“Good.” The goblina smiled up at me. “Now, we go tell you that you’re back.” She turned away and started walking briskly.
“Tell me that I’m back?” I repeated to make sure I heard correctly.
“Mm.” She grunted and nodded. “You’ve been waiting a long time.”
An ominous feeling hounded my steps as I gave up and followed the little green beauty.
“So where am… I... waiting for me?” I asked, my own brain rebelling against the nonsensical question.
“There.” She replied, pointing down into the jungle valley far below, to one tree that rose above the rest like a mature tree over grass. As I judged the distance, the actual scale of the thing registered and I was dumbstruck. It was bigger than the celestial oak, and not by a small margin. How in the hell had I missed that during the fall? “Heart Tree.” She added.
“Alright then.” I judged the distance and summoned my wings. “Let’s go.”
“Ug’gut no fly.” The goblina held her hands out with widening eyes.
“Oh don’t worry.” I put on a scary grin and reached out for her. “Don’t you trust me?” She let out a squeak when I scooped her up and leaped from the mountain top.
I winced as sharp nails dug into my shoulder, but the expression on her face when I looked down was well worth it. A look of terror mixed with excitement, like a kid on their first rollercoaster was pasted on her impish face. I sympathized with her terror, but if I could get over my fear of flying so could my super-goblin follower.
A wave of hot, discordant energy rolled over us unexpectedly, causing my wings to tip slightly. I looked in the direction of the source as I winced slightly again at the redoubled death grip on my shoulder. A black, churning storm had sprung up on the horizon that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Red lightning and blasts of energy exploded out, so intense they could be felt dozens of miles away.
“Orc and dragon… having an argument.” Ug’gut managed to say. “Probably going to attack after they settle it.”
“You don’t sound concerned.” I said, returning my focus to our continued gliding descent.
“Ug’gut is stronger.” There was no hint of arrogance in the statement. It was delivered with the same energy as ‘fish live in water’.
I looked back in the direction of the apocalyptic storm that was apparently an ‘argument’, then at the goblin clinging to my chest for dear life. With a shake of my head, I prepared to land.
We touched down in a small clearing still a few miles away from the huge tree, though I could feel that we were already under its canopy far up in the atmosphere. Ug’gut breathed a huge sigh and knelt down. She scooped up a handful of soil, then brought it to her lips and kissed it. Was she apologizing to the ground? It sure looked like it.
“I hated to fly too, you know.” I said with a pat to her red mane.
“Of course.” She looked up with a fierce blush, reaching for the spot on her head that I had touched. “Polemios is the blood drenched soil itself. Why fly when all things must return to your embrace?”
“Sounds like a convenient acrophobic rationalization.” I took the lead and set off in the direction of the tree. “I’ll be sure to bring it up with my so called self.”
I could sense the presences of many goblins, watching us from a safe distance. Soon, simple civilization came into view. It was the best version of a goblin village I could imagine while still retaining the aesthetic. The buildings were mostly underground, and my senses told me the network of tunnels and chambers was indeed massive. The above ground construction was natural looking mud and thatch embellished with fantasy-sized bones, skulls, and pelts.
“Seriously, how did I not see this ridiculous thing from the start?” I asked mostly rhetorically, so I wasn't surprised when I received no response.
Towering above was our apparent destination. It was far too large to even identify with a species, not that I’m an expert on trees or anything. The base of it had dark roots that rose above the landscape like rolling hills, leading up to the main trunk with a circumference that could be measured in miles. Rivers of glowing golden sap ran between the canyon sized cracks in the bark, forming luminescent pools that bathed the region in gentle light. The canopy was lost in the sky, and the village construction halted a half-mile away from the trunk itself.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
I could feel the reason why, and didn’t need to ask. A type of radiation emitted from the tree that made intense sunlight seem like a tiny candle by comparison. As much as it repelled the goblins the closer they tried to go, it pulled at me almost desperately. I was so fixated on the tree, and the growing attention I felt from it that I barely noticed that a large crowd of goblins had started to form in a semi-circle all around me. One goblin sported several huge lumps on his green scalp along with a broken nose and two black eyes. I smirked in spite of the situation, realizing that must be the one that ran away from me earlier.
No words were necessary from this point on. The tree beckoned, and all of the gathered goblins had taken a knee with bowed heads. Tears glistened on many of the green cheeks, and the emotions of the collective tribe actually hit me quite hard for some reason. I wondered what kind of person I must have been to evoke such worship. I was curious before, now I was determined to find out.
I took a step into the field of brilliance. I knew instinctively that no other being, mortal or divine, had set foot here in literal ages. A faint scent triggered a powerful wave of nostalgia. It was just like visiting grandma, the smell of coffee and comfort food, the smell of pure sanctuary. My feet moved on their own, my eyes were pulled upward, and I saw something drifting gently down toward me. It was the rough shape of a maple leaf, only it was the size of a bath towel. I held out my arms to catch it without really thinking. A wave of tingling energy flowed from the fallen leaf and I examined it more closely.
Liquid golden energy ran through the veins of the deep red leaf, still pulsing like a heartbeat but slowing down rapidly. A foreign memory suddenly forced itself into my mind. Vivid images and primal terror overcame me, whisking me away into the perspective of another...
I was running for my life, far too close to the ground, blood pounded in my sharp ears which could hear the hungry predator hot on my heels. I fought my own instincts to flee into the safety of my burrow. The babies were there, as was my mate. I instead veered out of the brush into an open field of sweet smelling grass. I continued to run, my mind blank of everything but the hungry monster now closing the gap between us. My death was here. Any second, wicked jaws would snap around my hips. Sharp teeth would tear in, and this horrid dream would finally end.
No. As if a switch had been thrown, my willpower flared to life. I would seek life in the face of death. I would struggle until the very end. I reached the end of the field of grass, where a mossy stone wall loomed. I leaped with my powerful hind legs, a new type of adrenaline fueling me.
With a sudden pivot I tamped my furry paws against the mossy wall and rebounded. I found my focus as I leaped straight toward the confused face of the towering beast. The common red fox wasn’t prepared for the savage assault I unleashed then. My rodent teeth sank into its black nose, and blood filled my mouth. The involuntary yelp of pain was music to my ears.
Sadly, I wasn’t meant to win this battle. The pain I felt as the fox snapped down on my delicate rib cage was mercifully brief. In this moment hovering between life and death, I felt the gaze of something far greater than myself. My fading sight found focus, and there in the overcast sky was a ghostly face that encompassed the heavens. Bliss and recognition flowed through me as I met those gray eyes. Someone had seen my last stand after all. Someone knew that the blood on my tongue was not all mine. Someone knew that I had not died in terror.
With a sudden sense of a shattering reality I returned to my own skull, the taste of the fox blood still on my tongue. I held the leaf close, realizing what it represented. It was the grimly triumphant memory of a single brave bunny.
“The blood of your foe is a worthy last meal, little one. May you be rewarded on the next go around.” I instinctively said a private prayer for the brave soul and something odd happened.
A sense of wordless joy burst through my mind, and the leaf dissolved into golden dust that suddenly spiraled back up toward the canopy as though caught by an updraft. I also felt my Soul Energy drain by a single point which regenerated in the following second. I looked around, putting some things together and was instantly overwhelmed.
Leaves were piled so deeply all around me, most had lost their light. Some still pulsed weakly. Others fell from the sky, still pulsing strong. Was every single leaf the memory of a valiant struggle in need of some simple recognition? Dread weighed heavily on me. This was not a power I would ever ask for. So much suffering could be alleviated with so little effort, and yet I found myself paralyzed before the billions, or maybe trillions of unfairly forgotten moments.
With no answers coming to mind, I decided to simply move forward. The tree still tugged at my feet, and I couldn’t afford to simply settle into an eternity of observing termites standing up to wasps or something.
A clear path formed ahead of me as I walked, as if by magic. Even when I approached a small lake of golden glowing sap, a root bridge emerged from the depths allowing me to cross comfortably. I didn’t need any directions, my feet were guided by a sense of familiarity I couldn’t account for. I passed hundreds of trees that would have been mightily impressive anywhere else, and knew intrinsically that many of them were actually incredibly powerful wood spirits - treants standing eternally vigilant and stoic.
With every step, my knowledge was expanded organically. It was like passing an old convenience store from your hometown and thinking ‘oh man I loved that place, they had bulk candy for a penny each!’. Each new memory chained to two others like a spiderweb. After awhile, I finally reached the proper base of the Heart Tree. Without any real thoughts, I put my hand on the primordial bark and spoke.
“I’m back.” My voice was unexpectedly resonant, it was only then that I noticed how hushed it had been.
A message popped up for the first time in a very long time.
My mind blanked in absolute shock, a million half-formed, outraged thoughts fought to reach my mouth first and all that came out was a strangled half scream. Why!? Everyone I loved, and everything that had happened was just… Before I could fully plunge over the cliff of insanity, another message blipped into existence over the top of the first.
“BWAHAHA LOOK AT YOUR FACE! I’m kidding. That’s for all those ‘poser’ cracks I’ve been putting up with.
Anyways, this is just a friendly warning/exposition dump from your #1 goddess. Shit is about to go down, like NOW-NOW. So I’ll come clean about what you’ve probably already pieced together. Your soul (at least most of it) belongs to my old washed up burnout of a big brother. You’re still you, no need to change your name for like the fourth time or whatever. Yes I did do some meddling with probability to nudge things to where they are now. No I can’t just tell you everything. Dad’s rules, and if you could remember what a prick OUR actual dad is, you’d wanna dig up your earth dad to apologize to him.
Now you need to climb up to that little treehouse of yours and recover the package you left for yourself. No I don’t know what’s in it. I’m not allowed in there, and that’s all I can say. Trust your gut and hustle your ass.” -Ariel
I read the message with less shock than I was expecting, and more relief than I thought was even possible. I was pissed about the prank, but in light of the realization that I wasn’t about to wake up in my nasty chair and prison of fat, and that my family hadn't just been some disposable coded hallucination I could just chuckle it off. I guess it was a pretty good one.
“Thanks, and yeah you really got me.” I said out loud, sensing that she could hear me. “I owe you one. Make that two.” I added, craning my neck to look up at the impossible climb ahead of me.
At least I would have plenty of time to think. That thought was the first of many as I reached up for my first handholds in the bark. I could sense unspeakable amounts of raw life energy pulsing through the tree, and radiating from the freely running golden sap in the nearby river-sized rivulet. My fantasy life definitely seemed to have a theme so far. Mostly just cats and big ass trees.