Echoes of War, Ch 5: Meeting Again (Patreon)

Sam studied the newly rebuilt ship, examining the design for flaws. Eventually, he gave it an approving nod. The Blood Hunter warship still had its basic structure and was capable of carrying several hundred people, but the enchantments were no longer the same as they’d been. Now, they hummed with a rainbow light and the familiar aura of the Wild Tree.

Linking the ship to the Wild Tree had required changing all seven major nodes throughout the hull, but the result was promising. From prow to stern and the top of the sails to the keel, the ship was covered in a dense layer of the tree’s energy. Its attack wouldn’t be much stronger than before, but its durability was at least three times better.

The hum of the tree’s energy was a pleasant accompaniment to his work as he turned toward the next ship and began to rebuild it. The ship was a couple of hundred feet long, but it looked like a canoe compared to him. With a gesture of his hand, it rose on a current of elemental wind and floated in the air, spinning to reveal the first node. He rubbed the runes with his thumb, erasing them with a pulse of essence.

Swirling astral flame formed into new runes that flew into the spot and created a new enchantment pattern. It was an interlocking sigil that surrounded a central spiral. At the center, a new sigil formed as he reached out to the Wild Tree and gathered a handful of its aura. The sigil flashed into existence from that energy, imprinting itself like stretching branches as it swiftly fused into the hull.

As soon as it was present, a hum of resonance sprang up from it as it connected to the Wild Tree. Sam gave it a nod as he continued to add a few more runes, completing the new node, and then he spun the ship around as he moved on to the next point. Here and there, he rubbed out a previously existing rune and corrected it. Some of them were just shoddy work, and others were slightly damaged, so he fixed them as he went. It wouldn’t do to give the Wild Spirits a ship that would break down on them later.

As he continued to work, his astral aura flowed through the ship’s structure, purifying and enhancing it as he erased impurities and corrected structural issues. He hummed to himself with satisfaction as he moved from node to node. Now that he was familiar with the enchantment, it didn’t take him that long to modify the ship.

A few hours later, he gathered up a current of Wind and gave the ship a push with his hand, sending it drifting over to sit next to the first one. With each of the following ships, he was even faster. Ships spun through the air like a child’s toy as he turned them from side to side, corrected their defects, and rebuilt their enchantments. A day later, he set the final ship in line with the rest.

They looked nothing like they had before. He stepped back as he examined the new fleet, a slight smile on his lips. The ships radiated a dangerous and wild elemental aura, like they were fierce lions ready to leap at their prey. The yellow wood they were built from looked golden now, its structure purified and enhanced, and the enchantments across the surface suffused the entire structure with a sense of deep power.

“They look majestic,” Alora said softly as she came up to stand by his side. She’d spent most of the last few days with him, her presence a peaceful accompaniment to his work. At first, she had been hesitant, watching him carefully like she wanted to make sure he was still the same as she remembered, but she’d gradually become more relaxed.

120 years had passed since they’d last spoken, so it was natural for there to be a gap, but after the first few hours, it began to feel like it wasn’t that long at all and they picked up right where they left off. She had the same graceful wildness and poise that he remembered, but it felt even more intense than before.

“I never would have expected it was possible to do such a thing,” she said as she studied the ships. “You’ve done more for my people than I could have imagined when we first met. With these on top of rescuing us, you have changed our entire future. Thank you is inadequate to express how grateful I am.”

Sam sent her a quick smile as he turned away from the ship to look at her instead. Her silver-blue hair was tumbling down her back and a few loose strands were dancing in the wind. Her eyes were vivid as she watched him, and it sent a sudden surge of delight across his lips, making him smile at her.

“I hope this is enough to keep your people safe,” he told her. They’d never had a chance to spend much time together, but of all the people he’d met in the Chaos Wild, she was the one he wanted to protect the most. “I meant it when I said you needed to grow stronger. Try to reach the Sixth Evolution if you can. That’s the only way to really defend your world. Even then, you’ll face danger from the strongest beasts in the Void, if the ancient ones begin to move. It is sometimes peaceful to live on the edge of civilization, but without its walls to guard you, the risk is higher.”

Despite the direction of his words, her attention followed him like a cloak, wrapping around his movements. There was a trace of sadness in her eyes, but along with it there was a spark of hope.

“I know what needs to be done,” she agreed. “Our future is tied to the Wild Tree. Even if we wanted to leave and seek safety elsewhere, it’s not possible. We would be giving up our ancestral foundation for temporary peace. That’s not a true future. I won’t let my people choose something so self-destructive.”

“Real strength is the only path to life and to the future.” Sam nodded in agreement. “With you here, your people will be in good hands, just as they were with your ancestor.”

“I wish I could go with you,” Alora said as she looked at him with a conflicted gaze, “or at least that I could help somehow. It sounds like you’re fighting an even more important battle than we are here.” She hesitated before she added, “I missed you when you were gone. The world felt smaller without you here.”

It was a confession, one that had been building up over the past few days together. Perhaps it had actually been building for the past 120 years while he was gone. A tug of attraction pulled at him as she bit her lip and waited for his response.

“If things were different,” Sam said slowly as he looked at her, “I would stay here and make sure you were safe, but I can’t leave my own family on Aster Fall, not to mention the Seal is there.”

“If you were able to leave them, I would not trust you with the future of my people,” Alora said as she laid her hand on his arm. It was pleasantly cool against his golden skin and it fixed his attention on her. “As much as I would like you to stay, I understand what you need to do. I only hope you can come back some day.” There was a wistfulness in her voice that spoke of things she wanted to say but was holding back.

“If I can return,” he agreed, “I will. You have my word.” The promise hung in the air and he wanted to say more, but for a moment, he hesitated. Then the words poured out anyway. “Ever since I saw you in the Void for the first time, I felt like our pasts and futures were connected. Your homeland and mine, the Wild Tree and the World Seal. It feels like our paths are overlaid on one another. If things were different...”

Sam looked down into her eyes for a moment and then laid his hand on top of hers, trapping her palm against his arm. An echo in his veins told him to keep it like that, so she wouldn’t leave. He’d come back here to gather the nagas and to make sure she was alright, but he’d be lying if he said that was the only reason. He was 172 years old, but in all that time, he’d never met anyone else like her. She was brave, honest, and willing to defend her people with everything she had.

“Over the last century, I’ve thought about you so many times,” Alora admitted as she placed her free hand atop his, her ivory skin a delicate contrast to the golden tone of his. “Even though I told myself it was foolish, that you were an Astral Titan and meant for greater things, I was never able to get you out of my mind. This is my home that I love with all my heart, but even the Wild Grove feels empty when you’re not around. As tall as these trees are, they look the best when you are walking beneath them.”

For a long while, the two of them stood like that, communicating many things in silence. There was more that they could have said, but both of them were wrapped with bands of duty. Ever since he’d seen her floating in the Void as she helped him balance his essence, she’d been a fixture in his mind. Now, possible futures were tumbling past him as he looked at her.

He wanted to stay and explore them, but at the same time, there was no way that he could.

Eventually, the hum of the enchantments on the warship pulled their attention back to the present, but their hands stayed where they were. Compared to him, she was extremely fragile, and it left him worried for her.

“We each have our paths,” he said eventually, “but I hope that one day, they will meet again. For now, this is the best place for you, while I have to return home. I can probably get the nagas back to Aster Fall, since they have a blood oath to follow me and are under the Fourth Evolution, but taking other people would be difficult. Your breakthrough to the Fourth Evolution will come soon if you stay here, and your people need you to be their priestess.”

“I know where my duty is,” Alora said softly as she watched him. Her eyes were a deep green like the forest heart. “And I’ll do my best for my people. I’ll try to raise my strength so that when we meet again, it won’t be so one-sided, and I hope one day that I’ll have the opportunity to help you like you helped me.”

“And I hope that day never comes,” Sam said with a grin as he felt a sudden urge to tease her, “since if it does, things will have gone completely awry. You already helped me enough in the past when you showed me how to balance my essence. If I find Asenya, we can put things back to right and repair the World Seal. After that, the future is open and who knows what will happen. It would be nice to travel the Void together, properly for once. There are so many things to see and that we could explore.”

He stopped speaking then, since he felt like it might be dangerous to say anything else. She was beautiful and he could feel the potential between them, but she had her duty and he had his. Neither of them was willing to sacrifice their homeland.

Even the thought of abandoning Aster Fall and his family left him feeling cold. That meant this could only be a beautiful memory in the Void to carry with him, along with the hope that one day it might be something more. Nevertheless, there was an appeal in Alora’s gaze that he wanted to answer, and it tugged at his heart.

“I’ll hold you to that promise to travel the Void with me,” Alora said at last as she lifted her hand from his arm. Instead of being sad, there was a sudden smile that crossed her lips as she looked at him. “If things go well, there are thousands of years ahead of us. So, you’d better not let me down.”

“I won’t,” he said with determination. Then he grinned at her, unwilling to leave it on a low note. “Next time, we’ll walk on worlds where no one has ever been.”

Then he steeled his will and disappeared in a wave of silver flames, refusing to look back. Staying any longer would have only made it painful. Beside the eleven ships, the only remnant of his presence was the enchantments that hummed like crashing waves from the hulls.

From a space within the Void, he let out a silent sigh as he headed for the area where the nagas were training. After finishing the Dream, traveling through the local dimensions was no trouble at all. His Astral Passage ability was almost unrecognizable compared to where it had begun.

This enchantment on the ships hadn’t been very difficult for him. Even before the Dream of the Void, he could have accomplished it by studying the tree’s aura and linking the enchantments into it. Now, it was simple. It only required the ability to manipulate aura, which was something he’d always had.

Fortunately, the effort had given him a chance to study the Outsider prison and the Wild Tree, and he had gained a few ideas for the future, especially for repairing the relic and the Seal. It let him see how a dimensional space could be maintained, and he was confident that some of the theory here had also been used in the Seal.

Asenya’s construction of the Wild Tree was truly amazing. She’d woven this entire region into it. The tree’s roots extended through dimensions and drew power from the elements and essence in everything. It was a stunning creation. If the little sapling in his cloak was anything like it, he was looking forward to planting it on Aster Fall. Maybe it would help stabilize the Seal eventually.

When he reached the nagas, he was happy to see that they were busy teaching the new Silver Nagas how to use their abilities. He watched them silently from the Void, not willing to interrupt, as he let his thoughts turn over the recent development with Alora. It was unexpected, but he wanted to know where it would go.

It left him with a warm feeling and made the Void a little brighter. A happy laugh echoed in the Void as he let himself consider the possibilities. Even as an Astral Titan, or perhaps more so because of that, he was prone to deep emotions, and something about Alora was settled firmly in his heart. It left him even more motivated to fix the seal and find out what the future held.

*****

Two days later, the preparations to depart were complete.

“My lord, we are ready!” Sleset’s words rang out as he bowed to Sam. Four hundred nagas stood in orderly ranks behind him, their right arms held across their chest in a proud salute as they waited to depart. Past that, the deck of the Ice Drake glimmered with blue-white energy as its enchantments made it hover in the air.

Behind their parents, the naga children stood in their own miniature ranks. They wouldn’t be fighting, but there was no way that their parents would leave them behind. The journey would take perhaps thirty years, which would give them some time to grow up. Until then, they would be protected.

Once Sam saw that all of the nagas were ready, he waved them toward the ship. It was no longer the same as before. After working on the warships and studying their enchantments, he’d decided the Ice Drake had room for improvement, so he spent some time working on it. He’d infused it with local materials and astral ice to expand its size and then reworked its enchantments to make sure it would hold all of the nagas and have better offensive and defensive abilities.

It was far sturdier than before and its interior had been expanded with a spatial enchantment that made it larger than the outside, an enchantment that was also woven into its defenses. Now, the hull gleamed with icy power and a blue-white mist surrounded the deck, making it look like the ship was rising from the distant past.

“Let’s go.” Sam’s command rang out across the deck and the naga captain at the helm activated the enchantments. The Ice Drake’s sails unfurled like great wings, snapping taut as it rose into the air. Sparkling ice flowed in its wake as it began to ascend toward the horizon.

Beside them, the eleven new warships of the Wild Spirits’ fleet also rose in the skies, their hulls bristling with power as they kept pace. Alora and dozens of Wild Spirits were on the decks, bearing witness to their departure. They were planning to test the ships out at their farthest limit from the world, but first they wanted to see them off in style.

As the Ice Drake left the boundaries of the world, Sam stood at the prow, his gaze lingering on Alora. Her silver-blue hair was streaming behind her in the Void wind, and her emerald eyes glowed with the same light as the world below. Her figure was a slender flame in the dark, one that silently asked him to stay. It wasn’t possible, but the heart never cared about such things.

“We will meet again,” he promised as he raised a hand in farewell. His words echoed across the distance. It was a long journey home, and it would be even longer if he was able to come back, but he was determined to make it come true.

With a final look, he pulled his eyes away and set his sight on the Chaos Wild. The Ice Drake cut through the Void in a trail of crystalline shards as it turned away from the green sun of Alora’s system.