Fantasy Unlikely Partners

[Flutterby]

Ilaria didn't take long to finish eating, and then downed the rest of her coffee. It was lukewarm by then anyway. "Let's go."

Ilaria was deep in thought as they walked to the trees; there was something in her brain that was trying to make it to the surface, but just wasn't quite ready yet to be thought yet. She tried to force it, and then tried to give it quiet space to pop up, but it just wouldn't.
When they reached the area by the Sun Tree, she looked at each tree around them. After a few seconds, her eyes rested on a large oak, a little bit off of the wall, whose branches looked just a little bit odd.
"I think it's that one," She said, and pointed the tree out to Chris before taking a few steps toward it.

 

[Tharivle]

"Yep." Chris said in reply. They were standing before the biggest oak tree in the world. This tree was towering above all the others, at least 30 feet higher than the next tallest. Its diameter was about 8 feet across. It looked like any other oak, straight and tall with a wide fan of branches up at the top. But near ish to the ground was around a hundred straight branches with little tuffs of leaves. There were about a hundred such branches and they were scattered on every side of the tree but only up 30 feet.
"Thank you for coming quickly." The voice of the Dryad they were talking to before was hear behind them. When they turned they saw it transform into its human form, they had walked right by it not noticing it was a Dryad. "Come." It said shortly. It walked straight at the trunk and as it neared, the trunk opened up in the same way that the elevator to the library did. But it opened to a small hovel that had a spiral staircase going down.
Chris followed it down the tight turning and narrow staircase, he figured they were about 100 underground when it opened up into a cavern. The cavern was lit almost as brightly as outside, but there was no apparent source of light. The cavern had massive pillars throughout it that they realized were some of the main roots to the massive tree above them. The Dryad lead them to a grassy area to the side and sat down cross-legged and motioned for them to join him. "Now, tell me what your mission is, and how you figure we can help you."

Chris sat down and looked at Ilaria to answer the question, because it seemed to like her and was looking at her as it spoke.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria smiled as the Dryad 'appeared' behind them, becoming noticeable suddenly as he moved. She followed him happily down the tiny staircase, and found herself standing in an underground cavern, with what looked like tunnels jutting off of it. It was bright, even though there was no obvious light source, but that explained how the grass they sat down on was growing.
Ilaria glanced at Chris, and then explained.
"Well, we know that demons are growing in strength. The one that attacked the Grove, it knew how to possess and use a shard, because of a very dangerous translation of a satanic text. The translation.. it's still out there. And so are two other shards. If demons get to them, they'll use them, and put every living thing in danger. The Sea Spirit, who was recovered yesterday, asked us to go looking for the other two shards. We're hoping to find them before the demons do. But.. there's only two of us. And we don't know where to start." She paused, and swallowed a little nervously before she continued.
"You said that there are dryad spies all over the place. It would be helpful if they would even just keep an eye out, for an increase in demon activity, or even just in strange occurrences that could be demons." She paused again, and added, "But with such a close connection to the Mother Tree, who has such a close connection with the Sun Shard, I guess I wondered if your kind might be more sensitive to the presence of a shard, especially the earth shard.

 

[Tharivle]

The Dryad listed and only blinked in response to most of what she said. Once Ilaria was done talking it just looked at them, and there was a deep grown, then a rush of wind. "We have decided to aid you on your quest. You will both be granted sight and speech. Stay seated." The Dryad instructed as it stood.
Chris and Ilaria heard the others approaching, but it was still a shock when they found themselves surrounded by almost a hundred Dryads. "Stay still." The commanders said as a wave of golden light shot from every Dryad at once,completely covering them in energy. They both passed out briefly.
When he came to Chris was laying where he had been sitting, minor headache, but fading. The large group was gone and only the one sat in front of them, like it had before. "Go see if it worked. You should be able to see them now." With those words the Dryad got up and left.
Chris shook Ilaria awake and said, "That was fun... Let's go."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria raised an eyebrow, but she didn't have time to formulate and speak a sentence before the dryads appeared, energized, and knocked them both out cold.

She opened her eyes slowly, her head spinning slightly. She could feel a bit of the sun-sickness, but it was going away already. The words her dryad-friend spoke were slurred in her mind; she didn't comprehend them before her got up and left. She felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her, and her eyes eventually focused on Chris's face. "Im so tired of all this sun shit." She whispered to herself, and groggily stood to follow him back out.

 

[Tharivle]

As they walked out from the tree, it was brighter than it should have been... No, the trees were glowing? They could see veins of energy running through the trees. It was actually like they were seeing the trees photosynthesize. "Can you see me?" asked the voice of the Dryad that they had been dealing with. Chris turned around and saw the same small tree that one might recognize as their new friend. But this time it wasn't just the tree. He could see its face and arms held up for branches and legs together to make the trunk. "You are right there." Chris said as he pointed directly at the disguised Dryad.
"Very good." It said as it shifted into its human form to talk to them. "Now the scenery overload you are experiencing will fade within the day. Right now you are seeing the life force of all trees, and here in the grove there is allot of that. But before the day sets it will settle down to just seeing Dryads." The Dryad was right, Chris was getting a little bit of a headache from all the lights and flowing energy. The ground was even glowing and he could see the roots under the grass. "In addition to being able to spot a Dryad, you can now speak to normal trees. There should be a mark on your forearm just above the sword and flame." Chris looked down at his arm and sure enouph there was a small figure of a tree just above the dancing flames. "The tree will fade with time, and as it dose so to will your ability to spot Dryads and speak to normal trees. It will take a few years to degrade, and it will recharge to its fullest within a day here at the grove. But much like how a Dryad must return to stay a Dryad, so must you return to stay a kin to us."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria squeezed her eyes shut as they emerged above ground, feeling the searing pain of the light at the back of her eyes. She squinted at the Dryad as he spoke, nodding occasionally to show she understood. It was... extraordinary.
She glanced down at her own arm, where Chris had put the Golden Flame's symbol what felt like years ago, and she could just barely see a faint tree about the faded flames.
"Thank you.. we are so grateful for your help." She said softly, smiling through the intense glowing light. "I think.. I think it could make all the difference, at some point."

 

[Tharivle]

"There is only one other thing we can do for you. And I don't know how it will help, but I was instructed to tell you that the largest concentration of warrior Dryads are to be found in the Capital State Forest to the south east of here." With those words the Dryad walked past them back down into the cavern under the mother tree.
"What good is knowing were to find the worriers if they have since become normal trees?" Chris asked Ilaria. "Off to the library?"

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria watched the Dryad walk away, starring at his back as he did. "I don't know..." She didn't move for a moment, and then murmured. "Information can't hurt, Chris, it's all just information." Something tugged at her mind, but she couldnt put her finger on it.
She pushed the feeling away with a half-shake of her head, and then looked at him. "Yeah, the library. Let's go."

 

[Tharivle]

They got up to the library and once again was greeted by the raccoon. "Hello again. Bring any fancy books with you again?" Asked the chubby old raccoon.
"No, just doing a bit of research." Chris replied, smiling down at him.
"In that case you should go see Seth. I think he has started without you." Then the gray raccoon waddled away.
Chris gave Ilaria a confused look but started for Seths study. He noticed the old man sitting in the small room off to the side, and not in his study. There were books scattered around the couple tables. Chris paused in the middle of the room again perplexed as to why Seth was working in the common area and not his study. But he shrugged and walked into the room anyway.
As Chris walked up Seth spoke without looking up at them, "Word travels fast when the Mother Tree gives her blessing." He looked up from what he was doing, "I figured I would get a head start on a few things that you might be interested in finding out." Seth smiled happily at the both of them in turn and motioned for them to join him.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria smiled at the sight of the chunky little raccoon, deciding that besides Rex, he was her favorite companion in the Golden Flame. She caught Chris's confused look, and chuckled a little in amusement. He seemed surprised that Seth had started researching already, like he didn't realize how quickly news spread in the Grove. She knew it, and now that she knew the trees could talk to one another, she knew how.
Ilaria smiled when Seth confirmed her suspicions, and sat down to join him. "I wasn't entirely sure if this was the right place to start, to find out where the shards are now. But someone once told me, when in doubt, start as close to the beginning as possible. And the library seemed like a good place to find ancient history."

 

[Tharivle]

"Right you are miss." Seth said as they sat down.
Chris was still confused. He knew word traveled fast, but not that fast. There is no way someone found out that they had been in the cavern and then spread the word faster than they could walk to the library. "How did you know that we received the Mother Trees blessing?" Chris asked.
Seth gave a chuckle and rolled up the sleeve on his left arm. And above his sword and flame was a little tree, exactly like the one they had just gotten. "Come now, you didn't think you two were the only ones to have made friends with the Dryads?" Seth let his sleeve fall back down. "That table has lore on Dryads. Don't know where, but there has to be a hint in one of these old books on how to wake up a Dryad that has gone to sleep. Because we could really use an army right now." Seth said as he pointed to a table to his right. Then he pointed to his left, "That table has books pertaining to the lore on the spirit shards. Their powers, where they first appeared, who if any had used them." Seth sat back and gestured to the few books on the table in front of him, "And these are a bit of both. You can join me or pick a table." Seth said with a shrug.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria smirked as Seth revealed he was friends with the dryads too, mostly because Chris was so confused by it. It made sense to her, that the librarian would be one of the few Golden Flame that would have bonded with the shy creatures.
Ilaria looked around, considering which table she wanted to sit at. "I'll look into the shards, that's where I'd like to start." She said definitively, reaching up to tie her hair into a ponytail. Ilaria settled into a chair, and surveyed the books in front of her before picking one to start with.

 

[Tharivle]

"Spots will help you if you want to try to find something different." Seth said as he turned back to his work.
Seeing that Ilaria sat down at the shard table Chris decided to study up on the Dryads. Won't do much good finding them if we all die trying to recover them.

They worked in silence for a wile, only occasionally getting up to stretch or ask a question. Chris learned all about the Dryads. One book was actually a personal journal of a former librarian and his experiences with and knowledge of the Dryads. After an hour or so he could tell just how far away and for how far each kind of Dryad could get from the grove, how long it took for them to grow. And the process the went through if they were gone for two long, but nothing yet on how to get them back or even if it was possible.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria sat silently, absorbed in her books. After a few minutes, she retrieved a sheaf of paper and a pencil and began scribbling notes down. She skimmed each book that had already been put down in front of her, making a list of passages that might be important. And then, she started reading each passage.
At around the time that Chris was running into a dead end on how to revive dead dryads, she had found a passage that seemed like it could be promising. So much so that the pencil had gotten stuck through the base of her ponytail for safe keeping, and the notes were placed on the table on top of another open volume.
She looked at the cover of the book. It was a slim book, and the author only had a first initial and last name. She hesitated for a moment, and then said. "Seth, Spots. This author writes that, "It has been suggested by others that even humans can be influenced by the presence of a shard, powering their most historical movements and conflicts. But that study is outside the scope of this text." Do we know who these 'others' are? Or is that statement a load of crap?"

 

[Tharivle]

Chris set down the book he was reading and turned to look at Ilaria and listen to what Seth would say. Spots had been lazily sleeping in the window, but as she spoke he jumped down a padded over to her and jumped up onto the table.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria leaned over to show the line to Spots, even though she wasn't entirely sure if the raccoon could read. "Right here," She ran her finger under it, and then flipped to the front of the book. "There's no references or other authors mentioned, not in the front or back." She flipped through the back of the book and paged through the last few as well.
"Its just that.. If humans got a hold of them and started moving them around, it would explain why supernaturals have no idea where they are." She said, glancing at Seth and Chris.
Spots sat back on his haunches, and gave a hrumph. "Our collection on humans is.. pretty limited, considering the Golden Flame all start off as them."
Seth nodded in agreement, and then said thoughtfully, "But, we have a few titles on the intersection of our world and theirs. I believe.."
"They are this way, moon child. Let's see what we can find for you." Spots finished the sentence, already waddling off to the proper shelf. Ilaria smiled a little, and then followed after him quickly.

 

[Tharivle]

Chris listened and then watched them leave before turning to Seth, "I understand that the warrior Dryads were created as the first military of the Sun Spirit, but why did they leave?"
Seth contemplated for a moment. Then answered, "Before the spirits fell The Mother Tree existed, as well as the Dryads. They were revered as the sovereign army of the Greater spirits. The police of the world when the world still had magic. Once it became apparent that the spirits were lousing strength a deal was struck. The Sun Spirit would gain full control of the Mother Tree so long as he only used his power to continue the mission of providing justice throughout the world." Seth paused for a bit. "There was a time between the fall of the spirits and the fall of magic. In that time the world was wrought with destruction and chaos. Fueled by the power of the Sun Spirit the Dryads were a fierce army. Their skill and tactical knowledge made them unstoppable. The demons were largely defeated after many years of war. But as the demons and evil witches were killed the magic of the world lessoned and gave rise to humans. The Dryad army was no longer needed, so the Mother tree started making more spies and workers, instead of warriors."
Chris was silent as he digested what Seth said, "I just read about that, but I'm wondering if there was ever a time between the army going to sleep and now where they were needed and then used."
Seth looked confused, "What do you mean?"
"We are looking for a way to bring a Dryad back from its sleep. I am wondering if there was ever a time when that actually happened." Chris replied. Chris shrugged then went back to where he had left off in his book.

 

[Flutterby]

Spots lead Ilaria over to a shelf and snuffled along the spines of the book. "I do believe all we have is on this shelf, from about here onward." The raccoon hopped onto the shelf above to look with her without blocking her view.
In a few minutes, Ilaria had gathered a small stack and carried it back with her, with Spots riding a little precariously on her shoulder. He hopped onto Seth's table, and Ilaria returned to her own, as Chris was finishing speaking.
Ilaria caught his eye, and smiled a little sadly. "Waking the Dryads would only happen in a catastrophic time.. I think this is probably the first one." She said softly, to answer his wonderings and make him a little more comfortable. Seth eyed Ilaria, resigning to agree with her.
She sat down, pulled the pencil out of her ponytail, and opened the book on the top of the stack.

 

[Tharivle]

Chris nodded in agreement for it was unlikely that it has ever been done before. "Okay, If it hasn't ever been done before then we need to just find a way to do it for the first time." He addressed his next question to Seth, "What do we know of that could potentially bring them back?"
Seth thought for a second, "The only think that pops to mind would be bringing the trees here and letting the power of the grove revive them. But the trees would never survive such a transplant, they are to big."
"Okay, so if we can't bring the trees here then we need a way to take power to them. What do we have that could do that?" Chris asked.
Seth raised an eyebrow at Chris, "The only thing within this grove with enouph power to bring back a Dryad from sleep is the Sun Shard, and the thought of removing him from his tree, let alone the grove is out of the question." Seths words were final. If there was going to be a way to bring back the warriors without waiting a few hundred years to grow a bunch more, it wasn't going to involve the sun shard leaving the grove.
"Right." Chris said in almost a defeated tone.
"But..." Seth said the word and kind of let it hang there. Chris almost fell out of his seat leaning forward in anticipation to what the old man was going to say. "There have been two staffs made that were blessed with extraordinary power. For they were limbs of the Sun Tree that He gifted to members of the grove."
"Do we still have any?" Chris asked excitingly.
"The first that was made was destroyed when the wielder used two much power from it all at once. But the second is still being used today." Seth said, nodding to himself slowly.
"Care to elaborate Seth? Chris said with a chuckle.
"The Eagle Staff. The fast flight. That exquisite piece was a limb presented to one of the first grandmasters who's companion was an eagle. No it was not Felix, this was at least a thousand years prior to his birth. But he used it in battle to great effect in the defense of the grove. But after the willows went up and demons in the world lessened, the staff was entrusted to the gatekeeper, where it has been passed down ever since." Seth nodded to himself again, deep in thought. "But it is old, and wile I'm sure it will last many more years powering the portal back and conquering the fast flight eagle. I doubt it will do more than wake one or two Dryads before it louses power completely." Seth finished, dashing Chris's next question before he could ask.
"So it is back to square one. Unless.." Chris let the word hang and this time Seth leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. "Unless the Sun Spirit is willing to part with another branch." Chris finished.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria glanced up at the two of them, half-listening to their conversation about waking the Dryads. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. Why wouldn't the sun spirit give them a branch, if it was to help fight what was to come? She rolled her shoulders, and went back to reading.

Three books later, Ilaria cleared her throat and looked up. "Um this one.. 'Theories on Human-Supernatural Interactions.' It honestly reads like a bunch of conspiracy theories but.. it says here "Humans are not imperviuous to supernatural forces.. blah blah blah.. The human world's largest movements and conflicts can be traced to the presence of high supernatural energies." She looked up at Seth, with a questioning look on her face. "Is that even plausible?"

 

[Tharivle]

Seth looked skeptically at Chris, "The Sun Tree has been here for at least three thousand years. There is a reason there has only ever been two staffs given. It takes enormous amounts of power to do that, and it will leave him weakened for years." Chris shrugged and went back to his book.

Seth returned to his work as well. When Ilaria spoke he stopped and turned to look at her. "I don't see why it wouldn't be. I don't have any examples off the top of my head, but it is entirely plausible."

 

[Flutterby]

"So, in theory, we would be able to chart a hypothetical history of the shards, based on big human and supernatural upheavals? Wars, large-scale protests, the rise and fall of nations..." Ilaria was thinking out loud at this point, and trailed off. "Like the Greeks, the Romans... Nazi Germany." Ilaria glanced at Chris briefly.
She looked back down at the book, and shook her head. "But who do you know which ones are just humans, and which ones had a shard behind it?"

 

[Tharivle]

Chris set down his book and turned to listen to the exchange, because once again he was frustrated at not finding information that he didn't already know.

 

[Flutterby]

Seth listened to her statements, and then gave a sigh, "That, my child, is a good question." Spots glanced between them, waiting for one of them to say something. When neither of them did, the raccoon mumbled, "That was a useful revelation."
Ilaria gave the raccoon a withering glance, and then shut the book and picked up the next one. "Well its probably not as simple as tracking which countries are the most powerful in human history." She said, her voice taking on a grumpy tone.
Spots looked at her with his head cocked tot he side, and said, "Unless it really is."
Ilaria looked at him for a long moment, and then reached for the only book entirely on human history that the library had, and started taking notes on the movement of power over the last 2,000 years of human history.

20 minutes later, she looked at her notes, and said, "What if they're all here?" Ilaria looked over at Chris, and clarified, "Would it be possible that they're all in the United States?"