Chương 245: Summons

"I must say that after nearly a century in the Healer's service, this case is definitely unique," said Bright Morning, high priestess of Convergence's temple of the very same deity. She was a silver-ranked elven woman who managed to convey an older, grandmotherly feeling - stern yet distinctly kind - even though she looked as young and hale as any of her rank with her glossy dark blue hair kept in a neat bun.

"Which, if you'll excuse me saying honored priestess, is not what one generally wishes to hear when consulting your clergy," Kite replied from where he sat with his crystallized arm being continually poked and prodded by more of Healer's clergy. His humorous tone might also have mostly been an attempt to mask his budding anxiety at the priestess' words.

"While Fantina - the priestess of Fertility I mentioned earlier - claimed to be no expert, she hoped that it would at least be able to recover in time."

"And while I would normally ask Fertility's clergy to stick to their baby business, at least in this I believe her to be correct," Bright Morning replied with a small huff of annoyance.

"So far, our examinations all seem to point towards your body slowly reclaiming itself and restoring order to your systems. Emphasis on slowly, however, as this discordance within your body keeps resisting healing attempts. The suggested amputation might work, or you might just have to spend a lot of time regrowing your arm just to find it still being turned into this crystalline structure. Think of it as a tangled knot. Pick on it with care and patience, and it shall eventually loosen.

But just pull on any loose string you find? Well, then you probably only get more work as a reward."

"Oh, I see," Kite said with some relief even though he braced himself for his next question.

"Any estimates on how long this will take?"

"Hmm, from what I have sensed I will hazard a guess if you wish. But bear in mind that this is only my estimate, so don't come complaining to me if it doesn't hold up."

"Please."

"I would say two to three months assuming the healing process is a linear one. Given how your body seems to be currently working on the parts closest to your shoulder and working its way downwards, I believe that to be the case."

"Ah, that is good. Very good," Kite replied with some relief. Sure, two to three months was a lot, but compared to the more disastrous scenarios his mind had conjured up in its worries, it was quite manageable.

"And I would recommend keeping still and not getting hit too much. Oh don't give me that look. Your whole look screams adventurer so it wouldn't be hard to guess even if you weren't already quite the famed figure here in Convergence, young Pathbreaker. Just try to keep the arm itself safe at least? It should be fine, but I wouldn't want to have to unravel another healing mystery if it reacts oddly to physical trauma."

Kite spent some more time being lectured by the high priestess before eventually saying his thanks and departing after leaving a hefty donation to the temple. It wasn't strictly required given Healer's creed, but Kite thought that it would be funds well spent no matter whether it went to the patients or Healer's clergy themselves. Outside, Dragonfly waited for him as she had been relegated to staying outside during the examination by a high priestess brooking no argument.

"Well?" Kite's intended asked, seeming to sense Kite's relief but still wanting confirmation herself.

"It should sort itself out in two to three months. A bit of a setback, but given our plans it should not hinder us to any mentionable degree," he replied, letting the fingers of his functioning hand intertwine with hers as they started walking back towards the guildhall.

"Uncle and Little Crow are already coordinating with the Adventure Society to investigate and strike at the spots Verses told of, so we'll probably have a busy few weeks." While Little Crow had already sent several messages to his clan, he had already accepted another contract with the guild to help in the upcoming strikes, where his expertise lent itself very well to teaching the more novice people of the guild.

"We will indeed, although I suspect that a certain someone won't be in the thick of the action," Dragonfly shot back, reaching over and tapping Kite's crystallized arm.

"Not if his wife-to-be has anything to say about it."

"It is most fortunate then that her humble husband-to-be has something new which he needs to properly practice," Kite replied with a smile.

"Something which can have him remain in the backline, to better appreciate the view of his intended plying her path. It is, as I believe they say, quite hot." Azure Meadow couldn't help but grin as she rode the lightning. Or at least that was what she imagined herself doing as she leapt and let a crackling fulmination carry her across the dank, dark cave filled with undead monstrosities.

Ever since Meadow's uncle Azure Devil - now the deputy director of Bastion's Adventure Society branch - had pointed her towards the Autumn Wanderer's guild, things had been looking up quite a lot. Her path was coming along nicely, with plenty of combat training in addition to traveling all over the northern part of the kingdom as she progressed through iron rank and into bronze. She had met and helped a lot of people, which was nice. She got to zoom about on her lightning powers, which was even nicer.

And, arguably the best, she got to use said lightning to blast the ever-living crap out of monstrosities like the dry mound of flesh that was currently trying to harass Teal - one of Meadow's companions - with a barrage of sharp and surprisingly tough blood clots. That was until the impact of Meadow's crackling charge sent it bouncing off a nearby wall." Lightning strikes twice" Meadow wasn't done there either, as a spell from her adept essence had the crackling impact repeat itself to send the monster sprawling.

"Woo!" Meadow shouted in pure excitement, and was just about to turn to Teal and rub her successful intervention in his stupid scorpion face when-"Meadow! Watch out!" She started turning and blasting off even as her senses started registering the call, but given the speed with which the ghoul - an undead of whipcord muscles and yellowed fangs - was closing in to snap its jaws around Meadow's neck, it looked as if it would get at least its pound of flesh from her.

That was, until a shimmering barrier came crashing into it from the side at great speed, crushing both the ghoul and the flesh mound against the stone wall with enough force to take both bronze-ranked undead out of the fight.

"You show great enthusiasm, junior sister, but let it be channeled through focus rather than triumph," senior brother Kite called from where he had just entered the cave where Meadow and the twins were fighting the lesser undead.

"Senior brother!" Meadow called, blushing all the way out to the tips of her elven ears.

"I-""Apologies later, fighting now," Kite gently chastised in return, the pane of force retreating to join six that were currently hovering around him in a slow orbit. Meadow could only nod before she threw herself back into the fight, shame still hot in her chest. Fortunately there were many undead upon which to take out her frustrations.

Even in the tumult of the cave where the three younger adventurers were once again directing a more concentrated effort to their dealings with the undead, Kite couldn't help but smile. He had personally performed the essence rituals for Azure Meadow just over two years prior, and seeing how she and her two companions had grown during their time with the guild did make him feel genuinely proud.

Meadow, with her lightning, balance, adept and master essences, had worked hard to learn how to use her very mobile, timing-based path. Her skills were growing even if her focus was still something of a work in progress, although the early bloomer was currently only seventeen years old and thus it was not entirely surprising. And fortunately, the twins that were her companions tended to help in that regard.

Teal and Saffron, a pair of young human men one or two years Meadow's senior, had enlisted with the guild together. And of the essences offered to them after signing the contract, they had both chosen the rabbit essence, as acting as couriers and speed in general appealed greatly to them. But even though their foundational essence was the same, their paths differed greatly.

Teal had gone with the rabbit, scorpion and bird essences for the chimera confluence, augmenting his form with aspects of all three; mighty leaps and speed from the rabbit, carapace and stinger from the scorpion and wings from the bird. Saffron on the other hand had chosen to add bow and trap to the mix for the skirmish confluence, his elusive and harassing style a contrast to his brother's animalistic adaptability.

While Meadow's mistake would probably not have been more than a painful lesson to the bronze-ranker in this particular case, Kite was still pleased that he had arrived in time. Because another reason for his smile was that he felt that he was getting a bit more proficient with his latest evolved racial gift. So while the trio fought well against the undead, Kite was directing his barriers - a few separate segments of Leyline Warding - around the cave to protect and even strike at the lower-ranked creatures.

Given his still healing arm, Kite had used the series of strikes against Discord's pawns and allies to focus on getting a proper feel for how his now mobile barriers could mesh with his path, and had already made quite a few discoveries. The first was that controlling even more separate conjurations on top of the arms of his mantle while doing something as strenuous as fighting was challenging even to his silver-ranked mind specifically augmented for the task by his mantle.

He was currently able to guide six separate segments around with decent precision, and would be able to go higher if he wasn't also constantly ready to make a more conventional intervention in a battle. This would still have been impossible to do with any level of precision during lower ranks, especially as Kite could have the barriers speed up according to his wishes as long as he paid the requisite mana.

Which led to Kite's second point of insight; the barriers could now, under the right circumstances, be used as offensive tools. Against irons and even some bronzes, the force could be enough to crush them enough to injure and kill, especially if he managed to direct the narrow end towards his target with proper force. Against silvers though, this was not feasible as their natural toughness was simply too high, but the barriers could still have a chance to shove them off balance if timed correctly.

Which in turn led to his third insight, namely that of cost and when it was worth it. Just moving the barriers around at his own natural speed had a negligible cost in mana, making it a cheap defensive tool as long as Kite could move them into place with some foresight. But any more hasty motion, especially that required to actually attack with them, cost more.

Enough so that even with Kite's often excellent mana recovery, he would have to choose his opportunities with at least some care if he was also counting on keeping his mantle up and running. And the sum of all these insights? Potential. Loads of it. Kite sent his barriers to interfere, shove and otherwise further complicate the small battlefield. He could have attacked more conventionally too, but did not want to rob his juniors of any more of the opportunity as he was content to push himself in this one area.

"This is… good. And it can be something great. Rarely have the heavens felt so close," Kite thought to himself as he gathered the floating barriers at his side once the last of the undead were dealt with by the guild bronze-rankers.

"Senior brother!" the three bronze-rankers called as they gathered close to him.

"What would you have us do now?" Taking a moment to reach out with his spiritual senses, Kite could only nod in satisfaction.

"Given what I sense from my dear Dragonfly, the final push against their silver-rankers seems to have gone well. So you can rejoice and be proud. The guild has won this day. And given that it was the last location assigned to us, it is time to return home."

"-and now that we've lost another cell from the church of Undead, it is not surprising to hear some discontent from our liaisons with their clergy," Ametrine stated from behind her porcelain mask, the artifact hiding her smile at the silence of her two counterparts.

"Fortunately, we seem to have managed to extract the other assets that were compromised after the… unfortunate… decisions in regards to the operation up north."

"Bah! I still say that I should just find this Pathbreaker and kill him," Gold mask grumbled, crossing huge arms across his chest in clear discontent as he looked for something to bear the brunt of his frustrations.

"The operation would have gone off perfectly had it not been for his meddling."

"Yet we stand here with these results. If you wish to contend with someone like Justice's hunter-judges, then be my guest," Ametrine retorted, not even attempting to hide the barb in her words. And as Gold mask's only reply was sullen silence, she pressed on.

"Or perhaps it is time to actually redirect our efforts more thoroughly to the Grand Proving, as we should have done in the first place. Given what our agents knew, we can assume that they have some hint of our ambitions, but not their extent or details. This leaves us plenty of room to mitigate as much damage as possible, prepare and perhaps even to turn any attempted interventions from our foes into fertilizer for Discord's garden."

Feeling the slight shift deep inside him as he passed through the aperture, Kite once again found himself gazing up at the gargantuan tree with the azure foliage inside the astral space of his compound. It looked much the same as it had a few months prior, before the hunt for Discord's clergy had kept Kite away from home; covered in purple bark that felt a lot like glass to the touch. But as for the rest of the astral space, there had been a distinct change.

"By the heavens," Kite breathed as he took in the partially transformed landscape.

"In such a short time?" The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Trees. A surprising number of them too. What had been a desert filled with cliffs and little else now had great swathes of trees and other kinds of plant life. Hardy vines crawled across bare cliffs while sturdy trees and bushes of plenty of varieties covered the sandy spaces in between, looking as if they had grown there for decades rather than months.

The colors were greatly varied too, with foliages in green, red, and even glowing teal. It wasn't all of the desert space which had started such a verdant flourishing, but given that it seemed to cover at least a third of it at the moment, Kite was still quite impressed. And as for the source of the transformation, a faint shift of aura from a nearby tree indicated that she was nearby.

"Verdant Evergreen," Kite said aloud, bowing towards the nearby copse of stout palm trees with red leaves and gently swaying bright green tendrils.

"Kite," the dryad answered even while she began emerging from one of the trees. Verdant Evergreen looked much like she did before, standing just over two meters tall with her wiry, bark-covered body and thin needled branches sprouting from her head and falling across her back like a cloak. Her angular features lacked the structure to convey facial expressions, but her aura was at least welcoming. And there was one change to her appearance that Kite couldn't help but point out.

"It seems like you are acclimatizing well," he said while nodding towards the dryad's 'hair' where the needles had started turning purple at the tips. Following his gaze, Verdant Evergreen gave him an impassive look before she belatedly seemed to nod, as if remembering instructions to do just that.

"Tree and me. We adapt. It is natural," came the reply.

"In language too, it seems."

"That too." A bit of a silence followed, awkward to Kite while it seemed not to bother the dryad.

"Apparently, sticking to business remains best for now," Kite thought as he smiled and gestured out towards the space as he spoke.

"I came to check on your progress and announce my return to the kingdom, even if I will still be mostly away from home."

"Progress is good. Life can prosper. Tree is wonderful. Gaia pleased."

"I see, I see… Is there anything you need from us?"

"Dove and Crow help. Need time. Patience. Build web of life. Help understand tree."

"Understood…" Kite said, nodding. There was another moment of silence before Kite felt that he might as well take his leave.

"Then may the heavens bless our future endeavors," he said, to which the dryad nodded, giving a final comment before she turned to leave.

"Magic rising. Nurture more in future. Making plans for growth." Then she disappeared into another nearby tree, and Kite felt the dryad's aura reappear in another part of the space where she continued with whatever she was doing to nurture the life in the 'web' she was apparently constructing. Or, well, growing.

Outside the aperture, Kite was met by Auntie Crow as well as a pouting Raven, the now four year old girl making a surly show of hiding behind one of the open gates that usually barred the way to the tunnel and the aperture within. As Auntie Crow seemed quite unbothered by the little ball of frustration and disappointment that was her daughter, Kite just shot his adopted mother a smile before he rounded the huge wooden door and squeezed in behind it before seating himself next to Raven's much smaller form.

His crystallized arm made it a little more awkward, but he managed. A few moments of silence followed before Kite spoke.

"So, little Raven… Why are we hiding here again?"

"I'm mad," came the reply, followed by a sour 'hmpf'.

"I see," Kite said, nodding gravely.

"And who dared to make you, a heaven's chosen and my little sister, upset in such a manner? Point me towards them and I shall make sure to bring swift vengeance!" His theatric proclamation did draw a giggle from his little sister, who peeked up at him from beneath straight bangs of onyx hair.

"Mommy Crow," she answered, already giggling as she knew his response. And true to form, Kite froze, made a show of peeking at Auntie Crow outside of their 'hiding place' before looking back.

"Alas, little heaven's chosen, this might be a foe beyond any of us."

"I know. Mommy Crow can be scary."

"Indeed. Most scary," Kite agreed.

"So how did she make you mad?"

"She said I couldn't go into the atter space-""Astral space."

"-astral space," Raven corrected herself.

"I wanted to climb the trees."

"Ah, I see. That is quite fun," Kite agreed.

"Alas, with such a formidable foe making the decree, that option is closed for now. But…"

"But?" Raven asked, onyx eyes twinkling as she sensed an opportunity for mischief.

"But I, your older brother, can occupy her and hold her off. Long enough for you to get to the cookie jar in the kitchen, if you run quickly. Auntie Dove baked some ginger ones just this morning, no? I'm sure Sprite would be delighted if you grabbed some for her too." Raven giggled again in pure anticipation as she readied herself, sour mood forgotten.

"Ready?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Then go! Wall!" Just as Raven set off from around the door, tendrils of dark hair shot towards her. The girl shrieked with exhilaration as she sprinted away, ducking into a neat hole in the force walls which appeared to block the grasping appendages while another pane of force slid into place behind her.

"Run, little one! Don't let my sacrifice be in vain!" Kite called after her retreating form as he fell into step beside Auntie Crow who - cookies on the line or not - just smiled with fond amusement while retracting her animated hair.

"That child… To think that her calm early years belied such energy," Crow noted.

"It's a bit like you in reverse, little Kite. You started off quite energetic, calming steadily as you matured."

"It's quite marvelous to see her grow. My many forays away from home just means that her progress is only more distinct each time I return."

"As the saying goes; there is no better reminder of the passage of time than seeing a child grow," Auntie Crow replied.

"And speaking of growing; how was our dear dryad? It has been a few weeks since I spoke with her myself. Dove handles most of the communication, but it's more due to her reclusive nature. She seems quite content in just managing the tree and the rest of the space."

"She did seem to have truly settled in, although I will admit that she remains pretty alien to me. But she confirmed that everything was going well and that she only needed time. And by the gods, has she transformed the space already. Our agreement was only for her to take care of the tree, but I certainly won't mind her helping out with the space itself like that. Oh, she did also mention something else there at the end; that the magic was rising. Do you know anything about that?"

"Hmm… Verdant Evergreen has not said anything of the sort to me," Crow mused, clearly in thought.

"But what if she…" Kite felt the shift in her aura as Auntie Crow halted in her tracks.

"Auntie?"

"This… might be something we need to look into. I will go retrieve some tools. Meanwhile, could you please go save your little sister? She may have escaped my clutches, but if left unchecked I foresee another adversary in the form of an impending stomach ache." Seeing his auntie work, Kite was once again reminded of the difference between someone like him - trained in some magic theory, but mostly pertinent to combat and what he might face during missions with the task group - and someone like Crow.

Within half an hour of hearing of the dryad's comment, the onyx-haired celestine had fetched a plethora of magical equipment which she had placed around an open space in the astral space, using tendrils of animated hair to make adjustments while she noted down their readings at the same time as she conversed with Verdant Evergreen.

"It is rising," the dryad stated with calm certainty.

"Well, it shouldn't," Crow replied.

"Mana density might fluctuate slightly, sure, but it tends to remain stable."

"It does," Verdant Evergreen countered again.

"The plants feel. And I through them."

"Mommy Crow! I want a plant essence when I grow up! I wanna be just like Auntie Evergreen! She knows so much!" Raven called from the branches of a nearby low tree, ecstatic at having been allowed to come along this time.

"That's lovely, dear," Crow muttered in return, glancing down at the measurements.

"Well, honored dryad, it might be too early to tell as I will need more readings over time, but I believe that you are right. The mana density has risen since my initial measurements when we started building the compound."

"Which means that we might see more powerful manifestations in time," Kite said, catching on.

"How fast is it rising then? Any projections?"

"Proper projections of such a thing take time, little Kite," Crow replied, double checking a few measurements.

"I should be able to give you some estimates, but that might be a month or two away."

"I see," Kite said, a bit concerned.

"I'm just keen to find the reason for this change. If it is outside tampering or something like that-""It is not," Verdant Evergreen broke in, making the statement with certainty.

"It isn't? Are you sure?"

"Nature knows," came the simple reply, as if that explained everything.

"The tree. At peace."

"I… see…" Kite said, repeating himself as he looked out over the astral space. His next words were not spoken aloud though, Kite choosing to keep the prayer to himself.

"Fortune, please allow this to be true."

"I do love the boy, Spring. Love him like a son. Am I proud of him? Extremely! Has he helped this guild become what it is today? Definitely. But right now, I pray that he might consider keeping a lower profile in the future," Walker grumbled as he slumped into a plush chair inside his office in the Convergence guildhall.

"I wouldn't say that this particular meeting was bad, dear?" Second Spring retorted with a smile that bore no sympathy for her long-time love's predicament.

"The representatives of the Luster family even left gifts."

"With threads attached like all the others, no doubt," Walker said, eyeing the pile of gifts covering a side table.

"As is the way of politics. At least Soul has been enjoying herself in handling the less polite visitors."

"Perhaps. And I suppose that this is a lot better than three sects grouping up and deciding to bring us down. I just can't shake the feeling that they are sizing us up behind those smiles, calculating how to take advantage of us in some way. They even keep hanging about for a time, chatting and gossiping."

"Of which the city lord is very happy. He's even thinking of throwing a feast for these affluent guests who rarely come so far north under normal circumstances. You, Kite and the rest of his companions into the gate would apparently be the guests of honor."

"Oh sweet Karma, what have I done to anger you so…" Walker grumbled.

"I'll just conjure myself a forest and go hide in a tree."

"I have the squirrel essence, Walker. I could easily find you."

"Ah, but when you do, I can use my rakish charm to distract you, having you stay up there with me for other more pleasurable activities instead."

"That…" Spring said, eyeing Walker with a hungry gleam in her eyes.

"That does seem like a decent alternative too. What do you say that we perhaps extend this little break between meetings and-" A knock at the door interrupted Spring, and if the look she threw at the wooden door had physical force then only splinters would remain. But as they sensed nobody but their archivist outside, Walker pulsed his aura for them to enter.

"Excuse me for interrupting your flirting and intended lovemaking," Clarity of Wit said as she entered, the priestess of Knowledge seeming entirely unashamed of the personal remark.

"But my mistress just gave me permission to warn you that you might want to be presentable, as quite the important messenger will arrive within minutes and them catching the guildmaster and his second in the act might be a bad look for the guild."

"Then please thank the Lady Knowledge for her kindness," Spring replied, though her smile did not reach her eyes.

"I suppose we might as well go and see what this is about."

"She already knows, hall master," the archivist replied, following in their wake as the pair made their way towards the entrance. Plenty of the waiting guests lingered around the guildhall, and more than a few started towards Walker and Spring as they emerged out into the warm summer afternoon.

A few minutes of 'pleasantries' followed, with plenty wanting to take another chance at making a connection with the guild that was suddenly the talk of the capital, but Walker soon found his prayers for aid answered as another incoming silver-ranked aura revealed itself in a powerful burst as it was speeding in towards them above the rooftops of the city.

"Let us see what this is about then," Walker murmured as a silver-ranked elf flew in on a beam of solid light before touching down in the small courtyard before the guildhall. His presence caused everyone present to fall silent, not because there was anything special with the man himself - beyond the fact that every silver-ranker was quite exceptional by default - but what he wore; the sword and mirror symbol of the King.

As soon as he landed, the man turned away from Walker and Spring to instead face the open area behind him where a portal constructed by beams of light opened. The elf then stepped to the side as another elven man - dressed in impressive robes only worn by officials of the court emerged, flanked by a single multicolored jade construct that looked like a sculpted soldier.

From the reactions of those sent from the capital, the presence of both the man and the construct was apparently quite the big deal as they all joined Walker and Spring as they bowed with respect to one of the King's heralds. The herald looked around impassively before finally letting his gaze rest on Walker and Spring.

"Are you Brave Walker of Paths, master of this so-called Autumn Wanderer's Guild?" he asked, speaking clearly so that all present would hear.

"I am, honored herald," Walker replied, straightening but keeping his tone respectful.

"And what of the man called Pathbreaker?"

"He is not here at the moment, honored herald, but expected to be back within the week."

"Then you will have to relay this message to him as well, without fault," the herald said, producing a scroll from a storage bag. The rolled up parchment was kept closed with a wax seal that, upon breaking, released a small pulse of a much greater spirit. It was but a faint echo, but everyone present with an aura sense would know that it came from a gold-ranker.

"I come before you as a herald of King of the Pure Firmament, monarch of Hua-Xi," the herald began reading. Hearing the name after the aura had Walker tense up with worry, and even though what the man said next would probably be viewed by most to be a positive thing, his worry did not lessen in the slightest.

"His majesty has heard of the exploits of the Pathbreaker and his chosen ten, and how they have been lauded by the Herald of the Queen of Jade and Sky for their deeds. He would know the man who led such a group, as well as this so-called guild that has nurtured such a hidden talent, and as such summon the Pathbreaker and Brave Walker of Paths to an audience with him in a month's time.

You are both to arrive at the royal palace of Heavenward and present yourselves to his majesty, so that he may know of your deeds and gauge your spirits for himself. Let everyone here bear witness to these summons and the honor bestowed with them." Then, without further ado, the herald turned and went back through the portal, construct and the portal-user soon following in his wake.

This left Walker, Spring and all of the other witnesses in stunned silence, although that did not last long as everyone at the courtyard started muttering and whispering to one another at almost the same time. Walker could only look around helplessly, and Spring reached out to pat his arm.

"Well, dear, shall I assume that the possible feast at the city lord's compound suddenly feels like a walk in the metaphorical park?"