Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer

by Dante King

  Vinata nodded.

  He smiled at her as they came to a stop in front of one particularly large oak tree. “That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard,” he told Vinata, sincerely.

  She cocked her head and looked at him. “You have a funny way of speaking. When something is cool, that is a sign of positive appreciation, yes?”

  He laughed. “Yeah, that’s right. I think it’s amazing that you can talk to trees.”

  Vinata beamed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. Thank you, Benjamin. One day I will be sure to tell you what the trees think about you.”

  Ben chuckled nervously. He wasn’t sure whether that would be a good thing.

  “And what magic are you capable of, Benjamin?” Vinata looked up at him curiously. “You must have great power to kill those mountain ogres the way you did tonight.”

  “Uh, actually, that was pretty unexpected to me, too,” he said.

  She frowned, as if slightly disappointed in his answer.

  “I mean, I’ve never fought so many enemies at once. I didn’t know if I could handle it.”

  Vinata put a hand on his arm. “We watched you through the window of our hut, all three of us. You fought bravely.”

  Ben smiled and took a deep breath. It was hard to explain his new powers when he hardly understood them himself. But he found he wasn’t feeling any fear or anxiety at this point. Only sheer joy at being alive and at attaining power he’d scarcely even dreamed of.

  “Benjamin?” Vinata interrupted his thoughts.

  “Hmm?”

  “What was the power you used on those ogres? One man could not have slain so many without some sort of magic, surely.”

  “I can take energy from others,” he explained.

  “What does that mean?” she asked.

  “It means I can take strength or mental or emotional power from others. I can also give it to people, as well as take it.”

  “So that is how you were able to slay their leader. That is how he became so weak.” Vinata’s eyes lit up with understanding. “That can’t have been easy for you, to stand in front of such a terrifying giant.”

  “It certainly wasn’t,” Ben agreed.

  Vinata’s brow furrowed. “But wait, if you can sap emotional energy too, is that what you did to Lulu?”

  He nodded. Ben worried she might be angered by him messing around with her friend’s emotions like that. But he wasn’t about to lie to her.

  She continued to look puzzled. “And you did that to us, taking our fear away?”

  Ben felt his stomach clench. He had made a difficult decision as the Forgotten Ruler to do what was right, even if they might not understand it. Now he had to defend that decision.

  “And that’s why you slumped to the ground while you were talking to us?” Vinata probed.

  “That’s right. I called you monsters because I was frightened. I’m sorry.” Ben held out his hands apologetically.

  The beautiful dryad beamed. “That was so brave of you. And so kind.”

  “You’re not angry at me?” he asked.

  “Why would I be angry?”

  “I didn’t ask for your permission.”

  Vinata dismissed this with a wave of her hand. “We were hardly in a state to give permission. You did what you saw as best to resolve the situation. You had no other choice.”

  Ben smiled, a weight lifting off his chest. “Let me show you what else I can do.” He took the green haired woman’s hand, looking into her eyes.

  She looked back at him with curiosity.

  Ben gathered his mana. He could tell he definitely had more than before. It must have been regenerating. He would have to talk to Melody about this later.

  He gathered some of the joyful emotions that were filling him now at his newfound place in this world. Being careful to lose as little as possible, he gave some of this emotion to Vinata.

  Her eyes widened as she felt the joy flooding into her. She laughed, a bright and clear laugh.

  Looking deep into his eyes, she smiled warmly. “That is a beautiful spell.” She paused for a moment. “Beautiful and terrifying.”

  Ben nodded. She was certainly right about that.

  They continued a little while longer, through the trees and into what seemed a much wilder part of the forest.

  A chill suddenly ran down Ben’s spine, and he immediately stopped in his tracks. Deep in his chest, he felt a throbbing, as though a phantom hand had suddenly gripped his heart.

  He gasped.

  Vinata rushed over to him. “What is it?” she asked.

  Ben shook his head, and the feeling abated. “It’s. . . I felt something just then.”

  She looked him over, and her gaze came to rest at his feet.

  “There,” the dryad hissed as she thrust a finger at where he was standing.

  He looked down to where her finger was pointing and saw that he was standing on something most definitely man-made. It was a stone block, covered in leaves and detritus, but he could just make out arcane symbols carved into its weather-worn surface.

  “What is it?” he wondered aloud as he stepped back away from it.

  “Something from long ago,” Vinata said.

  Ben squatted down and brushed the leaves away from the surface. “I can’t read whatever these symbols are. Can you?”

  Vinata held her hands out helplessly. “Reading?”

  Right, he considered, dryads probably wouldn’t condone paper production either.

  There was one symbol in the center of the stone slab that did look strangely familiar. It was a triangular shape with an oval inside it. The third eye? The evil eye? It was a symbol we had back on earth too. What could it mean? None of the other symbols made any sense to Ben.

  “Do you think this stone is related to the ruins back in the town?” Ben asked.

  Vinata shrugged. “Probably, but who can say? This region is filled with the remnants of the Forgotten Ruler’s former civilization. They say that there exist dungeons beneath the earth, where one can find his power if they are willing to defeat its guardians.”

  “Is that right?” Ben asked, his mind filled with images of slaying monsters in return for power. He imagined standing on top of a fallen beast, something with many eyes and horns jutting out of its forehead. Ben pictured himself using Drain to pull the power from the beast, growing strong in the process.

  He grinned at the mental image.

  He liked it.

  Once again, Vinata shrugged. “They are stories. My people believe the Forgotten Ruler will return, but it is mostly just tradition, tales sung by bards to keep children happy.”

  “Do you believe the Forgotten Ruler will return, Vinata?” He asked, staring into her green eyes.

  For the third time, the dryad shrugged. “Perhaps. But it won’t matter to us if we die of starvation.”

  He laughed. “Too true.” he gestured around him. “Is this a halfway decent place to find food? We really should be getting back to the others soon.”

  “Let us go a little further,” she said, and she glanced at the strange stone at his feet. “The vegetation here is tainted.”

  Ben followed her further until she stopped him at a small clearing, surrounded by large, gray-leafed trees.

  “You see the roots on the ground here?” Vinata asked as she squatted at the foot of a tree.

  He followed her gaze, which led to a bunch of gnarled, twisted roots. “You expect us to eat those? I’m not exactly big on wood for dinner.”

  Vinata’s lips curled upward, giving her cheeks cute dimples, but she refrained from looking smug.

  “These roots are not the same as the others,” she explained.

  “They look the same to me.” All Ben could see was dirty brown twisted looking roots.

  “These roots are partly composed of succulent flesh, which will make a fine meal.”

  Ben knelt next to her to look closer. “Do you need my scimitar to cut the roots?”

  Vinata shook
her head, making her long green hair shake lightly, as though in a breeze. “If you know where to grasp it, you can pull strips of the tree’s flesh away without causing any harm. This is one of the first crafts we dryads learn as children.”

  “And doesn’t the tree suffer when you take away part of the roots?” he asked.

  Vinata’s face lit up in a warm smile, and she looked into his eyes. “So soon and you already care about the life of the forest.”

  He smiled back. He wasn’t sure how much he cared just yet, but maybe he could learn to see things from Vinata’s perspective.

  “I care,” Ben agreed. “But right now I’m also getting pretty hungry.”

  “Of course.” Vinata turned back to her work. “The trees do not suffer if you only harvest a small amount each time. The forest will gladly feed you if you know where to look, and do not succumb to greed.”

  Ben watched in surprised wonder as Vinata pried her slender fingers into the flesh of the tree roots, appearing to know just by feel, exactly where the seams were.

  With a sucking sound, a strip of the root just pulled away from the rest. Vinata held it out to him.

  He took the strip in his hands. It was soft and flexible, much like a strip of animal flesh, not at all rigid and hard like wood. In the moonlight, he could see sap welling up and congealing on the root where Vinata had harvested.

  “It won’t be long before the root heals over and grows back,” Vinata explained as she harvested several more strips.

  Ben watched her work with attention, though he couldn’t help also watching her petite round breasts on full display as she crouched over the tree roots. Her leafy upper garment appeared better designed to hold than to conceal.

  As Vinata handed him the last strip of tree flesh, she saw where his gaze was leading. Her eyebrows arched playfully, and she didn’t seem too bothered by his stare. Ben chuckled, taking his gaze from her chest.

  Vinata laughed softly, her voice clear like birdsong. Her smile was open and innocent. If she was embarrassed by him staring at her like that, she didn’t show it.

  “You are a strange man.” She studied him with curiosity. “You are bigger and stronger than the menfolk among our dryads, yet you are not brutish like the mountain ogres who took us as prisoners. Where are you from?”

  Ben’s mind raced over possible answers to this question as he got to his feet, ready to head back. He would have to tell the nymphs who he was before long, but he had no idea how they would receive this news. He would much prefer to speak to Melody about the matter in private first, and work out the best way to explain the situation. For now, he would have to continue to be vague when speaking with the nymphs.

  “I come from a little known region, far away from here,” he said. “It is far from the Arcanarium as well.” Technically none of that was false.

  “What do your people do? What are they like?” Vinata persisted as they walked back through the woods. Ben carried the strips of harvested roots in both arms, with the scimitar gripped in his left hand. Vinata walked beside him on his right.

  How to characterize humanity? People had spent their lives trying to answer this very question.

  First, his mind went to ancient history, to the great empires long passed.

  He imagined the Great Pyramid of Giza.

  “We’re…creators. My people have built dozens, hundreds, of impossibly complex structures and bridges—monuments to their own glory.”

  Then he imagined the Parthenon, the gleaming white, marble cities of ancient Greece. He imagined Greece’s greatest thinkers seated on its steps, discussing the nature of the gods themselves.

  “We’re dreamers and philosophers.”

  He thought of Rome, legions of warriors clad in blood-red armor moving with perfect discipline, soldiers capable of conquering a continent.

  “We’re fighters.”

  He thought of the Renaissance, the great sculptures and paintings and works of music.

  “My people are artists, no bounds to our creativity.”

  He thought of technology, of nuclear power and spaceships and computers that could fit in your pocket.

  “My people are builders.”

  That word was a mistake. Vinata gave an exclamation of disapproval.

  “But my people are also researchers. We study nature. I would gladly learn how to build without hurting the forest.” Ben couldn’t help but feel a certain conviction behind this idea. He’d never liked the thought of causing environmental damage without a good reason.

  Vinata glanced at him skeptically. “I suppose that might be possible.” She seemed to thaw once more. “You are very mysterious, Benjamin.”

  Something else occurred to Ben, something from English class way back when.

  “There was a poet among my people. He said ‘I am vast—I contain multitudes. That’s…that’s how I’d describe my people. We’re not one thing. We’re everything. We’re diverse and mysterious and infinitely complex.”

  “Vast, contain multitudes,” she said, as if trying the words on for size. “That’s…strange. But I like it.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Ben chuckled. “So, Vinata, can you tell me more about your companions? About Lulu and Imogen? And how did you all come to be captured?”

  Vinata raised an eyebrow. “I can tell you more, Benjamin. But don’t think I will give up so easily. You will have to tell me more about where you are from eventually.”

  “Eventually,” he promised.

  Vinata huffed and made a small pout, puffing her cheeks out like ripe fruit. Then she sighed, resignedly.

  “Lulu is a water nymph, as you’ve called her. She comes from one of the tribes of the undines.”

  “I don’t like to make generalizations, but if Lulu is anything to go by, the undines don’t seem to be as peaceful as the dryads,” Ben surmised, remembering Lulu’s banter about luring men to their deaths.

  “That is correct. Undines are really quite bloodthirsty, at least in the eyes of my people.” Vinata shuddered slightly. “They lie in wait in the waterways of the forest and ambush passing travelers. Many of the folk from outside the forest find the undines, especially the females, quite beautiful, and they are easily enticed.”

  “Like sirens,” he muttered.

  “Like what?” Vinata asked.

  “Oh, we have legends where I am from about a race of women who lure men to their deaths.” He steered the conversation away from anything too specific about who he was. “Do the undines then eat the men they kill?”

  Vinata shook her head. “They are not so barbaric. Really, they are simply defending the forest, just like we do. Their methods are just a little more … ruthless.”

  “I see.” Hopefully he could remain on Lulu’s good side. He didn’t want to find out what she might do if she perceived him as a threat to the forest. “And Imogen?” Ben asked.

  “The oreads are a solitary tribe of mountain nymphs,” Vinata explained. “They are highly religious and have many rules in their society.”

  That sounded vaguely familiar. “But you said the dryads are religious too,” he queried.

  “We have many magical ceremonies,” Vinata admitted. “But we do not have so many rules governing our lives. The oreads have many rules, particularly surrounding sex.”

  “What kind of rules?” he asked.

  “They are only allowed sex once they are married, and it must only be for the purposes of procreation. Hence they are not allowed any kind of sex that does not lead to procreation.”

  “So, you mean oral, anal, that kind of thing?”

  Vinata looked slightly taken aback. “I did not think you would be so open about such things.”

  “Are dryads embarrassed by this kind of talk?”

  “Not at all.” Vinata shook her head. “We nymphs generally consider such things a natural part of life. It is only rare to encounter a stranger who is equally unashamed.”

  What could Ben say? College life could do that
to a guy. He couldn’t explain that just yet either though.

  “If nymphs consider sex to be natural,” he began, “why do the oreads have such strict rules about it?”

  Vinata shook her head. “I’m not entirely sure. The rest of us don’t consider oreads to be true nymphs. Their peculiar customs are very strange.”

  “That does sound strange,” he agreed. “But you have far more experience than Imogen then?”

  “Actually, not really.” Vinata shook her head slowly. “Although we dryads have a more open attitude toward these things, I have remained chaste until now. As daughter of the high priestess, I wanted my first time to be a more sacred experience.”

  “That sounds reasonable,” Ben said, though really he had no idea what being the child of a dryad priestess might be like.

  “And I suppose, deep down,” Vinata hesitated. “This might sound foolish.”

  “I won’t judge.” He smiled, hoping to convey a non-judgmental attitude.

  “My people still wait for the return of the Forgotten Ruler, and I hoped -- it was a silly dream I guess, but I’ve always hoped I might be able to become one of his wives.”

  One of his wives? What on earth—or whatever planet we were on—was she talking about? An image of the dark lord with many women in his arms came to Ben’s mind, from the vision he’d seen in the crystal ball. What could all this mean?

  Ben wanted to ask more about that idea, but he didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. If he asked too much about the Forgotten Ruler, it might become obvious that he was not from this world. And he thought back to what Melody said about not revealing who he was, how some might try to take advantage of him before he gained more power. He had to remember to maintain his apparent ignorance.

  “The Forgotten Ruler?” He asked. “I have only heard vague legends about him. I heard that he was a dark tyrant.” It would be interesting to learn how he was perceived by the dryads.

  Vinata chuckled. “The Forgotten Ruler was always a friend of the monstrous races, such as us nymphs, and a harsh judge of those who tried to oppress us. Perhaps this is what you have heard of?”

  “Perhaps it is,” Ben said. “So, tell me—how did the three of you get captured?”