Living with dragons

[Hiver]

I slowly opening my eyes and stretched my wings with a yawn and looked around before blinking at a strange sight.

Sheila and Rengosa were both kneeling on the moss and cooing at a mushroom.

The fact that the ball like thing of mushroomy plant the size of a puppy were waving it's leaves at them and shuffling around on the moss, picking up pieces of bread they were tossing to it.

I just kind of looked for a long moment before closing my eyes again and settling back down. Whatever time it is, it's too early for this.

Sheila I could maybe see be overtaken by the cute, but Rengosa too?

Opening an eye, I watched again. Sure, it was cute alright, but those two were even cuter acting that way.

…The plant thing was moving. That meant this was a world where trees could try to eat you.

Whatever, at least it's not a desert.

Getting up, I settled down behind them and peered at the little plant being over Sheila's shoulder, "What is that?"

She grinned and glanced back at me, "I have no idea, but it's adorable!"

"Kind of is," I agreed and nuzzled quickly at her shoulder, "Where did it come from?"

Rengosa shrugged, "It wandered into camp while Sheila was making breakfast. It seems completely harmless."

"Unafraid too," I agreed with a nod, "No people around here then," I said before I nosed at Sheila's hair, "Likely no dragons either if it didn't react to me."

"Well… it's a plant," Sheila said with a frown, "It might be a seed. For all we know it might 'want' to be eaten."

Nodding, I nosed at her shoulder as she scooted to sit with her back against me, "So any plans?"

Sheila shrugged and reached up to scratch behind my nose horn as Rengosa played with the plant, "Figured we would just do the normal thing. Pack up after we woken up and then do a flight and maybe some scrying, see what we can find."

"Mmm, sounds good," I closed my eyes at her touch and nodded a bit in agreement, "Just need to avoid the people eating trees."

Sheila just kind of froze for a second, "…What people eating trees?"

"Well, last time I saw plants moving around, a tree tried to eat me."

"Speaking of which," Ren said and got up, stretching and then rubbing her upper arm, "I'm hungry. We should go hunting."

That sounded rather good.

Unfortunately, Sheila put a stop to that quickly.

"No, you should turn back," She said and poked at my snout, "We don't know this world yet and you could get spotted by the wrong thing. You just have to make due with some of our supplies for now."

Sighing, I nodded and shifted into my mortal form, putting my arms around her and stealing a quick kiss, "Bacon?" I then asked.

She rolled her eyes with a smile, "We should have some pork left, yes."

"Awesome."


XXXXXXXX


Sitting with my back against the trunk, I ate my stew. Sheila's cooking is the best, none of the rest of us could compare.

It was rare I was even allowed to, same with Rengosa.

Only one of us Sheila really allowed to cook was Zrazta. Which was so unfair, I could at least boil eggs!

I only burned them that one time!

Glancing up from my bowl when Ren poked me from the side, I followed her gaze to the plant thing wandering around by my foot, digging about in the moss.

"…Am I the only one that think that thing is too friendly not to be suspicious?" I asked but I still picked a piece of meat from my bowl and tossed it in front of it.

The plant beast felt over it, making a snuffling sound before picking it up and dropping it into one of the pitcherplant parts on its back.

Ren grinned and shrugged, "Maybe a little. But it seems harmless enough."

I had to admit that it didn't seem very dangerous. Not alone at least.

Rengosa looked at it for a moment before she looked over at Sheila where she was putting the fire out, "Sheila?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we keep it?"

Sheila grinned and then shook her head, "Can't bring it with us. And no, Atreus can't use his soulstone for it, way too dangerous."

"…not even sure that would work," I admitted and put my arm around Ren, "Never tried with a plant."

"Oh."




AN// Unbeated and posted early because of busy tomorrow. Good news, I got three parts written on a new story today. Too bad it wasn't on the right story -.-

 

[Hiver]

Folding my wings after landing, I sat down and looked up.

Ren sat down behind me with a couple of powerful beats of her wings, looking up. Sheila slid out of the saddle of Rengosa's armour and looked up as well.

"That's a big tree," she finally commented, "Not like the Teldrassil, but still."

The tree towered over the rest of the forest, reaching almost five hundred meters straight up, the trunk being easily eighty across with the canopy covering square kilometres.

"Seen bigger."

She turned to look at me for that comment, "…Those elves?"

I nodded, "I'll take you sometime. Zrazta has already met them and I did promise them I'll bring them a teacher. Still need to do that."

Sheila nodded, "Would be interesting," and then she blinked and looked around, "Did you hear that?"

"I did," Rengosa agreed and looked around as the roar echoed through the air.

We didn't need to wait long before a massive green shape barreled through the trees at the edge of the clearing.

It looked like a mix of a dragon, iguana and lizard with short spikes along its back, its mouth filled with row after row of razor sharp teeth.

It was also almost the size of a wyrm, meaning way bigger than any of us. Not to mention fast!

It roared at us and the ground shook.

Rengosa reacted first, her wings beating as she took to the air, her eyes taking on a green tint as she channeled a large amount of mana, pulling on the forest all around.

There was a massive flash and a massive elephant creature roared as it stumbled. Shaking its massive head, it then charged towards the giant lizard, the ground shaking at its footsteps.

I glanced at Sheila.

"Go! Flank it!" she yelled, and her hands erupted in green fire.

I threw myself into the air, heading opposite from Rengosa, channeling my mana into a pair of summons.

Paladin was the first one to appear in a flash of light as I dove close to the ground. As I banked and sunk lower, circling the fight, Witcher flashed into existence.

Meanwhile, Rengosa's summon smashed into the giant lizard. Or rather tried to, the lizard scrambled to the side and avoided the charge before leaping inwards onto the massive elephant creature. Its claws dug massive bloody wounds in its thick hide and the lizard twisted around and ripped its throat out.

The massive elephant went down with a scream, hitting the ground hard, the lizard monster jumping off it before it went down.

Holy shit.

Green fire rained down at the lizard monster and then Rengosa strafed it with her frost breath. It screamed and scrambled to get out of the way.

Paladin and Witcher were running for it, but they weren't close enough.

Banking around, I dove down, letting loose at it with my own breath, frost crawling across the monster's scales as it tried to get away.

A pair of spears of ice hit its side, piercing deep into its thick hide and it screamed.

That's when something a bit odd happened. Something started to pull a great amount of mana from the environment, centered on the massive tree and then it was raining those little plant creatures we discovered at the camp.

Hundreds of them fell from the tree above the lizard creature. As soon as they landed, they charged towards it. Scratching, hitting.

It was like watching a lizard disturb an ant colony. They ripped and covered it in a churning swarm and it disappeared from sight beneath them.

I quickly looked towards Sheila, but I didn't seem to need to worry. Even the ones that fell close to her, completely ignored her to charge the lizard.

One of the little things bounced off my back and then down onto the ground before charging into the fray.

Ren and I slowly circled above it all as things started to calm down. The little plant things moved off the now clearly dead lizard monster before starting to drag it back towards the tree.

I KNEW trees around here ate people! I knew it!

I quickly unsummoned Paladin and Witcher as I flew over them before settling down next to Sheila, "…We should go."

"We shouldn't annoy the tree," she agreed, warily looking at the plant things moving back towards the trunk.

I paused and then looked at Ren as she sat down next to us, "Sheila, you ride with Ren again? I want to try something."

"What?"

"Wonder if you can claim a tree as a summon. Because if it can pull mana and summon what seems to be a infinite amount of those things, that could have been really useful during the war against the Legion."

Sheila frowned and then glanced up towards the tree, "I don't think any of us have the mana bonds to summon something like that, yet alone in green. Maybe Zrazta, but…"

"…Probably right, might as well give it a test," I said and shifted back into mortal form, "But just in case it has an… unfriendly reaction, I want you and Ren in the air already."

Sheila didn't look overly impressed, but she nodded, "If it does, turn back and fly as fast as you can."

"Of course."

As she climbed into Ren's saddle, I turned to walk towards the trunk of the massive tree.




AN// Many thanks to FPSCanarussia for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

Not enough mana.

To be expected really, I had not exactly been focusing on bonding more lands. How the fuck would I ever have the time? Besides, most of my stuff didn't need that much mana at once.

Sighing, I looked up at it.

Damn it, that would have been useful. Unlimited amounts of disposable troops would have been useful in the war.

Oh well, not really my thing anyway I supposed. Maybe if I could make self-replicating golems…

I paused at that thought and then facepalmed.

Nope. Nope nope.

That way laid replicators. Let's not, wouldn't be worth it. Oh well…

"Welcome, mighty mage."

Mine is a manly scream, not a girly squeak!

Getting my heart back under control, I turned to look at the elf behind me. He was a bit shorter than me and had short blonde hair, wearing a simple loincloth, a wooden staff resting against his shoulder.

"H-hello?" I said as I stared at him for a moment, "Where…"

He smiled and looked up, "The village. I am Nad."

"…Atreus," I told him, "I'm Atreus. You live in the tree?"

He nodded, "We do, the entire village, Lord Mage. May I ask… what are you?"

"Uhm…"

"You don't look like us. Your ears are small, and round and your eyes are small."

"…Human. I look human."

Nad looked thoughtful and slowly nodded, "Never seen your kind before. But you are clearly a powerful mage, only a powerful mage can take the form of a beast. Yet alone a powerful one."

Rengosa went in for landing next to us and he looked over at them, "As is your companion?"

"Ah… yes. Uhm… Sheila and Ren," I said, "Ren is also capable of taking the form of a Dragon. Sheila is more uhm… fire?"

Nad bowed slightly, "Lady Mages. Please, let me invite you into our village. We will be having a celebration, a large feast for the Tree God's defeat of the Dread Baloth."

"Thank you," Sheila said with a smile as she slid out of the saddle and onto the ground, "We gratefully accept."

Nad smiled and spoke back up, "Please, follow me," before he turned into a large black bird and took to the air.

Sheila quickly climbed back into Rengosas saddle while I turned back and followed him into the air, circling upwards around the truck of the massive tree.

What we saw when we rose up among the branches was surprising. I had expected a village, like the elves in the trees that saved my life. But what we found was nothing like it.

It was a full sprawling city in the leaves, tall towers and buildings built into the crown of the city, walkways and paths between them.

Glowing magical lights inside the buildings lit them up in the slight dusk of the leaves.

Woah.

This was a lot more than I thought would be here. That's pretty amazing to see something like this, an entire city on top of a massive tree.

What is it about elves and trees?

Even on Azeroth the night elves lived in a massive tree. Of course, if things like that Baloth thing lived in the forest below, I would have wanted to live in the tree that ate them as well.

The large bird lead the way towards a large platform by one of the tallest buildings. I glanced at Sheila and Ren before we went in for landing on the wooden platform.

Pulling up, I beat my wings hard and allowed my armour to retract into it's low profile form. A group of thirty elves wearing what looked like bronze armour with spears and shields were standing at attention in formation by the gate leading into the large tower.

The elf turned back from his bird form and turned to us, "The Empress is expecting you," he said and leaned against his staff, "She wished to thank you personally in your assistance in defending the city."

"Well, let's not keep her waiting then," I agreed and turned into mortal form, "But no thanks are necessary. In all honesty, we didn't know the city was here. We were simply investigating the large tree while exploring the area."

Nad smiled, "A lucky thing then. If you had not delayed the Dread beast long enough for the tree, then our forces would have had to. Many would have died."

Sheila walked up next to me, "We graciously accept her invitation," she told him, "But we won't be staying long, we need to move on."

"Of course. Please, follow me."

With that, Nad lead the way into the building. The guards move to the side and the butts of their spears hit the wooden floor with a solid thunk.

Sheila lead the way following him, leaving me and Ren to follow along behind her.

I glanced at the guards as we walked past them.

Yep, this is a massive, massive trap, isn't it?





AN// Many thanks to Avalon Aurora for betaing this sections.

 

[Hiver]

As we approached the throneroom, it started to look not like a trap. Which was nice.

It didn't take long before Nad lead us into what had to be the throneroom. But throneroom or not, it looked more like a glade than anything else. Trees lined the walls, branches forming the ceiling, arching over the chamber and the floor covered with grass, a slight path leading up to a throne made of… you guessed it, wood.

It was like a tree had been carefully grown into the shape of a throne.

In the throne, was an elf.

She was wearing a set of white robes and her hair was long and dark, matching the tattoo on the sides of her face. An arching image running down from her temples to her cheeks and down her neck, disappearing into her robes.

Each side of the throne was flanked by a pair of very large wolves. Seriously, they rivalled a small Drake in size.

Nad lead the way across the throneroom before he bowed, "Empress. The travellers that helped defend the Tree."

She nodded, "Thank you, Nad," before she looked over to us and got up, stroking the ears of the closest wolf before she smiled, "Welcome to Suranak City, travellers. You have travelled a long way to get here. I am Sakila, I'm the ruler of these lands."

Sheila bowed, and we followed her lead as she introduced us, "It is a honour to meet you, Empress."

Sakila smiled, "I understand you helped defeat the Dread Baloth. Not a simple feat, they are powerful beings. Strong and fast, among the most dangerous predators on this Plane."

Plane?

I blinked at her at that.

She walked around Sheila to look at me, "I take it you are the one. The other Planeswalker."

I stared at her for a moment, "You're a Planeswalker."

"I am," she agreed with a nod, "Welcome to Suranak. Please, stay as long as you need as my guests."

"Thank you, we very much appreciate that," I accepted before I asked, "How did you knew we weren't from here?"

She smirked at me, "There are no humans on Suranak."

"Oh."

Well, that 'would' be a bit of a tip of, wouldn't it?

"Nad," she said and turned to the wizard, "Please take our guests to their rooms. I'm sure they wish to rest after the battle," she said before she turned to us, "Please, I hope you will join me for a meal later."

I bowed slightly, "We'd be honoured, your highness."

With that, she turned around and left, leaving us with her wizard. Nad smiled and motioned towards the door we entered through, "Please, honoured guests. If you would follow me?"

Sheila nodded and we followed him through the castle. As we reached what had to be the guest wing, he paused and turned to us,

"How… uhm, many rooms would you require?"

Sheila smiled at him, "One would be more than sufficient, thank you."

He nodded and lead us to a pair of doors, "A messenger will be sent when the meal is ready, my Lord, my Ladies."

With that, he left us alone.

The room was pretty large and nicely furnished including a large bed. The windows were open to the air. Walking over, I looked out across the city spread across the massive branches of the tree. Straight down next to the castle was a large arena.

Hmh.

"Atreus?" Ren said and motioned towards my satchel.

I quickly nodded and dug out a small bronze orb with a blue gem in it. I gave it a small burst of Blue Mana and it lit up before sending out a pulse of magic that coated the walls, floor, ceiling and covered the windows with a barely visible blue shimmer.

It was the big brother to my sound dampening dice, not only stopping sound from both ways at the barrier, but also blocked all known types of scrying.

"There. Should block any spying," I said and put it on the table, "Hopefully."

Sheila nodded and jumped up to sit on the table next to it, "She's a Planeswalker."

"She is," I agreed, "But that don't mean she's dangerous. We know plenty of Planeswalkers that's anywhere from one of our best friends to slightly dickish."

Sheila rolled her eyes, "Of course it means she is dangerous! Every single Planeswalker in existence is outright deadly. That include you and Alexis! The question is if she is hostile."

I suppose she was right about that, "She don't seem hostile."

Sighing, Sheila shook her head, "Not yet, no. But we should still be very careful here. They seem to think you two can turn into dragons, not the other way around. Let's keep it like that."




AN// Unbetaed for now due to time constraints.

 

[Hiver]

Dinner had been pretty much what I had expected from this kind of civilization, if even a bit more… rough than most elves we have run into so far.

In fact, it more reminded me of a medieval feast. There was even a whole roast pig like creature being slowly turned above the flames in the middle of the large room.

But that was over already and it had tasted just as nicely as it had smelled.

It had lasted well into the night.

Now the sun had risen again, and we were following the Empress up the steps towards the main balcony of the arena outside of the castle.

I suppose it's possible that we would see the local equivalent of some kind of ball game, but somehow I didn't get that vibe from the atmosphere of the place.

Sakila walked up the last step and spread her arms, "Welcome to the Arena of the Wild. Where the contestants prove their worth to the rest of the pack."

The inside of the arena had changed from what I seen from the tower. What used to be a flat piece of dirt, now had trees growing in or. Large rocks and bushes blocked line of sight anyone in it.

Around it all were a high wall and beyond that was seats. Most who were filled with elves.

"Prove their worth?" I asked and put my hands against the railing to look down into the arena. Sheila and Ren moved to stand opposite to me from the Empress.

Sakila nodded, "I am the Empress of the Suranak not because I was born into it. But because what I can do, because how strong and capable I am."

"You're a meritocracy," Sheila observed, "The larger your accomplishments, the more power you have."

Sakila smiled, "Just so."

Made sense. Dragon society was similar, it was a very reasonable way of doing things in my opinion. At least as long as it wasn't corrupted into might makes right.

Not that that would ever happen with the Flightleaders in charge.

I nodded and leaned against the railing, "So, what is this contest?" I asked as a group of young elves entered the arena.

"Once every moon, the people that has come of age since the last one enters the arena to show their worth. To gain their first real victory and take their place in our society."

"I see."

An elf with a wolf skin cloak walked up to a platform by one end of the arena. He was clearly saying something, but it didn't carry to where we were.

Then he raised his hands and sent out a burst of green light.

That's where everything went to hell down in the arena.

One of the elves moved fast, roots bursting from the floor of the arena, forming a bow and arrow. He let lose a arrow, hitting one of the others in the side of the head before being mauled in turn by a pair of summoned wolves.

Holy shit, it wasn't a contest.

It's was a gladiator fight to the death.

So much for these being nice people. I glanced at Sakila. She was smiling down at the sight of the young elves slaughtering each other.

"So… winner is the one that survive?" I finally asked.

We so need to get out of here.

"It is," she agreed, "Usually about a third make it through it, having proven their abilities sufficiently to become a full adult."

"And the rest?"

"Have been culled from the herd, making the rest stronger. Since I became Empress, we have already made great progress in getting rid of the ones without magic. They barely ever make it through the test."

I wonder how much better this place would be if I stabbed her in the eye.

I slowly nodded, "Is there other cities like this?"

Sakila nodded, "Several dozen across the Plane as well as a large number of smaller villages and tribes through the forest. Most have submitted to pay us tribute already, the rest will soon enough."

Below the fight seemed to have come to a halt. The elf directing a pair of large summoned direwolves seem to be in the big winner, but there were three others still alive. One of them had animated one of the trees to attack anything that got close to him.

Another had a pair a trio of reanimated elves controlled by what seemed like roots through their bodies fighting for him.

The last one was simply looking bored, standing to the side of the arena with a sword of wood with a dark hungry looking aura around it.

"Well, I suppose that's it for this moon then," Sakila said and stood up again, "I hope you will join me for tonight's celebration feast. The winners will all be there and be honoured for their accomplishments."

I nodded, "Of course."

Not a chance in fucking hell.





AN// Unbetaed.

 

[Hiver]

"Yeah, we should leave," I said as soon as the door closed behind us of our quarters and I had brought the sound blocking barrier up.

"No kidding," Sheila answered as she moved past me to start packing our bags, "The Empress is nuts."

Ren nodded in agreement and moved to get changed out of her dress and into her armour, "She's dangerous. Do we Walk from here?"

I thought about it for a second before I shook my head, "She's done this longer than me. I don't want to risk her being able to track us through the Blind Eternities, I'm not sure it's even possible, I have to check with Ajani next time I see him, but I don't want to risk it. Let's leave the city before we go."

We gathered everything we had and got it packed away in our bags. It didn't take long, not like we really had unpacked.

Heading out of our room, we moved towards the exit of the castle, moving towards the rest of the city.

I smiled at Sheila as we walked past a set of guards, "I wonder what the market is like here. Hope we will be able to find something interesting."

She instantly got what I was doing and nodded, "Personally, I hope for a pair of new shoes, mine are getting a bit old."

"I'm sure we will be able to find something."

We left the castle and headed into town across one of the wooden bridges between the massive branches before we took a right and headed out away from the trunk.

Plenty of elves around. There was a lot of pointing and whispering going on. I ignored them and I glanced at Sheila and Ren as we got towards the platform furthest out on the branch.

She nodded and I handed her my bag before I changed back to my real form, Ren following a second after. Sheila quickly climbed into my saddle and strapped in place before I spread my wings and took off from the platform, turning it into a steep dive towards the edge of the forest.

I really, really wanted to get out from beneath the tree that ate massive dragon eating lizards before somebody noticed we were leaving.

Pulling up from the dive, we flew out over the forest, clearing the edge of the canopy of the massive tree.

That's when everything went wrong. A massive swarm of birds erupted from the trees below, swarming us.

Sheila screamed and ducked down against my armour.

Shit, shit, shit!

Letting lose with my breath, the beam of cold cutting a swat from the murder of black birds but it was nowhere near enough. Can't stay here!

Rengosa was way ahead of me, breathing frost she dove down, ducking beneath the forest ceiling and going down for landing.

I quickly followed, flaring my wings and beating them hard to slow down as I settled down.

Sheila was cursing up a storm as she unstrapped and scrambled out of my saddle before she cast some kind of dark and uncomfortable looking spell into the swarm before it exploded and it rained birds.

"What was that?" Ren asked as she looked around.

"I don't know," I answered, "Some kind of… either a summon or a spell. Either way, no way we have not been spotted."

"Indeed, you have," Sakila confirmed as she walked out from behind one of the thick trees, her two massive wolves flanking her, "I'm afraid I can't allow you to just leave. You're a threat to my pack, you could bring others back here. It's my responsibility to stop that from happening. "

I shook my head and shifted a bit to face her and her pets, "Look, we're not looking to hurt you or yours. We're simply leave you can trust me when I say that we have no intention of ever returning to your little corner of reality."

"I wish I could believe that. But you know where we are and what's more, you can bring non-planeswalkers with you. I can't let you do that."

With that, she spread her arms, her eyes lighting up a bright green.

Sheila didn't wait either, shooting a green ball of flame towards them. Sakila waved her hand and a massive root shot up through the ground to block it.

Her wolves charged and started to grow.

Shit!

Deploying my armour, I pounced on the closest of the wolves while Rengosa did the exact same thing.

Ripping and biting, I clawed up the side of the twisting animal before clamping down on it's throat, ripping and biting as the blood flowed.

The massive wolf snarled and whimper as it went down and I went rolling off it.

I managed to struggle back onto my feet just in time to see a large plant monster burst through Sheila's barrier of flame.

Wines latched out, wrapping around her and she struggled, burning the first couple before they tightened and ripped her in two.

I was faintly aware that I screamed as she reformed in fire and smoke right next to me. Gasping, she put her hand against my side for support.

She let out a curse and I glanced at her quickly,

"Get out of here."

"We can't, we have to Walk!"

"I can't without your soulstone!"

It would take too long. Ren's wolf went down with a massive crash, bleeding out on the forest floor.

"Ren! Get Sheila out of here. I'll keep her back!"






AN// Unbetaed because I'm sick and going to bed.

 

[Hiver]

Ren quickly flew over, breathing frost on the plant creature on the way and hitting it with a frost nova to slow it down before she landed next to me, "I'll get her safe."

"No! You need us here!"

Ren looked between me and Sheila.

"Get her out, her soulstone is spent," I said and then I channelled my mana, summoning Witcher, Paladin, Frosttroll and Rogue.

Against Sheila's protests, Ren grabbed her and took to the air. Meanwhile Rogue burst into action, digging into the storage at the side of my armour, pulling out weapons for everyone.

Not as good as my Weapons, but better than what they had as standard. Enchanted adamantium weapons.

Even the troll got a spiked club the size of a small tree.

Then time was up, and the plant monster was upon us. Taking to the air, I threw myself to the side, circling and blasting the thing with frost before following it up with a fireball.

Neither was having a massive effect on it.

Damn it, I need more ranged options! Chandra would have burned that thing to a crisp with a wave of her hand!

The summons however was having a bigger luck as they teamed up to take the elemental being down.

But then I didn't have time to pay much more attention to them as another massive wolf jumped for me, jaws clamping down on my armoured wing.

Ah!!

Twisting, I clawed at it's eyes and throat, breathing frost at it as I shifted my armor slightly, turning my wing razor sharp.

The wolf went down screaming and bleeding, but brought me down with it. I hit the ground hard, knocking the breath out of my lungs even through the armour.

Quickly pulling away from the trashing summon, I shook my head and located Sakila, she were doing some other kind of green magic witchcraft.

A root of razor sharp wood lashed out from one of the trees. It knocked me to the side, scraping against my amour but didn't penetrate.

Still hurt.

Have to do this fast.

Snarling, I rolled back onto my paws and threw myself towards her. She waved her hand and it glowed green and brambles with thorns the size of swords grew between us.

That's when things went strange.

My armour just kind of turned into flower petals.

I was too shocked to do anything, pulling up to avoid the thorns. What in the aAHHH!

A massive large plant elemental jumped me from behind from the trees, slamming into my back and down into the brambles.

Everything was pain as something wrapped around my neck and there was a almighty crack of a sound and then nothing.

I floated in nothing.

Soulstone.

I was in my soulstone.

Had to get out of here and get away from the crazy elf bitch. Shit!

She killed me!

Reforming from fire and smoke was just as unpleasant as I remembered it being, like being burned alive in reverse for a second.

Gasping, I feel to my knees.

Thirty meters away, the plant elemental looked around, surprised that the dragon it had been ripping apart had disappeared.

Holding my hand out, I summoned one of my reserve weapons from my bag before I covered the area with thick mist and sent illusions of myself in every direction.

One of the reason we always made the soulstones in mortal form. If we got killed in our real form, it's because something had gone horribly, horribly wrong and this form was way easier to hide in.

Fine.

Won't be able to fight the bitch, she was stronger than me and clearly better. Had to get away from here. Shit.

Summons still alive?

Summons still alive. I sent them a mental command to ignore the summons and to focus on Sakila.

That'll keep her distracted. I sure hoped a frost troll with a adamantium club going for her would distract her.

If not, I'm so fucked.

Putting a bubble of silence around me to muffle my footsteps, I wove a skyrim style invisibility spell and broke into a run through the mist into the forest.

Ducking behind a tree, I peered back through the mist. I needed to know where things were clear.

Weaving a quick scrying spell, I sent it up into the air to get a peek around. Where was she? The pair of tree elementals were wandering about, seeming to be searching.

My summons were down.

No sign of Sakila herself.

A snarl from the right caused me to cancel the spell and throw myself to the side, just in time to avoid the jaws of a massive wolf.

Whipping my glaive towards it's throat as it flashed past, it went down hard as the horribly sharp blade split it from throat to rear quarters, slitting bone and flesh.

Shit! Had to get away from here before.

Something hit me hard from the side and everything went black. Last thing I remembered was the mist turning into ice.




AN// Unbetaed, heading to bed.

 

[Hiver]

Darkness. Silence.

I just kind of felt numb. Where was I?

Thoughts kind of drifted back and forth randomly. There was something important I needed to do, but I couldn't remember what.

"…im up. We can't do…"

I think I just figured out why Alexstrasza was so nice to me. I remind her so strongly of her brother.

"…regos… ear…"

Someone wanted something. Were they talking to me?

Did I taste mint? Or was that purble?

"Atregos!"

Rengosa. My lovely sapphire dragon. She sounded far away. To bad, I liked it better when she was close.

"…o use. He can't he…"

Something shifted around me. Was I moving? I felt… wind.

I think it was wind. Air was moving. Air moving across a curved surface provide lift.

Sheila has nice curves. She should be able to fly.

Where was Sheila? I like Sheila.

Things shifted again. Was I falling?

Things suddenly stopped moving quickly and for a split second, I didn't feel quite so numb. I quickly regretted that fact.

Yes, yes, I had been falling.

Ow.

Someone touched my cheek and I forced my eye open. There was Sheila, the sun shining through her blonde hair.

She was an angel.

She was saying something I couldn't quite understand. She looked worried though. I don't like it when Sheila is worried.

I should do something about that.

"Atregos, can you hear me?" she said and stroked my cheek, "Please, you have to wake up. You have to get us out of here. You're hurt badly. Please, you have to focus."

Hurt. I didn't hurt at all.

That's strange.

I likely should. There was a fight, wasn't it? Was there? I couldn't quite remember.

Sheila frowned, the image shifting some and suddenly she was a bit to the left, Rengosa kneeling at my other side, "Atregos, can you understand me?" Sheila askes quietly. It was darker than before.

Had time passed? That's odd.

Time shouldn't pass that quickly.

She shook her head, "I don't think he can. There is too much pain potion in him."

Rengosa frowned, "He can handle it, he's strong," before she leaned in and put her forehead against mine, "Atregos, I need you to Walk us. Take us somewhere friendly, there have to be somewhere in range of here. It's important, we are in danger."

That's not good at all.

If Rengosa was in danger it meant Sheila was too. I didn't like it when my Consorts were in danger.

Zrazta wasn't here.

I missed Zrazta.

Rengosa nuzzled, "Atregos, we need to go. Skyrim, Caldeum, Ravnica… anywhere we can find friends. You can do it. I know you can."

Rengosa wanted to go somewhere. Wanted me to Walk them there. Where are we? I could see trees.

Oh yeah, we're at a place with trees. The elves that helped me. I like them. That's must be where we are.

Ravnica was closest.

…Ravni…" I mumbled, "Clos."

"Yes! Ravnica!" Sheila quickly take, "Can you get us there?"

They wanted to go to Ravnica. I could do that.

Letting my eye drift close, I started to channel my magic.

Everything after that just kind of turned into even more of a blur.




AN// Unbetaed.

 

[Hiver]

Darkness.

Groan. Fuck, my mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. What happened? Where was I?

I was laying on something soft and something warm and soft was to my right. It smelled like Rengosa.

Forcing my eyes open, I blinked in the dark. I was in a room of stone, laying in a bed, a fireplace burning happily.

Only one of my eyes opened, something was wrapped around my head. I had gotten hurt.

I didn't hurt, but somehow, I had gotten hurt. What happened?

I didn't remember.

Turning my head, I nuzzled softly at Rengosas long blue hair, "Mmm."

She stirred and then quickly shifted to look at me, "Hey."

"Hey," I answered with a small smile, "What happened?"

She rolled onto her side, brushing my hair out of my face, "What do you remember?"

"I…"

We had gone to a Plane. We had met somebody. Planeswalker.

Elf.

Sakila.

I sighed, "Most I think. We tried to leave, Sakila attacked us. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details though. I assume she got a good hit in."

Rengosa nodded, "I had just gotten Sheila safely away. She managed to attack you by a plant elemental. I managed to dive in to snatch you away before it killed you," she said quietly and scooted closer, "…You were badly hurt."

"How badly?"

"Badly."

I looked and suddenly I was very happy that I felt numb. Halfway up from the elbow, my left arm was missing.

"My eye?"

"Damaged," Rengosa said softly and rested her head against my shoulder, "Half a dozen broken ribs, both your legs were broken and so was your right arm. Your left arm was missing."

Damn.

"Everything else?"

"Mostly healed," she said and stroked my cheek, "But neither we, our hosts or our healing potions can do anything about the eye or arm."

I swallowed and nodded, "…It's fine. Alexstrasza or one of the Red can fix it. She healed damage just as bad as my eye on me before. Anyone watching?"

Ren looked down at the bed before she shook her head in answer so I raised my arm and channelled my magic, summoning Paladin.

She appeared in a flash of white magic and took one look at me before she started to cast healing magic.

I closed my eyes and let the golden magic flow over me. Suddenly I felt a lot better as smaller aches I had not even registered melted away and I felt like I could actually move.

Rubbing my face, I struggled to sit up, Rengosa growling at me for moving. This time however I ignored it. I needed to just do something. Anything.

Fuck, I had gotten my tail thoroughly kicked. I almost died. More importantly, Sheila and Ren almost died.

I rested my face against my hand. It had not even been close. Sakila had just demolished us, she just….

Nothing I did barely even slowed her down, she turned my armour into flower petals for fuck sake!

"…Where are we?" I finally asked and unsummoned Paladin, "How did we get here?"

Ren scooted up to sit next to me, "You Walked us, you don't remember?"

I shook my head, "No."

"…You were barely conscious. You were aiming for Ravnica…"

"Ravnica? That's way too far away from where we encountered Sakila and her people. I wouldn't do that in one Walk even if I was fully awake."

"Don't ask me, you said it was close."

Man, unconscious me was an idiot.

…More of an idiot.

"Where are we? Where is Sheila?"

Ren slipped an arm around my waist, "We're on the island fortress Kinloch Hold in the country known as Ferelden. We landed a day or so west of here, a group of Templars found and helped us here. Sheila is meeting with one of the leaders of this place, a mage named Irving."

"I see."

I moved to get up and the world seemed to object strongly against that with the way it wobbled and spun.

Ren quickly moved to stand, catching me and guiding me back onto the bed, "Atregos, we're safe. Lay down and rest, focus on getting better.

Rest.

Yeah, rest sounded nice.

Okay, room spinning. Might not have a choice in the matter.



AN// Unbetaed.

 

[Hiver]

With the pain potions mostly worn off, I felt a hell of a lot worse. I didn't hurt exactly, technically most of my wounds were healed. Not that simple healing like some paladin spells and some healing potions put my eye and arm back.

Nor technically heal broken bone, not on their own at least. They needed to be set first. Luckily, Sheila knew how to do that.

Leaning against the stone railing of the balcony, I overlooked the cold water of the lake below.

Yeah.

I didn't technically hurt, but that didn't mean I didn't feel like shit.

Forget getting hurt, I lost all my gear.

It didn't even seem to have made any kind of effect, she kicked our tails so hard I bet Kalecgos could feel it.

None of my gear helped. What wasn't destroyed, was left behind. Not that I expected anyone there to be able to use any of it to be honest even if they found any of it. Nobody else could use my weapons and the trinkets couldn't be used easily. Nothing I used worked.

Maybe if I had had something ranged so I could outright shoot her like a Mana laser of… fuck a gun, then maybe something would have worked.

I didn't have a ranged option.

I had not really needed one so far. Summons had filled that role. But it didn't this time. Even if I had a magic gun, it might not even have helped.

She handled everything else easy enough.

Fuck.

"Hey."

I looked over at Sheila as she walked up next to me, "Hey."

"How do you feel?" She asked and took my hand where I had it on the stone of the fortress, "You look a bit better."

"As much better as I can be while missing pieces," I said and brought her hand up to give the back of it a small kiss, "But I'm moving at least."

She cringed slightly and looked away.

"Hey, none of that. It's because you and Ren that I got out of there at all," I said and stroked her cheek, "You're right that this is too dangerous to do alone. We need each other."

Sheila shook her head and then put her arms around me and I hugged her tight, resting my head against the top of hers.

"…Not that I helped," She said against my chest, "All I did was to get killed by a plant and then get in the way."

"Bad matchup. Same for me and Rengosa."

She shook her head and then moved to look at me with a frown, "No, I'm… Atregos, you, Rengosa and Zrazta are all stronger than me. I have my spells, but even when I can summon… well, even then, I simply can't keep up with any of you."

I brushed some of her hair out of her face, "Didn't seem to help this time. I went squish as soon as my armour was down."

Not that I was salty about that or anything.

She shook her head again and leaned back against the railing as she crossed her arms, "I have thought about it a lot. I want to do it."

"Do wha…" I started to ask before I blinked at her in surprise, "Really? Wait, no. I don't want you to feel pressured to go through the ritual just because you feel like…"

"It's not that. I have talked with Jaina and Kalecgos about it. I have spent a lot of time on this and… I think it's something I want to do," she said before she smiled a bit, "This last incident just kind of gave me the push I needed. I'm limited in what I can do with what I got. I may have to start over with mostly Land magic instead of Fel, but the ceiling is higher."

"We'll get it done for you," I said and gave her a small kiss, "Love you."

"Love you too. Now, how about we get you back to bed, you look like you are about to fall over."

I just nodded in agreement. She wasn't wrong.

"Yeah. Thanks… mind giving me a hand."

"Su…" she started to said before she groaned and covered her face, "By the light."

I smirked at her, "Come on, no need to give me the evil eye over it. That was a perfectly good pun."

"Stop it!"

"It's not that bad. Always good to have a good pun at hand."

Sheila shook her head, forcing a smile back as she put her arm around my waist, leading my inside, "Why did I marry you again?"

"You were worried I couldn't handle myself?"

I couldn't help but grin at the sound of her groan, "So you are saying you can't handle it?"

"Stop it!"

"Okay… it is getting a bit out of han… ow! Injured here!"

As she shook her head, I laid back down onto the bed, pulling her along,

"I do feel better," I said with a sigh, "I should be able to get out and about tomorrow, Walk maybe in a couple of days. Need to check, but it should be possible to get back home in two walks or so."

She nodded and got comfortable with her head on my shoulder, "There are some things you should know about this place."

"Like what?"

I mean, how bad could it be?




AN// Unbetaed.