Colin frowned at a stone on the ground and kicked it over. [It can't be this easy.]
[It can't] Kyubia agreed.
Joseph Town had surrendered a minute after that Banjo guy died. Banjo reminded Colin of Foxtrot with his way of speaking in musical terms most of the time. The chubby, balding guy with that instrument of his had summoned quite a force, but nothing that Kyubia's clan alone hadn't been able to take out.
Banjo barely had time to complain. "Ain't hardly fair, bro! You got hundreds of them Wilds against my thirty!"
All in all, it was too easy.
[I smell a trap.] Kyubia added.
Colin sighed. [What would you rather do? Destroy the town?]
[That's the way we normally do things, isn't it?]
Then a call came through to Colin.
"Ginny?" Colin blinked when he heard the voice. "What's wrong?"
"They're burning the forest!" Ginny yelped. "The Union remnants are everywhere, they came all across the river from Benjamin Town ruins to Lamico Town! They're burning everything!"
That blasted Union! "Stay in Lakeside and protect it! I'm sending the Clans to…"
"They're already fighting! The Forest Wilds are getting captured or burnt!"
Colin growled. He remembered the Union's tactics and the way they fought Forest Wilds. The last time, he stopped them by mind-linking with Kyubia. "I'm on my way!"
Kyubia, too, was angry. [That Union! To burn the Forest! After we spared their town!]
[We spared the town of the Protectorate. We wiped out the Union's towns, remember?] Colin pointed out. [Now they're burning the forest.]
[We shall exact vengeance!] Kyubia growled, a deep, low growl.
[Steady, Kyubia. We don't really want to destroy everything.]
[We don't?]
Colin paused and considered a Lamico Continent without any towns, or meddling humans and their wars over money and power. A Lamico Continent that was pure forest.
It was tempting. Very tempting.
But even if they did that, people would still try to come and take the land. Man in his greed would go even farther than this in order to profit.
Colin growled. [I trusted the Protectorate. I thought if I dealt with them fairly, they, too…]
[You trusted Lucy.] Kyubia pointed out. [And she betrayed the Protectorate. She, and we, are the traitors, not they.]
Colin froze, even as Kyubia carried him on her back and ran as fast as she could for the forest.
She was right. They were the traitors, not the Protectorate.
In fact, the Union was the faction attacking the forest. And they were taking revenge for the towns they lost, the homes that the Forest Wilds had burned… by burning the homes of the Forest Wilds in turn.
Colin shook his head. [This is never going to end, is it…? We keep taking revenge on each other over and over again. Killing someone in Dreamworlds only lets that person respawn. He'd come back even angrier every time. It will never end.]
[Then we must hurt them so bad they never want to come back.]
[People have a way of dealing with things too terrible for them.] Colin told her. [They ask for help. Then we'd be dealing with more and more and more people. That'll never end either.]
[Then we should find a way to stop anyone from attacking us ever again.] Kyubia said.
[And how will we do that?] Colin asked. [Everything we do only makes things worse. The hatred will never end.]
[There must be a way. There must.]
Colin thought about that. [Maybe we should make friends with everybody.]
Kyubia barked a laugh. [And let evil take advantage of you? Serve the greed of anyone who wants, just to avoid fighting? Allow them to do whatever they want to those you care about?]
[Friends don't do that.]
[Real friends don't. But there are those who only say they are friends and then take advantage of you.]
Colin thought about that. [Yes, there are.]
For another minute, they went on in silence. Then, Colin shook his head again. [How did we get into this? No other Forester ever got involved in wars. If I knew this was going to happen, I may as well have saved us all the trouble when rescuing Sora and go all out from the start.]
And then they came in sight of the forest, and all the fire and smoke and laughing men with axes. They saw all those Forest Wilds trapped and burned to death, or suffocating in the smoke.
[Colin…] Oreb fell from the sky, choking on smoke. [I'm sorry…]
And they heard Deeproot's cry.
The Lord of the tree-type Oakin was screaming. [My people! They are burning my people!!]
Colin turned cold. Kyubia's heart held ice. Their minds linked.
One last shred of mercy made him send a call to Satrox before he struck.
"Satrox," Colin said, "I've had enough."
"Colin?!" Satrox gaped. "You sound…"
"I'm wiping everything out." Colin told him. "I will not hold back any more. Fight me if you must, because now the entire continent needs rescuing."
***
It began with terror.
Port Rachel began to receive men of the Union remnants who fled screaming into the sea. Some were blubbering in panic, or weeping outright.
It looked familiar enough. There had been scores of Union men who left the continent the same way, not long ago. Those who did so never returned. These probably wouldn't either.
But then Protectorate woodcutters started showing up in total panic. These weren't crazy or seeing things that weren't there. They were sane, screaming and running, but quite sane and what they said made perfect sense.
"The whole Forest is coming at us!"
The Protectorate forces readied themselves the way they would prepare to face a Republic army, but shockingly, even the people from Lakeside, those who had said they stood with the Forester, started running in and buying tickets for the first ship out.
"The Forester's gone crazy! He's even attacking {us}!"
And then they received word that the Forest was not all they had to fear.
The Wilds of Lost Paradise, too, had arisen to join their Forest neighbors. The river from Silverveins stopped flowing, and the Wilds of the Northern Ruins had stepped out into broad daylight for the first time in… well… ever.
"He's trying to destroy {everything}!" people said.
One look over any town walls confirmed that those people were right.
The Wilds of every dungeon in Lamico had emerged, even the Wilds of the deepest levels where only the bravest and strongest dared approach, and they came in the hundreds and thousands. With untold ferocity, they swarmed towards the towns of Lamico Continent, regardless of faction.
Visitors to Windy Beach Ville sometimes joined the Northern Ruins Excavation crew and fought foot long mini-wyrms as they explored the dungeon for adventure or treasure. Most of them never went deep enough to fight a ten-foot long snap-serpent. Only a handful ever saw the huge creatures known as Basilisks.
Until today. The guards at Windy Beach took one look at twenty Basilisks coming at them and quit on the spot. They were the first to run away.
The foremost and biggest of the Basilisks, over a hundred feet long on its own, flickered out its tongue at the palisade gate. The gate went flying ten feet before smashing into the nearest building. With one bite, the Basilisk crunched the entire lookout tower in its mouth.
Meanwhile, as the evacuees from Windy Beach ran south, more evacuees from Lamico Town were running north, screaming about Mega-Rexsaurs and hundreds of gigantic dinosaurs all trampling in on them.
The Seaport sold out of tickets and a massive riot began as everyone started fighting their way on board any floating vessel, ticket or no ticket.
It was at that point that the leaders of the Protectorate finally contacted the leaders of the Republic to ask for a truce.
***
Satrox had been enjoying himself until now.
Their plan was working. When Katrin pulled her forces back, Satrox, Sora and Lucy pounced on Scopia's forces from behind and above with all the birds and flying Comrades they had.
"What the…?!" Scopia managed before she was killed back to her Home Base.
But then a call came through.
It was Cosmo Melody, Sora's father. "Satrox, we're getting a call from the Protectorate. They want to open negotiations. I'd like you to come as Regional Commander of the J-Knights."
"Great! Sounds like they're feeling the pressure! When's the meeting?" Satrox asked, blasting away with everything he had.
"Right now." Cosmo said. "It's terribly urgent."
"Really?" Satrox frowned. "What's so urgent?"
"They say the Forester's destroying everything, even his own people. Apparently, he's also getting the Wilds from Lost Paradise and the Northern Ruins to help wipe out all humans on the Continent."
"They're exaggerating. Colin says things like that and sounds really bad, but would he really…"
"Satrox, we're getting attacked by Wilds from Thorny Bushes. The Forester is the only one I know who can command the Wilds. Would you like to tell me why he's attacking us? I thought he was on our side!"
Satrox paused in mid-slaughter and considered for a moment. "You know, when he called me earlier, he did sound… weird. Did anything happen to provoke him?"
"The Union tried to burn the forest." Cosmo said. "And he seems to have gone crazy. That's what the survivors from Lakeside said."
"Lakeside?! He's really attacked them?!"
"I sent out scouts to confirm, but it sounds like the Protectorate isn't exaggerating overmuch."
Satrox rode Noble high, to view the situation at Silverveins. It looked like the battle was over. Scopia was dead, her Comrades returned with her to her home base, and her remaining forces were in tatters.
But something was coming from the north.
"Oh, cripes." Satrox recognized them. He'd fought an Ancient Reaperbeast before, and he would never forget it. One glance saw a dozen of them on the front lines alone. "The Wilds from Creepy Mines are coming."
"And those from Deep Desert Dungeon have been spotted on their way here also." Cosmo said. "I think this is serious, Satrox. We're looking at total genocide. Colin's really gone berserk and he's intent on killing every last human on this continent. If this goes on…"
"Uber Marshes, all over again." Satrox growled. "I'm on my way. I'll bring Sora and Lucy… I think they're our best bet for peace, and I think peace is our only bet to calm Colin down at this point."
"Hurry." Cosmo told him. "We're meeting at Joseph Town."
***
They met at the main square of the town, where anyone and everyone could see.
From the Protectorate, in attendance was Lord Silvero Earnest, Lady Ursula Keen, and Lord Quentin Fervor. Standing with them was Jack of All Trades from the Lamico Underground and CEO Khair of the Lamico Union Remnants.
From the Republic, in attendance was Lord Cosmo Melody, Lady Madeline Harmony, and Lord Thomas Rhyme. Standing with them was Satrox, Regional Commander of the Justice Knights and Sekai Melody, retired Forest Princess.
Sora and Lucy stood to one side, with Stella Melody, Sora's mom, and Natalie Earnest, Lucy's sister, talking in hushed tones. Talking very fast.
On the other side, Kenneth Fervor, general of house Fervor in charge of protecting Joseph Town, and Sandy Mills, special ops strikeforce commander of the Justice Knights stationed at Silverveins, stood side by side, neither saying a word.
It looked like an occasion for maximum formality.
But the first words spoken by Silvero were, "Colin's gone crazy."
"What in the world did you do?" Satrox asked.
"The Union burned the forest." Silvero said.
"They burned down our homes, we burn down theirs." Khair threw in.
"You began it, breaking your contract and attacking our envoy!" Sekai countered. "Lynn said your man swung an axe at Colin's head!"
"One hired grunt makes a rude gesture and you wiped out years worth of operational assets?!" Khair protested.
"Breaking a contract was on your orders!"
"Middle management made that decision! File a complaint and we'll fix it!" Khair said. "But killing everyone…"
"They respawned and then attacked the forest Wilds directly!" Sekai threw in.
"To make up for the losses incurred, the local management sought some quick profit before the accounts were tallied!" Khair growled. "The Wilds would not even have been unnecessarily harmed, just sold to the local Comrade Homes and brought to Travel around the world like they were meant to! And you wiped out entire towns, hundreds of innocent people lost their homes, their jobs…"
"It is the duty of the Forester to protect the Forest! And Colin's not just any Forester, he's…" Sekai trailed off.
"He's what?" Satrox asked. "You better tell us, because as far as I know, no Forester could possibly do what he's doing right now!"
She told them. Straight out, what he was.
"Oh, mercy…" Khair held his head in his hands.
"You see… no normal Forester could do what he's been doing all this time. No normal Forester would feel as deeply as he does, or connect so closely. To him, the Forest Wilds you're attacking are his friends, if not his {family}. Burning the forest isn't damage to property; it's killing his buddies."
"Trees?" Khair shook his head. "His buddies are trees?"
"The walking ones, yes. And from what I sense, they burned the animal Wilds too." Sekai said. "I'm older than he is, and I understand where you're coming from, but it's taking all I have just to talk to you instead of attacking. Even you would want to rip apart everyone who would burn your friends alive."
"Why…?" Lady Madeline Harmony lamented. "Why, of all places, did he have to come {here}?!"
Satrox winced. "Sorry. That was my fault. I brought him here. I didn't know what he was, didn't expect him to take the post of a Forester… didn't expect any of this."
A call came through to Madeline, and she took it while Silvero grunted. "What's done is done. Now, how do we stop it?"
"Well, you can't kill him." Satrox mentioned. "Lynn's going to turn all the forests in this world against you if you did."
"I wouldn't allow it either." Sekai added.
"Then what? Shall we just surrender after everything we've fought for all this time…?" Quentin Fervor growled.
Madeline ended her call. "Silverveins can't hold out much longer. Francis has a lot of complaints about that Katrin."
"Treat her well anyway, Lady Madeline." Satrox told her. "Katrin's our best bet to reach Colin."
"Really?"
"Really."
"This really rankles. Having to go through all this just because of a little boy not yet in his teens." Silvero grunted.
Ursula Keen put a hand on his wrist. "This world was made for children his age, Silvero. Maybe it is us who shouldn't have muddled around with it so much."
"Well, what would you have us do? Leave?" Silvero asked.
Ursula shook her head. "I like ruling here. Having children for subjects is very different from dealing with adults."
"You might not have a choice much longer." Sekai said, coldly. "I hear that Dreamworlds Admin is reconsidering an age limit."
"There must always be adults to supervise children." Ursula shrugged. "Who better qualified than school teachers?"
"All this is very interesting, but right now, our towns are being destroyed. How do we put an end to this?!" Cosmo cut in. "There's no point ruling a continent that has all its Wilds attacking you non-stop!"
"First question." Sekai said coldly. "Would Colin trust you with his forests any more? Any of you?"
"He was willing to deal before." Silvero said.
"You accepted the Union back in, and let them burn his forest." Sekai shot back.
"Because he went over to the Republic! The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"
"He went over because…" Satrox glanced at Lucy.
Lucy reddened.
"All this…" Ursula said softly. "Because of one girl's betrayal?"
"It's not…" Sora began.
"It is!" Ursula snapped.
Beeping sounded on her comms. She picked the call.
"Maybe she can end it." Sora suggested. "If Colin's willing to deal with Lucy, she can deal with him for all of us! She can side both sides, or…"
He trailed off.
"Marriage?" Natalie voiced out.
Silvero exploded. "Why, you…!"
"Father!" Natalie protested. "She's already…"
Silvero's hands went around Sora's neck. Lucy grabbed one hand, Natalie grabbed the other, both trying to pull their dad off Sora.
"Windy Beach Village has been destroyed." Ursula reported, then frowned at the family struggle going on.
Satrox got a call. It was Katrin. "How are things?"
"Satrox…" Katrin gasped. "I… can't…"
"Get out of there. The really important stuff is going on at Joseph Town. I'll need you here soon." Satrox told her.
"But Silverveins! My Command Center! My aides! We fought so hard! So long! We just need reinforcements…"
"Katrin, if Colin stays mad, the attacks will never end. He hasn't arrived with his full might yet, and when he does, not even we are going to last for long."
"Wait. {Colin's} doing this? Why is he mad?! Why am I even fighting on {this} side?!"
"Just come on over to Joseph Town." Satrox said. "Bring your aides and friends and whatever. At this point, it's already too late to save Silverveins."
He ended the comms just as Sandy was receiving more reports. She glanced at Satrox and said, "Lamico Town is gone."
Shouts sounded from around the square. "They're here! The Forest Wilds are here!"
Everybody jumped, but Sekai said, "Forget it! You need to solve this, fast!"
"We should move to Port Rachel." Kenneth said. "And evacuate everyone while finalizing…"
"We're finalizing nothing!" Silvero shouted. "This rat…!"
Jack killed him. The All-Trader swiped a knife down his spine and Silvero vanished to respawn back at his half-ruined mansion.
"Would that solve everything?" Jack asked. "Let those two love-birds get together, unite the Protectorate and the Republic, and leave Lucy to deal with the Forester?"
"We can try." Satrox grimaced. Working with the All-Trader wasn't something he relished, but at this point…
"Wait… unite the Protectorate and the Republic?!" Ursula spluttered. "Who said anything about that?!"
"I object!" Madeline added.
"That's impossible!" Quentin Fervor nodded.
"He's right." Thomas Rhyme agreed.
"Well… at least you all agree on something." Jack threw up his hands.
Another call came through to Kenneth. "Port Rachel has come under attack."
"Jack…" Satrox lowered his head wearily. "I think we've run out of time and options."
Jack drew a deep breath. "I hate to admit it, just because it's you, but you're right."
They struck together. Bitter enemies put aside their feud momentarily for a common goal and worked side by side to accomplish their purposes.
Ursula, Quentin, Madeline and Thomas all vanished at the same time.
Cosmo whistled. Of all the heads of the Houses, he alone remained alive in the meeting. "What exactly is your plan?"
"Let those two run the show here, and resume profitable trading without all this mess." Jack shrugged.
"I agree." Satrox said. "Leaving Lucy in charge is probably the best way to calm Colin down."
"I'm okay with that." Sekai said, arms folded. "I just watched her and Natalie fight their father to protect my brother. I think I can trust them."
"And I." Stella, their mom, agreed. "But I can't say as much for Silvero."
Jack glanced at Satrox. "How about we all turn on the Protectorate and wipe them out? That should end the war."
"They're the only ones with towns left standing." Khair mentioned slowly. "If we wipe them out, there'll be truly nothing left."
"That would really end it all." Sekai mused.
Explosions started erupting around them from three sides. The Forest Wilds were attacking.
"Excuse me a moment." Sekai said, and dashed off.
The explosions ceased.
Kenneth got another call. He frowned and cut the link without saying anything.
"What?" Lucy asked.
"The seaport is gone. Port Rachel is overrun." He said simply.
In the space of an hour, almost all the towns and villages of Lamico Continent had been destroyed.
"That's it, then." Lucy sighed. "We're done for. Lamico Continent is ruined."
"Not yet." Sora told her. "One town remains, with enough food production and stores to supply us all for months. Long enough to build another seaport and resume trading… if the Forester permits us to gather materials for it."
Sekai returned and now her face was grim. "You guys, this is bad. Really bad. I'm tempted to just leave Lamico to the forest entirely."
"There must be something we can do…" Sora gulped.
"There is." Sekai said. "And I'm only going to make this offer once, so listen up."
They listened.
"Khair." Sekai began. "Pull out everything. Send me a bill for compensation if you want, but pull the Union out of Lamico for good."
"A bill…?" Khair thought about that.
"And make it reasonable. I'm more restrained than Colin, but I'm also more powerful." Sekai told him.
Khair nodded uneasily. "Fine. We'll pull out and bill you."
"Sora, Lucy." Sekai turned to them. "We leave the entire continent in your hands."
"What?" Cosmo blinked. "But what about the Republic…?"
"It's already gone, dad." Sekai told him.
"Then what's left?" Cosmo threw up his hands.
"Just the land and the dungeons." Sekai said. "Sora and Lucy taking over is a way for you all to save face, and say that one from each faction is in the partnership, but those two will literally have to build everything from scratch."
"How can we save face when a single boy wiped us all out?" Cosmo muttered.
"Simple. That boy is going to resign from his post at the same time all of you do." Sekai told him. "You leave, he leaves, and Sora and Lucy take over."
"What makes you think he'll resign?" Cosmo asked.
"He offered." Sekai said simply. "These were his conditions."
"You've spoken to him?"
"Of course." Sekai said.
"What about us?" Satrox asked.
"And us?" Jack added.
Sekai shrugged. "I'll leave it to Sora and Lucy. Their continent – their rules."
Sora and Lucy exchanged glances.
"We'd need special materials sometimes." Lucy said.
"And police." Sora added. "But we have to set limits."
"Are you sure Colin will agree to all this?" Satrox asked. "I mean… we have only your word on it."
"My word is true." Sekai said. "But if that's not enough…"
She said nothing, but out from behind the next corner, Colin stepped out, Katrin by his side.
"You have my word as well." He said.
***
[It still came to this…] Colin mentioned to Sekai.
[We do what we must.] Sekai agreed.
Katrin looked nervous. As well she might. Even after he ended his mind-link with Kyubia, the echoes of her thoughts, her intelligence and ferocity still remained, at least for a while.
That was how he knew what he had to do. He'd never have come to this conclusion on his own, but Kyubia's thoughts gave him a glimpse of himself and what he did from a different perspective and a different way of thinking.
Besides, there was that {other} issue.
"Colin…?" Katrin asked, sounding frightened.
"It has to end." Colin told her. "It just has to."
"I don't understand." She said in a small voice.
"It's okay." Colin said. "Don't worry about it."
Sekai sent him a mental snort. [Especially since you wanted to move on anyway. The moment you heard that the Cult was coming this way, you wanted out.]
[Are you sure about that?] Colin wanted to know.
Sekai nodded to him. [My ship's sensors are pretty clear. They're already on the way. If they know your name, and everyone here knows the Forester is Colin Rivers, then…]
[I know. I have to get out of here. I just need to wait for…]
[Me.] Lynn entered their psionic conversation. [I'm passing over Port Rachel, almost there. Are they ready?]
[Give me a few seconds.] Sekai requested. She turned back to the meeting. "Lucy, you'll be taking Colin's place as Forester."
"What?" Lucy blinked.
"Do you accept?" Sekai asked.
"But I don't know anything about…"
"You'll learn." Sekai turned to Sora. "You remember what I told you about Foresters from long ago, don't you?"
"Not all of it." Sora scratched his head. "It was a long time ago. Can't this wait?"
Sekai paused. Her head snapped up, and she turned to one side. Someone else was talking to her psionically.
"I see." Sekai frowned. "Lucy, you're going to have to learn without Sora. He'll be busy with other things."
"Like?" Sora blinked.
"Mountaineer work." Sekai said. "Casiphia's suggested that if you both rule jointly, you should have a power equal to hers, something of the land itself and not just political power. She's offering you the care of the mountains while Lucy has the care of the forests."
"That sounds… reasonable." Sora said. "But won't we have to live in separate places?"
"Your continent. Your rules." Sekai shrugged.
"What about the waters? Does the Ocean Princess have any plans?" Natalie perked up.
Colin almost laughed.
"Iylara's managing the oceans around here herself." Sekai told them. "You won't have to worry about the seas."
Meanwhile, her mind reached his again. [Colin, the Cultists will be here before long. We better get moving.]
[Are you sure about bringing me on your ship?] Colin asked. [If the Green Men attack…]
[Let's not wait around to give them the chance.] Sekai turned to the rest. "Well, I'll leave the rest to you guys. It's time I left, and I'll be taking Colin with me."
They stared at them in stunned silence.
"Um… well… I guess this is goodbye…" Lucy said.
"Call me whenever you need to." Colin offered, and his contact was automatically added to her address book.
"Same here." Lucy said, adding hers to his.
"And me." Sora threw in. "Do you really have to go now?"
"Yes, right now." Sekai said firmly, grabbing Colin and leaping over an entire house as they headed for her ship.
[Wait! Get Katrin! They're after her too!] Colin blurted. [I don't want to keep leaving her behind!]
Sekai darted back, grabbed Katrin with her other arm, and then dashed off again, leaving everyone else blinking in surprise.