FMH: Everything ~ Nineteen

- Andre -

They stepped through the portal and into one of the Druid’s nightmares. When the overly excitable Ascender who had been guarding the way in had called this place a ‘focal point of the invasion’, he hadn't done justice to the absolute charnel house that they were about to walk into. The scent of inflamed flesh and rotting meat, combined with the screams of pain and fury ringing through the area on a grand scale, was enough to make him dry heave.

Such a sudden shift in locales made Andre freeze for a moment, but he was forced out of it as Luke burst through the portal right on his heels, started nearly squealing with glee, and shot into the distance. The Murderhobo hit the front lines and vanished, at least to Andre’s capability of keeping track of him. He had a sneaking suspicion that the sudden wave of death that spread outward from a certain point might lead back to his Murderhobo friend; yet he knew that by the time he got over there, Luke would have moved on to the next most dense portion of the battle.

Andre wasn't someone who relished combat, especially against other humans. There was something to be said for fighting monsters, for destroying abyssal abominations or Chimera that were coming after them, but the specific act of taking a human life was something that still wounded him on a deep and personal level.

The Druid was grateful that these other fighters could act, feeling concerned over how Luke would re-act, but knew that he needed to get his own act together. Trying to clear his mind and become the man that this world needed him to be, Andre stomped his right foot onto the bare earth and initiated the process of binding the world to his will.

Call Of Nature has generated a quest: Sore Spot. This area is rotten and filled with shifting, unstable powers. Clean and restore the land. Reward: Potentia. Increased macro-manipulation of the impacted area. Harder-to-disrupt area presence.

The fact that the world itself was calling out for help, giving him a proper quest for the first time since he’d gained the Ability ‘Call of Nature’, meant that he wanted to spring into action to prove to the world that it had made the correct call in choosing him. He had never traveled along the border, certainly not this far out. Therefore, his powers weren't connected to other areas of his own influence. Until he was able to gather a large enough space under his control, he would be limited in how much he could directly influence the ongoing battle or heal the land the battle was taking place on.

Appreciatively eyeing the almost literal rivers of blood that were soaking the ground, his worry seamlessly shifted into pleased satisfaction. Without needing to cut his own skin, he had access to every resource he needed in order to make the most of this project. A sheet of blood lifted into the air off of the churned earth at his command, and he expertly shaped every last drop into a large, perfect Circle.

Factoring in that the ground had been pounded into veritable brick by tens of thousands of feet, ensuring there was incredibly little plant life remaining in the area, he created two more Circles around the first: allowing him to bind with the land directly. Andre wouldn't recover as much mana, as the esoteric energy was considered to be a byproduct of living processes, but he wasn’t worried about that for the moment. Thanks to his upgraded Abilities, he wouldn't need to invest very much effort in order to make up for the resources he was currently investing.

A tap of his LivingWood staff on the ground set the Circles to spinning, the center one moving counterclockwise, opposite to the inner and outer ones which were revolving much faster in the clockwise direction. Retreating inward, he put all of his Willpower behind binding the terrain directly around himself. A small frown creased his face as he sensed the influence of another Druid who had controlled this area far before he had. Even so, it was obvious that, while the other Druid was clearly still alive, they were somewhere far distant. Seeing as Andre was the only known Druid in his own kingdom, the unfamiliar influence must be coming from an enemy of his people.

With just a touch more power, the control of the distant opponent was shattered, and the area was bound to Andre's will. From there, he paused and allowed the circle to slowly expand on its own to test how far it would be able to reach. To his great surprise and pleasure, the mud that had surrounded this encampment rapidly began to dry, the blood leached out and repurposed to expand his control. “Bloodflood Binding, you truly live up to your name.”

He could feel his area of influence expanding wildly, slowing down at times only to reach a new blood-soaked pit and race into the distance. With so many Spells active, and so much death having been dealt in the land around him, his power stretched farther and faster with every passing moment. “Okay… doesn't look like I need to do that again for a while; let's start on stage two.”

Seeds poured off of his clothing, and he flung his cloak made entirely of woven foliage to the side to spread them further. Grass sprang up around him, transforming the immediate area into a small oasis of thriving, verdant happiness.

He sat down in the center, bracing his staff in his hands as he focused on growing all of the new plant life through its full life cycle, generating seed and beginning the process anew. It was not nearly as fast as his binding to the land had progressed, but the grass began to expand outward, spreading farther and farther with every completed cycle.

His own people, as they walked across it, gradually discovered that their footing was firm. No longer were they being subjected to the whims of slippery stone, sucking mud, and guaranteed infection if they got so much as a scratch that broke the skin. Where combat was heaviest, Andre was unable to teach the grass the difference between friend and foe, so he simply didn't allow the better terrain to form past that point. Instead, he focused on expanding the outer border ever farther.

Sinking so deeply into his meditations allowed the Druid to split his focus slightly, and he watched in wonder at the authority and power he was able to exert upon the world around him. Each small increase to the radius under his control drastically improved his capability to produce more plant life in the influenced area. “Being at one with nature is a true blessing… it's a beautiful thing to watch the lifecycle move and witness the truth of how it is meant to be self-perpetuating.”

His eyes shot open in concern as he felt his influence stutter and stall against a barrier deeper within the territory controlled by the Dynasty of Dogs. After a brief flare of irritation, he was able to accept the fact that it wouldn't be as easy to capture enemy land from the Druid who had been assigned to that area. Likely, their control had been solidified over that area long ago. Breaking that grasp would be a true challenge, a direct competition of Willpower combined with his ability to actively smash through his opponent’s Abilities. Delight glittered in his eyes as he contemplated that future, and a small smile quirked into place as he realized that perhaps he had been spending too much time around Taylor and Luke.

Still, that would be a game for another time. He would need to leverage the control he had over his own kingdom into that competition, as he had no doubt the opposing Druid would do the same. Andre refocused his intent, guiding the influence deeper into the land controlled by the Hollow Kingdom.

Eventually, the sheer surplus of blood in the battleground would dry up, and his automatic expansion would slow. Then again… he recalled the fresh waterskins of liquid mana that Luke had collected on their journey and wondered if his friend would be able to be convinced to part with… well… most of them.

In a burst of inspiration, he recalled another simple solution to his mana generation issues. In fact, he had used the exact method back in the desert, when enemy combatants, especially Ascenders, were hunting him. Settling in a little deeper, he grew some vines around himself to ensure that anything coming his way would be intercepted, as well as giving him an opportunity to defend himself if needed. Once they were firmly established, he felt along the border of grass he had created. With a simple application of intent, he caused the ground underneath any unmoving form to slightly desolidify.

Thousands of corpses slowly sank into the ground, where they were consumed for nutrients. He tried to take deep breaths, knowing that it was unlikely that any of the bodies could have been returned to their still-living relatives.

Andre was able to steady himself with the knowledge that, if he didn't do something about the bodies, some sort of corpse animator would likely come along and use them for a different, more nefarious purpose. Only one major downside came from his accomplishment: with the vast majority of ground-level obstacles out of their way, the combat between the two sides drastically intensified.

The soggy mud had turned into firm ground—granting the defenders an advantage, thanks to the grass that supported their feet—and there was no longer mangled flesh to slip on or to distract from the fighting at hand. Sending his mind farther away from the front lines, into the area that had no grass but was still under his control, Andre started selectively opening small pits. A few people managed to get out of the way, hopping over them or outright dodging the slight tremors that indicated an impending Ascender assault. Their evasion only made him work harder to capture them, as they obviously had some access to their mana.

In no time at all, he had collected hundreds of unwilling test subjects. Within ten minutes of their imprisonment within the pits, large lotuses began to flourish on the muddy walls. The parasitic blooms closed around each human, cutting off their already-muffled cries. Moments later, the natural sedation created by the flowers knocked out their prey, and small vines grew into the inert bodies. Back in the Scarrocco Desert, Andre had been able to use these flowers, and the passive mana regeneration that they stole from their human captives, to produce water and infuse the ground with nutrients.

In this scenario, he didn't want or need to use that mana in any structured sense. The Druid instead directed the flowers to release the energy into the air, where his Bloodflood Binding captured it and allocated the potent power to perpetrate his protected premises. “Perfect. Now that there’s an excess of blood, and mana is joining it properly, I should see a doubling of the area per second that comes under my influence.”

He opened his eyes to inspect the far more palatable battlefield. Andre took a deep breath, pausing halfway in expectation of the foul stench that had pervaded the area previously. Instead, he was met with the scent of sweat, a slight tinge of blood, but also the fresh, sweet air produced around old-growth grass. He rose to his feet and dusted himself off, preparing to take a more active role in combat now that his initial setup had been completed.

The Druid managed a single step before the general commanding the battlefield skidded to a stop in front of him, clearly furious at the tall redhead. “Are you trying to get us all killed? Your team just got here, and you're already making international incidents and escalating this invasion?”

Andre froze momentarily, but quickly remembered that he wasn't under the command of this officer, as they were the last time they had been near a battlefield. “I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but it's about to get worse. A lot worse.”

Before the General’s scowl could shift into a commanding glare, a familiar voice caught Andre's attention.

“Hobo Holler!”