Path of Dragons

Book 7: Chapter 4: Catching Up

Elijah let out a sigh as he sat in his favorite chair and looked out across the grove. As much as he enjoyed a bit of adventure, he couldn’t deny the contentment of home. It was hard to believe that, only a few short years before, the best the island could offer – in terms of creature comforts – was a mostly collapsed shack. Now, his treehouse was as luxurious as any place he’d ever lived, and it came with the added benefit of feeling more like home than any of his old apartments. Even his childhood home couldn’t compete.

He sipped from his cup of coffee as Carmen sat next to him. She’d let herself inside and helped herself to a cup of coffee. “Didn’t see you at the celebration last night,” she mentioned. “People were asking about you.”

He asked, “Were they asking because they were afraid of what I might do? Or was I genuinely missed?”

“Probably a little of both,” she admitted, leaning forward, with her elbows on her knees. “It wouldn’t kill you to make a few more appearances in the city, though. I think it would help them accept you.”

“I’m not really looking for acceptance,” Elijah stated. “If they’re not afraid of me, they’ll start wondering about what I’m hiding on this island. Maybe only one or two would actually cross the strait, but even that’s too many. I don’t want to have to kill anyone else unnecessarily.”

“Not everyone is out to get you or your grove.”

“I disagree. Or at least that’s how I have to approach it,” he countered. “Most people are probably fine, but it only takes one to screw it up. I can’t risk that – especially not with all the people from Norcastle coming here. I met some of them, and I definitely don’t trust them to keep away. A little fear will keep them away, at least for now.”

Elijah knew that most groves were practically cities unto themselves. They hosted people of every archetype, from Tradesmen to Warriors, and many were tasked with defending the grove as their primary purpose. He didn’t have that luxury. For now, there was only Nerthus, Miguel, and him.

Maybe a few of the townspeople from Ironshore would come to his aid if the grove were threatened, but he couldn’t say he was ready to trust its defense to that hope.

He shrugged. “Maybe. I think that might be my lot in life, though. I mean, for example, I like it in Argos. I think I could be happy there. But they’ve started treating me more like a…I don’t know…but after constructing the temple there, I’ve noticed that they definitely don’t treat me like a normal person,” he explained. “Because for better or worse, that’s not what I am. Not anymore, at least. I’m not sure how to deal with it, either.”

For a few moments, Carmen was silent. Then, after taking another sip of her coffee, she said, “I don’t know how to help with that. You’re one of the most powerful people in the world now. Like a living weapon of mass destruction. People are going to treat you differently. I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it, either.”

Elijah frowned. He’d never set out to attain such a status. Indeed, in his old life, he’d always made life choices based on a combination of apathy, momentum, and a desire to do what everyone expected him to do. In the pre-World Tree Earth, power was usually either political or financial, and he’d never even considered seeking either. And even if so many people in his generation sought fame online, that had never been appealing to him, either.

In short, he was wholly unprepared for the position he currently occupied.

The only solace was that, apparently, the power rankings were a thing of the past. They had only existed as a lead-up to the Trial of Primacy, and now that it was over, the rankings had disappeared. However, his name had sat atop that list for quite some time, so, as far as he knew, he was globally famous. His exploits in the Trial had probably exacerbated that.

It was an odd thing to consider, knowing that people on the other side of the world knew who he was. Calling it unsettling barely scratched the surface of how he felt about it all.

“I don’t want to talk about me. What have you been up to?” he asked. Aside from a brief exchange in the aftermath of the battle, they hadn’t had a chance to catch up.

As it turned out, Carmen had been hard at work on the Great Forge project, but she’d spent quite a lot of time and effort forging weapons and armor for the city’s defenders.

“They turned out better than expected,” she said appraisingly. “I think that’s one of the reasons we didn’t lose more people. The dark elves were pretty well equipped, but either they don’t have anyone at my level, or they didn’t care enough about this army to give them proper equipment. Either way, that’s our benefit.”

“Wait – this army? There are more?” Elijah asked.

“Oh,” she said. “I guess nobody told you, huh? You know about Norcastle, right?” He nodded, and she continued, “Well, they’re spreading out from there. Argos is fine for now, but we’re not sure how long that’ll last. That’s what Miggy said, at least. I still don’t know how he managed to get through. From what he said, there were hundreds of dark elves between Norcastle and Argos.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“He has a strong class,” Elijah said. He’d gotten a little information from Miguel, and what’s more, he could feel a connection to his nephew that hadn’t existed before. It wasn’t a bond, but he could tell that Miguel was tied to the grove.

“It’s more than that. He was visited by some…outsiders,” Carmen explained. Then, she went on to elaborate about an old lady and her manservant, who’d somehow stopped time so that they could train him. “They claimed to be dragons, and the only reason they helped him was because he’s your nephew. So, I guess I owe you another thanks. Without you…”

“You never have to thank me for that kind of thing, Carmen. We’re family. Besides, I didn’t do anything. Not really.”

She sighed, leaning back in her chair. She sipped her coffee again, but she didn’t respond to that statement. He knew how she felt, though. If there was any certainty in the entire world, it was that Carmen had his back, and he had hers. Miguel obviously fell under that same umbrella. Elijah didn’t have any other family, and he would leave no stone unturned when it came to helping them.

Curiously, the same felt true about his companions from the Trial of Primacy. They weren’t family – not quite – but he felt no compunctions about dropping everything to help them. So, after the battle, he’d used the Communications System attached to the Branch and left messages for everyone. That included Sadie and Dat, Ron, Lamar, Oscar, and Benedict. The system as a whole reminded Elijah of texting, but he knew that people would need to access the Branch to even know they had a message waiting for them.

Perhaps some enterprising Tradesman would figure out how to make smartphones work again, because the Communications System was extremely clunky. Still, it was better than nothing.

Elijah and Carmen sat on his balcony, enjoying a couple of cups of coffee together. Eventually, they moved on to lighter subjects, and Carmen explained what she’d been doing with the Great Forge. It all sounded extremely tedious to him, but Elijah supposed that that was the nature of any crafting of note. Greatness lay in the monotonous execution of detail work. That had been true with his various staves, and it was the same with Carmen’s efforts – except on a much larger scale.

After a while, Miguel arrived in the grove. He soon found an open space, where he engaged his training routine. After only a little stretching, he began a sword kata, escalating in speed with every passing second.

“Impressive,” Elijah said, watching his nephew. “He’s grown, right? I’m not just imagining that.”

“He’s taller than you, now.”

“Broader shoulders, too,” Elijah remarked. He grinned at Carmen, saying, “Gets that from his mom, I guess.”

“Not really,” she said. “I have muscles, sure, but that’s years of hard work. When I was his age, I was a petite little thing.”

“You?” asked Elijah. It was difficult to believe, given that Carmen looked like one, big slab of muscle. Sure, she was short – only a little taller than a dwarf, really – but she was stout enough that that never seemed to matter.

“I was a gymnast when I was little,” she said. “Parlayed that into cheerleading, if you can believe it. I cringe a bit when I think about that phase. Once I moved away from home, I got into lifting, and the rest is history.”

“I see,” Elijah said. It was still a little difficult imagining Carmen as a cheerleader, but he supposed anything was possible. People tended to change quite a bit after getting out into the world on their own. “You think you could take him? Miggy, I mean. He seems pretty skilled.”

“Depends. In a spar? He’d probably beat me.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“But?”

“If it was a real fight, I win every time,” Carmen said. “He’s come a long way, but he still tries to fight too pretty. Too controlled. It’s like Colt. That man is extremely skilled, but it wasn’t until after he lost his hand that he realized that fights were about more than just abilities or technique. Real battle is about pushing your self-preservation into the back of your mind and ignoring it. That’s the only way to do what you’ve got to do. Colt figured it out, and so will Miggy – eventually.”

Elijah could hear the warring emotions in her voice. On the one hand, she was trying to assess her son like she would anyone else, and in that respect, her explanation was entirely accurate. But she was still a mother, and she couldn’t look at Miguel objectively, even if she wanted to pretend otherwise.

She wasn’t wrong, though. In Elijah’s experience, winning real battles required a certain lack of caution.

“What about you?” Carmen asked, clearly wanting to change the subject. “What was the Trial of Primacy like?”

Elijah shook his head, then gave her the short and dirty explanation of everything he had endured. He left out some of the worst parts, but he did regale her with some of his highlights.

“Wait, you were literally ripped in half?” she asked, incredulous.

Nodding, Elijah said, “Yeah. I didn’t even get a scar out of it, either. I also dive-bombed a snake-man transcendent at the speed of lightning. I’m no mathematician, but I think that was about the same amount of force as a tactical nuke. Fun fact, though – if you see the word ‘invulnerable’ in an item description, it is not meant to be taken literally. It’s comparative. I can tell you that from experience.”

Carmen opened her mouth to respond, but then thought better of it. After a second or two, she just shook her head and said, “You live a weird life. You know that, don’t you?”

“I’m aware. I was thinking about that recently. How much things have changed, I mean. If you’d have told me a few years ago that I’d end up doing half the stuff I’ve done, I would’ve said you were crazy,” he admitted. “But that’s my life now, I guess. Like you said, it’s weird.”

“What about this Sadie? Is there anything there?”

“Huh?”

“Romantically, I mean.”

“What? No. Of course not. She hates me.”

“It didn’t sound like she hates you. Coming from a woman’s perspective, it sounds a lot like she wanted to hate you, but couldn’t quite get there. Plus, you said she got over the effects of her skill there at the end. And you mentioned her a lot in your little story,” Carmen said. “I’m just saying – it sounds like you like her.”

“This isn’t a soap opera, Carmen.”

“Kind of sounds like one. The hate-to-love thing is a well-worn trope that –”

“Anyway,” Elijah interrupted. “I’m going to go have a little spar with Miguel.”

“You just don’t want to talk about relationship stuff.”

Elijah didn’t argue with that assessment. Instead, he set down his empty mug, then leaped over the twisted-vine railing and strode toward his still-practicing nephew.