The first night was hell. It was cold, he slept in a pile of leaves and was eaten alive by unseen bugs, and the night time seemed to be the preferred hunting time of those who still survived here. The warmth of his staff made it a bit more bearable but just hardly, he spooned it like it was the most beautiful staff he'd ever seen and was suddenly into that type of thing.
Turns out the god was dead but life still found a way, leaving Skye constantly on edge.
"That's the sickness."
Dubs whispered from above.
"It seeps out of dead souls, creates creatures. They have no purpose other than the anger they must be feeling. I can't imagine how corrupt they must be on the inside."
Skye laid there on the cold ground, wrapped around his staff, looking at the gaps in the roof. He couldn't chase away the thoughts.
Is this what home is going to be like when I return? Overgrown and overrun with things?
While he couldn't sleep he decided to test the limit of his roots, planting his fingers in the ground and seeing how far they could go. They stretched far and wide in a complete circle around him, moving about 30 meters in each direction. As he laid there he could feel what they felt, sense the vibration in the ground, and even connected with the roots of a few trees that let him spread a few dozen more meters through them.
When he disconnected the roots from his fingers and connected them together in a single sprout, he could feel them all as long as he was near one. He had figured out that while he may not be built for fighting, he had senses beyond his own. Maybe he could be the scout of a party stupid enough to take him and Dubs in, or eventually just turn into a tree himself. Either way he could feel all that was going on around him.
Which is why he knew how absolutely screwed he would be without a proper weapon or way to protect himself. Beasts were getting close to him, too close for comfort. Some small and others not so little, all traveling in groups. They gave him a wide berth because he was something new and they were unsure, but how much longer could that last?
This was the first night the humans would be on this planet, soon they'll figure out that they're a good source of protein and not so tough to chew through.
***
Emerging from the shelter with the rising sun, ignoring his thirst, hunger and the effects of a sleepless night, his first idea was to find a way to turn his staff into a more deadly weapon. Sure it would hurt a lot to get hit with but with his low strength, how hard could he really swing it?
While Skye wasn't the most handsome man or too successful in the outer rims of the Dome, he knew how to think outside the box. He survived all this time on that single fact, and he wasn't going to stop now. He found the pointest rock he could and brought it back to the stone age.
Pushing the roots from outside his fingers he started to wrap them around the staff, covering the whole shaft. They absorbed the warmth of the tool and seemed to radiate the energy back to him. When it got to the tip he slowly started to spiral them into a tip over and over on top of each other until it connected the rock and the staff and even followed the flow of the rock into a sharper point. Looking more like a straight thorn than a staff with a rock.
That's not a bad name actually, alright, welcome to the world Thorn.
Reactivating to his thoughts the words came to life before him.
[Would you like to change the [Sun Soaked Staff] into [Thorn]?]
[Yes/No]
The message flashed before his eyes, lighting up above the new spear. He flinched at the sight of the choice, causing his head to move too quickly and the side of his face hurt. The battle wounds from his first fight in this world were looking very rough today and felt even worse.
He selected Yes, then quickly covered his face with his free arm, as if the thing was going to blow up the second he picked.
[You have obtained Thorn][0/50]
He didn't know if he'd ever get over this new found PTSD but he'd have to live with it.
The fact that he had a weapon made him feel better, even if it wasn't going to be a massive help. Using the same thought process he wrapped his arms and shins in the same manner, tightly weaving and binding the roots until they made thicker rope like shin greaves, bracers, and primitive knuckle wraps. This, along with his Heart Felt Protector made him feel like he stood a chance.
Holding his hand up and flexing a couple times, causing the rope to creek with the movement, he was ready to explore his surroundings.
"Well don't you look cool, off to save the world?"
"Off not to get eaten the second I leave this place actually"
"Or at least make yourself harder to chew through, maybe poke them a couple times with that thing and they'll leave you alone. Want me to leave some minions here while we're away?"
The question hung in the air.
"Hey Dubs, quick question. What the fuck do you mean minions?"
"You know, the little helpers I produce. Everyone has something of the type. They're minions produced by your mark and facilitated by yours truly for now, your little Mark Minions. Hey, that's actually a great name for them, if anyone else calls them that, tell them I had the idea first and will sue."
"I'm going to ask you again, what the fuck do you mean minions. Am I about to be followed about by little yellow pills who look like they shouldn't be allowed within 100 yards of a school?"
Rather than going around in a circle, Dubs floated over to the edge of the opening near the makeshift tent and a seed fell from the bottom of him and hit the ground. After a few seconds a stem raised from the ground and grew until it reached Skye's knee, it blossomed into a beautiful Lily like creature.
Skye focused in on it and could see the information starting to take form.
[Mark Minion 1] [Give name?]
[Yes][No]
[Mark Minions: Helpers created from the fragments of your mark to mirror and feed off your ability. As you grow stronger, so will they.]
Skye studied it up and down, going over the thick stems that wiggled with excitement at his attention. Their petals seemed to move like little arms waving, matching bubbly energy that could be read from their non existent faces.
He went a slight distance and did the same on the other side, producing Mark Minion 2.
Both flowers seemed to be dancing in the sun, enjoying the day of their birth. Skye could also feel a great rush of energy going to the pit in his gut, far greater than what his roots were providing him.
"Once we get a bit of a distance away they'll no longer be connected to you and store energy in themselves which they can blast out separately in little energy balls. So give the mental command to protect this place and they'll attack anything that comes near."
Skye walked over and placed the petals in his hand and inspected the little minion, which happily accepted his touch, almost pushing against it like a pet excited to see its master.
Alright until we get back, blast anything that gets close…. Please… ah… Flower boys?
[Name accepted: First minion. Flower Boys {2}]
And with that, the Flower Boy minions bounced up and down in acknowledgment which was… super cute??
Skye and Dubs started to make their way deeper into the forest, leaving behind their camp. After a few minutes of walking he could feel his connection to the minions disappearing, yet could still feel where they were.
"You know you could have told me about that yesterday"
"You could have asked"
"Oh sorry Dubs I forgot to ask if you could shit out shooter plants, anything else you got stored up there"
"Your mum was up there not too long ago, why don't you ask her."
Skye had nothing to say to that, he wasn't about to get into an argument with a floating orb of his soul that has proven he's willing to stoop to "your mom" jokes. Even ignoring the fact that they had the same mother, meaning both of them couldn't really even remember who that was.
Just like that the second day in the First Phase began. Also Dubs never had relations with Skye's mum. That would be both incest and necrophilia, but also physically impossible no matter how sexy of an orb he was. This was really important to say a second time.
—-
Many miles away, where the forest starts to dwindle and the rocks begin to tear through the earth at the feet of the mountains, another question was being asked.
Can I survive this?
The air was more crisp and the snow covered tips could be seen in the distance as the scrapping of metal on rocks rattled all around. The bones of fallen warriors begin to rise with their tattered weapons and rusted armor and start to descend the mountain.
A woman is slowly backing away, her dark blonde hair sticking to her forehead over the sweat that continues to run down her face despite the cold. On her back a tower shield slightly shorter than her is latched with a leather strap, in her hands, a broad greatsword almost as long as her body and half as wide.
The weight alone should have caused anyone of her size to crumble and struggle against it. But as she lifted the sword, the shield got heavier and rested on the ground, then when she swung the shield got lighter and the sword heavier, allowing her to cleave them in two. As the swing would pass through the middle of the body of bones, the shield would again drop to the floor with a thud and she could move the sword freely.
Another one would crumble, the weight of both would be transferred to the ground under her feet and she would pick up the small slivers of crystal where their heart was meant to be, crush it, and take a few steps back towards the forest and continue the cycle all over again.
It was tiring and tedious, but she had been doing it since she arrived. She needed food, water, and more than anything, sleep. She was too close to the forest to stop now. She had more knowledge than when she first started on how to control her power and even had weapons that she could use in unison with it. Each shard she crushed she felt herself absorb more essence and increase in strength, her blade got sharper, and each step became easier.
The skeletons had longer arms than anything she'd ever seen before, with two joints connecting the three lengths of it. Their legs seemed to cave backwards and allowed them to spring forward, and their skulls were rounded at the front but rather quite flat. Like someone had dropped them on their faces when they were young.
Two approached from the front and another from the side. She swung wide hoping to catch all three in a single powerful arch, cleaving clearly through the first but getting caught in the second. With her great sword lodged, both skeletons swung high.
"Don't worry, I got it"
Their blows rained down on her to only stop before reaching her head, their kinetic energy absorbed into the air, rippling as it transferred away.
"I really owe you one!"
She yelled into the open air. The force of their blows seemed to flow through her and out the back of her sword, blasting the great sword through the second and crumbling the third.
She reached down to collect the sliver of shards and crush them, taking her stance again.
Just a little bit more and I can finally sleep
The forest was right behind her.