System Change

“Okay,” Alanah said, looking over the group. “First thing that you all need to know is that the enemy, the Echoing Willow, is a monster unlike what any of us has fought yet… well, unless you have fought me in my siren form, which none of you have.”

“What do we have to look out for?” Tyron asked. The blacksmith was taking all the information in calmly.

“The main thing that I know of is the tree’s controlling effects through vibrations and sound,” Alanah explained. “I am confident that myself, Derek, Silvi, and Avery will be able to fight without being affected by its skill much, but the two… three of you, I am unsure. I believe that you will be okay, Prince Edgar. As for you and your companion, Tyron, I’m not sure.”

Tyron closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. “How much worse do you believe it will be once we get closer to the monster? As it is right now, it is no problem for me and Rocky.”

“I am unsure,” Alanah answered. “Neither I, nor anyone I know of, have gone close enough to know.”

“And the controlling effect is only through the sound and vibrations?” Tyron asked.

“I imagine it would work via telepathy, too, but, unless you allow it in, you won’t have to worry about that, so yes, it is the sound and vibrations that need to be watched out for,” the siren explained.

“In that case, if I dampen the sound that reaches me, then I should be okay?”

“If you are able to do so, then yes,” Alanah said.

“Very well.” Tyron held out his hand, palm face up, and concentrated. Derek and the others watched as small grains of metal, earth, and other materials slowly rose out of the ground and began forming an object in the smith’s hand. Before long, the Walking Forge had what looked like two ear covers connected to one another.

Did he just make some noise canceling earmuffs? Derek inwardly chuckled.

“Clay is a good sound dampener,” Tyron explained. “I mixed some of it with different metals. It’s makeshift and not something that will last long, but it should get me through a fight or two.” With that, he slipped his temporary covers over his ear.

“How is it?” Alanah asked.

“What?” Tyron leaned in, then took the covers off. “They have completely eradicated the vibration that was reaching here, but I can’t hear anything else with them on. During the fight, if you need me for something specific, you will have to reach out via Telepathy.”

“Great,” Alanah said. “We will remember. Good idea, Tyron.”

“Edgar,” Tyron said as he turned to look at the prince. “Would you like a pair?”

“Thanks for the offer,” Edgar replied. “But I think I will be fine.”

“Very well,” the smith said. “Anyone else?” He looked at Derek, Silvi, and Avery, but Derek and Avery only shook their heads, and Silvi ignored the man completely.

“Will Rocky be okay?” Derek asked.

“He’ll be fine,” Tyron said. “We’ve already made a plan. He’s going to go underground and fight from there. I don’t believe there is much out there with better underground control that Rocky. He’ll have an entire ground’s worth of sound and vibration dampening under there.”

“Good idea,” Derek said.

“Okay,” Alanah said. “Now that that’s settled, is there anything else that anyone needs to discuss?” She waited for a bit, and seeing that nobody spoke up, said, “Great! In that case, the willow should let out one more big burst of vibrations, then go quiet for a short time. We’ll start making our way to it, and once the burst happens, we’ll move as fast as we can.”

“Great,” Derek said. “Do you have any ideas on strategies against the thing?” he asked.

“Not a single one,” Alanah said. “It is a deeply rooted, massively sized tree. I doubt any of us have ever had to deal with such an opponent.”

“True,” Derek said. “And I doubt there’s any way to get inside it and kill it from the inside out. Will a tree even have a vital area like a brain or heart?”

“Doubt it,” Alanah said.

“Then I guess it all comes down to the big hitters,” Derek said as he turned to look at Silvi, Tyron, and Rocky. “You two burn it from the roots if you can, and Silvi can introduce it to some dragon flames. We’ll see what happens, then go from there. Just wait for the signal before you begin attacking.”

“And what signal would that be?” Avery asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” Derek chuckled as he kicked the ground.

“Alright, everyone,” Alanah said. “Be careful during this fight. I don’t want to lose anyone here.”

From there, everyone other than Silvi and Rocky nodded. Silvi yawned, then jumped onto Derek’s shoulder, and Rocky burrowed back down into the smith’s shirt, as the smith slipped his ear covers back on.

“Let’s go.”

Alanah looked at the freshly packed soil beside them one last time, then turned. Now facing the center of the abyss, she took a step forward. The rest of the Cydarian elites followed suit, and soon, they were all meticulously making their way to the willow.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

In only five minutes, Derek was glad that they chose to bring Avery along. The archer played the role of scout and executioner in the group. Any crazed beast that they would have come upon died before it knew what hit it. It seemed like Avery was working overtime to make the short journey as painless as possible for everyone—especially Alanah.

A little while later, another burst of vibrations traveled throughout the entire abyss. For the most part, everyone was fine. The only ones affected at all by the vibrations were Rocky and Edgar. Rocky poked his head out of Tyron’s shirt and shook it, while the prince clicked his tongue and said, “Looks like I’m going to have to be a little more careful than I originally planned if that is what it can do from this far away.”

“The offer for a pair of these is still on the table,” Tyron said as he held up the ear covers.

“No, I’ll be okay,” Edgar said. “Can’t have a proper fight without a little danger. If I overcome it, then it will show that my investment in wisdom wasn’t for naught, and that my willpower is strong. If I don’t… then at least I won’t have to worry about politics any longer.”

“If you insist,” Tyron said. Rocky moved back down into his shirt afterward.

“That was it,” Alanah said. “Now is the perfect window to attack. We’ll be able to make it there without any mental strain from the vibrations.”

“Always good to start a fight fresh,” Derek said.

“Exactly,” Alanah agreed. “Okay, here we go,” she said. “Do your best to keep up.” The next instant, the siren kicked off the ground and disappeared in front of everyone’s eyes. A blue spark of lightning followed, and Edgar was gone. Derek never saw Avery, so he assumed that the archer had already left as well.

“We’ll be there when we get there,” Tyron said as he put the ear covers back on. “A bunch of speedsters…” he muttered.

Derek gave him a quick look and a smile, then he too, disappeared with a quick kick off the ground, a well-placed Void Step, then an activation of Powerstride—which he’d had a lot more practice with since the first time he used it. He also had Void Shift in his back pocket if it was needed, but he didn’t figure he’d have to worry about getting lost on his way to the fight. After all, the Echoing Willow was more than massive—its body took up an entire portion of the Echoing Abyss.

As Derek used controlled Powerstrides on his way to the tree, he also activated Greater Meditation to keep himself as topped up on mana as possible since the skill took a relatively large chunk of it with each use. He was getting much better at using the movement skill alongside his meditation skill.

With everyone moving at such fast speeds, it didn’t take long for them to be within range of the now silent tree. Alanah and Avery must have been first, as Edgar seemed to arrive just before Derek did. When Derek stepped out of the very thick forest, he was stunned by what he saw.

Still a great distance away, he was able to see the trunk of the Echoing Willow. And on all sides of the tree was nothing but flat land and dead beasts. In fact, now that he was close enough to look, he realized what was actually going on with the tree, as did Alanah.

“So, it’s not hibernating,” Alanah muttered.

“No, no, it isn’t,” Edgar replied.

“It’s… eating,” Derek said. What he was talking about, and they were all seeing, were vines or roots slowly appearing out of the ground, then wrapping themselves around dead animal carcasses. After which, the vines would tighten, then drag the beast down into the ground.

“So, it causes everything to go insane and kill each other around it, then uses the corpses as a free meal afterward,” Derek said.

“And those pulses must be what it does to personally kill any remaining close by beasts,” Alanah said.

“It may still hibernate, though,” Derek said. “I know I like to after a nice big meal.”

Alanah snorted and rolled her eyes. “Let’s just be thankful that we got here when it was hungry.”

“If you say so,” Derek said, before looking around. “I’m sure Tyron will be here any minute now.”

“We’ll give him five minutes,” Alanah replied. “If he’s not here by then, he can join the fight in progress.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Derek said.

The five then waited for the smith to arrive with Rocky. The man was cutting it close.

“It’s been four minutes,” Avery said. The Archer had both of his daggers gripped, and he was anxiously fiddling with them.

“Looks like…” Derek started, but before he finished, he heard rustling coming from the trees behind him. “Right on time,” he said as he turned and saw the giant of a smith walk out—his face passive.

“Thanks for waiting,” Tyron said. He had removed one of his ear covers, and it was hanging down off the side of his head.

“I was afraid you were going to miss the signal,” Derek said with a chuckle.

“And what exactly is this signal” Tyron asked as Rocky hopped out of his shirt and burrowed into the ground.

“Just watch closely. I call this overwhelming force,” Derek said with a grin. At that, Silvi hopped off of Derek’s shoulder and onto a void created pot lid, then hovered around the small group of elites. “Now, don’t fall too far behind.”

Derek began walking toward the tree and a pretty quick pace. It was still a long way away, but it was in clear view, with nothing else around it for thousands of feet—maybe even miles. During his walk, he moved past a couple of roots wrapped around carcasses and was happy when they chose to stay focused on their meal instead of switching targets to him.

Once Derek reached the halfway mark, he took a deep breath and slowed his approach. With his next step forward, he channeled his mana directly into his boots at a steady pace. This time, he didn’t want to inject it all at once. He wanted a slower build up. He also did all he could do to keep Greater Meditation active.

The more he walked, the more pain he felt in his legs. With less than a quarter of the way left to the giant tree, two vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around his aching legs. Before he was able to do anything about them, they were instantly split in two by a single arrow. He turned his head and nodded at Avery, who was following closely behind.

With the severing of the vines came an overwhelming screech from the tree. The noise was painful in his ears, and he felt like he wanted—no, needed—to attack something close. But that feeling passed as soon as it appeared. Derek quickly looked behind him. Avery and Alanah didn’t look any worse for wear. Edgar was frowning and slapped himself in the face a couple of times, and Tyron was standing still, breathing deeply. A moment later, the smith opened his eyes and took a step forward with everyone else.

Derek smiled—he doubted the screeches were going to get much worse than those. Sure, Tyron and Edgar would be in danger if they were fighting it alone, but they weren’t. They could afford to become momentarily distracted—especially with Avery and Alanah there beside them.

His smile then grew bigger as he felt everything click into place—his armor’s skill was ready. With as much strength as he could muster, Derek kicked off the ground and toward the Echoing Willow. As he moved through the sky, a black sphere about the size of a bowling ball appeared beneath his left boot.

No more than a couple hundred feet away from the tree, Derek halted himself with a Void Step. He looked down at the sphere, then at his right boot. Stars were rapidly circling the boot, and he smiled. With as much force as he could muster, he reared his leg back and kicked. The stars quickly transferred from his boot to the sphere, and the sphere shot forward—toward the willow at center mass.

The sphere rotated one way, and the stars the opposite as he watched the ball fly forward. Derek canceled Void Steps and fell to the ground with the rest of his group. Edgar had seen him use the move before—and he was pretty sure Alanah caught a glimpse of it while she was fighting the King of Astrus. But to Avery and Tyron, the skill was new.

“That’s…” Avery muttered. “The lion…”

“Yes,” Derek said. “It’s the same skill.”

“Oh…” Avery said. “So that’s why you called it overwhelming force.”

If the Echoing Willow didn’t know it was about to experience a full-on assault before, it would soon find out.