As Kage’s Treants trundled along in their search, they would pass various types of wildlife– though this wildlife seemed to pay them no mind. Perhaps, being plants, the predators saw no interest in them. After all, Treants contained no meat. As for the herbivores? Well…they certainly weren’t used to consuming flora which moved like fauna. Whether Kage had taken this into account or not, sending the Treants into the forest instead of himself was a wise decision beyond simply using them to avoid being out in the rain.
If he were to look through the Treants as they passed the animals, he’d certainly notice that the fauna on the island were strange, even by Ælheim’s standards. Odd colors and patterns on otherwise recognizable creatures, extra limbs, scales or fur on animals that usually possessed the opposite, so on. The Treants even scuttled by a deer with three heads. Still, they didn’t act sick, rabid or mindless, rather, their behavior was standard for what they were…it was as if the ambient Aether in the air here had warped them over time. Perhaps that was why no Æld’Norai settled here beyond the odd research expedition?
After quite a bit more time bumbling about, the Treants would eventually encounter the oddest looking tree yet. While the other trees of the forest here had iridescent bark, almost technicolor in some places, with bright, varied leaves, every inch of this sprawling oak was black as night. The Treants would assume this was the ‘stygian’ from which they must extract ‘sap’ given the definition of these words imposed upon them by Kage’s knowledge.
They did not, however, know how their master wished to have the sap extracted or within what vessel he wished to have it stored. As such, the Vitæ would get the feeling through his Tethers that his creations needed input from him on how to proceed.
Meanwhile, Kage would’ve had the time to make it all the way down the dark cave hall towards that strange glow in the time it took his minions to get to that point. As he walked, the light would illuminate more of the cavern and he’d gradually see more and more plantlife and fungus dotting the walls and floors all ‘round him, slowly subsuming the stone almost entirely. This helped his vision, too, since the Saol they contained would provide his Lifesight with additional sources of soft light. He would eventually find himself in a large, open cavern , quite a bit better lit than the cave he’d been walking through before but far from bright. It was as beautiful as it was strange– bubbles rose in the air as if he were under water, though water flowed all ‘round him. The flora, too, looked aquatic, lit by familiar bioluminescence and gentle, glowing motes floating through the air. In the center, there was a large, glassy body of water– opaque, but a gorgeous shade of cyan. On the other side of the cavern, he’d notice another entrance. Had both of those pathways circled around to lead to this same place?
But before he could really think about that, Kage would quickly come to realise he was not alone. The previously still surface of the water would begin to ripple, and then before the ælf could react, the head and upper body of a large dragon emerged. With slick skin, corals growing from its body and a watery mane, it would be obvious to a man with Kage’s education that the aquatic elements of the cavern were a result of the dragon’s Grist. Its eyes narrowed.
“...and who might you be, wanderer?” it would ask in a low voice, booming and serpentine.
How precarious, this– was the dragon Ævergreen? Did it live alone? If not, did other dragons live here? People? Of what sort? Kage ought to tread carefully, unpredictable as the results could be should he misstep.
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