Path of Dragons-Chapter 2Book 9: : Dangling Threads

Elijah sat on the edge of the island, his legs dangling over the cliff as he looked out at the surf. Not too far away, he could see the top of the statue that marked the very first tower he’d ever conquered. He could feel it, too. His domain reached almost two miles out to sea, and it was growing with every passing day. By the end of the next year, it could very well encompass Ironshore to the east.

And he didn’t know how he felt about that.

Already, his relationship with the city’s residents was shaky at best. He was friendly enough with Ironshore’s elite. His sister-in-law was one of their most important citizens, and he had a long history of working with the mayor. He’d saved the city twice – once from orcs, and again against the dark elves.

But they still didn’t like him. They didn’t hate him, either. Not that he could tell. At best, they were only afraid. So, what would it feel like to have that city constantly in one corner of his mind? Being able to feel all those people – many of whom were terrified of him – was not ideal.

Yet, he couldn’t stop the domain’s growth. Not after the ancestral tree had begun to absorb the Primordial Loam. At the time, he’d only had a vague notion of how powerful it was. Then, he’d used barely a tablespoon to elicit years’ worth of growth in the space of weeks, and even that wasn’t the full breadth of what it could achieve. Without it, he never could have accomplished his goal.

“You have been sitting out here for a while,” came a voice from behind him. Elijah didn’t need to turn to know it was Nerthus, the spryggent caretaker of his grove. And one of his few true friends. The entity was basically family by that point.

“I know.”

“Do you wish to talk?” asked Nerthus, stepping closer. He hesitated for a moment before sitting next to Elijah. He looked uncomfortable doing so, but at least he was making an effort.

Elijah shrugged. “Just thinking about everything that happened,” he admitted. He’d been sucked into a Primal Realm and forced to conquer it on his own. He’d nearly died more times than he could count, and what’s more, he’d seen some truly horrifying sights. Most of them, he’d never forget – even if he desperately wished he could.

Even more important was the fact that he’d been made to confront what happened when someone meddled with the natural order. The chimera had done that. They’d spent their lives searching for improvement, and in doing so, they had created a host of horrific monsters. Even then, it had been a dead end. They had eventually turned to machines to create their perfect forms, evolving to the point that they became the elder race known as mechaniques.

Elijah wasn’t certain how that worked, but that wasn’t an abnormal state for him. The gaps in his knowledge were enormous – a true weakness that had nearly gotten him killed on more than one occasion.

“Do you think it’s wrong to change something’s nature?” he asked.

“No. Not for us.”

Elijah glanced at his friend. “What do you mean?”

“You are troubled by what you saw in the Primal Realm.”

“I am. I don’t think I’ll ever not be troubled by that.”

“As is proper. The difference between us and those creatures is that we work with nature,” Nerthus explained. “You are fundamentally incapable of acting against the dictates of the Mother. So it is with me, as well as any other with a strong attunement to nature or her subsidiaries.”

Elijah knew that the Mother – at least when Nerthus spoke of the concept – referred to nature itself.

“Are you saying I don’t have free will?” he asked, his heart beating a little faster.

“Of course you do. But such is your fundamental being that you would never exercise it in detriment to the mother,” Nerthus stated. “That is who you are.”

Elijah frowned. If he understood Nerthus correctly, he would never be capable of taking direct action against nature. But was that due to his attunement? Or was his attunement there because of his natural inclinations?

“It’s a chicken or the egg scenario,” he said to himself.

“I suppose.”

“You don’t know what that means, do you?” asked Elijah.

“I do not,” Nerthus admitted without hesitation.

Elijah grinned, then reached out to grip Nerthus’ shoulder. He gave it a squeeze. “Thanks man,” he said. “I think I’m good now. Time to get back to work.”

At the time, he wasn’t sure why he’d returned to the grove, but in retrospect, he knew he just needed a little time to himself. And the support of a friend. Now, though, he needed to get back on task. To that end, he pushed himself to his feet and leaped from the cliff. Twisting over, he turned his fall into a dive.

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He cut through the waves a second later, already having cast Shape of the Sea, which transformed him into an enormous leviathan of a turtle that was fifty feet long, not including the crocodilian tail. He beat his powerful flippers, propelling himself forward through the sea, and in only a few moments, was outside his domain.

For a while, he pushed himself to his limits – and given his attributes in that form, that meant he threw himself through the sea with incredible speed. He had no frame of reference, but he suspected that he could reach a velocity of well over two-hundred miles an hour. If he kept on like he was going, he’d soon become faster than an airliner – and that was with the resistance of water.

He could have gone much faster if he’d taken to the skies, but there was something soothing about swimming through the ocean. Something empowering. And freeing. It was one of the reasons he’d chosen to become a marine biologist so long ago.

The other reason was stretched out far below him. Dense forests of kelp, a multitude of fish species, and more crustaceans than Elijah could count. Some were relatively weak, but others were incredibly powerful. Thankfully, none of them were inclined to picking a fight.

Soon enough, he was joined by a familiar presence.

Elijah wasn’t certain if it was the same dolphin that had saved his life so long ago. He liked to think so, though. Together, they swam along, and Elijah knew what it wanted. He was more than happy to oblige, dipping and diving and chasing the sea mammal. It was far faster than him, even after he’d gained so much in the Primal Realm – a testament to just how strong the guardian truly was.

Elijah didn’t think it was a higher level than him, but it was close enough that it didn’t really matter. More importantly, dolphins were built for speed, while his chelonoid form was built more for defense. Still, he kept up as well as could be expected until their path brought them close to the storm.

When they were a little less than a hundred miles away, Elijah surfaced and beheld the massive maelstrom. It was at least a thousand miles across – a perpetual wall of black clouds, rain, and wind. Even from so far away, it whipped the sea into a frenzy, pushing the waves to heights of more than a hundred feet. Elijah struggled to remain stationary, so it wasn’t long before he dove deep, and once he’d reached a sufficient depth, he swam toward the maelstrom.

Or more appropriately, toward the island at its center.

The dolphin didn’t follow. Instead, it let out a few clicks that sounded a bit like a sigh, then headed back to calmer seas.

Elijah wished he could do the same, but he had responsibilities now, and those wouldn’t wait on his moods. So, he swam forward, mostly safe from the chaotic weather far above, and eventually, he reached the calm waters at the eye of the storm. He stayed close to the seafloor until he was certain he’d was safe from the maelstrom. Only then did he surface and get a good look at the deserted place he’d dubbed Chimera Island.

A few harpies fluttered their wings in the distance, telling him that he was just in time for the next culling. So, he quickly swam ashore, resumed his human form, and jogged to the base of the mountain that was their home. Over the next couple of hours, he went on a quest of extermination, snuffing out the hated harpies. He didn’t spare a single creature – not even the young.

Because they were all monsters, dangerous and deadly, and he was certain that if he let them reach maturity, they’d undo all his hard work with the ancestral tree he’d planted in the center of the island.

Once he’d finished that gruesome task, Elijah headed to check on said tree. It was doing well – not quite having reached adulthood, but on the verge. From what he felt, it would experience nearly two decades’ worth of growth over the next month or so. Part of that was from the Primordial Loam, but the tree’s very nature contributed as well. It existed off ethera – specifically, the energy leaking from the nearby Primal Realm – utilizing it to fuel its own growth.

If Elijah decided to transplant the tree to any other environment, it would wither considerably. It wouldn’t die, but it certainly wouldn’t thrive.

Such was the subject of his previous musings on tampering with nature. For the chimera, it had ended extremely poorly, and after what he’d seen in the Chimeric Forge, Elijah couldn’t help but wonder if that was in his future as well. He desperately hoped not, but given the circumstances, he didn’t think he had much choice in the matter. Either he did something to bring the Primal Realms’ cycles to a stop, or they would remain a continuous threat that Earth was in no way equipped to handle.

Once the harpies were dead and he’d ensured that the tree was safe, Elijah headed through one of the many caves leading below. He followed it, and eventually, he reached the former home of refugees he’d rescued before his experiences in the Chimeric Forge.

It hadn’t taken long for others to move in.

The current residents were mostly the survivors of a shipwreck – or maybe more than one, considering the numbers – who’d split off from the main group. Elijah didn’t know what caused the rift. Nor did he really care. Instead, the only thing that really concerned him was getting those people off the island.

Not for their sake, though that was part of it. Rather, Elijah wanted them gone because his plans required that the island be quarantined – at least from civilian occupation. So, he decided to go all out with his entrance.

Out of sight of their sentries, Elijah donned his Mantle of the Chimera and used the Crown of Authority trait tied to his Antlers of the Wild Revenant. Flaming antlers attached to an inscribed skull manifested on his head while he ignited the Verdant Fang with similarly hued fire. His cloak shone with green energy as vibrant, green flames danced across his slightly-worn armor.

He knew from experience that he cut a very intimidating figure.

With that in mind, he stepped forward and into full view of the sentry they’d posted. The man actually dropped his pike and, shaking like a leaf, backed away. That only lasted for a step or two before he turned and ran, screaming about monsters.

Only a couple of minutes later – during which Elijah simply stood his ground – a group of worn survivors marched around the corner. They hunched low, spears and other weapons at the ready.

“Who are you?!” shouted a man from down the tunnel. “What do you want? Did you kill the other group?”

“My name is Elijah Hart. Some of you might recognize my name from the power rankings,” Elijah answered. “And believe it or not, I’m here to rescue you.”