CHAPTER 34: ANOMALY

Calen stared at Lydia.

"...Is there a reason why?"

"Sure there is, the fucker was infected by Blight, and I don’t want to have a Withered on my hands."

He looked at the wooden auditorium.

"Should we move him somewhere else then? Those seats are already pretty banged up, but I doubt you want to completely destroy this room."

Vinifer made an upwards motion with his hand, and a giant green tendril grasped the dead elder to move him into the empty area.

The action combined with the total lack of giant vegetation - despite the fact that a fight between multiple druids just taken place - made Calen question something.

"If all of you can control plants, how come you don’t use that power during combat?" He asked, as he started to destroy the body of the former Elder.

"We do sometimes, but our recent match ups weren’t all that great." Lydia shrugged.

"How so?"

"Well, when we were fighting the Prowler I could only rely on the source oasis to use my power, and that thing has a very limited energy supply - it’s better to use it for utility, especially when you have the strength to fight on your own."

Vinifer nodded.

"And today we actually couldn’t use our abilities even if we wanted. Generally the power of nature is almost never used in fights between druids - unless one side is much more powerful than the other, you can’t tell whom the nature will listen to at any given moment, which makes such attacks unreliable."

"Interesting. Anyway, I think I’m done."

Calen released the flame, revealing a small pile of ash. He was about to look away when he noticed something shining inside the gray dust.

He bent down, and retrieved the small object.

"A key?"

It was indeed, a key - a tiny and ornate one, made of bronze.

"I thought you searched his body?" Lydia threw an accusatory look at Baor.

"I did - this thing wasn’t in his clothes..." The large druid crossed his arms with a contemplative expression.

Calen handed the key to Lydia.

"You guys probably know better what it could open."

The new Archdruid stared at the small piece of metal and sighed.

"Honestly I have no idea where to even start looking."

Baor put an arm around her shoulders.

"That’s what the prisoners are for, I bet you at least one of them knows what this thing is for."

Lydia shook her head slowly.

"The interrogation can wait until tomorrow, for now I think we should activate the new addition to the barrier, and check if there are any issues."

Vinifer looked a bit confused.

"New... addition?"

"Right, you didn’t know the entire plan."

Lydia explained their plan with the altar to Vinifer, while Calen jumped in any time she didn’t quite understand the technicalities.

After the story ended, the former Archdruid rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"It’s a very good idea, it makes us less reliant on Calen than simply recharging the great tree."

"Well, the flame will go out if I die, so technically you could be getting a much worse deal if I kick the bucket too soon."

Baor laughed.

"You’re supposed to end this shit show kid, if you die, we’re doomed anyway."

The Elder meant it as a joke, but the sentence deeply unsettled Calen in a way he couldn’t quite understand.

He didn’t get too much time to ponder the feeling, as a loud slap brought him back to reality.

"Ouch!" Baor massaged the back of his head. "What was that for!?"

"For running your mouth." Lydia addressed the whole room: "Let’s go to the chapel, the sooner we’re done with this, the sooner the great tree can recuperate."

***

When they reached the stone altar, Alara was already there, double checking all the enchantments.

"Everything in order?" Lydia asked.

"Should be, unless there’s something wrong with the altar inscription itself."

"Alright then, no time to waste - Calen, do the honors."

He stepped forward, and flicked a tiny spark towards the altar filled with holy oil.

Within a second a raging fire filled the stone bowl, fully illuminating the dark chapel. The runes along the altar lit up, and the glow traveled further outside the building, following the trail of runes to the main barrier.

"Let’s go to the wall to see if it worked." Lydia said.

When they arrived at the palisade, the effects were obvious - the once nigh invisible barrier had a golden tint, and was expanding, albeit very slowly.

"It will stop growing in a couple days." Isara said.

"It should cover enough forest to keep the great tree from deteriorating any further." Vinifer confirmed.

"What now?" Calen asked.

"Now we rest, it was a crazy week." Lydia smiled.

***

Calen found himself floating in the starry void once more, but the atmosphere around him was somewhat different.

"Hello."

A melodic voice welcomed him - the sound was layered, as if hundreds of people spoke in unison.

’um, hi?’ he thought.

"You’re different."

A statue of a man entered his field of vision, it was made of liquid gold, and had no distinguishable features, just like the guardians.

’is that good or bad?’

"I do not know, but weren’t supposed to exist, not like this."

Calen felt his stomach drop - which was strange, considering he didn’t have one at the moment.

The figure continued.

"This cycle is strange, too strange. Did THEY wake up?" The golden statue shook its head. "No, THEY were never the ones for subtlety, something else must have gone wrong."

Its head turned to him, and despite the fact that neither of them possessed a face, they locked eyes.

"Very well, I might as well use this opportunity."

The figure came closer, and Calen’s body suddenly materialised - before he could do anything the golden man put his left index finger on his forehead, and the world around him fell apart.

***

"Are you listening?" A beautiful girl with silver hair asked him

He sighed.

"Yes, of course"

She crossed her arms.

"What did I say then?"

"That you’re not certain about ascension, the same thing you’ve repeating every day for the past century."

She picked up a white flower and twirled it between her fingers.

"How can you be so certain about this? If we do this... everything will change."

"I’m more stumped that you’re so hesitant about this - it’s a great chance, only a select few ever get the chance to... perfect themselves."

"Are you saying I’m imperfect?" She pointed.

He bowed with a laugh.

"Of course not, my queen I’m merely talking about this lowly servant."

She swatted his head playefully

"Oh shush you!"

He straightened and smiled at her more sincerely.

"You’re wrong about one thing though."

"Am I?"

"Not everything will change." He came closer to her, and wrapped his hands around her waist.

She smiled.

"I suppose not."

They came closer and their lips met.

***

Calen woke up and laid completely still for a moment.

He remembered the... dream? memory? He also knew that there was something before that, but he couldn’t recall the details.

The scene he observed was extremely vivid, yet completely blurred at the same time - he could almost picture the faces, and say the names of the people in the dream, but something was blocking him from actually remembering them.

If it was truly a memory, whose was it?

It wasn’t his that’s for sure, he remembered his childhood far too well to be secretly hundreds of years old.

...well he was hundreds of years old from a chronological standpoint, but that’s beside the point.

For some reason he felt like he should keep that dream to himself, but maybe that’s precisely why he should share it with others.

He wasn’t sure yet, but he felt it wouldn’t fade from his memory on its own, so he had time to decide.

The first part of the dream was more mysterious, the feeling was similar to the one when he met the Guardians, but he was certain it wasn’t them this time. the presence that imprinted itself on his mind was... heavier, more powerful.

Calen shook his head, it wasn’t a time to ponder such questions - the interrogation will start with half an hour, so he had to get ready.

***

The Elders and the party were sat together on the same side of the long table.

"There have been... developments we have to inform you about." Lydia started.

"Something serious?" Calen asked.

"That’s an understatement." Baor cringed.

Lydia threw him a dangerous look, but responded to Calen:

"We informed you that we apprehended Trent’s associates, three of them to be precise."

"Yeah, I remember - they were the members of his inner circle, right? They know all of his dirty secrets and plans."

"Yes, that’s what we were hoping to get out of them..."

"But?"

Lydia sighed.

"There’s no right way to say this I’m afraid: this night two of the detained druids commited suicide, while the third one is in critical state from attempting to do the same."