The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  Richter put a hand on Heman’s shoulder, “You’re safe now. Well, as safe as anyone else in this village. We’ll speak more soon, but I have a great deal to do to ensure our continuing safety.”

  “I completely understand, Lord Richter. I had only hoped to meet someone higher up in the guard. Meeting you is beyond expectations. And meeting someone from home… that means the world. I hope we can talk some more tomorrow?”

  “Of course,” Richter replied, standing up. He waved Caulder over and told him to take Heman back to the other freed prisoners. One more question occurred to him though, “It sounds like you’ve been in The Land for a few months. What month was it back home when you left?”

  “February,” Heman answered. Richter looked at him in confusion. That didn’t make any sense. He’d been taken in May and he’d been in The Land for almost five months. Unless time moved differently once you were transported here. Maybe months and days translated differently. It had been the year 2037 when he’d entered the Castle of Transition.

  “What year?” Richter called after him.

  Heman stopped with a quizzical expression on his face, “2044.” Then he started walking again, leaving Richter staring after him in disbelief.

  Seven years, Richter thought. It’s been seven years. Seven years at least, he realized. If time moved slower here in The Land, and Heman had been here for at least half the time that he had… fifteen years or twenty years could have passed on Earth. Everyone he knew back home would have moved on. His friends and family could be dead. Richter searched his emotions about this, but as always when he thought about home, there was only a nondescript dull feeling. He paused for a moment, thinking there was something about that, but then someone called his name and the worry faded from his mind.

  Richter left the training ground soon after, and spent the rest of the day in the Forge. In addition to making more enchanted arms and armor, he advanced three of his enchantments.

  Congratulations! You have reached Rank II in the Level I enchantment: Life Aura

  Congratulations! You have reached Rank III in the Level I enchantment: Life Defense

  Congratulations! You have reached Rank III in the Level I enchantment: Multishot

  It was the last one that was the true boon. Ranking up in Multishot brought a wonderful idea to his mind. Namely, using his dual enchant Talent to mix Multishot and some other form of attack enchantment. The first he tried was Freeze.

  He prepared ten arrowheads and then enchanted them up to the fourth rank in Multishot and the first rank in Freeze. There was a slightly unpleasant surprise when he discovered that using a dual enchantment reduced the number of arrowheads he could enchant at once. In the past, he’d been able to enspell ten at a time using only one dose of captured souls. This time, only five of the ten were imbued with magic and the others remained simple high steel. Still, it was enough for his experiment.

  Richter had the five attached to already-prepared arrow shafts and left the forge with them. To his delight, they worked like a charm. After firing one, it shimmered in the air and became four different projectiles. All four left icy splotches on the cliff they impacted against. The cost to create a dual enchantment was expensive, both in powdered crystal as well as captured souls, but it opened up so many wonderful opportunities that Richter’s mind started spinning.

  Once he finished enchanting there wasn’t much light left in the day. There was still enough time to go to the Scholar’s Hut though. As instructed, the meidon sprites that had learned new spells were there. It took the last hours of daylight, but Richter was able to create spellbooks for all three new spells. He also finally learned a Life spell that Isabella had been gifted with before. After Bartle had copied the tomes, he absorbed the magic and made it his own.

  Congratulations! You have learned: Weak Detect Life. Allows the caster to see a faint glow from creatures possessing Life in its many forms, including the animated dead, at a maximum distance of 20 yards. This spell even allows the caster to detect creatures through walls, though the stealth capabilities of certain creatures may stymie this magic. This is a spell of Life Magic, level 1. Cost: 44 mana. Duration: 8 minutes. Range: Self. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 1 minute.

  Congratulations! You have learned: Weak Life’s Radiance. Creates a 5-yard radius of Life energy around the caster. All healing spells are 5% more effective to anyone within the boundaries of this spell. Life creatures are 5% stronger and Death creatures are 5% weaker. This is a spell of Life Magic, level 1. Cost: 38 mana. Duration: 5 minutes. Range: Self. Cast Time: 2 seconds. Cooldown: 18 minutes.

  Congratulations! You have learned: Weak Honed Air. Creates an area of extremely compressed air around your weapon. Increases the lethal distance of your weapon by 3 inches. Enemies struck with this extended radius will not trigger enchantments in your weapon. This is a spell of Air Magic, level 1. Cost: 31 mana. Duration: 20 minutes. Range: self. Cast Time: 2 seconds. Cooldown: 18 minutes.

  Congratulations! You have learned: Weak Voice Displacement. Allows the caster to make his voice appear to come from a different location up to 10 yards away. This is a spell of Air Magic, level 1. Cost: 17 mana. Duration: 12 minutes. Range: self. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: N/A.

  With all that done, Richter finally headed back to his room. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

  CHAPTER 54 – Day 144 – Kuborn 34, 0 AoC

  Richter awoke to a creature flying above his head.

  “It has happened. It is time!”

  Richter coughed as pixie dust fell in his mouth, “Wha- Elora?” Exactly what part of her body did that dust come from again?

  “Yes,” she replied happily. The piccolo sounds of her voice were filled with joy. “The Quickening fruit has matured. The tree is singing and so are my children! Come. You don’t want to miss the dawn!”

  Still somewhat confused, Richter was nevertheless caught up in his Companion’s joy. Alma was dislodged from her usual spot of sleeping on his chest as he sat up. She sent him her typical psychic complaints over having been woken up too early. Something about her not having a Belt of Sustenance that decreased her sleep needs and that he was a horrible and cruel master, followed by the obligatory demand that he scratch the scales down the middle of her back. After acceding to the last, both Richter and the dragonling got out of bed.

  Elora somehow tapped her foot impatiently while hovering in midair as he splashed some water on his face. She started audibly huffing when he put a dollop of what passed for toothpaste in The Land on his finger and scrubbed. He would not walk around with stank in his mouth, no matter how wondrous of an event was occurring. An event he still didn’t understand. A quick swish and spit later, and they were on their way.

  She flew fast enough that he had to jog to keep up with her. While he moved, he downed a Potion of Clarity from his Bag of Holding. The guards stationed in the catacombs clapped their fists to their chests in salute as he sped by. As he exited the caverns, Richter was greeted by a dark sky that was just beginning to lighten. The bluish moon Aquiel hung prominently in the heavens. East and closer to the horizon Richter could make out the nearly pitch black moon, Nevuur. It was smaller but still always seemed ominous to him; its purple striations gave it the appearance of a desiccated corpse. Despite it being in view, the fading night was perfect and beautiful. He could feel the wind caress his skin and he took a moment to watch the few clouds float across the sky. There was a moisture in the air, but it was still pleasantly warm from yesterday’s summer sun.

  Elora didn’t pause to take in the view and continued flying west towards the meadow. She stayed at the same elevation, soon dozens of yards above the earth. Queen she may be, but in that moment, she was just a young woman who was excited beyond belief. She waved at him impatiently, urging him to go faster. In a world that required him to sentence men and women to death, to fight for his very survival and to wash blood from his hands on a daily basis, Richter surrendered to the moment. He gave a laugh of pure jo
y and sprinted after her. She laughed as well, the sound like the tinkling of glass bells, and streaked off, leaving a trail of glowing dust behind her multicolored wings.

  In no time at all, he was in the northern meadow and running towards the Quickening. Its thick white leaves were shifting in the wind and Richter could see snatches of color peeking through. The pixies were flying in circles under the canopy, as excited as their queen. Elora had already crossed under the boughs of the celestial tree.

  Hisako’s army and the meidon sprites were arrayed in the meadow around the Quickening. The sprites all shared a deep bond with nature and were inspired by the Quickening, but they were in absolute awe of the pixies. The small creatures were the other half of their souls, and every sprite was born with a yearning for a union with one of them, a yearning for the meidon.

  As Richter got closer, he realized that the leaves of the Quickening were moving more than the wind could account for, and some were shifting in different directions. As soon as he crossed under the hanging tree limbs, he heard it. A faint tinkling that came from above. The silver undersides of the Quickening leaves were striking together, and somehow, they were making music. The pixies flew in intricate and opposing circles around the tree, their voices raised in song.

  Know This! You are witness to the Song of Celestial Ripening. The Quickening, the bonded tree of Queen Elora, has finally borne mature fruit. For the first time in several ages, the silver spheres of a Quickening shine their light upon The Land. The celestial pixies hear the chiming of the bells that vibrate in many realities. It will grow louder as the first light of the sun gets closer to shining upon the Quickening’s magnificence. Any who hear this song will be more likely to be successful in their endeavors for the next day and the Universe itself will help them make the best choices.

  Richter stood there, witness to beauty and poetry. Before long, the sun rose and he watched a miracle happen before his eyes. The first rays of light fell on its white leaves and the Quickening absorbed the power and promise of a new day. Overnight it had drank every wavelength of starlight that fell upon it, and now, with the golden rays of sunlight powering it as well, the tree came alive. The intricate whorls in the bark of the trunk became outlined in silver white light and for the first time Richter could see beyond a doubt that they were actually part of a language. He could not read it, proving that the words were of a higher language, most likely celestial, as his Gift of Tongues ability could translate almost anything else. As he watched, the dark silver fruit of the Quickening descended on thin branches. Each limb held one of the precious pods. There were easily more than a hundred in the first few moments and more descended every second.

  “As is only fitting, my lord,” Elora’s sweet voice came from behind him, “you shall have the first and best.”

  She led him to the trunk while her children sang and danced above her. Then she raised her own beautiful voice, light yet soulful, and sang to the tree itself. The light seeping through the whorls on the bark brightened and the octuple-helix that formed the trunk began to move. A last and final fruit descended from inside of the tree’s hollow center. It was half again as large as the others. It was attached to a single thin silver branch which flowed towards him. Richter raised both hands in supplication and the gift was delivered unto him.

  You have been bestowed:

  First Fruit of the Quickening

  Durability: 138/138

  Herb Class: Legendary

  Herb Quality: Celestial Pure

  Weight: 2.0 kg

  Traits: This is the first fruit produced by a Quickening. Anyone consuming the soft silver flesh of this fruit will be forever changed by its celestial nature. The full effects can only be known after consumption. This first fruit will surpass the effects of other fruit by 10x.

  In addition to the prompt showing the fruit’s actual stats, more notifications appeared in his vision.

  Congratulations! You have been honored with the First Fruit borne of a new Quickening. The celestial nature of this unique item will change you forever. From each generation of fruit created, you may enjoy the blessing of one of the fruits by consuming its flesh. Other uses of celestial fruit may be discovered in time. Normally, a Quickening bears fruit twice per year, but the bonus of your Life Mastery increases the resource growth of your village by +30%. Coupled with the benefits of being cared for by a celestial pixie, your Quickening will bear fruit four times per year. Truly you have been blessed, Richter of the Mist Village.

  There was nothing more. It seemed to him that such an amazing object, like the legendary fruit he was holding in his hands, deserved more pomp and circumstance. Apparently, the Universe disagreed. Or perhaps it was merely waiting for him to eat.

  Richter had almost no doubt that consuming the fruit would be a good thing, but he still had a niggling thread of worry. Too many times things had not been exactly as they appeared in The Land. He would have felt better if his Herb Lore skill could have told him the specific effects of eating the fruit, but the powerful nature of the tree precluded that.

  Elora headed off any further worry, flying in front of him. With a sure smile on her small face, she spoke, “You can trust me and my bonded tree, my lord. Please.” Saying nothing else, she grabbed hold of his free hand. With a flutter of her multicolored wings, she guided his fingers to the stem on top of the silver fruit.

  The exterior of the fruit was a gleaming silver. No one could ever mistake it for plain silver though because it was warm to the touch. Strong reflections could be seen in its smooth surface and there were faint whirls beneath the surface of the metal. It was perfectly spherical, except for a small depression on top that a stem extended out from. Richter had honestly been wondering how to go about eating it, because it felt like a lump of cool metal in his hand. At Elora’s urging, he pulled and twisted the stem. More silver light leaked from the top of the fruit until it came free completely. A beam the color of the precious metal bathed his face, bringing with it feelings of peace and contentment. With the stem gone, the outer silver rind fell away. The inner fruit was revealed and celestial light cascaded across all present.

  He would never fully be able to describe the experience as it seemed to transcend words, but it felt like acceptance and joy. It was the first time he’d gotten a one hundred on a quiz. It was the home run he’d hit as a child. The ball had flown so far! It was the perfect breast that had unscrambled, for just a moment, on channel ninety-nine. It was slow-dancing with a girl that liked him and feeling her melt into his arms. It was watching an eclipse with his dad while they ate ice cream. It was flipping a pancake for the first time and not making a mess. It was a sunrise after a nighttime hike. It was drinking too much with friends and laughing in a perfect moment that could never come again.

  The feeling was like every happy and joyous moment he’d ever felt, but stripped of the judgements, worries and concerns that had always plagued him. He understood, in that moment, the purity of good. It was a celebration of life, but also an acceptance of its imperfections. It was seeing how those “impurities” were actually as vital and necessary as the protrusions on puzzle pieces. They allowed every moment and every joy to fit into a greater whole. That was what he was a part of, what they were all a part of, a unity.

  Then the light began to fade, and Richter could clearly see the luminescent fruit. The skin was completely translucent. Inside of it was a slowly moving swirl of light. Globes that looked like silver planets revolved around a silver corona in the center. The light played across Richter’s skin and beckoned to him.

  Nothing perfect can last long in this dimension. Now that the inner flesh of the Quickening fruit has been exposed, it must be consumed quickly or be lost forever!

  The chaos seed did not wait any longer. His teeth bit into the fruit and the small universe of power it contained flowed into him!

  Know This! You have consumed the flesh of the First Fruit of a Quickening. By eating this Unique herb, you are now bound to this Quic
kening. The celestial tree is powerful, but benevolent. It only wishes to maximize the potential of all creatures. You will now begin to receive Unique quests associated with furthering the Quickening’s nature. These will offer opportunities and items that otherwise could not be obtained. They may also alter your relationship with certain factions.

  You have been offered a Quest: Potential for Greatness I

  Feed the fruit of the Quickening to ten different Professionals. Only Professionals with a “Good” or “Neutral” alignment may safely consume the fruit of the Quickening.

  Current Count: 1/10

  Reward: Unknown

  Penalty for Failure or Rejection of Quest: None

  Do you accept? Yes or No?

  Richter barely thought about it as he chose “Yes.” The juice of the fruit continued to pour down his throat and, it felt like, into his veins. More prompts appeared.

  You have consumed the First Fruit of a Quickening. This has infused your body with celestial power. You shall never be the same again. Your Attributes will be adjusted and any children that you have will also benefit from boons that you receive. Any further points invested in these stats will benefit from this modifier. The consequences of this action may never be fully known, but there are decisions to be made now. Due to your exposure to the Song of Celestial Ripening, you may allow the Universe to choose what it believes to be in your best interests. Be warned, the will and whim of the Universe is unfathomable. Do you wish the Universe to decide for you? Yes or No?