Path of Dragons

Elijah looked at the silver box hovering over the remains of the egg and asked, “Who wants to do the honors?”

Dat glanced at Sadie. So did Kurik. It made sense, given that she was the one who’d hold onto the reward, at least until they could have it identified. Hopefully, Atticus could take care of that. Either way, Elijah gave the armored woman a nod before saying, “Go ahead.”

Sadie squared her shoulders, then approached the box. Or chest, really. In the old version of Earth, it would’ve been considered an artistic masterpiece. The design was simple enough, with only a little decorative trim on the lid, but it was large enough that the sheer amount of silver used in the chest’s construction would have been quite valuable.

She reached out, her fingers briefly brushing against the surface, and where they touched, a trail of blue light followed. It was teeming with dense ethera, a fact that set it apart from the reward boxes Elijah had gotten in various towers. Sadie unhooked the delicate latch before pushing the lid open, laying bare the contents with a flash of blue light.

It was a white pill, albeit a large one that looked like it was streaked through with blue lightning. When Sadie touched it, Elijah received a notification:

“One out of nine,” said Kurik. “This Trial ain’t jokin’ around, is it? Completin’ eight more of those won’t be easy.”

“Won’t be so bad, bro. We got through this one, didn’t we?” Dat added.

Elijah didn’t respond, and pointedly, neither did Sadie. After all, they’d already decided to go their separate ways once they reached the Nexus Town. So, making plans for future challenges seemed pointless. Elijah was very interested in the Seed of the Whistling Wind, though. He’d expected it to be an actual seed, so he was surprised when they’d gotten a pill. What it would do was anyone’s guess, though he suspected that it was something like the alchemical cultivation aids he’d heard about from Biggle. Those often took the form of pills.

Or maybe he was completely off-base. As he was so often reminded, he had a lot to learn about the multi-verse, so there was every chance that it would do something that countered all of his expectations. One thing was certain, though – it would almost assuredly be powerful. The Trial was intended to help them grow, and at an accelerated pace from what was possible on Earth. As such, it stood to reason that the rewards would be quite useful.

The nature of the pill was still a mystery, though one Elijah was eager to solve. That would have to wait, considering that they still needed to descend from the plateau and cross a week’s worth of jungle before they could have someone identify its properties. First, though, they all needed a good rest. To that end, after collecting their reward and climbing free of the cenote, they made their way to the edge of the plateau where they made camp.

What followed was two days of peace and quiet, with everyone taking the time to sleep and regain their various energies. For his part, Elijah spent much of the time in meditation and healing. His injuries hadn’t been quite as severe as they had been after his some of his more harrowing fights, some of which had required him to reset his broken bones multiple times, but he was far from unscathed. Fortunately, healing didn’t require much input, save to re-cast Healing Rain or Soothe when they’d played themselves out. The rest of his attention was spent on meditation.

Because he’d once again been reminded of the benefits of advanced cultivation, and he knew that if he let up, he would fall behind. So, he spent most of his time exploring the limits of his Quartz Mind and using that information to develop a plan to take the next step.

There were two obstacles in his way, though. First, while the density of the ethera in the Trial was much higher than anywhere on Earth – save for his grove or the cultivation cave – it was still insufficient for his purposes. The method for advancing each category of cultivation varied, but there was one throughline between them all. Whether it was his Mind, Body, Soul, or Core, they all required exceedingly thick ethera, and the density on the plateau just didn’t meet those requirements.

Second, he wasn’t entirely certain how to push his Mind to the next tier. The guides he’d purchased were very vague, especially after the first step. So, Elijah was almost entirely on his own, save for the most basic information. Apparently, the third step was the final stage of what was considered the mortal realm of cultivation, and it was intended to allow the Mind to function at a higher level. If progressing to Quartz gave him the ability to process multiple threads of thought at any given time, then reaching Jade would deepen those thoughts, improving the quality.

Elijah wasn’t certain about that. He didn’t think it would make him any more intelligent, so he wasn’t really sure how it would really work.

But he supposed he would eventually find out.

In any case, Elijah had no expectation of taking large strides forward – at least not in the space of a day or two, especially given the distraction of having to use some of that time casting his various heals. Regardless, he hoped that his efforts would add up over time so that when he finally did find an appropriate environment, he could make the leap with some confidence.

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After two days, everyone had returned to full health, and so, they returned the way they’d originally come. Climbing down the Singing Cliffs was simultaneously more difficult and, in some ways, easier. The climb itself was a little more precarious, but the pesky birds and wind spirits mostly left them alone.

Still, climbing down a miles-long vertical cliff was no easy feat, even with their inflated attributes, and it ended up taking most of a day to reach the ground. When they did, Dat said, “I used to think rock climbing was cool. No more, bro. No more.”

Everyone wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment.

After resting for the night, the group set off through the jungle. At first, the going was easy enough, with no real threats presenting themselves. But soon, the dangers of the excised world showed themselves. Not only were they accosted by awakened wraiths, but they also had to deal with the local wildlife, which proved to be almost as dangerous as the ethera-draining and four-armed humanoids. Still, by that point, the group had learned one another’s strengths and weaknesses, so while the battles still held some degree of difficulty, they fought though them without any major setbacks.

Until, on the third day, Elijah sensed something he hadn’t expected.

From where Elijah sat next to the campfire, he could feel them closing in. They moved like shadows, flitting from one instance of cover to the next. What’s more, he recognized them.

“We’re surrounded,” Elijah said, his voice casual.

“Wraiths?” asked Kurik, tossing a stick into the flames.

Elijah shook his head.

Dat’s eyes flicked from one shadow to the next. “Immortals,” he said. “Coming in fast.”

“Kill them?” Sadie asked.

“If we can,” Elijah answered.

“Agreed,” Dat said. Kurik nodded. Sadie’s face remained impassive, but it was clear that she had no objections.

Just then, the Immortals struck like lightning. If Elijah hadn’t already felt them, the attack would have been devastating, but readiness was a perfect counter to an ambush. Elijah aimed his staff at the first one to appear, then cast Storm’s Fury. Lightning lanced out from the end of the Staff of the First Dragon, briefly banishing the darkness of night and stripping the other Immortals of their concealment.

There were ten of them, all predictably wearing the same black outfits they’d worn back in Nexus Town, and they wielded identical swords. In that moment of visibility, Elijah couldn’t identify any more before the lightning faded. However, he did see Storm’s Fury slam into an Immortal’s chest, sending the slim figure crashing into a tree.

As that Immortal slumped to the ground, the others closed in. But Elijah’s allies hadn’t been idle, and already, they had used a variety of abilities. Sadie enveloped herself in white light, while Dat raised his crossbow, sending a volley of bolts to slam into a pair of Immortals. Meanwhile, another fell prey to one of Kurik’s cleverly concealed traps, their foot crashing through a thin covering and into a small hole filled with venomous caltrops.

Sadie used what Dat referred to as her taunting ability, and the Immortals all turned their attention in her direction. One of them managed to pull away, but most of them rushed her. Surrounded by a bulwark of white light, she was well positioned to take their attacks head-on.

One thing became immediately clear. The Immortals were not great fighters. Certainly, they had some skill with their blades, which they used to great effect. However, either their classes didn’t give them many active abilities, or they weren’t accustomed to using them. Either way, the result was the same. Judging by the way they moved, they had decent attributes, but without skills to back them up, they were clearly inferior.

They fell upon Sadie’s barrier with a barrage of rapid strikes. However, those attacks did nothing to shatter the sturdy ethereal shield. And her counterattacks were vicious and efficient. In one case, she nearly cut one Immortal in half with a brutal horizontal strike that hit the figure’s waist with explosive might.

But miraculously, aside from a single, high-pitched cry, the Immortal gave no indication that she’d been nearly bisected. In fact, she continued to fight with a gaping wound in her side that exposed quite a few ruptured organs.

The other Immortals fought with similar single-minded fervor, and though Elijah and his companions were clearly superior, in terms of both attributes and skills, the fact that the Immortals refused to die made the fight far more even than it probably should have been.

After realizing that they couldn’t win, the Immortals turned their attention to flight. As one, they turned to flee. But Elijah had other plans. So, he singled one of them out, then cast Snaring Roots. Thick and thorny vines erupted from the ground wrapping around the Immortal’s legs. Mid-stride, they fell, hitting the ground face-first. One of their fellows briefly tried to hack through the vines, but they were incapable of cutting through them. More importantly, the vines kept coming, wrapping the prone figure in a cocoon. Seeing that, the other Immortals abandoned their companion.

And in seconds, they passed out of range of One with Nature, disappearing into the forest. Elijah could have pursued, but given their incapability of killing the Immortals, it seemed a fruitless endeavor. Besides, he had a prisoner to interrogate.

“You saw that, right?” Sadie asked, her armor splattered with blood. Similar gore dripped from her greatsword.

“Immortal, bro. It’s right there in the name.”

“I don’t believe anyone is truly immortal,” Sadie said.

“Me neither,” Elijiah admitted. “But let’s put that to the test.”

When Snaring Roots ran its course, the vines retreated, revealing a slight figure. In the heat of battle, it was easy to see the Immortals as identical. However, with peace came a greater attention to detail, and it immediately became apparent that the Immortal they’d captured was a woman. In fact, she was the same woman whose head Elijah had crushed back in Nexus Town.

Elijah reached down, grabbed her silver mask, and yanked it away. That revealed her scarred face and the haughty expression she wore.

“You will pay for this,” she said. “Our Lord will see to it.”

“Who are you? And why did you attack us?”

“It is our right as the Immortals chosen by God Himself. He shields us from death, and in turn, we serve Him.”

“You are a murderer wreathed in sin,” Sadie growled.

“So I am.”

“You don’t deny it?”

“My actions are righteous. I am justified by His command.”

“How does this immortality thing work?” asked Elijah, squatting next to her. “What if I hacked you to pieces? Would you still be alive? Decapitation might work, too.”

That got through to her. “I live as long as our Lord deems me useful.”

Dat cleared his throat. “It’s a skill, bro. Or a spell. I’m not sure about how it all works, but it’s tied to this Lord of theirs.”

“He is your Lord too,” the Immortal, her eyes shining with zealotry. “You just don’t know it yet.”

“What do we do?” asked Kurik, glancing from Elijah to Dat, and then to Sadie.

Elijah answered immediately, “Experiment.”

“What does that mean?” Sadie asked.

“It means that this is going to get really unpleasant,” Elijah said. “I understand if you don’t approve. I don’t like it either. But this is the best way to figure out what we’re up against.”

Then, Sadie surprised Elijah by saying, “I’ll do it.”

“The Lord will shelter me,” the prone woman said.

After that, he looked at the Immortal and responded, “You say that now, but I’m thinking you’ll change your tune in a few minutes.”

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