Rebirth of True Madness
Chapter 3: Chapter Three - Hidden and Hunted, Friends Found and Homes Gained.
Previous Chapter Next ChapterThe look of sheer horror I had on my face could be easily read by anyone, as I've had the gamers mind off and I've kept it off. My mother was so afraid, she seemed to just about pass out. Deck wasn't fairing any better. He was scared shitless. I could see it through the opening of the shield. Celestia had the whole area surrounded in a shield bubble. We aren't getting out of this.
(Quest: Found and Flee )
Objective: Run away from Celestia.
Reward = 500 exp.
Failure = Death.
'Yeah! Thanks Gamers abilities! I kinda fucking figured that!'
I see the vines attempting to fight her as she enters the shield. They get incinerated. My mother draws her sword and Deck prepares to fight and I can see bolts of electricity gathering around. After the smoke clears I can see celestia, dear god, I can see WHY she's nicknamed the Solar Tyrant! White coat sure, but a mane and tail of fucking FIRE! Jesus Christ slit pupils and iris's that are a fiery yellowish orange with dark reddish orange sclera! Jesus Christ and is that full plate armor with a helmet?! Holy fuck that is one AWESOME halberd though!
My mother and deck both scream at the same time. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM CHARA!" They're pissed. And want to fucking kill celestia for this.
The sun tyrant herself looks pissed, and replies in kind. "You have kept the bucking Nightmare Moon incarnate from me. Either move or die. This is why I chose to kill your race, bat. Your kind never chooses the side of good, although, your 'pet' here is going to die anyways, it has killed many of my guard, now..." The side of good?! The SIDE OF GOOD?! Alright, THAT'S IT! She's charging up her horn. Going to blast deck into oblivion. I prepare to attack using my kagune but before I can even try letting it loose a sharp pain occurs in my legs, neck, and back, then I start to cry, and it distracts The Tyrant momentarily. The Tyrant looks at me for a brief moment, but that's all the time my mother and deck needed. Deck discharged a powerful enough shock and psy-wave directly at her it must've shocked her system so damn bad it caused her to blackout. My mother quickly plunged the sword in her hand into the Tyrant's neck in a gap of the armor, but it stopped at the bone...
'Oh FUCK you CANNOT be SERIOUS! A fucking scp-096 alicorn? God damnit.... the bones are invincible, seemingly. But....Hm... there has to be some sort of magic nullifying metal in this world to kill her for good, if not, I can probably buy it from the chaos auction once I get my hands on it. Celestia needs to DIE!
I see that deck has went to work on covering the area around celestia with... oh shit is he MAKING anomalies? Jesus Christ! Alpha Poltergeist is what I'm calling him! My mother is quickly grabbing her pack and any sort of food we've gathered around here while Deck grabs my exosuit and the rest of the gear that came with us. My mother grabs me and we book it out of the cave and start running across the heavily mutated forest. I can see anomalies all over the damn place and deck is guiding us every which way. We just keep fucking running and don't damn well stop. Eventually, we make our way to the equestria border without realizing it and see some guards.
Deck just blasts them with bolts of lightning strong enough to knock them out and we keep running. Little did we know that we were headed into griffon territory, we went at least 7 miles into a very heavily thick and tall forest with roughly 140 foot tall trees when we finally stopped running. We probably traveled about 15 kilometers total. Yeah, we ran, far, and fast. Some parts of it were affected by the zone coming here. Seemingly it has a radius of about 40-60 kilometers. The center is BOUND to have SOMETHING good. We manage to find an old log cabin in the center of a large clearing. It is VERY deep in the woods. Probably a Survivalist or Hunting Cabin. Which would mean, either supplies, or weapons, or both.
My mother looks at Deck. "Watch my child, I will check out the Cabin, you're obviously better equipped and have more power than I do, but I'm much faster than you are. Be ready to attack if anything hostile comes out." Deck nods and my mother sets me down and flies over to the cabin and peaks in the window. She doesn't see anyone inside and flies over to the door and tries to open it, when she finds it's locked she bucks it down. She looks in and gives the all clear. I see stuff, a lot of good stuff, mainly tanning racks, an old type of workbench with two different types of vice's on it. I see a metal working / engineer vice and a wood working vice. Along with a few saws, some hammers, and a lot of old, basic, tools. Jackpot. A survivalist or hunters Cabin. By and far.
"Excuse me, Deck? Could you please watch my child while I loot this place?" Deck looks at my mother like she's nuts.
"Are you shitting me?! You CANNOT be serious! This place has a full working workbench and tanning racks along with.. lets see here.He begins to look through the cupboards of the kitchen area. " Bingo, canning / pickling salt, and a lot of other things meant for tanning hide or canning / pickling food or keeping it good for a while, and a lot of wood carving knives, hunting knives and tools, traps, and more. A wood worker and a trapper / hunter. Good money. We're not abandoning this good of a find. If some jackass wants to come and take it back, so be it! We need this shit probably a hell of a lot more than they do, considering how your kid is fucking wanted by celestia just for being what she is!" He has a point, though, he doesn't tend to think shit fully through, as if we kill whoever lives here, that'll just be another reason for celestia to come after us! Me especially!
I look at deck and start thinking about how long I think it'll take before I'm able to communicate while my mother is arguing with him. But I do NOT want to attempt something like a fucking telepathy spell yet, as I have no doubt that if cast wrong it might fry his brain! Hm... though... I gotta practice magic in some way, that'll be critical to fighting well in this world. Lets see... Levitation is used a lot by my mother and usually without any effort at all. So it stands to reason that Levitation is somewhat easy. Lets try it then...
I see a small piece of wood sitting outside of the cabin. So, I simply in-vision a hand opening up and grabbing it surprise surprise, my horn lights up, but rather than holding up the stick with magic directly, it actually created a hand that grabs the stick and picks it up, holding it about a foot and a half off the ground. 'Um... WHAT?! Ok, I'm pretty sure that that isn't levitation!
(New skill acquired! Magic Manipulation! This skill allows you to shape your magic into objects, manipulate the magic of already made objects, or even infuse your magic into objects to create enchantments and far more! Side note: Objects made this way are perfect conductors of magical energies. Higher levels may allow more capabilities at a lower cost to use. ) 'Holy shit... Magic Manipulation? There are two ways that can be taken, either as a way to USE magic and shape it, or a way to manipulate and change the magic of objects that already exist. Fuck... Betty Noire much?! Seriously! Might dress up as her for the hell of it some time! But can be used as a way to ENCHANT things as well? Hell yeah! Not trying to be a picky bitch, but I need to focus on getting levitation, as that, while it won't be AS useful, it'll be insanely helpful for blending in.'
I attempt to use levitation again, this time, attempting to coat the stick in a layer of magic strong enough to allow me to lift it and swing it around. I got it right that time, it worked. I'm levitating the stick in a field. 'AWESOME! 2nd try! Hell yeah!'
My mother wasn't around to see it as she retreated back into the cabin to continue looting it. But deck was. He watched with fascination at what was going on as I twirled the stick in the levitation field I had it in.
So of which my mother continues ransacking the cabin for anything useful we can carry. That's when I hear something and my ears pick up. It sounded like.... OH SHIT!
An arrow quickly flies past deck as he barely dodges it and spins to see the griffon that fired at him, staring daggers at him. The griffon had deep grey head and neck feathers with green tips and the part of their body is a deep maroon almost brown. Their wings were partially the maroon color but the feathers turned from maroon to deep grey to ending with the green tips like on the head and neck feathers. And this griffon was pretty damn big! 6ft 7 inches roughly!
"Alright ya beastie, that was a warning shot, step away from the chick or I'll make sure ya ain't gonna be breathin' fer much longer." This isn't good.
"Hold on a second! You think I'd hurt this kid?! I get you'd think I'm an animal but I'd NEVER hurt a damn child ya bird for brains!" 'Oh my GOD deck! If I could I would SCREAM at you AND SLAP you right now! NEVER FUCKING CALL A GRIFFON A BIRD FOR BRAINS!' Word of advice kiddo's! Never call a griffon bird for brains! That's considered a racial insult, AND an insult at their intellect and telling them they're nothing but birds that just squawk, eat, make kids, and shit.
It's obvious by the look on the griffons face that we aren't getting out of this...
My mother comes rushing out of the cabin and sees the griffon, and look of shock and rage washes over features. "Galleon?! YOU"LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY FRIENDS YOU BASTARD!" She unsheathes her sword and flies straight the griffon. Here we go!
( Quest - Fight or Flight. )
Objective - Talk down, knock out, incapacitate, or kill the griffon.
Reward = Bow, 30 arrows, Quiver, Deer Meat, ???, ???, ???, 500 bits.
Failure = Death / enslavement / loss of family/friend.
This is a quest with a variable reward.
My mother is going INSANE on the griffon but as soon as she tried to land the first blow the griffon drew a huge knife, near a machete and started parrying / deflecting the blows. The griffon launches itself into the air and attempts to draw his bow back to fire an arrow at my mother, big mistake as he forgot about deck. *ZAP* Dominated ya bird brained bastard!
After getting shocked with enough volts to knock him out, the griffon falls flat out of the sky, smelling rather cooked. Ooohhh…. that smells good. Chicken....
Deck is looking at me and can see my mouth slightly watering, knowing EXACLTY what I'm thinking. My mother finishes sifting through what the griffon had on them and is currently looking at a note. Wonder what... OH SHIT! That's one hell of an angry glare! "THAT TYRANT! SHE HAS THE GRIFFON'S HUNTING US DOWN AS WELL?!"
Oh FUUUCK ME! This isn't good. She has the Griffon's on her side? SHIIIT! If ALL of them are as big as that fucker this'll be a problem! That's it, you know what? If she has the GRIFFONS on her side. Then either THEY are tyrants as well, or they're FORCED to be on her side. Either way. If they attack us, we'll fight back.
Quest: Extremitas ex cunctus tyrannus!
Objective = Survive and stay hidden until you're strong enough to bring down the Solar, Griffon, Minotaurian, Crystal, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, Tyrants.
Reward(s) = 500000 EXP. Skill - Ultima. Solaris Great Hammer. Bogi ór inn vindr. Ancient Minotaurian Ceremonial Axe. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ???. ( I'll just stop right there, it goes on for a long time )
Failure = Death of everything on the planet.
Partial Failure = Death of thousands of lives.
This is a quest with variable rewards.
'Oh, well fuck.... least now I know the Griffon, Minotaur... Crystal? Wait a minute, is there a KINGDOM all about CRYSTALS?! I bet I'll find some REALLY good shit there. But least now I know that equestria, the griffon and minotaur nations, and that crystal kingdom have tyrants at the throne. Wonder what the other ones are though? Eh. Though... Ultima? Is that the final fantasy Ultima? As in, the biggest middle finger spell? We'll see.' After seeing my mother drop a wanted poster of me and her, she quickly finishes looting the cabin as she does NOT want to stick around here. Deck advises against it, saying that it is currently far, FAR too dangerous to be traveling these woods. Or even above them.
While deck's talking about how dangerous it is, I remember to quickly turn in the quests and get the rewards. Got a Bow, 30 arrows and quiver for said arrows, deer meat, and a rather large pile of bits and the fuckers machete. Nice. I switch it to auto turn in so I don't have to worry about it.
The look on my mothers face says it all about what deck said, disbelief"Why would it be dangerous to fly here? It's a CLEAR SKY! I don't see a single raincloud for miles! What are you even talking abou…. what are those things?" Wait, what in the hell are they talking abou...t?
As I look upward I see what the hell has deck so far against it. The sky above the trees is FILLED with Gravitational anomalies. There are VERY few anomalies worse than those things, and even then, those are situational if they ARE worse. Such as the Burner Anomaly in an area of pure metal. The damn place would become so fucking hot you'll cook like a turkey in an oven even if you have the best suit for surviving anomalies, or any sort of. Probably either Whirligig or a Vortex anomalies in the sky.
Looking towards the south and to the east / south-east. The area we came in from while running from the Solar Tyrant, and I see a few anomalies. Not very many, we didn't even see them as we entered the clearing. I then look at every direct and find we're surrounded by anomalies. I see a lot of the trees have moss or is that burnt fuzz anomalies hanging off of them? 'Wait a minute, if this place is surrounded by anomalies, this'll be an artifact hot spot! If artifacts are like magic, or radiation then we could EASILY get a whole BUNCH of artifacts due to all of these anomal...ies? What in the ever loving fuck is THAT one?!'
I see an area near me opening up like a spiral of wood opening upwards with a beautiful greenish blue hue of light accompanying it. My mother rushes up and grabs me and pulls me back towards the cabin. I swivel my head noticing it's happening on the north, east, south, and western side of the clearing, and see the spirals from all 4 anomalies begin to go to the one in the order I placed in a spiral fashion upward, growing trees and wood from the ground skipping one direction over. North connected to south by going past the east. East connected to west by going past the south. South Connected to north by going past the west. West connected east by going past the north. Forming a complete ring with a spiral going up at the edges of the clearing about 140 feet up, about 10-20 feet higher than the trees around us with some branching off to other directions than the one it mainly connected to.
Then, we hear it.
A rumbling sound. Something starts to appear from the trees, a feminine humanoid figure, branches and trees with leaves for hair and coating it's arms, legs, chest, and neck, elven ears, turquoise skin, and parts of it are glowing a dark green, including it's eyes. 'Oh crap... a Dryad. This isn't good. The dryad floats towards us and stops at a distance of about 20 feet, and appears to study us. I can feel it's gaze when it sets it on upon me. Dear god I feel as if I'm in front of a judge about to be sentenced to death!
The dryad's eyes widen after studying me for a second, then studies my mother with a different gaze but appears to find it... disappointing?
The Dryad then passes it's gaze over Deck, and it speaks "What is a storm keeper youngling doing here in MY forest while a type of magic is mutating this land and creating these unknown anomalous things? An Alpha youngling at that, with these two interesting beings, one a mother, the other, an interesting youngling that caused me to come straight here due to the sheer anguish, anger, and sadness, present within her?" 'Wait a minute... I basically was a beacon for her to come here?! AND SHE FELT MY EMOTIONS?! CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!
When the Dryad mentioned storm keeper youngling, deck got a confused but also intrigued look, I think. But when the dryad mentioned the emotions I was feeling, my mother looked to me in shock and a 'I'll find out later' look then looked back to the dryad with a stern glare. " My child and I are on the run from the Solar Tyrant. The leader of equestria that is attempting genocide of the entire thestral race. My... late husband and I managed to avoid her wrath due to me being pregnant and got relocated to a town a ways south east of here. When I gave birth to my child we knew the Tyrant would believe her to be a nightmare incarnate and once she found out attempted to have us captured or executed, she sent guards after us, but we flew into the woods while my husband held them off them until we came upon deck here-" she points a finger towards deck "Who had managed to save us from the guards and gave us a place to rest, shortly afterward, we saw my husband limping towards us, he was too hurt to be able to be saved even though I tried, he died after giving a final hug to our child, Chara. We buried him, and grieved until 9 days later. When the Solar Tyrant found us, and arrived to kill us face to face. Deck managed to knock her unconscious using a large amount of lightning and I drove a sword into her neck, inspite that I knew it wouldn't kill her, and we ran, and flew, for hours, until we arrived here, then I broke into the cabin, the griffon there-" she points towards the griffon "Attacked us, deck killed him, and then this happened, and you're here."
The Dryad seems to look at us, thoughtfully, but I can feel a slight shift in the area around us, it's gotten more aggressive, the Dryad is angry. "Your story rings true, I am... sorry, for your loss. The Ruler of The Sun should be far more kind, if what the stories say are correct, but here is the proof it is not, I will need to consult the elder council about this, however..." The Dryad seems to think on it for a moment. "The grove here has been exposed to the mutating magical energies, but it still speaks to me with clarity, unlike the others that have been exposed to it. It wishes to help you as it can feel your pain. It will aid you, whether I say so, or not. I will be watching. As will the rest of us. Attempt to break the laws of nature. And we will break you. The laws are simple: Take what you need, other wise, leave it be. Do not hunt for sport. Do not attempt to destroy the forest. Cutting down trees is fine, as you can assume by the log cabin, but taking more than you need is, again, against the laws of nature. Do not attempt to interfere with nature's duties, if a forest must be mostly destroyed by nature, so be it. This... grove.. says it will protect you 3, and some of the surrounding woods from any fires, so it will always remain. This... complicates things. Perhaps some of the laws shall not apply to you, but I am unsure of this. Once the council gives it's decision on this matter, we shall see what shall become of it." I watch as the Dryad floats away, I hear her grumble to herself "I hope the that damned addict doesn't cause an issue again.." before she disappears and the forest returns to its less aggressive state.
My mother seems to hear it as well but deck doesn't. She looks at the area surrounding us and notices how the ring that formed above us with a translucent almost transparent dome of what appears to be turquoise tinted glass appearing in the area on the inside of the ring. Then the log cabin was turned from a cabin, into something much more.
The stuff inside that wasn't apart of the log cabin was taken by what appears to be a giant wooden mimic and held inside of it and brought out. Then the house began to change the whole thing deconstructed itself and at first became flat grass, then, a large hole started to form, we all backed up and watched as the hole grew in size until it was around 80-90 feet in diameter and roughly 80 feet deep. Then a tree started to grow from the hole, slowly growing a spiral staircase along the walls made from branches with flat pieces in the middle of the spiral staircase every so often for floors and it grew stone and wood along the walls and it made rooms, and more all along the inside of the hole in the dirt, wood, and stone. In the center of the hole about 5 feet in diameter a pure glowing tealish green circle appeared with interesting symbols that... dear lord that's the summoning circle of Azura..
Did the grove take stuff from my memories?! Then, it shot a beam of light straight up until it was just about 10 feet away from the glass above before turning into a sphere at the end then said sphere creates multiple spherical lights and some flow down into the hole at certain points, lighting the way, the rest start spinning in a circle, seemingly waiting for what comes next.
Once the tree in the hole grew outside of it, it suddenly stopped, and a giant 25-30 feet wide by 35-45 feet tall archway made out of stone, wood, and dirt with a natural wood gate grew at the 100 meter mark from the center of the clearing with a large fence of pure stone about 30 feet tall coming out of the ground going completely around a 100 meter radius from the center of the clearing So the whole area we have is 100 meters from the center in every direction.
Then the tree began to grow again and the house itself began to form. The whole thing starts out as about 80-90 feet wide and roots and vines grow out in a 50 meter radius in all directions, creating pathways, small ponds and streams on the side of said pathways with bioluminescent plants near them and some of the many spheres of light from above flow down and are encased in a spiral of roots holding them in place creating a 'street light' type of thing, and more. Nearly to where we are standing, then multiple smaller trees start to appear all over the 100 meter radius and then the trunk of the tree begins to grow further, creating large 13 or so foot wide roots with many smaller ones following it on the side with doors and a window to either act as extra homes or storage or as extra entrances. The main tree grows up, and up, with multiple large branches far wider than the roots around it at around growing at the 50 foot mark and continues to do so upwards until the 100ft mark. Then the whole tree starts spreading larger branches outward in every direction and some of them spiraling inward creating a flat area that is I'm assuming is lead to by stairs on the inside of the tree. Then the spiraled wood on the inside of the tree grows a large sphere that's about 10 feet off of the bottom of the flat area at the top of the tree and is lead to via the trees that have grown stairs and molded to it and only some branches go higher than that, to cover above it, stopping at the closest 10 feet before the glass ceiling.
Then the lower part, where we would enter really begins to gain some shape. A door appears and while I can't make out the details at this distance, it is a double door. I see windows, extra rooms being made from branches extending and having small areas be put on them with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floor patio, I even see gardens appear on the sides. Then in the middle, above the double door, I see a marking, a very specific marking. The marking of Skyrim. Of the dragonborn.
After that. There it is, finally done. The house we'll be using for a long damn time. It. Is. AWESOME!
I wonder how my.... *THUMP* OW! Fuck my mother fainted. I look over at Deck and so has he. Damn. Time to explore then! I use magic Manipulation to create a flat 2 foot wide flat surface and sit on it. Then use it to make myself hover and bob and weave through the trees getting close to the new home going at a brisk rate of about 15-20 miles per hour. I eventually got there and then just stopped short of the door and was on the 1st floor patio.
'Damn I would love a chair right now.' then surprisingly, the area around here grows a chair for me. 'Why thank you! Kinda weird that you can read my mind AND have read my memories, though, that'd explain your want to help me. Should I wait to tell my mother about well... me?' I saw a part of the house 1st floor patio shifting.
It eventually formed a ponies face of wood and had leaves for hair with that glass esque stuff for eyes. Sheesh that's kinda creepy "Yes, wait until later, Ma'am, and I'm sorry for being disturbing. I am also sorry for reading your mind and memories, however, I am dedicated to serving you and your family and friends, and anyone who is good and kind and possibly has similar views to yours, as I for one find genocide appalling and wish that Tyrant dies quite horribly, if you can excuse me for my language. I do admit some of your likes and views I do find odd, but I understand you like them and are that way none the less. However, it is nice to have someone who could easily understand how much wisdom you can obtain, and how little some obtain as they age. However, I suppose I will tell your mother that you take after the female pro-nouns so she can address you correctly from now on. As I can rather easily say that I can feel your complete biology and that you're more feminine than masculine. Also, thank you very much for giving me the words I now have in my vocabulary and the wisdom you have. As I was lacking many and much. If you wish, I can take Mr.Deck and Ms. Rhythm into their own rooms and explain to them that they fell unconscious and give a convincing explanation to how I am able to talk as I do. Is that acceptable?
I'm standing there practically unable to process this. 'I literally have a giant butler that can read my mind and memories and is dedicated to being my butler and that of anyone who is my friends, family, or a good person all around.... sheesh, talk about a whole lot happening in one day. Well, first things first, I kinda want to know your name. Also, your voice is sorta hard to place if it's male or female. '
The head's jaw drops and a hand of wood manifests, held up by some green light, and smacks the face of the head. Before disappearing. "My apologies! I completely forgot to introduce myself! Usually, I am called 'Whirlwind woods' due to the whirlwinds / tornado's that used to occur here a long time ago. However, I find this name... rather unappealing. I believe you could help me with figuring out a good name, couldn't you? I'm undecided between either Walter or Yoshimura for a masculine name, or Integra or Caroline for a Feminine name. As while one was a butler and admittedly I do NOT like it that he was a traitor, but he is a rather interesting fellow, the other had interesting advice and views about ghouls and humans and life in general. For the masculine names. While Integra is a name I just like the sound of inspite it was from that 'helling' 'anime', same with Caroline." I just can't help but stare with my jaw hanging slightly open.
'Ya can't be serious right now, can ya? If you're going with Walter I'm gonna need to make you those wires or you'll have to substitute them, if you're going Yoshimura then you'll need to be able to replicate his kagune and kakuja to an extent. Inspite that, I'd really say that a name that is the same as those two wouldn't work that well unless you had the weapons and possible appearance to boot. Though, do you take after feminine or masculine or non binary pronouns? As if you take after non binary, that could open up a few more names that I can think of. But if you are female, it wouldn't really work to have the first two. Though, I'd say go for Walter if you're more masculine, and Caroline if you're more feminine. Also, yes, it is acceptable if you give them a convincing explanation, please do so.
The head seems to smile and I hear the voice shift as it spoke next. "Wonderful! Thank you Ma'am. I shall continue to help you for as long as I exist if you so deem it. I choose Caroline. Thank you." Looks like we got a Caroline people. She's got a nice British accent to.
'Well, if you're gonna do that, I still recommend getting Walter's wires, as those'll be useful, along with making yourself an actual body, rather than just appearing out of the ground or trees. If you can't do so, I will. Once of course I get the skills needed.' I'll help her out! I mean come on! She WANTS to help me kick Celestia's ass and thanks to me, has a pretty damn good view of right and wrong.
The head looks down trodden. "I can make a body yes, but it will not last for much longer than a month as it will not have the blessing of a Dryad. Should Spring healer, the Dryad you met earlier, return, then I could construct myself my own body that will last for a very long time. More than a few thousand years if what I know is right. But it could last an eternity should one of the elders bless it." So a body that'll last for a few thousand years or a literal eternity should it be blessed by the elders? Damn. Talk about impressive. Still, I bet it'll take a while for spring to get back here...
Speak of the devil and they will come, spring, and a few elderly and not so elderly looking Dryads, are coming down the main strip of path from the gate to here. I can see them looking around and talking to each other. I look to the head to see it missing. I then feel an odd feeling, an essential 'brush' against my mind. I take hold of it, and feel something connect to me. "This is not good. The Entire Elder Council is here, all 13 of them. If they're here it means one of two things. Either they're going to give me all of their blessings, turning me into a True Dryad myself, instead of the Born Dryad's like a few of them are, which will make me ageless as you call it, quick piece of information here Ma'am, there are four types of Dryad's the being's that train into becoming a Dryad, which have the shortest life span of just about double their normal, then the Born Dryad's, which are the children of the True Dryads. Which are, of course, made through sex. The True Dryad's are made by what is called a 'Naturally Occurring Dryad' or at least, that is the translation of the ancient text with which depicted the Naturally Occurring Dryad said, which, the N.O Dryad was the first Dryad to exist which came to be over 10000 years ago and no one knows how they came to be, and the other method of a True Dryad occurring is by having forests or woods that are smart enough and conscious enough be blessed by at least 7 True Dryads, 12 Born Dryad's, or a mix of the two, as and as I said they're here to either turn me into a True Dryad, or they're here to destroy me and whoever or whatever created me. Which can, by all technicality, include you. Lets hope that isn't the case, shall we?" I reply with a simple nod and an *Mhm* and see the Dryad's take notice of me.
The not so elder ones and two of the 3 elder ones freeze and stare at me in shock which causes the rest of the group to react in confusion but also alarm. Wait a sec... 'Hey, Caroline, can the oldest ones of the bunch read my mind and memories like you did?' simple question. But when she replied with a 'yes' that got me scared. Then the two older Dryads and a few of the younger looking ones closed the distance a lot quicker.
Each of them had the same basic coloration, the only real difference was height, hair length, breast size for females, and eye color. One of the younger looking Dryads, seemingly the leader of the group said something that bothered me. "It seems to me that this is the one who we should be talking to, as while she can't talk physically yet, I can sense her age is far beyond that of her current body. Reincarnation, I now see it is possible. This is quite a sight if I say so myself. Tell me, are you the one responsible for the grove becoming like this?" Uh oh wow, this is unexpected.
Not only able to hear my own thoughts they can sense by age just by a glance? Sheesh. Well, might as well reply honestly.
'Not... entirely. I mean, supposedly, if what that Dryad over there-' I point at Spring healer -' said is correct, then the grove wanted to help me. But that would be more or less indirect, as the entire grove gained complete control of itself due to... something I know of. Not that I have control of, mind you. It isn't a part of me. However, you know of Reincarnation. Thus, meaning, you'll understand that the Multiverse Theory, if you've heard of it, is true.' That caused all of their jaws to drop. I heard small mutterings of 'the multiverse theory is true?!' before the head one collected themselves and quickly got the rest back into the world of the living.
"Yes, however, if you DO know where this mutating magic came from, it would be invaluable to us. This grove, without the help of a number of Dryads, ascended to an 'True Dryad Grove'. Which means, that whatever the mutating magic is doing, it is causing an immensely powerful reaction with nature. That could, potentially, throw it out of balance if it spreads too far. Now that may not seem so bad to some, as wouldn't nature attempting to take control help with resources? Yes and no, the issue, however, is if it should get TOO unbalanced, it could cause the death of the planet, as it would slowly affect the whole world." I kinda figured that, as without the C-conscious, the zone kept getting bigger every 10 years. As every 10 years, it grew an extra Kilometer in all directions. Take this planets length in kilometers, divide it by two, and that's the number of years before it covers most of if not all of the planet. So being able to contain it, but NOT destroy it, would prove to be a good move.
I can see the Dryad's smiling at me. 'Ya read my thoughts didn't ya? Well, if you read my memories, you'd know what I was talking about. Though, as I "'said'" it would be better if it was contained and held, but not destroyed. By the way, have you seen any blow-out's yet?' That got them to nod and confirm that they did read my mind and memories and they stated that they had seen two blow-outs and had stopped both. As it would've killed hundreds of innocent people. But they knew my story, and who I truly am.
'I will say it was a good thing you stopped those blow-out's, they're insanely dangerous and anything that isn't either heavily mutated to the point of being immune to radiation or is capable of resisting it somehow is pretty much screwed if they get hit by that wave. But of which, you know WHO and WHAT I am now. Of which, you know how I became this way. What is your decision? As the Grove, now named Caroline, is afraid that you're here to destroy it and anyone involved in it's creation.' Gonna address that RIGHT now as I am not dealing with having Caroline scared for life.
That got an odd look out of the Dryad's that quickly approached me, and two of them face palmed. "While yes, we HAVE destroyed corrupted woods in the past, there is a difference between Corruption, Mutation, Evolution, and Adaptation. Corrupted woods and area's are destroyed because they're tainted by such foul magic that causes all of the surrounding creatures and area to be Mutated into Horrid, wicked creatures that kill for sport and destroy anything and everything that is not one of them. Mutation of a forest means it was mutated by magical or non magical means, possibly good or bad. Perhaps by a type of disease that changed all of the tree's coloration from brown, to orange, for an example. Evolution is caused over a period of time, as you know. Adaptation in this case is a mix of both Mutation and Evolution that occurs over a very short time period. This tends to be one of the most volatile occurrences. But as we all can see, the grove has adapted for the better. Although, it is rather odd you can hear it. Mostly only those who are specialized into nature and forest and such magic can. But there are times when some are able to if they do not possess such magic specialization. " Only those of whom who are specialized in nature magic can do that, huh? Lets see here.
'Hey Caroline? Mind showing them what you showed me and explained what happened?' I felt a type of mental nod and a disconnection, looks like she's outta my head for the moment. I re-focus on the dryad's, and tell them just to give Caroline a moment. To that they nod and begin to wait. In the time it took for the other Dryad's to get here. She was slowly making a body on the side of the house where no one could see it rather than just having her head pop out.
The Dryad's begin to talk about a few things, I don't really pay attention because I'm a little bit too curious about what look Caroline's going for. Then I hear her speaking a ways on the side of the tree. "I'm coming out, please don't hurt me..." she then walks around the she and my jaw drops. Take the Dungeon Defenders 2 Dryad and change it a bit and you get what I'm seeing. Green hair that is cut down to her chin and appears to be well kept and that that I'm sure is made of either leaves, twigs, or vines, as if that's actual hair then they won't need a dryad's blessing I bet with skin that is around the same color as the Dryad's non corrupt skin from Dungeon Defenders 2 if not a bit paler, around 5ft 11 inches and has yellow eyes that have a slight glow to them, has rather large breasts with a rather nice looking outfit made from some sort of material that looks like cloth that looks a LOT like a suit and tie that is green and brown in coloration. Female butler? Wouldn't that be a maid though? Oh no wait, different jobs and other such things. Still, I'd say that's quite a nice appearance.
The other Dryad's jaw's hit the fucking floor, LITERALLY! Ha! Cartoon physics much? I hear some of them mumble something"How...?" how what?
After about a whole minute of them just staring I can see Caroline is getting uncomfortable. One of them seems to 'sober up' and smacks a few of the others getting them back in gear. "Sorry, but we just cannot believe what we're seeing, you, after being exposed to the mutating energies, became what's known as an 'Ultimate Life Grove' which means, you're the first naturally occurring dryad to appear since the first one died 4589 years ago, when I was but 19 years old. This... is a flat out Miracle. You're as immortal as the Solar Sister of the Celestial Sisters and possibly as powerful if not more so if you're in a large forest. This place... is now sacred. Only those you allow to enter, and live here, may. As was the way with the last Naturally occurring Dryad. Your rules here, are law. We're sorry for Barging in without permission, we will leave now." Caroline has a look of utter disbelief on her face. The other Dryad's do a type of teleport before she can stop them as she wanted to talk to them. She just slumps down on the ground and seems to start to cry, thinking that her old friends abandoned her as she was good friends with some of the Dryad's.
I move to go hug her but I'm grabbed by vines and held down. I manage to crane my neck and see Spring with an furious look on her face. "Great! Just great! I kept up the Façade of being the damn mysterious and kind but strict Dryad for those idiots and those 3 with you because if I had managed to get them to leave I KNOW I could've taken that damn power for myself and have ruled the Dryad's! But now YOU have it and I'll never get it! I'LL FUCKING TAKE MY POWER AFTER I KILL YOU AND THIS GROVE BUT ONLY AFTER MAKING YOU WATCH THOSE 3 SLOWLY SUFFER AND DIE!" Oh fuck... a manipulate AND dangerous Psychopath? FUCK ME! I tense up and feel the ghoul skin kick in. I look at my body and see that the vines are trying to grow thorns but it's just pushing them off of me or breaking them. But then as soon as it starts it stops dead in it's tracks.
I look and see multiple vines wrapped around Spring and see Caroline holding her up but what Caroline looks like now scares me. Take a mix of a Spriggan earth mother from skyrim and the corrupted Dryad from Dungeon Defenders 2 and a few changes here and there and you get what Caroline becomes when angry. "You threaten those I care about, manipulate others into liking you, and are just a power hungry idiot who only cares about herself? You're a text book definition of a Psychopath, Spring Healer. You're not only a threat to us, but to others as well. The world will be better off without people, like, you. Fall." at that, she clenches her vines around the Dryad, and kills them by snapping their spine instantly. Then the corpse falls down and Caroline returns to normal.
She looks at me, seems to think for a moment, and then takes the corpse of the Griffon from earlier and puts it into the ground, then takes the corpse of the dryad she just killed and puts it next to me. "I know you don't require it, but I recommend you still eat it due to your biology. It will help you grow and give you some strength. While what I did today will haunt me, I know I did it to defend myself, you, your mother, and your friend, and that it is kind of my job to defend you." Wow so I get a meal outta this? Niiice!
'Thanks, I owe you one for this, and you shouldn't let it haunt you, I doubt she was redeemable anyways. You did scan her mind, didn't you?- Caroline nods at that. '-Thus meaning, you knew she was a Psychopath and couldn't of been redeemed, so of which, she had to die. Sure if we held her prisoner we could've waited until I could've... ''fixed'' that, but that would wrong, least to me. This way, her soul gets reborn later on, wait... what the hell is that? I see something starting to come out of the Dryad, holy fuck it's her soul.
The soul flows out, but it looks a LOT different than spring did, and then it looks to me, then to Caroline, then smiles. "Thank you for freeing me, that body was corrupted by an evil seed that I happened upon 10 years ago. Because of you, I can continue to do what I do best. Heal. Hence my name. However, I wish to be reborn again. I will see where the reincarnation takes me. I will attempt to come by if I can. It may be a very long time before you see me again though. But thank you, Caroline. Please, do not feel sorry for killing me. It was needed to be done. However, Chara, yes I read your mind and got your name, do not eat that body. Nor use it for any sort of fertilizer or feed it to animals, it is filled with corrupt energies. Destroy it. I will wait until you have to go onto the next life." So we gotta destroy it, huh? Alright then!
'Hey Caroline? Lemme give this a shot. You know how I summoned that hand before, right? I have a little idea for this and if it works... well, lets just say the reference will be worth it.' Caroline looks to me and agrees to let me have a try or two at it, but is wondering what I'm referring to.
Here we go! I summon a large skull in the shape of a goat or dragon and put a large ball of magic in the area behind the jaws and then add an invisible cone to direct it.
New skill created! Gaster blasters!
This skill creates the famous Gaster Blasters from Undertale.
You can use mana manipulation instead of this skill, but it costs more to use but can possibly be used in more ways. The higher the level of this skill, the less it costs and the more customization you can add to it along with changing it's power output and adding extra effects such as Karmic Retribution, it is also easier to summon more and much more quickly the higher the level of this skill.
Current Level: 1
MP cost: 100
Fuck yeah! Gaster Blasters bitch! I aim it so it's aiming at the corpse and charge the shot. Then, it fires. I bet that corpse is completely atomized. After the smoke clears I see that, yeah, it's atomized, but holy fuck I dug a 4ft deep hole with just that blast ALONE! Gonna have to work on control.... 'Uh, woops? Sorry about that.' Spring, inspite being just a ghost right now, her jaw drops THROUGH the floor, while Caroline is just shaking her head and repairs the damage instantly.
Well... I guess spring is shocked beyond belief. "You have... a lot of damn power for being in a month and about 2 week old body. When we meet again I know you'll have at least quintupled in power. While that... does scare me, I wouldn't mind being friends with you. Possibly more when you're older if what I see in your mind and how I bet your body will grow is correct." she adds that last bit with a wink and disappears. Great, a future girlfriend, perfect... well, time to practice summoning Gaster blasters and hands and all kinds of other objects while using my magic and use the bow and arrows the griffon had.
Transition, a few hours later--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm just practicing firing blast from Gaster blasters and summoning a whole bunch of things ranging from swords, to bows and arrows, shields, and more with Caroline helping me practice by giving me targets to practice on and repairing any damage I do with her magic. Other than all that, I've also tested the bow that the griffon had, it is a pretty strong bow and the machete is somewhat sharp, but Caroline mentions that it is a very high quality of metal. Very high carbon Content within it. I manage to get my skills leveled up quite a lot, even observe due to caroline helping me play spot the difference and it kept getting more and more minute as time went on. Observe is a fucking PAIN to level up.
Magic manipulation - Level 12
Now you can use magic manipulation for a 30% lower mana cost no matter what it is so long as it can be reduced by 30% IE 10-3 = 7 and are able to create more complex things with magic manipulation.
Gaster Blaster - Level 18
You can now create and use more types of blasters, such as Rhino heads for charging and smashing, broken blasters for more mobility and lower cost at the cost of less power when using anything other than enhancements or defensive tricks for them and changing the types of attacks it uses from: Enhancing the horn of a Rhino head to do far more damage or boosting it's speed. A beam. A sword / spear / halberd / hammer / ect that shoots out the jaws and returns into the core of the blaster after attacking ( Can be used between 5-30 times before the blaster needs to be recharged depending on the weapon ) A large spread of 'shot', a large projectile, a very high volume of shots at a high speed, a shield / magic barrier, or a suicide bomb attack.
Observe - Level 9 You can now read the secrets, thoughts, ect of on level and slightly higher targets ( up to 10 levels higher ) and all lower level targets, any higher levels must be very good friends to allow you to do so.
Dear lord I bet there is gonna be some hit squads or some such that come after us. I know Caroline could easily deal with them but I don't want to be damn well sheltered, as I wanna do stuff myself!
New quest! - Hunting the Hunters
Kill or defeat any hit squads you encounter.
This mission can be turned in any time you kill or defeat a hit squad and you can hold onto it to receive more exp than if you turn them in one at a time. But you receive less gear this way.
You cannot auto turn in this mission.
This is a highly variable reward mission. What you receive depends on the factors of the fight and how much of their equipment you break. For example: If you disintegrate a target with a sword via a gaster blaster, or other means, you will not get that sword, where as, if you kill them with said sword, there is a 100% chance you WILL get said sword.
PERFECT! This is awesome.
Caroline stops for a moment after I fire one more arrow from the bow then looks to me"Alright, we have to stop for now, your mother is waking up, it's no good to have an explanation for her to believe when there is obvious proof to the contrary, is it?" No shit sherlock. So I quickly hide everything back in my inventory and just hold a small stick in a telekinetic field and just wait for my mother to come. After a few moments I hear frantic banging and bashing and sounds of stuff breaking. Something is rushing towards the door from the inside if my hearing is riii-.
The door swings open rather than being bucked down by my mother and she loses her balance and stumbles and falls flat on her face. Then she quickly gets up and her eyes widen as she sees the whole area. Unable to believe what she is beholding. Deck comes out shortly after in a much less frantic way. But that's when he spots Caroline who is fairly close to me. "You better step back from Chara. If you don't, I'll fucking fry you into ash." ah fuck, deck's pissed, that isn't good.
"Oh, don't worry about me harming the young one, it rather entertaining to watch her get into things. I've had to keep her out of the streams and ponds once or twice and she tends to keep to the darker areas and is quite good at staying hidden. From sight, that is. She's rather clever, if I say so myself. In-spite her age. If you're wondering, after I had finished making the home behind you, I put you two in there, and while you recovered from falling, I watched over the girl and I must say, other than her trying to get into the streams and ponds, she's rather well behaved. But I can sense a lot of sadness and aguish within her. This has taken a toll on her and it will take some time to heal. Though, if it makes you feel any better, those Dryad's, like that one you met earlier, won't be bothering you, although I must tell you, the one you spoke with, Spring Healer, was corrupted. She looked normal, but that was because the corruption hadn't affected her appearance. She attempted to kill the girl and you two thinking I wasn't present. Rather large mistake on her part. I want to do what I can to help you 3. After all, with what the Solar Sister has done to you, I'd say you deserve it and more. I'm assuming you can figure out that, yes, I am the grove that was here mere hours ago. Thanks to the mutating magic. I have become something rather extraordinary. But that's a topic for another time. If you would, I will serve as a sort of.. ah what was the term? 'Butler' for you all. More so this youth here. She's going to be quite a handful I assume. "
Deck and my mother just stare in disbelief, unable to comprehend WTF just happened. Eventually, as in, 5 minutes later. I poke my mother with the stick I'm holding in my telekinesis, she reboots and notices my horn glowing and the stick being held and she gasps in happiness and walks to me and picks me up then hugs me. Crying happy tears. "My... Daughter, can use magic. At this young of an age. I'm... so happy... She'll be a prodigy..." Finally called me her daughter! FINALLY! Jesus Christ that took a long time!
Well, then after her crying happy tears for around 15 minutes, she finally calms down enough to see that Caroline and Deck are talking. They seem to be getting along pretty well and it seems like... Yup, deck winked at me. Well, as much as he can with his current form. Probably will go about changing that. Least make him more humanoid. But that signals that he knows that Caroline's in on knowing about me. Afterward, my mother starts talking with both of them, deck relaying some of what he heard as he can't reveal me yet. Though, I can tell that my mother has a pretty good idea there is some stuff being hidden by that face of hers. But ah well.
Eventually, after a somewhat long, and tedious argument, they managed to reach a perfect conclusion, they'll just live together and Caroline can work as she wishes. So long as it isn't evil or harms them, any good or innocent people, or especially me. To which, Caroline's outfit changes to be a bit different, rather than a full on suit, tie, and pants and such, it's a suit top but a skirt with long socks and a type of boots for shoes. Kinda odd but interestingly enough fits her.
Then of which, we all start to get settled in, moving all the stuff that was from the cabin and that we brought into proper spots as Deck and my mother agreed to be shown all of the house tomorrow. As it was late, for us. And we'd of been through a lot today, and quite frankly, I have to agree. Too damn much crap has gone on today. So of which, all the stuff from the cabin is moved inside of the new home and is placed in the best possible places 'Thank you Caroline' and then furniture and other such things are grown / appear in the rooms and we all share a single bedroom. It's a VERY large bedroom with bunk beds lining the sides of the room and no windows. So it's completely dark when the door is closed unless the lights are on. I make sure to tell Caroline to be ready for some alterations to this room later on. As I have some idea's that'll turn this place from a Sacred, and stunning grove, into what would be one of the best places on the planet. But for now... rest...
Tomorrow, will be the true beginning of a long, and dangerous journey of adventure, action, death, training, love, and much, much more.
But as with all journeys, they all begin, with a single step.