Chương 40: The Mythic Council

The silence stretched on for several seconds following Kesseroth's statement. Andy looked around, hungry, tired and a little more than irritated.

"Okay, so are we discussing it now?" Kesseroth blinked, "Discussing what now?"

"The Life Nexus?"

"You really want to meet directly following a three day journey by foot?"

"No."

"We will convene tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow." Andy stared.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Auri's ears twitched and she sent amusement to Andy.

"What? I just wanted to know what we're supposed to be doing tonight." Kesseroth let out a giant booming laugh. The sound had so much bass in it that Andy felt it in his bones and vibrating across the chamber floor.

"We eat, of course." Kesseroth said when he managed to regain control of his laughter. The massive scaled humanoid rose to his feet. Andy immediately revised his estimate. Kesseroth was not horse-bench-press sized. He was more like horse-bench-pressing-a-horse-who-could-and-was-simultaneously-bench-press-another-horse. Andy was busy imagining this when he heard Kesseroth clear his throat. The giant man was motioning toward one of the doors behind the council floor.

"Come along. The others have been arriving throughout the day. This will provide a wonderful opportunity for everyone to meet the thr–four of you." The room beyond looked less like a council chamber and more like a Thrift store in the fancy neighborhood. Several long tables filled the hall and none of them matched. There were stone slabs, typical wooden furniture of all shapes and sizes. One corner seemed to have a pond in it.

And a section near the far wall was a mound of soil big enough to fill in an in-ground swimming pool. The party stared in wonder." What is this?" Auri asked.

"This is our dining hall." Kesseroth said matter of factly as if a pond or a pile of dirt were perfectly normal things to see in a giant room filled with mismatched tables and chairs. And for him, it was. The first person Andy noticed was a tree. Not a person standing beside a tree. A person who was a tree. A massive oak-like creature stood rooted in one of the soil beds. Moss draped across them like a toga and tiny glowing insects flitted through their branches between small white blossoms.

One of its branches slowly lowered.

"Ah. The young–" He did a double take, "Not so young afterall, keepers of a new Life Nexus." The branch remained extended.

"Oh. You're talking to me."

"Yes, I am Elder Treeven." Andy cautiously shook the branch with one of his currently unoccupied roots.

"Oh-ho. I am a big fan of your foliage." Andy looked down.

"Oh, thank you. I call it the Botanical Autonomous Load Lugging System." Auri sent Andy a mental facepalm. Elder Treeven made a sound like creaking timber." I think he's laughing." Auri said.

"Ah! The horse, the bird and the fox. What an unusual group you are." A new voice interrupted. Andy turned. A woman approached from the flooded section of the room. She had blue skin, silver eyes, webbed fingers and a small crown of coral woven through dark hair.

"I wished to meet the party who–as I heard it told– accidentally created a global magical phenomenon." Gustave chimed in, " How large a phenomenon is this if you were to venture a guess?" This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The woman laughed.

"Oh wonderful. A dry rasping voice said from above. An enormous spider descended from the ceiling on a silk strand." She shifted in one fluid motion and a tall elegant woman stood before the party.

"Why, you're all so adorable," she said licking her ruby red lips, "Almost cute enough to eat." Andy took a step back as Gustave's talons tightened in his mane. The spider-woman paused each of her many eyes blinking. She stared down at the jar on Andy's right shoulder.

"I do apologize. I seem to have forgotten something elsewhere." She bowed and then skittered off." That was weird." Auri sent.

"Yeah," said Andy.

"Weirder than me putting my B. A. L. L. S on Treeven's wood." Elder Treeven made a noise that once again sounded like creaking and cracking. He appeared to be shaking slightly and several blossoms fell off his branches and floated to the ground.

"Andy… Why don't you mingle around a little. We should try to split up and we can get a handle on more council members." Auri sent"Are you just trying to get rid of me?" Andy asked." If I say no, will you still go away?" Andy left Gustave and Auri and began to walk around the room taking it all in. Up until now he'd had nothing but being outdoors, unless you included the lean to–which he didn't. Kesseroth was walking around the room holding a platter the size of a wagon wheel.

It held an assortment of roasted roots, mushrooms, and vegetables. He was laughing heartily as he mingled. Andy used his truth sense and could tell that Kesseroth was not as jovial as he appeared to be. A pair of what he could only describe as cat boys ran up to Andy. They were tall, tanned and lean young men. What made them stand out as 'not human' though was that they each had a pair of grey and black cat ears atop their heads and long sashaying tails.

"Ooh. I like your horn," said the first.

"It's quite nice," chimed in the second.

"Hi I'm Siamon."

"And I'm Ease."

"Nice to meet you both–"Andy began as one of the cats–Siamon darted behind Andy and out of his field of vision.

"Andy began turning to track Siamon. He spun around completely and seemed to have misplaced both cats.

"That was w–""Wow, you're very interesting. Did you know you're covered in vines?" Siamon asked. Andy spun again.

"Wha-where are you?"

"Oh just down here," came the excited voice. Andy looked down and sure enough Siamon was laying beneath him and he caught sight of Ease as he was trying to look in the sack of dirt strapped to Andy's side.

"Alright, alright. You two are making me dizzy." Kesseroth made his way over.

"Ah. I see you've met the twins."

"I believe I have." Both cats found something else to do, away from Kesseroth. He motioned toward the tables.

"Please. Eat. The meeting tomorrow will likely be lengthy." Andy looked at the table which was now piled high with all sorts of foods. Fruits, vegetables and various meats lined the middle of each table. And that's where Andy saw it: a giant bowl filled with apples. One his way over to the bowl he noticed that the dining hall was bursting with activity. A giant green jello began moving from its place on the table. Andy watched it in fascination.

The jello absorbed the food as it went and as he watched the food floated around inside of the jello slowly dissolving. The jello slowly extended a pseudopod toward the bowl of apples. Andy immediately accelerated. Andy reached out with three unoccupied vines and grabbed three apples. The jello's pseudopod withdrew and it vibrated at Andy. Andy sent a silent cheer. The slime made a wet slurping noise. Andy chose that moment to remove himself from the situation and brought an apple to his lips. He took a bite.

It was magnificent. Crisp, sweet, juicy and for one glorious moment he'd forgotten about Nexuses, councils, the Harness and everything else. For just a moment and then he heard, "There have been no new Nexuses for eight hundred years." Andy's ears twitched. The conversation came from a nearby table.

"Do you think this means the damage that human did is finally being repaired?"

"I don't know," came another voice.

"I was born after the last Nexus disappeared. However, our ancestor's territory was built next to a Nexus and I was told the area used to be so different before."

"It was different. But if Life has reawakened we may be on the cusp of a new cycle and the lands will run rich with magic again." Andy looked over to see a stone skinned bipedal person talking with what looked like a levitating horror. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly looked away. The creature had eyes all over its spherical body and tentacles. Andy did not know what that was, and he was not in the right frame of mind to find out. Andy stood there with the apple.

For the first time since arriving the excitement of the crowd of mythical beings began to fade. Every conversation he overheard was about the Nexus, about what it could mean, and usually it involved concern over it falling into the hands of humans. He went through the motions finishing up the feast and then allowed Kesseroth to direct him to a room and went in for the evening to take a rest. Shortly thereafter Andy heard Auri and Gustave join him.

They'd both gotten their own rooms but after all they'd been rooming together for almost a year at this point. He felt Auri curl up next to his front left leg.

"Are you okay?" Andy asked. Her answer took longer than usual and didn't have it's normal sarcasm." No." Andy shifted his weight.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Not tonight." She tucked her nose beneath her tail." Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Then he drifted off to sleep.