About three days had passed since Kyle claimed the plateau as his own. The first day was a less productive day where the Priestess simply gave Kyle and Caille a tour of the cathedral. There were many secrets hidden within these walls still, but what they saw made them plenty happy.
On the second day, help arrived. Mainly, a certain loud Lich, and a shockingly large number of skeletons, along with a convoy of elves and a band of rowdy dwarves.
Caille’s eyes nearly popped as she saw them arrive.
“A Lich?” Caille had exclaimed. “How the hell do you have a Lich for an ally?!” She shouted. Kyle laughed, then told her of the first encounter between him and Cacophus. Caille was at a loss for words, though she did spend a lot of time with the lich afterwards.
Now, it was the fourth day, and things were going as smoothly as they could.
The elves had decided to settle down below the cliffs, in the forest where Caille, Ign
The box disintegrated in his hands, and the Branch of the Evertree floated in the air for a few moments. Then, it started to grow. Roots extended from the bottom of the branch, they struck the ground below, breaking the stone slabs as if they were no harder than a piece of paper. The rapid growth spurt of the branch continued, it grew larger, and larger, taller, and taller. The leaves soon vanished from view as they reached the ceiling high above. A loud thump sounded, immediately followed by the creaking of stone slabs. Not a moment later, the slabs holding the ceiling above shattered, and sunlight shone upon the branch, now tree. It continued to grow, and soon the sunlight vanished once more as the branch plugged the hole it had created. Kyle felt his power drain rapidly. This growth spurt was draining his mana. He quickly opened his interface to see how fast it was draining – could the regeneration rate he had even keep up with it? ‘Kyle –
“Enough.” Caille’s sharp voice echoed. The Fallen Knight Aoris immediately pulled Kyle away from the tree, and as soon as she did, his draining mana stopped. He held onto the knight and took a few deep breaths as he waited for his light headedness to disappear. Only after he felt he could think straight again did he look at the tree. The Evertree, in fact. His own, little evertree. The tree had formed quite an impressive trunk. It was at least four meters in diameter, and thick, sturdy roots had broken through the slabs on the ground, penetrating deeper into the earth. Two such roots once again exited the ground not far from the tree, creating some sort of a vessel each. “That’s where you’ll put the cores.” Caille pointed at the vessels. Kyle nodded. He approached the first one and touched the sturdy wood. It was a beautiful colour; darker, yet beautiful. He reached for his inventory and took out the Horn of the Equine God. As he placed it on the vess
The chirping of the birds sounded all around the orchard. A handful of elves were present between the trees, and four of them stood guard by the smallest tree in the orchard; the heart of the orchard, a sapling grown from the branch of the sickly tree back in the old orchard. It was essentially the same tree, but no more did it suffer from the Locust God’s venom, nor was it in constant danger of attack. “I am pleased to see you visit us,” The Elven leader’s voice sounded as Kyle walked among the trees. “And I am all the more pleased to see you have chosen to nurture the branch we gifted to you.” Kyle smiled. “It was only right to do so.” He said with a smile. “The tree, does it have a name?” He felt like calling it the Evertree was wrong, since the actual evertree was still out there somewhere. Or, at least, it was going to be once the relevant patch arrived for the game. “It is essentially a part of the Evertree.” The Elven leader said thoughtfully.
“PLEASE.” The Lich’s voice echoed, it repeated itself over and over again. “I HAVE HEARD OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE ATTACKING EVERYTHING ON SIGHT. THEY WOULD NEVEL LET ME OR MY MINIONS PASS!” Kyle let out a sigh. First, the dwarves had decided to build a forge for the Embers of the Golden Flame, and now the Lich wanted to go back to his old cave to get some stuff that got left behind during their first move to this plateau. “Fine!” He eventually gave in. “But I don’t have more than a day, so get me a steed if you want me to be able to keep up with you!” “YOU ONLY NEED TO ASK!” The Lich replied. The lights in his eye sockets only glowed more brightly as he hurried to the gates. Kyle let out a sigh. “Aoris.” He called the Fallen Knight. “I’ll be going with the Lich. Make sure nobody tries anything stupid here.” “As you wish, Summoner.” She nodded and walked away. She had this uncanny tendency to follow him, so he knew she would hear whatever he would say.
The smell of ash and soot lingered in the air. A thick layer of smoke lingered near the ceiling, churning and revolving, almost as if it were alive. The Lich Cacophus slowly landed on the ground. He reached down and picked one of the half burnt parchments off the ground. He carefully cleaned the dust and ashes off of it. “THEY RUINED IT.” His voice startled Kyle. “MY STUDIES, GONE. I HAVE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.” Had his voice just trembled or was it just Kyle’s imagination. He clenched his fists. Who had done this? Why? “MY EXPERIMENTS, ALL THE DATA I COLLECTED…” The Lich’s voice was now so low, Kyle could barely hear him anymore. “I’m sorry.” He said sheepishly. He couldn’t help but feel guilty. Had he not decided to call upon the Lich and his skeletal army with such urgency then none of this would have happened. Had he given them more time to bring everything with them, instead of being forced to leave some things behind… “I WILL FIND THEM
“Hey, Miri!” One of the players practically shouted. “The usual please!” All four players sat around an empty table not far from where Kyle was sitting. The barkeep, Miri, soon brought them their beverages. Ale, Kyle assumed from the look of it. “There you go honey.” Miri said as she placed them on the table. The players all chatted with her for a few moments before she excused herself. Then, their smiles also shattered. “We lost again.” One of them said – the loud one. A young woman, carrying a bow on her back. “I don’t know what we can do against them. They’re too powerful.” “They’re not powerful, they just have good equipment.” “The best equipment.” The third person chimed in. “Remember who their guild belongs to.” The young woman pursed her lips. “That creepy guy deserves to get banned for his conduct.” She grumbled, then took a large sip of her drink. “I hate him.” “With a passion it seems.” The fourth, and most silent guy
The sunset was as beautiful as ever, though the horizon was obscured by the jagged mountains not far from the fortress. The protective walls and fortifications had been constructed already, and now, the mages in Igna’s guild were busy casting protective spells and incantations on the walls. Since the news Kyle brought a few days ago, the entire guild had been hard at work, building fortifications, laying traps, and stockpiling supplies. “No!” Igna said with a decisive tone, glaring at Kyle without even blinking once. “You will not get involved in this battle – or war.” Her tone left no chance of rebuttal, but Kyle wasn’t about to give up quite so easily. “You know just as well as I do that you’ll need all the help you can get.” He reminded her. “You may have a very loyal and skilled groups, but they have the numbers and gear advantage.” Igna clenched her fists. “I don’t give a damn about what I need!” She shouted. “You will not get involved!”
“You can’t.” The Fallen Knight Aoris bluntly said with a blank voice. “There is no way.” Kyle scowled. “Try to theorise.” He suggested. He was well aware of how difficult such a task would be. He didn’t need her to tell him that. What he needed were solutions. “I don’t think it is possible to convince any draconic being from parting with their treasures, no matter how little or worthless said treasure may be.” She folded her arms. “May I ask what this is about? I thought you wished to focus all our efforts to help with the upcoming war.” Kyle let out a sigh. “One of the dwarven smiths wanted me to find the artifact.” He explained. “Apparently its on the western side of the area, below the plateau.” He pondered a moment. “Why don’t we go and check it out? Come on.” The Fallen Knight Aoris was quick to protest, but Kyle reassured her that he had no intention of attacking the beast. He wanted to see the cave, since it was