That left Shuji, Hiro, and the shrub guy alone with Tilly in the Sovereign Crystal chamber.
“I guess it''s a little late for introductions, but my name’s Tilly, nice to meet you.” He said turning to the humanoid plant.
“Well met cousin,” the humanoid plant nodded back, its voice both clear and oddly absent at the same time. Instead of introducing himself, the figure turned slowly, with a rustling of his leaves, to consider the circle for a long moment.
That was the second time Tilly had heard the familiar form of address used by something so obviously aligned with nature and in a flash of realization he pulled up his title descriptor list and found the one he believed to be the culprit,
[Verdant Rebirth]: Power from one of the Land’s key nexus points was used to restart your non functioning heart and regrow essential bodily functions damaged in your cleansing. This has fundamentally marked you. You are now a part of the Land’s deeper tapestry and will be recognized as such by its fellow denizens.
It was another one of those titles that had offered him no obvious bonuses, and yet, was still leaving its mark on his journey.
“Grovewarden, what news of the others, will they rally to us?” Hiro asked respectfully, as the personified plant approached the glowing circle of scorch.
“They… will come, when the call is made. We will not bow before the blight. Wrath and ruin are all that await us if you fail here,” he said distractedly, poking at mana empowering the circle. Each time the tip of his staff touched some of the glowing markings, they sparked green and red, and he nodded to himself, seeming to come to some conclusion.
“What do you mean, ‘the call’?” Tilly asked, trying to keep his voice calm as the mountain shook again. Whoever this guy represented, they could really use the help.
At that the Grovewarden turned, cocking his head in confusion, “We follow no law but our own. It is the ancient way of things. There is one among you who knows the words… Until then, we of the Land offer you this gift.”
Then before their eyes, the plant-like appendages forming the creature’s body began to age. They shifted from a verdant green to a bright yellow, then brown as they curled in on themselves, dying before their eyes.
Tilly’s bottom jaw fell open as the figure weathered into a petrified statue of dead wood and fallen brown leaves, “Um…” He said, turning toward the others in confusion, only to see a look of awe coloring Shuji’s face.
Whipping his head back, Tilly was just in time to see a radiant seed emerge from the center of the now-dead creature and float to land in the center of the circle, exploding in golden radiance as it gave its substance to the enchantment. The light was practically bursting with the feeling of life and growth, and even its touch upon Tilly''s face left him feeling invigorated.
Heartseed of the Grove Celestial
“Who was that?” He muttered in shock at the sudden sacrifice.
“That was one of the three elders of the Ancient Grove Faction. Many consider him to be one of the oldest powers on the plane.” Shuji whispered back, watching as the golden energy radiated through the enchantment, filtering to the column and the Sovereign Crystal at its base.
The loping sound of hoofs echoed out of one of the large tunnels leading into the mountain''s central chamber, and Tilly looked up to find Mochizuki appearing with a squad of Bastions. The group approached at a jog pushing a cart laden with treasures, several of which he recognized from their day at the auction.
Golimic Cornerstone Epic
Seven Sages Bamboo Shoot Legendary
Svadilfari’s Mortar Recipe Celestial
Tilly didn’t quite have time to identify them all before the cart was wheeled up to the circle and Shuji nodded to the men, who dumped it all in.
“How long have you guys been planning for this… How did you even know we would have this option?” Tilly asked in confusion, trying to get a grip on events as they developed rapidly all around him.
“Know?” Shuji said, turning toward Tilly in confusion.
“We did not foresee this opportunity exactly,” Mochizuki clarified.
“Our priority was to collect anything that would boost our capability as an army in the field and special consideration was given to augmenting our current limited capacity to set up impromptu defenses against a far superior enemy,” Hiro added, stepping up next to Tilly and watching as the treasures were absorbed into the scorch enchantment.
“You can be sure there are surprises waiting for us from our enemy and the peaks they have claimed, but we will not be without our own plans… eh?” He finished, turning toward Tilly with a stony twinkle in his eye.
“You guys are like savants when it comes to impossible situations.” Tilly marveled at the lapin trio. These three had orchestrated so many schemes, it was mind boggling.
“Our old Patroness, the goddess of the moon, always valued change. It is in her memory we endeavor to stay flexible.” Mochizuki said with a small nod to acknowledge Tilly’s compliment.
“And it seems that any preparations we make with growth in mind seem to be put to use sooner rather than later with the support of our new Patron. So, all in all, there is much we did not anticipate, but it did not take an Oracle to see a battle like this on the horizon.” Shuji laughed before turning toward the Bastions.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Instructions have been sent to the building team to begin construction on the outer defenses. With these augmentations, I am sure they have received many boons, but we need every defense specialist we have on the line covering them until the first layer is finished.” He instructed.
The men nodded to him and turned to rush back out the tunnel just as another bird slipped in, “If the human champion has returned, I believe there is a celestial tier quest waiting for him at the altar…I believe it should be activated sooner rather than later.” Merllyn’s stretched voice echoed through the chamber.
Hiro looked questioningly at Shuji, and the Librarian answered the unasked question. “I will continue to run things from here, my recent levels have all gone to my sendings, so they should be able to find any of our people I have marked and deliver the message.” Then he returned to his screens, reading off rapid reports to different origami birds under his breath.
“And I will requisition some of the other, less direct combat-oriented elites to keep watch on this chamber and the approaching tunnels,” Mochizuki added before turning from Hiro to the Librarian, “Shuji?” Mochizuki asked,
“Oh dear, of course,” he responded with a wince before distractedly flinging open the sleeves of his robe and releasing several fluttering birds, which Mochizuki snatched from the air one at a time, before moving off to the side and beginning to distribute messages as well.
Hiro nodded at the actions of the pair, “Good, I have a decent sense of the mountain and its inhabitants, but that does not mean I can not be distracted. For now, I will continue as Quick Reaction Force Commander and relay any further military operations through Linus,” he concluded to a distracted nod from Shuji before reaching out to lay his hand on Tilly’s shoulder.
“Hold on,” Tilly sputtered, clutching Kindle’s form close in his arms like some sort of lap dog, “before we get caught up in whatever''s next, I need a minute to be brought up to speed,” he said, stepping back and raising a hand to forestall being swept up in whatever new wind Ability Hiro had gained from the Alliance’s new Patronage.
By now, he knew the drill. If he didn’t get a feel for what was happening in the wider scope of things, he would be caught up in an endless series of emergencies, like a dog dragged down the street on a leash. No, he was here because he had chosen to be, and he wanted to understand as much of their situation as he could before diving into the thick of it.
“What is the actual plan for our defense, and how do I factor into it?”
Hiro shared a quick look with Shuji, who looked up from his screens and frowned. Hiro turned to Tilly and let out a long breath, “Jonathan Tillman, there is no master plan… We are here to fight for our survival. Several powerful forces have aligned with us, but as you can see, they do not all follow orders. So, all we have is a loose strategy and hope that the miracles we have seen in these weeks were not the last of their kind…” He finished, gesturing for Shuji to continue.
“Yes, well, I am happy to share our current deployment- Coalition forces have been dispersed halfway down this Peak in a temporary defensive screen to cover the work of all the builders we could muster. The System is currently augmenting their current project speed by…” He paused to scan through his screens, “three thousand two hundred percent. The mountain itself is providing the materials, and reports are already coming in that numerous beneficial properties are being imprinted into the structure as the Crystal processes its recent offerings.”
“The bulk of our forces will be manning this defense. Our faction’s standing army now numbers about six thousand, with 500 of those considered elite. The church has mustered twenty thousand warriors, with two thousand at the elite level. Their force is a mix of the church’s small army and any volunteers they could muster from failing Factions across the plane. Between us, we have 8 figures that could be considered Powers.
Our wall defense is split into four commands: North, held by the Church and led by Belyius, the Church’s military commander; West, where we anticipate first contact will be held mainly by our forces with Linus in overall command with Threstus anchoring the line. The South and East are held by a mixture the rest of our forces and anyone else across the plane we were able to gather to our banner in the last week. We have nested most of our non-Bastion Elites in these two defences. Ichiro will hold Southern command while the Eastern front will be led by Princess Charcuterie, a Power you have not met and probably the strongest of our late-to-join allies.
Tilly raised his mental eyebrows at that last name, but with so much coming at him, he throttled his desire to interrupt Shuji’s explanation with a quip.
“This is our defense as it stands.” Shuji continued, “We must hold until the builders finish the outer wall. Then we will have to get our defenders within its bounds…somehow, all while the builders immediately begin work on the inner defenses. The second wall will be smaller, and five thousand paces above the first, from which our ranged units will monitor and cover the wall below. The Sanguine Order’s Calvary will serve as a reactionary force to hopefully assist at any points where our defensive screen fails.
We have also been able to field a mage core of two hundred and fifty casters, with five of them ranking amongst the Powers of the plane. Merllyn has been a great boon to us in this and currently leads our magic users. He is confident in his ability to neutralize most enemy magics on a large scale and was instrumental in setting up this plan.
“Finally, there are the Dune Rangers. We were surprised to receive their entire military arm only a day before your summons. They specialize in underground warfare and have been given command over the tunnel system, with Mochizuki serving as liaison.”
Tilly flexed his tired mind, willing away the fog of overwhelm that attempted to roll in at Shuji’s succinct report of the Dawning coalition’s deployment. “Ok, so the Defiant Fist, our mercenary force, is holding itself in reserve until… it decides it’s time for a counter-attack?”
“Precisely!” Shuji replied cheerfully.
“And our representative of the forces most closely aligned with the Land just sacrificed himself to give us a magical acorn?”
“Also correct! Although, I must stress that it seems that ‘acorn’ just made our structures able to be grown instead of built, something that might have just made this defence possible. A noble gift indeed.”
“But we don’t know what he meant by ‘the call’?”
“Not a clue!”
“Hmmm, so there isn’t really a plan to win… we are just here to keep Corruption from taking everything without a fight.”
“That is incorrect, You are our plan, Jonathan Tillman.” Hiro interrupted his words, falling like hammer blows on Tilly’s slumped shoulders. “You and whatever final quest Origin offers us. If He has no answer for our enemy''s plans, then we were always doomed.” He added, allowing a rare, many-lined smile to show on his face as he grasped Tilly’s shoulder in a strong, comforting grip.
“Ok…Save the world… got it.” Tilly deadpanned, finding himself fighting down a smile of his own.
He could feel every pound of that trust and responsibility pushing him downward, but instead of being crushed as he had so many times before, he found himself close to laughter and feeling inextricably light.
Everything was just so… hopeless.
It was honestly ridiculous, and yet, somehow relieving.
The fire surrounding his soul roared to new heights, and the shadowy, slimy fear of failure sloughed off him and burned away before his heart’s billowing flames.
There was no chance they could win, and for some reason that Tilly couldn’t put his finger on, that made the whole thing seem almost possible.