Jack came back with more honey mead and a plate full of smaller plates. The food on the smaller plates was all cut into small pieces. Joya was complaining on the way about the Greenie's habit of making every food small and bitesized. The pork bites were cooked to a crispy outside with a tender inner layer of fat and meat. Chen had discovered he really liked the food, and given his new life, maybe he would settle down and buy a pork farm.

  Moxley was silent. The idea of sitting at the table with a resurrected Gru Noblemind thrilled him and scared him in equal parts. Here was the original apostle of the green. The first to recognize that the Forest was truly alive in the same sense any man or woman was -- over 600 years ago.

  "You died in 264au," Moxley said to Chen, who had his mouth full of three pieces of the crispy food "do you remember any of the time you were communing in the forest?"

  "In pieces. It's coming back slowly in flashes and dreams." Chen said in a very neutral matter of fact way.

  "By chance sir" said the quiet Greenie to the right of Moxley named Lance "do you remember where you hid your treasure?". Moxley shoved him in the rib and Lance belted out an innocent "What!? Everyone wants to know that one!".

  "My treasure? Enlighten me please" Chen said with a smirk.

  "Yes. Hidden. With you." the forest said in his inner mind.

  "With me? Do you mean?" Chen said aloud and pointed outside.

  "Yes Gru. It's your treasure and has always been with you, and is with you now." the voice said, this time in a less mysterious way than usual.

  "So you can talk." Chen whispered to himself. "I think I may know where it is." he said while looking at a tall Tekniak man standing at the bar staring at him.

  "Who is that?" Chen asked Moxley who was trying to hide his excitement in his face.

  Moxley turned his head to see who Chen was speaking about when he suddenly got up and started to move toward the man yelling "What do you want here Raxen!? You are no longer part of us, so why are you here?" Raxen stood unmoved at the bar. He wore a dark poncho like cape with his hood down behind his neck, his pointed ears were thin and high. He had a skinny brow that matched his slim profile. He stood at about 6 feet tall, just an inch taller than the man yelling at him, except Moxley had broad shoulders where as this man was very thin.

  "I'm still a Brother of the Green I only choose to follow our path in a different way. Information is my strength brother." Raxen said drawing a cup to his lips.

  "You would sell your own brothers to gain this 'knowledge'! This is not the path!" Moxley said, spittle at his mouth, as he came to a head with the man.

  "Ask your friend, Chen if my ears don't deceive me," he pointed at Chen who was walking up to them "the forest hasn't forsaken me. Trading information that is known for information unknown is not a sin. I'm as much a brother of the Green as you are". He shifted his gaze as Chen approached.

  "I am Raxen Molt, Brother of Green, Messenger of the Telle. And you are Chen Doe, correct?" he asked the latter as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  "I was. How do you know that name? How long has the Telle been here?" Chen asked, relaxing his hands to his left hip where his daggers were.

  "The Telle is everywhere my friend and I can hear quite the distance. " Raxen said while he pointed to where the party had been seated then moved his hands openly to the bar "So the funny thing is that I've been sent to recruit some of the best trackers the Greens have to offer to go and look for the remains of a Chen Doe. But yet, here you come and find me. The Mistress of the Telle has ordered your body returned to her at the request of your family, which I believe are in Myrsport right now."

  "Who is in Myrsport? Who is this Mistress!? " Chen said as his anger bubbled to the surface.

  A hand raised, Raxen continued "I am to bring the body back to the family for funeral rights of some sort -- they called it resurrection which is a weird thing to call a death -- but we have some weird customs ourselves here so who's to judge."

  Chen looked at Gloria. "Why wouldn't they have resurrected me already from her existing profile? They wouldn't need my body, unless..." he said answering his own question. "Gloria you're data. Does it have my profile in it?" he asked the blonde who was now by his side.

  "Yes, of course it does, or I wouldn't have been able to cross reference the historical logs for you. Its a full backup of the data that thing had when she died." she said.

  "Interesting. I..." he said and stopped for a second to think "I think she may have lost my profile somehow. Which means there isn't another Chen running around after all". A smile crept unto his face as he said that.

  Chen grabbed Raxen's shoulder as they began to walk toward the door to pick up his polearm and squeezed his shoulder. "Raxen, you have just told me that my family is in the hands of the most notorious criminal in the Last City. I think it wise for you to come with me and answer all my questions." he said.

  Raxen composure dropped for an instant and looked nervous as he nodded his assent. The tall man looked over at Moxley who now had a smug smile on his face. Raxen smiled once at Chen and said "I think that's a marvelous idea.".

  Moxley smile faded and he was reluctant to move but did so anyway. "Where are we going Chen, Myrsport is 10 hours away on horse and it's already nightfall. You can't seriously be off to it now." and shot a questioning look to Gloria who simply shrugged.

  "No. Not tonight. We will be off after we collect Joya later. Raxen here will tell me all he knows about this contract of his and then contact the Telle and inform them that he's found a solid lead to the body. We will set up a meeting then. I'm hoping you and some of your Greenie's will join of course, but I understand if you cannot. But right now, I want to go see this fabled treasure I've apparently forgotten about." Chen popped a pork bite in his mouth and ascended the staircase to the Pyre area.

  Moxley couldn't help but smile at the idea of finally seeing the Treasure of Gru that the forest had often whispered about.

  To the fire

  The night was dark, the silhouettes of the trees were barely recognizable in the distant edges of the clearing. Ripples of electricity could be seen running through the tree limbs. The seven walls surrounding the pyre were covered in shadows of black and grey as the flame continued it's 600 year vigil.

  In the dark, flowers hovered in the air all about the Pyre area -- floating on the flow of the endless wind that circulated around. The petals were black with a metallic glint that shone in the fire light. Chen had noticed that smaller flowers of various colors also floated on the winds. "

  How many flowers are up there? I see the black ones are the majority but there are others right?" Chen asked Moxley.

  "Yes, there are 8 flowers of different rarity, collectively called Lamentations. One flower for each half week of Gru's, umm your, funeral viewing before the pyre was lit."

  "Gru was another man long ago. I'm just me now. Four weeks is a long time to display a dead man. 56 days of decay must have really kept the pilgrims away."

  "Ha, you would think, but no, there was no decay. The forest made sure of that"

  "Interesting" Chen said as he fell silent.

  Chen and his coterie walked toward the middle of the pyre. The pyre had looked just like in his memories. Vines ran around an Oval shape about 3 feet high 4 feet wide and 7 feet long. "Looks like a giant wicker basket" Chen thought to himself.

  "OK, ready? What next?" Chen asked aloud but was really talking to the Forest.

  "Go into the fire and pull out the treasure" the forest said as clearly as if standing right next to him.

  "Oh, If it's just that easy why hasn't anyone tried that before?" he said at a lower whisper.

  "They have, but have burned up in the attempt." the Forest said, with the hint of a humor in it's voice.

  "Just great" Chen said in a whisper.

  At one side of the pyre a set of five wide steps had been constructed the length of the pyre. Chen climbed the five steps and as he got closer the fire seemed to lower itself. When he got to the top step the fire extinguished.

  Chen breathed an air of relief as he saw the fire die down. At the top step he looked down into the now empty basket expecting to see 3 feet of space below him, but he only saw 1 foot where a giant vine ran through the middle of the basket. The vine seemed to move up out of the way as he looked at it.

  "Don't touch the fire-vine Chen. There is only so much I can do about thermodynamics" the forest whispered in his ear.

  "Got it. Hey all, don't touch that big vine -- it's hot." Chen told Moxley and Gloria who were by his side.

  Where the vine used to be, a part of the basket was disassembling itself. A large compartment was opened where a metallic shine could be seen. The grey glint of the hidden room seemed to be made of glass and Chen couldn't figure out what it was.

  "So Gru really liked glass huh? This was the mystical treasure that has managed to last for ages?" he thought to himself.

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  "Is that glass?" Moxley said with a hint of disappointment in his voice?

  Chen sighed with a bit of annoyance at having his thoughts echoed.

  "Looks more like stone" Raxen said as he looked over Moxley to get a glimpse.

  "Is it safe to touch?" Chen asked to them all.

  "Yes, claim what you asked us to protect" the forest said in response.

  Chen put his hand in and pulled out a black glossy slate of glass. it was about the size of his forearm and half that width.

  "Looks like a nicer version of your data pad Gloria" Moxley said to the now very happy woman.

  Chen looked at Gloria in a quizzical way. "You know what this is don't you?"

  "Yes!" She screeched.

  "This is going to be more interesting for you than it will be for me, isn't it?" Chen asked with a tired expression.

  "Umm, Yea! Most definitely!" she said discarding the insult.

  "So what is it Glory?" Moxley asked

  Chen hadn't heard that nickname for Gloria before and thought the way Moxley said it was much too casual in it's use.

  "It's a Calder -- object of legend, infinite knowledge stores, and... it's here!" she said in a squeal as if winning a lottery.

  "Quantum Atomic Layer Data Repositories to be exact" Chen said and they all looked at him like he had three heads.

  "Yea, don’t know. It just came to me. Also there are 14 more of them in there, just in case thats important or something" he said pointing at the hole.

  "Are any of them functional?" Gloria asked, her face going a shade lighter in the disbelief of the moment.

  "All of them. Seems a young Gru Noblemind backed up a lot of Golden Age data -- for use at a later time." Chen said

  Thankfully Moxley caught Gloria as she fainted before she could fall off the three foot staircase. Raxen looked at the pads in a curious way.

  "Chen, is there a chance I can have a copy of one of those?"

  "Possibly. Depends on how the outcome of our adventure goes doesn't it?

  A hover cart was brought over and the pads were quickly and delicately removed by a cadre of the Greenies in white robes and torches. Moxley took care to ensure the security around the transfer.

  Once the treasure was removed everyone stood by the garden and simply looked at the darkness of the pyre which was not burning for the first time in over 600 years. Electric ripples could be seen running throughout the outline of the forest. The white robed Greenies talked openly about reigniting it, but others had said it's sacrilege to force upon the forest an action that it did not initiate.

  Chen stood there and asked the forest "Are you going to light the pyre again? It seems to mean a lot to these people".

  "Yes. Let them think they have a say in it." the forest said in a matter of fact way.

  Chen thought that over for a minute and accepted it for the manipulation that it was.

  He instructed the Greenies at the hover cart to take it to Glorias rooms in the Inn that Joya was at when Moxley came over and told him that the temple will always have rooms for Gru Noblemind and his people. It was late and Chen didn't feel like arguing, so he simply instructed the team to take the pads to Glorias room in the temple and for a runner to bring Joya and their stuff back as soon as possible.

  As he was walking back to the temple he looked back to see the the Green figures in the torch light praying before the pyre just as the it reignited itself.

  And one makes five.

  Chen sat in the common room of the temple inn drinking Honey Mead and eating those delicious pork bites while listening to Moxley all night. As it turned out, the Guardians of the Green were nearly 500 years old, and was more local government than band of wise men.

  The order was broken up like an upside down pyramid; with the top being more visible and influential to the public than the bottom.

  The Green Guard and the Keepers of the Pyre were at the top of the inverted pyramid. Young men and woman grew up dreaming about joining the Green just to be part of these two units.

  The Green Guards were the face of the heroic Green, charged with law and order, patrolling the Forest and the Bazaar, ever aware of possible dangers that awaited them.

  Whereas the Keeper of the Pyre were the symbol of hope and belief. Keeping an ever present vigil at the funeral Pyre of Gru Noblemind, which many believe would return and bring the technologies and peace of the Golden Age with him.

  In the middle of the organization were the Devout who were mostly initiates, waiting until a position on either the Pyre or the Guard opened up; while others, like Jack, made a career in the obscurity of the position. These Devout had the chore of receiving Donations, Offerings, and other various commercial ventures on the behalf of the Order.

  The next division would be the Scribes who followed in Gru Noblemind footsteps and chose a life of solitude and study.

  Above the entire order would be the Council of the Green which consisted of each units leader and man voted in by them as their Chairman, whom they called The Regent of Gru who handled the majority of the bureaucratic dealings.

  Ironically enough The Regent of Gru was an ideological fill-in for Gru Noblemind, until he was resurrected. This put Chen into a bit of a bind since he was in fact the resurrected Gru Noblemind and in this moment he was walking into the Great Hall where the Council were waiting seated in a vast circular table. It was morning and food sat on the table family style. The aroma of a pleasant smell had immediately caught his attention and made him hungry. An open seat was by Moxley’s side. The young man who had come to get him stood by him dressed in a Green Guard uniform of the comfortable looking hunter gear that they all seemed to wear. He seemed a pleasant type, if a bit shy and not talkative. The only thing he had said was that Chen was wanted in the Great Hall and the mhad given him time to get dressed.

  “Presenting the honorable, umm, Gru Noblemind.” The guard said. No one had addressed him as Gru Noblemind, not even Moxley — not in the way of salutations at least. And he had hoped it wouldn’t become common knowledge, but rumor had a way of spreading faster than a forest fire.

  “Ah, Yes. The supposed Reincarnate has joined us in the flesh” said an older gentleman of about 40 years old. He wore a sash around his shoulder over his hip - his sign of rank Chen guessed.

  “Seems every generation has one or two Gru Noblemind come back from the dead.”

  Chen stopped waiting to be asked to sit and simply took the seat near Moxley to some raised eyes of the others. Moxley simply nodded to Chen while he ate an odd crescent shaped yellow fruit.

  “Banana, Chen. You’ll love it” Moxley said with his mouth full.

  “Thanks. And as per the resurrection. I was a Herald - we tend to die and resurrect a lot. By the way, I am called Chen Doe now. Gru Noblemind is in my past and he does not define me” he said.

  “So you do not deny your claim of being the resurrected Gru Noblemind? It is a serious claim and a serious penalty” said the older man, with a pearl of joy in his eye.

  "I’m assuming you are the Regent?” Chen said as he sliced the banana with his solid dagger and sniffed at the black liquid in the serving carafes.

  “Kafe. Like the Bees, the Forest brought it back. I warn you Chen” Moxley said with a grin on his face, “It’s been said to be addictive. Can’t go back after that.”

  Chen filled his cup and took a deep breath of the evanescent aroma. Just as he was about to sip it Moxley put his hand out to him.

  “You need to put some of that honey into it Chen. Otherwise you’ll grow hair in places you’ve never had, it’s so bitter”

  Jack and another man in a white Keepers robe laughed at that. Each remembering their first taste of the bitter brew.

  “Seriously!” The regent yelled. “You act like this man is one of us already. Have you even seen proof that he is Gru Noblemind. If he’s so sure then lets throw him on the Pyre and see if the forest rescues him!”

  “Already done” said Moxley in a nonchalant tone waving his hand in a flutter. The Keeper in the white robe nodded. His name was Galtric and had a long white beard and matching long hair. A tall man with kind blue eyes, he was a stark contrast to Moxley’s dark green tunic and loose fitting pants.

  “It seems he found the Treasure last night. Had many of my people dismayed at the prospect of another suicide. Those things do come hard on my folk. He went right up to the pyre, Moxley was with him I’ve heard, and quelled it — just like that.” He said snapping his fingers “Underneath the vines laid the treasure all this time; data pads was it?”

  “Well that treasure belongs to the Guardians of the Green so don’t think you can take them!” The regent harrumphed, his eyes reddening at he frustration of the moment.

  “Actually they belong to Gru” Moxley said pointing to Chen with his hand “they were his on death and are his by right”.

  “I say, umm, Master Chen, is it?” Said a smaller man, named Brewn, with a small voice, who sat near Chen and the Regent, “this order has always contested that if the treasure were to be found, it was the property of the order, but given that Gru himself has found them, this does put us into a quandary. And you say these are ancient data pads? My brothers and sisters have dedicated their lives — their only life Chen — to studying these types of things. Quite the dilemma for us”

  “I’ve placed Gloria Ryder in charge of the data pads. I’m sure that she will be willing to share access to the Calders...” at which point Brewn spit out his coffee “... with the Researchers of the Order.” Chen said losing the focus of his last sentence. “I’ll be sure to tell her to do so.” He added at the end for safety sake.

  “Oh my a Calder, oh my my my. That is a treasure! Yes we can take rotations I’m sure of it. Maybe a task force or ...” Brewn said as he was interrupted.

  “Brewn” Moxley said as he looked around toward the man.

  “Oh, umm, yes?”

  “Not a Calder”

  “Oh? No? But he just said” Brewn looked at Chen.

  Chen took a napkin and passed it to Brewn.

  “Oh thank you” the small man said “ but didn’t you...”

  “Brewn...” catching the man’s attention again “...Calders, 15 of them” he said stressing the s “Now, don’t feint!”. Three guards ran to Brewn as he toppled from his chair.

  “This does not bring the matter to a close!” The Regent said and looked over to Brewn “Just give him some air and some sniffing salts.” The regent stood up looking to his side for a moment and then put his hands on the table.

  “It is the Office of the Regent, and the Regent alone, that is to verify and accept the Gru Noblemind reincarnate and” he said with teeth closed and an anger radiating through his face. “I do not. I charge him with heresy and punish him to a pointing of the vines. Take these pads from this Gloria Ryder, and if she contest point her as well!”“

  Now guards take this man away, and any that go to protect him” he said as he stared at Moxley who sat eating his food the same as Chen.

  Silence ensued while the two ate and spoke in low tones about the Regents red face, and if Brewn would be ok.

  “Guards do as your told!” The Regent screamed aloud and the guards started to surround Chen while keeping an eye on Moxley who was technically their commander.

  “So it would be really helpful if you did something to show this guy I’m me — oh umm don’t kill him. Maybe just lift him up a bit on a podium he thinks he deserves? I don’t know can you do that?” Chen thought to himself.

  The Regent stood at the table looking at the two men with disdain. His hands were still on the table holding up his weighty proportion and sweat was dripping from his face. A wicked smile had almost crossed his face.

  Polearms made of earth and wood shot up from the ground around the regent. Each polearm was about half his height and had a blunt head at the top encircling him in a 3 foot perimeter. He looked around him frightened by the sudden imprisonment and let out a whelp just as the floor below him lifted him to the ceiling 14 feet in the air.

  “I've asked the Forest for help. It seems to have responded.” Chen said to Moxley, looking up to the man in the rafters.

  The others had moved away from the undisturbed table and stood gaping at the Regent as he cried for help.

  “Yes, yes... Gru has done this before in the 'Fable of Eight' -- marvelous! Brewn said as he retook his seat "he always prefers non-aggression".

  Moxley shooed the guards away and they went back to their stations with the look of awe on their faces.

  “Well Regent. Have I come back?” Chen asked

  “Yes, The Office recognizes Gru Noblemind. Now let me down... please”

  Chen quietly asked the Forest to restore the floor and the Regent was gently brought down.

  “So first line of business I guess,” Chen said “Regent; the role of Regent is no more and should never have been, as I was never a king in the first place. But we still need an administrator to keep the feet of government running. Do you agree?”

  All heads nodded. “I will let you vote in your administrator and decide on the specifics of term limits and such, but mind you that I will also let you know if the Forest has anything to say about it.”

  Coming up in Chapter 10:

  Chapter 10 is the last of the original 2017 draft, but not the end of the story! Please leave a comment, revisit earlier chapters, and share the story. Your support and feedback help guide what comes next. ??