Elyra has found a map of the place. We look at it, and it seems like there is a side tunnel somewhere. It's hidden behind a panel that blends perfectly with the rest of the room, and not even the [Navigational Pings] had been able to spot it. Maybe the wall is made of a material that blocks magic? Hard to say. Even back in the caves, the pings had difficulty piercing stone, so perhaps concrete and solid metals are beyond its current abilities.
After a couple of tries where we fail to open the door, Vespera begins to wonder if this is a waste of time. Better to find if there's a mechanism to put this place on lockdown or something, but Elyra points at the map again and asks me to summon the guild map from the token as well.
"Look where the tunnel leads," she says.
We do, and our minds immediately spot the connection. It's easy when we are all in sync, after all. All she needed to do was nudge us a little bit, and we finally see it. The side tunnel leads towards Calyx's tree! None of us know what it might mean, but it warrants investigation.
I summon my sword and begin to work on the door. It's not my finest work, I admit, but the first rule of space warfare is that if brute strength doesn't work, then you are not using enough of it.
Not that I ever was a part of a space army, of course, but still.
I hack at the door, trying to wedge the sword's edge in the narrow gap between the metal and concrete. The scales that make up its bulk are wicked sharp despite the sword's massive size and brutish looks, and after a couple of tries I manage to do it.
Now I have an oversize lever, something that will help me use my massive Strength. I pull, and the door groans.
"Are you leaving?" Zery asks, worried.
Elyra smiles at her and explains our reasoning. Calyx's tree can create impassable shields protected by a riddle, and there is a chance this tunnel will lead us right to him. Zery winces at the mention of a dryad and his tree, but we assure her that Calyx is not like the people in her memories.
"I trust you," she says with a nod.
"We will not be away for long," the angel tells her. "Hang on tight."
Vespera smiles wryly. She knows Zery cannot do anything but hold on tight. She is at our mercy.
We enter the tunnel and leave the door open behind us. The light from the demonic core room filters in and lights the first few meters, but after that the tunnel is dark. Whatever is powering the room doesn't reach here, and only the glow of Elyra's wings and halo lights up the smooth concrete.
"I think she really meant it," the angel says. "When she said she trusts us."
"She's cute, isn't she? Makes me want to protect her," Vespera replies. "Even though she's like, twice our size or something. I wonder how tall she is? I might ask her."
"That would be rude, little troublemaker," Elyra says, chuckling.
"Come onnnn! I know you are curious. Sol! Help me out?"
I shake my head. "You're on your own here."
She pouts but accepts that maybe she shouldn't ask so soon.
The tunnel is quite long, but the guild map has no trouble keeping track of our position. That's when I realize something, and my blood runs cold.
"If the token knows where we are well enough to track us on its map down to a half-meter precision, and the token can communicate with the guild to download map updates and accept jobs…" I begin.
Vespera halts and curses. "Heavens, they can track our movements!"
"We don't know if they are actually tracking us," Elyra says. Even she knows her argument is weak.
"Shit," I say.
We all speed up. Even without being tracked, Bib surely knows where we are. He was the one who sent us here. Our sense of urgency increases. Now there are several things making us almost break into a run, that's for sure.
Eventually, we slow down. Not because we are tired or winded, I've been sharing stats with the girls to help them keep up, but rather because the tunnel begins to change as we approach where Calyx's tree should be. There are thin tree roots on the concrete, coming out of the walls through cracks and fissures. Not all the cracks look like damage, though, which is strange.
As we venture in further, I begin to spot holes through which much thicker roots poke into the tunnel. The roots pulse sometimes, lighting up with what we think is magic, although none of us can prove it. We don't have magic sight or senses beyond some vague impressions from the girls. Elyra in particular.
However, the pulsing is telling. It comes from where the tips of the roots touch some sort of pipe right above us, running the length of the tunnel.
We speed up again, and reach where the tree should be above us. The tunnel opens up into a massive room, filled with roots thicker than a person. At the center of the room, the pipe descends from the ceiling and splits up into many smaller ones, drawing circles that resemble the lines of Elyra's magic. The roots attach to these lines and suck up all the magic from them.
"Calyx?" I call. If this is his tree, he might be able to hear us.
A flash of magic confirms my hypothesis. He appears right behind us, coming from where we weren't looking.
He looks at us in confusion. "Where are we?" he asks.
"You don't know?" I ask back. How can he not know?
Vespera tenses up.
The dryad shakes his head. "I have never been here before," he says, grimacing. "I had no idea the tree extended all the way down here!"
"We have no time for this," Elyra says. "We need to ask you and the tree for a favor. I assume the tree knows this place, even if you don't?"
Her tone of voice is almost glacial, with the way she looks at him. Most of it is not directed at him, though, rather at the tree. He is simply the messenger and the poor recipient of her cold anger.
Calyx closes his eyes for a moment. When he reopens them, their dull, gentle green is dotted with emerald flakes. The tree is here.
"The tree knows of this place, yes," the dryad says almost monotonously. "It is where it draws most of its sustenance to perform its task."
Elyra's face does not change. We all feel the cold simmering anger brewing under the surface. How could we blame her? The tree is connected to this. To the demonic core. To Zery. And seeing another person trapped and used like that triggered some nasty memories.
"What would this task be?" she asks.
The dryad hesitates. He winces, his eyes returning to normal for a moment before the deep emerald reappears. It seems that he has communed with the tree and convinced it to spill some secrets.
"We are allies, and thus we should share information," he says mechanically. "This is very new to me as well, but the tree claims to be the source of the local System."
We pause. "What's that to do with—" Vespera begins, then pauses. "Oh…"
"Yeah," I say, grimacing. "It gathers energy from that core, doesn't it?"
Calyx nods slowly. "It is not a wrong assumption, however it is also not entirely correct. The tree claims that magic creates more magic, however the System cannot draw power from wild magics in the air or inside monsters. That is why it installs itself onto users. I do not know what it means, so please forgive me if I parrot words that the tree tells me. The System empowers users, and they in turn empower it. By using magic and culling monsters, they agitate magic and collect magic, which keeps it functioning. The tree acts as a transmitter-receiver, and it is in charge of providing the nearby fifty kilometers with the System."
"An antenna," I say.
The dryad nods. "It is so."
"That's why it's protected by the shield and the riddle."
"It is so."
"What about the core?" Vespera asks. "It's a demonic core, for heavens' sake. WHY?"
"That, the tree does not know. It is far too young to know. Its predecessors did not share everything, just how to use this room. The tree is supposed to dump excess energy here when times are good, and draw from the reserves when the times are grim."
"It's like Zery said," the angel mutters. "The core is a battery. And she is the backup." She looks up at Calyx. "No more," she orders.
"The tree claims that it cannot stop doing what it is meant to do. It is not a choice it can make. It says that you might understand if it framed it like this: it is its programming that compels it to do this. Not to mention, the System would collapse and all sentients would die if it stopped."
"Can it at least free Zery?" Vespera asks.
Calyx shakes his head. "I wish it could, but it claims it cannot."
"Can we even trust the fucking—"
I interrupt the demon before she can put us in danger. Quite frankly, I am of the same mind. We all are. Hell, even Calyx might be. But we are in no position to negotiate.
That's not entirely true. I step forward and look the dryad in the eye, talking directly to the tree. "We are going to find a way to free Zery and you will not interfere."
The dryad waits.
"Zery is the dragon woman, the backup battery," I add. "It is not up for discussion."
"The tree wishes you didn't."
"That's why I say it's not up for discussion."
"The tree cannot stop you."
"I wish it wouldn't try to even if it could."
"In the name of our alliance, the tree is amenable to your attempts but asks that you do not damage the rest of the machinery keeping the System functioning."
I grit my teeth. The cold, calculating logic of the tree makes me so angry. "We can do that," I say. I feel Vespera's disappointment and add: "for now."
It mollifies her somewhat.
"This also leads us to another issue," I say. "The guild is coming. We need to make sure they don't get in. Why is that room unshielded?"
"That would be because there is not enough energy," the dryad says. "However, this new piece of information means that the room MUST be brought inside the shield. The tree is compelled to."
"Where will it get its energy?" Vespera asks, a sinking feeling gripping all of us.
"Wherever it can," the dryad says.
"If you take it from Zery," I threaten, feeling a raging fire and arctic coldness at the same time, the sum of three people's worth of anger. "I am going to cut your fucking roots and—"
Sudden pain. I look behind me to see that a root has shot from the wall and has impaled me, going straight through the heart. The girls scream and fall to their knees, feeling the same pain as I do because of the bond.
My vision grows blurry and unfocused. I feel like I am in a deep tunnel and the light is running away from me. I try to shut the bond. If I am dying, I don't want them to feel it.
They refuse it. They force their way here. They hold me tight.
I will not die alone.
I smile, shedding a single tear. It all happened so quickly.
They hold me. Their touch is soft and gentle, but I can barely feel it.
I feel so cold. So sleepy.
I want to close my eyes for a moment.
The moment I do, I know I will die. But I am so, so tired.
Ah. I tried my best. My only regret is that… I will leave the girls alone.
Fuck. I don't want to leave them here all alone.
FUCK IT.
I AM NOT GOING TO DIE LIKE THIS!
Fate has been… REJECTED.
[Rejection of Fate] has been removed.