Hyperion Evergrowing

Chapter 76: Slumber

A tree, twelve and a half metres tall with smooth ivory bark topped with a canopy of vivid crimson leaves stands at the north most point of a rocky bluff. Said bluff was south of its much larger and less isolated sibling, and both contain the remains of stone and wood structures devastated by the recent battle.

Crimson leaves partially hang over the northern edge of the bluff, the tree’s smooth trunk tilted at a slight angle. At the bottom of a ravine that divides both stone formations lies the wreckage of what was a natural stone archway that spanned the gap.

A seasoned botanist with an unhealthy obsession with plant life that could be described in the most charitable way possible as: ‘unfriendly’, would likely identify the tree as being an evolved variant of the Blight. A carnivorous species of monstrous flora that reproduces parasitically that are common throughout the northern wilderness.

They would then turn around and flee, call a thaumaturge with access to fire skills and have them burn the thing to ashes. Fortunately for Leif, there wasn’t a human in sight. In fact, the nearest humans were towards the coast, hundreds of miles south.

But if for whatever reason a botanist was exploring the undead infested wilderness north of humanity's frontier, and they hadn’t been overcome by terror… Well, they may have noticed something strange.

Because there were several oddities with the tree standing alone on the bluff. There was an abundance of animals living in and around the plant monster's branches. Families of songbirds and rodents called the ivory white branches home, the strange feeling of safety and comfort the tree exuded was highly unusual for its apparent species.

Normally you would expect the immediate area around a Blight tree to be a graveyard of corpses drained of all vitality, and nothing would dare grow within the plant’s territory due to the lack of nutrients in the soil. But for the lone tree atop the bluff, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Plant life thrived all around it. Grasses and ferns broke through hardened stone cracked by powerful roots that dug into the ground and cliffside. The lesser flora seemed to reach for the sky with newly grown stems, their colouration far from the sickly green one might expect.

Moss and vines too latched onto every surface they could, compelled by a benevolent force to multiply and thrive. Ruined buildings had become overgrown, the steep cliffs were practically bursting with life. Where logs had been used for the construction of temporary structures new shoots tentatively began to grow.

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When Leif came to, it was like waking from a long, deep slumber. He couldn’t see, hear or smell, instead his ability to sense the vitality of living beings around him slowly came into focus.

At first it was blurry, Leif could sense tiny blotches of life-force above his centre of mass barely perceptible due to the vagueness of his perception. He slowly expanded his awareness, sensing even more in the plant life that had sprung up around him.

Another of his esoteric senses was the ability to detect intent and emotions. The passage of time was difficult to grasp without visual senses, but even so Leif felt brief flickers of hostile intent brush up against the limits of his perception with surprising frequency.

But these hints of hostile intent weren’t paired with vitality, instead they had a foul, almost sickly energy. But whenever they tried to approach the edges of his domain the intent would flicker and dissipate, the deathly presence likewise being snuffed out.

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It was these minor, testing probes that finally allowed Leif to focus his mind. He knew they were undead, though the thought still took several minutes to cross his mind. Slowly the fog of unconsciousness faded, Leif knew where he was, but the fact he was alive almost seemed strange.

He had fully expected to die in his reckless defence of Far-reach, but here he was, back in the form he had been in prior to his evolution. The idea didn’t thrill him, but he no longer felt the distant spike of alarm, of wrongness while in tree form. Besides, activating [Settle] had all but certainly saved his life.

It was a strange realisation, but being a tree was actually quite comfortable. It was quiet and restful, as if the worries and concerns of everything else were faint specs on the horizon. Then he remembered the strange vision, or was it a dream? The eternal grassland and the overwhelming pressure.

The titanic tree, and the broken woman. Words spoken, though distorted and strange. As he considered the dream he noticed something odd. There was a small, barely noticeable golden thread of connection seemingly attached to his soul. It stretched away from his mind’s eye, disappearing into the distance. If it weren’t for the still, almost meditative mindset being in his current state had forced him to enter, Leif doubted he would have noticed at all.

Mentally he prodded the connection. It thrummed like the string of an instrument, then the sound changed to a low, ominous buzzing. The pressure returned, pressing down on him like a blanket made of steel. Leif recoiled from the thread, mentally releasing his touch, he wasn’t eager to relive his experiences from the vision.

How strange, that I still seem to be connected to that place. Leif mused. He returned his attention to his surroundings and stretched out his perception like he would normally stretch his limbs. There were animals in his branches, and vegetation all around. It reminded him of before, of the decade he lived while barely being aware of himself.

And strangely enough, it didn’t bother him. He now knew what he was, where he was, and why he was there. Leif pulled back his perception and sharpened his focus, just because he was no longer blindly searching for something he didn’t quite understand didn’t mean he could stay stagnant.

There were things he needed to do, places to go, people to see. But he was still exhausted and sore. Even if he wasn’t dead, the battle had done a serious amount of damage to both his body and soul, his cultivated energy was fitfully low and with an exploratory scan of his soul he noted [Healing Palm] was still broken.

Warning! Multiple skill choices pending! Make selections within 12 hours or skills will be randomly chosen!

A system window popped up into his awareness. Leif mentally squinted at the prompt. There were several things that didn’t make sense, he wasn’t certain how long he had been trapped within the vision, it was obviously longer than twenty four hours. He had even grown to a size eclipsing his previous maximum as an unevolved Blight tree, and he had spent over a decade in that form.

Twelve hours... Surely I can rest for a little longer… Eight, no nine hours at least. He grumbled internally, minimising the prompt and letting himself relax. Just because there were things to do, didn’t mean they were urgent.

Warning! Multiple skill choices pending! Make selections within 6 hours or skills will be randomly chosen!

Ugh, that wasn’t nine hours. Leif mumbled, feeling the dull ache throughout his body return as his consciousness focused. You’ve already waited weeks, if not months, stop pressuring me…

Leif tried to return to his restful slumber, but he couldn’t. No matter how much it pained him, he couldn’t deny the fact of his existence. That fact being he found it extremely enjoyable to see his numbers go up, human, tree, he suspected it didn’t matter. Leif let the system expand the prompts he needed to check over, and was promptly overwhelmed by the sheer number of notifications he had to read, and choices he had to make.

What the hells did I do? He grumbled, looking over the almost two dozen windows. Oh yeah, I killed a big insect. Was that really enough for all… what? Six, seven levels? I have to pick four new skills? He thought mentally scanning through the information.

He side-eyed the ‘six hours remaining’ notification and let out a completely metaphorical sigh. I shouldn’t have waited so long, whoops.