246. Wayfinding for Trees

246. Wayfinding for Trees

Year 249

Two months. Lumoof said to himself. We would spend two months in this world, and no more.

Stella shrugged. Dont worry about it. There are enough of us to cover you. Seriously, just go and explore this world and see whats there. Its really far away that I dont know what to expect.

Lumoof rolled his eyes at the human voidmage. How strange could it get?

Very. Each realm and world is its own little cocoon.

Fine, lets take bets. Im betting well see humans. Lumoof said.

Stella laughed. Whats the prize?

Ill take your next assignment to wherever, and youll take mine.

You know it doesnt work like that. But sure, Ill take the opposing bet. No humans. Well add drinks to that, too. Stella accepted. From what I could, people seem to be living there.

Really? Lumoof said. Very well then.

Good luck, old man. Go forth and spread Aeons gospel.

Lumoof choked. You know I wont do that in a strange new world.

I know. Stella laughed. Have fun.

***

The link through the [void explorer] faded behind Lumoof, the aberration vanished like it never was.

I could feel Lumoofs nagging guilt, even though we both knew we had time. Exploration was important, for growth, for learning, for allies. We pushed on anyway. At this point, it was up to my team to do their part, and for all of us to show up when it mattered.

Lumoof, my priest and avatar, landed in what seems to be forested land, with patches of greenish grass, and pine trees around us. The air had a faint citrusy scent, and as Lumoofs magical senses expanded, we detected the presence of wolves, rabbits, and foxes. Birds on the branches. Insects.

Lumoof could feel the presence of the ground, and it spoke back to him. Or at least, it gave him a sense of where people were.

As usual, lets just spy on the locals before we make contact, I repeated, and Lumoofs magical ring cloaked his presence. Unless one actively tried, magical perception would fail.

Forest. It was strangely calming to be in the presence of the woods, and Lumoof soon found himself taking a leisurely stroll through the woods. None of the animals approached us, though we could feel their eyes on Lumoof. Instead, they scurried away and ran as soon as we even approached.

We couldnt see the presence of the demons usual star paths in the skies of this world. Cautiously, I took it as a sign that this world was not invaded, and that was a good thing. The demons taint has not spread to all worlds.

It took about two hours of casual strolling before we arrived on what appeared to be a road. It was a muddy road, but a quick glance revealed the presence of unusual marks on the road itself.

Large, gigantic claw-shaped marks, and next to them, smaller, human-sized marks. But their feet were not humans. Or may not be humans.

I might lose this bet, Lumoof smirked as he examined the dried muddy road. Beastmen of some kind?

With lizard mounts, I answered, or war animals.

Lumoof followed the path, following the footsteps where they led. As we continued along the path of footsteps, or claw marks, we eventually approached what appeared to be a camp of some kind. An army camp. I knew it was an army because there didnt appear to be young, small children.

It was a group of beastmen, with the heads of either a lion or a tiger, and they wore heavy armor made of bones and weapons made of magical ivory. There were no young, here. Each of the beastmen radiated strength comparable to a soldier around level 30 to level 40, and the leaders presence was someone around level 50 to 60.

Our first encounter with this worlds civilization was a war party, so that was not a good sign. Lumoof nodded. Let us watch a bit more, and see who they fight.

They didnt detect us, and Lumoof followed the lion-tiger beastmen for three days until they were out of the forests. During this time, we listened into their conversation. The lion-tiger beastmen referred to themselves as the Sinmau, while their opponents appeared to be a group of Wolf-Fox beastmen referred to as the Mugala. They had war mounts that were gigantic lizards with scaled armor, which they referred to as the Cheecaks.

At first, we didnt notice it, but Lumoof began to notice something unusual about the Cheecaks. They had a strange strand of magic about them, as if all of them were linked to something far away.

The day of the battle came, and Lumoof watched the Mugala army approach. They were a small clan of similar size, about thirty beastmen with wolf and fox heads, and their strengths were comparable to the Sinmau force.

The leaders of both sides thumped their breastplates and faced each other for a duel.

Foul cubs, did your ancestors not teach you of stupidity? Your foolish attempts to encroach on the ancestral lands of the Mugala Whitewolf Clan will be the death of you. The leader of the Mugala war pack shouted to the Sinmau war leader.

Lumoof inwardly groaned. Two months couldnt pass fast enough.

The two leaders fought first, and to Lumoof, it was like watching two soldiers in the Valthorn academy fight to the death. They were all so weak that it really wasnt worth it.

We could capture some of them, Lumoof suggested, And use them to tell us more about the world.

No. Not yet. Let us watch a little longer. The battle was frankly pathetic to watch and nothing much of interest, but my fascination with the Cheecaks used by both sides increased as the battle continued. We noticed the unusual strands of magic as if they were bound and tied to something else, really far away.

The battle ended largely with a tie, as both sides were severely injured and retreated. But Lumoof decided to trust our instincts and follow what was interesting to us. The strand of magic that linked their Cheecak mounts.

***

The large lizard did not respond.

Lumoof placed his hand on the dull giant lizards head, and my mana flooded the lizard. My mana poured into it and searched for that little strand that tied the lizard back to whatever was up on the mountain-

I felt it.

A strand of energy. It snapped just as quickly as my mana twirled with it.

It felt like a figment, a minor shadow of a soul. It shattered into pieces just as my mana reached into the lizard.

The Cheecak reacted to it badly. It was already dull, but now it looked absolutely blank, as if there was no thought or will behind it at all.

Failed. Lumoof cursed, he felt my every move, every twitch and movement of mana. Lets go to the next one.

I failed to touch that figment in the next three Cheecaks, I tried to be faster, slower, more gently, with a minor presence. But it didnt. Instead that figment just snapped.

There were still a few more Cheecaks left, and then, one of them looked at Lumoof as if it had gained a few extra braincells. Lumoof looked back.

Hello. Are you there? Lumoof said.

The Cheecak just looked at Lumoof blankly.

Lumoof sighed. Or do we have to snap a few more of your fragmented souls to get your attention?

At that moment, that single Cheecak experienced a convulsion, as if it was in shock. Lumoof felt it, and I did too. I felt a growing presence within that Cheecak, gathering, and then the Cheecak had a third eye appear in between its existing two, that glowed green.

Youve managed to summon us-

[Domain has blocked attempted inspect]

There was a moment of silence, before the giant Cheecak spoke once more. Who are we speaking to?

Lumoof smiled, at least our attempts to talk to a dull lizard did actually awaken the actual puppeteer behind it all. I am Lumoof, avatar of Aeon. We are outworlders, not from this world of yours.

It was a long silence, before the Cheecak spoke once more. From the divine-touched worlds?

I do not know what that means.

Another long pause, and once more our domain blocked a few more spells. Strange. Its been so long since we had a visitor from the stars.

I noticed the word, we. Is this another one of those hive minds, like Lillies? I wondered theyll be friendly, but then again, it matters little. From what Ive seen so far, their combat abilities were not fantastic. Potential is there, but I believe there are a dime a dozen other similar worlds out there.

Lumoof sensed it, and understood what we wanted. Greetings, then who are we speaking to?

We are the Great Beast Spirits, and collectively, we are referred to as the Bitu. Why have you called us outworlder?

Where are the divine touched worlds? If there is nothing here, might as well ask for directions. We wish to reach and speak to the gods for their aid in our battle against the great demons.

There was a long, long silence as the Cheecaks third eye continued to stare. Lumoof was way too used to talking to domain-tier individuals that he was absolutely unbothered.

The devourers. Bitu answered. They still live?

They are everywhere. Lumoof answered. Except here, somehow.

The last weve seen them was- I cannot remember how many solar cycles ago.

Perhaps your world somehow drifted to safety. Away from their reach. Lumoof just speculated.

That would be sensible. But we do not know where the divine-touched worlds are. The last of the divines messengers came during the age of the devourers, and vanished with them.

Lumoof nodded. If that is the truth, then we shall be on our way. Our war is not over.

And it seems, it is not over for us too.

Spaizzer

Salvos has a webcomic. It's here. https://tapas.io/series/Salvos-comic/info

Also, Thanks for reading. It's been fairly disheartening to read some of the negative reviews lately.

But, oh well, I get it.

The weight of time and working for too long on the same story does that to me too. I'm exhausted, even though when I look at other writers doing it full time, pumping out multiple chapters a week, I think to myself, hey, I'm such a slacker. But I know I can't write like them. Our process is different, and as a discovery writer I have to go with the flow. If the flow doesn't come, it just doesn't and I write nothing. I've been lucky that I've managed to somehow push through the slumps, but at the same time, I really wish my flow was better.

I'm honestly jealous of folks that can produce 10k words a week. I sometimes daydream that if I could write 10k words a week, I could finally finish Tree in maybe 6-8 months and finally move on to other shit.

Anyway, thanks for hearing me whine.