Chapter 115: Chapter 106: Ride to Aetstillan

I looked to my left and my right as I stood in a low crouch, keeping my balance on top of a tilting and yawning wooden platform. On my left, Eirlation was knelt down. Due to his higher center of gravity, he’d had to get into this low crouch position and hold onto a wooden handle I had created. To my right, mother was in the exact same position.

Four spider-like legs, a combination of vines and sturdy wood, jutted out from the corners of the platform, suspending it 30 feet off the ground as each leg took massive strides and devoured the distance in front of it. Each leg was controlled by a different one of the spiritual minds I had fused together into this one creation, combining my original living weapon with the spirits of all the overgrown blades of grass I'd accidentally created shortly before our departure.

Most of the spirits were actually of the non-sentient variety. Only 3 of them actually had even the nascent intelligence required to form the core of a living weapon, making 4 if we count them together with the one I already had in my own previous living weapon. Right now, each of them were in one of the respective four legs. As for the non-sentient spirits, I'd mostly taken them along because I figured they could help in some way. This construct was huge, and it walked. Walking was not exactly something trees were accustomed to doing, and it has been my experience that these spirits were a lot more capable and able to follow far more versatile commands when they combine efforts as a large group.

Even with the incredible disproportionate strength I’d had in this diminutive form, I doubt I could carry the weight of this much condensed wood on my person. No doubt, I was going to have to re-plant a lot of these spirits along with a considerable amount of this bio-mass each. But for now, this form of theirs was helping us to reach our destination with the speed we needed right now.

As soon as mother and Eirlathion had returned after having consulted the messenger, we had set off immediately.

Eirlathion had been spending a lot of his time since then looking down, seemingly fascinated by the legs and the movements of this creature I had made.

[I still must say,] he said, [this… thing! I never would have thought one might use a living weapon in quite this way.] He muttered.

[Yes. You have said that at least ten times since we boarded this thing.] I said.

He just shook his head again. [That still does not make it any less bizarre, or less inspired. I am really not certain which. I suppose one would need to have the abilities you have, the ability to actually create a living weapon by one’s own power, to even think in a direction that can come up with such a thing. You say each leg holds a different nature spirit? Four living weapons combined to create one construct.]

[There is her mana too.] Mother spoke up. [You are still supplying it with constant mana, right Asaren? I do not think anyone else would be able to throw mana away like this.]

[Yes.] I said. [The legs need the nature spirits to animate them, but they are moving at my direction. If this walker were a creature, I would be the brain.]

[Yes.] Eirlathion said. [Then it is only possible because a single person is controlling four living weapons at once. I am certain this would be far less coordinated, likely unable to even walk properly, if four separate people were to combine efforts and create a thing like this.]

He shook his head again. [Ultimately though, I believe the main reason nobody has done something like this before might be because most of those who own living wood weapons are great fairies. As they can fly through the air, there is no need for them to make a creation such as this.]

[It is still a very good way to get to the city quickly.] Mother said. [I can run quite fast since the… umm… I mean, since Asaren and Tiaren were born, but this thing is even faster with these long legs.]

[Hah.] Eirlathion scoffed. [I believe this transportation is even faster than you give it credit for compared to the time we would make without it. If we were on foot, I believe I would likely be the slowest of us three and would hold you two back. This way…]

He trailed off after that statement. With this lull in the conversation, I saw this as my chance to start getting some answers about what had transpired before this. Why had Rimir reacted the way he had? It seemed rather strange. I knew there was some cultural stuff buried in there. It would have been better if he’d come along, and maybe given us some backing from the tribe, but time was of the essence and figuring it all out was something I judged to be a waste.

Now that we had a moment though…

[You were talking about great fairies before.] I said. [That reminds me of what I wanted to ask you about. Why did Rimir act that way after I said what was going on?]

Eirlathion looked up at me with a bit of a strained expression. However, it was eventually mother who actually wound up answering the question.

[He thought you were seeing the future.] She said. [Actually… I… think we all sort of thought you might have such an ability for a while. I mean, sometimes you make really accurate predictions about how people are going to act.]

[That is just me observing the past actions of a person, and also knowing what makes sense for them to do with the position they are in.] I told her.

[Yes…] She paused. [That does explain most of the times, but there are some…]

[Wait, so why does the whole idea of seeing the future make him so upset?] I asked. [I mean, it’s crazy. That’s not what I am doing anyway, but why would it be so bad even if I could do that?]

The two looked at each other awkwardly for a while, before Eirlathion finally looked up and broke the silence.

[It is forbidden by the creators.] He said. [I do not fully understand it. All I know is that the queen has the closest connection to the creators, and she has long stated that the ability to see into the future is something that greatly angers them.]

He paused for a moment. I could tell there was more he wanted to say, or perhaps he was thinking over his own words for a moment. Eventually though, he followed this up with an even bigger statement.

[If he found out you really had such a power, he might wind up having to kill you.] He said. [It’s possible, maybe he wanted you separated from him and the tribe to protect you. The last thing you said to him was about being contacted in dreams. So long as that was the last thing he heard from you, he wouldn’t have to do anything. And, if you are away from the tribe, they will have no chance of hearing something to implicate you and have it reach someone like him.]

[Yeah… maybe.] I mused. That was a nice and rosy way to look at it all right. Maybe this conversation between the three of us is exactly what Rimir had wanted. This way, I could get informed about it away from him and away from any chance of something to implicate me coming up.

Now it seemed even more like that bastard was trying to set me up. I might even have gotten off lucky with just loosing the support of Rimir and the Hidan.

Before I could ponder the issue farther though, I saw something on the horizon that immediately idled my thoughts.

From this distance, it looked like some kind of strange faintly glowing red structure. If one were to describe it simply by first impressions, it looked like a crystal crown made of pure ruby, if it were worn by a giant the size of a mountain.

It was made of numerous crystals. Distance could be deceptive, but for the individual crystals to have such definition from this distance, each would need to be the size of a high-rise building nearly a dozen stories tall.

I’m quite sure most of them would be dwarfed by the scale of some of the buildings in a major city of Earth, but in this world they were genuine monoliths.

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There were six, though, that stood out from the others. They seemed to be equal-distant around the perimeter of the wall of crystals that ran between them, and they towered to nearly 2 and a half times the size of the rest, curving ominously inward like the horns of a beast.

The site was so strange that the wooden walker stalled to a halt. Because I was acting as the “brain,” it only moved if I was putting in the conscious will for it to move. This, of course, immediately got the attention of mother and Eirlathion. They said nothing, however. They also saw the strange structure and, just like me, they were now silently staring at it and trying to figure out what was going on.

[What is that?] I decided to ask. If it was something known in this world, they were more likely to know about it than me.

[I… am not sure.] Eirlathion responded.

It's not a known phenomenon then. If Eirlathion, the older and more knowledgeable of the group doesn't know what it is, then it is something truly bizarre.

I could feel my brow wrinkle. The bizarreness of the situation aside, there was one problem. A pretty major problem.

[That thing is where the messenger told us the city should be, right?] I asked.

[Ah, yeah.] Eirlathion said.

[Did we get the directions wrong?] I asked. I could feel my heart starting to flutter as I increasingly dreaded the answers and weighed the other possibilities in my head that I wasn’t so keen to speak out loud.

[No, this is it.] Eirlathion said. [You can see the river right behind it. This is exactly where the city should be.]

‘Should be.’ He just said should be! Guess that means there’s no chance of this being somehow normal human architecture in this world.

[Eirlathion, what is this? Do you know what this is?!] I demanded. [It looks like a wall. It’s probably circling around the city. Do humans build like that around here?]

It took Eirlathion’s mind a bit to catch up. He had to shake himself out of his trance before he could answer me. [N-no.] He said in a stuttering voice.

[What is it then?! Do you know what it could be?!] I demanded. Somewhere in my head, I already suspected what was most likely the correct answer, but I kept hoping and kept pressing, hoping he would give an answer that denied my worst fears.

[It… is probably earth magic. Very powerful earth magic at that.] He said.

[Who do you think cast it?] I asked.

There was another long hesitating pause.

[Gnomes] Mother finally answered.

Eirlathion turned and nodded toward her.

[Yes. Dark gnomes.] He added. [They… they are creatures created by the dark elves, in some kind of ritual that involves binding the spirit of a gnome into the body of the unborn baby of a dark-elf woman. They are… extremely powerful, and they are best known for serving the demons.]

He shook his head.

[You said it was not the mages who were a danger to the boys. Was it gnomes you saw… I mean…]

Eirlathion stumbled over his words when he spoke about my future knowledge. So, he was still not fully convinced I’d heard this information and not seen it under my own power? It sounds like my uncanny predictions had done more damage than I’d thought.

[He said they were the personal servants of the high priest to the demon god.] I told him.

I could visibly see Eirlathion’s spirits drop as he heard that.

[Personal servants…] he mused. [Yes. They would certainly be gnomes then. And incredibly powerful too. They would not find it difficult in the least to raise a wall like this. But why would they be attacking a city this far out?]

He trailed off in his musings and shook his head once again.

[Asaren. I know you will not want to hear this, but… we might not be able to rescue the boys from this. I have seen the power you can bring to a fight, and I promise you… this enemy is far stronger than you are.]

My guts tightened at his proclamation, but it did not discourage me. He was only judging me on my ability to take an enemy head-on. Well, ninja were never really known for their abilities in a direct confrontation anyway. That’s simply not how it works.

[Eirlathion. I am going into that city to rescue the boys even if I have to do it all by myself.] I told him.

I meant it too. It might even be better for me to go in alone, all things considered.

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