NOVEL NEXT B2. 3 - Equal Reparations
"Why did you agree to their request?" Gideon asked Elian.
They were inside Gideon's undrawn carriage, following behind Maveron and a dozen of his men. The other half of the Grovenians brought up the rear. They were on their way to Sabyn Mountain after a hearty breakfast of eggs, bread, cheese, and ale. Grovenian cheese was quite pungent, while their ale was light. The alcoholic content of drinks on Fellenyr was on the milder side because they would often substitute it for water. Back on Earth, one would be branded an alcoholic for having drinks for breakfast.
Maveron also gave Elian a partial payment for what was essentially bodyguard duty. Elian could tell that Maveron didn't originally intend to hire bodyguards to go with them to meet the Sabyn Twins. Perhaps something changed along the way, or Maveron wasn't couldn't they could pull off their plan with their forces.
"It's not for the money, is it?" Gideon poked at the pouch of coins from Maveron. "This is not commensurate with the colossal possibility of death. We were discussing whether or not the Sabyn Twins would find my creations offensive. Now, we are amongst men who have supposedly angered the mountain's deity, enough that these shadow beasts were sent to attack their town. Maveron should've offered us more, and I would've refused."
"Not the money, no." Elian tapped his brain. "I have a vision—"
"This again." Gideon groaned. "Do any of your visions bring fair news?"
"Some, maybe," Elian said. "But not this one."
Instead of telling others that he came from the future—he had lived for fourteen years on Fellenyr; upon his death, the Timekeeper's Gift rewound all that to his first day—Elian decided to pretend to be a seer or diviner of sorts. Most people on Fellenyr hadn't heard of someone going back in time. They had plenty of stories of people 'time-traveling' to the future, but it wasn't exactly 'fast-forwarding' time as someone from Earth would think of.
Fellenyr time travel stories, if they could be called such, involved people put into a magical sleep or sealed for years or even centuries. They wake up far in the future—voila, time travel. But not really. Telling someone he could see the future lessened the risk of misunderstanding, confusion, and being labeled insane.
"It's a brief vision I had some weeks ago," Elian continued. "I didn't know what it meant back then. Beasts made of darkness attacked a town. These creatures were similar to the shadow form of Myrclaws, those predators melding with the night, but so much bigger and stronger. More destructive. Maveron could kill a Myrclaw, no doubt. He has a Shard Blade and is an experienced swordsman, judging by the way he carried himself. And yet, he and his men have problems dealing with these shadow beasts. Not really sure… but I might've seen the destruction of Golden Grove by a giant shadow beast. I'm not going to let that happen."
"Their tale of shadow beasts was genuine?" Gideon wrinkled his crooked nose. "I thought they were pretending to be from Golden Grove and were leading us to a secluded location to rob and kill us. If they told the truth, why didn't you?"
"What're you talking about?"
"Why not say we were likewise heading to Sabyn Mountain?"
"Ah, that." Elian shrugged. "If I said we were going the same way, they might not tell us about their real goal. They'll just say let's band together since our destination is the same, something like that. We'd be in for a surprise if the Guardian Herbalists block our path with carnivorous plants. Instead, the Grovenians told us about their mission."
Gideon rocked his head from side to side. "And why are you so convinced that they'll hide their true goal from us?"
"Because they're not telling the whole truth even now," Elian said, looking at the window with a new glass pane fitted over it. One of the Grovenian horsemen passed by. "Are they really going to the Sabyn Mountain for peace talks? There's more to this."
"Two dozen armed men. On one hand, they do have to keep themselves safe. On the other hand, the denizens of the forest might not be so agreeable to peace when they see the weapons. And why are there so many of them? I now share your seeds of doubt."
"Exactly. They might do something stupid and make the Sabyn Twins angry at them. Angrier. Way angrier that this might lead to their town's destruction. I have to be here and see what they'll—"
"You don't." Gideon returned his focus to his brew. It was yet another concoction to try and heal Viney.
"Huh?"
"You don't have to be with them. This isn't your fight. As someone blessed with visions of the future—or cursed, from another perspective—you have to survive and focus on stopping bigger threats. Don't burden yourself more than necessary. Preparing for the Giant invasion is necessary."
Elian frowned. He knew what Gideon was getting at, and it didn't sit right with him. "The destruction of Golden Grove—"
"Is inconsequential compared to the invasion of Giants," Gideon said nonchalantly, as if talking about the weather. "Or other visions of calamities you'll eventually foresee. You are risking your life to prevent something that isn't anything in the grand scheme of things. It isn't your duty, or within your capability, for that matter, to prevent every unfortunate vision you'll perceive."
"Are you saying I'm just going to do nothing while I know that a town will be destroyed?" There was steel in Elian's voice.
Gideon coughed out a raspy chuckle. "Don't make me out to be the bad guy in this, Curse Penitent. I'm merely stating the practicality and reality of the situation. We are going to Sabyn Mountain to save your plant symbiote, my creation. It is dangerous as it is. Why does it have to be you to deal with this matter of the Grovenians?"
"Because I'm the one who saw the future," Elian said.
In his previous life, Elian didn't care for 'side quests' like this one—his goal was to study as much as possible about the Giant invasion and how to defeat it. If people died or cities were destroyed, he could save them the next time around. He had to keep a lid on his emotions. Heroics weren't allowed since it risked him dying before he could gain information useful for the redo.
However, without the Timekeeper's Gift, Elian could no longer rewind time. Whatever would happen in this timeline, especially the bad things, would be permanent. If Golden Grove were destroyed, it'd stay as such. Of course, he knew that stopping the Giant invasion was paramount. But he also wouldn't let people die if he could prevent it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
If… he could.
"I accept your concerns," Elian added, not wanting to be dismissive of Gideon. "I swear to the Storm God we won't be in harm's way. If we will be, we're going to run. That said, I'm not going to let Golden Grove be destroyed either."
"It appears that I'm not budging you on this." Gideon stopped stirring. "Though there is a question of why the Sabyn Twins will destroy a town. The Grovenians have turned a forest bald. Most likely hunted its inhabitants too. But so did many others throughout history. We have no stories of the Sabyn Twins sending shadow beasts to punish anyone else."
"Might not be the Sabyn Twins themselves," Elian said. "Deities can't act directly or else they'll violate the Covenant. I bet that pouch of coins that this is the work of Sabyn Herbalists. Possible that their deity prodded them to do it, but they wouldn't need much convincing to hate the guts of Grovenians. I heard the Sabyn Herbalists were part plant?"
This was another reason why Elian previously planned to go to Floralia Forest to study herbalism instead of Sabyn Mountain. That said, becoming half-human, half-plant would be a small sacrifice if it meant defeating the Giants. The priests of the Temples of Tribulations made pretty insane sacrifices to reach their Tribulation high scores.
And those were just personal goals. Religious, yes. Still personal. Compare that to Elian's goal of saving humanity.
"Given the number of plant symbiotes residing on my body," Gideon said, "the Sabyn Herbalists might consider me kin."
"See? They're probably not going to be angry at us."
Using a ladle, Gideon scooped some of the purple goop he was brewing and poured it into a bottle. "I can only hope our journey doesn't end with us as fertilizer for plants. I suppose that is my dream ending for myself, my body feeding my own creation. But I envision my end not coming so soon." He placed the bottle on the counter and nodded at Elian. "Try this one. The negative effects… well, I know you can handle them. Let us see if this can better your plant symbiote's condition."
Elian nodded as he downed the bottle's contents. He relied on the Abyssal Eye's Curse to mitigate most of the potion's harmful side effects.
Supposedly, the Abyssal Eye's Curse punished its bestowed by severely gimping health potions and such, but Elian found out he could drink harmful potions. Potion effects, both beneficial and harmful, were affected by the Curse just the same. Gideon's brews might not be so good for Elian's stomach, but they immensely benefited Viney was drinking from his veins.
Guardian Exactor Vine | Plant Symbiote | Level: 19
Health: 623/2,000
Energy: 975/975
ATTRIBUTES:
Attack Power: 200
Magic Power: 200
Armor: 3,000
Magic Resilience: 200
TRAITS:
Host Attribute Absorption – Absorb (8,400) Attribute points from the host and gain a third of it.
Barkskin – Coats the host with hardened tendrils. Costs a quarter of the symbiote's Health and Energy to create, shared equally with the host. The protective layer possesses half the attributes of the symbiote.
The Guardian Exactor Vine was Gideon's proud masterpiece… that was still in development.
Gideon took traits from two commonly used plant symbiotes and inserted them into a Revulsion Dread Sapper, a dangerous carnivorous plant that drained its victims of attributes to add to its own. And so, Viney took Elian's Armor because it didn't have anything else to take.
In Elian's view, sacrificing a few thousand armor or even more was nothing compared to the benefits Viney brought. The Rejuvenating Roots gave him healing unaffected by the Abyssal Eye's Curse since it wasn't healing magic. In fact, Viney had saved his life with the Rejuvenating Roots. Barkskin could be remade a few times and molded into various tools. His drained Armor wasn't wasted.
However, at present, Viney couldn't use any of its skills. Not since it became sick after the fight with Thalman.
Elian made sure to protect Viney during Thalman's since both of them lack Magical Resilience. Problem was, Elian was plagued by the negative energies of Thalman's Tribulation debt in the aftermath. Since Viney takes nutrition from Elian, it was affected by the negative energies and began to rot.
"Your potions are making Viney level up," Elian said. "But its condition remains the same. Worse, I think. It cannot heal, and its Health is lower than yesterday. We're on a timer here."
"Exactly. Which is why you shouldn't bother yourself with the Grovenians' plight."
"We're still going in the same direction."
"That, we are," said Gideon, dumping ingredients into another cauldron for another experimental potion. "But we have different goals. What if those goals eventually clash?"
Elian chewed his tongue. "We'll see…"
By lunchtime, their party rested for a meal under an ancient tree for shade.
"What's your plan for seeking peace?" Elian asked Maveron as they ate bread again. This time, they had cured meat to make a sandwich. "I hope I'm not being nosy. I'm just wondering if I could help."
"Our plan is simple," said Maveron. "We'll talk with the Sabyn Twins and ask what they want for reparations. There's no complicated plan."
Really? Why then have all these men?
Were they worried that they couldn't reach the top of the mountain to talk with the deities? But if they had to fight their way through, surely there'd be no possible peace. Something wasn't adding up.
"Once we get their demands," Maveron went on, "that'll be when a problem might crop up."
"What sort of problem?" Elian nonchalantly asked, staring at the trees as if he weren't interested.
"The reparations."
"What about them? You think they'll ask for too much?"
Maveron sighed. "We don't know what the Sabyn Twins will ask."
He's lying, Elian thought. He was using the same tone and forced friendliness when he asked them to become bodyguards. Probably not exactly lying, but not telling the full truth either. Maveron knew, or at least suspected, what the Sabyn Twins would demand for peace. Was it connected to having this armed force with him?
"I suppose it's no big deal," Elian said. "You can offer to plant trees. Make it hundreds of trees. Thousands, if possible. I'm sure there are plenty of open spaces you can turn into forests. If you've taken from the forest, repay it just the same, right?"
Maveron raised a finger. He opened his mouth but didn't immediately speak, perhaps mulling over how much to reveal. "It isn't so simple, Penitent Elian. A newly planted seed is not equal to a tree that has stood for centuries. In that time, an old tree has participated long in the web of life, providing shelter and food for hundreds of creeping things and beasts. It has witnessed much history. The Sabyn Twins value things… differently."
"Your people will have to take care of the growing forest then," Elian said before taking a bite of his sandwich.
Maveron chuckled as he looked away. "Yes… That's our burden."
I think I get it, Elian thought. The Grovenians assumed that the Sabyn Twins would ask for something of equal value to whatever trees they cut down. But, as Maveron put it, 'the Sabyn Twins value things differently.' The deities would likely think that a human life couldn't match one tree. Maveron didn't expect the peace talks would go well.
And that was why he brought a group of armed men with him.
To do what, exactly? Elian had to find out.