Chapter 8: Chapter 8

The village was a well-organized little settlement in the forest. According to Jim, these were the outskirts, though Silver couldn’t tell. The trees were just as tall and thickly populated here as anywhere else in the all-encompassing forest that had been his home since he’d awoken in this strange world; though the settlement itself was mostly cleared of trees besides a few thick oaks in the sidewalks.

A few miles ahead and there would be a large plain beyond, mostly inhabited by Tier 4 and above monsters. The prospect seemed terrifying, but Silver also didn’t have an accurate gauge of the difference in power between Tier 4 and the former Tiers.

Silver marveled at the construction of the homes. Apparently this being a magical society didn’t make it equivalent to the dark ages.

From his talks around camp he knew that this village was established about three months ago, but in front of Silver was a miniature sprawling metropolis. The roads were paved, the houses were multistoried with elaborate terraces and gardens. Some of the taller, more luxurious buildings had sprawling balconies and façades facing towards the street for their residents to look down upon the masses as they passed beneath.

There were orbs that floated above the sidewalks, defying gravity. He assumed those would be the magical equivalent of modern streetlights. He’d expected torches and lanterns.

He was at the head of the group, standing behind Jimmithy with Edwin and Gervase. Savarti had gone ahead to scout and hadn’t returned yet. Mern was off to the side with the other Picton’Mithal, speaking quietly and casting scouting spells towards the settlement.

Silver had finally heard the human native language, with Edwin and Gervase whispering to each other beside him, and he realised that he was definitely going to need that tutor that Jim had offered him. It was an aggressive, rapid language, with harsh fricatives.

Savarti was the only Belvaun in the entire group of mercenaries, so she usually only spoke Common around others, but Silver had sometimes heard her mutter under her breath in another language; It was very quiet. A whispered, melodic language with occasional hisses or growls intermixed. It was very beautiful.

Silver was also sure most of the time she was cursing. Mostly at him.

“It’s empty.”

Jim glanced back over his shoulder, but said nothing.

Silver’s face reddened slightly. He hadn’t meant to be captain obvious out loud. Edwin looked at him and gave a snort of laughter, while Gervase just gave him a look of exasperation.

“Sorry. That was supposed to be my internal monologue.” He looked towards the empty buildings, the silence hanging thick in the air. It was the middle of the day, but Silver felt like there was a shadow hanging ominously in the air. The whole situation was eerie. Entire populations of settlements don’t just disappear. Roanoke didn’t count.

Nobody spoke. After a few minutes Savarti approached the group, walking directly down the main street of the ghost town. Mern spotted her and approached the group as well, scowling slightly at Jim’s back.

“What did you find?” Savarti answered Jim’s query as she walked over, the trees swaying loudly overhead.

“Nothing. It’s completely deserted. I searched all of the important buildings and wasn’t able to find anything. There aren’t even any clothes, no blood, no signs of struggle.”

Jim frowned. “Some type of monster? But strong enough to wipe out this whole town with no evidence? That’d be something Tier 6 at least. But no…deep beast?”

Even Mern frowned at the mention of that. “Are we dealing with some invasion of high tier deep beast? We don’t have the power for that. We’d need at least an Anima and two Siphons of the same Tier to fight it off. You’re the only Tier 4 in this whole band. The mages are Tier 2, besides me, and only have basic magic mastered.”

“It’s not anything from the deep; I’d smell one of those abominations if they were on the surface.” He gave Silver a slight side-eye. “Besides, you’re Tier 3 and a genius who has mastered nature and gravity magic.”

“And enhancement,” Mern added smugly.

Silver looked up at the trees surrounding the town. The trees were beautiful, slightly waving in the wind. They were all identical, thin trees, like very tall aspens, but with bluish bark and stark white leaves. There were vines wrapped around the trees as well, matching the color of the bark. These drooped low. Some hanging down from the branches, swaying in the wind. Others dragging along the ground. Also blowing in…the…

Silver blinked his golden eyes. There was no wind. Also, this town was clear of trees when they approached.

“Where did these trees come from,” Silver wondered aloud. Gervase turned back to glare at him for interrupting again, but Jim froze; as did Mern and Savarti.

Jim looked around at the group that was suddenly surrounded by trees. He squinted at the trees, assessing them. Mern’s hands started glowing dangerously. Savarti slowly drew her sword, taking a stance and glaring around, her sword slowly becoming coated in a flowing layer of wispy darkness.

“Living grove. Tier 4,” Jimmithy spoke solemnly.

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

“What?” Silver, as usual, was lost as fuck. Nobody had time to answer him though, as hell seemed to be unleashed in the next moment. Jimmithy’s blue body began to swell at the same moment that the vines on the trees became animated and started lashing out. One of the human warriors behind Silver was speared directly through the gut.

Mern flashed an evil grin and cast a spell toward the bark of one of the trees. The spell hit, sinking into the bark. A moment later an unnatural wailing rang out over the sounds of battle as the tree began to twist unnaturally upon itself. Where the bark cracked, he saw a blood red liquid seeping out of the plant-like monster. Mern threw his head back and gave a cackle of mad glee.

Savarti was fairing just as well. Her dark sword flashing faster than Silver could track, even with his enhanced vision. She easily cut any vines approaching her.

Silver’s attention was brought back to Jim, as he heard another unnatural roar. Where Jim once stood was a translucent, blue goliath of a monster, standing slightly over 5 meters tall. It looked to be an amphibious humanoid with blue crystalline skin. There were rootlike vines protruding from is body that wavered and swayed dangerously. The creature had a bulbous, squat head and no neck, with a giant maw that split most of its head and torso vertically, lined with several rows of terrifyingly sharp teeth.

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“…Jim?”

Silver got no reply as the monster opened its maw even wider and roared before charging directly toward the largest concentration of trees further away from the village. Anything that touched the behemoth froze into an icey blue statue of what Silver assumed was probably lapis lazuli. It explained the statue comment from Mern the first day, as well as the ability of one of Jim’s siphons.

Silver was suddenly thrown to the ground by a hard impact to the leg. He screamed out and looked down to see a vine had pierced his leg and glanced off the bone. A spike of earth erupted under the vine, severing it. Silver looked over to see Mern glaring his way.

“Get your shit together,” he hissed, before turning back to the trees and vines attacking him. He fought so casually, even having time to save Silver’s ass.

He gritted his teeth and stood, standing unevenly as he tried to keep his weight off of his injured leg. He looked around assessing the chaos around him. Magic was exploding in the air around him, swords flashing as the warriors moved with supernatural grace and strength. Silver even spotted the large man from the tent on his first day using an oversized axe to cleave rifts into the ground and slice trees in half.

Silver saw several vines coming his way. He focused his eyes on them, choosing to try to put them into stasis. The power stuck, barely. The vines slowed, but the power difference between them and him meant that they were shrugging off most of the effect.

The trees had different Tiers. He’d read about these already. One of the few Tier 4’s that he knew about. It was a plant monster that assimilated the trees around it as clone bodies, extending it’s domain and hiding the original, core body among them. The downside being that the new bodies started at Tier 1 and had to advance on their own. The plus side being the sheer number of copies it could produce could be overwhelming, while the original hid and picked off more powerful opponents from behind the scenes.

The trees attacking Silver were all Tier 1 and 2. He could handle the Tier 1 trees’ vines, but not in these numbers, or in tandem with the Tier 2. And not with a hole in his leg.

He quickly looked around, spotting Edwin and Gervase fighting back to back, as well as Savarti slightly closer by. Her darkness cloaked sword easily destroying any vines that dared intrude on her space.

He quickly hobbled over, keeping an eye on his surroundings, not wanting a repeat of his earlier mistake.

Savarti barely glanced his way as he hobbled toward her from behind.

“Having trouble?” She asked as she dismissively ran her eyes over his wound.

“A little, yeah. You mind me staying here and supporting you? I’m not really built for combat.”

“I’ve noticed.” Silver was annoyed at her tone, but didn’t let it show on his face. He set about slowing the vines nearby, until she told him to stop interfering in her battle and to slow the vines for the people struggling or injured, which Silver promptly began doing. He’d fallen into a rhythm of just following orders around camp, and this was no different to him. Following Savarti’s directions he was a lot more effective and was helping the group handle higher level vines easily. The weaker ones were put into stasis and cut apart as people made their way to the trees themselves and leveled them.

He continued to help as much as he could until he started to feel lightheaded and stumbled. He fumbled his leg and screamed as he placed too much pressure on it and collapsed.

Savarti called one of the Picton healers over, who promptly began healing Silver’s leg.

“Don’t move,” he spoke in a high pitched, nasally voice. This was a Picton he had not seen before. His skin tone was a grey-purple, and he had a line of scales going from his brow back across his bald scalp, and down his spine, disappearing into his robes.

“Yeah, I really wasn’t planning to,” he quipped sarcastically. He gritted his teeth as he felt his skin itching as the wound closed before his eyes, knitting itself back together unnaturally fast. “Is healing the only magic you know?”

The Picton didn’t bother looking up from his glowing hands as he focused on Silver’s rapidly healing wound. “Healing is not an official school of magic. Anyone can do it with enough knowledge of the body of the species of their patient, and as long as you know water, fire and enhancement magic. But yes, this is all I know how to do. I am studying under Mern Kiz Allo’din to learn the base elemental magics.”

“What are all of the different schools of magic?”

The Picton screwed his face up as he thought, raising a brow. “Hmm. Well there are the base elements of fire, water, wind and earth. Their advanced schools, in order, plasma, gas, and gravity; water doesn’t have its own advanced school. Ice is it’s own school of magic, separate from water. More adjacent. It is equivalent to the advanced schools, though, as is light magic.”

He paused, a few moments of silence passing before he spoke again.

“There are also the divine magics that are inaccessible to us unless we are blessed by the god who governs that elements to use it. These are darkness and binding, governed by the Dark One, Alexei, King of the pantheon. Filth, for Peta Pans. And mental magic for Midnight. Any of the three greater gods can also bestow access to Time and Space magic, but it’s rare for them to do so. The Picton’Mithal ascendant god Miltath, envoy of Alexei, can also bless access to Darkness. The Belvaun ascendant god Wrath, enforcer of the patheon, can bless Filth and Darkness, but he rarely gives blessings or even communes with his followers. Finally we have the enigma, god of magic and obscure secrets, and the unknowable god, Vind Naal’bal. Envoy of Midnight. He can bestow blessings to allow access to mental magic, but refuses. Nobody knows why, not even his priests.”

“Whoa.” That was a lot to take in for Silver. He already knew gods were real in this world. He’d met one. Not only were they real, apparently, they took full liberty to interfere in the affairs of mortals.

Silver had the time to watch the battle while he was being healed, and occasionally use his abilities to help those around him. He looked towards where he’d seen Jim charging. He saw the behemoth engaging with a gigantic tree, significantly bigger than its copies. The tree had a wooden face that was screaming defiance towards Jim, who roared back at it. The tree had wound several of its vines into thick arms as it tried to engage Jim, and had pulled itself from the ground, it’s tentacle like roots helping it slither and pull itself around on the ground as it fought.

The battle was completely one-sided. Despite being on the same level, Jim was dominating the creature. When the vine arms landed blows on his body, they would begin to turn into lapis, flaking off, making hitting Jimmithy directly a masochistic endeavor. The root-like tendrils protruding from Jimmithy’s body also carried the lapis touch ability, and with their incredible range was devastating the Grove. He was multitasking. Fighting with almost all of his attention on the main body, but also using his tendrils to attack the clone bodies from up to twenty feet away, helping his band of mercenaries.

“Looks like we’re going to win,” Silver said. The Picton finally looked up, finished with Silver’s leg. Flexing his leg, Silver marveled at the miracle that was magic.

“Of course,” the Picton hissed, laughing. “This is Jimmithy the Fish. He’s the third strongest Siphon on this side of the world. Only the two princes outpower him.”

 

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