Dahlia. 

"It's of no consequence, if you can prolong my life so I can continue down the path of alchemy I'll proudly serve you."

"Very Well. "

Vixen motioned for one of second generation vampires to administer blood to Dahlia before biting her. Since Dahlia was going to be a noncombatant for the most part she wasn't worried about the powers bestowed to her. That was why she was willing to use her as a guinea pig of sorts to test out third generations. 

She noticed the transformation did not take as long as her own or as long as generation one or two. Upon the vampire sucking her blood, her wrinkled skin smoothed out, her slightly hunched back from years of bending over to care for plants and such straightened out, her weak arms and legs grew fuller. She became the beauty she once was at her peak, the whole transformation taking place within the span of an hour. 

"I feel incredible! Thank you Empress for the gift." Dahlia said as she bowed her head towards Vixen.

"The pleasure is mine, take a room to set up you equipment and take all these ingredients and experiment to your heart's content." Vixen said smiling widely. 

She could now focus on other things since she now had the grandmaster making potions for her growing faction. She could probably sell quite a bit of them and make a fortune increasing her influence. 

First she had a mission to accomplish. She went out behind the manner outside the captial through the tunnels. She found the seed of a giant sequoia type tree and retrieved the emblem from spatial storage. 

'Divine energy huh,' she thought. At the peak of the mountain she dug a hole and planted the seed on top of the emblem. The seed and the emblem started to fuse immediately but came to a stop once the seed was barely connected. 

Taking out a small dagger she cut her arm and let her blood flow onto the seed, the emblem lit up and the emblem completely melted into the seed which began to sprout immediately. 

Vixen drank another vial of blood as the seedling became a sapling. The sapling was as big as she was and was giving off massive amounts of energy the emblem was completely gone. 

[World Tree Sapling] 

She left with a smile excited to see the culminating results. She didn't know it, but the emanating energy from the sapling would not only alter the plants on the mountain as was her intention, but also the dire panthers guarding the tunnels and every other dangerous beast that called that mountain home. The economy of the capital would change drastically.