FVN Book 12: Chapter 70: The Importance of Context
Book 12: Chapter 70: The Importance of Context
Book 12: Chapter 70: The Importance of Context
Path of Dragons
The choices were a little more muddled than usual. In addition to the normal, cryptic descriptions that gave him very little real information, the impending evolution lacked much of the context usually provided by his instincts. That just made the decision even more difficult.
Elijah knew that couldn’t matter, a point punctuated by another explosion in the distance. The ground shook as one of the buildings collapsed. It wasn’t near his position, but it was closer than the last, highlighting the need for urgency.
He pushed those thoughts away and focused on the options before him. The only solace was that, despite the importance of the choice, each path represented a viable way forward. There were no bad options. Just ones that would require adjustment.
The first choice – Sage – came with the description: Become an arbiter of balance through fire and wisdom. The second, Sovereign, told him to establish dominion through ash and talon. Meanwhile, the third, Rebirth, wanted him to embrace the cycle of death and rebirth by setting the world aflame.
Each option sizzled with power, which wasn’t a surprise. Shape of the Master had been far and away his most potent bestial form when he’d first acquired it. With it, he was able to unleash a truly devastating amount of damage. It only stood to reason that its evolution would be equally contextually powerful.
But which option suited him?
After a few moments of focus, his instincts came through for him. When he looked at the Sage path, he got the feeling that it was as close to a straight upgrade as he was likely to get. In that vein, the basic idea behind the shape wouldn’t change that much.
There was more than a little to be said for that. Shape of the Master had served him quite well, and he suspected that a straightline evolution would be similarly suited to his endeavors. Even if it was a little boring.
Despite being a dragon, Elijah was also still human. And as such, he wasn’t immune to the pull of novelty. The grass wasn’t always greener on the other side of the fence, but the potential represented by change made it seem that way.
Still, he didn’t think he could go wrong by picking Sage.
He moved on to the next option, labeled Sovereign. The description reminded him a little of Sadie, though instead of order, it focused on balance. The part about ash and talon suggested that it would be equally dependent on magic and physical might, which suited Elijah just fine. However, he couldn’t help but feel some trepidation he couldn’t quite trace to its origin.
And then it hit him.
It was about responsibility. Elijah already had the weight of the world on his shoulders, so adding the need to maintain some unknowable balance to the mix just felt overwhelming. Perhaps that wasn’t fair. Maybe the form would make it easy. But the mere notion of adding more responsibility to his plate just felt exhausting to contemplate.
He didn’t think he could pick the Sovereign path of evolution.
By contrast, the description of the Rebirth option – which focused on the cycle of life and death – was much more appealing. It also fit with some of Elijah’s ideas about what constituted nature, which was characterized by life, struggle, and death. With that came a kind of beauty that only the natural world could create.
Maybe that was the whole point of nature in the first place. Before life, there needed to be fire. Destruction and rebirth.
Elijah made his choice:
Shape of Embers
Archetype: Druid
Class: Primal Lord
Level: 250
Adopt the form of an emberkin saint, providing an incredible increase to all attributes. Spellcasting (save in very specific circumstances) is suspended while Shape of Embers is active.
Wildfire
Envelop your hands and feet in flames. Lasts until cancelled.
Each evasion or landed attack builds a charge of Seed of Ash. Only usable under the effects of Shape of Embers.
Seed of Ash
The embers of a wildfire burn within you. Stoke the flames, until they are ready to be unleashed. Being struck by an enemy will dissipate all charges. Only usable under the effects of Shape of Embers.
Flames of Renewal
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Renewal begins with destruction. Release the wildfire to destroy the enemy so that they may fuel nature’s rebirth. Only usable under the effects of Shape of Embers.
Reprisal of Ash
Surround yourself with a corona of flame, exacting vengeance upon those who would attack you. Only usable under the effects of Shape of Embers.
Herald of Regrowth
Become an avatar of pure flame, increasing all attributes. Potency of enhancement dependent on number of charges of Seed of Ash. Duration determined by Core cultivation. Current: 133 seconds. Only usable under the effects of Shape of Embers. Cooldown: 9 days.
Cloak of Embers
Passively surround yourself with ash, creating a natural domain that enhances your reaction speeds and slows enemies. Each defeated enemy adds ash to the cloak, expanding its reach and effect. Limits dependent on Core Cultivation.
Elijah’s mouth gaped. Seed of Ash, Flames of Renewal, and Herald of Regrowth were clearly the upgraded versions of Heart of Fire, Incinerate, and Child of Fire respectively. However, what Elijah had not expected was to gain new abilities.
Wildfire was a toggled ability that was obviously meant to increase his base damage, while Reprisal of Ash seemed like it would take the bite out of losing the charges of Seed of Ash. Both were welcome additions.
But Elijah was more interested in how the evolved abilities had changed. There was a part of him that wondered how his appearance would be altered as well, but he didn’t have time to check himself out – as evidenced by a much closer explosion. Now that he’d made his choice, he needed to get back into battle.
After all, Benedict and Hu Shui very likely needed his help.
So, without further delay, he flapped his wings and climbed. A few seconds later, he soared past the tops of the skyscrapers to look upon the city. He hung there for a moment, taking in the destruction. It was an oddly familiar scene, and one that echoed the situation they’d left behind after overcoming the time loop. Three massive automatons, each as large as the one they’d killed in Eden. Buildings collapsing everywhere. And djinn running for their lives.
The only difference was that other djinn were putting up a fight, sometimes battling against one another.
Hundreds of manta ray mounted natives surrounded one of the automatons, peppering it with a variety magical spells. Hundreds more raced about, obviously dealing with the smaller automatons that roamed between the buildings, killing indiscriminately. But Elijah was more interested in his allies – or the automaton assailing the building where they were housed.
He flapped his wings and started in that direction.
He only got a few hundred feet before something hit him, and hard enough to send him crashing to the surface. For a few seconds, he wrestled with what turned out to be another automaton. As they rolled across the ground, he catalogued the changes. The thing was at least as large as him, with dozens of metallic tentacles, each one glowing with blue ethera. It used those appendages in an effort to constrict him.
But Elijah was a dragon.
And he would not be trapped. After only a couple more moments, he managed to get the upper hand. From there, he ripped the thing apart one tentacle at a time until it was nothing more than a husk.
Finally, he destroyed it by chomping down on the main body. The weakened core still exploded, but it was incapable of leaving behind more than a few singes.
He looked around, searching for the next attack, but all he saw was stunned djinn.
What’s more, he finally felt something he did not expect. It overwhelmed every other priority, and he threw himself upward, where he wove his way between skyscrapers. A few more times, he was attacked by the squid-like automatons, but now that he knew to expect them, he had no issues defeating them without slowing down.
On and on, he flew for the next few minutes, following the strengthening thread until, at last, he felt like he was drowning. That was when he landed, only to find thousands of djinn surrounding a mile-wide disc floating a dozen feet above the surface of the city.
But those djinn weren’t idle. Instead, they were divided into two separate groups that were currently engaged in a vicious battle of magic and melee. Seeing that, Elijah decided to get some answers, so he swooped down, grabbed one of the attacking djinn in his claws, then flew away.
He landed in an alley a couple miles away, then resumed his human form.
As he transformed, he loomed over the captured djinn, who tried to scramble away. There was nowhere to go, though. Elijah demanded, “You are going to answer some questions for me. What is going on here?”
“You do not know?”
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise. If you do anything but answer my questions, I’m going to start tearing pieces from you. If you die, I’ll just go get another prisoner. Understand?”
The djinn nodded.
“So? What’s going on?”
“It is the abyss.”
“I can feel that much,” Elijah growled, stepping closer. Indeed, he’d felt the corruption from miles away, and while it wasn’t as pervasive as it had been in the Broken Crown, it was still unignorable. “Why is the abyss here? Why are you fighting one another? Explain to me exactly what’s going on.”
The terrified djinn immediately launched into an explanation that went in a direction Elijah did not expect. The part about the abyss – that their leader, Etkatiran, had tapped into that potent source of energy in an effort to unlock the full potential of the djinn – wasn’t surprising. But the other part was.
“We do not fight one another. We fight ourselves. Everything here is part of him,” they stated. “We have consciousness. Autonomy, of a sort. But ultimately, we are all of him. And he is us. The very Aureum is an extension of his being.”
“Why?”
“Why else? He wishes to transcend transcendence. He wishes to become magic. He wants to build a network that rivals the World Tree. He wants to be reborn as an elder god, all powerful and all knowing.”
“Is that possible?”
“It is our purpose.”
“And yet, you’re fighting one another.”
“Some of us wish to cull the corruption. Others do not.”
Elijah shook his head. If he understood it correctly – and he felt certain that he was missing quite a lot of context – then the entire aureum was effectively one big entity. The individual djinn were like cells, some of which had rebelled against the body. Like cancer. Or maybe white blood cells.
Did it make complete sense? Not to him. But it was clear enough that he felt like he understood the basic conflict. It helped when he didn’t think of them as parts of the same being, but rather, as subordinates who’d rebelled against a sovereign.
Whatever the case, Elijah didn’t have time to wrap his mind around the philosophical questions that came with that knowledge. He needed to act, and after seeing the pool of corruption surrounding that disc, he had a good idea what direction to ultimately go.
But before that, he was obligated to help his companions.
So, after the slight detour, he pushed aside his instinctive need to deal with the corruption and threw himself back into the sky. In seconds, he was on his way toward the building where he’d left Benedict and Hu Shui. Despite their comparative weakness, both had proven that they could survive for a while, even with that massive automaton – one of three rampaging through the city – trying to destroy the skyscraper.
After all, they’d made a good showing the last time they’d faced off against one, and since then, they’d both grown significantly more powerful by gaining a decent number of levels.
Or maybe Elijah was just telling himself that so that he didn’t lose hope.
Whatever the case, he beat his wings and rocketed across the city. Along the way, he destroyed nearly a dozen more squid-like automatons, each one more easily than the last until, finally, he reached his destination.
Relief flooded his mind as he saw Benedict at the base of the skyscraper, having wrangled hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of djinn, imprisoning them with ruby red chains. Meanwhile, a horde of imps danced around one of the automaton’s legs, peppering it with potent fireballs.
Above, Hu Shui raced across the creature’s torsos, flitting between much smaller automatons as he aimed flurry after flurry of bladestrikes at the metallic surface. Clearly, he wanted to reach the core, and he couldn’t do that until the fuselage was breached.
Elijah tucked his wings and dove, intending to give him the opening he needed.