Path of Dragons

“Where are we going?” asked Miguel, following Elijah through the woods outside Ironshore.

“Does it matter? The journey is more important than the destination,” Elijah said, doing his best to seem wise. “Worry less about where we’re going and more about how we’re going to get there. Or why we continue on.”

Miguel rolled his eyes, and Elijah’s aura of stoic pseud-intellectualism broke as he gave a little chuckle. “Seriously, though – where are we going?” the young man asked.

“A place called Arvandor,” Elijah answered. “It’s a city populated by elves. Then, we’re going to cross the desert to the Circle of Spears.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

That elicited a narrowing of Miguel’s eyes. “C’mon. Be serious.”

“Fine,” Elijah said with a long-suffering sigh. “What do you know about the Branches of the World Tree? Or the Knowledge Base, more specifically.”

“Uh…it has guides. Kind of like Wikipedia.”

“Except there’s no way to really search it,” Elijah stated. “All the information in the multi-verse, but no way to find what you’re really looking for. Sometimes, it’s easy to hunt answers down. I think that’s one of the benefits of being recently touched by the World Tree. We need to know the basics, so it puts those front-and-center. But what do you think we do when we need to find more specific information?”

“Somebody could search it. Make a job out of it, like a professor or something.”

“Kind of. But it’s more than that. There’s a class called Librarian that can find things. They’re like personified search engines. You give them a question, and they find the answer via one of their abilities. But like a lot of abilities and spells, those skills have cooldowns. So, they can only answer questions so often, which makes it valuable.”

“Supply and demand. We learned about it in school,” Miguel revealed.

“In school? You were in what? Fourth grade? Seems a little early to learn about that kind of thing.”

That’s when Miguel revealed that he’d been enrolled in something of a special school meant for advanced students.

“Your mom was a gifted student, too,” Elijah said. “Both of them, I expect. But our parents wanted Alyssa to skip grades, she was so smart.”

“What about you?”

Elijah chuckled. “I was above average,” he said. “Never really had a drive for academics, if I’m honest. I liked the idea of learning all those wonderful things, but the reality turned out to be too tedious for my taste. Probably why I made for a terrible biologist.”

“What does that have to do with this place we’re going?”

“They have a Librarian there that owes me a question,” Elijah said. “And I’m going to use it for you. Also, elves.”

“Elves? Like, real elves? Kurik said there was one in Ironshore, but –”

“I’ve met her. Nice lady. But no – these are sand elves. I helped them out once before, so like I said, they owe me. Plus, I’m on a bit of a diplomatic mission,” he said. Then, he explained what he meant to Miguel. The young man had already latched onto the idea of a city filled with elves, which meant he only barely listened to Elijah’s explanation.

In any case, when Elijah asked him if he wanted to come, Miguel gave an enthusiastic agreement. So, only a couple of hours later, they returned to the grove, where Elijah made sure his nephew had everything he needed – including his weapons – before opening a gate to the Moon Glade. The two stepped through a moment later.

The pond, the dolmen, and the surrounding glade was much the same as the last time Elijah had been there, though he did notice that the ambient ethera had experienced an uptick in density. It wasn’t as noticeable as in the areas where he’d planted the ancestral tree saplings, but it was still hard to miss.

“This is where Trevor and his family lived?”

“Trevor?”

“The moon deer. There’s Trevor and Susan, then their parents Bubba and Annabelle,” Miguel said.

“Those are some…interesting names.”

“They like them,” Miguel said with a shrug.

“Right. But yes, this is where I found them,” Elijah said. Then, he explained that the deer had been injured. “I healed them, and then when I saw they were still in danger, I brought them back to the island.”

“You should do that more. We could have a whole bunch of powerful animals living there,” Miguel suggested.

“The island is too small for that,” Elijah replied. “The ecosystem won’t handle it. Besides, most guardians are predators. It wouldn’t be long before they started fighting one another.”

“Oh. Yeah. That makes sense, I guess. But can you imagine a lion guardian? Or a walrus?”

Elijah chuckled. “I met a bear guardian once,” he said, leading Miguel away from the dolmen. The undergrowth wasn’t very dense, so the way was easy enough. “Really surly character. Only reason he tolerated me was because I fed him a ton of fish.”

As they traveled, Elijah recounted a few more of his adventures. He tried to veer away from the more harrowing parts, instead focusing on his connection with nature and the miraculous things he’d seen. There were plenty, so he didn’t have any issues finding appropriate topics.

For his part, Miguel proved an attentive and enthusiastic listener, asking poignant questions that would have been more appropriate coming from someone much older. It prompted some interesting discussions, mostly about the nature of the world, but also about things Miguel found interesting. Unsurprisingly, most of it had to do with nature.

Curiously, though, Miguel didn’t really care much about plant life. Instead, he latched onto animals, growing excited when they saw anything furry, feathery, or scaley.

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“I think you might’ve ended up as a zoologist or something,” Elijah said. “Maybe a veterinarian.”

Miguel said, “I like animals, so maybe. But I once read on the internet that a lot of veterinarians ended up having to put a bunch of animals down. I don’t’ know if I could handle that.”

“Everything dies eventually,” Elijah said. “That’s part of life.”

After a while, they reached the end of the forest and started across the plains. If it was just Elijah, he would have kept going – or probably have flown – but he wanted Miguel to see the world from a different perspective. His experience during their exodus had not been pleasant, and Elijah thought it was important for the young man to see that their new world wasn’t all danger and death. There was beauty there, too.

That seemed like an important distinction, given the shape Elijah expected for Miguel’s development to take.

In any case, they continued on, and the landscape slowly transformed from a lowland forest to a prairie, and then to a desert. It wasn’t as arid as the one surrounding Seattle, but aside from a few scrubby bushes and some hardy grass, it was almost entirely devoid of vegetation. There was plenty of animal life, though, and as they trekked through the area, Elijah kept a running commentary on what he sensed via One with Nature. Overall, it took almost three days of travel – stopping each night – before they reached the Twilight Clefts.

There, they were met by a troop of elves, one of which was familiar.

“Long time no see, Syka,” Elijah said, grinning at the golemancer. She was flanked by a pair of other elves on one side and her earth golem on the other.

Syka returned his smile with one of her own, saying, “Welcome back! Are you here to challenge the tower again? And who’s this? He’s cute!”

“He’s thirteen.”

“Almost fourteen,” Miguel interjected, though he did so with a bit of a stammer.

“Which is still thirteen,” Elijah insisted. “Miguel, this is Syka. And her boulder-y buddy there is Gbartik.”

“Uh…actually, this is Jibann. Gbartik was destroyed,” Syka said with a shake of her head.

“Weird names,” Miguel remarked.

“Miggy. That’s rude.”

“They are!”

“Think nothing of it. They’re randomly named,” Syka said. “They’re not real. No soul. No mind. Just hunks of rock.”

Jibann shifted slightly.

After that, Syka introduced the other two elves, then offered to take them to Arvandor. Elijah agreed, and after that, they were led through the huge canyons and to the elven city. Along the way, Miguel kept his eyes firmly trained on Syka, and it wasn’t difficult to see why. The Golemancer was possessed of the same ethereal beauty characteristic of every other elf, which, for a relatively sheltered young man like Miguel, was too much to ignore.

Elijah tried to drag the boy’s attention to other sights, but it just didn’t seem to be in the cards. So, he was glad when they finally reached the city, which finally dragged Miguel out of his infatuated stupor.

“Wow,” he said as they passed through the first tunnel. “You didn’t say it was all underground.”

In fact, Elijah had. Miguel was just too distracted by elven beauty to hear it. But he didn’t make a big deal out of it, and eventually, they were escorted to the Branch chamber. There, K’hana awaited alongside her little brother the Librarian.

“Greetings, Druid,” she said with a bow.

“Oh, we don’t have to stand on ceremony,” Elijah said. “We’re friends, right? Let’s get to the question because I have a proposition I want to discuss with you.”

“I see.”

After that, Elijah asked her brother – whose name he’d actually forgotten – his question, “I’m looking for information on potential classes for people with nature attunements.”

The young elf nodded, then closed his eyes before placing his hand against the Branch. Nearby, the Envoy’s eyes narrowed. From what Elijah understood, the relationship between Envoys and the area around their Branches was something like what existed between the Warden and his jail. They were supposed to be the ultimate power, so long as they remained in that clearly defined area.

Of course, as Elijah had proven with the Warden, that wasn’t exactly foolproof, so he didn’t know how the limits were determined. He’d only guessed the nature of the Warden’s power based on a discussion with Nerthus. Either way, he didn’t have any intention of testing those limits with the Envoy.

As those thoughts flitted through Elijah’s mind, the Librarian used his skill, resulting in the Branch lighting up with ethereal power. Next, a leaf appeared in his hand. He handed it over to Elijah, saying, “This is called Nature Classes – a Sample. I hope it’s what you wanted.”

After thanking the Librarian, Elijah set up a meeting with K’hana in a couple of hours, then dragged Miguel back to a set of rooms they were provided. Then, he settled down to read the guide. That’s when he discovered that, because he’d yet to receive an archetype, Miguel couldn’t read the guide.

“I didn’t expect that, if I’m honest. A little frustrating,” Elijah admitted.

“Tell me about it. That’s why I can’t wait to get my archetype.”

So, Elijah settled in to interpret the information for his nephew. And to his surprise, there were hundreds of class options for each archetype.

“How about we narrow it down. What archetypes interest you the most?” Elijah asked.

“Um…mostly Warrior, Ranger, and…uh…Druid,” he said. “Maybe Sorcerer, but I don’t know.”

“So, the combat archetypes,” Elijah said. “Let’s start with the Warrior stuff right now, then we’ll progress through the others.”

After that, they went through the options associated with the stated archetype. Many were not dependent on attunements, and they fell into three categories. The defender-style classes, which were suited for durability and were often used for protection, were the most numerous. But then, there were the melee-focused damage dealers – one of which was the Berserker class that he recognized from his fight with Cabbot. And finally, there were the hybrids that traded suitability in a single purpose for versatility. Elijah was familiar with that.

However, there were dozens of ways each purpose was achieved. Some used a wide variety of weapons, while others focused on a single tool. It was easy to dismiss those differences as mere flavor, but one line stuck out to Elijah more than any other.

He read it aloud, “At first glance, class choices may not seem impactful. A Fighter seems little different from a Knight. Yet, despite overlap, progression will always mean differentiation. The gaps between classes grow wider as one gains levels, engages in cultivation, chooses specializations, and evolves. So, choose wisely.”

“This doesn’t help at all,” Miguel said.

“I know,” was Elijah’s response, sitting on the bed beside his nephew. “Ramik once told me that established societies usually have Scholars that specialize in class information. They’re meant to help people make the perfect choices. We don’t have any of that.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” Miguel asked, looking over at his uncle.

“I don’t know,” Elijah admitted. “I didn’t even choose my archetype. The system chose for me.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. I was on a plane, remember? The lights went out, and before I could wrap my head around what was going on, a giant bird ripped a hole in the fuselage,” he explained. “I fell into the ocean, and I didn’t wake up until a while later. By that point, the choice had been made for me. But it was a good thing. If I’d have gotten anything but Druid, I probably wouldn’t have survived. And besides – I had a ridiculous compatibility with the archetype, so it seems pretty clear that I was destined for it.”

“Is that what I should do? Just pick the one with the best compatibility?”

“Maybe. Do you trust the system?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah, me neither. It seems like it wants to help, but I like the idea of having choice, too,” Elijah explained. “Like, what if it told me I was suited to be a trash collector? Would I have picked whatever archetype led to the Trash Man class?”

“Is that a thing?”

Elijah shrugged. “No clue. My point is that you should take the system’s compatibility rating into account, but ultimately, I think you should go with your heart. I’ve told you that you don’t want to be a Druid, but if that’s where your heart leads you, I’ll do everything I can to help you be the best Druid you can be.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Now, here’s what I’m going to do – during my meeting with K’hana, I’m going to ask if she has anyone who can transcribe the information in this guide to a book or something. That way, you can look through it yourself. Sound good?” Elijah asked.

“Yeah.”

“Alright then. Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone,” Elijah said before pushing himself to his feet and heading out of the room. Hopefully, his conversation with K’hana would be more definitively fruitful than the guide had been.

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