FMH: Everything ~ Ten

- Taylor -

After she heard the sounds of combat coming from a different part of the cavern than they were in, Taylor blasted her way through the stone keeping her in place, ready to do the same for Zed, then the two of them would make a break for it. They would be trapped in this world until they could find a Druid that was willing to let them out, but at least they would be-

“Taylor! By the order of the King you're to remain where you are!” A man she had never seen before had pushed himself through the stone that was limply hanging from its surroundings via a series of interconnected roots. “You may call me Sir, I'm an Ascender that has been tasked with returning you to the Hollow Kingdom for your next orders.”

The Mage didn't respond, simply standing where she was with empty eyes and a defeated expression working its way across her face. The strange man saw her face and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, you're all taking this like a death sentence! I don't understand it. Like I told your large friend, you're being heralded as heroes to the people! Combine that with the fact that you made a whole lot of nobility extremely wealthy, and your next assignment is most likely going to be relaxing on a beach somewhere out of the way until your term of service is complete.”

“Sir.” Taylor's words came out as a soft sigh. “I'm the prospective Archmage. Andre is the kingdom's only Druid, by default becoming the Archdruid. Zed is a Bard. Luke is an incredibly powerful combatant that is nearly wholly unhinged, and is constantly on the edge of escaping his oath of servitude to the kingdom. None of us are getting cozy assignments. You’re dragging us out of a willing exile.”

“Oh.” The candid statement truly seemed to take the man aback. “I didn't realize that. Unfortunately… I have my orders, and you know exactly what that means. I cannot pretend that my mission was unsuccessful, and I most certainly don't want to if you're all as politically sensitive as you say. Please don't think of me unfavorably, or hold a grudge. You should know better than anyone that doing your job is the only way-”

“Stop trying to cover your own rear, and do your job before things go wrong.” Taylor gestured into the distance, where the sounds of combat could still be heard. She was worried about what could happen if Luke and Andre's combat became too wild. Only one living thing in this area could be damaged, or killed: The Peace Lily Flower. If something happened to that, and the others didn't realize it, it was very likely that someone would die even if it wasn’t an intentional act.

Sir nodded and walked away, returning only a few minutes later with Andre and a disconcertingly smiling Luke. A moment later, the Murderhobo rolled away the boulder that was covering Zed, which allowed the man to gasp for air.

“Seriously, Luke? You couldn't leave me an air hole?” The Bard coughed violently as fresh air entered his lungs for the first time in several minutes. “I know I can't… that is, you obviously had faith that I would survive, but a little bit of life's luxuries, like air you too-crunchy crouton, certainly wouldn't have been amiss!”

Taylor was impressed at the fact that Zed didn't release the secret of this area, as that news would have spread like a wildfire and put Andre’s future security at risk. Even so, she had to keep up appearances and pretend as though she was upset in order to move the conversation away from this sensitive topic. “Most likely he recognized the fact that you're full of hot air and could use a deflation every once in a while.”

Zed rounded on her, face set in a rictus of anger, but a twinkle in his eye combined with a wink letting her know that he understood the game they were playing. “As for you! You are the reason we were caught in the first place! Who in their right mind realizes that an unstoppable juggernaut of still-growing meat is coming toward them, and decides that it would be better to just hang out and wait around?”

“A realist, Zed.” Taylor shook her head hotly, trying to be done with this line of questioning. It rang too close to the Bard’s still-present distrust of her true loyalties.

The answer seemed to astound Zed, and he puffed himself up with a deep inhalation, launching into a barrage of straw man arguments and shouted insults, culminating in, “-last of all, you're a Mage! You read random words, wiggle your fingers, and create blasts of fire or crazy lightning! What part of that sounds like someone who should be grounded in reality?”

“Enough!” Sir had led them to the edge of the portal back to their base world, and was standing with his hands cupped around his mouth. “I have no idea how the four of you have managed to live in the same area for the last several years without killing each other! Frankly, if we would have left you alone, the kingdom would likely have less issues in the future! Abyss, get it together. The rest of us have been fighting a war while you have all been relaxing in the trees, swinging in a hammock and sipping drinks out of coconuts!”

Zed blinked twice, then pointed at Sir. “You found my hammock? Tell me you’re at least bringing it along.”

“You… you actually…?” The Ascender shook off the effect that information had on him, working to control his breathing. “Step through the portal, step to the side, and wait for the rest of us.”

One by one, The Four left Andre’s grove, stepping back into a small room created by the hollow of a tree's roots. Finally, Sir stepped through as well, then looked at the open portal with great interest. “It seems to be stable… interesting.”

Luke reached over and gently punched the opening in the air, completely destabilizing it and causing the Scar to collapse. Sir’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to shout at Luke, only for the enormous, looming Barbarian to meet his eyes and speak first. “Wouldn't want anyone getting ideas about going after the fruit of Andre's hard work, now would we?”

“I… of course not. I suppose.” Sir swallowed, trying to wet his suddenly-dry throat. “That would be the height of impropriety. I suppose what we should be doing now is returning to our mission, and getting you home as quickly as we can.”

Over the next several hours, all of the search parties were informed of the fact that The Four had been captured, were contained, and on their way back to the Capital. Each of The Four went as reluctantly as possible, but all that meant was that their attitudes weren’t the best as they moved quickly and efficiently through the terrain. Even so, there were points of great interest for each of them. Taylor was especially interested in watching how Andre interacted with the land that they were moving through, watching as his face shifted to delight as they got to the edge of the Scarrocco Paradise and he sunk into a light bout of meditation to test how well his work had integrated with the earth.

It brought great joy to her when a bright smile lit up the Druid's face, and Taylor could only be glad that there was a silver lining in this situation. Nothing Sir could say, or order due to his discomfort, could preclude the Druid from performing his duties. Specifically, the fact that he was suddenly starting to bleed, then created an enormous magical circle over them that did seemingly nothing… all Taylor could do was enjoy the view as blood would rush from Sir’s face, leaving him pale and shaking every time the Druid activated his circle magic.

It was clear to everyone involved that any of this small party could deal immense damage to everyone around them if they somehow managed to break their bonds, a careless order was given, or they failed to take proper precautions. This meant that their escort to the Capital was a tense, muted affair filled with flinching and sleepless nights for their captors.

Taylor shook her head at that thought, attempting to reconcile the fact that these people weren’t meant to be jailers, and they were not meant to be prisoners. This was supposedly an honor guard that was returning them after a pseudo exile. It was meant to be a great honor… at least if Sir's words were to be believed. It had been at least four years since she visited the borders of the previous desert personally, having relied on Zed's clones to bring them the information that they needed. Even with what he had told her, it was still a shock to see how the population in the area had exploded, homes had been created where before there was only starvation and despair.

“All of this exists thanks to Andre.” Her words were muttered, but everyone could easily hear them thanks to their superhuman Characteristics.

The Druid in question flushed almost as bright a red as his hair, ending up shaking his head. “I could not have done it without all of you. The creatures that were guarding the resources we needed, everything that each of you invested, the protection and security that you provided were instrumental in giving me the freedom to complete my grand working.”

“I don't know if you've heard, Archdruid.” Sir respectfully joined the conversation, his eyes only for the spindly redhead, “They are not calling you Andre the Archdruid anymore, the people have been referring to you as Andre, the Terraformer.”

“Better than your other most recent nickname, if you know what I mean.” Zed nudged Andre in the side with his elbow, “‘The Druid of Flesh and Bone’ certainly stuck in the mind, but not in this nice, pleasant manner.”

Taylor winced as Andre's eyes darted over to her. She was glad that he now had a moniker he could be proud of, one that celebrated his successes and true contribution to the world. The fact that he had been referred to by such a horrific name previously was nearly entirely her fault: she knew that he had only gone through with the experimentation on other humans due to her pushing, prodding, and pleading. It had just seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now that her mind was her own, able to act as mature as it should have been, she recognized the horrors that she had inflicted upon him, and it was no wonder that he was turning into an insomniac.

When he slept, his nightmares would cause the forest to scream with him.

She took a deep breath, hoping that they would be able to move past this hurdle in their strange relationship. Over the last several years, Taylor had worked diligently to better herself, slowly regain their trust, and prove that she would be willing to do anything for them. The fact that she was bound to the world by the Earthen Node assuredly allowed her to rapidly repair the foundation of her relationship with the Druid. With Luke, she was uncertain thanks to his apparent apathy, but Zed wasn’t as easily won over.

As they moved along the countryside, word of their travels moved even faster than they did. Citizens of the Hollow Kingdom came out in droves to cheer for them, throwing flowers and other such niceties. Andre reacted jubilantly to this, causing the thrown flowers and petals to spring up into fully formed plants, growing on their own, which created a vibrant trail of beautiful plant life along nearly the entire path they walked upon. This only added to the air of celebration that their arrival created, and it seemed that nearly everyone had been caught up in it.

Taylor's eyes shifted to Luke, and she watched him questioningly as he stared at the people around them with confusion in his eyes. “What is the matter?”

“I don't know how else to say this.” Luke spoke in a quiet tone, not wanting to ruin the mood. “But everyone in that crowd is becoming more real. Every. Single. Person.”

For a few long moments, Taylor tried to determine what this information could mean for them, but eventually the questions overflowed and began pouring from her mouth. “They are becoming more… real, you say? Do you think it is the fact that they were caught up in the surge of overabundant mana in the Nature Preserve when it reconnected? This close to the border where it's connected, that would make sense. Does that mean…do you think every single person was able to go through a Mana Baptism and survive?”

Luke nodded slowly. “That's exactly what I think happened.”

“Then that means…” Taylor started breathing heavily, trying not to hyperventilate as she looked at the thousands upon thousands of people that had shown up for the festivities. “Everyone here, from the youngest child to the oldest adult, is going to start testing positive as an Ascender?”

“That would be my guess.” Luke affirmed her thoughts. “Sometime in the next couple of years, the kingdom is going to have the largest Ascender corps in its entire history. As Andre would say… whoops.”