Elevation of Mana Chapter 188 Summit

Shorin

Three weeks I'd traveled, which in the long run wasn't all that bad, but it was a horrid trip. Only a few of us had come, with a leaning towards speed. Several of my escorts were strong or fast enough to keep pace while I simply used my inner fire to push and pull myself at high speed.

Now we neared a massive tree, that just yesterday had been a speck poking out of the horizon. Guides were joining us, making sure that we both didn't cause trouble and didn't get lost, as if we could have missed the giant whose owner we were going to see.

“Any word?” I asked one of the men who'd come to escort us.

“Not yet, but like I told you yesterday, the emissaries from both the north and the far south arrived yesterday.”

“I'd love to know how those mud-caked bastards beat us here,” I grumbled under my breath.

“Ask them when we get there then,” the escort retorted loud enough for everyone to hear. These men were certainly skilled if he could have heard that from his current position.

We moved in silence, and I struggled to keep my face stony. Sure, I'd heard stories about these trees, but they were more than I'd ever expected. Each one was big enough to house families, and that was the smaller ones, the larger ones might have more wood in them than resided in all of Atal. Even then though I saw some things that we did better.

Their obsession with living in trees meant that their technology was hampered. After all, it was hard to make metal when surrounded by something that could burn, and few bits were anywhere here. Their food also looked to be fresh only, with almost everything I'd seen being uncooked berries and nuts. That meant that they missed out on an important source of food, and a store-able one too.

As night began to fall we made it to the base of the giant, a waiting hanging basket ready to pull us up.

“What is that monstrosity?” I asked looking at it. It looked even worse than some of Justin's most egregious nonsense.

“For going up and down. Used to be a lot simpler looking, but the maker added all those extra ropes and whatnot to it. Claimed that it made it safer, but I'm not convinced.”

Honestly I wasn't convinced either. If this was supposed to be 'safer' I'd have hated to see what it was like before. As I got in there were almost five woven ropes hooked on to different places, and the whole thing jarred enough to nearly make my stomach sick. It did make the trip go by faster than I'd have been able to do it on foot though, something easy to tell as we quickly passed layer after layer of platforms, winding around the giant.

“Welcome, welcome,” Rolan intoned as we entered his hall almost an hour later, several elves much older than me sitting around a large table, a space for myself left conspicuously open. “For your representative,” the Ancient said with a wave. “When he arrives.”

“I am the representative Ancient,” I informed him.

“Is that so? I was hoping to see that young one once more. Does he do well?” As he spoke I saw the other two here perk up, looking at me with hard eyes.

“Justin is well, but unable to come for now.”

“Why is that?” asked the female of the group, eyes settling on me like ice. Her skin was so pale, almost fragile looking.

“A mixture of things, labors and an agreement he made with his wife.” My response drew a pair of snickers from her companions, our host's eyes gleaming with a smile.

“Fool boy,” she said. I knew from reports that this was Matriarch Neera of the north, their leader and another true Ancient. It wouldn't do well to cross her.

“Perhaps, but we have other concerns for the moment,” Rolan said as he motioned me to sit. “I'm sure by now you've all heard the reports.

“Heard the reports?” Neera gruffed. “We lost dozens from the villages we'd settled on the western coast. Whole villages were ravaged, their people made homeless and fleeing back to my hold.”

“That's why we're here,” I pointed out. “So we can coordinate. I'll admit to my shame that our city cannot field anyone equal to you Ancient, nor you,” I said with a nod to Rolan. “But we can provide some aid, and will.”

“It is appreciated,” Rolan said, and the final member of the delegations, an elder much further along the path than myself nodded to him, looking worried. “But what we need now is information, for it might make the difference between success and failure. I'll admit, I was too young the last time these beasts appeared to have done much, or even heard too much, but I think one of our number was much closer to the action.”

“I was young,” the matriarch began, sounding distant as we looked on. “Barely past my hundredth year when they came last. First was the wave of monsters, all beasts of note in their own right. They razed everything before them, leaving only a few of our groups standing. The Ancients that lived then took action, one from the plains and the other from the mountains, falling upon those things. Those two hated each other, had warred for years, but they put it aside for that war. My own family was sent to flee north, to hide away from the fighting while they solved it, but I stayed behind.”

“We cut through them like they were hardly there, but there were so many, and then we saw it. Their numbers were shrinking after the surge, but each one that fell, the others consumed, getting larger and stronger. Soon enough it was only elders or large groups of skilled fighters that could combat even the weakest of them. Then only large groups of elders, the cost in lives... my own people's numbers still haven't recovered.”

“In the end there were only two, a male and female. Their size, their power, it was almost indescribable, like standing in a fire even far off. The male fought the Ancients of that era and won, but through their sacrifice and that of over a dozen elders we managed to slay the beast. They'd led him to the north, and where his body fell it created a fissure that persists even today.”

“I was all that was left, the last of the force that had gone to kill them. So I went for the female, not sure what I could do, if I could do anything.”

“Stories tell that you slew the beast,” I observed, having heard of the tale once or twice in my years.

“Stories are just that,” she said coldly. “It was in one of the burning mountains, far up the side, and in the process of dying when I found it. The creature's burning blood was everywhere, covering the whole cliff it had settled on. I didn't even strike the last blow, too afraid to get near it.”

“So you didn't kill it?” Uro asked. “Just claimed you did?”

“Think me a coward if you like, it is true enough. No, I butchered the beast after it fell, taking its heart to build Icehome for what remained of my people.” Had her hair not been purest white I'd have thought her a child with how her voice sounded, small, scared, tired.

“So how do we kill them?” Rolan asked.

“I haven't the slightest idea what we could do. My magic is weaker than the previous warriors who fought, and we have only the two of us that could perhaps do it. I'd hoped the boy Justin might be of use.”

Rolan looked at me expectantly. “He's made some potent weapons in the past,” I observed.

“We need to contact him, I fear we'll need everything we can get.”

“More of what he used to kill Nora perhaps,” Uro mused. What in the world was he talking about? I'd have to ask my irksome ally.