Path of Dragons 14 - Chapter 8 - The Hard Numbers

Edit: I screwed up Elijah's status in this chapter, so I fixed and reuploaded. Sorry about that!

Elijah had forgotten that the world could be hospitable.

As he dove beneath the waves, he was reminded just how pleasant something as simple as a swim could truly be.  Back on Gorveth, such an act would have been plagued by monster attacks and caustic corruption.  He’d long since proven he could endure whatever that planet threw at him, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

It always hurt.

He had just grown very proficient at compartmentalizing pain.

That was unnecessary on Earth, as evidenced by the lack of pain.  Instead, as he descended into the ocean, he only felt cool, soothing, and blessedly clean water.  All around him, sealife danced and darted.  Seahorses, kelp, schools of glittering fish – the ecosystem was so vibrant that it nearly overwhelmed his senses. 

Elijah loved it.

Somehow, he’d convinced himself to forget just how much he’d been missing. 

He swam forward, losing himself in a forest of seaweed.  Tiny fish darted in to nibble at him, while a sizable octopus curiously wrapped its tentacle around his leg.  It was an exploratory thing.  Not aggressive at all.  Elijah allowed the creature to climb his leg, then settle onto his shoulder.

He'd always liked octopi.  They were wondrous creatures that were surprisingly intelligent.  One of his fears had been that his time on Gorveth – plagued as it was by tentacled monsters – might put him off of octopi and squids.  But thankfully, that was not the case. 

He accepted the beast’s curiosity, even embracing it until, at last, it detached and swam away.  Elijah watched it disappear beneath a pile of rocks. 

For a long time, he remained in place, just treading water as he enjoyed the environment.  He’d had to swim for more than a hundred miles before he reached the edge of his domain.  He hadn’t stopped there, either.  Instead, he kept going until he was well out of range of his grove.

Of his people.

He’d been home for less than two weeks, and in that time, he’d learned quite a lot about the development of the grove.  Some of it was useful, but for the most part, Elijah found himself bored by the details.  Despite the fervor with which he’d sought a way home, Elijah couldn’t escape the fact that he’d never found managing the grove to be very interesting. 

That was why he had Nara, who seemed to revel in those sorts of tasks.  She should have been an Administrator, she was so enamored with all the little details he found so tedious. 

Certainly, his grove was still home.  But that didn’t make Elijah feel any less out of place.  The result was his foray into the sea and his hesitation to return. 

It couldn’t last, though. 

As relaxing as it was, Elijah felt the need to move.  To do something worthwhile.  From a physical standpoint, he’d completely recovered from his time in the void.  It would be some time yet before he could say the same about his psyche, but that was another story altogether.  By necessity, that would be an ongoing process – even with his ability to rid himself of mental scar tissue by discarding the leaves within his mind.  That kept it from taking over, but it did nothing to help him adjust.  To leave behind three decades of fight-or-flight.  To move on from the effects of isolation. 

No - that would take a while. 

In any case, he soon shifted into the Shape of Sea, which sent most of the local sea life swimming away.  He beat his mighty flippers against the water, quickly accelerating to a speed he never could have attained before his time on Gorveth.  Part of that came from the effect of his improved cultivation and his attainment of demi-god status.  However, Elijah couldn’t deny that he also benefited from a significant increase in his attributes.

As he swam, he looked at his status:

While he’d been forced to flee most dangers in the void, Elijah had also killed a fair number of creatures – mostly in the various dimensions where he’d taken refuge.  And he’d been well-rewarded for his efforts.  In retrospect, his leveling pace was truly impressive, and he couldn’t escape the excitement that came from drawing ever closer to the next ability evolution.

In the meantime, the absolute deluge of additional attributes was a nice consolation prize.  Exceeding three thousand in multiple categories – albeit with his equipment and his still-significant buffs – was an incredible accomplishment.  Elijah wasn’t certain just how much stronger he’d become, but he could feel that it was as significant as the difference between night and day.

His primeval-rarity class – and the substantial attribute bonuses that came with it – was doing a lot of heavy lifting in setting him apart from even other demi-gods.  By the time he reached level five hundred, he would have become an entirely different entity.  And that wasn’t considering the advancement of his cultivation.

Even amidst his feelings of displacement, that thought warmed his heart.

Those pleasant feelings took him all the way back to his island.  His arrival elicited a bit of a panic from the locals, but he didn’t blame them for that.  He was in the form of an enormous sea turtle that could easily destroy their entire town with ease.  Of course they’d be nervous.

So, to stem the panic, he shifted back into his human form to complete the last leg of his swim. 

When he came ashore and lay upon one of the enormous rocks that lined the beach, he felt a deep sense of contentment.  That touched upon his hope that he could one day regain his sense of belonging.  It wrapped that hope in a blanket of optimism, keeping it safe and protected until it could truly take hold.

Thankfully, no one bothered him while he lay there, just luxuriating in the feeling of the sun upon his drying body.  Elijah even let himself doze a little.  It wasn’t a restful sleep, but it still felt rejuvenating in a way he couldn’t really describe. 

Hours later, well after he was dry, Elijah pushed himself to his feet and headed inland.  Along the way, he immersed himself in the feeling of nature.  In the runic designs Nerthus had forced upon the island’s growth.  In the sights, smells, and sounds of the home he hoped to never take for granted.

And in those moments, he was reminded of years past.  Of those days he’d spent just walking through the forest.  He thought about the panther that had saved his life so long ago.  All the animals that had given their lives to protect the island when it was invaded by pirates.  The memory of Nara and the other sea elves’ awe-filled reactions upon their arrival.  The day he’d officially made them all a part of his grove.

The day they had become a community.

So many memories.  Such a disconnect between the man who’d experienced those events and the person he’d become in the decades since.

But the thin thread of connection remained.

He clung to it, intending to never let it go.

After returning to his treehouse and feeling like he was standing in someone else’s house, Elijah took a quick shower, dressed, and headed toward the mainland.  It was high time he visited Ironshore.

Unfortunately, word of his new flight form had not reached the city’s defenders, and they reacted to what they thought was a threat.  For his part, Elijah landed well outside city limits, then resumed his human form.  But when he approached the city’s massive gate, he found himself facing off against some well-meaning but misguided guards. 

Thankfully, the confrontation failed to escalate, though they didn’t allow him inside until one of their supervisors arrived and let Elijah through the gate.  That gave him plenty of time to appreciate the upgrade to the city’s defenses.  The wall had grown, and by no small amount.  It was more than a hundred feet tall and, from what he saw as he passed through the gate, nearly half as thick.

It reminded him of Kalki.

Which was probably appropriate, considering that Anupriya had had a hand in its construction.  She was back in her city for now, but she had become quite a fixture in Ironshore.  Being the partner of the city’s most prestigious crafter had a lot to do with that. 

Her relationship with Carmen should have been predictable.  They fit well together.  But it still surprised Elijah more than he cared to admit.  Similarly, he’d been shocked to realize that their pairing had lasted longer than Carmen’s relationship with Alyssa.

Much longer, in fact.

Those thoughts accompanied Elijah as he passed through the gate and entered the city proper.  However, he did sense that the runes embedded in the wall were quite powerful.  He also felt a foreign domain the second he entered the city.

Ramik’s Seal of Authority at work, no doubt.

Perhaps the mayor had even taken a city-focused class evolution, if he’d reached demi-god tier, which was possible but not likely.

Whatever the case, Elijah was immediately impressed by the city’s progression.  It still resembled Victorian London, but far cleaner, and with a few distinct flourishes that marked it as something wholly different.  The most obvious among those details was the sheer verticality of the city.  Its footprint had grown, but the bulk of its growth had been upward.  Buildings the size of old-world skyscrapers dotted the cityscape, each one decorated with artful flourishes that marked them as architectural masterpieces.

Elijah received quite a few curious looks as he walked through the cobblestone streets.  Part of that was because of his still-wild appearance.  He’d cleaned up and donned fresh clothes, but he’d still yet to visit the barber.  On top of that, he was barefoot in a city that seemed to take its fashion cues from its mayor.

Ramik had a habit of wearing a bowler hat and a three-piece suit, and most of the population wore variations of that same outfit.  Even quite a few women dressed similarly, though just as many wore elaborate dresses or skirts.  And then there were the people – mostly humans – who dressed in what Elijah had once considered modern clothing.  Blue jeans and tee-shirts were still popular enough, even if they looked a bit anachronistic. 

Either way, Elijah definitely stood out.

He ignored that, though.  He’d never really cared about fashion, after all. 

After a little wandering, he found himself drawn by an aroma he couldn’t resist.  That was what drove him into a large restaurant.  It was only when he entered that he realized just how underdressed he was.  The hostess looked him over with a frown.  Elijah had no interest in forcing his way inside, so at her look, he turned on his heel and left. 

He was proud of himself.  There was a time when he’d have forced a confrontation.  Maybe even welcomed it.  But the reality was that he didn’t much care about how the people of Ironshore looked at him.  Not anymore. 

That attitude followed him all the way to the rebuilt Forge of Creation.

The design was similar to what it had been before he’d left.  However, it was much, much larger.  The size of a professional football stadium, in fact.  And it only took a few moments for Elijah to establish that the runecrafting embedded in each stone was far more advanced than it had been with the building’s first iteration.

“Good for you, Carmen,” he said to himself as he climbed the steps.

A pair of guards moved to block his way, but a third put a stop to that.  She was the only one with an inspection skill, apparently.  Elijah nodded at them as he entered.

Immediately, he felt the change in the atmosphere.  Despite its proximity to the Hartwood Grove, Ironshore had never really been a bastion of nature.  Certainly, it was more connected to the vital world than most places, just by virtue of being surrounded by Elijah’s domain.  But it was a little too settled to foster a true connection.

Still, the difference between the atmosphere inside the Forge of Creation was stark.  It felt like creativity and industriousness.  Order.  It felt like the realm of true craftsmanship. 

Which it was.

After asking for directions, Elijah wound his way through the compound.  It was comprised of hundreds of rooms, each one devoted to one craft or another.  There were also spaces dedicated to libraries – halfway through the transition from books and scrolls to crystals – and even some communal areas where the city’s elite Tradesmen gathered to collaborate or make deals.

As interesting as those were, Elijah hadn’t come to observe their industriousness.  No – he’d come to see his sister-in-law.

That was what led him to her smithy, where he predictably found her hammering against a hunk of nearly molten metal.  Elijah could feel surging ethera with every strike.  It felt so familiar, yet so different from the dozens of other times he’d watched her work.  Every inch of her compact, yet muscular frame remained focused on the task at hand.  Even as sweat dripped upon the hot metal, sizzling on contact, her attention never wavered. 

Not until she sensed that she’d picked up a one-man audience.

She didn’t even look away as she said, “Don’t stare.  It’s creepy.”

“I wasn’t staring.”

“You definitely were.  Just wait in my office,” she suggested, pointing at a door on the other side of the massive smithy.  She still didn’t look up from her work.  “I’m almost done with this phase.”

Elijah ignored her.  Instead, he strode across the intervening distance and looked over her shoulder.  “Whatcha workin’ on?”

“Elijah.”

“What?”

“I’m going to punch you if you keep hovering.  Just give me a few minutes.”

He rolled his eyes.  “Fine,” he said. Then, under his breath, he added, “Just wanted to watch.”

Carmen ignored that last bit as he entered the office and plopped down on a well-worn couch.  Thankfully, he didn’t have long to wait.  Just a couple of minutes, during which he studied some of her runic designs.  It only took him a few moments to recognize a couple of errors, but he wasn’t about to stick his nose into that.  Carmen wasn’t entirely unreasonable, but she definitely wouldn’t welcome him correcting her work.  She preferred to work through it at her own pace.

It was while he was studying the chalk board containing said designs when she finally pushed through the door.

“What’s up?” she asked, wiping her forehead.