The five of them sat on chopped up logs positioned around the Village Tree, it became a habit of theirs after every night. They would talk about what went wrong and what they still have to do. Kai took off his gear and everyone unsummoned anything weapons they had. They wanted this to feel like a council of leaders.
It has been a few days since everyone had arrived and that first stressful night, things were finally starting to feel manageable. Most people had a place to sleep now and were getting settled into their jobs in this new world.
There were only a few trouble makers but Zsofia and Li took care of them quickly. Luckily the hard fought battles of the first night convinced just about everyone just how dangerous this place can be.
The politician who thought he had skills that the group would need felt insulted that he was placed in the manual labour category. He wasn't a man who was used to being looked down on, back on earth people hung on his every word. How dare these children not do the same.
He convinced a few other disgruntled people who had cushy lives back on earth to try and rise up and take power. With grand promises of protection and never having to dig a hole with their hands and rocks again, they were sold.
It didn't last long, the support for the idea didn't catch fire as they hoped. Here they had nothing to bribe their way to the top, and they were competing against people who gave it their all night after night to protect everyone.
Once that didn't work, they tried to resort to violence and treating the weakest among them to give up their food and obey them. With only 500 people here, secrets didn't stay secret for long.
In this early morning you can hear their cries for mercy as they did laps around the clearing, Li cracking a whip behind them as they ran. If you're energized enough to start a coup, you're energized enough to train, she would say.
The night time battles got more intense, but so did their confidence and coordination. With the integration of the Branded it was no longer an all hands on deck type situation.
One platoon of warriors, 10 of Claire's Branded, and a few of Nora's was all it took now to contain the monsters in their new corridor. The nightly slivers were being mainly funnelled into the combat orientation Branded for now, but their stockpiles kept increasing.
The sound of construction could be heard all around as those who slept through the night started to rise and those who fought laid down to sleep. The other platoons would soon start their training and patrolling.
"How did things go last night Kai?"
It was his turn to stay up all night and make sure nothing went wrong. They would each take turns to ensure the rest had four nights of sleep at least.
With an exaggerated yawn and stretch he replied:
"Nothing I couldn't handle, I think we killed around 300, which is more than Claire did last night if anyone was wondering. I kept count"
Claire puffed out her cheeks in protest and pouted, crossing her arms but kept her thoughts to herself.
"Two people got hurt and one of the Wardens is going to be out of the fight for a while. I was able to reattach his arm but.. well it's not moving right."
Wardens became the nickname of those Branded by Claire, each group had their own, either picked out by one of them or adopted by the group itself.
They seemed to fight more recklessly when Kai was in charge, knowing he'd not let them die even if he complained about it the whole time.
"And the shadows? Anyone from the legion hurt?"
Nora chimed in. She was very protective of her Branded, which were referred to as a whole as the legion and individually as shadows, each one felt like a child to her.
Because of their ability they were best for scouts, but they were also the fastest at night. When Nora wasn't on shift they took her job of rounding up the monsters.
"No, they're all too squirmy to get hurt. I swear they run like the fucking wind. I can hardly see them when they return, if it wasn't for the monsters chasing them I'd have no idea where they were."
Nora didn't like how Kai spoke about her babies and shot him a dirty look. Elli spoke before things could escalate.
"Good work Kai. 3 injuries aren't the worst we've had. It won't stop us from what we need to do today."
She directed her attention to the Village Tree.
"Ora, how many groups have formed?"
A chime went off and Ora replied, not just with her words, but with a status window they could all see.
[Nine groups have now been formed. Locations and members unknown.]
Elli continued.
"Thank you Ora. As you can see.."
She was interrupted.
[You're welcome Elli. I cannot see.]
"…. Yes. Okay. Like I was saying.."
Skye hid his laughter under his breath, always finding it funny when his soul decided to show its personality. That was very much a Dubs move.
"We're not even half way to reaching the number of groups needed to move to the next phase and it's been almost a month that we've been here. We need to improve. At best we'll be here for a few months longer, At worst…"
She stood up and pointed at the tree, letting her thoughts trail off before regrouping.
"We are here."
She then walked to the north and dragged her foot in the dirt, drawing a straight line to where Claire was sitting.
"And here is where we need to go. The town Claire found. Inside of it she was able to find a few weapons before being chased out. Where you find weapons, you find tools, where you find tools.."
"You can find pots!" Skye yelled.
"You find Skye!" Kai yelled.
Skye leaped out of his seat, overcome with the excitement of finally being able to achieve his one goal he completely missed Kai calling him a tool. His kingdom for a pot. All the insults, for a pot.
The water and hygiene situation had been the trickiest, made only slightly easier by an Enchantment tool recovered by Nora. It was called [Misplaced Item] and consisted of two small jars and they were connected though space.
At first they were being used as a form of long distance communication, whispering into one could be heard from the other, but Elli had a better idea. She tied it to a large rock and placed one jar into the river, and out the other the water flowed.
A never ending connection to water. The only issue being that their containers to hold water were limited to a few water skins and some helmets that leaked quickly.
"Yes, pots as well Skye. Pots as well. But more importantly the ability to build what we need."
She put her hand on his shoulder and guided him back to his seat.
"The Wardens who fought last night will accompany a platoon and two teams of workers. Tell them they can sleep tonight. Nora, bring a few of your best to quickly scout. We have more sleds now, and enough time to make it there and back if we leave soon."
It was Claire that spoke next:
"Do you think maybe we should do it tomorrow and scout today? Just to be safe."
"Usually I would agree with you Claire, but I can't help but to feel like time is not on our side. There are other groups of Marked here and we don't know what they're doing. We could arrive today and it could be picked clean. We could scout today and find it empty tomorrow. I believe it's worth the risk. How does everyone else feel?"
Kai waved it off.
"Yeah, no point in waiting. We're ready to go. I'll stay here and heal the injured and make sure things don't catch fire."
Nora also agreed.
"If we can scout and salvage the outskirts at the same time, we should."
Skye nodded along with it, excited to escape the field he and his Branded, which he called the dryad, have been working nonstop. Clearing it, creating rope, and trying to lay down roots has been a dull way to spend his day.
"If everyone else thinks it's a good idea, let's do it. The skeletons are never ending but they're weak and slow at least."
Claire was now in agreement, as the only one who had been up there she had told them all she knew about it the day before.
"That's exactly what I'm hoping for."
Elli replied with a coy smile.
—--
They left after a short preparation. They carried packs of supplies in bags made out of monster skin woven together with rope and dragged sleds that were mainly branches tied together. They marched north with the Wardens leading the way and the platoon of warriors walking in two rows. The workers walked in the middle for extra protection.
The journey took longer than it should due to the terrain being overgrown and hard to manoeuvre. The Wardens did their best to stomp the bushes flat and chop away low hanging branches but their swords were dull from the constant fighting. Right before the sun was at its highest they arrived at the edge of the forest.
The landscape broke from thick jungle and tall trees to a barren rocky mountain base. It looked like both sides were fighting for every inch and left with a stalemate in the middle. Here Nora and her shadows waited for the rest of them. They scouted ahead and moved at a much faster pace than the main body.
"Glad you could make it."
Nora said while giving Elli a nod, her thick black hair stuck to her neck with sweat. Skye and Claire were right behind her, the Wardens getting in line as if they were ready to charge. The platoon helped the workers drag the sleds into place to stage them.
"Yeah, a cake walk. How are things looking here?"
Nora looked out after Elli finished speaking, pointing to a large berm right in front of them. It connected to a larger mountain that rose from the ground in the distance.
"The town is located just on the other side of this and is dug into the base of the hill. It seems like an old mining town. There is a shaft that leads deep into the mountain itself but we weren't able to get close. It's swarming with skeletons."
"Anything of value?"
Elli replied as she nodded along to the report.
"There is a large building close to us, either a warehouse or a village hall. It's the first building you see. We weren't able to get in, the door was too heavy."
She continued, Elli looking back at Claire and giving her a wink.
"And near the mountain, it looks like an open forge. There were too many types of tools to count. Shovels and axes, even mining picks. It's all still intact."
Skye could feel the excitement building in his chest as he listened. His hand to the ground and the roots racing from his fingertips into the dirt, making their way to the village. He was a lot stronger now than when he first tried to infiltrate a town, and the inhabitants didn't float this time.
He didn't bother going over the berm with his roots, but went directly under it, tunneling through the rocky soil. He bypassed the big building Nora was speaking about and spread out from there.
"I can cause a distraction on the other end of the town, draw their attention while we make our way to that first building."
"Good idea, we'll get in, grab what we can, then head back here. Nora, while we do that, your and your shadows sneak around the base of the mountain and take what you can from the forge. Anything you can carry. Leave the sleds here and a squad to secure the area. Wardens and one other squad, you'll be holding them back while we take what we need. Last squad, protect the workers. Is everyone ready?"
Elli said, looking to her left and Nora and Skye shook their heads yes, looked to her right and so did Claire and her Wardens.
"Then after you Skye, make a bang."
At that moment Skye closed his eyes and sent his mana down the roots and down the pathways, making their way through the network. It arrived at the end of his root system, which crawled on top of one of the houses farthest away from the mountain and out sprouted two Flower Boys.
They shook their leaves out and welcomed the fresh air in their little dancing ways. Then their heads locked into position like a snipper finding its target. If they had eyes, they would be determined.
Mana channeled from Skye's armour to him, and from him, into his roots. It had been storing it for a while and was ready to burst thanks to its [Sun Eater] enchantment. It traveled to the Flower Boys and they raised their heads to the sky, starting to charge for a massive blast.
It got bigger and bigger, beautiful yellow balls building up at the top of their heads, and eventually they leaned in to each other and combined their individual balls into one massive one. And with a silent flowery yell, they sent it flying to the closest building.
{BOOOOOM}
It crashed into its base and shook the ground around it, a large smoke plum rising into the air. Skye could feel the vibration of the explosion through his roots and then, the scrapping and stomping of clumsy feet.
"They took the bait. I'll have the Flower Boys fight them off as long as they can. Let's move."
He said as he tried to stand up, only to wobble and almost collapse. He must have transferred more power than he thought.
Nora caught him as he was about to tumble, sliding under his arm in a smooth motion and taking some of the weight off his legs.
"You can fall later, now should be the time for running."
She said while helping him stable himself, then running off herself. Even in the daytime her and her shadows were as swift as the wind.
Skye looked and she was right, it was the time for running. He was already so far behind, even though he only took a moment to recuperate. At this rate, the workers might even beat him there. How things had changed, being slower than Claire. Sure she didn't need her big shield anymore, but she was still meant to be the slow one.
Thanks to Skye for the explosion everyone. Wow Skye, great big bombs you have. Would that be too hard to say, but no, just leave me in the dust.
He sucked it up and started to sprint