Chapter 252: 246. Wayfinding for Trees

Year 249

“Two months.” Lumoof said to himself. We would spend two months in this world, and no more. 

Stella shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. There are enough of us to cover you. Seriously, just go and explore this world and see what’s there. It’s really far away that I don’t know what to expect.”

Lumoof rolled his eyes at the human voidmage. “How strange could it get?”

“Very. Each realm and world is it’s own little cocoon.”

“Fine, let’s take bets. I’m betting we’ll see humans.” Lumoof said. 

Stella laughed. “What’s the prize?”

“I’ll take your next assignment to wherever, and you’ll take mine.” 

“You know it doesn’t work like that. But sure, I’ll take the opposing bet. No humans. We’ll add drinks to that, too.” Stella accepted. “From what I could, people seem to be living there.”

“Really?” Lumoof said. “Very well then.”

“Good luck, old man. Go forth and spread Aeon’s gospel.”

Lumoof choked. “You know I won’t do that in a strange new world.”

“I know.” Stella laughed. “Have fun.”

***

The link through the [void explorer] faded behind Lumoof, the aberration vanished like it never was. 

I could feel Lumoof’s nagging guilt, even though we both knew we had time. Exploration was important, for growth, for learning, for allies. We pushed on anyway. At this point, it was up to my team to do their part, and for all of us to show up when it mattered. 

Lumoof, my priest and avatar, landed in what seems to be forested land, with patches of greenish grass, and pine trees around us. The air had a faint citrusy scent, and as Lumoof’s magical senses expanded, we detected the presence of wolves, rabbits, and foxes. Birds on the branches. Insects.

Lumoof could feel the presence of the ground, and it spoke back to him. Or at least, it gave him a sense of where people were. 

“As usual, let’s just spy on the locals before we make contact,” I repeated, and Lumoof’s magical ring cloaked his presence. Unless one actively tried, magical perception would fail.

Forest. It was strangely calming to be in the presence of the woods, and Lumoof soon found himself taking a leisurely stroll through the woods. None of the animals approached us, though we could feel their eyes on Lumoof. Instead, they scurried away and ran as soon as we even approached.

We couldn’t see the presence of the demon’s usual star paths in the skies of this world. Cautiously, I took it as a sign that this world was not invaded, and that was a good thing. The demon’s taint has not spread to all worlds.

It took about two hours of casual strolling before we arrived on what appeared to be a road. It was a muddy road, but a quick glance revealed the presence of unusual marks on the road itself. 

Large, gigantic claw-shaped marks, and next to them, smaller, human-sized marks. But their feet were not humans. Or may not be humans.

“I might lose this bet,” Lumoof smirked as he examined the dried muddy road. “Beastmen of some kind?”

“With lizard mounts,” I answered, or war animals. 

Lumoof followed the path, following the footsteps where they led. As we continued along the path of footsteps, or claw marks, we eventually approached what appeared to be a camp of some kind. An army camp. I knew it was an army because there didn’t appear to be young, small children.

It was a group of beastmen, with the heads of either a lion or a tiger, and they wore heavy armor made of bones and weapons made of magical ivory. There were no young, here. Each of the beastmen radiated strength comparable to a soldier around level 30 to level 40, and the leader’s presence was someone around level 50 to 60. 

Our first encounter with this world’s civilization was a war party, so that was not a good sign. Lumoof nodded. “Let us watch a bit more, and see who they fight.”

They didn’t detect us, and Lumoof followed the lion-tiger beastmen for three days until they were out of the forests. During this time, we listened into their conversation. The lion-tiger beastmen referred to themselves as the Sinmau, while their opponents appeared to be a group of Wolf-Fox beastmen referred to as the Mugala. They had war mounts that were gigantic lizards with scaled armor, which they referred to as the Cheecaks. 

At first, we didn’t notice it, but Lumoof began to notice something unusual about the Cheecaks. They had a strange strand of magic about them, as if all of them were linked to something far away. 

The day of the battle came, and Lumoof watched the Mugala army approach. They were a small clan of similar size, about thirty beastmen with wolf and fox heads, and their strengths were comparable to the Sinmau force. 

The leaders of both sides thumped their breastplates and faced each other for a duel. 

“Foul cubs, did your ancestors not teach you of stupidity? Your foolish attempts to encroach on the ancestral lands of the Mugala Whitewolf Clan will be the death of you.” The leader of the Mugala war pack shouted to the Sinmau war leader. 

Lumoof inwardly groaned. Two months couldn’t pass fast enough. 

The two leaders fought first, and to Lumoof, it was like watching two soldiers in the Valthorn academy fight to the death. They were all so weak that it really wasn’t worth it. 

“We could capture some of them,” Lumoof suggested, “And use them to tell us more about the world.”

“No. Not yet. Let us watch a little longer.” The battle was frankly pathetic to watch and nothing much of interest, but my fascination with the Cheecaks used by both sides increased as the battle continued. We noticed the unusual strands of magic as if they were bound and tied to something else, really far away. 

The battle ended largely with a tie, as both sides were severely injured and retreated. But Lumoof decided to trust our instincts and follow what was interesting to us. The strand of magic that linked their Cheecak mounts. 

***

My priest followed and traced the strands of magic in the air, and we noticed they came from everywhere. Lumoof, cocooned in his own enchantments and magic moved swiftly across the land. Having 

The terrain of this world was varied and had a high level of diversity and frankly reminded me of our own homeworld. There were large forested areas, areas where it’s just vast grasslands, high, soaring mountains, and large rivers. But our interest in the Cheecaks only increased my suspicion that something was strange with these mounts. 

All those strands of magic could be felt like momentary flickers in the air. The presence of a connection, like a message, but more than that. We traced it for a week and arrived at what was  a large mountain, the tallest mountain we have ever seen. 

It’s a mountain that was covered in a kind of red snow, and clouds swirled around the peak. There were more beastmen here, clustered around the four cities around the mountain itself.

We spent a day or two observing the cities from the distance. Each was home to a different type of beastmen. The lion-tigerfolks the Sinmau, the wolf-fox people the Mugala, the bird-headed people, the Burung, and the rhino-headed beastmen, the Tanduk. The Cheecaks were used by all four different beast clans. 

This mountain was Mount Kina, the holy land of the four clans of beasts. 

“We’re not here to meddle with their politics. We are here to find allies, if any. If these people are not worth it, we will leave and return when we have the time to make a better stand. Our goal are the Powers, and anything strong enough to help us against the comet.”

Over a few days, as we continued our observation near that mountain, we realized those magical strands led to the mountain above. 

“Let’s go.” I said, and Lumoof nodded. A mountain was nothing to worry about.

As it turned out, the act of climbing the mountain was an act of pilgrimage. The mountain, which soared into the heavens above was separated into ten steps, and it is said that a beastman’s prestige and rank among his clan was determined by which of those ten steps he reached during one of the great climbs. 

Climbing outside of the scheduled ‘Great Climbs’ was frowned upon, there was no blessing in doing so. 

It mattered little. 

We’ve roughly settled on the name “Beastmen world” for the people here, though our spying soon revealed that they refer to their own world as the First Realm. I wonder whether they even know of the existence of a world beyond theirs. 

Lumoof stood at the edges of the mountain and frowned. “I think we can just teleport up there- Ah. Nope. There’s something interrupting the magic.” 

If there was anything worthwhile in this world, it’s likely to be up there. Even now we could sense the minute strands of wills and thoughts, all from the various Cheecaks all over the world. Since we couldn’t get up there by spatial magic, it was time to do it the old-fashioned way. 

Lumoof’s body charged with blessings and magic, and he jumped. In a single bound he leaped up to the seventh step, where the mountain touched the misty crown of clouds. There was a weight from above, a presence not unlike the aura of a domain holder. It pressed onto Lumoof, and it bounced off like water on an oily surface. 

“Well, a domain holder at the top.” Lumoof mused. Without the weight of that domain holder’s aura delaying our rise. He leaped up, through the clouds, and then landed on what was the tenth step. There was a large plateau, but it was not the top. It went even further, it’s presence masked and distorted by the powers of a fellow domain holder. 

There were a large group of heavily armed beastfolks on top, with representatives from each of the races, but they didn’t notice Lumoof behind the veil of magic. But they looked visibly upset and uncertain, their weapons were drawn and edgy. 

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“His holiness claims there is an intruder on the Mountain.” They shouted, and each of them looked. 

The presence of another domain holder from the top, and Lumoof paused. “Should we even bother?”

There really was no good way to make contact with another domain holder without seemingly ‘barging’ in. It’s not as if there are agents we can talk to, and those came with a set of risks too.

I thought it was more effective, and more honest, to just go for the center and be blunt about it. Lumoof asked a question, then. “How would you like to be approached, Aeon?” 

It actually stumped me.

An earlier, more vulnerable version of myself would prefer for contact to be made through my Tree of Prayers, instead of my real body. Or through any of my subsidiary trees.

More than anything, what more an immovable immortal, I felt vulnerable and compromised when approached. It’s likely that any immortal that could not move didn’t like anyone or anything to get near it’s main body, and would go to great lengths for things to stay that way. Our location, truly, is a sore point. We cannot move, and thus, our attempts to hide are made harder because anyone who wants to find us already knows where to look. 

Maybe I should first try to respect that boundary, and actually try it.

So, Lumoof stopped, instead of climbing further. “Actually, let’s catch one of those Cheecaks and use my mana on it. If our suspicions are correct, the Cheecaks are linked to this strange entity at the end.”

“Surely we should first try to talk to these seemingly mindless creatures?”

I suppose that’s the equivalent of someone talking to my beetles, and expecting me to notice it on my end-

Wait. I actually would notice it. My artificial minds would notice it, for sure.

***

Lumoof retreated back down the Mountain, and left the guards confused. The entire four cities remained fairly tense and on alert, as the guards departed from the high mountain down into the cities below. 

My priest retreated quickly, his moving speed likely outstripped what the locals could do, and arrived in one of the small towns outside a few days later. 

Lumoof managed to find a group of Cheecaks stored in some kind of Cheecak stables. It was more of a mosh pit than anything for these giant lizards to roll around and pretend like they are still tiny lizards. 

There were just a few guards, and Lumoof tapped into my avatar powers and quickly put them to sleep. It was easy. Despite their different anatomy and body, the powers of a system still worked, and they all slept like any other. 

Logically, a sleep spell designed for humans should not work on someone not a human. But system shenanigans meant a generic sleep spell would work on all creatures, provided their immunities are low. With the Mugala guards all asleep, Lumoof approached one of the Cheecaks.

It looked like a blank, dumb animal. 

“Hello.” Lumoof said on my behalf. I knew he felt somewhat silly, but we wanted to see whether we could call on the de facto god of this world. 

The Cheecak did not respond. 

“I know you’re there. Somewhere in there. Linked to the Mountain high above.”

The large lizard did not respond. 

Lumoof placed his hand on the dull giant lizard’s head, and my mana flooded the lizard. My mana poured into it and searched for that little strand that tied the lizard back to whatever was up on the mountain-

I felt it. 

A strand of energy. It snapped just as quickly as my mana twirled with it.

It felt like a figment, a minor shadow of a soul. It shattered into pieces just as my mana reached into the lizard.  

The Cheecak reacted to it badly. It was already dull, but now it looked absolutely blank, as if there was no thought or will behind it at all. 

“Failed.” Lumoof cursed, he felt my every move, every twitch and movement of mana. “Let’s go to the next one.”

I failed to touch that figment in the next three Cheecaks, I tried to be faster, slower, more gently, with a minor presence. But it didn’t. Instead that figment just snapped. 

There were still a few more Cheecaks left, and then, one of them looked at Lumoof as if it had gained a few extra braincells. Lumoof looked back.

“Hello. Are you there?” Lumoof said.

The Cheecak just looked at Lumoof blankly.

Lumoof sighed. “Or do we have to snap a few more of your fragmented souls to get your attention?”

At that moment, that single Cheecak experienced a convulsion, as if it was in shock. Lumoof felt it, and I did too. I felt a growing presence within that Cheecak, gathering, and then the Cheecak had a third eye appear in between it’s existing two, that glowed green.

“You’ve managed to summon us-”

[Domain has blocked attempted inspect]

There was a moment of silence, before the giant Cheecak spoke once more. “Who are we speaking to?”

Lumoof smiled, at least our attempts to talk to a dull lizard did actually awaken the actual puppeteer behind it all. “I am Lumoof, avatar of Aeon. We are outworlders, not from this world of yours.”

It was a long silence, before the Cheecak spoke once more. “From the divine-touched worlds?”

“I do not know what that means.”

Another long pause, and once more our domain blocked a few more spells. “Strange. It’s been so long since we had a visitor from the stars.” 

I noticed the word, we. Is this another one of those hive minds, like Lillies? I wondered they’ll be friendly, but then again, it matters little. From what I’ve seen so far, their combat abilities were not fantastic. Potential is there, but I believe there are  a dime a dozen other similar worlds out there. 

Lumoof sensed it, and understood what we wanted. “Greetings, then who are we speaking to?”

“We are the Great Beast Spirits, and collectively, we are referred to as the Bitu. Why have you called us outworlder?”

“Where are the divine touched worlds?” If there is nothing here, might as well ask for directions. “We wish to reach and speak to the gods for their aid in our battle against the great demons.”

There was a long, long silence as the Cheecak’s third eye continued to stare. Lumoof was way too used to talking to domain-tier individuals that he was absolutely unbothered. 

“The devourers.” Bitu answered. “They still live?”

“They are everywhere.” Lumoof answered. “Except here, somehow.”

“The last we’ve seen them was- I cannot remember how many solar cycles ago.”

“Perhaps your world somehow drifted to safety. Away from their reach.” Lumoof just speculated. 

“That would be sensible. But we do not know where the divine-touched worlds are. The last of the divine’s messengers came during the age of the devourers, and vanished with them.”

Lumoof nodded. “If that is the truth, then we shall be on our way. Our war is not over.”

“And it seems, it is not over for us too.”