On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Two Hundred And One

“Grulgor, they are coming from the left! Block them!” I cried. Indeed, swarms of larger plant creatures, thorn-bears, massive shambling mounds, and vicious living nettle-trees, were all trying to overrun us, several Myconid Shepherds urging them onwards. Meanwhile on our flanks Myconid Rangers, and a new threat, Myconid Aeromancers, Terramancers and Aquamancers, were massing, manipulating the very elements against us.

I was busy engaging a pair of bulky Myconid Warriors, another foe we had seen for the first time. their fungal bodies were covered with hard, waxy armour, and their limbs had grown into natural, bark-like swords, dripping with brightly coloured toxins. They were also quite fast, though luckily I still outmatched them significantly in that regard. My Twin Fangs danced, and several Warriors exploded, scattering spores and venom as they died. Got to love the rending space effect of these. When they hit, they hit hard…

“I fear-fear we have finally provoked the response we were expecting.” Shaeula was whipping around her pinwheels, both of them back in her possession as Hyacinth had moved on to the stage of human, well, kobold anyway, experiments. “So, do we retreat?” Fire and wind surged on the bluesteel wires, and enraged plants died in their dozens. Earth erupted as gloopy mud, the Terramancers trying to tie us and her pinwheels down, but I countered, my own earth energies redirecting the tides of sucking dirt, engulfing a squad of Rangers on the flank, before hardening into thin, rocky needles to pierce them like colanders.

“Grul says we crush them ALL!” he roared, shouldering through the thorn-bears. They were massive but surprisingly light compared to the towering slab of stone, muscle and dwarven steel that was Grulgor. Behind the crowd lurked the Shepherds, and one died as his giant mace literally vaporised it. A second fell, head shattered by his free fist, and then a third as the mace swept around once more, the handle folding the Myconid in half. The filters on our gasmasks were churning now, wind energy repelling the endlessly thick spores, and I once more realised just why it was deemed impossible to reclaim the Myconid-held lands.

“Yeah, I’d love to, but weight of numbers are starting to tell…” the sky above us opened, a vicious, acidic rain starting to fall, conjured by the Aquamancers, and as it hit us, the metal of our armour began to sizzle. Oh crap. Well, an acid that eats metal might not work on the pseudo-rubber of our suits, but that isn’t a chance I want to take, and in any case it’d leave us vulnerable to rips and tears… Foehn poured from my hands in a virulent yellow wave, surging over the plant-beasts, filling the air with a heated fog of blazing spores, and the Aquamancers and Aeromancers tried to retreat. It was too late though, as Shaeula saw what I was trying to do and fed in her own wind energy, empowering the blaze. Snatching fallen ether to top-up our reserves, I rushed over to reinforce Grulgor, using rock bullets to snipe down the last two retreating Shepherds. The plant monsters were uncontrollable, the amount of spores choking the air driving them into a frenzy, so with cohesion lost we had a chance to break out.

“I am with you!” Shaeula shouted, wind-and-flame weasels burning down a swathe of the Rangers before they could escape, as their movements had become disorientated. “But if we continue to be bogged down-down, further enemies may ensnare us!”

You have gained in strength. Your level has increased from fifty-four to fifty-five.

Bodies fell in front of me, Twin Fangs carving them apart, and the message flared in amber in my right eye. Nice. Even so, levelling wasn’t a priority, survival was. The offensive the Myconids had sprung on us was far fiercer than anything else we had encountered so far, and even with our significantly greater prowess individually, we were starting to be overwhelmed. Not that we weren’t prepared or planning for this…

“Right, cut our way free and we go!” Pinwheels spun past me and Grulgor, one on each side, and more of the surrounding fungal blooms, as well as small, rotting trees and numerous enemies, were sheared apart, silvery ether was drawn into me and funnelled down to our Territory, and under the flickering yellow and red light of the Foehn fires, we retreated at full speed, deeper into the forest…

********

“I believe we have-have shaken our pursuers.” Shaeula observed, as we hid within the shadow of some dead trees that overhung a brackish pond, the water dead and reeking of mould and decay. “I suspect your hypothesis is indeed correct.”

Beside us, Grulgor was slumped down, his armour a mess. It was definitely going to need some repairs. Still, he had obeyed orders and stayed with us this time, as this was one of the last experiments we needed to run to verify my hypothesis on the Myconids. Sure, the battles have been risky, but they are calculated.

“Yeah, so keep cycling the wind.” I advised her, and beneath her mask I was sure she was grinning. She gave me a cute thumbs-up with her gloved hand. The Myconids communicated via the spores, that much was obvious now. I wasn’t sure of their intelligence, yet their strategies were becoming more elaborate, each time we killed a bunch, they returned in greater numbers, with greater variety and better battle tactics. But that wasn’t all. The Scouts and Observers, they don’t seem to see visually. I think they detect heat, some sort of infra-vision? When we unleashed Foehn, the formation of the Myconids, even the ones that weren’t caught in the fiery ruin, were disrupted, and they seemed to struggle to track us.

“Grul does not enjoy fleeing like a coward.” He grunted, voice low. “But Grul admits, he has enjoyed crushing and smashing puny fungi!”

“And there’ll be plenty more to come.” I promised. “You’ve done good work. Tanking isn’t easy, but the enemy finds it hard to ignore you.” Our foes had been drawn into stopping his charge, and he was able to destroy everything around him with his massive mace. “You’ve done good work too, Shaeula.” I turned my attention to her, as she continued to keep the wind blowing around us. “I hope it was satisfying for you, defeating Unseelie.”

“It was indeed, though I admit to being rather tired.” She confessed. “We should rest here for a while. You need-need to recover some strength.”

“Yeah. This is a pretty sheltered spot, hidden under the roots of these dead trees and shielded by the ground. And if I’m right about the spores being what finds us for them, with your wind blowing we should be undetectable.”

“It would be good to know.” Shaeula approved. “If so, I expect you have a plan-plan to blind them?”

“Of course. Poor Hyacinth is going to be working overtime though. Still, even if the spores she creates can’t kill the Myconids, having a ton of strange ones in the air is going to disorientate them significantly, I’d wager.”

“Well, it is fortunate that she is eager-eager for your reward.” Shaeula smirked.

“We’ve talked about this. I’m only going to do it if I want her, and everyone else agrees. I’m not going to let you railroad me.” I said sternly, though as my hand was in hers, I squeezed her gently to make sure she knew I wasn’t angry. “Besides, I am sure I can come up with something else worthy for her reward if needs be.”

“Well, it would hardly be as satisfying as a night with you, Akio.” Shaeula laughed, returning my gesture, though the rubber of our gloves robbed it of some of the usual comfort. “Still, your plans are quite-quite ingenious. When I take my place as ruler of the Seelie, and you are my husband, I shall-shall appoint you Grand Strategist of the Fae!”

I bowed theatrically. “Such an honour, my princess. I look forward to that.” As we laughed and joked, I was concentrating on drawing in ether from the surroundings, and whatever elemental energy I could, to restock. There were traces of earth energy in the air, coming from a bit deeper into the forest, which was making me curious.

Still, we spent several hours safely hidden. There were a few scares, as Myconids passed near our hiding spot, but we remained undetected, likely confirming my hypothesis. We had to hold Grulgor back from charging out and killing them, but as another group, an Observer, accompanied by a pair of Scouts, passed near us, I had a thought. We have a pond here…

I hurriedly whispered my idea to Shaeula, and she nodded. “I can-can do that.”

I concentrated, and a trio of stone bullets formed. I unleashed them, and the three Myconids died, toadstool heads exploding. Shaeula surrounded the falling bodies with a sphere of wind, hauling the bodies and the surrounding spores into the weed-choked pond. Forcing them and all the spores into the water, she then released her wind. “That was quite-quite the difficult work. I can feel my control of the wind growing during all these battles.”

“Yeah, you did good. And now, we wait. If I’m right, we shouldn’t have alerted any other Myconids since the spores didn’t get out on the breeze.”

We waited several more hours, and disposed of another group of Myconids in the same way, filling the pond with bodies like some kind of morbid serial killer, though at least they decomposed into ether over time. But we were indeed never detected. “I guess that confirms my hypothesis, unless they are being more cunning than me. I see no reason why they need to though. Anyway, I’m largely full of energy again. Shall we go?”

“Grul wants to crush and kill some more!” he growled, having regained all his lost stamina. “Grul is also curious. To the north, Grul senses strong stone power!”

Yeah, I forgot trolls are earth-type Fae. So he feels it too, huh. “I have to admit, I’m pretty curious myself, and it isn’t too far away. Should we take a quick look?”

“I believe it should be fine.” Shaeula allowed, not fond of the earth element, due to her initial nature as a wind Fae. “If we focus on retreat, I believe we should-should be able to escape the forest without them being able to halt us.”

With that we left the safety of the shelter we had found, creeping through the trees, Shaeula and I taking it in turns to keep us shielded by wind. We ran into several Scouts, but now we could stop them from revealing us by using earth element to drag them under the ground, burying them and their spores. The landscape was changing, less fungal towers and blooms, more dead trees, and toxic rivers and streams were winding their way through, forming slanted banks that we could use as cover, wading through the filthy, weed-choked water. Even though our rubber suits were waterproof, Shaeula still hated it, and made me promise to pamper her on our return to the mansion.

The earth energy was becoming heavier as we approached, and the density of spores and seeds in the air was decreasing, although my Eye could still detect some. I half-concentrated, splitting my focus, making sure to absorb what energies I could, and as we approached the source, Grulgor was positively brimming with strength. “Well, I think we are here…” I observed, looking at the decaying grove in front of us. The river we were wading through emptied out into a shallow, weed-choked lake, and I could see little lights glimmering in the dark water, red, yellow and… blue? Around the lake a grove of dead trees draped with blankets of fungus and covered with mushrooms were swaying gently in the weak breeze, the centrepiece a crowning leafless behemoth, the size of a giant redwood. It too was covered in fungi, red, white and black caps looking virulent and bloated.

Still, it was the blue glimmer that made my heart skip a beat. Surely not, right? It couldn’t be… I used wind, parting the water, sending the filthy mess cascading against the lakeshore, and snatched at the rewards within. As the Etherites floated into my hand, two red, two yellow and… yes, a single, beautiful blue stone. Holy crap, my first blue Etherite! Even holding it, I can feel the immense amount of Ether held inside.

“Pretty.” Shaeula observed. “It matches Aiko’s eyes.” Her own eyes glowed. “It is quite-quite the prize it seems. Worth the journey, I must say.”

I was about to agree when Grulgor took up a battle stance, and a mournful cry echoed out, followed by anguished laughter and sobbing from multiple voices. Shaeula reacted instantly as well, casting a wind barrier, and as she did so a volley of what looked like dirty seeds slammed into it. Some were scattered away, others breaking through and striking our armour. The impacts were uncomfortable, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Stashing the Etherites, I turned to face our attacker, only to be surprised. It wasn’t a plant or a Myconid, not technically, but…

It was a woman, or at least it was, for her skin was a sickly blue-green, and mushrooms and toadstools similar to those that infested the giant tree were sprouting from her, her skin weeping vile slime. Her long auburn hair that trailed behind her, spreading out over the ground like roots, was falling out and matted with tendrils of corruption. One eye socket was empty, vines growing from it, and one of her arms was ragged bones, held together by fungal growth. Ugh, that’s disgusting.

Her numerous companions were misshapen humanoid figures, smaller and seemingly a mixture of mushrooms and plants, different to the abominations the Myconids commanded, seeming somehow sad, lost.

“… nutrients… for… tree… sadness, but… you… feed… the roots… stave off the… end…” the creature said, her mouth working slowly, spitting green sludge down her fungus-spotted lips as she formed words in the slow way that made one think she had nearly forgotten how to speak.

“A dryad.” Shaeula breathed beside me, deflecting another volley of incoming seeds. “Fae of the trees-trees and forests. The favoured of the King himself, for he is the placid face of nature, whereas the Queen is nature’s fury-fury.” She looked at the mad, pained creature sadly. “How the vile Myconids have hurt you. I am surprised you still-still live.”

At that the dryad visibly winced, and her hair writhed, digging into the ground like roots, before bursting out at us. My blades cut through, severing space, and she screamed, falling back, her other allies surging towards us.

Corrupted Dryad [Corrupted Noble Fae] and Corrupted Wood Servants [Fae Construct] were what my Eye could see, but as I clashed with the first servant, blades cleaving it in twain, I caught sight of the giant tree in my vision and my blades stopped in mid-air. I nearly took a blow, but Shaeula knocked me aside, her flame energy quickly igniting the attacker, sending it into the lake, thrashing and burning.

Corrupted Dying Earth Rhyming Tree- Rank 5 Special- Special Rank facilities cannot be levelled up by ether, they level as their requirements are met. Rhyming Trees draw in ether from the Astral in a manner similar to Ether Spires, though in addition they also generate elemental energies, in this case earth. They also lead to a higher overall ether density in the surrounding area. This tree and the Dryad that dwells at the heart of this grove of plentiful earth energies has been corrupted and tortured by the terrible spores of the Myconids, only surviving due to drawing on the earth. However, in a few dozen more years the grove will at last perish, succumbing to death.

Rank 5? My gaze quickly sped across the dying forest, seeing a Rank 3 and Rank 2 Earth Rhyming Tree as well, though the Rank 2 one apparently only had months to live, and the Rank 3 just a year or two.

While I was contemplating this, Grulgor was smashing the Wood Servants, hurling them aside like bundles of twigs. Shaeula slew them too, her wind and flames blazing.

“Stop fighting!” I called out, and Shaeula paused. Grulgor stamped down on the torso of a servant, crushing it to pieces, and I grabbed his arm. “Hold!”

I called forth a wall of earth and mud, separating us. “We are not your enemies, we are here to destroy the Myconids!” I declared, but she merely cocked her head, looking at me with her one good eye.

“… too late. My sisters… all… died. Could not flee the… grove… when the Unseelie came. I must… feed… keep the last trees… alive!” her eye burned with slimy tears, and she spat a mess of spores and small mushrooms.

“You can not-not get through to her.” Shaeula said sadly. “Fae bound to trees, sacred springs and other places are strong, but always the first-first to die in war. This poor dryad… it would be a kindness to set her free-free from her suffering.”

“Grul will do it.” He declared, raising his mace. “No pity for enemies.” Though he then surprised me by expressing other, more genuine sentiments. “Still, many dead fungi here, Grul smells their stink in the earth. Die well, with respect, tree woman did not stop fighting until the very end.”

“Strong… power of earth… within you…” the dryad eyed us. “… stave off ruin… just a little longer.”

Strong earth power, huh? One thing I knew was, this ending wouldn’t sit right with me. The Myconids were truly a monstrous race, corrupting all they touched. I was also greedy, a side of myself I was never aware of before. I wouldn’t have three fiancées if I wasn’t. And now… I greedily want to save her, and well as…

“No, we retreat! We’ve achieved everything we need to on this scouting run.” I declared, surprising them. The constructs were clambering over my barrier, so if we didn’t go now the battle would resume. Before Shaeula and Grulgor could protest I grabbed then both, retreating, pulling them along. As we ran down the riverbed, foul water splashing around us, I called back to the dryad. “We’ll be back. Soon. And the Myconids… their time is coming. I promise you that!”

********

We staggered out of the forest, soaked head-to-toe in plant gore. Retreating five or so miles through a forest should have been a breeze for people with our abilities, but when we had to contend with roaming gangs of monstrous plants while also disposing cleanly of the Myconids to prevent them mobbing us, it was mentally and physically draining. The last mile was a hellish retreat under barrage from the Myconid Rangers and ‘Mancers, and while we managed to take out quite a few in return, their forces were arrayed at the border we were heading for, forcing us to detour while under heavy fire. As we fled out onto the grassy border, a few plants shambled out after us. We paid them no mind, knowing they couldn’t breach the Fae Stones, racing between them and collapsing, even Grulgor running out of his monstrous stamina.

“Don’t take your mask off yet.” I warned Shaeula. “Not until we’ve decontaminated.”

“I know.” She replied, lying on her back and staring up at the moon in the sky. “Though I will be quite-quite happy to freshen up.”

“Well, you’ll have your chance.” I promised, similarly wishing to get out of the suit. Even with refreshing wind energy, it was still uncomfortable for long periods. “Besides, I think we need a rest day now. After having hit the forest three days in a row we need to change it up, let the Myconids lower their guard. We also need to give Hyacinth time to train.”

“That reminds me.” Shaeula sat up, looking at me, her eyes curious behind her mask. “Just what is your plan with that poor-poor dryad? I understand you are compassionate, Akio, but the kind thing to do would be to end-end her misery. She can not-not stray far from her tainted grove.”

“I get that. And there’s no guarantee it won’t come to that. If we have to mercy-kill her, we will.” I could harden my heart enough for that, seeing her body and that of her tree dying slowly over hundreds of years, corrupted by living fungi that was slowly, agonisingly devouring them. “But we at least have to try. After all, if it was you in that situation, or Eri, or my sis, or anyone I cared about, I’d want someone to take a risk and help them.”

“Grul thinks tree woman is a fighter.” He said, again surprising me. “The mercy of death or save her. Must pick one.”

“I get it. Oh well… first let’s go back to where we left the water barrels and clean ourselves off, then we’ll re-join Hyacinth and Ixitt, before we plan our next assault.” We got to our feat wearily. “We did solid work today. We know how the Myconids track intruders primarily now, so we have an advantage. We won’t get cocky, as they may have other methods, but even so… good job everyone!”

Grul rumbled his approval, while Shaeula laughed, and their sudden high spirits helped restore my own flagging energy. Yeah, it was a good day. I even have a blue Etherite to show for it! Grinning, I could hardly wait to add my spoils to the slowly filling chest…