Blessed (15 page)

He let the beast inside of him reach out and snake its tendrils across the ground and through the air, reducing everything in their path to dust as they drew the energy into him. He felt the life force enter his being and take up residence in his molecules. While he could easily do this for days and drain an entire state of its energy, he cut himself off and reigned in the smoky tendrils.

He focused on creating four copies of himself. As they solidified around him, he did a mental check of his shield. It was holding steady and he was pretty sure that it was strong enough to withstand the assault that was sure to ensue. He willed another shadow into existence. When his shield still didn’t falter, he summoned another. There was a small flicker in his armor as the last one solidified.

After brief consideration, he decided that the sixth shadow was unnecessary. He lashed out at each of the shadows, testing the strength of his attacks while drawing their energy back into himself.

He walked out of the park and headed back to the temple. He had spent enough time dawdling.

He took a moment to double check the ultra dense armor around his body as he walked. He imagined that he would look like a knight of death to anyone who was able to see more than the simple I that he presented to the world. Every inch of his body was protected by a black fluid armor that would keep the lethal green tentacles from causing more damage than necessary.

He took a deep breath and brought the five copies of himself to his side. They stood around him waiting for instruction. He quickly gave them what they were waiting for as they headed back to the center of town.

Chaos took the most direct route and reached the perimeter first. A twenty foot section of vicious, deadly energy sprang up between him and his goal and immediately started lashing at him. He stayed safely out of their reach, but close enough that they didn’t retreat back into the ground. One by one, the shadows took up their posts around the building. Each time one of them did so, a new wall of energy sprung up between them and the building that contained his prize. With each new patch of tentacles that grew from the ground, the one in front of him got smaller and smaller.

When all five shadows were in place, there were only two vines protruding from the ground in front of him. Not to be taken lightly, he still had to control the five shadows, and fight through these two formidable enemies. A few good blows from these two vines and he would be paying dearly for his failure in the form of torment from the scariest being in the universe.

One more deep breath and he was ready to give it his all. He lashed out towards the vines with several black tentacles of his own. He had hoped to get lucky and take out at least one of the vines with his first assault. Things did not go as he had hoped. The two vines he was focusing on split at the tips and parried every single one of his attacks.

One of the vines landed a minor blow on his arm, sending a crushing jolt through him. He absorbed the shock as best he could and pressed forward. The targets of his attacks solidified back into two tentacles and swung their massive bulk in the direction of his head. He ducked the attack and lashed out at the base of one of the vines with a tentacle that he had honed to an ultra thin blade.

The green vine flashed down to counter the attack and ended up losing a two foot chunk. The severed energy turned into a green vapor and became a usable source of energy. Absorbing the mist through the tentacle that had landed the blow allowed him to filter the energy and refuel himself with it. The small boost gave him a little more juice to put into a few extra lightning-fast, deadly-sharp tentacles.

The energy crackling around his body and flashing in the air between the black mass surrounding himself and the one protruding from the ground in front of him took him back to other battles he had fought and won. Under other circumstances, he would have loved to take a step back and watch what was going on. Feel the heat of the massive amounts of energy on his face. To watch himself moving with the grace of a true warrior, attacking and defending with ease, the motions second nature to him.

A solid hit from the tentacle he had just taken a chunk out of sent him flying backwards through the air and brought him back to the present. He landed on his back ten feet into the street, a good fifteen yards from where he had been standing, and cursed his corporeal form. After he caught his breath, he stood and rushed back into the fray. Impressed with how his shield had held up, he slapped himself mentally for allowing his concentration to slip.

He focused all of the energy he could spare on his assault. Black, smoky tendrils flashed all around him. Slashing at the enemy with deadly force. Sparks of energy filled the air as he attacked with more ferocity and the green vines reciprocated his assault with equal power. He took a few glancing blows to his arms and legs and landed a few blows of his own, sapping the loosed energy from the air before it had a chance to return to the universe. Several of the small green clouds dissipated before he could absorb them, but he paid no mind to the small amounts of lost fuel.

Something in him told him that he had focused a little too much energy on the task at hand. Two of his shadows had wandered a little too close and been pummeled into the ether, their energy being returned to the universe and wasted.

The green vines that had been defending the property from the impostor sank back into the ground and recycled the energy to keep the remaining Chaos at bay. There were now three large green tentacles snapping and cracking around his body. The tendrils that were lashing out from his own body were like fifteen lethal samurai swords all whirling about, slicing at the blockage before him. The armor around his body was holding up remarkably well considering the amount of energy he was expending on the assault. More green wisps of smoke appeared in the air as he sliced several more chunks from the deadly cords of green energy.

Finally, he jabbed a sharp black thorn into the top of the jiggling stump that was all that was left of the tree-sized vine that had been causing him so much trouble. The remainder of the enchantment was absorbed into his energy stores. He used this to shore up the armor that had slowly deteriorated throughout the course of the fight.

He dispatched the second vine with relative ease leaving only the one vine that had appeared after his shadows had been destroyed. It split into hundreds of tiny, razor sharp threads that lashed out and struck him over and over again. They didn’t cause any major damage, but there were so many of them that they were landing blows regularly and it wasn’t even worth trying to block them. He fought back with all of his might and did everything he could to reduce the number of strands as quickly as he could.

After several minutes of the continuous assault, the number of whips had dwindled to about fifty and he noticed that they had been slowly shredding his shield. He had been so focused on the battle that he had allowed it to become dangerously weak. The blows that were landing all over his body were starting to feel less like a distant vibration and more like bee stings.

He made a snap decision and recalled one of his shadows. He used the energy boost to bolster his armor and lashed out with a sudden burst of ferocity, reducing the entire vine to a puff of usable energy. One of his tentacles absorbed the cloud and another plunged deep into the stump that remained.

Another vine sprouted from the ground in front of him a split second after realizing that the shadow was gone. It too split into hundreds of razor fine tendrils and picked up with the whipping where the last one had been cut short.

He decided to follow suit and figure out what all the fuss was about. Thousands of tiny little energy whips were lashing out all around him. They were all moving with lightning speed, crackling and sparking in the air around him, clouds of green and black lingering briefly in the air before dissipating and returning to the Universe.

He was willingly letting the green clouds of energy fade away at that point, all of his focus on advancing his attack. He wrapped the bases of the remaining twenty or so green tendrils in one of his razor sharp tendrils and cinched it up tight, slicing through all of them at once. He absorbed the cloud of energy that drifted where, a moment before, several little strings had been whipping their way through his armor. He plunged a large tendril into the remaining stump, absorbing that as well.

He recalled another of his shadows and prepared himself as best he could for the two tendrils that sprouted forth a moment later. He sliced right through them both at the base and quickly absorbed all of the energy that was left.

He took a moment to reinforce his shield and thicken the tentacles that were snaking out from his body before recalling the last of his shadows and driving spikes down through the tops of the green sprouts as they broke free of the ground.

As the last of the earth energy was absorbed into his system, he swept his eyes over what he could see of the property and smiled. There had been several moments that he hadn’t thought he would make it. Now that it was over, he laughed at the audacity of a mere charm defeating him.

To be on the safe side, he hardened his aura and drew the tendrils inside of himself before moving forward. When nothing posed a threat, he released his aura to its natural position and started taking full strides across the lawn.

He relished his victory for a few moments as he stood before the doors of the temple. The smell of religion hung in the air like an overly fragrant perfume. Clogging his nostrils and making his eyes water. He chose to breathe through his mouth instead and proceeded through the large doors.

Standing in the large entryway beyond the threshold was a middle aged couple. There was nothing out of the ordinary about their appearance; they could have been two of a million people walking down any given street in any city anywhere in the world. Except for the soft green glow that was emanating from both of them.

They both turned to him as he came through the door with smiles plastered to their faces. They were both wearing small black name tags over their left breast.

The man asked him, “Do you have a recommend?”

The woman looked at him like she already knew the answer. Her disgust was written all over her face.

He touched her mind to see what she was thinking and realized that they were both completely oblivious to who or, more importantly,
what
he was. She was thinking that there was no way he had a temple recommend wearing clothes like that. Apparently, leather wasn’t something you wore to come visit the temple.

However, it wasn’t fitting in that he was concerned with at the moment. It was the glow that the two were producing. He was positive that neither of them were even aware of it. There was no control to it. It was like someone turned a little green light on inside of them and it was barely glowing through their skin and clothes.

It was the only visible sign of an earth druid.

“I won’t be needing one.” He told the man before plunging dark tendrils into the tops of their heads, reducing them both to ash instantly.

The beast exploded out of its cage and sucked the energy out of the building itself. Ash drifted in the air around him as the building rapidly deteriorated. A large section of the roof fell in and he saw the statue on top of the building through the hole. That familiar green glow told him exactly what he wanted to know.

He had found the next key to his success.

As the angel crumbled to dust, the glowing orb drifted down to him through the still air. He plucked it out of the ash-filled space and devoured the information contained within.

Finally, some progress.

The scent of flowers hung heavy on the air making Ardra’s head swim with the overwhelming power of it all. The riot of color lain out before her was a shock to her senses. She didn’t see how she would ever get used to the place.

Nothing was different from the last time that she had visited. Flowers stood proudly on their stalks, stretching their faces towards the sky and almost strutting in an effort to be noticed. At the same time, they seemed to say, ‘We can exist without your approval’.

The lack of any kind of breeze was oddly chilling to her. Having grown up fairly close to the mouth of a canyon, there was always at least a little bit of air moving around. Unlike the real world, the air was absolutely still. Not a single petal on any of the hundreds of thousands of blooms was disturbed.

The inert air was of a neutral temperature, as if it were matched to her preference perfectly. Not too hot, not too cold, it was simply there. She could see herself trying to create this place in her own back yard. The place was very peaceful and had relaxation written all over it.

The trickle of the fountain broke through her reverie and sent a shot of panic up her spine. She spun on her heels and looked toward it, hoping that she was alone. She scanned the surrounding landscape when the person she was expecting wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

She exhaled a breath of relief when she appeared to be the only person present. She walked over to the fountain and dipped her finger into the water. It was the same temperature as the air. Again, making her slightly uncomfortable.