Path of Dragons

Book 1: Chapter 31: Invaders

Elijah heaved a rock above his head, pushing as high as he could. As soon as his elbows locked out, he dropped it back to the ground. Once it settled into the soft, spongy forest floor, he bent down, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. If he’d had to guess, the rock weighed somewhere around a hundred-and-fifty pounds. Maybe two-hundred, depending on the density.

Lifting that kind of weight might not have seemed all that impressive, but given his relatively small size, he was satisfied with the results of his training. Once he’d passed into double digits with his Strength and Constitution attributes, he’d been forced to expand upon his normal workout routine. Before, he’d relied on something he referred to as wilderness crossfit, which included lots of calisthenics and endurance training, but now, if he wanted to push his limits, he needed to lift increasingly heavy things. And considering there were no weight sets of exercise machines lying around, he was forced to use the abundant rocks he found on the shore of his island.

Even so, over the past three weeks since he’d closed the minor dimensional rift, he’d made no verifiable progress in his attributes. And he was beginning to think that he never would – not using his free points in the endeavor, at least.

Still, even though he didn’t expect to see anything, he opened his status.

The moment he saw that he’d gained a point in Strength, Elijah pumped his fist in the air and let out an inarticulate yell of satisfaction. It wasn’t much, and he didn’t think one point of Strength would even be noticeable. However, the fact that he could still train his attributes meant that he had another path he could follow. So, when he headed back to the Grove, he was in understandably high spirits that were buoyed even further when he saw that Nerthus was awake.

“Awake, huh?” Elijah said as he approached the Ancestral Tree.

“I do not sleep. I must go dormant while I process the ambient Ethera I absorb.”

“Sounds like sleep to me,” Elijah responded. “But call it what you want.”

“Pardon, but you seem to be in high spirits. May I ask why?” asked the tree spirit, who was sitting on the tree’s lowest branch, swinging his root-like legs back and forth.

Elijah shrugged, then answered, “I just found out that I can continue to gain attribute points with training.”

“Of course you can.”

“You knew?”

“I did. Do not rely on it, though,” Nerthis advised. “The higher you climb, the more effort it will take to gain even one attribute point.”

Elijah sat on the mossy ground and leaned back on his hands. As he did so, he embraced the Ethera in his core, channeled it through his soul, and empowered Touch of Nature. The healing power of the spell washed through him, soothing the fatigue of his workout. So long as he only wanted to suffuse his body with formless healing, the spell was almost autonomous, and it didn’t require much thought after activation. However, if he needed to heal a specific injury, he’d need to focus.

“How do they work, anyway? The attribute points. I mean, what is the relative value of one point?” he asked. He’d already surmised that ten points seemed to be the natural peak of human ability; however, gaining his eleventh point in Strength didn’t seem to push him into superhuman levels.

Nerthus answered, “At ten, you are indeed at the peak of your race’s normal potential. That is not to say that some members of your race haven’t already exceeded that potential; they undoubtedly have. It is just exceedingly rare. In any case, your gains will continue at the same rate with each additional attribute point. However, you must understand that it is all relative.”

That made some sense to Elijah. When he had first washed ashore, gaining a single point in Strength was an enormous boon. But even if each subsequent point meant the same gains, the increase wasn’t as dramatic.

“I get it,” he said. “When you can only lift forty pounds, suddenly being able to lift twenty more seems a lot bigger than if you started at two-hundred. The gains are the same, but relatively speaking, one represents a fifty percent increase while the other is only like ten percent.”

“Just so.”

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So, Elijah reasoned he wouldn’t be throwing cars like a comic book superhero anytime soon. Disappointing, but it was also somewhat comforting. After all, he hadn’t forgotten those people at the top of the leaderboard. If the gains were percentage based, he’d have no chance of standing up to any of them. But if each point defined a specific value, he wasn’t quite as far behind as he’d thought.

Still, some of the people on the ladder were closing in on level thirty, which meant that they probably had more than forty more attribute points to work with. If someone went all in one attribute, the results could be dramatic.

He said as much to Nerthus, ending with, “If I run into someone who spent all their points in Strength, I won’t stand a chance.”

“You will be less disadvantaged than you believe,” Nerthus stated. “Without Constitution, they will quickly run out of energy. Without Dexterity, they will have no control. And without Ethera or Regeneration, their spells, techniques, and abilities will be limited in scope.”

“You’re saying a well-rounded approach is better than specialization.”

“For you, yes. If you had allies, that would not be the case. Once you choose your class and specialization, your attribute allocation will become more specialized.”

Elijah wanted to ask for further explanation, but he knew it would do no good. The tree spirit’s restrictions had eased somewhat since Elijah had bonded with the Grove, but Nerthus was still limited as to what he could reveal.

Frustratingly, classes and specializations fell under the umbrella of taboo topics, and no matter how often Elijah asked, Nerthus steadfastly refused to reveal any details.

Soon enough, Nerthus retreated back into the Ancestral Tree, citing a need to rest, which was just as well, because Elijah had plenty of tasks he still needed to accomplish. So, after Touch of Nature had renewed his body, he spent a couple of hours working on his garden. The berry bushes had already borne fruit, proving the value of Nature’s Bounty. So, he’d doubled down, and over the past week, he’d expanded the garden. Hopefully, his efforts would be rewarded.

As he sat between the bushes, he glanced toward the three trees that would eventually become his home. Already, they’d twisted together so thoroughly that he had trouble telling where one ended and the others began. More, the branches had begun to grow outward in what Nerthus assured him would become the floor of his new home. He couldn’t wait for it to be finished. Since spring had come, sleeping outside wasn’t as torturous as it had been in winter, but Elijah still found himself missing a roof over his head. Especially when it rained, which was a fairly frequent occurrence.

After he was satisfied that his garden was well-saturated with his Ethera, Elijah gathered his fishing equipment and woven baskets and headed toward his fishing hole. With the onset of spring, the fish had come back to shallower waters, and he intended to supplement his diet accordingly.

But as he drew closer to the shore, his calm day was interrupted by the sound of agonized screaming.

Elijah reacted on instinct, sprinting through the forest until he came to the rocky shoreline where he saw a battle playing out. On one side were a trio of short figures – what looked like a gnome, dwarf, and a green-skinned goblin. And on the other was the panther.

The gnome darted toward the panther, a pair of daggers in hand. She moved so quickly that Elijah could scarcely track her movements. To him, she looked like a blur as she crashed into the panther, where she repeatedly stabbed the big cat in the ribs. Before it could react, she dashed away.

A second later, the dwarf rammed his shield into the panther’s face, sending it staggering backward. But the panther was only stunned for a brief moment before it pounced on the dwarf. The dwarf raised its shield, shouted something unintelligible, and a second later, a translucent half-dome manifested before him. The panther crashed into it, and with the sound of breaking glass, the half-dome shattered into a million pieces. Each piece homed in on the panther, cutting into its glossy black hide and sending gouts of blood splattering across the rocky shore.

But the cat paid its injuries no mind, and only an instant later, it raked its claws across the dwarf’s face. Meanwhile, the gnome had returned to stab the distracted cat a dozen times in the space of a single second before springing backwards in an acrobatic flip. The retreat was just in time to avoid the panther’s reprisal, and when it tried to attack the gnome, its claws found nothing but air.

The moment it turned, the wounded dwarf slammed his shield into the panther’s side, sending it skidding across the rocks. Meanwhile, the third member of the party raised a shining staff into the sky, and a beam of light descended upon the dwarf. Elijah gaped as he saw the dwarf’s wounds heal in seconds.

The cat recovered from the dwarf’s shield slam, and demonstrating an intelligence no animal should have, pounced on the healer. However, when the panther drew close to the goblin, it found that the dwarf had somehow interposed himself between the two. It was as if he’d simply teleported between them, and as a result, the cat once again took a shield to its face.

Like that, the battle continued, and Elijah watched as, slowly but surely, the trio wore the powerful panther down. After a few minutes, its glossy hide was wet with blood, and its agility had been almost completely negated by multiple injuries. Still, it fought on.

The problem was the dwarf. Every time the cat targeted one of the seemingly less durable members of the group, he was there to shield them from the panther’s attacks. That was why, when Elijah chose to act, he aimed in his direction.

The panther once again pounced toward the healer, and Elijah watched as the dwarf readied himself to intervene. Just before he took that first step, Elijah cast Grasping Roots. A half-dozen thick, spiny vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around his stubby legs. It only took him a moment to pull free, but Elijah’s spell caused just enough delay that the cat finally reached the healer.

The results were explosively bloody.

The panther ripped through the goblin, sending a geyser of red blood splattering across the rocky shore. The goblin tried to cast a spell, but he was far too slow to complete the cast. He fell only a few moments later, well before the dwarf could extricate himself from Elijah’s roots.

That’s when Elijah felt something rip through his hip, the impact sending him spinning away and to the ground. As he skidded to a stop, he saw the gnome standing over him, a murderous gleam in her abnormally huge eyes. She stalked forward, absently twirling a wicked set of daggers as she spat, “You’ll pay for that, human.”

Elijah tried to clamber to his feet, but she dashed forward, peppering him with wounds as she stabbed him a half-dozen times in the space of an instant. He cried out, blindly swinging his staff, and, through blind luck, managed to connect. The gnome, who was barely the size of a preadolescent child, went staggering to the side. She quickly recovered, but by that point, Elijah had already empowered another cast of Grasping Roots.

Vines once again burst forth from the rocky ground, snaking around her legs and giving Elijah enough time to channel Ethera through his Staff of Natural Harmony as he cast Storm’s Fury. Lightning burst forth from the end of the weapon and crashed into her. The momentum of the spell sent her flying through the air to collide with the warrior who was still engaged in his own fight against the panther.

The pair fell in a tangled heap, which gave the panther the opening it needed to swipe its claws across gnome’s throat. That attack opened the panther up to a counter from the dwarf, who bellowed something unintelligible before slamming his axe down on the panther’s shoulder. It bit deep, and the panther let out an anguished whimper as it was driven to the ground.

Elijah aimed another cast of Storm’s Fury at the dwarf, who took it far better than the gnome had. Instead of being thrown from his feet, he remained anchored to the ground. Then, still smoking from the bolt of lightning, he turned his attention toward Elijah.

Armed with a shield and axe, he strode forward.

Holding his staff before him, Elijah backed away. He still had enough Ethera to cast Storm’s Fury a couple more times, but after that, he’d be done.

“Who are ye?” demanded the dwarf, his accent rendering his words barely intelligible.

“Uh…”

  Elijah summoned his Ethera and cast Storm’s Fury, sending a bolt of lightning to crash into the dwarf. The warrior took it on the shield, the surface of which was suddenly encased in a blue nimbus of energy. The dwarf was unhurt by the spell, so, Elijah cast again. And again after that. Two more times, he cast Storm’s Fury until most of his Ethera drained away. But the additional casts were no more effective than the first, and the dwarf was almost entirely unharmed, though, judging by his scowl, he was incredibly angry. And every ounce of that anger was directed at Elijah.

  The warrior started to say something, but at that moment, the wounded panther pounced on his back, raking its claws across his shoulders and clamping its powerful jaws around the dwarf’s head. The warrior tried to fight back, but the panther was too strong. A few seconds later, the sound of cracking bone filled the air as the panther crushed the dwarf’s skull. It was precisely what Elijah had been waiting on; he'd seen the mighty panther on approach, so with few options available, he had chosen to keep the dwarf's attention in order to give his ally a clean line of attack.

  Even as the dwarf fell free of the panther's jaws, the cat collapsed to the ground. Its breath came in ragged gasps as Elijah raced forward. When he reached the fallen feline, he saw that the creature was far more wounded than he'd first thought, and he tried to summon enough Ethera to fuel Touch of Nature. But after only a single, ineffectual cast, his core ran empty, and further attempts at casting the spell fell flat. So, without the ability to call upon magic, he clamped his hands around the panther’s worst wounds as he tried to stem the flow of blood. But it was no use. That’s when the creature locked its eyes on his.

  Suddenly, Elijah felt a push against his still active One With Nature. At first, it was like a feather brushing against his awareness, but over the next few seconds, the intensity of the contact increased until it felt like someone was swinging a hammer against his skull. Finally, it broke through, and he felt an alien presence invade his mind.

  And suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

  The panther knew it was dying, and it had used the last of its own Ethera to make its last wishes known.

  “I…I can’t,” Elijah muttered, recoiling from the panther’s last request. “I can’t kill you…”

  But that was what it wanted. It pushed harder, insisting. There were no words, just vague impressions. But still, the panther’s wishes were clear. It wanted to die at Elijah’s hands.

  Elijah was no stranger to mercy killing. He’d spent much of his youth hunting with his father, and he had also seen plenty of animals euthanized during his time working at the zoo while in college. So, when he drew the flint-bladed knife from his belt, he did so with practiced surety.

  The panther raised its chin, giving him free access to its throat. And Elijah stabbed out, raking the knife across its neck and severing its jugular vein. Blood gushed out, coating his hand. The panther stared at him for a long moment before a wave of gratitude rushed through Elijah’s thoughts. And then, it closed its eyes and went limp.

  When it died, a series of notifications flew across Elijah’s awareness. He ignored them.

  Instead, he simply sat there on his knees, staring at the animal that had, for so long, protected him.

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