FMH: Everything ~ Five

- Andre -

The Druid stood in the center of his terraformed paradise, ankle deep in the mud rich with fertilizers and nutrients that he would need for the final push. He took in a deep breath, letting it out as he expanded his awareness of the area to his maximum capability. As an Archdruid of the Third circle, he was able to feel not only the sensations of the plants, but also the animals and the earth of the planet.

Layer by layer, he inspected all of his work, feeling each sensation vividly and intently. As far as his powers and knowledge extended, he sensed everything was perfect. Still in his semi-trance state, he murmured notes to himself for future usage. “A few more uses of Brute Migration to even out the , likely only a few more gallons of blood to build up the last stretch of flora, and it will be done.”

At that thought, he couldn't hold back the suffocating dryness that instantly parched his throat and the simultaneous release of a single tear from his right eye. “They said it would take more than a century to fix this, but to only require five years? What other Druid will be able to make the same claim that I do, that I have completed two great acts of service for the world?”

This close to the goal he had been sprinting toward his entire life, he didn't take any time to pause for rest. Tendrils of his power, and actual tendrils of mycelium and roots, spread outward Into the Dead Land that still completely encircled the hundreds of miles of paradise that he had been able to regenerate. Three quarters of a mile, half… less than a quarter. He wiped away the annoying trickle of blood that was streaming from his left nostril, fully trusting in the forest around him to heal the damage to his body that he was generating.

“Andre!” Taylor’s melodic voice pushed its way into his ears, and his eyes snapped open. She was mere inches from him, her hands outstretched to grab and shake him. “Are you snapping out of it? Are you okay?”

For a long moment, he didn't answer. Instead, he simply studied her face. He had known her since they were children, and yet even so found what he saw to be utterly fascinating; the small lines of worry that were slowly being carved into a permanent look of concern, the beautiful hair that cascaded down into hair that Luke had remarked envy of more than once.

Her skin was flawless, and though they lived within the forest where he could sense everything that happened here, somehow she was able to maintain perfect hygiene without having ever left his Presence to bathe or swim. Even now, years into their enforced exile and solitude, there were so many things that he didn't understand about her, or have the courage to ask.

Finally, he found his voice once more. “I'm fine, it's just… I am so close. Another day, maybe two, and I will be able to reconnect the Scarroco Paradise to the Hollow Kingdom. The land is humming with anticipation, the deadland is nearly all eradicated, and my quest is finally almost complete.”

“Andre… I fully understand what it means to be driven, motivated to reach that success.” Taylor locked eyes with him, even as he tried to avoid her gaze. “Let me ask you something, and please be as honest as you can. If you were to do nothing else, if you were to be done right now, today… would the land still finish healing?”

“Well, I mean, nowhere near as fast as I can make it happen. Really, it will only take me another day, day and a half at the most-” The Druid’s deflection was only met with silence and pursed lips. He sighed, and his body practically crumpled in as he allowed himself to feel the exhaustion that had been building. “Fine. You win this one; I will take a break. But as soon as I'm-!”

“Of course. As soon as you're in the right state of mind—rested both physically and mentally—you'll return the kingdom to its former glory.” Taylor lightly teased him, knowing that he literally cared more about a large hole filled with feces that could be turned into fertilizer than he did about the political benefits that would be gained by the kingdom for no longer having a dead zone impacting the health of their citizens. In fact, both of them were fairly certain that upon completion of the work, they would be caught up in a political feces storm, and not the kind that he could use to grow anything pleasant. “How is your blood? Have you been making sure to drink plenty of water, and get the nutrition that you need?”

“Hmmph.” He grumped at her, his true age shining through with that absolutely verbose reply. “Just because I use my own blood to activate my Abilities to their maximum effect, does not mean that I am a fool. Of course I am ensuring that I heal myself properly and keep the bloodletting to the absolute minimum.”

She stared at him silently, a small smile playing about her lips as her gaze drilled into him. After a few long moments, he began fidgeting, then rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “Fine! Eating some red meat and leafy greens certainly wouldn't be harmful to me, but if you want meat you'll have to hunt it yourself. I'm not going to betray the trust of my creatures by hunting them in an area they cannot escape.”

“You really were out of it.” She told him archly, sweeping her hand back to gesture at a small table that she had already loaded down with food. Now that it had been pointed out, Andre could easily detect the succulent smell of savory meats, as well as a vegetable medley that had been spiced with saffron. His mouth was instantly watering, and he nodded his appreciation at his counterpart.

“Thank you, once again.” His words were heavy, as were his thoughts. When this project was complete, none of them knew what would happen next. Currently, they were under orders to be in the Scarrocco desert, but when that had been eliminated, what would happen? Would they be forced to stay in this area, or would the order become meaningless; allowing them to roam under their own discretion until they were eventually found by the King’s men?

The Druid knew what he wanted to do. His plans were simple and fully aligned with his class. All he really wanted to do at this point was start moving among the kingdom and binding the land to his power. This wouldn't only benefit him, but also the people of the kingdom and the land itself. He was jostled from his thoughts as Taylor poked him in the back, the exact same spot that she had hoped to bruise him once upon a time… nearly a century ago in his own subjective time. “Gah! Don’t do that, you know I hate it!”

“It's nice to see that I can still command your attention.” Taylor coyly started walking toward the table, pulling out a chair, twirling it around and plopping herself down like a soldier returning from the front lines of the battle. “We should make a plan.”

“I have a plan.”

“We need a plan. Us. The Four.” Taylor told him instantly, “I know that you're likely planning on going off to do some other form of self-sacrifice, which is so like you that your Spell set got tailored to your mental state. But I don't want to lose what we all have. We have companionship, a history together, and a high-functioning team.”

“I have Abilities, not Spells.” Andre absent-mindedly deflected, trying to read between the lines and see what she was getting at. “I don't see any situation where the four of us can stay together and maintain not only our freedom, but expand our powers further.”

The Mage dramatically reached out and plucked a piece of fruit coated with cinnamon off the table, then put it in her mouth and chewed slowly and blatantly. “Yum, yum! Look how easy it is to do multiple things at once.”

Andre rolled his eyes and started to eat as Taylor laid out her plan, “I think that Zed was onto something. The way he was talking about our mana Channels? The fact that he, Zed of all people, was able to survive going to Murder World? I think we have been missing out on an opportunity that would be beneficial to all of us.”

“He came back literally starving to death, clearly has not slept in days if not weeks, and was ranting like a lunatic about opportunities for mass murder.” Andre stated incredulously, “If you think that sounds like a good idea, or a team building exercise… well, I've got to tell you, it doesn't sound like a great idea to me.”

“Sure, he came back sounding a little more like Luke than I wanted to hear, but that was his only companion for a month. Beyond that, you know what does sound like a good idea? Fifty mana Regeneration per second. When was the last time that you managed to increase the Tier of one of your Abilities?” Taylor's eyes were glistening as she spoke hungrily. “Both of us have uses for endless practice, and you know it. Think of the sheer amount of things that you could practice, even with just thirty days to do it. If you had unlimited mana, what couldn't you do? On that note, if you were there, we wouldn't be having any food or starvation issues. All we would need to do is ensure that we bring water; wait, you could handle that as well by growing juicy fruits. We could survive on juice, correct?”

“Yes, we potentially could, if the fruit that I grow does not absorb the mana from his plane of existence and turn into artifacts of immense power that either explode when we bite into them, or make us explode from sheer energy overload.” Andre shook his head in wonder as he looked at Taylor with new eyes. “You really have changed over the last few years. The old you would never have suggested putting ourselves at risk like this, taking a gamble that could backfire in terrible ways. You know what? I don't hate it.”

They spent a few minutes eating in silence, both of them having a small smile on their face. Each of them felt that they had gained something from this conversation, and were hoping not to mess it up by pushing too hard one way or another. Andre felt a sudden energy signature in his mind at that moment, wincing as one of his trees was reduced to toothpicks. “Luke is out of the portal, and one of the trees waved at him too excitedly.”

“He mulched it?”

“Yes.” The Druid took a deep breath, intentionally connected to his forest, and started regrowing that tree from a distance. They had moved their camp from the last time that Luke had been around, so he made sure to open a path through the forest for him that would bring him in the most direct way possible. “I have no idea why he is so adamant about smashing trees or rocks every few feet. Seriously, he just went out of his way—Luke! Ugh. There goes an entire acre of flowers. He seriously hasn’t figured out how to make magical plants grow?”

“What was special about those ones?” Taylor asked with a chuckle in her voice.

“They are an upgraded version of the Mountain Willow Wind flower, these ones don't just chime in the wind, they are planted in a specific order so that they are constantly singing a song. It is supposed to be soothing!” Andre pulled at his beard, which he had been letting grow out for the last few years. “I had Zed help me figure out the tune. Now we are going to have to start all over, because they needed to be transplanted after we figured out what note they would sing, and how often.”

Taylor nodded at that, continuing to eat her meal mostly in silence. “I'm very happy that you have taken time to make your work beautiful, and have a hobby instead of just constantly working to have the most efficient work possible. I think you have made something truly unique in this world. If you don't mind me asking, what song did the flowers sing?”

“It was the tune to a lullaby that he had made up. He didn't tell me the words yet, said he was still writing them.” Andre’s words were met by a deep laugh as Zed walked into the area, and the two friends at the table looked over at him in consternation as he fell to the ground, his laughter reaching a point where he couldn't breathe.

After a few long seconds of this, he started waving his hand above his prone body and explained to them, “I think I would know why he went and killed those flowers! Every time he was getting on my nerves, I would sing that lullaby to him. He got so annoyed that he picked me up and threw me at a group of monsters once.”

Andre snorted, he could picture that in his head extremely easily. The Bard had the capability to truly integrate himself with any group he was with, or annoy the ever living daylights out of them. “Only you could turn a lullaby into a Murderhobo’s blind rage activation sequence.”

“I know! Isn't it awesome?”