Path of Dragons

In the wake of the hellish storm, the whole of Argos came together. In a way, it reminded Elijah of what he’d seen in Ironshore, which further confirmed his judgment of the city. It was such a sharp contrast to Norcastle. The people who lived in that city hadn’t been unhappy. Nor were they bad people. But they didn’t share a sense of community. Not like Argos.

Over the next week, Elijah pitched in wherever he could. Much of his time was spent healing, but he also volunteered to help usher the olive groves and other farms back to health. It required him to reveal his archetype – after all, what sort of healer also had plant magic? – but once he demonstrated his abilities, he was given as much access as he could have wanted.

And for days, he spent every waking moment trying to help the groves heal. In a way, it reminded him of his earliest days on the island, when he’d spent so much of his time trying to get berries and other wild edibles to grow more quickly. However, since then, his version of Nature’s Bounty had grown exponentially more powerful. Part of that was due to his Core, but he felt that there was more to it than that.

Which was strange. None of his other spells – save for One with Nature – had changed.

Perhaps it had to do with his connection with nature. Or maybe there was some other factor of which he wasn’t aware. There was even a possibility that it was all in his head, though he hoped that wasn’t the case.

Regardless of the details, Elijah found that his efforts actually resulted in a trickle of experience. He’d gotten a bit from healing, and even if it wasn’t much, it was nice to see his work rewarded. By comparison, the experience he got from helping the plants grow was miniscule. However, he spent so much time doing it that it started to add up. He didn’t gain enough to push him to an additional level, but the fact that he could notice the amount at all was surprising.

After all, he’d spent countless hours helping the plants in his grove grow. Why, then, hadn’t he gotten experience from that?

It was a mystery to which he didn’t know the solution. Yet, it was barely enough to occupy one facet of his Quartz Mind. The fact was that he wasn’t doing it for experience. Or rewards of any kind, really. Instead, he was doing it because he could. The people of Argos had been kind to him. They’d welcomed him. And sure, he’d repaid that with his own efforts – both in his first visit and his most recent stop – but that was how community was supposed to work.

Elijah reveled in that.

Eventually, though, his job was finished. Sure, he could have kept going, and there would have been minimal benefits. But he’d hit something of a wall, and any further efforts would show diminishing returns for the city.

Besides, with the city’s recovery well on its way, Elijah’s original purpose was weighing on him. In the short-term, he still needed to establish a dolmen so he could upgrade his Ancestral Circle spell. That was vital and, perhaps more importantly, Elijah was impatient to see what that spell evolution would entail. He had some idea, but the description had been vague enough to leave more than a little mystery.

So, once he’d ensured that Argos was on the right track, he headed out into the wilderness to search for the perfect spot. He didn’t really know what he was looking for, but he reasoned that he’d know it when he saw it. For a long time, he just circled the city, steadily getting further away. But then, as his mind wandered, he began to veer off track. By the time he noticed it, he was already a few miles from Argos.

And then, he found it.

The glade wasn’t special. He knew that. But he was equally sure that it was perfect for what he had in mind. The only question was where he would find his building materials. So, after Elijah had established the location – and mapped out the basic foundation – he began his search for a series of huge rocks.

When he thought of a dolmen, it immediately conjured images of Stonehenge. And as luck would have it, he’d done a report on the collection of ancient standing stones as an undergraduate, and he remembered the basic layout of the famous landmark. More importantly, he wanted to get as close as possible to the original, which meant that he needed some truly huge boulders.

Fortunately, there was a mountain range nearby – or foothills, really – so he knew where to look. The only issue was that he would almost certainly have to travel for miles both ways. Still, it was bound to be worth it. After all, the last thing he wanted was for his dolmen to be so small and flimsy that a strong gust would blow it over.

And given the storm he’d seen on his way into Argos, that seemed like a realistic worry.

So, he set out, using his draconid form to speed across the landscape at absolutely ridiculous speeds. Soon enough, he reached his destination, but it still took him two more days before he found an appropriate collection of boulders. Then, he was forced to spend another three days scouring the side of the mountain for the exact right specimens. So, it was almost a week after he’d left Argos before he started back to his chosen site, a huge boulder on his back.

He didn’t intend to build the entire circle as it had existed in ancient times. Instead, he only wanted to build the inner circle that remained mostly intact. Or at least, it had before the world had transformed. Who knew if it was still there? Regardless, his plans were such that he knew he wouldn’t be entirely accurate. He simply didn’t have the materials. So, he’d settled on building five arches, each with two large heel stones and one smaller cap stone that was intended to sit on top.

Of course, even that was an enormous project.

Stonehenge’s heel stones could weigh as much as thirty tons, which was far too heavy for Elijah to carry on his back. Still, he was surprised to find that in his lamellar ape form, he could carry what he estimated as a third of that. So, the boulders he’d chosen reflected that.

About halfway through the trip, he realized that just because he could lift something, that didn’t mean it would be comfortable. In fact, it made for an arduous journey that took him far longer than he’d expected. Yet, he persisted, and eventually, deposited the stone in place.

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“Only nine more,” he growled, looking up at the sun. It was midday, meaning he could still make another trip before sunset. Not that he was looking forward to it, of course. He was definitely not. But Elijah wasn’t one to shortchange his tasks, so he hesitantly returned to the foot of the mountains and collected another heel stone.

Over the next week, he continued the task. After five days, he’d had all of his heel stones, and the next two days were dedicated to finding and transporting the capstones. Despite their smaller size, it was no easier because those smaller boulders were located much higher up the mountain.

Fortunately, it only required five more trips until he deposited the last stone in the glade.

Once that was finished, Elijah collapsed onto the ground and promptly fell asleep, only to awake the next morning and get back to work. Most people weren’t aware of it, but to make Stonehenge, the ancients hadn’t simply piled rocks on top of one another. Building the monument had actually taken quite a lot of planning. Elijah endeavored to repeat their methods.

The first step was to dig an appropriate set of holes to hold the heel stones in place. That was the easy part. The more difficult task was to arduously carve the stones – chipping bits and pieces away with great care – creating mortice holes and tenons so that everything would fit together without moving.

It was basically like Legos, though with stone instead of plastic, and it was one of the most tedious processes Elijah had ever endeavored to complete. As he worked, he continuously flared Nature’s Bounty. At first, it was a reflex that came from the fact that he’d done so every other time he’d tried to craft anything, though when he realized what he was doing, he decided to keep going. After all, it couldn’t hurt.

Gradually, the stones began to take shape, and in the end, it required another week’s worth of work before he was ready to fit everything together. That’s when he shifted back into his lamellar ape form, then shoved the heel stones into place. Next, he fitted the cap stones on top.

And of course, nothing fit together properly.

Not surprising, really. He was no builder. Still, he got things close enough that it only took a few more days’ worth of tedious adjustments to get it right. And when he’d finished, he stepped back and admired the fruits of his labors.

Yet, when he looked upon the circle, he realized that he wasn’t satisfied. For one, it was missing an altar. That was an easy enough fix. Just a couple more trips to the mountain, and he’d have his materials.

But at the same time, he didn’t like that idea.

He was a Druid. And he felt that the circle needed to reflect that. So, he disappeared into the forest and quickly found an acorn. Using One with Nature, he searched out the one with the perfect ethereal signature, and when he found it, he quickly returned to the build site and planted it in the center of the stone circle.

Then, Elijah recast Nature’s Bounty, adding Healing Rain to the mix. He knew it would still take a while for the tree to grow, so he started in on the second facet of his plan. Using the Goblin Dagger and a large rock, Elijah started carving his standing stones.

He was no sculptor, but his experience with woodcarving certainly stood him in good stead. And besides, he didn’t intend for anything to be lifelike, as his Crook of the Serpent Healer was. Instead, he chiseled a series of relief sculptures meant to represent dragons. They weren’t as simple as cave drawings, but they certainly weren’t photoreal. Still, it was the thought that counted.

Or that was how he approached it.

However, as he carved, his makeshift chisel took on a mind of its own. It was similar to what he’d felt while carving his staves, only this time, Elijah could feel it happening in real time, rather than in retrospect. And he was certainly onboard. He let the inspiration take him to places he never would have expected, and the results were absolutely beyond his meager skill.

When he finally finished ten days later, he stepped back and truly admired what he had created. For one, the tree had sprouted, reaching a height of fifteen feet. It also had an aura about it that suggested that it was more than what it appeared to be. The ethereal aura of a natural treasure was missing, but anyone with eyes – or perhaps a soul – could tell that it was special.

Even so, it was easy to ignore the young tree next to the circle of standing stones. From top to bottom, the heel stones had been carved with fanciful depictions of dragons. The relief sculptures were shallow, but in the sunlight, they almost looked like they were moving.

The effect was so distracting that Elijah almost didn’t notice that he’d completed his quest.

Congratulations! You have created a unique structure: [Dragon Circle] Overall Grade: Growth (Current: Simple) Enchantment Grade: D

“Growth?” he wondered. “What does that mean? And how did I enchant it?”

Then, he saw the quest completion notification:

Congratulations! You have satisfied the requirements to evolve Ancestral Circle into Roots of the World Tree: Accomplish Two Feats of Strength (COMPLETE) Conquer One Tower (COMPLETE) Build a Dolmen (COMPLETE)

Then, another notification followed:

Due to the nature of your dolmen [Dragon Circle], as well as the nature of your other accomplishments, the spell has evolved at peak efficiency. As your dolmen(s) grow in number as well as grade, the spell will grow more powerful.

Finally, Elijah saw the listing in his spellbook change:

Roots of the World Tree

Empower a dolmen, connecting it to your grove. Teleport to any circle in your network. Cooldown: 3 Days Additional Effect: When inside any circle, create a persistent gateway to any other circle. Duration: 1 Minute. Maximum Capacity: 3. Cooldown: 6 Days Possible number of circles dependent on core cultivation. Current: 5 (1 Used)

Elijah’s jaw dropped. It was far beyond anything he’d ever hoped to achieve. The first part – the teleportation – he’d mostly expected, though the much shorter cooldown was a nice surprise. However, the real shock was the additional effect, which would allow him to transport other people without nearly killing himself.

And finally, he could create four more Dragon Circles. He’d really only expected one, so that was also a fantastic surprise that made all of his effort worth it.

But now that he’d finished his first Dragon Circle, Elijah didn’t have any other excuses not to continue his search for his sister. So, he set off back to Argos to rest and check on the city. And in the morning, he would set off in search of Seattle.

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