Chapter 51: Book 2 Ch. 1: Searching for solutions

2nd arc: Capital

Act 1: A village in chaos

Dryad’s POV

Dryad was looking, fervently searching their mind for a solution. They had one solution already, but they did not like it. Handing Aerien over to the queen would be certain to work, but that would also mean loosing Aerien.

There was just so much that Dryad never understood back when they were a nymph. Upon becoming a dryad with the assistance of Aerien’s energy, they had gained a phenomenal amount of knowledge they never had before. It opened Dryad’s horizons, and allowed them to understand far more than they had ever known. Now, for the first time, Dryad understood the things those children were talking about.

Aerien, Gaerien, Levin, and Rolwen. They had always been talking in a language nobody understood. The master, Eirlathion, the magus of this village who had planted Dryad’s tree, tried to learn their language. However, this language had proven to be incredibly complex. Dryad did not understand how one language could be so much more complex than others that the master had such a hard time with it, but now that they gained knowledge from Aerien they knew completely.

When Aerien had been fighting with that elf who broke into the master’s house, intruding inside the home Dryad had made for the master and the children, she had released a large amount of mana filled with her entire spirit. Mana was the energy of magic. It powered spells that could warp reality. Spirit energy was an energy that carried thought. Thoughts and memories could be transferred along with spirit energy. When Aerien had transferred so much spirit energy to Dryad that it burned out her own spirit, of course along with it came a vast amount of the information Aerien had known.

In this, Dryad had discovered why it was that those children spoke a different never before known language. All four of those children were not from this world. Or rather, they were, but their souls were not. They had all lived a previous life in another world, one called Earth. One day, an event happened, and all of their souls were transferred to this world where they were reborn as infants.

It was not only Aerien’s knowledge that Dryad had gained though. It seems Aerien had an ability that allowed her to call on energy from outside this world. When Aerien dumped this energy into Dryad’s tree, giving them enough power to become a dryad immediately, Dryad had also gained knowledge from many many other worlds. The thoughts and memories of millions, no, billions of souls from countless worlds. However, in all that knowledge, Dryad could not find the one piece of information they wanted. How could they recover Aerien’s spirit after it had been damaged in such a way without having to resort to the faerie queen’s help?

All that Dryad could find indicated the faerie queen would be the one best able to handle this. Dryad had asked Aerien’s sister, Gaerien. Up until now, everyone had thought Gaerien was the more normal of the two girls. However, Gaerien was merely the one who did not stand out so much. If anything, Gaerien’s power would likely turn even more heads if anyone knew or understood the truth behind it. Aerien was the reincarnation of a human who knew one of the very few mage’s cultivations that actually worked in the great sealed world of Earth that actively resisted all magic. Gaerien, however, was an actual fallen goddess from that world.

Gaerien was not a known goddess from that world. In fact, the very reason she had fallen was because there was not a single person on Earth who worshiped her or even knew her name any longer. However, in this world, she had already begun to cultivate a power that would allow her to use her goddess magic even in her mortal form.

There was an unfortunate drawback to this however. Back when the Earth was first sealed, the gods and goddesses had waged a war of complete extermination against the fey of Earth. It was a part of their efforts in order to snuff out all magic. The fey were the only source of mana in the world, and without the fey the humans would never have the power to activate magic. This is something that made sense at the time, but right now it was working against them. Maybe Gaerien really could do something to help her sister, but considering that her powers were inherently hostile toward the fey she simply did not want to risk it. When Dryad had tried to push her, she outright refused and said she would rather have the faerie queen help her than risk accidentally destroying her in her weakened state.

This reasoning made perfect sense. There was no arguing with it. This just meant the most likely solution, getting Gaerien’s help, was not the correct one. The next option was to search the vast knowledge Dryad had gained from Aerien. However, they were failing to find a solution there either, and they were running out of time. The master was progressing with his plan, the only good plan they had that would work, and as soon as they leave the village Dryad will likely never see Aerien again.

Dryad mentally shook their head. How had they become so attached to Aerien in such a short time? They really liked the idea of having a baby in the house for once, they had always been jealous of the nursery tree, but Dryad was over 700 years old. They had only known Aerien for a few weeks. In such a short time, Dryad had become completely attached to the child. Back when Dryad was just a nymph, it was a simple infatuation with the idea of having babies for once. Now, it was something much deeper, and it definitely applied to Aerien alone. It has to be from the spirit energy.

Despite knowing this was the cause, Dryad could not shake it. They were very angry that they were going to loose Aerien, even if it was the only thing to allow her to survive. This was all that dragon’s fault too. The master needed the dragon to get an introduction to the queen… Dryad’s mind went somewhere dark for a moment, but logic won out. If the dragon was needed for the master’s plan, it meant that he was also Aerien’s only chance. They would not ruin that over jealousy.

Dryad felt a pulse of energy from the master. It seemed he was ready to confront the dragon. Meanwhile, Dryad would be watching and judging that dragon’s every word.

-

Eirlathion’s POV

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Erlathion let out a sigh as he walked forward into the glaring sunlight of the outside. He narrowed his eyes as he looked around at the curious crowd, now all a far more respectful distance away from the site of the battle that just occurred between Dryad and the fey dragon Everon. Only one individual dared stand below where Everon was still suspended by Dryad’s vines.

It was a man who’s most striking feature was his large completely black eyes as though polished and shaped obsidian had been placed on his face as decoration. To say they were large was quite appropriate, being roughly three times the size of a normal humanoid’s eyes. While this was his most striking feature, this is not where the odd features ended. For one, his skin was completely blue, and his hair was a lustrous shade of white. His hair shimmered with the vitality of youth despite the color that would normally signify greatly advanced age.

None of this was particularly shocking to Eirlathion however. He was rather familiar with this person’s race. This was the natural form of a changeling. Or rather, it was as close to their natural form as they would willingly show most people. The shape was identical to his natural form. It was the pigmentation of his eyes and skin that had been altered. The natural state of a changeling is completely without pigmentation of any sort. The skin, without color, is a shade of cloudy pinkish white and the blood vessels that are close to the surface can be seen in full detail. A more unsettling point about their lack of pigmentation though is the state of their eyes. Without any pigmentation what so ever, their eyes are simply a completely clear dome that allows you to see straight through to the orange blood-vessel covered backs of their eyes.

Changelings are quite aware of how unsettling the collorations, or lack there of, that they have in their natural form are to most non-changeling races. Therefore, it is common practice for them to at least color their eyes and skin while in their natural form. This changeling, who goes by the name of Sagel, happened to have chosen blue skin and completely black eyes while opting to allow his hair to remain without pigment.

Sagel was the advisor to the dragon assigned to this village, the very dragon now hanging from Dryad’s vines. He had arrived just earlier today and spoke with Eirlathion briefly just before this whole incident occurred. Sagel had struck Eirlathion as a rather amiable fellow, but now they would be meeting again under far different conditions.

As soon as Sagel saw Eirlathion emerge, he ran straight over. Before Eirlathion could take three steps, Sagel stood right and front of him. “Master Eirlathion.” He said and closed his large eyes, after which he quickly inclined his body to a 60 degree angle and lowered his head in a half bow. “I feel I can speak in the name of her majesty when I say that I simply cannot apologize enough for the foolishness of the subordinate that was sent here in her name. What is the condition of…” A pained expression appears on his face and his head lowers a fraction of an inch farther.

Eirlathion lets out a slow breath, not quite a sigh, as he solidifies his mind in order to answer his question. “She is alive, but her condition is not good. It is a matter of her spirit that was damaged, not her body. I wanted to speak with Everon about this. If he and the queen wish to give an apology, I would like to request her assistance in healing her.”

“Of course!” Sagel enthusiastically responds, raising his head up and straightening his posture. “I am glad to hear that things did not go to an irreversible extent at the very least, I will advise Everon to do whatever he is able to in order to properly make amends for what his foolishness has caused.”

Eirlathion nodded at Sagel’s words. He was glad that this part at least had gone so smoothly. Surprisingly so in fact, he had not expected to have the answer he wanted this quickly when he exited the house. However, this Sagel at least seemed to have things together. “Well then, with that out of the way…” Eirlathion trailed off and then glanced up toward the serpentine winged dragon, now lacking one of his feathered wings. There was a serious question as to what form his introduction would take with him in that state. Maybe just a signed letter from Sagel would suffice at this point? He was the official advisor after all.

“Not to request something in exchange, but I would like to ask for something.” Sagel said. “I would like to petition the house of the magus Eirlathion in regards to the future of this village. I know I am not yet a trusted face here, and the one over me has left me in the negative in that area, but I wish to speak on behalf of the people to address the righteous anger felt by the house of the magus Eirlathion.”

This seemed like an awkward way of speaking, but Eirlathion knew that when Sagel spoke about his house, what he was referring to was Dryad’s proper formal name. The name by which they are called by people who have not earned the right of familiarity to simply refer to them as “Dryad.”

Having a name was not a common custom among the tree spirits. In fact, it was exceedingly rare and only exceptional dryads that have had a great deal of influence around the world would receive actual names. Considering what had just happened here, Dryad would likely receive a proper name at some point now. He had also heard that the spirit of the great tree had a proper name, although he had never heard it. However, for the most part, a tree spirit would consider their “name” to be “the house of…” or “the spirit of the house of…” whoever was the head of the family that lived in the tree that served as their body.

Technically, Dryad’s name should be changed to “Spirit of Cundo Village” at this point, but Sagel was likely taking their feelings into consideration by addressing Dryad by their old name.

Eirlathion closed his eyes in thought in regards to this request. He could see why the man would be concerned over this. However, given the nature of everything that had just happened, Eirlathion was still struggling to catch up. He had never even considered the position he was in now as the one dwelling in the house that had become a dryad, especially one that had just become so angry. To him, Dryad had always simply been Nymph up until a few hours ago. However, the manner in which Sagel was approaching him now drove in the fact that now as a dryad, his house was now the ruler of this entire area. Dryad’s will and whim now determined the life or death of every man, woman, and child in this entire village.

“Hmm…” A third voice cut into the conversation as Dryad’s projection appeared next to the door. “If it includes that dragon confessing his crimes in front of everyone and groveling for a while, I suppose I could hear you out. As soon as you have complied with my master’s request, I will listen to what you have to say.”

Eirlathion was a little surprised at Dryad’s tone. He had not noticed it before, but as a dryad they acted nothing at all like they had as Nymph. While taking on this tone and attitude seemed entirely justified for this situation, Eirlathion couldn’t help but question if Nymph would have even been capable of such a poisonous tone and the general attitude that Dryad was holding right now. It really did seem like he was looking at a completely different tree spirit from the one he had known for the few hundred years since they had gained the ability to communicate. Maybe this was natural for a dryad, but he still found it slightly unsettling.

Author's note

Yeah, this is mostly more recap and scene setting. Since most of the scene setting was set up in the last book though, this shouldn't slow the story down so much anymore. The exciting stuff will start from the next chapter.

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