The winds blew across the sands and into the dark jungle hilltop, making Claude realize he was bleeding around the greenery growing over his arm.
His blood was green.
DING!
[Your (Natural Heart) Buff has evolved into (Dryadic Essence). You no longer have a simple boost with nature and now possess and better understand a new aspect of nature as a whole. You will reciev—]
Before he could keep reading on, he noticed his hand was also….. purring?
He spun around at the sound of a leaf crunching behind him. His System Screen evaporated.
"WHAT— the hell?!" Claude backed away from the tundra-stalker. A giant white and grey furred cat horse bat thing that could spit electrical fire.
The beast meowed and fanned it's massive bat-like ears, pulling his peculiar scents into its two sets of nostrils. Even though one was more like a second mouth specifically for making sounds.
"H-Hi." Claude bowed.
The tundra-stalker chuffed.
"She's confused by you." Stella dropped out of a tree soundlessly on lanky Fatless limbs. She wore a new set of dyed vine clothing. Form fitting and set with grooves where wood armor plating would eventually be locked in. A long sword dangled at her hip. Her platinum blonde hair swayed in the wind.
"I'm confused by me too." Claude thought before replying, "She'll figure it out eventually. Just disoriented. Lots of new stimulation."
"Heh…. Yea. I guess I feel for her in that way." Stella stood beside the beast, leaning against her shoulder for support and bonding. A smart move she made look as casual as intended.
"Have you named her?" Claude asked as he stood up straighter but kept his everything even.
"Yes." Stella said proudly, "Claude Grey, meet Grimm."
Claude raised an eyebrow.
Stella put a hand up before he could even speak. "It's from a story I used to read as a child about a princess that could speak to animals….. she had skin as white as snow. It was written by some Grimm Brothers I think. Also Grimm sounds way more menacing than Snow or White."
"Right."
"You named yours?" Stella asked.
"My what….. oh." He'd almost forgotten. In the midst of everything happening, he did. "No. Not yet."
Stella nodded in understand. Grimm let out a yeowlish whine as if she understood the undertones.
"She's sad… I think." Stella looked from Grimm to Claude.
He nodded. "I uhh… I guess I feel for her in that way."
Stella sank at his words. "Same. I just cant believe this place. I can't believe Juli's gone."
Claude never heard truer words. "I wasn't even that close to her. But we could've been. She was cool. She held her own. How did we miss that?"
"Stella wiped a tear away and forced a smile, "Anyway, my aunt said we should never cry about death. Let's go celebrate life. Before everything gets terrible and all slave-like again. Are you coming to the funeral? Finn said he's out."
"I am. And so is he." Claude said.
The two beast-tamers gave their goodbyes and Claude headed out of the jungle.
Pockets of students huddled in groups, visibly aimless, trying to get lost in monotonous work.
Claude tried to speed past them but the screams were impossible to ignore. He turned on his heels and remained in the jungle a while longer, finding a familiar clearing behind a pack of dense bushes and wooden fencing.
Goren stood outside of his shack. Thatch beds lined his front yard making a sort of open air clinic. Sounded like an oxymoron. But the again, sometimes all one needed was fresh air.
Not these patients though.
Xander. Emma. Others he didn't recognize. Some of his surfers. Most all of them were sixth-wavers. They just arrived and were already covered in cobweb bandages and fighting off hideous infections. Some were hooked up to iv tubes or drains made of boar intestine. He could smell their acrid body odor. Or maybe it was the fluids coming out the tubes. It was burning the grass. Like the gaseous fumes from the tar pits deeper in the forests around his home.
"Claude, hey." Goren spared him a rushed glance before getting back to work, making some sort of narcotic from squished berries, river water and tree sap.
"Hey." Claude approached, standing over Emma as she groaned in her sleep. "How is everyone?"
Goren laughed. Not because anything was funny. "Well it depends. The students that got hit with Burp and the archers poisoned arrows will be fine by tommorow morning."
"But…" Claude followed.
"But, the others... like her." Goren looked to Emma, "They got bit by those snakes."
"From the boat. Right. Where did they even come from?" Claude mused.
"I was going to ask you, animal-man." Goren replied as he fed Xander a spoon full of gelatinous narcotics and vitamins.
"Well, they weren't sea serpents."
"How can you tell?"
"They weren't hydrodynamic. Their scales weren't tight like other water snakes. And to be that far out with the fish-men and everything else in the water, they would've needed to be able to stick and move to survive. Not to mention some were light green. Water snakes are dark."
"Then how'd they get in the boa— actually, don't answer that." Goren said as he moved over to Emma, she was strapped to her bed beside Xander. Both of their headboards had been made out of the wooden fence securing them in the front yard.
"Can I ask a question then?" Claude asked.
"Sure."
"Are they gonna make it?"
Goren looked around once and shrugged. All the blood drained from his face. "I've been around healers and grisly injuries my whole life. I've never run into an ailment like this— and I can only say that about one other thing."
"What?"
"Everyone that got bit by those snakes is showing symptoms similar to the Violet Scourge..."
"The poison on the island thats infecting plantlife?" Claude caught himself also whispering— as if they were saying something no one else could afford to know.
Goren nodded and wiped away a tear, "I don't get it. It's like a strain. It's the same symptoms. High fever, drousiness, delirium, rashes around the source of the infection. But this is worse, most snake bites coagulate your blood. This is transmutation I think. Their blood cells are being transformed into poisonous elements."
"Like alchemy?"
Goren shrugged again, "The longer they have this infection, the more it intensifies. I don't get it. I just want to go home."
"Let's get through this first." Claude said. "If I were to find one of the snakes, would you be able to find a cure?"
Goren nodded, "I'd need to cut into your face and possibly rip out your teeth."
"That's fine."
"How will you find the snakes?" Goren sniffled. He still had one portion of his hair tied up into a pigtail. Plus the tear streaks and trashed armor he hadn't swapped out of, he almost looked like a dystopian combat circus act youd see at a festival.
"I don't know….. I'm a beast-tamer. I'll figure it out." Claude wasn't confident in his answer. The last time he tried to catch a snake he almost drowned in ice water. The time before that he caught a demon virus. His track record with snakes was abysmal.
Goren seemed to pick up on it and awkwardly tried to salvage the situation, "Well, if that somehow works, I'll be here. See you at the funeral."
Claude left.
When he reached the sandy active shores of Ends-Island, a whirlwind of emotions filled him. It felt like years since he first woke up there under the sun. Freshly crushing on Naz. Realizing he was first place among some of the most impressive students of their generation. Fighting— for fun.
Now that first place spot held weight he wasn't comfortable with. It held deaths under his name.
The students watched him, waiting for direction and saving in some way.
He came to a stop at a large campfire in a dugout.
In the crater his crown-melivora egg nestled deep.
The winds blew, sending embers bouncing off the cracked surface.
"Cool glove." Isaac said as he looked at Claude's exposed hand.
"Thanks."
"When do you think he'll crack fully?" Isaac asked.
"Crown-melivora's hatch when they want." Claude slid down into the crater and crouched beside the egg. It thudded at his presence— like the animal within recognized him.
Instinct took hold. He spoke that primal soundless language shared between beast and tamer. He called to the wild. He called to empathy, extending a thread of magics to share an understanding. A bond.
Before he knew it, new thicker cracks were spreading across the eggs surface. Slimy fur shuffled within.
Claude's hand hit the egg. His green blood dripped and seeped past the cracks.
The egg glowed. The bond once forming ended— interrupted by the emmergence of new magics. New essence.
DING!
[Dryadic Essence Infusing….]
[Tame Alteration Recognized….]
In his minds eye he suddenly saw a green orb, spinning like hurricane.
Claude backed away from the egg.
"—aude?"
He looked back up to Isaac who stood at the top of the crater. "Y-yea?"
"The mages and Naz just called for you. Go ahead, I'll watch the egg."
Claude got up, taking another look at the egg before leaving.
"What the!! Is that a root coming out of the egg?" Issac yelled into the distance.
"I'm overstimulated." Claude thought as he made his way to Neodrassil.
It seemed the world was playing a sort of sick joke on him. Or he was hallucinating because as soon as he hit the jungles, dozens of unintelligible whispers followed.
But no one was around.
In his mania, he tripped over a branch and fell into a tree.
{They bring wraiths. They're prisoners. Uprooted and planted elsewhere like many my own, yes. Before the grass, yes. But we are all one forest, yes. In green, yes.}
Claude nearly screamed as he got up and faced the tree.
"DRYAD!"
The small collections of students waiting around their tree houses looked up, alerted, waiting, eventually turning away awkwardly as Claude collected himself.
He looked around once, then back to the tree he fell into.
"H-Hello?"
All he heard was a distant song. Similar to what he heard when he called to nature in combat.
He pushed onward at a jog, making it to Neodrassil in a rush.
The mages welcomed him studiously as they all waited behind their seats around the table within the massive magical tree-fortress.
"Hey, firsty!" Brink waved chaotically as he stood on top of his chair on one foot.
Claude nodded to him.
"Glad you could make it. For a moment, I thought you flaked."
Carmen flicked her boyfriend, "We would've understood if you weren't up for this meeting." She corrected.
Darius sighed, "Sorry— still in competition mode. I'm a little sour I didn't get to eviscerate a Tangent boss myself. You stole the glory, well played."
"He did not steal a thing. He earned it." Naz said, "Everyone take your seats or express your freedom and leave."
The mages nodded and took seats.
Claude and Naz followed suit. As he came down into his wooden chair, Naz gripped his forested hand fearlessly and squeezed in support.
"What was this meeting called for?"
Carmen smiled sweetly. Her pink skin and dark violet hair were all freshly washed and combed into loose bouncy curls. She wore no armor. Just an a tight silk belly shirt and long flowy skirt looped with jungle trinkets.
Pre-runes lined her toned belly and piercings gave a noble glow to her ears.
She should've been beautiful but she looked more scary than anything. Even scarier than when she wasn't wearing armor. She looked more wraithlike. Like the terrifying inhuman witch-beasts of old.
Her tail coiled up behind her and pointed to her left.
"Sapien Witherings. Is that not the most pretentious sounding name you've ever heard?"
Claude looked over at the crestfallen mage. He recognized him from other meetings. Quiet. Unassuming. Not really involved as others like Brink or Darius. Not really competing either. He was one of the students that opted out of the….. Battle of Lords. Claude heard a few students call it that as he ran through the forest thinking he was hearing trees speak. What a leader he must look like.
Why Carmen was THIS angry was anyone's guess.
Then she went ahead and said what no one guessed.
"As my cousin, Sapien's actions don't surprise me. I knew he'd stay out of the way. Like an old corpse. But I didn't know he'd be moving with Intel shared from his elder brothers. He knows what the next event is and he's been preparing while we were off trying not to die. He's been stealing from us."
"Not stealing." Sapien interjected. He should've looked a bit more alarmed after being accused of stealing in a room with a bunch of people fresh off a Tangent completed. Instead he just looked as detached and tired as always. Eyebags sat on his face like raccoon markings. Crust lined his flat lips. The blue veins beneath his skin ran like thread across his face and neck. It would've looked less grotesque but he was also completely bald. Like more bald than Claude. Not a single strand sat on his pale scalp.
"Everything I've taken, I made—"
"With our resources!" Carmen spat.
"Yes, ours. And I used them….. as they're intended to be." Sapien replied.
"You're just like Retrean said. You're a leech." Carmen flipped him off.
"And you are as Athenos said. A young succubus."
"Uhh…. Aren't those the same thing sort of?" Brink questioned.
"Quiet." The magical cousins snapped.
Brink leaned back in his chair, "I give up."
"What is the point in all this?" Naz questioned.
"He needs to be punished. I know the Witherings. They'll hide in the shadows and bleed you dry. He'll take and take and set himself up in the future to take more. " Carmen stated.
Most of the other mages nodded in understanding.
Claude suddenly remembered her previous comments.
"We need an objective." Her words echoed. He wondered how much of her rage was performative for the sake of everyone else. To pull them from the thought of the dead.
But from Claude's pov all it did was bring them closer. Back to student war and skirmishes that led to mistakes they didn't need to make.
His own words came then, echoing sounds like the trees.
"What would that teach?"
Carmen and Naz both looked at him.
"It would teach others not to steal from us, Liberator." Carmen explained, poorly veiling her irritation.
Claude flexed his transformed fingers under the table, "If all it took to stop stealing was a beating then stealing would've stopped at the dawn of mankind."
"Oh, philosophy. I'm ready for this discussion." Darius settled in.
"No philosophy. Just desperation." Claude explained, "I'm done fighting my own. We are done fighting our own. I say that as an Island-Lord."
Naz watched, pleasantly observing.
"What about Naz?" Carmen protested.
"I am listening, as we all should be." She brought a finger to her lips, silencing the witch.
Claude eyed Sapien from across the table.
Sapien crouched deeper— an aggresive visual since he was seven feet tall. He sat in the chair like a human cane. "You're an interesting fellow, Claude Grey." He said with the most uninterested expression possibly ever. "You seem dead set on doing this all as incorrectly as possible. It makes sense. I hear you're from a completely unreborn family. That's about as close to being born without a limb as it gets."
"You understand I'm trying to help you, right?" Claude asked.
"No you're not. You're trying to maintain your concept of heroism. It happens to benefit me." Sapien replied.
"Can you go back to not talking?" Brink asked as he burped a fireball.
"As soon as you all finish deciding my…. fate—gk!" Sapien crumpled into his chair as Carmen flew across the table, wrapping her pink tail around his throat like a constrictor snake.
Claude moved to get up and split the two apart when Naz grabbed him, holding him to his seat.
"Make your terms. Play along. Let the man think you are no hero….. then, liberate him all the same."
Claude hesitated, but found reason in Naz's compromise of the two options.
He pulled away from Naz's grip and made his way around to Sapien— who was also being held in a wind coffin by Darius.
Naz made her way to the other side, so he was crowded by a witch, scythe master and beast-tamer. What a trio.
"Not…. Very— heroic!" Sapien yelled behind the focused wall of wind around him.
"Nope." Claude replied, "You seem to think me not wanting to kill humans to get an advantage makes me some sad puppy. But the way I see it is this, everyone in this room, but you, has entered and completed a Tangent. Word of mouth means nothing against experience."
Naz smiled. Carmen nodded.
"Then finish me off, Mr.not a hero." Sapien spat.
"No. Enough things outside want you dead already. And you know that, don't you? I know all about the diffferent types of animals waiting, but the monsters….. I bet you know something. Or else why would you be stocking up so much?" Claude questioned.
Sapien gasped for air and cringed.
"I'll let you take your items after you tell me what you know about the next event." Claude said.
Sapien seemed to be searching Claude's eyes for the lie. His exhaustion and anxiety must've looked like severity because Sapien gulped loudly and gave in, "Ok. The next event is the final one. It's called The Night of the Wraiths. There's three. Wraith-Brutal, Wraith-Swift and Wraith-Revenant. Each one is worth three hundred points. If they capture three or more students from an Island-Lords land, the lord loses all their points. You have until sunrise."
"When does it start?" Carmen asked.
Claude was too busy remembering the whisperings he heard in the forest. "Didn't they say something about Wraiths? Who even is they? The trees?"
"In two weeks."
Claude looked to Carmen. Carmen looked from him to Naz and let go.
"You can take your things and go." Claude said.
Almost before he could finish speaking, Brink was up, "I'll make sure he only takes the essentials!"
"Of course you will, battle-fiend." Sapien yawned before turning back to Claude once, "Just so you know, I knew you'd let me go anyway. And I'm sure one of your more experienced allies here told you to go along with Carmen's aggression to get answers. I went along with them too."
"Why?" Claude asked.
"You're predictable. I need that to change or else everyone will keep moving off what they know you'll do." Sapien said.
"What are you talking about?"
Sapien smiled, "A savior surrounded by men in search of glory is an endless get out of jail free card. They take more risks because you take the biggest risks. You'll never make it to the final summit— the greatest battle because the first student capture will send you on a wild goose chase like your little liberation act. You'll lose, more will die playing hero. You'll embarass your father. No House will choose you. You might even get depressed. And it will all be for nothing. Which would be quite….. underwhelming. You're strong. Unnaturally so. I've never seen Samuel so rattled and he's been fighting men since he was ten. I need to use that, if you don't mind."
"He does mind, you stretched taffy. Now get the hell out of my tree house." Brink grabbed him by the back of his neck and shoved him out of Neodrassil.
They all stood in the silence.
"It seems he felt like a fortune-teller there." Darius commented.
"I hate him— but I'd consider his words. Not literally, but reallly think about what he said.." Carmen explained. "He'll be watching you."
"At this point everyone is." Claude made his way out, "Thank you for the heads up. Let's do this funeral now."
***
It took no longer than an hour to set up. Finn took no more than two sentences of convincing from Ursula and Reagan. With his help, a large podium stood over a hole in the earth. On each side, molded sand seats sat in rows. Quickly, they were filled by the students of End's Island.
The afternoon sun felt like a painting instead of a burning star. It lacked its heat to remind you it was there, watching, and barely retained any gleam.
The sky was purple. The clouds were gone with the heavy night winds rolling in.
Naz took the stage as everyone assumed their seats.
She seemed like such a natural at the helm. Some students cried in their seats. Others shifted uncomfortably. She remained poised. Alive. Breathtaking in a sense.
"Our first Tangent went better than most. It went great in a lot of ways. We gained new allies. New weapons. But we also lost. I did not know Juli Renee. But Claude traveled far and fought hard for her and many others. As did all of you. Whether she went to Valhalla, Elysium, or Barzakh, I am sure she thanks you all. And for her, we must grow. We must become unrecognizable. Like the grub-snakes emerging from their cacoon, we must fly towards better battles and stronger bonds. For Juli and for Freedom."
Some members of the crowd cheered. Only some.
"Finn, come forward." Naz stepped down.
As she took her seat beside Claude, Finn took the stage.
He looked like their out of shape, sunburnt teacher. A steely hardness held his face, bringing forth years Claude didn't think he had on him.
"H-hello. Lots of new faces here! I….. uhhh…. Like all of ya'll, I didn't truly know Juli. I didn't know what her laugh sounded like as a baby. Mother said if you've heard a babies laugh, you'll know everything about them as an adult. True happiness is a good way to gauge character. Thats what my mother says. It made me excited when I had my first child. Her name was Jewels... freaky. Juli reminded me of her. They were both so serious and fiesty. I would've liked to know how she was different. I would've liked to know what she enjoyed aside from me wearing coconut helmets. I think wherever she is, she's doing what she enjoys."
Claude cringed as a couple more students began to sniffle.
Reagan and Stella.
He left the podium.
Everyone stood and scooped up a handful of sand, dropping it into the empty grave as they walked by. After everyone had came and went, the hole was gone.
Claude let his forested hand hover over the sand. Flowers and vines bloomed into a sort of green tombstone.
"If I ever find your family, I'll give them a nice sword to remember you by. If they don't like it I'll get something else. I'll….. I'll do something." Claude left the funeral.
Flowers continued to bloom in his wake.
And in the grass, a snake slithered silently.