Meeting a Druid and Five more Masters [Training, Grim]
Secrets :
The City Gardens were situated adjacent to both the Academia and the residential district. It was a large, public garden. Plants and greenery was everywhere, giving busy city people a place to relax from the vigours of the city.
It was divided loosely into two rings. The Outer ring was where most people spent their time. There were tiled walkways criss-crossing, small secluded ponds, benches where one could sit and talk in private and lawns where one could play if one so desired. Bushes and trees were strategically planted so as to keep areas separate. Flowers were also a common sight. They all had their purpose, some were there to spread their colours and give the place a bit of cheer in between all the green, others were there to add scents and others again to feed the bees that were kept on the outskirts of the garden. The scents of wild plants mingled with the salty sea air giving the place an odd, but pleasing aroma.
Statues appeared at regular intervals, showing everything from important city persons, historical personages, small fountains, and so on. Some were done in marble, others were done in granite, but they were all there.
The Inner ring had a different feel to it entirely. Where the Outer ring was clearly constructed here there was a raw, untouched nature feel. Pristine beauty at its best. Wild plants hardly ever touched by any sentient hand. Few ventured here though, for fear of intruding upon that beauty. Those few who did reported feelings being watched. Though of late even those who bragged about entering there were wary of the Inner ring. There was a wild feeling, a feral feeling about the place. Plants with thorns and thistles had been growing wildly along the outer perimeter of it. Fierce animal eyes could be seen watching anyone that came close. There were still a few that entered though, most of them returning with tales of being entangled in vines and creepers before being dragged back out by the plants.
TS: Imperos, Summer, Era XIII
She didn't know. She just had a feeling. Perhaps a druid could feel another druid. Or perhaps a druid knew what 'being dragged out by plants' cauld be caused by. Rumours of the inner ring being more wild than anything, being more natural and at the same time unnatural than anything else made the draconess wonder. She gave it nine out of ten to be the working of a druid or perhaps even a few. Thus with her more practical robe, the draconess walked in the garden, still through the so called outer circle, yet she was not looking for a nicer pond or a space to relax, instead she was heading towards the inner circle.
It had been a while since the Darkwood incident and also a while since the mages returned to the HoR, however the druids haven't. And they haven't been seen overly much till that brightening either. So Skay had a feeling. Unless this was some enchantment, she expected to meet a druid or two here. When the garden became more... untouched, with less flowers and more trees, the draconess stopped. She had neared or was already in the beginning of the inner circle.
Clara. Without a thought the girl dragged a bunch of Ara strands with her mind and allowed it to merge with a small portion of her Vis. It was a strange feeling to her ones mind kicked off to the Astral, one which could not be explained to someone who had never experienced that. But it wasn't a pleasant feeling, so much was certain. It was just strange. Even to one who was used to it. There she Focused on the Plane of Nature and Channelled a portion of Essence that her Vis allowed. When her mind channelled enough, it returned with the Mana to the Material Plane.
There Skay shaped it into a spell. Something similar to apprentice level spells which made vines and branches take an ordered shape. Only this time the Mana was Divined to affect the branches nearing the draconess, and Abjured and Altered to to bend back and let her through without a scratch. Basically the spell was going to let the draconess through the thickest forest by moving aside and revealing a clear path, without touching her and almost kneeling for her. It wasn't a violent spell, not strong enough to have the branches break or the trees root out of the ground, just enough to let the draconess flow through the garden as if through a clear path.
With that spell cast, Skay went deeper into the garden. She had to find the druids. She needed them and she wanted to meet them. Hopefully they would not frown upon her purely because of her race. Hopefully they knew enough of her status in Nexus to act as if to anoter... human or elf. Or just as to another mage. She had to find them. She wanted to ask them. Wanted to find, hoped to find and prayed to find a Master who would be able to teach her. A Master who would be worthy of that name. A Master who she could respect. It was time to enhance the power and let it roam.
It was, quite easily spotted, not a normal place, at first the plants seemed normal. A little denser than one might expect in a park. Actually a lot denser than one might expect in a park, slowly though, as she ventured further inside the plants changed. They quickly became large bushes growing well over her head and offering no way of entrance save pushing through the mesh of wicked looking thorns. The tight confines of all this was less of a problem to the druidess than it might otherwise have been though, her spell pushing the problems out of her path with practised ease.
How long she walked through those bushes? There was no way of telling. Precious little light filtered down through the leaves and given the lack of a sun there was no way of telling the time of brightening. The worst part, perhaps, the bushes. The further in she went the stronger the sense of foreboding. The stronger the sense of something else too. The Essence of Nature grew more and more prominent in the bushes around her, as if it was building up to a crescendo.
Finally though she appeared on the other side, and it dawned. Or rather opened up. Strange sounds clicked through what could only be described as twilight. Very little light filtered down from above, thick canopy covered everything. And in that canopy, one thing was obvious. Things were moving, and making noise. Rustling noises could be heard all around. What was perhaps more perplexing though was that she wasn't standing on the ground, the ground appeared to be a good way down.
Rather it was a thick branch, seeming to stretch out and layered with moss, supporting it almost like a walkway towards the centre. Something chirped in the branches above her. Something else hooted.
Everywhere was the dense, confining smell of forest. The air heavy with it, the familiar smells of the city long gone. Here there was only the forest, twisted by arcana. It was hard to make out in the dappled light, such as it were, but there was slow, quiet creaking coming from above and the outlines of what might just be a wooden cage rustled in the branches above her.
As she wandered further in on her branch it became obvious that it was all supported around one large tree, or possibly several trees all grown into each other, it was hard to tell. Stairs went along the periphery of the tree, leading both up and down.
Someone had obviously made a home at the end of the branch though, a small room had been made in the tree itself, large enough for someone to sit on rather comfortably, cushioned by moss growing in it.
As the draconess walked through what seemed like a forest rather than a garden, she couldn't stop being amased. It was so... a place for her. It was so bringing out envy. Everything was filled with arcana and more specifically druidism here. It was all just so making her jealous of the one or ones who manage to create such a place. She was suppose to be doing this. This should have been her masterpiece. But it got even better when she finally came on the other site, or rather fianlly came to what seemed like the middle of the Inner Circle.
There was a tree, a very large tree, a very very large tree growing there. It was her tree. Her castle-tree. Someone had stolen her most beloved idea. Her scaly eyebrows narrowed as the draconess watched the tree. Well sure, it probably wasn't hard to think of such a thing, so therefore she shouldn't have been so surprised and yet the draconess wasn't happy to see her wonder copied by someone else. And worse even, perhaps copied from her before she even thought of it.
"Damn it." The draconess muttered and followed the branch to the trunk of the tree. It did make her jealous, but at the same time it made her less worried. This was a normal druid. Or rather a true druid gone a bit over the edge. Which was good. As long as the tree wasn't pink, this went in the right direction. She eyed the room which ended on the branch's level. Similar to what she planned for her castle. Though Skay didn't intend to cover things with moss and insteand intended to bring actual materials. Still. Not bad, not bad.
But here the draconess was faced with her first trial. She had to make a very difficult decision, which had the ability to make the universe spin in the other direction. A decision of going up or down the wooden stairs. Yet, both ways didn't seem to end soon and thus she didn't really have a corner to start from. There even wasn't the 'right' or 'left' option, which would have been much easier to choose. 'Right' is always right. But up or down... which one was the right one here? After a few more moments Skay decided to first go up. At the same time though, she cast an Initiate spell Detect, which would allowe her mind to sense the presence and direction of other beings for a perdiod of time.
It was a sensation much akin to walking in deep fog. There was life everywhere here. The detection spell had problems separating them all out from each other. Living beings inside the trees, in the trees, outside the trees, insects in the air, plants floating by. It was much akin to throwing the spell out in the midst of a thick jungle. Except the amount of life present here seemed even denser. Cloying, thickening.
And up she went, the partial sunlight filtering through the branches reflecting more of what hung beneath as she rose upwards. Hidden in deep shadows the creak of cages could be heard and the inhabitants struggling against their confines. If they were cages. If they were caged.
The very air itself seemed heavy, humid. Free of the scents of the city, but there were other scents here. Dark and strange herbs, flowers and trees which twisted and grew into one another. But there did not appear to be anyone else. As she ascended the stairs into a tree that might just have seemed to go on forever. There was no end to the stairs that could be seen. There was only the tree, obscuring anything for more than a few paces, the branches, vines and leaves falling down into the pathway rendering the whole thing more opaque. Still, as she rose the dappled patterns of seemed to grow in size and frequency.
Finally though, when she had walked for the gods only knew how long. Something happened.
It started as a branch which had to be ducked under to continue up the path, a common enough occurrence at this point. Then the wood around it started to melt. A creature of twisted bark and sap, wrested itself free of the trunk. It seemed almost a caricature of a human being. The wood twisting the features into something strange and alien. It looked like no treant, or anything similar. No, this creature was created out of the wood itself, not like a carpenter might cut something, but more as something which had created itself from the tree. A lopsided mouth appeared, the creature speaking slowly in a voice more akin to the creaking of trees than the tongue of a sentient creature. "Who... are... you...?"
Everything was just so... so... hers. It was so much to the vision that Skay had, in some places even better in others twisted by the real Master. But this whole place, it lured the draconess, it made her want to stay, explore and just praise the one who had created this. It wasn't like this place was filled with many life forms, it was as if this place was life itself, the very core as if... she had passed into the Nature Plane. Would the Nature Plane look like this? For all Skay knew, this was as close as it could get.
It was perhaps just the sound which made her a bit more cautious. The sound of cages, or something to that side. There was no reason for cages to exist here. Life seemed to like this place, why trap it? Then again, she could not see even one cage yet, just hear that sound. As the draconess kept on walking up and up the large trunk of the tree it made her wonder again. This could not be. The garden never looked so tall from the outside. "But... how..." It didn't make sense. It could not be taller or bigger than it actually was. This wasn't mysticism which deceived the eyes. No, this was druidism. Unless the druid worked with the mystics... Yet, that would require a Master for a constant deceiving spell.
The draconess pondered the puzzle as she kept on going. The tree did get a bit thinner though, so there had to be an end. And there was a bit more light but... still. This didn't seem normal in the sense of space. It was impossible that there had been some smooth pass into some other place, other plane... Her thoughts spun trying to figure this out, while her mind was filled so much with the sense of life and...
"Ah!" The draconess jumped back when one of the branches moved much more than expected and a being came of it. While it twisted and formed itself Skay watched it still as amased, but now rapidly gaining back her cautiousness and leaving the dreamy state. Keeping a mind still on the new being, Skay also tried to gain Clara. A treant? It could be. She had never seen one. Unless the Pondertree could be held for one. A dryad? Or was this even something else? Perhaps the Master himself? If she could only get to Clara then she would be more prepared if the being was hostile or... if this was the Master.
"I'm... I'm... Skay..." The draconess barely managed to speak. "I'm a mage and I'm looking for a Master..." her words sounded like those of a sentient being, however the shock also made them slower and not as smooth as on the ordinary brightening. Perhaps by now Skay was suppose to get used to all the strange things, espechially after living in the Towers which were made just out of unordinary things. But this still managed to catch her unprepared.
The thing regarded her for a long time. Perhaps it was relaying information somewhere, perhaps it was studying her. It did not move. That was perhaps one of the more disconcerting features. Most creatures, even while standing still, move. Their eyes twitch a little, their chests rise as breath leaves them, their ears twitch. But no, this one was entirely, dead still. Not moving an inch. There really was no way to tell if the creature had died, or whatever spirit animated it had left or not. A butterfly danced on what might possibly be its face, though the features were too rough for anything to be truly discerned.
Finally, after what seemed an age, it moved. The flab of a mouth opened and a voice of wood grinding against wood said a single word.
"Up."
Seeming to have no further need to communicate with Skay the creature melted back into the tree, and soon there was no way of telling that there had ever been anything there but the tree and the branch.
The wooden steps continued up, leading the draconess to heights unimaginable in the city of Nexus Prime. It was strange. At this height, the air should be getting thinner, it shouldn't be this thick, humid soup with life buzzing all through it.
Beetles scattered across the surface of the wood, rushing to get out of her way. Birds sang in the distance, pollen was thick in the air and as she rounded the side of the tree, the branches finally gave way and offered Skay a view of the city below.
Except.
Except there was no city below. Just a tangle of branches of jungle, strange chirps and things. The luscious jungle kept out by a hedge which looked to be only half there. There was no city, no hint of civilization for as far as the eye could see.
As her legs started to become weary a slight plateau offered itself as a resting ground. As there had been below, a small alcove had been grown into the tree. This time though, someone was sitting in that alcove. He was undoubtedly human. The robes he wore might have once been the grey robes of the Rainbow Towers, but his eyes were open, staring right out at nothing. His one hand touching the tree, his feet were the disconcerting bit though. The worn robes had long since been scrubbed with so much moss, leaves and general plant detritus that they had long since taken on a greenish hue, but they were short enough that the lower half of his calves were clearly visible, the pale-white skin melting into wood. His lower half seemed to have been slowly overtaken by some kind of wooden infection which had grown him some kind of wooden legs. Perhaps even more disconcertingly, his feet had put down roots, into the tree itself, the two of them were joined.
Discerning eyes might notice the same thing about his hand, though to a much lesser extent, small creepers extended from the palm of his hand and onto wooden exterior. He did not move as Skay got closer, did not speak, but like a human, it was obvious that he was still alive. There was warmth in his skin, though not much more than that of a tree, if the truth be told. As Skay watched him, she saw him draw a slow breath, his chest expanding at a heartachingly slow speed. No human could draw so little breath and still live. It was clear that there was someone there, but whatever he was doing, it clearly was much more important than talking to her and the stairs continued further on, so should she continue that way too... or should she stay and try to get something sensible out of woodman?
Skay was about to move past the branch man when he spoke up. "Thanks..." The words were spoken out, but the being was already inside the tree, gone to winds knew where. Maybe he was still here, inches behind the bark, maybe the bark itself. That Skay did not know. But she was curious and she already had far too many ideas. All of this was bound to end up in her Eternity Book. A description of all she saw and a list of ideas and plans for the future use of her skills. There were too many things to remember just now already.
Finally the view appeared and Skay almost froze by the wall of the tree. "H-how?" This was too much even for her. Where was the city? Where was civilasation? Where was the sea?! Where was everything? And most of all where was she?! This was in no way the garden of Nexus Prime. No, this was something else, or rather somewhere else. But where? Had she really crossed into another Plane? Or was she under some spell, actually sleeping out cold in the garden, dosed by the smells of the garden plants? Maybe all of this was just a dream forced by the plants of the garden. Maybe she was lying there on the floor, somewhere still in the beginning of the Inner Circle.
For a moment Skay freaked out, still holding onto the tree's core, her eyes staring into the horizon. What was going on? "Where am I?" Her voice trembled and she spoke to the Winds. And yet, whatever this was, something still had to be further up. Even if this tree had no end and perhaps no beginning, something still had to be further up. Or so she hoped. Maybe. Maybe... all this started to slightly scare her. This was all that she dreamt of and yet this was perhaps just too good to be real.
Eventually though Skay gathered enough willpower to keep going forward, further from reality. A thought that she would no longer find the entrance or the exit crossed her mind. It was more than possible. The amount of branches that there were could make the one she came through a typical one and all too easy to overlook. Her heart began to beat harder and than an even more frightening view appeared before her eyes only a bit further up.
"What in the world?" She watched the human and was frightened. While it was possible that he was simply trying out some sort of a spell, Skay was scared that this wasn't his will. And thought that a more likely possibility was that he was sick, chained and diseased by the tree, by the surroundings, that he was merging with the tree that... "No..." Her heart sunk to the bottom. Was it possible that this man was becoming the tree being she had met earlier? Was this what was happening to him? Or was he... could he be possibly just trying out a spell?
She could feel her heart beating in her throat, ready to jump out as she neared the human. "Are... are you alright? Could you tell me where am I?" She tried asking the human and was at least releaved to see him breathing, if only barely. Should the man have provided no answer, Skay dove into Meditation, seeking out Clara to check if this was perhaps the Master, or a lower level mage or perhaps not even a mage. And more over to check if there was any spell covering him, as should there be none then it could mean the worse for the human. For the possible new branch. Though should the human remained silent and motionless, Skay would continue her journey up after checking him out long enough in Clara.
No reply came from the druid. There could be no doubt that he was a druid, most likely a journeyman. Determining if a spell was constructed around him though was a near impossible task, the very air here seemed to be thick with Nature Essence, everything here held much greater concentrations of it than seen anywhere else. It was like trying to see a specific leaf in a forest. There was just too much Nature Essence.
How natural all this was though was another matter entirely. Where had the city gone? Was she still stuck in the brushes, dreaming of what was to come next. With her counterpart offering nothing but mute replies, it seemed there was only one way to find out. To push upwards, to leave this mage here, stuck as he was in this shape that seemed half-tree half-man.
She ascended slowly, the stairs growing steeper as they closed onto the wood itself. Someone seemed to have heard her questions though and the bark of the tree she was climbing subtly changed its colouration, the lichen and moss giving way slowly to form letters, This way and then an arrow leading up slowly appeared in the bark.
How long the stairs continued for? There was little way of telling, the shadows cast by the sun were of little use, it quickly became obvious that what seemed like a second to it might have been an hour to Skay. Which brought up questions all of their own, did this place have its own chronal procession? The branches let up, giving her a glance at a pale green sun and a sky the colour of rust, dark brooding clouds adding to the sense of alienation. What if she came out of here and found forty years gone, like in all the stories. There were dangers to meddling with arcana on this level, there could be no doubt of that. Had she just forfeited her life, going into this warren of madness?
A question which became more and more poignant as she walked upwards, another human could be seen up ahead. But this one was worse off. She had been a human, at least once. What she was now, that was a good question, blue eyes stared at some point which no other mortal could possibly see. Mouth open as if to speak. Her face was all that protruded from the trunk of the tree. If Skay had put her finger through her mouth, she would have touched the bark.
This one too.
This one too was a mage, likely a druid given her location, apprentice from the looks of things. If the first one she had met was in no shape to give any answers though this was doubly true of this latest offering. Skay's journey continued upwards, finally taking a surprising twist by passing through the trunk of the tree itself and out on a large platform on the other side. The platform was made entirely by one piece of wood, the inhabitants having no doubt found it a useful place to stay. What seemed like chairs had been grown straight out of the wooden surface, with hardy moss serving for cushions and at the far end of the platform sat one man.
He was, possibly human, though if he could really be called such a thing at this point was doubtful. Antlers stuck out of his forehead, curling back along the skull, much like a crown. His eyes seemed more akin to those one would find in a hawk than in a human, his face was human though. The flesh that covered it could be of no other species, too rugged to be an elf, the wrong colour for an orc. Hair flowed down the back of his back. He was arguably dressed in what appeared to be a brownish-green set of robes, but they had been worn thin and seemed to have been repaired by weaving thin roots through the fabric where it had broken apart.
He rose from what might arguably have been called a throne, rising as it did above the other high backed chairs. His feet sounded odd as they struck the wooden surface, then one of them peeked out beneath the robe, a hoof. He had a hoof. Two by the sounds of things.
"Welcome to Arcadia, Skay," he said, his voice deep and booming in the chittering silence of the tree. "You have sought me, and here I am." His head was held high haughtily, even though he was human he was a good head taller than Skay and he moved in a strange, manner, as if his knees did not bend the right way.
The draconess shivered and her scales rose to their edges as each new view revealed in front of her. She didn't like what she saw. It was too hard to tell if those... people were still people, if they were still alive and more importantly if they still had the mind of their own, or was it just the body and a mindless soul that remained? Had they lost themselves somewhere? Did they become something like ghosts? Without a mind, without reason, without goals. Just some sort of a single, midless thought still keeping them 'alive'?
It scared her. It really did. While at first the draconess had been amazed by the forest, the tree and this place. Now she was gaining fear. The thoughts of where she was and if she would successfully return no longer left her mind. A large part of her told her to go back. And to go back while she still could. If she still could. But another part... Heart of Fire was how the vision of Materna had called the draconess. Or perhaps a Heart of a Fool, was what led her forward. Would she know when to stop? Would she stop when knowing?
When the arrow appeared Skay eyed it with another shiver. "You have the blood of the two strongest beings. Get over it." The draconess commanded herself. The knowledge of which she reminded herself both consumed and saved her many times. It was neither good, nor bad, but it did keep her alive. Many times it was an excuse to just do the cruelest things, many times it was something to be proud of. But whenever it came forward it was what made her fight for life, and it didn't matter if she had to kill innocents or demons in the process.
Eventually though the top made way and Skay was greeted by the Master. A... human of sorts. Or something close to it. One which became twisted half into nature. By his own or against his will? Just like this whole place? Was it created by someone's will or did it gain a mind of its own? Was it still controlled by someone or was it controlling others? So many questions... Too many.
The first thought which was from the more real world, was how the man knew her name. Druids could not do that and she... maybe it was the branch man. Or maybe he knew of her by visiting the city? Or maybe he had an imbuement from a mage of another sphere? All possible. "I..." And there again she didn't know what to say. The shock of everything, the new kind of fear which beat in her heart, it all kept her from thinking sanely. "Could you tell me what this place is? I've come here to find a Master to teach me, to find you... but I must admit this is not what I've expected. This all is just a bit... unexpected." Perhaps not the best introduction, but then the circumstances were fitting for it.
"We call it Arcadia," the master said, "it is a Plane of Existence right next to the Essence Plane of Nature, in some places the border between the two Planes is so minute that you can put your hand into the Plane of Nature."
He grinned, his teeth, at least, looked normal. "We came here to be left in peace, in this place we can study our art, we can bring about such spells of power as you would not believe. Some, perhaps not possible on the Material Plane, Nature has such force here. You can feel it, breathe it," there was something almost feverish in his voice. And something glittered in his eyes.
"With the aid of an old friend we made the bushes which serve as a connection between the two Planes, by ourselves, we constructed this tree. The world tree. Beyond its confines Arcadia is uninhabitable, the sheer force of nature here would chew you up and spit you out."
He turned from her and looked out at the vast jungle down below. It stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction. "This is the Crown of the World," he said, gesturing at the seats around him, "from here we act as gods in this world. In this place, this time, we are as gods."
Thunder boomed in the clear skies above and he raised his hands to the skies, lightning striking down into the jungles beyond. The harsh light casting his alien form in stark shades of black and white. Droplets of water fell from the clear skies, large wet drops impacting on the wood and running down the hands of the master. His dark brown hair clinging wetly to his back, the water dripping from his antlers.
"Who would not desire to be gods?" he asked, turning his head to look at her over his shoulder, the white of his teeth glittering in a grin, "We have made such progress here you would not believe. Are you here to join us, Skay of the Towers? Are you here to become divine?"
"You would like it here, you do not need to drink, do not need to eat, except when you want to, there is no need to sleep. In this place, you would be a god, like the rest of us. In Arcadia, there is only us. Only us and Nature." The rain splashed down around them, heedless of their grab for divinity. Caring not for their aspirations for greatness. All that mattered was that the ground was down, and that was where the rain was going.
So she... so she did.... she did cross into another Plane... Eyes wide open and mouth agape, Skay searched for air... This place... Even hear knees felt weak and for a moment Skay cought herself at that, had she not, the draconess might have slumped onto her knees onto the ground. "But... how?" It was just too much to believe. Her mind rang and caught the words that the druid spoke. She was in another plane, another place. Not just her mind, but her whole being. She was no longer in the Material Plane. No longer in a safe place...
Those words were filled with unnatural passion, unnatural desire to be a god and rule it all. To have the ultimate power. A desire that was not completely foreign for the draconess. However...
And it was as she had suspected. She had went into another plane when she crossed into the Inner Circle, through those bushes. An active portal had been set there somehow. A spell, if it was a spell at all, too powerful and too complex for the draconess to understand so far. But it was. It was as she expected.
As the druid gestured to the vast jungle, Skay looked at it. Complete dominance. Complete power. Was this how it felt to be a god? She looked at that jungle perhaps even longer than the druid. Only when thunder doomed, Skay's attention snapped back once again. Trully. Who would not desire to be gods? To have ultimate and complete power? Especially in a place like this?
The draconess could already do more than enough with arcana. Was the aim to become master or even archmage far from an aim to become divine? Anothere glance was cast back at the druid, to check if he by chance was not an Archmage. But was she here to join them? Them? They, this place felt a little bit too... far from reality. Too powerful, too twisted and too corrupted. This looked like a dream. Was it possible that they after all were dreaming a united dream? In dreams everything was possible. This was dreaming one that you could control. Completely. Who would not want that?
It was true. There was a frikkin large chance that Skay would like it here. She adored the place from the very beginning when she saw just the first glimpse of the tree. Now she saw and knew more. More than she had expected or ever imagined. And here she was... living a dream... by all means.
As rain began to fall, her spines lowered a little, nearing to the back of her neck. Perhaps they could not be gods. But this close to being a Planetar. A whole plane falling under control. And yet... that mad look on the druid's face. She knew it. It was filled with the thirst. A thirst Skay knew as well. Was it similar for Adamon? His thirst for blood? Did it consume him as much?
The crown of the world.
Skay looked at the druid. Her whisper came too silently. Too silently to hear "There is no such place as... paradise..." This reminded her of the meeting with Materna. If it had been Materna. Skay believed it so. The night she had spent with her. It made her feel at home, at peace and safe. It had been as close as it could get to Paradise. She had felt happy and safe. So much like a child with his mother, safe from everything. Protected and not a worry upon his head. Skay had been happy for that short brightening. And then she left. The rest that she had so needed, she got it. And then... she set off to find a paradise of her own. A real one.
Was this a Fake Paradise as well? One of another type? One which did not remind of home and did not give a feeling of being safe. Instead one which put her on the edge, one which had the power to fulfill her other dreams. It could give her the ultimate power. It could become her place to be. To live. To become. To become one with it...
...one with it...
Those people. A few floors down. What had happened to them? Did their thirst of power consume them? Or were they just trying a spell? And yet, did she care? if she could grasp this power? If she could have a whole plane for herself? One falling under her control? Did she want to become divine? Her gaze returned to the Master again. Did she?
"I... I can't believe this is possible. I've dreamt of something like this. There has been countless times when I wondered how would the Nature Plane look like. And this... This might be even more. I've dreamt of creating something like this. But... in the... the Material Plane my powers and... time remained finite. But this place..." Her eyes went to the horizon, to the never ending jungle.
And then half of a smile. "I do not wish to become divine. Not... yet." Her eyes returned to the Master with more sanity and reality in them. "However, I'd love to learn under you. There's just so much... so amazing... THIS is the Druidism I imagine. But I am not ready to just take it all. I do not wish to jump into the nexus of power. But I want to be with it and to understand it. I do not wish it to consume me, I'd rather be the one conrolling it. And that means learning rather than just taking."
Skay voiced out and hoped that the druid would understand her. She was dealing with a dangerous man, or so Skay suspected. A great man, but not necessarry a good man. "I have one question... on my way up here, I saw people... 'melting' into the tree. Could you tell me what is happening to them? Are they alright or...?" Had it not been for those two people, Skay might have given a different reply to the druid. Perhaps she might have accepted his offer for divinity, but now those two faces stood as a warning for her. A certain wake up call.
He turned to face her. He was tall, and it was becoming obvious that his knees bent in entirely the wrong way for a human. Lightning arced overhead, the flash of light tearing everything blinding everything for a few seconds before the boom struck.
The master did not speak though he towered over her, rather his eyes seemed to go distant, perhaps too late the draconess realized he was creating a spell. By the time his hand hit her chest, it was all too late to react. Everything seemed to move too slowly. She fell backwards, feeling his spell twisting her strangely.
And then...
Then everything went wrong.
The back of her head hit the hard wooden surface and rebounded. No, it didn't. There was no violence, the hard wooden surface greeted her. She could feel it, invading her, becoming her. Her skull sinking into the wood and becoming one with it. And her mind...
She could look down at her own body. Though, look would be the wrong word. She could feel her own body, lying heavily on her branches. Was it her body? Was she the tree or the druidess? Were these her thoughts?
The druidess could feel the ancient wisdom of the tree, the power of the worldtree, she could sense the droplets of water hitting her leaves, bringing her the nutrition she so craved. She could feel the earthworms burrowing around her roots. Was she a draconess? Or was she a tree? Whose thoughts were these? She could feel the creaking weight of cages hanging on her lower branches.
She could sense the creatures living on her, they were all connected, all nature. And her mind expanded. She was the forest. The jungle. She could sense the prowlers, their hot, red minds impacting against the green as they prowled around the trees and roots of the jungle. Who was she? What was a draconess? There were only the hot, red minds of the flesh and the stolid, ponderous minds of the green. Stretching on forever. She could feel the pain of a tree where fire and lightning had burdened it.
No one mourned for it. It was not her way. Nature moved on. Another tree would rise in its place. Nature abhorred a vacuum. Deep roots dug into the ground. She could feel it. Feel it all. The solid thoughts of the trees and the quickfire chatter of the grass, she was these things. She was the poisonous mushroom growing out of the grass. She was the stolid mangrove, riddled with insects. She was every one of them. She could feel them. She was them.
Was she... the tree? Or was she all of them? The deep, dark thoughts of the world tree burdened on her mind, moving at a pace all of its own. There was no rush here. Everything happened in its own time.
And beyond, she could feel the oceans beyond the jungle and beyond the jungles and forests beyond. There seemed to be no end to it, as if it continued on forever and ever, and her mind was expanding to fit it.
And then she could feel something else. Something intruding. Something pulling her out. A red mind in the green. She was green. It was red. And it was pulling her out. Out of the green and into the red.
The master stood over her, resting on his haunches, "How do you feel?" he asked in that deep, dark voice. She was back, back in her own body. The giant consciousness of Arcadia already starting to fade from her mind. She wasn't connected. Not anymore. She couldn't even feel the leaves in the tree above her. The rain seemed to have ended, the platform was dry now. The pale, green sun was deep on the horizon, offering precious little light. Her throat seemed dry, her muscles worn as if she had been running. Running for so very long.
![Meeting a Druid and Five more Masters [Training, Grim]](http://www.playbypost.com/forums/iconimages/secluria/meeting-druid-five-more-masters-training-grim_ltr.gif)
