Path of Dragons

A fire flickered merrily in the shallow pit Elijah had dug. It wasn’t strictly necessary, especially with his new Cloak of the Iron Bear protecting him from extreme temperatures. Yet, there was something undeniably comforting about a campfire, especially when there was a spit with a venison tenderloin roasting above it. Elijah watched as the juices dripped into the fire, sizzling upon impact.

If someone had asked him before Earth had experienced the touch of the World Tree, he would have said that becoming a guardian of nature would prohibit the consumption of meat. Back then, it would have just made sense. But part of being a Druid was understanding the circle of life, being a part of nature rather than apart from it. So, in that context, killing and eating other animals was perfectly in line with what Elijah had increasingly come to consider the purpose of his archetype.

Yet, just because he was a Druid, it didn’t mean he’d ceased being a human being, either. And with that came an entirely different agenda. So, while he was cognizant of his purpose as a Druid, its importance did not exceed his human desires. Chiefly, if it came down to a choice between protecting the natural world or finding his family, he knew precisely which choice he would make.

And that wasn’t going to change.

Perhaps that made him selfish. Or maybe it just made him human. Regardless, as complicated as his system of priorities was, Elijah was comfortable with it. One day, he might even write it down.

He leaned back against the stump where he’d made his camp and sighed. “People will consider me a great philosopher,” he said with a wry smile at the absurdity of such a thing. The notion that anyone would give credence to his tangled knot of guiding principles was both horrifying and anxiety-inducing. Elijah wasn’t smarter than most people. Nor was he some arbiter of justice. He was just a guy who’d taken a bit of power for himself and was trying to make his way through the world.

With that thought flitting through his mind, Elijah reached into his pack and retrieved the reward from the day before. The Miracle Seed was a curious thing. There was life in there, Elijah could feel, but it was amorphous in a way he couldn’t quite explain. He’d seen plenty of normal seeds since the world had ended. Felt them with One with Nature. And none of them had felt even close to what he experienced while examining the Miracle Seed.

But more than anything else, when Elijah looked at it, he felt roiling potential. It was constrained by the seed, but only barely. What would happen if he planted it? If he used Nature’s Bounty to accelerate its growth? It didn’t feel like the ancestral tree seed he’d planted in Druid’s Park, though it felt no less powerful for its differences. In fact, there was a part of him that wondered if it was an even stronger treasure.

Not that he could figure it out anytime soon. He didn’t intend to plant it anywhere but his island, and he wasn’t going to head back to his grove before he at least found Seattle. Doing so would be a huge waste of time.

So, Elijah replaced the seed and tilted his head toward the sky. His campsite was in a clearing, so he had a great view of the night sky, and as he always did when in the wilderness, he marveled at how expansive it seemed. In a way, it reminded him of night on the open ocean, but even that didn’t do it justice. When Earth had been transformed, even the sky had changed. There were more stars, and they shined all the brighter. So did the moon, which seemed larger and clearer than ever before.

Was that the effect of his enhanced senses? Or had even space been transformed? Elijah didn’t know, and he’d never even thought to investigate it through the guides available in the Branch’s Knowledge Base. Still, as he sat there waiting for his supper to cook, Elijah wondered if the touch of the World Tree had extended to other planets in the solar system. Had Mercury and Mars experienced an influx of ethera? What about the gas giants? Even now, was there life finding a way to exist out there?

Elijah knew there were other planets – thousands of them, in fact – that had been touched by the World Tree. Indeed, there were nine separate universes, not including the abyssal space between the World Tree’s branches. And each of those universes played host to innumerable worlds. It was all dizzyingly complex, and even considering just how vast the multiverse connected to the World Tree really was threatened to cause a headache.

Whatever the case, it was a safe bet to assume that he would never see the majority of the worlds that comprised the universe.

He let out another sigh. The idea that he would visit any other worlds would have felt insane only a few years before. But now? It was an actual possibility. In fact, it was a goal.

In his old life before Earth’s transformation, he’d enjoyed traveling. But he’d always made excuses to stay put. But if searching for his sister had confirmed anything for Elijah, it was that he was afflicted – or blessed, depending on perspective – with a serious case of wanderlust. He liked his grove. In a lot of ways, he needed it. Yet, he liked traveling across the world as well. Experiencing new cultures like he had in Argos was exciting, and if he was honest with himself, fighting new enemies and confronting different challenges was just as exhilarating, though in a different way.

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In short, it wasn’t a matter of if he’d find a way off of Earth, but rather, when.

So long as he managed to survive, at least. And find Alyssa. Once his family was safe and sound, he would be free to pursue those other goals without the specter of familial security hanging over his head.

With that in mind, Elijah watched the stars until he felt a presence nearby. Turning his head, he saw a wolf. Not a mutated version of the notorious predators, but just a regular wolf. And then he felt a dozen more surrounding him. It was a testament to how efficient of hunters wolves were that the touch of the World Tree hadn’t blessed them with increased size or extra appendages. Instead, the grey-furred wolf before him looked absolutely normal.

Though Elijah knew it wasn’t.

No matter how proficient it was as a hunter, nothing could have survived in the wilderness without enhanced Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. That meant that the pack surrounding him was dangerous.

Still, Elijah didn’t flinch. Instead, he reached into his pack and removed the remainder of the meat he’d harvested from the deer he’d killed earlier. It was wrapped in wax paper that was meant to preserve meat and other perishables; he’d bought it back in Ironshore, though this was the first time he’d had occasion to use it.

The wolf crept closer, but the other members of its pack remained in the shadows. Presumably, they were ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness. Or perhaps they were frightened. After all, from Elijah’s experience, beasts tended to have a subtle sense of how strong an opponent was. Otherwise, the predators would inevitably pick a fight with prey that was far stronger than it appeared. That rarely happened, at least as far as Elijah had seen, so he’d come to the conclusion that they could perceive relative power.

He envied them that.

For his part, Elijah’s sense of power was purely observational. He could tell when something had high Strength or Dexterity, but levels were a different thing altogether. Other people, like Kurik, had abilities that could gauge a creature’s level, but Elijah had never been offered such a skill.

In any case, he unwrapped the huge hunk of meat, then tossed it at the wolf. The canine sniffed it for a second, then took a bite. In only a second, it had devoured the whole thing. So, seeing that there was an entire pack to feed, Elijah emptied his stores. The deer he’d killed was quite large, so he hoped there would be enough to go around.

Before long, the entire pack had come out into the open, where they were feasting on the fruits of Elijah’s labor. He didn’t mind, though. He could always hunt something else, and the wolves were clearly hungry.

As the wolves ate, so did Elijah, tearing into the cooked slab of venison as soon as it was finished. A couple of the wolves approached, low growls rumbling from their throats. But Elijah only had to look at them to send them backing away. That confirmed that the beasts knew he was stronger than them.

Perhaps they still might’ve attacked if the whole pack was willing, but after having been fed, most of the wolves were content to leave him be.

As they shared their meals, Elijah felt an urge to reach out and pet one of the beasts that came too close, but he had to remind himself that these were wild animals. They weren’t domesticated dogs. And if he made the wrong move – which probably included petting them – there was every chance he’d lose a hand. Or at least a finger.

So, he restrained his urges and simply enjoyed their close proximity.

Once they’d finished, one of the wolves – it might’ve been the first one to approach – let out a low whine. Elijah held out his hands, saying, “That’s it. You’ll have to hunt your own food if you want anymore.”

The wolf cocked its head to the side as if it was considering what Elijah had just said. Then, without any other reaction, it turned and padded away, disappearing into the shadows. The other wolves followed, and a few seconds later, they left the circle of awareness Elijah gained from One with Nature.

“Just eat my food and leave,” he muttered. Shaking his head, he complained, “No thank you or anything.”

After that, Elijah spent a couple more hours just enjoying nature and letting his mind wander across a multitude of subjects. Some of those were memories from his past. Others were conjecture about the future. And still others were various bits of media that kept playing through his mind. It was only when he started humming Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me that he decided to try to get some rest. So, using his pack as a pillow and the Cloak of the Iron Bear as a blanket, he shut his eyes and passed into contented sleep.

The next morning dawned cool and crisp, and after a night of pleasant dreams, Elijah rose with eagerness in his heart. Before he got moving, he enjoyed a breakfast of berries, then headed toward a nearby stream where he made use of his homemade rejuvenating soap. So, by the time he was finished, he was fully awake and ready for the coming day.

After drinking a cup of tea beside the remnants of his fire from the night before, Elijah set off toward Argos. By his reckoning, he was only a week or so away from the Greek city, and he was eager to reunite with his friends.

Mostly Delilah, though.

Sure, she had said it was a one-time thing, but who was to say that they couldn’t have another one-time rendezvous? Or maybe two. Elijah might even be persuaded to stay for a week, so long as her company was on offer. And who knew? Maybe they’d actually spare a few moments for a real conversation or two.

Elijah’s mind was firmly in that space when he felt something he very much didn’t expect. He threw himself sideways as a spear crashed down in the spot he’d just vacated. In the space of a second, he’d searched One with Nature for his assailant, and he very much did not like what he saw.

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