Chapter 278: Personal History (2/2)
The tree man nodded. ”That's a bit of a story, actually. I was born to a tribe of nature worshippers that lived in the Forest of Shadows. You know the types. Big on recycling and planting trees. Used renewable resources for pretty much everything. Real hippies. They all seemed to believe that they lived in some kind of paradise simply because they didn't have to worry about air pollution or some such thing. I, having once enjoyed the benefits of modern society, found it pretty damn depressing. So, when I was old enough to survive on my own, I decided to set out and find my fortune.”
”Must have been tough.” Mike remarked, recalling how his own experiences in the forest went.
”Well, truth be told, I didn't get far. About twenty kilometers from my village, I ran into a bunch of Druids by accident. Interrupted some kind of important ritual, actually. I learned later it was supposed to balance nature in the forest for a decade. With my interference, they would have to start over and prepare for it again, which would take weeks of effort. You should have seen the Grand Druid's face, he looked ready to skin me alive.” He gave a nostalgic sigh. ”Anyway, while they were debating about what they should do about me, one of them used some kind of magic crystal and found out I had the potential to be a Druid myself. Since they seemed to have an issue with recruitment, they finally decided to let me off the hook, provided I join their order for the rest of my life.”
”That's a bit harsh, but at least you got to be a Druid, right? That should have been pretty cool.”
Reber nodded. ”I thought so at the time, too. Figured it would be all throwing fireballs and turning into bears and whatnot...You know, now that I think about it, I never did get to turn into a bear...Anyway, it's a lot more about learning herb lore and animal behavior than you'd think. Hell, I spent a full month learning how the Lunagloss flower responded to different levels of moonlight, simply to figure out how to extract the nectar in order to make a mild analgesic. Suffice it to say, after a few years of this, I'd had enough.”
”So, you made your escape?”
”Like a pro...or at least I'd like to say that. Truth be told I only managed to get away for a few hours before they tracked me down. Didn't take them long to hog tie me and start dragging me back.”
”Ah, I see.”
”Anyway, that was where I met Fatima. She was conducting a survey of the plant life in the southwestern part of the forest, and ran into my captors by pure happenstance.” Reber stopped in front of the basement door and looked a bit wistful for a moment. ”There was a standoff. I thought she was trying to rescue me, but apparently she'd been looking for druids to capture for her experiments for years and wasn't about to let this chance slip by.”
Mike waited for him to finish.
”Long story short, she and my captors fought for a bit until finally the Druids decided they were overmatched and escaped. Fatima was a fairly powerful Tier 3 mage, you see. It would have required some of more powerful members to stand a chance against her. Anyway, she captured me and turned me into a lab rat. You know the rest of the story.”
”Wow...sounds like you had pretty rotten luck.”
Reber shrugged while walking over to one of the basement's walls. ”What can I say, it's a gift. Anyway, there's a door over here that will take you into the demi-realm's control chamber. Don't know much about it myself, but Fatima went in a couple of times to adjust the illusions when she was having visitors. Apparently, she wanted to spruce up the place a bit when company was coming over...”
Reber waggled his non-existent eyebrows at Mike for a few seconds. ”Get it, spruce? And I'm a tree...Hm...I guess my comedic talent went the way of my meat-based organs...”
After neither of them commented on his pun, the tree man gave up, and pressed a button on one of the devices in the room, causing a portion of the wall to fade out of existence and reveal a steel door. Inside was a small chamber, little more than a few meters square that was empty save for a single object.
At the center of the room was a metallic pillar stretching from floor to ceiling, and about a meter in diameter. It was carved with some of the most intricate arcane runes that Mike had ever seen. Which happened to glow with a faint blue light.
He tried to imagine how long it would take him to make something like this, and could only figure that the carving itself would require months, if not years of dedicated effort. After a few moments of marvelling, he tried to use Appraise.
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Control Pillar
Magic Device (Tier 3, Rank 5)
Origin point and control nexus for the demi-realm it is found in.
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[Gotta love the System's explanations.]
”This...is…amazing.” Tal muttered, sounding slightly overcome.
”Pretty impressive, isn't it. This is the heart of the demi-realm, and the reason that it hasn't collapsed under the pressure of interdimensional space, or so I've been told.” Reber explained proudly. He stared up at it for a few seconds and then glanced back at them. ”Well, that's all I know about it, anyway.”
Mike gave him a confused look.
”What? Do you think Fatima shared the secrets of operating this thing with me? Hell, I spent 90% of my time inside that Stasis Array. I only know what I told you because she mentioned it once when she was drunk. By the way, did I mention that she had the bad habit of going on a drinking spree and then coming down to complain about her love life?”
”What, really?”
”Yep, it was quite sad. I would have felt a bit of pity for her, if not for the whole, being held prisoner for insane experiments, thing.”
Mike looked back at the pillar. ”So, you don't really know anything else about this?”
”Nope, but I will say it's probably safe to leave it alone. After all, it hasn't exploded or anything after all these years. The only other thing of interest in this basement is the storage room through there.” He pointed to another steel door opposite of the one they came in. ”It was where Fatima kept most of her bulky plant samples. I'm sure it's mostly gone bad by now, though. You can also get into the back yard from there, should you feel so inclined.”
”I see. Thanks for the explanation.” Mike replied, before passing the information over to Tal, who was busy examining the control pillar. After deciding that they should avoid experimenting with it until they knew more about how it operated, they agreed to bring this current expedition to an end.
”So, Reber, we're going to be heading back now. I wanted to ask, what are you planning on doing. Do you want us to take you somewhere?”
The tree man scrunched his face up in the parody of deep contemplation. ”Actually, there is one thing I've been wanting to try for a while now…”
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”So, this is Reber, everyone.” Mike explained to the rest of the party once they were back.
”Look! Look! I'm doing it! I'm photosynthesizing!” The individual in question was yelling. Not long after he'd stuck his legs into the dirt of the dorm's backyard, the branches on his head and back started to sprout leaves.
”How does it feel, buddy?” Mike yelled back, ignoring the odd look he was getting from Sera.
”Have you ever been bald before? Imagine suddenly developing the ability to grow your hair back at will, and then also having that hair absorb sunlight to chemically produce energy. It's wild, man. You got to try it sometime.”
”Right. I'll definitely get on that.” He replied with a sigh.