Snakes on a Tree

Snakes on a Tree

Year 227 (Ulara)

The way of our people has changed, Sawabesarulars. The Ularan answered, as they met in a quiet cave in the canyons of Ulara. Snakeworld, or Ulara, as Snek called it, eventually opened up to his presence. Snek wanted to meet in the open, to show that the Valthorns could give them safety.

Why? We can undo all of this. I have a hero class, all we need is a young child who has not received her class to accept it.

Centuries of living in the shadow of the demons. The Ularan den lord answered. We are not the race we once were. We have accepted our fate.

Fate? Where was my kind that was proud and willing to stand up to the demons? My fellow Ularans who were willing to sacrifice themselves and partake in the soul arts? To send me and many others like me to seek help? Snek was furious. We hid away because we couldnt fight then, but now, theres an army strong enough to defeat almost every single demon above us, and heroes to retake our world.

Centuries, Sawabesarulars. The den lord was pensive. Will your army be here forever? Will we be able to resist the demons forever?

If the other worlds could do it, why couldnt we? We resisted them for a long time, too.

We had heroes.

I have a hero class here.

And what? A single hero. When that hero passes, were doomed once more, perhaps we will face a type of demons that doesnt let us survive in the caves and canyons.

It was a conversation he had with many others. Snek couldnt believe it. I feared that my people were dead. I came to find that my people lived, but were dead at heart.

He refused to believe that the young were like that.

If you refuse, at least let me speak to the young Ularans. Surely some would wish to live in a world not in the shadow of the demons. Where we can step into the light with pride.

The Ularan den lord sighed, and then nodded. Very well, Ive seen enough that I can trust our young to you.

Sawabesarulars smiled in relief. At least some wisdom in the others who remain.

***

After his stint on Ulara, Snek eventually settled on two goals. Collect as many young Ularans, and send them to Tropicworld, and also regain access to the clean blood magic and various rituals.

Lord Sawabesarulars, is it true that you went to another world? The young Ularans were extremely curious and Snek nodded. That you could defeat the demons?

Snek, who lost his physical Ularan bodyform, nodded to the young Ularans. Right now, the Ularans lost their faith in themselves, that they, these small snake-like creatures had no ability to fight against the demons. Yes. I could not, but these people have.

Snek pointed to the Valthorns. Almost all regular Valthorn were tall, healthy and strong as the elite soldiers of my force. The Ularans were half their height, and they found us intimidating. Over the years, the idea that Ularans cannot win against the demons, what more the giant dragon-like demons, was carved into their psyche.

If Snek wanted to retake the world, we could do so with our Valthorns. But that would not restore the confidence of the Ularans, or destroy the belief that their people are meant to exist in the shadows of these demons.

The snake spirit asked for my assistance to train the young Ularans, so that they could show their fellow Ularans that they have the strength to fight the demons, even the champions.

I spoke to my council, and I felt it was worth it, even if there was a risk of creating another Raph-type event with the Ularans knowledge of clean blood magic and the existence of the multiverse.

Its a long, hard journey. But they had the time.

At the rate this world is going, its unlikely to die in the next hundred years. Snek had spoken to my mages, and the mages had performed a wide range of data collection and magical studies. Their world still possessed a fairly robust core, and though we found the pits to the demon mother, it wasnt time for us to go in.

Snek, ideally, would like his own people to be the ones to free his world. A hero made from an Ularan, but he was not yet ready to gift the hero class stored in his soul to a young child.

In fact, he soon confided with me that he would require my assistance to assess the suitability of the young children.

I wondered, personally, whether a [hero] class like that, taken away from Ken, and then later granted to another, would still have the same mental compulsions and controls. My question is the mental compulsion a part of the [hero] class, or is it something that came together with the application of the [hero] class?

No matter, the new Ularan hero would be a fascinating case study.

As part of the talks to convince the young Ularans, and also inspire them to achieve something, Snek told them stories of the Valthorns and our conquests through the stars. It was quite effective, that eventually a few of the older Ularans agreed to join a small exploratory batch of 500 young Ularans, to be trained by the Valthorn academy in the ways of combat and offensive magic.

These young Ularans were brought through the rifts produced by the void archmages, and to Treehome. They had an experience that was far more exaggerated than the lizardfolks of Mountainworld.

It was expected, since these young Ularans grew up in the relative modesty of their dens in the caves, and they have not seen life out in the open, or the vast sprawling cities. Their dens, some which are fairly luxurious for them, are all built in their underground labyrinth, and therefore the sight of a large city out in the open is absolutely alien.

Year 228

Threeworld

Eudoxus, Arjan and my four other centaurs had established a network of friends and allies within the centaurs. Arjan, privately, relayed that as a centaur, he admired their society. A society where centaurs were a majority, and not a minority.

On Treehome, we had certain areas where centaurs were the majority, and they were the local ruling government. But in Freshka, Centaurs were definitely a minority, and as strange as it sounded, Eudoxus, my spymaster, soon commented that some of the centaurs were getting very attached to their new found friends.

Are they compromised? I asked. Its not entirely unheard of, but it is fairly rare that my agents become compromised. Simply because of the sheer superiority of our culture, and our extensive training before deployment.

Not yet. But it is something Im concerned with. Eudoxus commented.

At some point, there is a degree of freedom of association. I didnt hold my people to be loyal to me forever, and I generally allowed them to leave service when they wanted to.

Thing was, they were entirely remote in another world, where my trees could not see them. I had to trust that they knew what they were doing.

Trust.

Thats something I struggle with, but here I had no choice. If these agents run off, I could catch them, but it would require me to expend significant effort.

Lumoof offered to speak to the Centaurs, as part of a regular briefing session, and so snuck through some portals. My priests assessment was simply, the centaurs truly considered their new friends, as friends.

They were still loyal.

But that was a form of compromise, wasn't it?

I suggest we let it go. Lumoof said.

The centaur society was honestly one that was nursing its wounds. Their hero, the Centaur hero, and the human-hero, died in the final battle against the demon king.

The demon king was the only time when the three heroes of the three sides came together and fought. But that didnt mean it was a sign of unity of politics. All three factions clearly disliked each other, and my spies soon revealed that due to the extensive damage suffered by the centaurs, the humans and sandpeople have begun encroaching on their land.

Only the sandpeoples hero was left, but no one actually deployed their hero against the others, due to the bad precedent it sets. The heroes themselves, from what the centaurs gather, were mostly content with their own kingdoms, all nestled in the security of their respective lands.

I was really curious what a sandpeople-hero would be like, and I quickly made a request to both Roon and Johann, whether theyd be keen to do some deep spying into the heart of the sandpeoples territory.

***

Roon returned to the land of the sandpeople and this time, tried to look for the hero. With his significantly higher levels, and high quality equipment, he was able to sneak into the sand peoples cities with no problems.

The Great Pyramid of the Sandpeople was a fortress, and from afar, it appeared entirely made of stone. But closer up, its actually made of a kind of sand-colored steel and was actually an armor for the large magical construct within.

That magisteel pyramid was humongous, the size of a city and some, and could be seen a mile away. It was pretty much a crystal mountain, but made of this magical steel.

We didnt detect the presence of the domain, but the pyramid itself radiated energies that felt more like hero-items.

Roon passed through their greatest city, aptly named the Pyramid, and headed for the kingdom of the sandpeoples hero.

****

Back on Treehome, my focus remained on training more people, and preparing for the upcoming retaliation. For most of the world, they still expect to see a demon king in a few more years.

It is when it doesnt happen, then I expect to see some shift in the mindsets of the general population.

The challenge of the Valthorns to keep our swords sharp, our equipment polished, even when there is no demon invading our world. As the angel rightly pointed out, one of the ways I could keep my warriors in fighting form is to constantly send them to other worlds, to fight the demons.

There is a shift in mindset, though. What a warrior has in his mind, when he is defending his home from the demons, versus an expeditionary, invasive force isnt the same.

It doesnt matter much at the senior level, because my experienced Valthorns all understand our long term goals of ending the cycle. They could see the purpose of the fights, to eventually reach the demons heartland, if there is such a thing.

How it would affect me, of course, is future recruitment of young talents. Defend your home from demons is a lot more effective than, Invade the demonworlds or Protect the multiverse. Those goals are too far flung.

Okay, maybe protecting the multiverse would work for those with a hero complex. My Valthorns and priests would have to adapt to hiring, but in a world without demon kings, its likely that there would be higher discontent towards our militarization.