Book 1: Chapter 15: Snaring Roots

Book 1: Chapter 15: Snaring Roots

Elijah sat on the boulder, the trout forgotten as he looked at the notification that had come with the jolt of power to which he’d been subjected after reaching the second level. It said:

Congratulations! You have reached level two, earning two free attribute points. Would you like to allocate free attribute points?

Elijah already knew what he had planned, so he slotted the two points into his Regeneration attribute. His reasoning wasn’t complicated; Regeneration was the only attribute that did two things. First, it would help him heal from wounds more quickly. He already had Touch of Nature for that, but there had been plenty of times when he hadn’t wanted to waste his limited Ethera on minor injuries. Now, those nagging issues would heal that much more quickly. But more importantly, the second function of the Regeneration attribute was what he was really after: Ethera Regeneration. The faster he could regain the energy he spent, the more he could use Touch of Nature.

Besides, he was already gaining physical attributes like Strength and Dexterity via his frequent workouts. He had a suspicion that that wouldn’t last forever, though, so he wanted to get as much as he could out of his routine before investing any points in the physical attributes.

After assigning his attributes and confirming his choices, Elijah opened his status to inspect his gains. And he wasn’t disappointed. His Regeneration had increased by two points.

Name

Elijah Hart

Level

2

Archetype

Druid

Class

N/A

Specialization

N/A

Alignment

N/A

Strength

6

Dexterity

5

Constitution

11

Ethera

4

Regeneration

9

Attunement

Nature

Cultivation

Body

Core

It ducked its head and snapped up one of the fish. It swallowed it in a second before eating the second. Then the third. Before Elijah knew it, the panther had finished eating the overlarge trout.

Then, it shifted its gaze to Elijah’s basket.

It wanted more.

He swallowed hard before slowly retrieving one of his two fish from the basket, then tossing it toward the panther. The fish landed only a few feet away from the panther, but it didn’t even look at it. Instead, its eyes remained locked on the basket.

“Oh, come on...”

A low growl cut him off.

With no more complaining, Elijah threw his remaining fish toward the huge panther, who snapped both up just as quickly as it had the first few. Then, without any hesitation, it turned around and melted back into the undergrowth. In the space of a second, it was gone.

Elijah stood there for a couple of minutes, unable to move. He could barely even breathe. But then, resentment set in. He’d just wasted half the day so he could feed a giant cat.

Now, he had no choice but to go back to his fishing hole and hope he could catch something else. Sighing, he did just that, and by the time he reached it, the sun had already passed its zenith and was heading toward the horizon. In a few hours, it would be dusk, so he knew he’d only have time to get a single fish. Maybe two, if he was lucky.

“Unless that stupid cat decides to shake me down again,” he muttered, tossing his line into the water. Almost immediately, he felt a nibble, and he grinned. Perhaps his luck was changing.

He tugged on the homemade string, wrapping it around his elbow. But the fish on the end of the line wasn’t going to come in without a fight. Still, Elijah was an old hand at fishing, and he continued to work the line until he felt it go slack. At first, he thought that the line had broken – it wouldn’t have been the first time, and he knew it wouldn’t be the last.

But then, he saw a dark shadow in the water before, suddenly, something burst forth from the waves. Elijah only got a brief view of scales and sharp teeth before he threw himself backwards. He tumbled off the boulder and to the ground below, and by some miracle, managed to keep from breaking his neck.

When he looked up, he saw an abomination looking down at him.

It was dark blue-green in color, with four arms, glistening scales, and a face that looked like it belonged to some bottom-dwelling monstrosity. The monster – and it definitely was a monster, there was no doubt – screeched at him before launching itself into the air.

For a split second, Elijah froze.

But then, instincts born of uncountable hours in the boxing ring took over, and Elijah dove aside. His brief hesitation cost him, though, and a line of fire erupted across his back. He screamed as he was sent rolling across the rocky shore. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, he ignored the worst of the pain as he pushed himself to his feet.

The monster looked at him, then against all odds, its hideous face split into a wide grin. A chill ran up Elijah’s spine as he realized that the thing wasn’t just a monster. It was that, but it was so much more. It raised one of its claws, then licked Elijah’s blood away. Its smile widened.

Elijah had a brief moment to take stock of the situation. His spear was atop the boulder, so it was out of reach. He had the flint-bladed axe at his waist, but it was barely even sharp enough to split wood, much less cut through that thing’s viridian scales. So it was useless.

No – if he wanted to survive, he had only one option: he had to run.

So, as the creature advanced – in no apparent hurry – Elijah embraced the Ethera in his core and pushed it into the webwork of channels that constituted his soul. Then, he cast Snaring Roots.

The Ethera left his core in a rush, taking all but a third of his reserves, but it went to good use because, a moment later, thick, brown roots erupted from the ground, snaking around the monster’s legs. They twisted and turned, ensnaring its entire lower body.

Elijah didn’t stay to see how far the spell would go, because he knew he only had a narrow avenue of escape. So, once the creature was trapped, Elijah turned and ran, crashing through the underbrush and stumbling over exposed roots. Already, the blood loss was getting to him, but he couldn’t afford the time needed to stop and heal. So, he continued to run, hoping that the monster would be reluctant to follow him inland.

But only fifteen or twenty seconds later, Elijah heard the sounds of the creature’s pursuit. He pushed himself, but he just wasn’t fast enough. He tripped over a rock he should have been able to avoid, and he went tumbling down a slight incline and into a shallow depression. When he looked up, he saw that the monster had already caught up. His spell had briefly slowed it down, but it was completely insufficient against such a powerful creature.

Elijah scrambled back, searching for a weapon. A stick. A rock. Anything.

He came up empty-handed, and once again, the monster grinned its sickening grin before stepping forward.

At the end of his rope, Elijah embraced Touch of Nature, hoping to heal the wound in his back so he could try to fight the monster off. In the back of his mind, he knew it was useless. With the size of that monster – it was at least seven feet tall and dense with muscle – and the way it moved, he didn’t stand a chance. Even if he’d been armed, those scales looked tough. Perhaps if he’d had something more potent than Snaring Roots, he would have been able to hold his own.

But he had none of those things, so he was almost assuredly going to die.

That was okay, though. Elijah had made peace with his own mortality long ago. On that plane, he’d been ready to die; the fact that he’d gotten even a few more weeks was a miracle.

Still, none of that meant he was going to go down without a fight.

The Ethera in Elijah’s core drained away, fueling Touch of Nature as the wound in his back healed. It wasn’t perfect; it would probably break open the moment he moved. For now, though, it would have to be enough. He’d reevaluate if he somehow managed to survive against the monster.

As the viridian beast slowly advanced – it seemed to be savoring Elijah’s fear – he pushed himself to his feet and squared his shoulders, ready for whatever came next.