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Chapter 5 - First Step -

Staring up into the interior of the tent, Felix couldn’t settle his mind.

This was about the time Felicity, Lily, or Kit would run him down and force him to unburden his mind. To pull out everything that was bothering him and force him to inspect it from a different angle.

Except he’d foolishly lost two of those people, and didn’t choose to bring the third. While he’d certainly picked the right people to be able to start a strong foundation, a firm base to build off of, he hadn’t picked people to help manage himself.

He was going to have to rely on himself to ask others for help. To seek out assistance and have those around him help him because he asked for help.

There would be no-one to swoop in on a white horse to rescue him from himself.

Andrea squirmed around and thrust her hips forward. Which ended up grinding her pelvic area against the top of his head. Once she was closer to him, she went still once again.

For some reason she’d decided to sleep above him and was practically wrapped around his head. Miu was on his right arm, and Goldie had her back to him and her rear end against his hip.

Felix was actually thankful for the pile of bodies, however. The night had been incredibly colder than he’d expected. When he was moving about and being active, it hadn’t been as noticeable.

As soon as he’d laid down he’d felt all of it.

Everyone had fallen asleep, only for Felix to wake up a few hours later with thoughts circling endlessly.

“Miu, I need to use the bathroom. Roll over, go back to sleep. I’ll give you a kiss when I come back if you’re asleep,” commanded Felix in a quiet voice.

With a grunt, Miu nuzzled him for a moment, then rolled over onto her side, releasing his arm at the same time.

He knew from previous experience that Goldie and Andrea could and would sleep through nearly anything. From pushing them off him, to ripping the covers back, they’d just sleep on.

Miu was a different story.

She woke if he so much as twitched, then went right back to bed after she confirmed he was fine. It was all part and parcel to her fractured mind.

So long as he commanded her, took control for her, than she’d function better. She’d be able to let herself not fall into the insanity that always gnawed at her heels.

Like commanding her to sleep.

Sitting up Felix pulled off the unzipped and spread out sleeping bag. They’d been using it as a comforter rather than a sleeping bag so Miu and Goldie could get under as well.

Reaching down toward his groin Felix gingerly picked up Goldie’s hand and moved it away from where it rested. Laying it down gently ontop of her own hip.

“So possessive, my Goldie,” Felix muttered under his breath with a grin.

“Course. Protect treasure,” murmured Goldie in a half sleep addled voice.

Raising his eyebrows at her sleep-talk, and that she’d actually understood him, he got up and exited the tent. They’d left it open in case Faith needed to rejoin them.

She had taken the watch for the night as she could doze in and out while conversing with the trees. No one would be able to sneak up on them without her knowing it before even Goldie or Andrea.

Stepping into the boots they’d stolen for him Felix grabbed the laces and gave them a tug. He didn’t actually want to tie them.

Standing upright he stretched his back out and then stared up to the sky above.

It was an unfamiliar sky filled with stars he’d never seen the light of.

“How did it go… like walking into a room and recognizing everyone’s face, but realizing that there was no one there that you knew,” he muttered to the heavens. “That’s what it is. It’s all so familiar, yet completely foreign. All of it.”

Letting his gaze fall back to earth, he turned his head slowly, trying to figure out which way Faith had gone. If he was going to get through this world and in one piece, he needed to rely on others.

That meant asking others for help.

Faith had just barely gotten used to his own world when it’d been hit by the religious apocalypse. She and Goldie were most likely the two most qualified to help him work through his feelings.

As his gaze rolled across and through the trees that they’d camped in, he spotted her. Or more accurately, she made herself visible to him.

Her arms had come up in a wide waving motion as his eyes swept over her.

Folding his arms across himself as the cold began to bite into him he began moving toward her. Thankfully she wasn’t far off.

“Hey,” Felix said coming to a stop next to Faith. She was sat down against a tree and leaning her back up against it.

“Grove-husband,” replied Faith with a wide smile for him. Her eyes were moving across his body and face in a slow inspection of him.

The push of her sexual magic once more pelted him. It was almost becoming a constant thing, though he really did feel like he was getting used to it.

“That’s a new one,” said Felix as he rubbed his hands up and down over his arms. Then he got down on the ground and pushed himself up against Faith. “Stealing your warmth. Frigging cold out.”

“Yes. We’re heading into fall here,” murmured Faith who wrapped an arm around Felix’s shoulders. Her body heat felt amazing to him.

A second later and heat began to flood into him.

“The magic of nature is very weak here. Very weak. I have a little, but faith in nature is… very… it’s almost dead. I do have a little available to me though, so I can at least warm you up some.

“And yes, Grove-husband. A prestigious title. Vince is also a Grove-husband.

“I was entrusted with turning you into our Grove-husband. Betty is building out a Dryad grove for you to bond with on our return. While Evan is quite suitable to many of our needs, he… can’t handle that many of us,” explained Faith. “Nor can we plant a tree in him, unlike you. We could easily turn you into our grove itself. So if we can turn you into a grove, and create a new one around you, that would be ideal. Only Dryad’s who haven’t participated in anything else, of course. We have to protect our future you know.

“I think you’ll enjoy being a grove once you accept it. Especially now that you can get points for yourself, which means you can also modify yourself. I imagine it will give you a great deal of points for being our Grove-husband.

“As well as some regenerative powers on top of all of that. In fact, you might even be able to use a type of our Dryad magic directly in the future as our Grove-husband.”

Felix had been stunned to silence.

Sitting there in Faith’s warm embrace he was staring at her bare feet. Her boots were off to the side and sitting next to her.

Modify… myself?

I didn’t even try.

What the hell is wrong with me?

It should have been the first thing to try!

Immediately he tried to call up his own screen. His own status panel.

“You’re smarter than I am,” remarked Felix as he read through his own status window. He also noted that to increase his own stats was an order of magnitude higher.

But that makes sense. For each one I increase of myself, I probably increase the points I get later. If it wasn’t, it’d be horribly unbalanced.

That and I’m a demi-god.

Just… like Vince.

“Of course I am,” murmured Faith with a chuckle. Then she leaned over and kissed him briefly and gave him a tender nuzzle. “You’re less intelligent than Lily, Kit, and Felicity as well.

“But none of us have your ability, or your way of coming up with solutions so quickly. Effective solutions. Not to mention your political savvy.”

Nodding his head, Felix agreed with her words.

“Tell me more about being a Grove-husband, and how I could be your tree,” demanded Felix, turning his head to pin Faith with his gaze.

He wanted more points and would get them.

Because more points meant he could do even more.

And that meant he could get Kit and Lily back even faster.

“Nevermind, don’t tell me, just do it,” commanded Felix.

He didn’t have time to waste.

Tomorrow they’d be in the small town they’d flown over. Watching the citizens and trying to figure out how different this world was.

If he was lucky, he could get this Grove business squared away and earn extra points today.

***

Scratching at his chest, Felix was wondering if maybe he’d been hasty. That in forcing Faith to make him her grove he’d set himself for longer-term problems.

It wasn’t every day that a beautiful Dryad cut open your chest and pushed a tree-seed into it. Only to then close it up as if it had never happened.

This could really be a terrible—

Then his mind smashed that thought like a sledge-hammer coming down on an ice-cube.

It obliterated it.

No. I’ll get Kit and Lily back.

I’ll get them back and pull Legion up to where it should be. Where it would’ve been if it wasn’t for me.

If it wasn’t for me pumping the brakes on the wrong thing and gunning it at the worst time. It was all on me.

Especially in trying to take on religion. That was one of the worst mistakes I made.

Extra power and points though through becoming a grove?

I’ll take it all. Take what it gave me and be thankful.

The simple fact that he’d gained five-hundred points to his own value by becoming Faith’s grove had already made it incredibly worth while.

He was steadily creeping up on Goldie’s own point value.

“It’ll feel normal after the sun sets. That’s when all plants begin readying for the next cycle, after all,” Faith said, catching Felix’s hand in her own and then slipping her fingers through it. “And… thank you for making time for me. It was… I can’t even begin to describe the experience. To physically have sex with your own tree. At night, on the grass, in a forest. Absolutely wonderful. A real… real toe-curling experience.

“I’ll never forget it. I can see what the Dryads in Vince’s grove were talking about now. There’s no comparison to anything else on the planet.”

In retrospect he hadn’t made a conscious decission to bed Faith then and there. There’d been a strangle tangle of emotions as her magic flared to life, only for something in him to respond in kind.

His only real worry was that maybe by becoming her grove, he’d made himself a bit more susceptible to her magic.

Miu sniffed loudly and then snatched up Felix’s other hand. Holding it with both of her own she held onto it tightly.

She hadn’t been pleased when he came back to bed smelling like sex. Sex with Faith, no less.

“Miu, it’ll look weird,” warned Felix as they walked down the street. There weren’t too many businesses or shops on “main street” but there were more than enough to disguise them.

Travelers from out-of state pausing to stretch their legs and look around.

A man with both hands held by beautiful women was going to stand out, however. There was no way of hiding that.

“Ah, my bad. As I promised, Miu. He’s all yours,” said Faith, quickly letting go of his hand.

“T… thank you. I’m Felix’s Miu,” mumbled Miu. Holding his hand as she was currently doing clearly was affecting her. Her fingers were loose in his own as if she didn’t trust her strength at the moment.

“Yes, you are. You’re doing fantastic, too, Miu,” Felix assured her. Then he nodded his head toward a bench in front of them. It was sat squarely in front of two small diners and one that looked to be a fast-food chain.

Its so very rural.

Though, if I’m being truthful, this is a good place to start. Starting here with nothing means we can actually blend in.

Faith and Miu took a seat on the bench with him. The latter of the two still holding to his hand with both of hers.

“I’m… I’m s-sorry. I’m trying really hard to be in control while being y-your Miu, Felix,” whispered the dark eyed woman next to him. “I’m getting better. Aren’t I? P-please don’t fix me.

“This is who I am. I’ve always been this way. I’m-I’m happy that you accept me for who I am and don’t want you to change me.”

“I won’t. And you’re doing great, Miu. My Miu,” Felix promised her. He’d long known that part of his appeal to her was that he accepted her exactly as she was.

Others had told him to fix her. Suggested he do it without ever telling her.

He’d known that was as wrong as he’d been to put a barren modifier on Andrea, which he later corrected.

“You really are, Miu,” Faith declared encouragingly, leaning across Felix toward Miu. She even managed to catch the other woman’s eyes. “I’m actually envious and jealous of you as a woman at the same time. You make me wish sometimes I could take your place. As his Miu.”

Whatever positive effect his words had had on Miu were nothing in comparison to what Faith had just said. Miu’s shoulders straightened and her body completely squared up. Her head lifted and her eyes flashed as she held Faith with them.

“I mean it,” Faith said with a small nod of her head.

Felix was now steadfastly ignoring the two women. They were here for a purpose, not to flirt.

No wrist communicators.

No holographic displays on their phones.

Everything is very physical. Digital, but very physical.

I haven’t seen anything that uses energy or energy cells either. They all seem to be battery based or rechargeable batteries.

Looking to the side, Felix saw a group of young people hanging out the back of a truck in a parking lot. They were all gathered around, talking, and drinking what looked to be beer.

Empty cans were tossed into the truck bed. Which sounded like it had a number of them inside considering the rattle was audible even from this distance.

Also in the truck-bed was a rusted out barbecue. The top had a hole right through the front of it. There were even char marks running up the front of the cover as if the owner had continued to use it long after it’d developed the problem.

Huh… in such a rural place like this… I can’t imagine trash pickup is the same.

If this was an urban jungle you’d probably just call up the trash company and ask for a large item pickup. Is it different here?

I bet it is.

Bunch of young men like that wouldn’t answer me if I asked them any questions, though. They’d probably respond to Faith or Miu.

Except… Miu might hurt them for saying something stupid. Faith would just brush it off and it wouldn’t phase her at all.

“— rather frustrating,” growled Faith in a low tone. “Then I’m just expected to make it happen out of nowhere. If she had that much faith to begin with, she would have granted me my request at the outset.”

“That’s… that’s a g-good point,” stammered Miu. Her fingers were flexing in Felix’s, holding onto him as if he were a delicate piece of porcelain. “I don’t think I’d h-have handled it better. I’d pr-probably have killed her.

“My control is better in some ways lately, w-worse in others. I miss… well, yes. It’s harder.”

She was going to say she misses Lily. Lily always helped steer her to the right destination. She respected her.

Now… for faith. She mentioned jealousy and envy.

That means it holds a place in her head as well.

I bet we can use it.

“Faith, I need a favor,” Felix said, looking to Faith with a small smile. “I’m sorry to do it too. It actually makes me a little jealous even thinking about asking.”

“You’re my Grove-husband. There’s nothing for you to ever be jealous about. I’m all yours. Only yours. I can have no other,” soothed Faith, reaching out to lightly touch his cheek with her fingertips. It was a brief touch that lasted only a second before she let her hand drop.

She was blushing, smiling, and watching him closely now.

Definitely the right approach.

“I need you to go ask those young fools over there where they’re going to dump that barbecue. See if you can’t find out if there’s some type of local drop off point for large items,” asked Felix. He pointed at the young men in question without making it obvious. “We’re going to go into the store off to the left of that and ask some questions. Look at prices and see what things cost here.

“Meet us in there when you find out what they’re doing with it. Maybe there’s some local cast-off spot they know of. I know the… unscrupulous types… just dump where-ever they think they can get away with it.”

“I can do that. I’ll… I’ll do it in a way that hopefully doesn’t make you jealous, Grove-husband. I would never want you to feel that way,” promised Faith. She looked absolutely serious.

“Great. Meet us over there. It’s just called The Local. You go first, we’ll move second,” asked Felix, still smiling as the Dryad. Then he decided to use a trump card he wanted to save for later. He’d noticed she’d had a change in title this morning when he looked at her character sheet. “Move along, my Grove-mistress.”

Faith exhaled suddenly and wheezed. Her eyes dropped to the ground and she rocketed up out of the seat. Taking a tottering step forward she started to move away from them.

It took her another two steps before she’d steadied herself.

A third before he heard he take in a breath of air.

All around her was random pulses and flashes of Dryad magic. It was so strong that Felix could feel it.

That or his new-found status with her seed inside him gave him insight into her magic.

Striking out randomly at anything and anyone near her as she moved away.

A great many of them hit Miu, who made no outward change at all and merely watched Faith as she left. Then she looked back to Felix.

“Off we go, my Miu,” he said and stood up. He squeezed her hand and began leading her away toward the location they wanted to check out.

It’d give him an idea of what prices were like for goods and services.

Crossing the street at a crosswalk he happened to notice a gas station as well.

He didn’t recognize the symbol next to the price but it seemed fairly straight forward. A gallon of gas ran at a starting point of three and thirty of whatever the currency was.

Somewhat… similar. A little higher than I remember it but not too far off.

Must be another… what did he call it… point of congruency?

Keeping his thoughts firmly in place Felix kept them moving.

Amongst all the other information he wanted to find here at the store was also who was the local leader.

Governor, mayor, minister, or otherwise.

If he could find them, maybe he could get some type of drop point set up for people to hand off unwanted garbage.

Trash that they couldn’t figure out what to do with.

Then I’ll just collect and convert it all.

All I need is a public space for them to drop it.

In the mean time, I can go through everyone’s trash tonight. Hit up the businesses since their dumpsters are always out.

Then we just have to figure out what day is trash day for these neighborhoods.

Smiling to himself, Felix hung onto Miu’s hand and walked into the store.

It was time to get some hard data.