The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  On the far western side of the meadow, a lake was fed by a waterfall that fell from the mountains above. At night, the phosphorescent plants that grew along the bottom made it glow a faint green. During the day however, it was a startling arctic blue. Hidden along the banks was a pen made of high steel where Richter kept a clutch of baby skaths. The small creatures were being bred for battle.

  Hidden behind the waterfall that fed the lake was a tunnel. It led back into the rock, the beginning of a large cave system. This was where Richter had planted his crystal garden. The warren had once housed a creature of true horror, a dark aberration that he had chopped into small pieces himself. Sometimes his mind went back to that battle and he couldn’t suppress an involuntary shudder. The thing had fed on the souls of the innocent for centuries, corrupting them in the process. He still had an unresolved quest to cleanse twenty black gems of that taint. The Hearth Mother had said she could help once they returned to the Hearth Tree, though she had recoiled in disgust from the tainted jewels.

  Inscribed along the northern cliff face was an enchanted monument to all the villagers who had been killed since the founding of the village. Their names glowed one at a time, a constant reminder of those who had paid the ultimate price for the settlement. He remembered one name above the others, a small girl named Petal. She had been slaughtered when the bugbears had raided his village. She often came to his mind. It was a true tragedy that after the battle with the goblins, the list of names had more than doubled.

  In the northeast corner of the glade was perhaps the most powerful and most important feature of the village. The Quickening was a majestic tree that rose gracefully from the ground. The silver bark was smooth, but also inscribed with whorls and symbols. Richter had often wondered if it was a celestial language. His Gift of Tongues ability was powerful, but he had learned in his first moments in The Land that it could not decipher heavenly or demonic languages. The words of “higher” or “lower” beings were beyond him.

  It was this heavenly tree that was Richter’s destination. Amidst the snow-white leaves, a celestial people made their home. The pixies had been gone from The Land for millennia, slaughtered by a magical plague. All that had remained was one queen, hidden away in a chrysalis. The rebirth of the pixies was what had made the wood sprites of the Hearth Tree Richter’s allies. Elora, the pixie queen, had bonded with the Quickening. In so doing, she had evolved her race into celestials. In all the world, there had been only one hundred and one pixies, Elora and her children. Now, because of Richter’s decision to attack the goblins, some had died.

  When he got closer, he looked out for the two sprites that normally guarded the tree. For the first time in months they did not greet him, however. Richter was slightly surprised. Then he realized the Hearth Mother had probably recalled them. With her army camped in the village, the tree was more than protected. Also, the nearly one hundred meidon sprites that had sworn their allegiance to Richter often spent their time under the boughs of the Quickening. More than thirty were there as he walked up. They had once been wood sprites, forest sprites and hill sprites, disparate peoples who had not liked, and possibly even hated, one another. Once they bonded with their meitu’meidon pixies, they had all been reborn as meidon sprites. All were now united in purpose. They saluted as he approached.

  Richter returned the respect and then, with an easy smile, told them to relax. He passed under the boughs of the tree and looked up. Pixies of four different colors darted around under the canopy. While the tops of the Quickening’s leaves were a thick velvety white, the bottoms were a shining silver to match the trunk. When they saw Alma, a great cry of delight spread among them. The dragonling immediately flared yellow as she cast Weak Haste. With her speed increased by 15%, she started a swooping, diving game of chase with the pixie children.

  The chaos seed smiled faintly at his familiar, but kept walking towards the trunk itself. The tree was dozens of yards high and the limbs arced outward like a bell. They swayed as gently as a willow in the wind and reached almost to the ground. The central pillar of the tree was made of eight individual trunks that plaited together into an octuple helix. The center of the Quickening was hollow and gaps could be seen in the trunk. This was where he found Elora.

  The queen was wearing a simple dress of white, made from the leaves of her bonded tree. Her children were between six and eight inches tall and had wings and hair that matched: either gold, pale yellow, black or blue. Elora, in turn, was one foot tall. Each of her four wings was a different color, also representing the ley lines that made up Richter’s Place of Power. Her hair fell straight down, not a strand out of place. It was a pristine white and it reached down to her calves. Her face was soft and sorrowful. Her eyes were puffy. They were normally pure white, but now they were silver-streaked in the same way a human’s would have been red-rimmed if they were grieving. It was clear that she had been crying.

  Despite her sorrow, she flew towards him, her wings a blur. A faint dusting of pixie dust fell behind her, disappearing a moment after it was shed. “I am happy that you have returned safely, my lord.” She hovered in midair and curtsied. The pixie was a queen, but she had also sworn fealty to Richter and honored that commitment.

  “Thank you,” he responded softly. “I am sorry that I haven’t had this discussion with you before now.” He paused to collect himself before going on, “I did not know that the deaths of my meidon sprites would lead to the deaths of the pixies they had bonded to. I am sorry for your loss.” Richter had debated various approaches and speeches, but as always, he settled for speaking from the heart.

  “I appreciate your words, my lord. I believe there has been a misunderstanding, however. My children have not died.”

  Richter’s eyes widened in shock. Not only did it seem he had been misinformed, but her words did not match her tone. She still spoke as a woman bereft, precisely as Richter would expect her to sound if her children had died. “I don’t understand.”

  She took a deep breath. “Please follow me, Lord Richter.” The queen flew away from the Quickening and a bewildered Richter followed. Alma stayed relatively close so she could keep feeding mana to her master. The pixie children trailed behind her, a kaleidoscope of laughing children swooping through the air.

  Lining the edge of the meadow was a string of tall evergreens. They were among the few trees Richter hadn’t chopped down when he was reclaiming the village from the wilderness. They served as a great windbreak and also helped to hide the treasures the meadow contained. Elora flew at the speed of a leisurely walk, neither hurried nor hesitant.

  The two Companions passed the garden. Isabella and the other gardeners looked at Richter with smiles on their faces. Most of them picked up on the somber tone in the air though. The one or two that started to hail their lord were silenced by a quick word from Isabella.

  Elora continued to fly forward until she stopped in front of a tree. She hovered in midair, and turned her face towards Richter. He couldn’t read her expression exactly. It was sad, but also filled with love. She turned back towards the tree and ran her hand along a knot in the wood. “Please place your hand here, Lord Richter.”

  Still at a loss, Richter did as she asked. To his surprise, when he touched the knot, it was warm to the touch. The wood wasn’t hot, it was more like the heat you would feel when touching an animal.

  “Look closer.” Elora beckoned him to inspect the knot of wood.

  It just looked like normal bark to him, but again he did as he was bid. His eyes scanned the surface of the tree, not seeing anything unusual or that would explain the warmth he felt. He was about to give up when he saw a faint irregularity in the bark. The folds were curved in the shape of a tiny face. Blinking in surprise, he used Analyze.

  Name: Tani

  Level: 2

  Disposition: Trusting (Confused)

  Race: Celestial Pixie (Sakeru)

  STATS

  Health: 1/40

  Mana: 1/110

 
Stamina: 1/80

  ATTRIBUTES

  Strength: 1

  Agility: 11

  Dexterity: 14

  Constitution: 4

  Endurance: 8

  Intelligence: 11

  Wisdom: 10

  Charisma: 12

  Luck: 9

  DESCRIPTION

  This Celestial Pixie has suffered the loss of her meitu’meidon. Such a loss is like the loss of a piece of a pixie’s soul. Sakeru pixies become mindless for a time and are capable of great evil. The pixie queen, Elora, was able to trigger her child’s ability Tree Communion. This pixie has retreated inside of this grained cedar tree. The tree will offer protection, but the pixie herself is extremely vulnerable. In time this pixie may heal and emerge, but must be protected until that day comes. She might also bond completely with this evergreen to create a tree elemental. There are many possibilities of what can come from the sakeru and most are dangerous. Only time will tell.

  “She’s alive in there?” Richter asked in awe. There was so much more to the pixies than he had suspected.

  “Yes,” Elora answered. Her voice was fond, but also sad. She still had one hand pressed against the bark that her child slumbered beneath while she spoke. “I was able to get her and four of her brothers and sisters to bond with these trees.” She indicated four other nearby evergreens. Richter made mental notations on his Traveler’s map so he would remember which trees needed to be protected.

  “I cannot say how long my Tani will slumber,” the pixie queen continued. “I cannot even know if she will ever wake. This is a safer choice than the alternative, however. That I know.” With her last statement, her tone had changed. The sorrow was still there like the bass line in a blues song, but she had become deadly serious. Richter was no longer speaking to a grieving mother, he was listening to a queen imparting a warning.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “The sakeru is the severing of the bond between meitu’meidons. The soul bonding of a pixie and sprite gives both of their lives meaning. They are finally complete and can begin to fulfill their one shared destiny. If a meidon pixie dies first, her sprite is often bereft, possibly for years. They will remain themselves, however.”

  “And when the meidon sprite dies?” Richter prompted. He was sure that the answer was not nearly as benign.

  “The sakeru changes my people into something… different. We are awash with anger, sadness and loss. To make things worse, however, our racial ability, Fate’s Companion, is affected. It is that ability which allows a pixie to form the bond with their meitu’meidon. Whereas before a pixie could only bond with the sprite they were fated to join with, after their meitu’meidon’s death, the bond becomes untethered. Pixies that have suffered the sakeru can bind to other beings. In a perversion of the meitu’meidon, severed pixies can become meitu’sakeru.

  “The meitu’sakeru bond is so deep that the two beings physically meld together, just as my daughter has become embedded in this grained cedar. When a severed pixie bonds to a normal, healthy tree, the chance for evil is almost nil. In time, my child might even reemerge and be able to live a normal life. If a sakeru pixie binds to a monster or an evil creature, however, they can greatly augment the power of such beings. The potential damage is incalculable. Even worse, the pixie’s soul can be corrupted for all eternity.”

  She flew even closer to Richter, “It takes time for the melding to become permanent. If the new bonding is broken quickly, my child can still be saved. They can be removed from the body of whatever creature they are bound with. If one of my children remains in the meitu’sakeru long enough to recover their strength and fly again on their own, or if they fully bond with a monster, then they will be forever lost to darkness.

  “In the past, such pixies would emerge with their very race changed. They became Corrupted Pixies, and wherever they flew, disease and rot would often follow. That was before my race evolved to become a celestial people, however, my lord. I fear that if a celestial pixie were to be fully corrupted, they might become something much worse than merely a Corrupted Pixie.”

  The queen was agitated and the dust falling from her wings was tinted red at this point. She turned away from the tree and flew closer to Richter until she hovered just in front of his face. “You apologized for the deaths of my children. Now you know that a fate much worse than merely passing beyond this plane may await them. I do not blame you for their loss, my lord. In The Land, death is inevitable and if it were not for you, none of us would now live.” She shook her tiny head. “You also apologized for not coming to speak to me sooner. You now know that it is I who must apologize for not warning you of this danger earlier. My heart was simply too full of sorrow.

  “You have done much for me and my people, Lord Richter, but I must ask you for more. If you bear me any love, my liege, please heed my plea. Nine of my children, my very blood, were lost to the sakeru. Five have been placed safely in the trees we stand beneath. The other four have fled into the forest.

  “Nature is balance, my lord Richter. This can be seen in every sunrise and every sunset. So too can it be seen in the symmetry of my missing children. One is of Water Magic, another of Dark, the third is of Air and the last is of Life. Will you find my children and bring them back to me if they remain pure? Even if you can only bring one back it would mean the world to me. If they have been irrevocably corrupted by the time you find them...” Her voice caught and silver tears ran down her face. She closed her eyes, unable to look at him as she said the final words, “Please do what must be done.”

  Richter gazed upon the pixie with both sorrow and surprise swirling in his heart. Elora had unexpected depths. She had been a scared child when they had first met. Though only a few months had passed, she had become a mother and a queen. In The Land, it was not time that determined your character, but what you chose to do with it.

  Now this small creature that had given rebirth to her entire race was strong enough to safeguard not only her people but the entire world from the dangers her children could pose. Richter could barely fathom the pain that her request must have caused, but what he did understand was enough to make his heart ache. Before he could respond, the Universe itself weighed in on her plea.

  You have been offered a Quest: Sakeru I

  You have learned that the celestial pixies are more than just nature’s caretakers. If their bonded sprite, their meitu’meidon, is killed, then their ability Fate’s Companion can be corrupted by binding to monsters or evil creatures. You have been charged by your Companion Elora, the pixie queen, to recover the four pixies that have fled the Mist Village. Will you endeavor to find these lost souls? It is your choice, but the entreaty of a celestial being is not to be ignored lightly.

  Success Conditions: Find and return at least one of the lost pixies. If any are corrupted beyond hope of salvation, kill them before they can wreak havoc in The Land.

  Reward: Unknown, but increases for each pixie returned to Elora.

  Penalty for failure or refusal of Quest: Possible corruption of the forest. Possible emergence of abyssal creatures in your domain.

  Do you accept? Yes or No?

  Richter’s heart began thudding powerfully in his chest as he read the last lines. An “abyssal” creature? He knew that pixies were devoted to the cultivation and preservation of nature. Elora had told him in the past that when her children were old enough to start bonding to local trees, there would be great bonuses that would come to his village. What if the opposite were true for sakeru pixies? What if they began to breed?

  That wasn’t even taking into account how much stronger they could make the monsters to which they bonded. The sprites that had bonded to the celestial pixies had evolved into a stronger race. Their attack power had more than doubled and they had grown in size by 33% on average, increasing their Strength, Constitution and Endurance. What if one of the sakeru pixies had bonded to his old enemy the rock giant? Richter couldn’t even imagine how horrible that monster might
have become. There was no doubt that he was going to accept this quest, but he needed to know something else first.

  “How can I find them?”

  “They will not have flown far, my lord,” Elora answered. “The need to bond again is incredibly strong. They would instinctually be drawn towards beings of great power. It is possible that the magics each of my children embody can give some clue as to the beings they are melded with. I will tell you that based on the stories my mother told me of sakeru’meidon, they will not be difficult to find. Simply watch for disruptions of the natural order.”

  Well that’s not ominous at all, Richter thought. He sent a mental call to Futen while he considered the problem. It seemed like everything he did triggered another major cascade of events. He had done something good by growing the Quickening, which had led to the rebirth of the pixies. That had led to sprites being drawn to his village. Which had led to him meeting Liddle, the hill sprite. That, in turn, had triggered his attack of the goblin village to free their captives and remove the threat of the Bloodstone. They had succeeded, another win for “good” as far as Richter was concerned. Now he was finding out that despite winning that battle, the deaths of some of his sprite soldiers might trigger the emergence of an abyssal race into The Land. That was clearly in the “bad” column.

  It was enough to make his head throb. Those fucking Aes Sedai had been right! It just didn’t make sense though. Yes, actions always had unintended consequences, but they shouldn’t always be world-shaking events. No matter what scientists said, flapping butterfly wings in Georgia did not actually cause hurricanes in China. Yet for him, it seemed that they did! It was almost like he was both drawn to pivotal moments and, by his very nature, triggered massive change. The chaos seed thought about it for a few more moments and decided he was just being crazy.