Path of Dragons

Claws were not meant for stonecarving.

Elijah knew that, and yet, they were a much better option than the couple of knives he kept in his Ghoul-Hide Satchel. Still, after roughly shaping the blocks and placing them into position, Elijah had been forced to give up on the Shape of Thorn. It was great for tasks involving brute strength, but it had a clear deficiency when it came to coordination. That factor did highlight the reality of how attributes worked together, though. While his Dexterity was much higher than it had ever been, even in the form of the thorned sentry, he still didn’t feel any more coordinated than he had six months before. To Elijah, that showed that the relationship between the attributes were more important – at least in terms of raw performance – than the numerical value of the attributes.

As such, if his Dexterity was higher than his Strength, he would feel more coordinated than if the opposite was true. That was why, when it came down to detailed carvings, Elijah had resorted to using the Shape of Venom. And as it turned out, it was a far more successful endeavor, and not only because of the high Dexterity associated with the form. In addition, the ability to stick to any surface proved invaluable as he clambered over the stone pillars and carved them appropriately.

At first, he began with only an abstract concept, but over time, he let the setting influence every grating swipe of his claws. It would have been easy to focus on the foxes, which never really left him alone, but instead, Elijah concentrated on the cherry tree. Moreover, he quickly discovered that if he dug deep enough into the stone, something about it changed. The pearlescent crystals that were only vaguely present in the block as a whole suddenly came to the fore. In the old reality, it never would have made sense, but in a world full of ethera, Elijah just accepted it.

Once he discovered that characteristic, Elijah incorporated that into his plans, and once he pulled back from the first pillar, he could only appreciate his work. The glittering representation of the cherry blossoms weren’t perfect. He was no artist, after all. However, they were evocative and expressive, and through that, beauty was uncovered.

His effort wasn’t as technically proficient as what he and Carmen had done in the Circle of Spears, but in a lot of ways, it was more beautiful.

Throughout the process, he’d kept Nature’s Design and Blessing of the Grove going, which he knew infused the entire area with his particular brand of ethera.

Once he’d managed the first monolith, he moved on to the second. The entire design had been arranged in a circle, with each ten-foot arch spaced a foot from the next. Overall, the circle was a bit more than thirty feet across, which still felt small compared to the towering pines nearby.

Gradually, he completed one monolith after another until, at last, he’d finished that phase of the project. When he stepped back, he saw a circle of white stones. The carvings upon which he’d spent the past couple of days glittered like cloudy crystals, and the whole area felt thick with potent ethera.

Elijah knew he needed something else to truly set it apart. So, he approached the cherry tree. The nine-tailed vixen perked up upon his arrival, and he produced one of his last grove fruits. After tossing it to her, he said, “I don’t know if you understand me or not, but I need to take one of the cherries from this tree. I’ll only take one, so don’t attack me, okay?”

She cocked her head to the side, staring at him for a long second before turning a circle and settling back into place. Elijah took that as a sign to keep going, so he continued forward, then climbed the tree. Obviously, with it being the middle of autumn, such a tree had no business bearing flowers or fruit, but as a powerful natural treasure, it didn’t really follow the normal cycle. Even so, there were only a few cherries on the tree, so it took Elijah a few minutes to find the perfect candidate.

When he felt it, though, he knew it was the one.

So, he plucked it from the tree, then leaped free of his position near the top of the tree. He sailed through the air, reveling in the feeling of air whipping across his face, before landing just outside the circle. A second or two later, he was in the center of his dolmen and digging a shallow hole.

There, he planted the seeds he’d found inside the cherry.

Normally, it would have never had a chance to take root. It was the wrong time of year, and even if it wasn’t, seeds didn’t always sprout. However, Elijah had magic on his side. Not only would the dense ethera help it out, but he bathed the entire area in Nature’s Design and Blessing of the Grove. The combination – along with the plant’s already magical nature – made all the difference.

Within a few hours, a sprout had pushed free of the earth, and a little while later, it had become a seedling. That’s when its growth stalled. It would take days more to push it to the next stage, but Elijah didn’t have time to wait for that. Instead, he needed to be finished with the dolmen sooner rather than later. So, after checking his work one last time – and making a few minor adjustments to the carvings – Elijah used Roots of the World Tree to connect the dolmen to his spell.

The spell took quite some time to cast, but that was no surprise. It was not a spell meant for quick or flippant use. When the spell finished, Elijah received the expected notification:

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Then, another notification popped up, telling him that he’d used one of his ten possible dolmens. Five more to go. He knew he was going to use one in Hong Kong, but other than that, he had no concrete plans. The idea was to establish a teleportation network across the entire planet so that he could quickly and easily – and more importantly, cheaply – travel anywhere he wanted to go. The problem with that was that he had no real context for it. He didn’t even know where he currently was, much less the state of the rest of the planet.

He needed a map before he started throwing down more dolmens.

The circle itself was as expected, though Elijah had to admit that he was a little disappointed. The grade remained the same as the Circle of Boars, which was the last dolmen he’d built, so he hadn’t really improved.

But at least it had worked.

Now, he needed to go collect the people of Forest Hills, then lead them through the forest before he started ferrying them to his island. He’d considered taking them to the Dragon Circle, and then to Argos, but he preferred to keep Ron closer than that. For better or worse, his fate was tied to Ironshore’s, and he knew that Ron’s presence would go a long way toward solidifying its safety.

Besides, Elijah didn’t have a lot of friends, and having Ron as a neighbor was a nice and comforting idea.

With that notion at the forefront of his mind, Elijah shifted into the Shape of Sky and threw himself into the air. A few moments later, he’d gained enough altitude that even if the grimlings chose to attack, they wouldn’t be able to hit him. Then, he flew to the east until the remnants of Forest Hills came into view.

From above, the small town was a sad-looking thing. It didn’t just appear deserted. Rather, it forlorn in its apparent abandonment. There were countless such towns just like it across the world. How many other people were still struggling to survive?

For Elijah, it was easy to look at Ironshore or Argos – or even a place like Valosta or Seattle – and think that everywhere was like that. But the state of Forest Hills was proof of the opposite. So, as much as he enjoyed nature and everything the World Tree had brought with its touch, he also had to acknowledge that humanity had experienced a near-extinction level event. There were survivors, but very few people had managed to thrive amidst the chaos.

There had been a little over eight billion people on Earth, but how many had survived the touch of the World Tree? How many were still on the brink of disaster?

Elijah didn’t know, but he expected that the number was quite high.

He landed just outside of town, then trekked down Main Street to the hardware store. Once inside, he found Ron and Hope waiting for him. He explained the situation, detailing the meeting he’d had with the grimling elder.

“You think they’ll stick to that promise?” Ron asked. “It doesn’t fit with what we know of them. They usually attack first and never ask questions.”

“This one seemed more communicative. I think he was one of their most powerful people,” Elijah said.

“Stronger than you?”

“No. Not even close, really. But strong enough not to ignore,” Elijah admitted. “But I think they’ll let us pass. If not, we’ll just have to deal with it.”

After that, Ron passed the plan onto the others, and it was met with mixed feelings. Most of them knew that if they stayed, they were doomed, but few were eager about abandoning their home. Even if they were living inside a reclaimed hardware store, Forest Hills was still their town.

For Elijah’s part, he stayed out of the discussion. He didn’t have much to add, and what’s more, he didn’t really think it was his place. So, he remained in the corner, where he enjoyed a cup of coffee.

“Can I have some?” asked Hope. Even though she didn’t really look like Ron, aside from the color of her hair, the teenager definitely had the same demeanor as the Healer. Still, she had that slightly gangly appearance of immaturity, as if she hadn’t grown into herself yet. Her barely managed illness was also evident in the way she moved, as if her muscles just didn’t want to cooperate with her demands.

“Sure,” Elijah said. He’d boiled a little extra water, so it only took a bit of work with the French press before he handed her a steaming cup. “Honey?”

She shook her head. “I like it like this.”

Then she took a sip and almost choked. “You sure about that?” asked Elijah, holding up a jar of honey.

“Uh…um…yeah.” She took a sip, and her face twisted at the bitterness. “Maybe a little honey…”

As it turned out, it took quite a lot of honey before the girl found the coffee palatable. Which was probably an indicator that she wasn’t a habitual enjoyer of the bitter beverage.

“Dad talks about you a lot,” she said. “I thought you’d be taller.”

“Ouch.”

“Not that you’re short! It’s just…well, the way he described some of the things you’ve done…”

“I had a lot of help. From him and the rest of our group,” Elijah admitted, sipping his coffee. “What about you? I heard you’re a Tailor?”

She nodded. “I wanted to take a combat class because of my…uh…my situation,” she said. “But I didn’t have anything like that available. So I took the Tradesman archetype, then the class that I thought would help everyone the most. With how cold it is here, keeping everyone warm is a big deal.”

“I can see how that would be the case,” Elijah said. He hefted the hem of his Cloak of the Iron Bear. “That’s why I love this thing. I keep comfortable no matter what.”

“Is that…where did you get the material?”

Elijah explained what had happened to the bear. He tried to be as gentle with it as possible, but he didn’t lie. He did skate over what he did to the hunters, though. That wasn’t something a teenager should have to hear.

“Do you find stuff like that a lot?”

“A fair amount,” Elijah answered. “I don’t kill guardians, but there are still monsters around.”

After that, the discussion turned to all the sorts of animals Elijah had seen. When he described the fox, the girl’s eyes went wide – especially when he talked about the playful kits. Pointedly, he didn’t say anything about their feast of grimling parts.

Eventually, Ron approached and said, “They’re not particularly happy about it, but everyone’s onboard with leaving. They’ll be packed in a few hours. We can set out then.”

The fact that they could be ready to move so quickly said a lot about how difficult their lives had been. Elijah could only hope that he could help provide them with a little safety amidst the dangers of the new world.

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