Chapter 53: Book 2 Ch. 3: Lies of omission

Sagel’s POV

Under the dryad’s cold watchful gaze, Sagel had written up and signed a document under Everon’s name. He would have done this either way, but in this case it was the condition for him to gain the right to fight for the survival of everyone in this village. He had to convince the dryad of this village of the innocence of the residents, or at least divert their attention entirely onto Everon.

As soon as the magus Eirlathion received that paper, the dryad asked him to go inside, stating that they did not want him or any of the others inside to be around when they dealt out their punishment.

It felt strange to be fighting to push all the blame for a capital offense onto his own superior, but in this case he had committed such an egregious offense that the queen would likely sentence him to death anyway. To violate the core body of a dryad was bad enough, but he had also caused harm to someone personally declared to be under that dryad’s protection, harmed the appearance of the monarchy in the eyes of the local villagers, and on top of it all the particular dryad he had offended had demonstrated such extraordinary power.

No, it grew even worse than that. Sagel was no fool. He knew there had to be something very unusual about that child. She was somehow connected to the sudden extreme growth that the dryad had shown. He did his best while berating Everon to push the message that she was a mere sickly child, but he knew that could not possibly be true. In fact, the likelihood was huge she really was a grey elf as the suspicions had stated.

Ultimately though, whether she was or was not a grey elf was entirely irrelevant at this point. There were two things that were true for a certainty. One was that this child was the likely cause of a nymph suddenly becoming a dryad with such power that already it was easily the second most powerful in the entire kingdom after only the great tree. The second was that revealing that he still suspected that child of being a grey elf was likely to irritate that dryad, where as helping to push the idea she was just a sick child may allow him to carry favor with them.

Actually, there were three things that were certain. Everon had something to do with nearly killing the child that had the ability to instantly grant this power to a nymph. Any single one of these offenses would have merited a death sentence for the fey dragon. This last one though, it’s likely that the entire fey court would decide that one death is simply not enough.

Sagel put in his best efforts to focus this powerful dryad’s anger on Everon. However, the dryad shot down his efforts with a single dismissive phrase. There was something incredibly off about this dryad, and it was very unsettling. They walked right up to Everon and placed their hand on the side of his head. The next thing Sagel knew, Everon was screaming in fear and pain so great that Sagel could sear he could feel it himself. No, that was exactly what was going on. Everon had clearly lost complete control of his spirit energy.

This was absolutely outrageous. This dryad had somehow triggered something that was causing the dragon to vent all his spirit energy. It was clear what was going on, the dryad had selected a method of execution that was way beyond what even the queen would have been capable of implementing. It was like a gushing wound to his spirit as he expelled all of his spirit energy at a rate that would leave him with nothing left in a matter of seconds. It was exactly like having an arm cut off of your physical body as the blood leaked from the open wound.

The fear was accompanied by extraordinary pain. This pain was also passed along with the massive waves of spirit energy Everon was letting off. Sagel could see now why the dryad had sent Eirlathion away. They could likely absorb this energy with their body and prevent it from reaching him or the children inside. In this entire village, the ones inside the dryad’s core body were likely the only ones safe from this assault on their entire being.

Sagel felt as though everything in his chest was being pulled out through his eyeballs and fingers, as though a hook and line was pushed through the entire length of his arms and into his chest cavity for the soul purpose of dragging his innards out of him in the most painful way that a sick mind could conceive of. Even in the midst of this soul crushing pain, Sagel’s mind was just barely able to work enough for him to realize exactly what this was. This must be the same pain that child experienced when her energies had gone out of control due to her fear. If this is what she felt, it truly was nothing short of a miracle she was still alive.

Sagel only received a reprieve from the pain when Everon finally had run out of every bit of spirit energy and was no longer able to maintain a physical form. The body of a fey was made out of thought made physical to start with, and without spirit energy to keep them together any longer those mere thoughts can no longer produce a physical form. As a result, a fey who runs out of spirit energy simply vanishes as though they were never there to begin with.

The dryad was staring off with an unpleasant expression after Everon’s body was gone. What was the dryad thinking? Sagel’s mind was too rattled by what he had just experienced to have much room for rational thought. His mental faculties were completely drained to the extent that when those displeased eyes of this extraordinary entity turned on him, he was unable to even care what might or might not be about to happen to him.

“I am going to need you to come inside.” The dryad ordered him. “We need to talk about the real reasons behind the queen moving the capital, my master needs to hear every last word of it.”

Real reasons!? Did Everon slip up and tell them about that already!? No, the dryad just said that their master needed to hear about it. If the magus didn’t know about it, then it was likely that nobody else but the dryad knew. If that was the case though, how did they find out!? Of course! Even in Sagel’s rattled state he found himself looking up at this dryad with a weak amount of renewed fear. They must have gotten the information from the stray spirit energy Everon was throwing off during his execution just now. All anyone else could process was just the fear and the pain, but for a dryad who was a spirit to begin with, it was entirely conceivable they could interpret a lot more information from it.

Yes, if they had found out about what was really going on at the capital right now, of course they would be concerned about sending the magus and that child there. At the very least the magus ought to be warned.

Sagel gave a weak nod and scraped himself off the ground. After this, the dryad gave some malicious words with an implied threat to them. However, Sagel was only just barely able to process those words or their implications and silently followed the dryad inside their tree. The path behind him quickly closed, and the dark hallway was illuminated only by the soft glow let off by the dryad’s projection.

-

Eirlathion’s POV

Eirlathion sat quietly in his lab after having respectfully honored Dryad’s wishes to have him leave. Túeth had left downstairs with Aerien and Levin, saying she thought it would be better for her to have both of the boys nearby in her current state. That was likely for the best. It was better to leave her in the hands of her mother at this point. There was nothing more he could do, so he just sat in his lab.

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He had already done all he could. The piece of paper he had in his hand, the signed document explaining enough about the situation to give him an introduction to the queen. Eirlathion had a slight smirk on his face as he read it over, it seemed to justify the importance of healing Aerien more in terms of her relation and importance to Dryad and explained their power rather than anything to do with Aerien’s role in this. More significantly, it left out anything about Aerien being a grey elf, although there was a real question as to whether or not Sagel actually knew about that.

Eirlathion had read this document over about four times now. He realized he was trying to distract himself by allowing himself to get lost in it. The truth was, he was very concerned about the changes in Dryad’s attitude after their ascension. He knew what was likely going to happen out there. The best case scenario would be the fey dragon who commanded the attack on his house being killed. He dearly hoped it would not progress too far beyond that.

He let out a sigh. He realized he had really been sighing a lot lately. There was quite a bit weighing on his mind. He set the paper down on his work table with a shaky hand and took a few steps back away from it, casting a glance around the room. His eyes lingered on the night-loving plants, and soon his mind was off to wondering about how the far more populous sun-loving plants fared under Dryad’s explosive growth. Chances were slim that any would have managed to avoid being tossed aside as branches erupted from beneath them, but the question of whether or not they managed through the experience undamaged was a different subject all together.

Ultimately, none of them should have had their root structure damaged. Even if the stems were broken in half, they all ought to be recoverable. This was especially true now with Dryad there for assistance.

Eirlathion shook his head at himself for thinking about this. It was clear that he was distracting himself once again. Was there even really a point to recovering those plants? Chances were good that he would not be seeing this place again for a while. Perhaps Dryad in their new state might be able to care for them, but there were certainly more pressing matters to consider. Yes, he had to figure out the travel arrangements for their trip to the capital. It was pretty close now, only about a week’s journey since it had moved. He could probably get there in a single day if he were on his own, but they would likely need to take a cart to accommodate the kids.

As he was in the middle of these thoughts, he was distracted by the familiar groaning of wood being shifted by magic. He turned to see the wall opposite the location for the stairs, the same wall that had delivered him to his office earlier when he was rushing up here with Aerien in his arms, had opened up once again to reveal Dryad leading the changeling Sagel into the room.

When Eirlathion saw Sagel’s face, he immediately began to fear the worst. The large eyes of a changeling were about the one thing that was very different between them and a normal person, but it was enough to make their faces difficult to read. However, Sagel’s face right now showed unmistakable signs that he was far beyond just disturbed. He looked haunted and shaken to his very core. It was very clear the man had just witnessed something that could change a person forever.

As he looked back to Dryad’s projection, they were picking a fruit from the wall that they had just grown, and then squeezing it into a cup. Wait, Dryad’s PROJECTION was handling a physical object! Was that even possible? Eirlathion did not know a whole lot about dryads, but this was the first he had ever heard about their projections handling physical objects. Normally they would use their grown vines or branches to handle objects.

“Here, this will help settle you down.” Dryad said, offering the cup to Sagel. He accepted it, clearly not bothered by the fact it was a Dryad’s spirit projection that was handing it to him, likely because he didn’t even realize the significance of it. Well, that was the least of any of their worries at the moment. For now, there was something more important he had to get to the bottom of.

“Dryad, exactly what happened out there?” He asked with a voice that was every bit as shaky as it was forceful, a mixture that, considering the situation, managed to actually accentuate one another.

“I executed that fey dragon.” Dryad responded with an icy tone. “That kind of impulsive stupidity in a position of power is the kind of thing that can only cost lives. The best use of his life is as an example to others of what such action without consideration to the consequences can get you.”

“Is... is that all?” Eirlathion responds, glancing over to Sagel who was drinking down the contents of the cup that had been offered to him like a man dying of thirst.

“I may have chosen a method of execution that was too much for the onlookers.” Dryad said with a sadistic glimmer in their eyes. “I absorbed some of Aerien’s memories when she was feeding her energies into me. I gave the most prominent memory among them, the memory of her spirit being damaged by that energy, to that dragon. It was such a powerful memory that it damaged his spirit as well and made it completely fall apart.”

Eirlathion was stunned by Dryad’s words. It made sense they would be able to do something of the sort, but to have actually implemented it... “So, how did he get like that?” Eirlathion gestured toward Sagel, now shakily supporting himself on one of the work counters and taking some deep breaths.

Dryad smirked at this. “Well, when he received Aerien’s memory, all the spirit energy he started expelling all at once held thoughts about exactly what he was feeling both physically and emotionally. I protected everyone in here by absorbing it all before it could get to you, but everyone out there received the full brunt of it.”

Eirlathion looked over at Sagel again in shock and awe. It was really no wonder he had been so badly shaken. Actually, he was looking a lot better now. He had made an amazing recovery considering what he had just experienced, but it was more likely it might have had something to do with the juice from that fruit Dryad had just given him. What did they put in that fruit’s juice anyway for it to have such a profound effect? Again, not important. The better question was Dryad’s reason for bringing Sagel up here, and judging by the look on their face that seemed to be a rather serious topic for discussion at the moment.

Once again, Eirlathion found himself sighing and then casting a glance toward Dryad. “Well, I take it you likely have something important you want to discuss since you brought him up here. What is it?”

“Well, along with that dragon’s spirit energy, I also picked up a large amount of his memories. Some of them are very important considering your immediate plans master.” Dryad said, and then nudged Sagel toward him.

Sagel gave a brief, small yelp that was a little closer to a whimper and then looked quickly between Dryad and Eirlathion. “R... right!” the changeling said. “It’s about the capital, or rather, the queen’s reason for moving it. Heaven’s scar... the purpose for moving it is not simply to gather some of the residual energies from the fall. Heaven’s scar cut deep into the underground. It’s a primary tunnel that can be used by the demons and devils that live down there. The great tree and the capital are being used as an attack platform. It is at the front line in a war between us and the underworld.”

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