by Jamie Davis
Mentally tying off the magical tabs he used to pull the wound’s edges together, Hal ground his teeth together against the pain and forced himself to stand.
New spell learned –– heal wounds
The spider had Gareth down and the elf rolled back and forth underneath the spider avoiding the jabbing mandibles, dripping with venom. Kay hammered at the body with her sword, trying to distract the beast from its attacks.
Chance jumped into the fray, his arrows spent. He’d pulled out a long knife and hand axe and was chopping at the joints of one leg, trying to unbalance the spider.
“Keep distracting it,” Hal called out to his companions. “I’m going to try another spell.”
“Hurry up, Hal,” Kay yelled. “Gareth’s almost done.”
Hal drew in all the power he had, ignoring the pain in his leg and he channeled every ounce into his hand. His plan relied on being able to create a double ice lance and take down both the abdomen and the central thorax at the same time.
“Yeaaaahhhhhhh!”
Hal let loose with his spell, gratified to see duplicate ice lances spearing outward from him into the giant creature.
The giant spikes of magically hardened ice slammed into the spider, pinning it down to the base of the stump. A final, weak shriek sounded from the beast and then it went still.
6000 experience awarded.
Level Up!
Hal limped over to where Gareth struggled to drag himself out from under the bulk of the spider. Blood seeped from several puncture wounds across his body.
Chance and Kay raced over to help Hal pull the captain free. Just as they got him out from under the spider, his eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp.
Hal knew what to look for this time and he saw the sickly green tint of the spider’s venom within Gareth’s body.
Knowing he only had one shot at this because his magical strength was about tapped out from his exertions, Hal delved down with his mind into Gareth’s wounds and applied his limited remaining spell ability to the envenomed areas.
Poison slowed.
Hal sighed and sat back on the ground, shaking his head.
“Were you able to help him?” Kay asked.
Gareth groaned but didn’t wake up.
“I think so. I was only able to slow the progression of the poison. Provided I can get some rest. I should be able to neutralize it fully tomorrow once I regain my strength.”
Chance nodded. “Then we’ll have to stay here for the night. There’s no way Kay and I are going to carry you both out of here back to our original camp.”
“Is it safe?” Kay asked.
“I doubt there are more than one of those things around. We didn’t hear a single animal on the way here. Likely it’s hunted this place bare for a few miles in every direction. I’ll scout around to be sure, but I think remaining here is our best bet.”
The sergeant left the two humans to care for Gareth while he started checking for any more danger nearby.
Kay glanced at Hal’s belt pouch.
“What about planting the seed pod?”
“Oh, yeah,” Hal remembered. He dug in his pouch then remembered where he’d seen the pod last. He scrambled over to where he’d been pinned to the ground. After a frantic search, Hal found the seed pod on the ground, under some dry leaves.
“Keep an eye on him while I finish this. Maybe planting the tree will do something positive here for a change.”
Hal pulled his dagger out and began digging at the center of the stump again. Once he’d cleared the hole of debris, he dropped the pod in and scooped the dirt from the pile back into the hole, lightly tamping it down around the seed until he’d covered it completely. Hal searched his mind for what to do next.
“Kay, bring me some water. “
“Got it.”
She went and fetched their canteens from the pack mule tied nearby. When she returned, Hal pulled the cork on his and upended it over the place where he buried the pod, soaking the earth with water.
Quest completed — plant the seed of the great tree.
5000 experience awarded.
Level Up!
Hal sat back and stared at the damp earth before him. He wasn’t sure what he expected but nothing happened. Disappointed, Hal crawled back over to where Kay sat with Gareth. His color looked a little better, though Hal knew he wasn’t healed yet.
“We’ll stay here tonight; then tomorrow we’ll start the trek back to Bronwyn and see what the reward for our efforts is. I can’t help but have the feeling something big is happening here.”
Kay nodded. “I’ll go help Chance check the perimeter. You stay here and keep an eye on Gareth.”
Hal smiled as she went to scout the camp. She was a great companion. Someday he hoped he could introduce her to Mona. He thought the two would get along great.
Gathering his gear from where it had scattered during the battle, Hal started pulling strips of cloth bandages from his pack and using them to bind the captain’s wounds until he could heal them in the morning when he regained his magical strength again.
While he worked, he allocated two more attribute points to wisdom and two to his speed. Hopefully, that would keep Hal from getting stabbed by any more giant spiders.
Name: Hal Dix
Class: Mage
Level: 8
Attributes:
Brawn: 24 — +8
Wisdom: 18 — +5
Luck: 30 — +11 (Max)
Speed: 18 — +5
Looks: 8
Health: 68/140
Personal Skills: Chakra Regeneration - 3 (heal 18hp; 1/day)
Mage Experience: 10,400/19,200
Ice Elemental School:
Resist Cold; Ice Shield; Ice Armor; Ice Darts; Ice Lance; Wall of Fog;
Earth Elemental School:
Plant Growth; Neutralize Poison; Heal Wounds;
Fire Elemental School: Locked
Wind Elemental School: Locked
Unknown Elemental School: Locked
Warrior Experience: 161,100/250,000
Rogue Experience: 146,100/250,000
15
Hal awoke the next morning to a changed landscape in the central glade of the Fallen Forest. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around, he reconsidered the name for this place. It should be called the Forest Formerly Known as the Fallen Forest.
Overhead, the sun shined down, beams of light filtering through the leaves of the trees overhead. Those leaves were now lush and green, as they should be, not the sickly yellow with blotches of brown seen overhead the night before.
That wasn’t the most notable change in the clearing, though.
A forty-foot-tall tree sprouted from the center of the old stump in the middle of the clearing. Looking up to the top, Hal marveled at the display of nature’s magic as the branches continued to grow and shoot upward as if accelerated by a time-lapse video as he watched.
“Pretty spectacular, huh?” Kay noted from his left.
“I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it for myself.”
“It started growing soon after the moon became visible overhead last night. I had just taken sentry duty from Chance when it began shooting upward.”
Hal searched the camp. Gareth still slept nearby but Chance was nowhere in sight.
“Where is the sergeant?”
“He went to scout around and see how far the transformation of the forest extends. He hasn’t been gone for long.”
Hal started to rise and groaned as a sharp stabbing pain radiated out from his injured thigh. He’d forgotten he was injured for a second. His leg, however, had not.
The bandage had a red spot of blood on it where some had soaked through from underneath overnight, but it wasn’t dripping so the wound hadn’t opened up again, which was good.
“Don’t get up, Hal,” Kay cautioned. “I’ll bring you some water and I made the last of our cornmeal into griddle cakes for breakfast. There’s a few for you when you’re re
ady.”
“Thanks. I should unwrap this bandage and check the wound anyway.
Hal removed the bandage and examined the injured area underneath. His attempts to close the edges of the puncture wound the day before had held up overnight but the wound was far from healed. Hal pulled up his magic menu and selected the heal wounds spell then focused his will on the ragged hole in his thigh.
At first, nothing happened, then a tickling itch started deep inside his leg. It became so strong, Hal had to clench his fists to resist trying to dig his fingers into the wound to scratch at the source of the sensation.
Just when he thought he could stand no more, he watched the skin fill in from beneath the open wound in his leg and grow upward until it stitched together with the jagged skin at the edges. Within seconds, there was nothing to show for the place where the spider’s leg had pierced his leg but a puckered pink scar the size of his palm.
Placing his hand atop the scar, Hal felt a residual warmth. It was probably a side effect of the spell’s rapid regeneration of the tissue inside the wound.
Hal took his time climbing to his feet, under Kay’s watchful gaze. He took a few tentative steps around his bedroll on the springy green turf that had grown up overnight in the clearing.
“It seems like it’s good as new,” Hal told Kay while he tested his leg out.
“Do you have any of that magic left. Gareth could probably use it, too.”
Hal blushed with embarrassment and crossed over to where the elf captain lay on the grass covered with a blanket pulled up to his chin.
“I should have tended to him first. I wasn’t sure if the new spell worked or not, but I should have used the fresh energy of the morning to heal him.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Hal. You can’t be at your best with a hole in your leg. Use what you have left to fix him up now that you’re healed.”
Hal knelt at Gareth’s side and looked over the numerous puncture wounds in his chest and abdomen. With his magical sight, he could see the faint green glow of poisoning at each location. While he’d been able to slow the progression of the poison the night before, he hadn’t been able to remove it. He set to remedy that now.
Hovering his hands over the sleeping elf, Hal spent a few seconds over each wound casting a neutralize poison spell while he concentrated on removing the source of the sickly green glow at each location.
As soon as he dissipated the final bit of poison, Gareth’s breathing became more relaxed and less labored. A few seconds later his eyes fluttered open and looked around the clearing.
To Hal’s surprise, the usually taciturn captain turned and smiled up at him.
“Good morning, Hal. It looks like you managed to complete the quest my lady set before you.”
“It worked out.” Hal shrugged and tried to downplay the results with his humble response.
“The elves owe you a great debt for restoring this forest for us.”
“If Bronwyn will help me get my family back, I will call it even.”
“I’m sure she will do that. She gave me something to give to you should you succeed in your quest to plant the seed here.”
Gareth dug a hand under his cloak and handed Hal a folded parchment. Hal noted the wax seal impressed with Bronwyn’s crest. He broke the seal and unfolded the note to read what the elf princess wrote there.
Hal Dix,
If you succeed in this dire mission, I have no choice but to acknowledge you as the Opponent of Tildi’s vaunted prophecy. Congratulations. In payment for the services you have rendered to the elven people in restoring the great forest that was our ancestral home I offer you a boon.
There is a little-known tale that when a seed is planted and becomes one of the great central trees of our sacred groves, the spirit of the forest will grant an answer to the planter’s greatest wish. This I share with you because I believe the tree you have started there will help you in your ultimate quest to rescue your family.
I wish you well. My work is complete as you have learned what you must to grow your skills with earth magic. Now you must seek out Theran, the next mage with whom you must train. He will teach you the magic of fire.
Perhaps we shall meet again. Until that day, godspeed.
Bronwyn
Hal folded the message and considered what it said. Bronwyn said the forest spirit would answer his greatest wish if he asked. How was he supposed to ask the question, though? He saw no evidence of any forest spirit floating around the clearing.
The message frustrated him, and he nearly crumpled it to throw it away in the campfire. Instead, he folded it and tucked it into his belt pouch next to the scrying stone.
That was when he noticed the stone’s soft white glow sitting in the shadows at the bottom of his pouch. Reaching inside, Hal removed the stone and held it out in front of him. As soon as the crystal emerged into the sunlight, the internal light grew brighter still.
The light in the stone pulsed now, almost like a heartbeat.
“Hal, are you doing that?” Kay asked.
“No, I don’t think so. It’s coming from within the stone itself. I think it has something to do with the message Bronwyn sent me.”
Hal handed the message to Kay as he stood and looked around the clearing with his hand outstretched before him. The pulsing of the light quickened as his hand passed by the center of the clearing and subsided when he turned away.
Bringing the stone back around and facing the still expanding trunk of the great tree growing at the center of the glade. The stone’s pulsing light became rapid and regular; it was accompanied now by a gentle vibration in time with the flashing light.
Hal took a step closer to the tree. The light in the stone group brighter and the vibration increased in intensity. Knowing now what the stone wanted him to do, Hal strode up to the tree trunk, now grown to much more massive size. He held the stone up to the tree, pressing the smooth, translucent crystal against the smooth bark of the great central tree of life he’d planted the night before. Both the tree and the crystal responded as soon as they touched. The scrying crystal flared with a bright, blinding light while the trunk and its smooth bark parted along a vertical seam nearly 6 feet tall directly in front of him.
To Hal’s amazement, the seam in the side of the tree opened and revealed a cavity inside. Holding the crystal against the tree with one hand, Hal reached inside the cavity unsure what he would find. His fingers brushed against a smooth round surface and, when he wrapped his hand around it, the object in the side of the tree came free and he pulled it out from the cavity.
In his hand, Hal held a five-and-a-half-foot staff of smooth, light brown wood covered with faint silver runes etched into the surface. At the upper end of the staff was a small, concave socket which, upon examination, seemed intended to hold the scrying crystal.
Without hesitation, Hal placed the crystal from his other hand into the socket of the staff. The crystal flared brightly one last time and then it fused in place as the socket molded around the base of the crystal locking it in place.
Following a hint of an idea at the back of his mind, Hal held the staff upright in both hands and pressed the base into the ground while staring into the crystal. As the glowing translucence seemed to envelop him, Hal’s vision blurred until all he could see was the light coming from the center of the stone.
For a moment, he felt himself falling, then the sensation passed and he was standing inside a room he’d never seen before. Rich tapestries covered the walls and the floors were inlaid with intricate mosaics. The room was lightly furnished with a finely carved table and black and gold lacquered chairs with red velvet cushions.
Unsure how he had come to be in this place, Hal took a few tentative steps toward an open doorway on the far side of the room. He froze when he heard a familiar voice. It sounded just like Mona.
“Please tell his Majesty that despite him being the Emperor of this land, I am my daughter’s mother and I say it is time for her to go to bed. She has had
enough play time today.”
A second, heavily accented voice replied, “I will, of course, pass along your message, mistress Mona, but I fear his Majesty will be most displeased with your refusal.”
“He may take that up with me when we next dine together tomorrow evening.”
“As you wish, mistress.”
Hal heard footsteps retreating in the opposite direction and then a door closed. Realizing Mona was alone, he raced across the remaining distance to the doorway and into the next room where he saw his wife. She was wearing expensive silk robes, the kind worn by imperial nobility. Her hair was drawn back in double braids and it appeared that Silver and Golden wires were woven into the braids alongside the strands of her beautiful blonde hair.
“Mona, thank God you're alright. Look we don't have much time. I'm not sure how I got here but we need to find a way out now that I have found you. Where's Cari?”
As he spoke, Hal scanned the room looking for his daughter. Then he realized Mona was paying no attention to him at all.
“Mona, can't you hear me?”
Hal waved his arms and ran across the room to stand in front of his wife. She looked right past him then turned away, her eyes never connecting with his. It was then Hal realized he wasn't really here. He was only watching from afar, a mere spirit observing inside the room.
Hal looked around the room, frantic in his desire to leave a message for Mona that he’d been here. At that instant, the falling sensation returned and a few seconds later he found himself once again standing in the glade in the middle of the forest.
He collapsed to the ground, sobbing.
Kay was at his side in an instant.
“Hal, are you alright? You pulled that staff from the tree and then you froze. When I called to you, you didn't answer. Before I could reach you, you collapsed.”
“I saw her, Kay. She's alive. She's well.”