Tale of Eldramir

It had taken Ezekiel several minutes before he finally managed to regurgitate the remaining seeds of the Forest Spirit from his stomach. If it wasn’t for the magical nature of the seeds, he knew that things would not be so easy.

Forcing them to remain in his stomach for several days had been difficult, but as he finished up and spread the seeds throughout his small prison, Ezekiel could only feel apprehension as he wasn’t certain what exactly the effects were going to be. Given the sheer number of seeds that he still had when he originally swallowed them, he could only tell that whatever happened would be big.

“What are you waiting for?” Shine asked when Ezekiel didn’t immediately begin channeling his mana.

“Sorry. I’m just a bit nervous. Our mission is finally about to end.” Ezekiel said. He then took a knee as he placed a hand over one of the seeds.

Channeling his mana towards his hand, Ezekiel placed his hand on the seed, pushing his mana into it much like with his weapons. There was a brief moment of disappointment as nothing happened. But after a few seconds, the seed beneath his hand began to move, and Ezekiel was blown backward as it sprouted into a full-grown avatar of the Forest Spirit.

Before he could climb back to his feet, Ezekiel heard a scratching sound. Focusing his mana to his eyes, he was able to barely make out the numerous other seeds within the prison shaking as they laid on the ground. Like a dam bursting open, the seeds all immediately began to sprout. A few more avatars appeared, but more of them grew into trees, vines, or bushes of some sort. They then began to burrow through the ground and the insides of the tree that the prison was dug into.

“Ezekiel.” The first avatar that grew suddenly spoke up. “You have done well and kept your word.”

The avatar then stabbed its hand forward. Ezekiel let out a cry of pain as his stomach was once again pierced by sharpened wooden branches. Inside his body, he could feel the ever-present sensation of the seed that had originally been placed in him as a threat taken out. The glowing seed was removed from his body and held within the hand of the avatar. It was then dropped onto the ground, where it sprouted into another body for the Forest Spirit.

As Ezekiel remained on the ground, holding his bleeding torso, the avatar waved a leafy branch over his wound. The glowing green light of Life mana flowed into him. His freshly made wound healed immediately, and he felt the aches and pains of his other injuries fade away.

“Come. It is time to get you out of here, else our contract remains incomplete.” The avatar stated.

By this point, the scent of the mana in the prison was enough to grab the guard’s attention. Two Tier three guards opened the entrance to the holding cell. They were immediately decapitated by several of the Legendary avatars that had sprouted from the seeds Ezekiel had planted.

“Are all the seeds a Legendary avatar?” Ezekiel couldn’t help but ask.

“No. But as many of them as could possibly be made were sent. Many of my other avatars spread throughout the island have perished. All so that this plan may come to fruition.” The avatar explained. “As well, dozens of the other Legendary Spirits on this island have been given the call. They will begin their assault on the border that splits this island. None of the Cruor upon this island will escape.”

Ezekiel couldn’t help but shiver slightly as the avatar spoke these words while lifting him out of the holding cell. The knowledge that countless beings were going to die was not something that he took joy in. Even if he knew that the ongoing war between humans and the Cruor was one that he couldn’t afford to feel mercy in. At least not at this point in time.

He mused that, perhaps he’d be able to discover more about the Cruor, in the future, that would allow him to figure out what exactly the grand plan was. But for now, he needed to focus on getting out of here alive and returning to his expedition as unharmed as possible.

As the avatar and several others carried him away from the scene of the battle going on in the Cruor’s headquarters, Ezekiel couldn’t help but worry that this would not be enough. Even with the number of seeds that had been planted by him.

“Will this actually be enough? Aren’t there quite a number of Cruor on this island that you need to deal with?” Ezekiel asked. “What about the Deep Cruor that have nested on and around this side of the island? You can’t affect that area, can you?”

The sound of one of the massive trees toppling over caught his attention before the avatar could answer. As did the screams of numerous Cruor. Massive vines and twisting branches sprouted from several of the large desolate trees. Bodies were wrapped up as countless Legendary avatars suddenly appeared. Many of them were on the low end of Legendary, or the middle to high end of Adept.

However, taken by surprise, the Cruor were barely able to begin mounting a defense before many of their more powerful members were injured or killed outright.

A loud ‘crack’ from the tree he was previously imprisoned beneath suddenly echoed out. The tree split vertically in two. A line reaching all the way to the top of the tree was seen. As this occurred, the ground began to shake as the roots of all the trees that were now rapidly growing spread throughout the island. Their reach spanned everywhere that Ezekiel had been.

“The numbers we have currently will be enough to break their defenses. From there, their own numbers will be low enough for us to continue our assault in a manner that will whittle them down to nothing soon enough.” The avatar replied, ignoring the chaos that was surrounding them as it carried Ezekiel away. “As for the Deep Cruor, they will need to be taken care of at a later time. But for now, we have achieved a great victory. Better yet, from what I can tell, we managed to catch the two local Peerage Members by surprise.”

This caught Ezekiel by surprise. He had been expecting the Winged Peerage Member to be here. That was the whole reason Araza had bothered to bring him, after all. But he didn’t know that there would be another. He assumed that it was the Deep Peerage Member, as there were no other Broods of Cruor on this island that he was aware of. The other Broods had little when it came to means of accessing the Archipelago and its islands easily.

“In that case, let’s just get out of here. I’m assuming that we’ll likely be backtracking my path?” Ezekiel asked. “I’m assuming that going through the random wilderness when you’re leaking mana like a beacon in the night won’t be a good idea.”

“Indeed. From what we can tell, the two encampments you visited have already been destroyed. Although, an avatar was lost since you only planted one seed in direct proximity to the first encampment. Luckily, avatars formed from the various other seeds you planted and his managed to reinforce it in time to see the job completed.” The avatar said. “Thus, following the path you made will be a better idea. Though it will take time to get there since you couldn’t plant any seeds while you were carried by the Cruor.”

Ezekiel couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty. He hadn’t had much time to hide the seed in the gopher hole that was outside the flatland surrounding the first encampment he’d encountered. If he hadn’t been so nervous, then maybe he’d have been able to hide more of the seeds.

“What about the other seeds that I planted in various areas on my way here? What good will they do since they weren’t planted near any settlements of Cruor bases?” Ezekiel asked.

“Those avatars are currently forming a bridge, for lack of a better term. They will plant their roots in the earth and form a connection leading back to the lands that I rule. This will grant us the ability to penetrate deeper into the Cruor’s lands with more ease than before.” The avatar answered. “For now, however, no more questions. We are reaching the edge of the city. It is time to move more quickly.”

Just as the avatar said that, both it, and Ezekiel, broke through the circle of enormous trees that made up the edges of the Cruor’s headquarters. Ezekiel immediately grabbed hold of the stone hand that Shine was possessing. At the same time, the avatar that was carrying him wrapped him in numerous branches.

As soon as Ezekiel was secured, he and the avatar carrying him became a blur of motion. Beside them, the two other avatars that were accompanying them similarly began moving too fast for those at the lower Tiers to properly see. As the trees around them became formless blurs, Ezekiel could only internally pray as he hoped that his troubles were over, at least for now.

Throughout the entirety of the Winged Cruor’s headquarter city, chaos had broken out all around. Groups of Cruor had formed to attempt to defend themselves against the Tree Spirits that were attacking them. But the avatars of the Forest Spirit were mostly high Tier Spirits. The comparatively low number of Legendary Cruor this far in Desolate territory meant that they didn’t have to worry about Spirits making it this far into their lands before they risked running low on mana and falling due to exhaustion.

But these avatars were specifically grown and maintained for the sole purpose of dealing a single devastating blow to the Cruor. One that they would not be able to recover from in a timely manner.

Such was the damage that the strike was meant to inflict that the rest of the Spirits, under the guidance of the Forest Spirit, would be able to make their own assaults without the risk of reinforcements coming in in a steady and efficient manner.

“Retreat! Fall back to the water!” dozens of Cruor called out as they fled from the central areas of the headquarters. But even if they could fly, the Winged Cruor had a great deal of difficulty maneuvering past the grasping branches and vines of the avatars.

“There’s too many! They're too fast!” The lower Tier Cruor that had managed to survive the original onslaught cried out in fear and terror as they tried to get away. But it was too late. The Forest Spirit’s avatars had spread out as quickly as they possibly could, surrounding the city of the Cruor in minutes. Then growing to their full forms as their mana was unleashed from its sealed state by Ezekiel’s Void mana awakening them.

There was no mercy to be had by the Cruor. The Ancient Forest Spirit that they had warred with for centuries, the one whose partner had been dead for nearly as long, was beyond the realms of a warpath. It was now intent on one thing, wiping out as many of its enemies as it possibly could.

In particular, it wished to wipe out the two most threatening members of the Cruor that were present. The only members of the Cruor that could potentially rally and reinvigorate the Cruor’s numbers, so that they may one day strike back.

Azrak and Morlin were currently surrounded on all sides. Unable to flee immediately, as the Forest had spread its roots quickly. They had been fighting and trying to escape the Cruor’s city for nearly half an hour now. The avatars of the Forest had grown, their Legendary bodies had taken root and were now nearly the same size as the trees that had made the Winged Cruor’s homes within their headquarters.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the avatar’s attention wasn’t solely focused on them, they would have long since perished. As more and more of the Cruor continued to fall, however, they knew that their own time was soon coming to an end. The Forest was closing in on them.

“We need to get out of here. Word must be spread regarding this new threat. We cannot take the risk of trying to turn this, Ezekiel, ever again.” Azrak said in a solemn tone.

“Indeed. But it seems like we need to focus more on surviving, rather than getting the word out.” Morlin muttered in frustration. “Get ready. I am going to make an opening.”

Azrak looked over to his fellow Peerage Member. They may have been a part of different Broods, but they had shared a pot on this island for nearly a hundred years. Azrak knew that Morlin’s intentions were nothing less than suicide.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Morlin said. A wave of vines and branches moved to cover them both. Forcing them to split apart.

“My Broodlord is still alive. Yours is not. But we are both Peerage Members. First generation Peerage Members. There is a chance that you may be elevated if you can survive.” Morlin called out. The forest attacking them grew more frantic and focused on its assault.

Azrak didn’t like what his friend was offering to do but knew that he had little choice. He nodded in acceptance, and Morlin’s face settled into a stony grimace of regret.

Morlin’s figure then seemed to explode as something inside of him ignited. His body warped and twisted as he grew and lost his human features. Steam seemed to rise from his body as the ichor flowing through his veins increased in speed.

As his figure stopped growing, he now stood nearly ten meters tall, his body covered in a rubbery scaled armor. His hands and feet were webbed, and his posture was now crouched. He now had a fish’s face with jagged sharp teeth in multiple rows lining his partially opened mouth. Spikes lined both his sides and his spine, from the top of his head to the tip of his stinger tipped tail. Bioluminescent patterns ran up and down his body as they glowed in the eternal twilight that was the Desolate Lands.

Letting loose a terrifying shriek, Morlin leapt into the air, his ichor flowing freely as he forced himself to fly. He had taken on the form of his Brood, in full, forcing himself beyond his limits. But he obtained the necessary power to shrug off most of the attacks from the Forest Spirit.

Climbing higher and higher into the air, Morlin was slowly being consumed by the trees and branches that had begun reaching out to bind and crush him. But as his mana flowed, it began to burn, and the Forest began to burn with it. Forcing his body into motion, Morlin launched himself towards the canopy that had formed above them. Tearing a hole that was wide enough for Azrak to fly through in the brief moment it took for the Forest Spirit to close it.

As Azrak flew higher and higher, he ignored the pained, shrill, cries of his oldest friend. Only for them to dim as Morlin’s body was eventually consumed by the Forest. His ichor had run cold. He ignored the angry rustling of branches and cracking of wood as the Forest Spirit made its own cry of anger. Bound to the earth as it was, the Forest Spirit couldn’t currently send any of its avatars after Azrak. Even if it did, given Azrak’s speed, it would be impossible to catch him anyways.

But Azrak pushed all of these events from his mind. His body was nearly broken from the fighting, and his ichor was flowing freely from his body. He didn’t have much energy left to get too far away. He recalled a rough outline of the path that they had managed to figure the human had taken when infiltrating their lands. Knowing that there were still several encampments that should be clear from any assault from the Forest Spirit, he directed his attention to getting there as soon as possible.

He knew that with the depletion of their forces, the odds were that they wouldn’t be able to hold this island for more than a year. At least not on land. But given the Deep had just lost their local Peerage Member, it was unknown how long they could hold out as well.

For now, however, he needed to focus on getting to safety. He was already well away from their headquarters. In a few more minutes he should reach one of their nearer headquarters. How long he would stay was currently undecided. But he needed time to rest, recuperate, and eventually, plan their regrouping and eventual retreat. Too many Cruor had died already for them to mount a counterattack. Attempting one in this situation would just mean more deaths for their side. With little to gain if they won.

Although, as Azrak thought about it, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t make things difficult for the humans still remaining on the island. A message to the Deep and the blood of humanity would soon fill the ocean once again. He figured that it would be a fine farewell present for his friend.

It took a couple of hours before Ezekiel and his accompanying protectors managed to return to an area near where Ezekiel planted the seeds where he had first been captured. Though the area they were in was still far enough away that he couldn’t actually see the encampment.

However, given the now growing forest of brown and green, compared to the desolate ashy gray and white, Ezekiel could clearly understand why they’d stopped at this point, rather than continuing.

“Here we are. The tip of the forest. This will be my eventual launching point for future incursions into the Cruor’s territory.” The avatar said as it placed Ezekiel on one of the branches. “Unfortunately, there is still a minor gap between here and the place where you first entered the stone quarry before you were captured. I cannot place my roots in that area at this time. I do not have the mana to do so.”

The other two avatars moved to scout the surrounding area for the moment to ensure that the area was still safe for Ezekiel to rest. Taking a breather, Ezekiel couldn’t help but wish that he had his Void Pouch and all his stuff. He was thirsty and stressed. A cup of water that he could actually drink was all he wanted right now.

“Come. We will move through the forest at a more sedate pace for now. I must reserve what mana I can for when we break through the gap from this area to the rest of my branches.” The avatar said as it ran at a relatively slower pace. Ezekiel was forced to channel his own mana in order to keep up.

Eventually, however, Ezekiel couldn’t keep his curiosity contained in their relatively safe area. So, he attempted to make conversation with the avatar in front of him. The need for ‘human’ interaction after several weeks of only being able to speak with Shine was also wearing on him. The sense of danger with the Cruor just made their conversations unpleasant.

“You mentioned that this was to be the launching point for future incursions. Does that mean that the current incursion will be ending soon? Why can’t you use it more right now? Have these trees uproot themselves and just move to another zone to fight.” Ezekiel asked.

“Because these trees are now bound to this land, and if we cannot make a connection to my main body, then they will wither and convert to the desolate trees you saw before.” The avatar explained. “For the moment, in order to maintain enough mana to survive without being connected to my main body, these trees will remain rooted into the ground, only striking at the Umbral Beasts that may try to eat them in order to protect themselves.”

Ezekiel saw the logic in what the avatar was saying. It was a logistics issue. They didn’t have the means of regularly gathering mana in the Desolate Lands. Only the soul’s natural production of mana, as one rose through the Steps of Each Tier, allowed a Human or Spirit to slowly regain their mana over time.

But there was something that confused Ezekiel. From what he knew, the avatars of the Forest Spirit were born from cut off pieces of its own soul. Did that mean that it regained mana at an accelerated rate, for each avatar, or that each avatar could only regain mana from gathering it from the environment.

“Now you see our dilemma. While we are pieces of the main soul, we are not separate, unique, and growing souls like your Void Spirit is.” The avatar said. “The amount of mana that we can produce is limited to the amount that our primary soul is at. Which is still quite a bit, as it is at the peak of Legendary, but nonetheless, it makes things difficult for us to gather mana across all our avatars in a timely fashion. Thus, we must form a link to the world where mana can be gathered. Luckily, the extent of the forest is large enough that the naturally growing flora of the island is currently enough to sustain my needs. Though the army I had you summon will not be usable for offensive purposes for a few days at least.”

Ezekiel couldn’t help but look at the avatar in awe as they ran through the recently rooted forest. The other two avatars had returned at this point. Ezekiel could tell that they too were trying to sustain as much mana as possible. But given that he’d learned that they wouldn’t be able to regather mana until they linked up to the forest connected to the Forest Spirit’s main body, he could understand their caution.

He himself was actually starting to run low on mana. Himself, so it was likely that they’d need to slow down some more soon. He could only hope that they wouldn’t run into any antagonistic Cruor before they got past the quarry area and into a place where the Forest Spirit could once again take up an offensive.

“I feel like you’ve jinxed us.” Shine said as they saw through Ezekiel’s thoughts.

“Hush.” Ezekiel replied. A part of him, unfortunately, agreed with Shine, as he mentally hit himself for taunting fate like that.

It happened just as they were nearing the exit of the forested area, they were in. Unfortunately, due to the somewhat limited reach of the avatar’s growth, the forest didn’t actually take them all the way to the edge of the quarry. They would be running for another handful of minutes once they exited, and the avatar carried Ezekiel once again.

A group of Cruor from one of the nearby encampments had come over to investigate. Now, this wouldn’t be too much of an issue, normally. So long as the party was a regular scouting party, or even a normal assault party. But this was a unique circumstance, so the party that approached them was much more powerful than usual.

The party only consisted of a single Legendary Cruor, and a handful of Adept level Cruor, but given the depleted mana of the three avatars, it could be said that the danger level between the two groups was not too far off.

Although they didn’t say anything, Ezekiel could feel a sense of smugness mixed into the fear that he sensed coming from Shine. If the situation wasn’t so serious, he was certain they’d be bantering back and forth. If they managed to get out of this okay, he knew for a fact that he’d be getting an ‘I told you so’ from his partner.

“Run, Ezekiel. I shall hold them off. Reach the living forest and you will be safe.” The avatar stated. The next thing Ezekiel knew, there was a gust of wind, and the Avatars were locked in battle with the Cruor. None of the avatars were using their more powerful techniques, as they couldn’t risk failing to kill their enemies with how likely it was that they themselves would die in a counterattack.

Ezekiel barely had to think about it as he immediately started channeling his mana into his limbs and began running.

“Shine, throw up a Shroud, now!” Ezekiel mentally called to Shine.

“Got it! Move fast!” Shine replied.

They ran for a while. Until they could no longer hear the sounds of battle coming from behind them. At that point, knowing that they didn’t have enough mana to make it the whole way with the mana that they had left, Ezekiel told Shine to keep the Shroud up as he slowed down to a more sedate pace. No longer channeling his mana, he knew that he needed to keep a quick speed, but one that was sustainable, in case he needed to use his mana once again to escape.

It was not fifteen minutes later that he found himself having to use his barely regained mana once again. It seemed that the avatars had managed to kill most of the Adept Cruor that had caught them, including the Legendary Cruor, but it seemed like the remaining Adepts were hot on his trail.

As the much smaller group of Cruor quickly gained ground on him, as he wasn’t able to hide his tracks at all while he was running, he found himself approaching the edge of the quarry. At this point, so long as he could maintain his full speed, he could get through the quarry quite quickly.

A sudden crash signaled the falling of a tree in his path, as well as the shattering and spreading of debris that nearly blinded him as he was pummeled with small sticks and stones. He felt the Shroud held up by Shine shatter and dispel. He ended up tumbling to a stop several feet past the tree line in the midst of the quarry.

“There he is!” One of the Cruor shouted at him.

“Shine!” Ezekiel mentally shouted. Without saying anything Shine threw up another Shroud.

Ezekiel forced his mana to the limits as he channeled it through his body, forcefully pushing himself out of the way of the Winged Cruors that were coming after him. The ground shattered under the blow that was aimed at where his head had been, but he was now dozens of meters away, running invisibly towards the forest that was just beyond the horizon.

“Find him!” The Cruors yelled out. They knew what direction he seemed to be headed in. Possible because word had spread regarding the forests that had sprung up in the past few hours.

Ezekiel ignored all of this, however, as he ran as fast as he could. He had no protection, no cover, and no means of defending himself against even the small group of Adept level Cruor that were now chasing him. More than a few attacks had actually gotten close to him, as the Cruor, as they had decided to attack in such a way as to cause damage to the surrounding area, hoping to pepper him with shrapnel that would break his Shroud.

But as he continued to run, he got closer and closer to the edge of the quarry. Eventually, he managed to spot the Forest not too far away, just a few more minutes of running and he would reach it.

“Ezekiel... Ezekiel, I can’t keep the Shroud up!” Shine cried as Ezekiel felt the flow of mana maintaining the Shroud start to flicker and fade away.

“It’s fine. You’ve done good.” Ezekiel told Shine as he increased the amount of mana that he was channeling. His speed increased ever so slightly, but he was worried that he would also run out of mana.

“There!” The Cruor behind him screamed. Ezekiel had managed to put some distance between him and the Cruor, but they were faster than him, stronger than him, and overall, physically superior to him in countless ways. His only advantage was the fact that he was much closer to his goal than they were.

Ezekiel could feel his muscles and lungs burning. The amount of mana that he was channeling pushed his body past its limits to the point of breaking. But as he got closer and closer to the edge of the forest, the sound of the Cruor screeching at him got louder and louder.

Just as he reached the edge of the tree line, Shine cried out once more.

“Get down!” Ezekiel dove to the ground, expecting razor sharp talons to rake across his back, or for a speeding punch to strike him into the ground, breaking his bones and destroying his organs.

But as Ezekiel fell to the ground, his body just barely crossing the edge of the forest, his and Shine’s worries were unfounded, as the Cruor that had been dive bombing Ezekiel found himself skewered on a branch that had rapidly grown out from the forest that Ezekiel now took cover in.

Ezekiel turned on his side, watching as the Cruor cried out in pain while they were stabbed, beaten and utterly broken under onslaught of the Forest Spirit’s new avatars.

“Greetings, Ezekiel. It is good to see that you have made it.” An avatar said as it stepped out of the tree next to Ezekiel. “Come, we still have a way to go before you are no longer within these lands.”

Those words were the last thing Ezekiel heard before he was once again picked up and wrapped up securely in a bundle of branches that held him tight. As the forest blurred around him, Ezekiel allowed himself to relax. His body untensed, and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to sit limply in the hold of the Forest Spirit. His job was done, for now.