High Artificer, Ch 21: Alora

Sam’s Perspective

A flare of silver light spun through the sky of Verdant, just on the border between the air and the Void.

When it faded, Sam was standing there, having swapped places with the avatar he had left here to keep an eye on Alora and the Wild Tree.  

It had been over a decade here since he expanded the tree’s defenses into more active ones and gave her the keys. Thanks to that, unlike the past couple of times he’d come here, there was nothing major that threatened the world. 

Now, that avatar could help keep an eye on Council instead. 

At any moment, he could call others from Aster Fall or the Void to help, but while he was gone, he had arranged for three to be constantly present on the world. 

That was the minimum he felt was safe in case someone tried something. One with his family, one in his hall, and one watching from the Void. 

It was unlikely that anything would happen in the next few days, but he wasn’t going to allow more Night Wings or any others to cause trouble.

He took a moment to draw in a deep breath of Verdant’s energy and study the area. 

The world radiated vitality, especially merged as it was with the Wild Tree. It felt more like a massive tree trunk than a world, with branches stretching out into the Void and roots in neighboring dimensions.

Things here had proceeded slowly as years unfurled, marked only by the changing seasons as the Wild Tree’s leaves turned to gold and then green again, but they seldom fell from the great limbs that stretched over Alora’s home.

His avatar had been constantly monitoring the world, and it was effectively the same as doing it himself, but his true body’s senses were just a bit stronger, so he scanned the area for good measure.

Once he was sure that everything was fine, he faded away into silver light and reappeared at the center of the Wild Grove.

A slender young woman with slightly pointed ears and long silver-blue hair that almost reached her knees was waiting for him, smiling as she watched the silver stars coalesce.

“You’re back for real this time?” she asked with a smile as she walked over and slipped her hand into his. “There’s something about the real you that stands out. The depth of your presence...I can always tell.”

“You are the only one who can, I think,” Sam said with a laugh of agreement. “You haven’t changed after all this time.”

He held her hand comfortably, delighted as always by her presence. As his avatar, he had spent the last dozen years with her, although only a few weeks passed on Aster Fall.

She was around four hundred years old, just a bit younger than him if he counted the years from his avatars in the Void. Her dedication to her people and her homeland was just as strong as his, so they had a lot in common.

“Would you like to walk in the grove?” she asked as she looked up at him. She was almost six feet tall, but her head barely came up to his shoulder.

At his nod of agreement, she pulled him along by the hand as they headed in between the trees. 

They were on the outer edge where the offshoots of the great tree grew. They sprang up from its roots, creating a single vast network. Their golden trunks filled the area, the bark growing into the complex patterns of natural runes and then rising into towering branches that arched overhead.

The colorful wisps of mana and spirit that lived beneath the trees drifted in every direction, giving things a magical aura. 

The grove was hundreds of miles wide, larger than when he’d first come here centuries before, and the paths their feet could leave beneath the trees were endless. He’d walked this grove with her a thousand times and more, but no trail was ever the same. 

Alora was in no hurry, so they chatted about idle things until Sam raised the topic of why he’d come.

“Would you like to visit the Winged Furies’ home world with me?” he asked. “I have some business to take care of there, but I think it would be fun to see it with you. A small vacation.”

He grinned at her. 

“The Winged Furies’ world?” Alora asked with a laugh. “I’ve heard of it before, but you know I rarely leave Verdant. I think it’s called Bright Sky. It’s a long way from here.”

“It’s in the northern section of the settled galaxy,,” Sam agreed. “It’s not close, but there is a gate nearby, so it will only take a couple of hours at most to reach it. Their race has lost its way, so I need to gather some information before I decide what to do about them, but from what I hear, their cities are very pleasant, at least if you can fly.”

Alora was Level 512 now, so she would be fine there if he wasn’t nearby. A Fifth Evolution healer was a force to be reckoned with.

He spent a few minutes explaining all that had happened with the Winged Furies on Council before he moved on to more interesting things.

“After that,” he added with a grin, “I’d like to introduce you to my family. They’ve finally come with me to the settled galaxy. They’re on Council at the moment, near the High Nine’s main city. My sister is at the academy there.”

“They’re all there?” Alora’s smile was bright. “I’ve wanted to meet them for a long time. Of course I’ll go with you. It is so strange to think that Altey has barely aged at all since we first met. It’s been over three hundred years for me. Will they stay there now, do you think?”

“They’ll only be there while Altey attends the academy.” Sam shook his head. “Perhaps for a decade. Long enough to see a few things. If you’re willing, then we can go as soon as you’re ready. With an avatar here, I can bring you back at any moment. Verdant will be safe enough. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Let me prepare a few things,” Alora said as she squeezed his hand and then turned to walk away. “You know your way around. I’ll see you in a little bit. The ancestor is waiting for you by the tree.”

“I was planning to visit her anyway,” Sam said with a laugh. “I’ll find you after.”

The two of them had spent so long together that there was no need for more words. He was excited that his parents would finally be able to meet her. He’d mentioned her to them, but since they’d never met, it felt like he’d been seeing her almost in secret for the past years.

As she went off to pack, he headed for the central tree, where he knew Asenya was waiting.

Ever since he’d rescued her and taken her back to the sapling of this tree that was on Aster Fall, which he’d named the World Tree, she had the ability to travel between the two. 

The two trees were in some ways like his avatars and his main body. Their energies were so closely aligned that she could walk from one to the other despite the distance.

When he arrived, her appearance was so similar to her many-times-great granddaughter that it was almost like seeing Alora again. She was a little shorter, but she had the same blue-silver hair and emerald eyes. Her hair was longer, brushing the ground at her feet, and her gaze was more resolute, marked by the years she’d seen.

She looked better than when he’d rescued her, but he could tell that she hadn’t gathered all of her strength yet. She’d told him it would take a couple of years in Aster Fall’s time, which was over four hundred here. It had only been a fraction of that.

“Sam Hastern,” she said with a teasing smile as she saw him. “Are you finally stealing my granddaughter away?”

There was laughter in her voice.

“It’s about time,” she added. “It’s been a decade, after all!”

“Asenya,” he said with a smile as he ignored the question. “How are you doing?”

He was too old to be embarrassed by her teasing, but he didn’t forget that she was older still, around 200,000 years in Aster Fall’s time, so he let her have her fun.

“When will I have more grandchildren?” she asked, stamping her foot on the ground as she pretended to glare at him. “She’s the only priestess in my direct line, you know!”

Despite her sternness, he could see the laughter in her eyes. Ever since she found out he was seeing Alora, she thought it was very funny to keep asking him that. 

Titans couldn’t have children without astral chaos to help, which was one of the reasons they’d all gone through the Nexus in search of it. She knew that, but it didn’t stop her.

“Is a slow dance that spans centuries not enough?” he asked, shaking his head as he smiled back at her. “You have thousands of descendants who can become priestesses if needed. Why not leave this one to me?”

It had been a slow dance ever since he’d met Alora in the Void hundreds of years before, but he wasn’t going to give her up. 

She’d been fighting Outsiders at the time and he’d been stunned that she looked so much like Asenya. Now, even with their similarities, the differences between the two of them were clear.

“I suppose I can loan her to you for a bit,” Asenya said with a smile. “A trip will be good for her. She still hasn’t traveled that much. Take her away from this little island of a world to see grander things. She’s been doing her duty too strictly as the priestess here.”

She made a shooing motion at him.

“I will keep an eye on the tree and our people for as long as is needed. The years don’t have much meaning to me any longer. I might still be recovering, but nothing short of a new war will harm this place under my watch.”

“She knows that,” Sam agreed. “It’s just hard for her to leave her sense of duty behind.”

“Pshah,” Asenya said, “kidnap her from here then! I give you my blessing. She needs a vacation. Now, out with it! What else did you want to talk about?”

“I will,” Sam said with a grin before he followed her shift in the conversation. “How is the elemental reconstruction of Aster Fall going? Do you need any more resources?”

Asenya was the original caretaker of Aster Fall and even though she was injured she’d been working on the world ever since she returned. 

One of the things he hadn’t known until speaking with her was that half of Aster Fall had been completely destroyed in the First War. That was the half that was covered by silver grey storms. 

He’d never known it before, but it hadn’t started out that way. The Titans had created a perfectly formed world. 

Fortunately, Asenya was well suited to handle it. Her main strength was in dimensional manipulation. That was why she’d been appointed as the world’s caretaker and how she was able to create the original World Seal. 

Now, she was applying the same skills to rebuilding Aster Fall. He was helping, but he left a lot of it to her.

“I’ve taken control of the main dimensional storms and am slowly reducing their impact,” Asenya  explained. “It will take a while, but the world will eventually be reformed.  It’s thanks to the World Core and the World Spirits that the storms stopped at just half the world. Things could have been much worse.”

She shook her head. There was clear pain in her expression at having things in this state. 

“The World Spirits truly are a blessing to the world,” she said. “I didn’t think the core would come up with something like them on its own, but it has been forced to grow in inventive ways.”

She shook her head, but she didn’t sound unhappy.

“The elemental subdimensions are full of energy,” she added, “so there’s no worry about direct resources, but the World Core does need constant attention to continue repairing the damage to its structure. I’ve been working on it. It has lacked Sixth Evolution energy until now, but it is improving.”

Her words were brief, but they were easy to follow, and Sam nodded in agreement. He was familiar with the problems.

As the caretaker of Aster Fall, Asenya’s energy was closely aligned with both the world and the World Core. Now that she was back, her presence alone was slowly repairing things. 

She was able to draw in energy from the World Core for her own use and then reapply it to heal the core and the storms.

Her presence also protected the world from external forces like Vos’Rekan now. Even if one showed up, as long as she was there to stabilize things, the world would no longer shatter like it had so many times in the past.

That was one reason the dimensional storms had gotten so bad. Half of the world had been broken down into unstable energy. 

He’d fixed the dimensional flaws and some of the other problems on his own before he rescued her, particularly by turning the old World Seal into the Fallen Abyss to contain all the Outsider invasions and in adding the Crown of Stars and the Moonlight Relic as critical defenses, but her work was targeting other areas.

He was happy she was back. If she hadn’t been captured by the Demon of Blood, life on Aster Fall would have been completely different. 

“Let me know if there’s anything that you need,” he said. “As always.”

Although she was at the Sixth Evolution, he had the ability to gather more elemental essence and other resources than she did. He could also travel the Void more quickly.

“There is enough for now,” Asenya said as she waved off his concern, “but I will call you if that ancient Vos’Rekan comes back around. It is the main thing that could cause trouble.”

The two of them spent a while comparing notes about more minor details of the defenses and the plan for Aster Fall’s future before she waved him away with a smile.

“Shoo! Go and take good care of my granddaughter,” she laughed. “Take your time, but I want to hear all the stories when she comes back. Make sure she sees the galaxy!”

“You know I will,” Sam agreed. Then he gave her a wink as he faded away in a field of silver stars. 

When he reappeared, it was on the edge of the grove, in a spot he knew Alora would find him.

Some time later, she arrived in an elegant gown of green and gold that hugged her narrow waist. A golden cloak in a different and slightly warmer hue fell down her back. Everything else was stored away in dimensional artifacts, which he noted in her bracelet and a thin necklace.

He’d made them both for her.

“Are you ready?” he asked as he held out his hand.

“Always,” she said with a laugh as she placed her hand in his.

“Let’s take the scenic route,” he said as excitement bubbled up for the first time in a while. “It’s been a long time since we walked the stars together.” 

“I’d like that,” she agreed. 

He held onto her hand as he turned toward the sky and stepped onto the astral paths. 

Starlight gathered around them, compressing distance until it seemed like they were walking on a silver road that stretched to the horizon.

Within moments, Verdant was only a small green flicker behind them, as was the star that gave it life. 

Alora’s hand stayed in his as they walked. Her touch felt like a moon wrapped in gossamer, delicate and cool, while his hand blazed with the strength of a sun.

Stars and planets spun past his senses, but what filled his mind was her hand and the echo of the Void, the two of them blending into a vast heartbeat that touched everything.

Neither of them felt a need to speak.