I only dared a look down once and immediately regretted it. Tusk was a smudge on the green-grey ground beneath, so far below that he was more rabbit than boar to my eyes. Were I to fall, I’d be more smear than man. Ended up momentarily paralysed, hand white on my knife’s grip.
Once I managed to get high enough that I was out of the canopy, I got treated to an eyeful of the most beautiful sight I’ve seen in my life.
With the sun going down, the horizon was a band of orange-streaked purple stretching above a glittering sea of silver. The forest roiled with sunset light, colouring patches of mist and rare inland lakes. Here and there thickets of blooming flowers crowned some of the trees, a riot of blues and yellows and reds. I finally knew where all those scents came from, when flowers were so rare on the ground.
I’d travelled pretty deep into the Brightleaf. It stretched beneath me on all sides, down valleys and up hills, so dense that I couldn’t spot even a patch not covered in silver trees. I could imagine it going on forever and it would take very little to believe the fantasy.
“Fuck. Me.” I straddled a thick enough branch, leaned out for a better view, and sighed. My arms and legs hurt after the climb and I refused to get higher. This would have to do, though the sight stirred warring feelings in my gut. “How big is this place?”
Weeks of travel stretched out before me if I wanted to get out of the Brightleaf without heading back to the seashore. At least weeks, if not more, if my progress so far was anything to go by.
The prospect was enough to drive me to despair.
“Brightleaf forest covers an area of roughly forty thousand square kilometres,” Eternity provided unhelpfully. It sat on a twig of a branch, swaying in the chill of late afternoon. “It is one of the largest forests on this continent.”
How big was that? I’m not great with area sizes and picturing what a size like that even meant. A memory niggled me, from some ancient highschool geography class, which told me Romania was roughly five times larger in total area. That put things into perspective. Like trying to cross Moldavia on foot, through untamed land.
“Really?” My tone was nothing if not icy as I wrestled with the impulse to turn tail and go and live with Eklil. “You can name how big this place is, but can’t tell me shit about anything happening around me?”
“I apologise for my limitations,” came the usual bullshit excuse.
I puffed out my cheeks and whistled. Part despair. Part disgruntled, ill-timed excitement. I’d only seen so little of Oresstria so far, and moving forward was definitely going to take me to more interesting places, to face interesting monsters, and probably get hurt… or die in interesting ways.
I’m going fucking mad. Jumping mad. May as well jump off from here and save some monster the trouble of digesting me.
Part of me recognised the grumbling for what it was, which was just me being a whiny bitch to myself. I turned and focused on detecting the next dungeon.
Finding the thing took little to no effort at all. I already knew there was a third one relatively close-by to my location, hidden somewhere in that structure I’d seen from the heights around Carmill Hill. My current tree sat at the very bottom of a cauldron in the forest, the sides of the depression climbing up in waves, lost in the distance. I couldn’t see to the far horizon.
Even so, dark tendrils of that weird structure rose over the tree line, like wisps of smoke in the afternoon light. I was close enough now to marvel at the sheer size of them. And that was my destination, set on my map, marked with an arrow in my field of view. The waypoint showed up a short distance away—relatively speaking—from the edge of my current area of influence, but that wasn’t terribly encouraging seeing how I was far from the edge myself.
At some point in the near future I’d have to find some distance-related skill in the interface, or learn to develop one. Something to make estimations easier, or at least get me some measure of understanding of how far was far in this world. Some scale feature on the map, maybe? I’d never missed my phone and my Waze app as I did that moment, staring out at the endless forest, unsure if that dungeon was five kilometres away, five hundred, or five thousand.
Granted, that last one was poetic exaggeration on my part.
“That node may be larger than you expect,” Eternity said, drawing me out of my confused stupor. “You can now request node information from your interface. Try it.”
I blinked. That hadn’t been in the insight level up guide. Still, I did as Eternity suggested and was rewarded almost immediately with an information window.
[Brightleaf flooded labyrinth]
[Type: Wild labyrinth]
[Node level: 5]
[Labyrinth depth: 3]
[Risk assessment: Unknown]
“What’s a labyrinth?” I asked. “Aside from the obvious, I mean.” I was surprised by the fresh information, no doubt, but the whole idea of walking into a labyrinth felt iffy. The dungeon had been bad enough, and that had only been a relatively straight line with a big cave at the end.
Eternity bobbed up and down on its twig. “A labyrinth is a node’s evolution after the initial growth phase ends. The outer layers of the node separate from the core and form a self-sustaining space, often populated with creatures from the node’s memories. Mana coalesces into useful items inside labyrinths, often providing high-quality equipment or unique artefacts.” The dragon seemed to enjoy itself telling me all this, as if finally happy to be able to contribute. “Labyrinths are freely accessible down to the node level. That can still only be accessed by a Protector.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
So, a super dungeon with extra loot. Lovely.
Just to get some sense of scale, I checked the map, found Harriet’s Heap, then crawled through the canopy until I could get eyes on the village. Or, rather, its general direction. The window popped up again.
[Harriet’s Heap node]
[Type: Memory node]
[Node level: 3]
[Risk assessment: None]
That was a level three then? And memory compared to wild. Methol had mentioned that, I think. She also mentioned wild nodes were dangerous enough that I’d need support, but good fucking luck in finding any way out here.
A jolt ran up my spine as I took in those alien tendrils peeking over the forest’s edges, weirdly twisted, reaching for the sky. What sort of node would cause something like that? Or did it predate the node? Was that even possible?
Too many questions to ponder one. But I knew a few things for certain too.
There was good loot to be found. Weird architecture to be explored. Something different from what I’d seen so far. And, of course, my next insight level waited there.
“You’re grinning,” Eternity said. “Do you mean for it to look unhinged? Or is that how humans show their enthusiasm?”
“Fuck off,” I suggested sweetly. “We’re headed that way.” I pointed into the distance. “Soon as I get my lamp and clean my backpack, we’re headed there.”
Eternity took off and landed on my head, where it seemed to generally like staying. “I am not even mildly surprised by your eagerness to move forward and rush into danger. I am curious as to why you’re so determined.”
I raised a hand and gestured in the dungeon’s direction. “It’s there.” I mean, duh!
Eternity gestured with its wing at the rest of the forest. “So is everything else.”
“Cheeky.” It had me there. “What else would I do? Wander the forest? Swim the sea?”
I knew the answer before Eternity said it. “Anything. You can do anything, Klaus. A wild node is considered dangerous.”
That old spiel. Life must continue. You can do anything. Blah-dee-blah-blah.
“Are you actively trying to get me off this path?” I asked, a little miffed by the insistence. “I’m not stopping until I hit that fifth insight level. I don’t care there’s other stuff I could be doing with my life.”
“Why?”
My temper rose and I had to push it down. “Why?” I mocked. “Are you five to keep repeating that?”
“Technically, I’m several days old. More than five, but I’m not certain that’s what you’re asking.”
I walked myself into that one. Sometimes I had to remember the dew drop was as new to things as I was in some way. Only that while I was gaining knowledge, it, in turn, was losing. Wonder if it felt something about that? The thought made me swallow an acidic follow-up.
Instead, I gave it the honest answer. “Because you’re being a secretive pain in the ass, and that’s something I really can’t stand.” I scowled, looking up. The dragon looked down over strands of my hair, little yellow eyes glinting. It was hard to sound accusing when the accused rode on my head. “And because there are people like Methol who know a lot more than I do, and that really annoys me. I’m here. I’m on this path. I’m going to see it to the end and learn all there is to learn. Simple as that.”
Competition is not something that comes naturally to me. I don’t have an inner drive that pushes me to come out ahead of everyone else or apply myself just to be on top of the pile.
When you’re the smartest man in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Words I’ve lived by.
But while I never strive for the top, I refuse to stay at the bottom. Someone knowing more than me in my field? Fuck no! Doing things better than I can? Again, no.
And here, Methol was ahead. By a lot. In essence we were just the same, people brought here for Eternity’s purposes, given similar tools and the same lack of information, but this gap still existed and I couldn’t accept it. And if there was someone even bigger and badder out there? All the more reason not to abandon the task when it was just begun, risk or no.
After all, the likes of Methol or that Tiamat guy hadn’t.
And they weren’t better than me. They’d just been here longer.
I carry a pettiness streak a lifetime long.
It seemed to satisfy Eternity as it retreated back atop my head. Its tail tickled the back of my neck as it waggled side to side.
“Interesting, indeed,” the dragon murmured.
Night encroached and Areestra was almost past the horizon. Its great curvature dominated the sky above my next target, slowly sliding to the other side of Oresstria.
With evening came the wind’s chill and Tusk making worried noises below. Much as I would’ve liked to bask in the view a while longer, I really didn’t want to risk meeting that Nobody while outside of Crystal’s ward.
Just when I was about to start my descent, another explosion rocked the forest. Birds flocked to the air, their dark shapes outlined sharply against the bruising sky. I didn’t even need to check where the blast had come from.
“I think Crystal blew up another crystal,” I said while making my way down the tree. “I thought she was joking about blowing someone up.”
“You may have armed her in a very real, dangerous way,” Eternity said.
“Think I should say something?”
No answer, of course.
“Are you ever going to be a bit more proactive?” I asked, trying not to sound annoyed. “I don’t mind you telling me your thoughts. They’re not going to lead me astray from my goals.”
“It annoyed you earlier,” Eternity said, defensively.
“Tough. So what? I’d rather you say what you think or believe. No harm in a little disagreement.”
Again, it didn’t answer. But this time I got the feeling of deep pondering, so I let the matter go.
I dropped the last few meters to the mossy ground and startled Tusk. He was turned towards Crystal’s clearing. For a creature with absolutely no ears, he had the look of a dog listening with absolute concentration. I was barely down on the ground, when he took off between the trees and ferns like a missile on a mission.
I had to run to keep up. A full day’s sleep had done wonders for my physical state. Breathing was easier. My heart didn’t threaten to rip out of me. I could keep the pace going without fainting from exertion. My interface hadn’t lied about me not losing much without the support harness. If anything, I felt like I gained physicality. Everything felt so much better now.
It still took us the better part of an hour to get to Crystal. The night had grown dark. We passed into the clearing with the last embers of sunlight still clinging to the sky.
Crystal had dragged a cauldron outside and built a fire for it. I knew this because there was a crater a few metres away from her burrow with a lot of smoking logs thrown about. The cauldron itself lay about twenty meters away, turned on its side, it’s bottom completely shattered.
Crystal was sat on a smoking log, pulling at her hair, a look of bewilderment on her pinched face.
“Why explode?” she was asking no one in particular.
Parts of her clothes smoked. I had to be impressed with the gnark’s resilience since she looked like she’d been thrown quite a ways away by the blast, mud and twigs clinging to her clothes and hair.
“Should not explode before black salt. What missing?”
What do you even say to a sight like that? Crystal was very intent on making a bomb and I’d given her what she needed for it. Was I going to get myself involved in whatever fuckery she had going on? Did I want to meet these other gnarks?
The answer was, of course, a resounding No. Not only that, but I didn’t even want to know what she was doing now. So, instead, I dropped my pack, opened it up, and pulled out the various foodstuffs I’d foraged. My skill had gone up two entire levels for this, which made spotting the stuff in the undergrowth far easier.
“I’ll split these with you if you show me how to preserve them,” I said as I spread out the fruits, berries, and mushrooms on the grass. The light from the warding lamp gave us enough to see by, but not for fine detail.
Crystal seemed to not have heard me, so I repeated myself. Again, she didn’t stir. Only when I yelled my question did she turn my way, bleary-eyed, and looking utterly lost.
“What?” she screamed. “No hear if human talk so soft. Speak louder.”
Lovely.
“Please tell me she’s got enough constitution to heal her hearing,” I groaned towards Eternity. “Please don’t tell me I have to yell at her all night.”
“What?” Crystal squawked again.
Fucking. Beautiful.