Chapter 2: Moving house

Year 65 Month 8

The shoots are not growing very well. In fact, they survive for no longer than a week, and then die off. And because the shoots as a result of a lack of nutrients or sunlight (frankly I'm not sure what my body needs) my ability to stay conscious is really poor. Still, a random elven druid visits.

“Oh tree, are you still there?” He touches the stump, carefully inspecting the damage from the demon king’s claws.

“Yes I am.” I reply, but he doesn’t seem to understand me.

“Ah… the damage must have really weakened you.” He touches the stump, and seems to be using some kind of druid magic.

I feel invigorated, but only temporarily. It seems that energy is quickly drained away.

“The demon king’s presence has tainted these grounds, that is why you are unable to recover. To survive when the fire still burns and the grounds corrupted shows you must be a strong tree!”

I do not sense the demon king’s presence, but maybe my ability to see is impaired as well. As I still could not really keep myself awake for very long, I didn't dwell on it.

“I will help you, and that will include moving you out of these tainted lands.” He says, and leaves.

I wonder how he plans to move me.

Year 65 Month 9

A few men arrive, all of them appear quite old. Oh, and that druid from last month.

“This is the tree I mentioned. It is amazing that is survives an attack by a demon king.”

“Indeed. I believe the druid council would like to examine it further.” Another man speaks, he seems to be holding some kind of wooden staff, and he kneels over me. "These fires are interesting."

“Should we move it back to the druid council garden?”

“Hmm, I rather not. I rather not have the others discover this. Druidhome already has another tree spirit. I would rather we keep this for ourselves.”

“True. Would be troublesome if the other group finds it. Where do you propose?”

“Am thinking either Solaza’s mansion or the Adventurer Guild’s garden, or Temple of Gaya’s garden.”

“The adventurer’s guild. I think that won’t be a place they will expect.”

“I prefer the Temple of Gaya. Easier to explain why we are moving trees, especially with the reconstruction happening there. The Caretaker would want to have a look at this as well.” They vote, and eventually decide on the Temple of Gaya. I feel a little headache from following their conversation.

The five of them spread out in a circle, surrounding me. And they start mumbling something, and then I feel the entire ground shake, and crack. Then, the entirety of the earth around e floats and one of the guys take out some kind of sack.

And then it is just all black for me. Maybe they somehow suck me into the sack or some kind of druid-tree moving magic, I'm not sure. Turns out once my roots no longer touch any land, I just lose consciousness.

Year 65 Month 10

“How is it reacting to the transplanting?”

“Better than expected. Color seems to be returning somewhat and the taint of the Demon King is fading. But the fires remain.”

“Did I say I am amazed it can resist the demon king’s fire and attack and also its corruption?”

"Yes you did. But I think most druids would be."

“That's what makes it worth studying.”

The guys are talking, and I could still hear them faintly. But I find my consciousness fade every now and then, so I could not catch everything. They come over every other day to check on me, but some days I just cannot keep myself awake, though I do seem to be gradually recovering.

Year 66 Month 2

I feel much better now and I can actually keep myself awake. Those guys still come over regularly and now I notice they have been casting some kind of spell on me. I think it sounds like some kind of [appraisal]. On top of that, they seem to be poking me with weird contraptions, and they seem very interested on my stump, mumbling about fires of hell and stuff like that.

Still, I'm too sleepy to think too much, and everytime I do I get a headache.

Year 66 Month 3

“Is this the tree?” An old man comes to visit. Seriously, I'm really popular with old men. Is it a thing in fantasy worlds for old men to constantly poke at interesting things?

“Yes.”

He touches the stump, and seems to be rather deep in thought. “From Moton, you say?”

“Yes. It survived a demon king’s claws, the scars on the stump still char a little with the demon’s fires.”

“A fascinating sight. To see the demon king's fires still burn on the stump”

Wait, the demon king’s fire is still burning my stump? I took a good hard look at myself, and that's when suddenly I feel a surge of pain. It seems [autopilot] cut off a portion of my senses, so I did not notice that I am still being burned.

[Status : The Fire of Baal]

Whoah. And oww. Oww oww oww. It feels like touching a hot kettle, for a long time. Pain. PAIN.

[Autopilot].

[Autopilot] is suppressing the sensations from the burning surface.

“These fires… we should learn more about them.” The old man says, seemingly touching the fire with a small stick.

The younger man scratches his chin.

“The demon king will return someday. We can better defeat them if we know what we face.”

“What do you have in mind, Caretaker?”

“Can we defeat demons with their own power?” The Caretaker muses, twirling the stick in the fire.

The question stuns the younger man.

“It must be possible, for demon kings must demand the obedience of their minions, so they must have a power to control or punish their minions. So the fires of a demon must be able to damage any other demon, or else they would have no way to keep order.”

“Caretaker, to channel the demon’s powers, that… that may be seen as witchcraft and perhaps blasphemy. Best not to repeat it.” The younger man shakes his head.

“Perhaps you are right.” The Caretaker sighs. "Good reminder, Acolyte."

"To stay the path of Gaya, is my duty, Caretaker."

Year 66 Month 9

The past months is filled with people all investigating the endlessly burning fire on my stump. Usually it's the same few old men with different contraptions or spells. The investigators and researchers would try things like dousing me on holy water, or trying to extract my stump surface.

Still, the conclusion they seem to draw is that I am strong enough not to die from it, and not let it burn the rest of me, but not strong enough to extinguish the fire.

The Fire of Baal also interfere with all my attempts to telepathically communicate. I suspect they seem to hear something, but they could not make out any details.

The stump is actually constantly regenerating a sheet of fire-resistant layer, and that layer gets replaced by another layer once the fires completely consume the upper layer.”

Ah, so it's kind of like a zerg rush and a wall of turrets. Maybe that analogy doesn't quite work.

Year 67 Month 1

It happened in the middle of the night. A group of masked men sneaks into the temple grounds, they dress like typical cults, in dark hoodies and masks, and carry weird religious-like items.

“This is it. The tree that carries the Fires of Baal.” One points.

“So the rumours are true. The Temple of Gaya is really experimenting with demonfire.”

"To find demonfire, the master will be pleased.”

He takes out a kind of vase. I think it is a vase, because it looks like a vase from the outline. The cultists seem to mumble some kind of weird chant, as the one holding the vase leans close to me. Heopens the cork on top of the vase, and it seems to suck up all the fires into it. It has a cork, does it make it a whiskey bottle instead? I wish I could see properly.

“Harvest the fires and lets go.”

“Yes yes.”

About ten minutes later he is done, and strangely, at that point someone shouts.

“Stop! What are you doing!”

Oh come on, why do guards always spot them only when they are done.

“Let's split!” The cultists shout.

And they all flee in different directions, and then into the distance.

[The Fire of Baal removed. Negative effects on some of your passive recovery, skills, spells and abilities removed]

Oh thank you cultists, and I hope I do not meet a demon king again.

The next day.

“Who is behind this?”

“The fires are gone!”

“Did you hear me? Who is behind this!”

“Anyone able to collect the fires of Baal must be affiliated to the demons. Perhaps the demon cults.”

No shit, genius,

“Ugh. No one spotted them?”

“The guards did. They are dead now. We found a few of them killed in the alleys.”

“Ugh.”

With the fires gone, I am not very interesting anymore. Nobody even comes over to visit, and quiet returns.

I'm not hot anymore.

Year 67 Month 3

A small boy sits on me. I offer a familiar contract, and he rejects.

Damn.

Year 67 Month 5

Without the Fires of baal, I am able to now regrow a proper trunk in the past 5 months, right next to my stump. With this, I feel a bit more energetic than before.

Year 67 Month 8

“This is the tree that has a seat!”

With a the trunk growing rapidly, I am now like a small tree, with a stump stuck at the side. In a way I look like a chair. Or maybe a stump + stick combo.

It seems quite a few people do come over and sit on me, but most seems to ignore all my familiar contracts. I wonder why, and then a popup explains 'Believers of Gaya cannot accept familiars of nature, and are naturally resistant to telepathy.' Ah that explains why everyone rejects me.

An old man approaches me one day, on the last few days of the month.

“Hi tree.”

He looks a little crazy. His soul looks really messed up.

“I am dying. And I am looking for a place to be buried. Can I bury myself here?”

I have no idea how to respond to such a question. Seriously. Should I say, yes, please bury yourself here, or should I say, no, don't bury yourself here?

He touches my growing trunk.

“Yes. I will bury myself here.”

Uh. Okay. You made the decision, so I'm not saying a thing. Hey, maybe you'll end up a spirit next to me like Semara.

Year 67 Month 9

That same death-wish old man sits on me, and then falls asleep. He did not wake up, and I could see his soul fading. He is discovered later in the evening by the temple guys.

“Oh dear. This crazy old man really died here.” A young temple initiate complains.

“He been telling the Caretaker he wants to be buried here.”

“Call the Caretaker." I am guessing the Caretaker is some kind of position in the Temple of Gaya, but no one answers me.

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The Caretaker from before returns and kneels over the old man’s corpse. “Old friend, I will bury you here as you asked.”

The two initiates complain. “But Caretaker, he is not a believer. What gives him the right to be buried in the temple grounds?”

“He was a believer. His three sons fought valiantly against the Demons, a part of the warriors of Gaya. But their death made him curse us, curse the temple, for bringing doom to his family, so he stopped believing. In his dying days I believe he has come around.”

“Ah.. if you say so, Caretaker.”

They dig a hole next to my roots a day later, and buried him next to me. Strangely enough, it is not in a coffin. Perhaps they do not have such culture here. Come to think of it, I do not recall ever seeing coffins. I feel relieved that I won't get chopped up to be made into coffins.

I wonder whether he will end up being a spirit.

Year 67 Month 10

“Hello tree spirit.”

“Oh. Hello old man.” The old man really did become a spirit, even though it did take him a few weeks. I wonder why it takes him so long to transform from dead man to spirit. Is there like some kind of incubation period?

“Have you been here for long?”

“No. I just appeared today. I think your roots are in my body now, so now you can see me." Hmm, my roots?

“Oh. Did you know I am here?”

“No. I just liked the look of the tree and the location. It seems like a nice place to be buried.”

“Uhuh. What a thing to think about. That sort of thought never crossed my mind.”

“You are a tree. Death must be a strange thing for you.”

“Hmm. Never mind. Why are you here and why are you not moving on?”

“I want to. But I have a lot of regrets. So much.. anger and hatred. Frustration for the temple of gaya. Anger at the gods and demons. Anger at how weak I was to let my children die.”

“Huh.”

“Must be a foreign concept for trees with no family.”

I understand it quite well, but I choose not to interject.

“Life and death. To lose your children to monsters, to flee when your children are fighting. Do you know how much I regret it?”

“No. Why did you flee?” He wants to vent, so I let him.

“To protect my younger children. I ran with them. I ran with their wives, their kids, my grandchildren.”

“Then you did your part, no?”

“No. I felt I should have been the one fighting, while they fled. An old man like me, choosing to run instead of fighting. That torment, it burns me.”

“Is that called running? Sounds pretty honorable to me, and if you did stay and fight, would it have made a difference?”

“Maybe. I am much older, but when the demons attacked many years ago I still could hold a sword very well. I could have. I am much higher level and I have better skills. It is wrong for them to entrust the protection of their wives to me. I, the dying old man should have been the one fighting and holding off the demons while they make their way out.”

“They must have believed you can protect their wives and kids better than them. They wanted to stay back?”

Hey I didn't sign up for spirit-counselling. Is this guy going to vent at me for the next few months, because if he is, I am going to [hibernate]

“So what. I should have knocked some sense into them.”

Ugh. I have to cut this guy off.

“You are dead. Let it go and move on.”

“No! I cannot. I must not. I spent the last fewyears thinking back to that day when we parted in Olbast. I should have stayed and they should have left. Thirteen years, every night I think about it. If I made a different choice. If.”

“You are dead.”

“I am a spirit. There must be something I can still do. Something I can still change. That is why I am still here and not in the underworld.”

“What would that be?”

“I don't know!”

“Uh.”

The old man, his name is Gewa, and he spends a lot of time being upset over the death of his three sons. I occasionally humor him, but I mostly ignore him and go into hibernation.

Year 67 Month 11

[Andy Schulon has died. You gained 9 levels.] [You are now level 45]

Oh. I totally forgot about that guy. The guy who’s wife came and beg for protection. He lived really long!

“Have you heard? Lieutenant Commander Schulon of the South Army died in battle against the demons.” Some initiates chatter in the garden, and with the levels my vision and range of hearing improves. Ah, wow that boy became quite high ranking.

“The demon must be really strong.”

“Indeed, and he is back at his peak with his power returning. This seems to suggest the demons gather strength out there, and they will only get more ferocious.”

“You seem to be interested in the conversation.” Gewa's spirit sits next to me.

“Yeah I am. Have you heard of Andy Schulon?”

“Hmm.. Sounds familiar! Oh wait, I remember now. He got a bit famous a few years ago. He led the defense of Parsala pass against a large demon attack.”

“What's that?”

“A battle where the demons attacked one of the many passes that connects the humanlands to the rift, and are successfully repelled, despite being outnumbered. It is human battle history, not surprised you never heard of it.”

“Oh.”

“He is known for his defensive skills, but his abilities somehow weakened a few years ago for some unknown reason, it returned recently, and he contributed quite significantly to a few battles with his healing and defensive skills. His front line combat support has saved many many lives and won many battles.”

“Don't armies have mages and healers? What's so special about him?” Seems strange that a familiar can make such a difference.

“Mainly because he is in the front line, providing active support and healing. Healers and mages can provide support but they do so from the back and there is always a delay. Mages and healers can be in front too of course, but their lack of close combat abilities make them really vulnerable. Schulon is like a fighter with some mage and healer's abilities, so that makes him very versatile.”

“Oh. You seem to know how to fight.” I'm actually quite impressed by this Gewa's analysis.

“Every generation has to fight multiple demon kings and lords throughout their lives. Combat ability is a necessity.”

True, I seem to forget that multiple demon kings have appeared since I came into this world. What a cruel, harsh world.

“Hmm.”

“A mage can cast shield that provides a half reduction in damage as a passive enchantment, but someone like Schulon can create a wood barrier to counter specific attacks that reduces the damage by much higher amount.”

“Makes a lot of sense.”

“So… why are you interested in Andy Schulon again?”

“Hmm. We used to have a familiar contract. I mean, I gave him a familiar a long time ago before he became famous.”

“Huh?!”

Gewa’s spirit paces around me, seems to be thinking. It seems that statement triggered some kind of eureka moment.

“So you and him have a familiar contract, are you the source of his defensive powers?” He looks at me with some hopeful, curious eyes. He never looked at me like that before, so it freaks me out a little.

“I… am not sure. But if it is some wood based ability, I believe that is most likely from my familiar.”

“I see I see." Gewa walks in circles around my trunk, and it makes me a little dizzy. He stops. "Can you give your familiar contracts to more people?”

That’s a strange question. “Where are you going with this?”

Gewa gives me a kind of stare. Its weird for a spirit to stare.

"What?"

He stares somemore.

"Seriously, what?"

“You. You have some power to reduce casualties in battle. Imagine if the world had hundreds of warriors with incredible defensive powers, we would see less death, and we would have higher leveled warriors all round because they all survive longer.”

“Hmm.”

“What ‘hmm?’ Am I wrong?”

No, Gewa does have a point, so I mentally wonder how many familiar contracts can I give.

*You can presently grant 12 familiar contracts. There are no familiar contracts utilised at the moment.*

“What are your concerns, tree spirit? Or do you not care about human lives?” Gewa pushes. "Grant more familiar contracts, let those with your powers protect more people!"

“Hmm….” Why should I? Okay, I guess giving familiar contracts make sense because I gain experience from it, but…

Frankly I do not know why I am hesitating, so I end up looking at Gewa. Feeling a little headache at having to make a decision, I decide to take a nap.

Year 68 Month 1

“Your naps are really long.”

“Time moves differently for trees like me.” I respond instinctively, but then I wonder why I did. Maybe reincarnation means an entirely new set of experiences in this world.

“So, familiars?” Gewa kept pushing and I ignore him. I still wanted to think, and he mumbles something about me and my absurd timeframes.

A druid drops by. “Ah, you are doing well.” The new part of my tree has reaches a reasonable size now, right next to the stump. The surface of the stump is still charred black, but it is healing.

“Hi.” I reach out telepathically.

The druid startles, and he looks around. “Is.. is anybody there?”

“No one. Only me, the tree.”

“Huh?!” He stares at me. “You… talk?”

“Yes. Do you want a familiar contract?” I am blunt like that.

“Uh… no.” Okay I am a little too blunt. “Are you a tree spirit?”

“Yes.”

The druid walks in circles. “So, what kind of tree spirit are you?”

What… what kind of question is that?

“Uh...”

The druid looks puzzled. “Ah. I mean like are you looking for help with breeding or spreading your seeds, or the type that wants special nutrients or fertilizer, or like… you want help with pests? Tree spirits are usually not chatty. And they only give familiars to those who has done a great deal of service for them, like after helping them through a difficult winter or battle a horrible disease.”

Oh.

“So… do you need help with something? That's why you are offering familiars?”

Hmm.

The druid walks in circles a few more times. “I heard you survived a demon king’s attack, maybe you need help with your wound, is that it?”

It seems he is caught in some kind of monologue with his own mind, and presuming that I need help. Why is this guy asking and presuming I need help?

He kneels, hovering over the stump. “Your wounds are fully healed though. Ah tree spirits, always being so vague and need us druids to guess what you need.”

“Wait. WAIT!"

“I know, I will give you some time and I will come back next month, okay? Trees need time to think, right?” The druid bows and walks off.

“WAIT!” Oh come on I am literally shouting and he just walks away.

“Are druids normally so dense?” I look at Gewa, a little frustrated.

Gewa shrugs. “Mages tend to be stuck in their own world. Magic is everything and it consumes them.”

“But for them to ignore me like that…”

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