by Skyler Grant
"I think things will sort themselves. No promises, I'm not an expert, but I've been around more than most. You'll be okay," Malachite said, stopping her pacing to grab my hand to give it a squeeze. It was a kind gesture. Whatever bad things she might do, she wasn't all that. Story of my life.
"So, what next?" I asked.
"I'll take you and Mellaise back to the Crucible Shard and tell the others where to find you," Malachite said, reaching out to take Mellaise's arm as well.
"Special request?" I asked.
"Just because I'm a little desperate doesn't mean I'm easy. You owe me a few dates first," Malachite said.
Fair enough.
"You're the one with transport. That kind of puts you in charge of the time and place. The Vainglory was seeking a way to attack the Elves and stop their invasion of my lands," I said.
"Just because I can get you anywhere doesn't mean I'm an atlas. If it is someplace you have been, I might be able to home in on that, but I can't just pop you someplace you hope to be," Malachite said.
"There is a waterfall near the World Tree, which is where you want to go. Nice and secluded, and it should bring you close to your goal. I've been there," Mellaise said.
"That will do," Malachite said.
The world shimmered and we blinked between realities.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
We materialized in a cavern behind a waterfall. Thick mosses covered the ground and sunlight came through the water, creating a rainbow effect on the walls.
"Pretty," Malachite said, releasing my arm. "I'll go let Lea know where to find you and the very large size of the favor she owes me."
Malachite shimmered and was gone leaving me alone with Mellaise.
"You're back!" Yvera said.
"I guess reality blew a fuse. Do you know what we discussed?"
"I'm getting your memories now."
"Yvera speaking in your mind?" Mellaise asked.
"Yeah. She's glad I'm back. We're catching up," I said.
"Good. I'm glad she's watching. Why don't you go ahead and put her on hold for the moment and do something important like screwing my brains out?" Mellaise said.
"I hate her. I really hate her," Yvera said.
She would go on to say considerably worse things during the next few hours. The mosses were soft and so was Mellaise.
Night was falling before the Vainglory finally appeared outside and Lea was stepping through the waterfall.
"Clothes on, you two. Mellaise, I hope you have a way back home," Lea said, less than approving.
"Afraid not. I'll need to hitch a ride," Mellaise said.
"You picked a fine time for it. Liam, was it your bright idea to bring us this deep into Elvish territory?" Lea asked.
"Wasn't that the goal?" I asked, as I went looking for my armor to slip it on.
"That was the goal when we had the greatest weapon alive along. Replacing her with a slutty water spirit isn't going to help," Lea said.
"Not nice, I can be useful," Mellaise said.
"She does have the ability to sing and have men do her bidding," I said.
"No. Really?" Lea said with a snort.
"We can discuss it when we get back to the ship."
Lea gave us time to finish getting dressed and we climbed aboard the Vainglory. I hadn't been sure what Mela meant when she said the World Tree, but now it was obvious. It towered like a mountain with branches reaching towards the heavens themselves.
"That is one big tree," I said.
"Yeah. Supposedly the health of the whole world is tied to it. It has roots that go deep underground and all the way to the world's core," Lea said.
Right. It was a really big tree.
Yvera and Atlantia appeared in swirls of flame and water respectively.
"Bitch, Mother," Mellaise greeted them.
"I didn't expect to see both of you," I said.
"I'm here to tell you to burn that tree to the ground. Atlantia is here to slap her daughter around," Yvera said.
"Behave yourself," Atlantia said to Mellaise.
"No," Mellaise said with casual disregard.
"I tried," Atlantia said with a shrug, and disappeared as suddenly as she'd come.
Yvera stared at where she vanished, her expression furious. "I hate that whole family. I truly do,"
Mellaise slipped her arm around my waist and leaned close. "So, burning the tree to the ground?"
Yvera glared at her. After just a moment of indecision she picked her battle, deciding to focus on the tree instead. "It's not true that the entire world is affected by this tree. Selaris, Goddess of Wood and patron of the Elvish race, has that tree as part of her very essence. We burn it to the ground, she dies, and the Elves wither and rot as their lands burn around them."
"Isn't that a little extreme?" I asked.
"It is what we came here for. To stop the Elvish invasion of Galea so we can focus our attention elsewhere. That is our way to do it," Yvera said.
"I don't like it. I'm pretty sure genocide is bad no matter how inconvenient a people are being," Ashley said.
"Perhaps you can use a threat against the tree to get the Elves to withdraw?" Lea said.
Yvera looked around and her aura of flames pulsed with irritation. "I am not having a discussion here. That tree and all associated with it are going to burn in my flames."
"I'm for it," Mellaise said, and we turned towards her in surprise. The Demi-goddess shrugged, "I've got no stake in this fight, and if she could, she'd already be burning me alive. Consider it a peace offering."
"We're not at peace," Yvera said. "Don't forget your place or where you stand in things."
Mellaise stiffened against me before smiling sweetly. "I can stay in your cabin, right Liam? It will be just like we're moving in together."
"Of course, you can," I said, and leaned in to kiss Mellaise. I'd love to have more time around her, and I was confident that with time she and Yvera could learn to overcome their differences. If wiping out Mela's mountain had proved anything, it was how powerful fire and water were when they combined.
"Can't you do anything?" Yvera said to the others.
"I don't like it, but I'm kind of an extension of Atlantia's will in this. She's staying hands off and letting them sort it out," Ashley said.
Lea studied Mellaise thoughtfully and shook her head. "I'm not going to throw her off the ship when she's here in the first place because we needed her help. Why can't you do anything?"
"She's water and my abilities to bypass her in the other world truly are weakening," Yvera said.
"It's not like I mean to hurt him. I'm not that big a bitch, no matter how much I don't like you. We'll just have some fun and I get to piss you off a bit, and actually help out in your fight. This isn't a problem unless you make it one," Mellaise said.
I said, "I'm not totally out of my head. I know what she's doing—I mean, it gets a little fuzzy sometimes, but I know. If it becomes a problem I'll say something."
Mellaise frowned at that but didn't issue any orders to the contrary. I wondered if I did have it in me to resist her pull. I could resist Malachite, and Malachite was supposed to be even stronger. Perhaps a part of me knew how Mellaise would make use of her control and wanted to go along? Perhaps this was all just some of the strangest flirting imaginable.
"Back to the tree then and burning it to the ground," Yvera said.
"You don't need us for that, do you? Can't you just set fire to it yourself?" Lea asked.
"It's not quite that simple. It's the center of power of another Goddess and I don't have any advantages here. On a divine power level I'm fighting an uphill battle," Yvera said.
"But you aren't alone. Mela should have an elemental advantage. You didn't kill her, did you?" I asked.
Yvera grimaced. "She's sulking since I melted her arms off."
"I'm surprised she didn't have replacements. She seems fond of leaving old designs of her creations everywhere," Ashley said.
"I may
have had her put on a few old sets and melted them as well," Yvera said, and her aura of flames pulsed once again in annoyance.
"How long did you spend torturing her?" I asked
"You'd disappeared into some nowhere corner of reality and I was stressed and pissed. Setting her on fire helped. She put me in a cage, Liam. Nobody ever gets to do that to me again without a cost," Yvera said.
"Pissing her off is looking less and less like fun," Mellaise said.
"So, if you can't just set fire to it, what do you expect us to do? It's massive, and even if I could get close to the thing the Vainglory's cannons aren't going to make much of a difference," Lea said.
"Why can't we just fly up to it? The Elvish military is gone?" I asked.
"This is the center of their faith and the key to their survival. There will be guards, and probably the most elite fighters their people have," Lea said.
That made an unfortunate amount of sense.
"There will be a chamber somewhere in that tree that will contain its heart. You need to get Liam there. Then I can bring my power to bear through him and finish things," Yvera said.
"Not helping us on the matter of getting close," Lea said.
"I can't do all the thinking for you. Figure it out," Yvera said, and vanished in her usual swirl of flames. I guess she was done talking.
"Can the dimensional drive get us there?" I asked.
"It could, if I had an exact location," Lea said. "But it is the seat of a Goddess. I'm one hell of a seer, but I'm thoroughly scry-blocked."
"We could find some elves and have Mellaise make them tell us where the chamber is, and how to get there," Ashley said.
"I could do that," Mellaise said.
"Provided the defenders were entirely straight males, sure," Lea said. "And provided their defenses just happen to have an easily exploited loophole everyone knows about that never gets closed."
Okay. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea.
"The underground river. There is one feeding the root system. If we stay in the water my mother can mask our approach," Mellaise said.
"You'd be without the Vainglory for backup," Lea said unhappily.
"I haven't heard a better idea yet. Does anyone have one?" I asked.
"There will still be guards or some sort of defenses. We've gotten in trouble underestimating our enemies before," Ashley said.
I said, "We aren't underestimating anyone. We're assuming they're smart and capable, that's why we aren't going to charge right in the front door. This won't be ideal, but it does give us an advantage from one of our aligned Goddesses at least."
"What about Mela, Walt? Is she going to be able to give us any backup at all? I know she's hurting, but we could really use an ace in the hole," Ashley said.
"You blew up her base and Liam's Goddess burned her arms off, multiple times. She's pretty pissed," Walt said.
"I'm sure. Mela, can we talk?" I asked.
With the scent of copper in the air and the spinning of gears, Mela materialized. She had arms of a sort, although they were clearly not ones that had been built for her. Instead of fingers there was some sort of talons. I think she must have scavenged them from a harpy.
"So, I know you're pissed," I said.
"Of course, I'm pissed. She tortured me! You saw her doing it and just left," Mela said.
I felt she did have some right to be peeved. We were lovers, even if it had only been the one time and she promptly tried to destroy the world afterward. Actually, thinking of that made me a good bit less sympathetic.
"You were going to leave me to die after dropping a spaceship on my head," I said.
Mela scowled. "I'm the one with a right to be pissed here."
I raised my hands in a placating gesture and she glared. Right. A reminder of hands was bad. I lowered them and said, "I get it, you're really pissed at Yvera right now, but it's not like you haven't fucked us over either. We've still had fun together sometimes, right?"
"If you are looking to have my crude metal talons running sensuously down your spine you are completely misreading my mood," Mela said.
I really wasn't, although now that she mentioned it I was rather curious what she could do with them. I looked her over.
"Gross," Ashley said.
Right. I forced myself to think of the matter at hand. "We can talk about that later, I'm totally for it, by the way."
"It really pisses Yvera off," Mellaise said in an effort to be helpful. As mind-controlling temporary girlfriends went, she was a good one.
I said, "Before we got onto that tangent, I was going to say that however pissed off you might be at Yvera, I know how she feels about Atlantia and Mellaise. Do you really not want to give us a hand messing up that tree?"
Mela considered this and grudgingly said, "Selaris really is a bitch. She's all nature and life and biology. It's really gross."
I kind of liked biology. Still, go with it. I gave her my best smile. "Isn't that worth a chainsaw or three?"
Mela turned to face Walt, "Fine. Is it okay if I tear one of your arms off?"
"Okay," Walt said.
"No!" Ashley and I said together.
Mela wasn't listening to us, she stepped forward and dug those talons into Walt's shoulder and with a wrench tore the arm right out of its socket. There was a gush of blood and Walt fell to the ground.
"Woah," Mellaise said, taking a step back.
"You fucking bitch. He's your Chosen!" Ashley said furiously, as she knelt at Walt's side and I moved to join her. I reached out and fired off my heal spell.
Lay on Hands
There was resistance. There wasn't normally, but something divine was pushing back. Flesh knitted back, but where a new arm should have grown back, nothing did.
Mela gave the arm a look of distaste and threw it to the ground at Mellaise's feet, who quickly took a step back.
"Seriously. What. The. Fuck," Mellaise shouted at Mela.
Mela said, "I've been working on some great designs. Real upgrades to what I had. Mine must be made of my own essence, but for him I can convert something like Yvera did for that lame-ass sword of yours. This is going to be great."
"I had to kill a hero of legend to make my sword. We aren't just going to find one lying around," I said.
"I've got something. It's perfect. I love a project," Mela said, gushing excitement, and with the sound of grinding gears she vanished.
"There is something seriously wrong with that woman," Mellaise said in shaking voice. "I say that as someone who does some pretty fucked-up stuff myself."
"Some of our friends and allies kind of suck. You know about that. Could you grab the arm?" Ashley asked.
"Uh, no. Not doing it," Mellaise said
Lea walked over and picked up the arm. "I'll go and toss it in a cold locker we have. Even if magic here is preventing healing, they might be able to reattach it if we shift to a technological world."
Right. Lea had the best plans.
"Do we wait on Mela to get back then?" I asked.
"We shouldn't be sticking around. If the Elves haven't noticed us yet, they will soon," Lea said as she studied the arm. "She really did just rip this thing out."
My stomach lurched dangerously. I usually did well with the brutal slaughter, but it's different when it is a friend.
"I'm good to go," Walt said.
"Atlantia can guide us to an access way for the underwater river," Ashley said.
"Let's do it then," I said. We were going shorthanded into the lair of a well-entrenched and powerful enemy. Literally shorthanded, in one case. I hoped that Atlantia really would be able to shield us within the water.
CHAPTER TWENTY
We reached the river through a cavern with an entrance hidden behind several boulders. There was flowing water, and it might have consumed the whole cavern once, but the thick tendrils of roots drank so thirstily that the level was lowered.
Ashley, Walt, and Mellaise accompanied me, so it was just the four of us headed
into this fight. The crew of the Vainglory remained with the ship. They were usually around to play backup and rescue, but given where we were going I wasn't sure they'd be able to do much of either.
Walt summoned his fireflies to light the cavern and we began to wade downstream, the water up to our waists making it slow and dangerous progress, along with the slick stones beneath our feet.
Mellaise looked radiant. I was used to her on dry land, but here where she had a connection to the water something different took over. Even without the mind-control I think I'd have found her stunning.
"Do you have any clue where we're going?" I asked Walt.
"I'm sorry. I think I would have once known. There were botanists who were a part of me. I remember the shape of them, but not the contents of their minds," Walt said.
It was creepy when he put it like that.
"We're looking for the heartwood. That will be in the trunk. Once we get to the tree itself we'll need to find a passage through the sapwood to reach it," Ashley said.
"Since when are you smart?" Mellaise asked.
"We're from a farming town. Everyone should know this stuff," Ashley said.
I hadn't. I'd always been rather more focused on biology than botany.
Water sloshed around us. This was an exhausting sort of slog. Walt had an even harder time of it.
"So, I've been meaning to ask. When we went back home, you and Walt were really okay?" I asked.
"We weren't exactly doing great for a little while. I puked my guts up for a few hours. Then afterward it was just weird," Ashley said.
"Weird how?"
"You know how when you would play the cheap games in the village, and even when things were mostly real they just weren't? The little bits didn't fit together quite right. It was like that," Ashley said.
Huh.
"I guess that makes sense, if this really is more real," I said.
"This isn't more real, Liam. Don't be an idiot," Ashley said, giving me a stern look.
"You just said how the real world looked fake after this one. Which is it?"
Ashley took a moment to answer. "Your entire life is there, Liam. Friends, family. I know you weren't exactly happy with how everything was going there, but don't mistake what matters. It isn't this place."