The escape of Razark’s group might have been difficult if it hadn’t been for the battle outside the city drawing everybody’s attention. A certain pair of elven brothers from the Autumn court had led a strike against the Sidhe of Summer court. They had struck at the forces hired by the summer court, the freelancer’s guild. They considered the guild to be outsiders enforcing the Summer court’s rule over the elves. This strike, in turn, prompted the guild to retaliate, which caused them to overextend in an already precarious situation, and the Order of the Radiant Sun had taken advantage. The whole thing had devolved into a free-for-all, which in turn made it difficult to rein things back in, as the whole thing was a mess of conflicting interests and allegiances. All parties involved were just happy that the conflict didn’t turn into something bigger.

The people that had managed to enter the grove to investigate the disturbance had almost immediately noted that they were no match for the four immortals, even if the four beings were burdened by carrying around the fifth being that had actually burnt down the Tree of Life. So instead of trying to attack them in a futile gesture, they decided to follow the fleeing group and try to find out as much about the attackers as possible. The four of them had in turn taken some measures to lose their pursuers long enough to fetch the still prone Noyala and had then made for the teleportation gates. The mages there were not about to ask questions from a bunch of immortals, so they managed to teleport away safely after using a couple of false destinations to lose anyone dogged enough to follow them.

Thanks to Dee’s new connection with her Domain, her body was healing faster than ever. However, the amount of power she had channeled and the rapid changes took a toll on her mind, so she slept for a couple of days straight just to recover. In the meantime, Dagnal and Accirlashk went out to find out what the situation and the fallout of their actions were. Out of all of them, the two were the least likely to get recognized thanks to their scout’s attire hiding their features. They also didn’t carry the same amount of residual energy from the battle as the others due to them doing the least. As a result, they would be less likely to be sensed by any elves or Sidhe. Noyala was recovering well and seemed like she would get her powers as an immortal back as well. It just wasn’t something that happened overnight, and she spent most of her time in meditation trying to repair the damage from the curse.

Dee woke up just in time to see the two scouts return with news. “So the empire has pretty much gone to shit in the last couple of days.” Dagnal started up. “They all feel the change in the forest it seems, and they’re not happy campers.”

Accirlashk interrupted her. “That said, the forest isn’t really the largest concern for any of the four courts at the moment. The destruction of the Tree of Life had some other effects, the main one being that without the tree the Authorities are gone. Without the Authorities, the courts are wondering if there is there any point in keeping the current system of monarchy as it is.”

“As if things weren’t complex enough, our dear grandmaster has really made things even more difficult, although the empire really brought that on themselves. I’m sure it didn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but we were indeed recognized as being part of the order. The old man was not identified and no one knows about the Sidhe woman, Noyala was her name I think? Anyway, Dee here, on the other hand, was somewhat easy to identify, and as Blades of the order, we three aren’t exactly unknown. There were some among those that followed us that could recognize Razark and the scout attire we used. It didn’t take much for them to put two and two together.” Dagnal explained with a lopsided grimace.

Accirlashk continued. “So to the surprise of absolutely no one, the empire’s officials jumped on that information and started blaming the order, with the support of the freelancer's I might add. The grandmaster told everyone that the scouts had officially become a separate entity, which no one was buying of course. But hey, it suits our needs just fine!” The red scaled Saurian said happily. His happiness didn’t really fit what he was saying so the others knew there was more.

He continued. “Anyway, the grandmaster knew to expect that reaction and had spread rumors beforehand. Rumors about what was going on in the groves. He then said we probably went to the Tree of Life to see what could be done and things turned hostile. The elves and Sidhe were horrified of course. The grandmaster pointed out that they could easily check his story by going into any of the groves that were still untouched, which they did. Several of them in fact. Let’s just say the rumors were not disproven. Things could’ve still turned ugly for us, except that the news also pretty much destroyed the internal unity of the empire.”

Dagnal picked up again at that point. “The whole thing is still playing out as we speak, but there are some obvious hints about what’s to come. The most obvious one is the Autumn court. They were already fighting for independence, and this just provided them an easy excuse. They condemned the actions of the previous monarchy and basically pulled the good old “fuck it, I’m out!” maneuver. Their armies are already moving back towards their cities. We can’t say for sure, but I doubt they want to stick around in the forest. The Autumn court has always been critical of the isolationist policies of the empire and has gathered elves from all the clans that want to see life outside the forest. I don’t think they will miss such an obvious chance to leave.”

“What about the Winter court?” Noyala opened her eyes from meditation and asked with both worry and hope.

“I can’t say.” Dagnal replied. “The Summer court immediately picked the prince they were slating for Summer King's position to become their new leader and are holding together better, but the Winter court is currently leaderless. Unlike the king, the previous Winter Queen was just killed by Fluffy there.”

This brought an indignant exclamation of “FLUFFY?!” from Dee.

Dagnal completely ignored her protests. “So they also withdrew from the front, but they seem to be preparing for a big political debacle as they decide whether they even want a monarch and if they do who that would be. They have a long way to go since they are planning on having this “conversation” back at their own capital and moving that many people takes time. The Spring and Summer courts are wringing their hands in frustration and watching the empire collapse around them. I think the elves suggested that if the Winter court doesn’t want the job anymore, then the Spring court can join together with the Summer King and try to keep an empire alive in the forest with just the two courts. It’s only been few days, but they can sense the change in the forest already and know it won’t be simple.”

“What about the Order and the freelancers?” Razark asked. Just because the empire seemed to be going sideways, that didn’t change the bad blood developing between the two communities. The empire was a proxy war of sorts and the two communities had other reasons to fight.

“Well, the two groups have started pulling out of the forest, although the grandmaster is maintaining a presence, as the forest is his original home. Apparently, he broke contact with his family though. Something about the groves and being forced into silence since the time he was a kid. In general, the two groups are just glaring at each other for now but slowly the proxy war is turning into conflicts on the streets.” Accirlashk explained with a sigh. This was the worst part of the whole thing.

“The streets of the joint city?” Razark asked with a voice that made it clear he was not sure how to feel about it.

“Yes. The peace of the city has been broken, though it hasn’t turned into an all-out battle yet. Part of that is because any community that had people in both the guild and the order pulled out their members. They don’t want to fight on both sides of a potential war. The Mystic’s and the Holy Orders are taking turns playing peacekeepers and stirring the mess further, while the Threads seem to have all just bugged out. Apparently, their floating island simply teleported out as a whole yesterday.” Accirlashk replied with similar mixed feelings though for slightly different reasons.

Accirlashk was the scout Blade with least amount of ill will against the order in general. He was happy that the scouts could become their own thing now, but he felt bad about seeing the order in trouble. Razark, on the other hand, knew this might be an opportunity for revenge if things got crazy enough. He had somewhat hoped for such an opportunity when he heard about the two communities coming to blows. He would have to wait and see if an opportunity presented itself. He also knew innocent people would suffer in all this, so he wasn’t exactly happy at the prospect despite the possible opportunity.

-----

Dee was surveying all the changes in her body. After the burnt parts were peeled off and she thoroughly washed herself, several changes in all her forms became obvious. Those changes started from clear but almost irrelevant changes in appearance continued to her body being changed on a fundamental level from how it had been previously and capped off with changes to her soul space. There was very little about her that had not changed in some way.

The first and most obvious were the more cosmetic changes. This time it seemed her time as a dragon had brought changes that were not limited to her kitsune form. The kitsune form now had all of her six legs covered in scales, and the long thin horns had grown into something like antlers. A little odd for dragon horns, but seen in some species of dragons. Brass Dragons and Shadow Dragons in particular exhibited this trait. The same scales had also appeared on her hands in her normal form, although they stopped at the elbow. Her left leg was also scaled in a weird bit of asymmetry. That didn’t really bother her, as she could now change her form more freely and she wouldn’t be showing the scales all that often.

The least changed was her angel form, which had always been something of a counterpoint for her draconic tendencies, but even here some changes had intruded. It wasn’t obvious, but her nails were more like claws now. A feature that would not be obvious or even present most of the time she was using this form, as she usually changed her shape in other ways anyway. They did seem to retain the penetrative power of dragon claws though, as she tested them with a nearby stone.

The changes to her soul space were confusing, to say the least. The whole place had expanded in a way that she wasn’t even sure how far it extended. The previously barren place now had some simple signs of life sprouting from the ground, though it would still be a struggle to call it anything but a land of death. The totem itself had an eerie green glow thanks to the light that shone from the eye-sockets of the skulls, and the four holy symbols being locked in place in the air made no sense to her personally. Neither she nor Croestia knew what it all meant, but they had theories.

They also knew that she was forming a connection with the soul space, as power was starting to trickle into her body through that connection. Not a whole lot yet, but continuously growing. She felt that she was now much sturdier and harder to kill, but she wasn’t sure how much of that was thanks to the soul space and how much of it was just the modifications made by Zabaniya going crazy. She also wasn’t entirely sure how much stronger she was. It was a little hard to test, although she could always pick a fight with the old man. She felt a lot stronger though. Truth be told it took a little getting used to. She wouldn’t be picking a fight with the old man until she was used to the changes, or she would be making an idiot of herself.

Or that was the plan at least. They were all staying at a house owned by Accirlashk that was situated on the north side of the Day city, and as soon as Dee entered the yard from the separated baths she sensed an attack coming at her head from the side. To her surprise, as soon as her instincts kicked in the speed of the incoming attack seemed to slow down almost to a crawl and she easily moved to avoid the attack. The slowing of her surroundings had happened before, but never quite to this degree. Her own movements in dodging had been much faster as well and she no longer felt like she was moving through a heavy liquid that was slowing down her movements.

She had time to identify her assailant while dodging and was not surprised to see the old man. The old man grinned, clearly pleased at her quick reactions and dove forwards for a follow-up attack. The odd slowing sensation continued and Dee could have easily dodged but decided to block the blow instead. Normally blocking a direct blow from the old man was a bad idea and she would opt to redirect the blow instead, or at the very least try to block in a way that the full strength of the blow wouldn’t be able to be brought to bear due to the contact point being off. This time she wanted to test her strength.

Dee blocked the incoming fist with her own hand, and the strike felt more like a pat than a real blow on her new scales. For a moment she thought the attack had been a feint, but the look in the old man’s eyes showed that the blow had been meant as a real one and he was surprised to see how little effect it had. “I see I was right. You’re starting to gain the benefits of a Domain, even if not fully yet. Interesting.” The old man stated.

The air around the old man clearly changed, and Dee could feel the reason. In addition to fully using his ki, he was now using the power from his soul space and totem as well. His totem was apparently something that strengthened the body. The two ran at each other in a furious exchange of blows, where every missed and blocked blow sent waves of force into their surroundings, wiping out the yard and the outbuilding that held the baths in the first seconds of the fight.

The old man started slowly and kept ramping up both speed and power to allow Dee to get used to her new body. The hits were now much heavier, and Dee had to treat them seriously. A direct blow to a vulnerable spot would still be a very bad thing, even if her toughness had gone up. But at the very least the old man was becoming serious. Something that Dee noted was that she was much faster than the old man, which allowed her to keep up even though as time went on it became clear that the old man was still going to kick her ass. She might be much stronger and faster now, but she wasn’t an immortal specialized in close ranged combat, unlike her opponent.

This increase in speed was partially due to the improvements to her body and senses, but mostly it was thanks to improvements in the weird phenomenon brought by Lumen’s blessing. ‘Apparently having the blessing become part of my totem has some benefits.’ She remarked to Croestia.

‘Makes you think if the other blessings have improved as well.’ Croestia brought up another interesting point.

Dee tried something she had considered before. She allowed the string of dark pearls that looked like prayer beads to wind around one of her fists and increased their weight significantly. This caught the old man by surprise and the blow with that particular fist forced him back several steps, but to Dee’s shock, there was no damage to him. Even his skin was undamaged. She knew she had hurt him at least a couple of times before with a lot less power, so this was odd.

The old man noticed the wondering look in Dee’s eyes. “You’re wondering why that didn’t hurt me. The reason is simple. You’re not the only immortal with a totem. And mine is complete. Back when we were training, I barely utilized the power of my soul space, but now I’m using it fully. You’re going to struggle to hurt me as you are currently, but then again it would be odd if you did manage to do something against an immortal that specializes in defense while not being an immortal yourself.”

“We’ll see about that.” Dee said in a low voice. Suddenly the gauntlets she always used materialized on her four hands, and all of the little pearls and gems found places to slip into in the different gauntlets. Her hands were clad all over in a dense layer of the energy that was much darker than before, and she tried mixing in the power of Death for good measure.

Then she tried pulling out all her power into her body and increased the weight of her weapons as much as she could. The space around her gauntlets seemed to be distorting, and she flashed forward with the fastest speed she could muster. The old man had enough time to widen his eyes as her fists all came at him in a wave of blows. He managed to block two fists with his own speed, but the other two managed hit his body cleanly, and he was sent flying backward by the sheer weight of the blows.

Razark and the others had exited the house, mostly to protect it, and were now clapping. “Nice one. You didn’t really manage to hurt him, but I bet he didn’t appreciate the free ride you so generously provided him.” Accirlashk commented in a chipper voice.

The old man was back in less than a second. His side had a small lesion that would bruise and his hand looked scuffed, but he seemed ok. He just had not been bracing for the blow adequately. “Goddess damn it!” Dee cursed and marched inside the house, not considering that this could be counted as something of a draw.

“So how was it?” Razark asked the old man when Dee had gone out of earshot, even for her sharp ears.

“She’ll be a feisty one. She damaged a rib and my arm is going to bruise. Thanks to all the dark energy she pumped into it, the damn thing will be a bitch to heal.” He leaned in towards Razark and whispered just for him. “I think her Domain has something to do with suppressing others. I’m pretty sure it dampened my ability to resist the damage, although not by much as it wasn’t done on purpose.”

“That’s pretty good against someone with a totem like yours. The body of a Titan wasn’t it? You never did explain all the details.” Razark whispered back having a bit of fun at the old man’s expense. He also appreciated that the situation was so similar to the time he first introduced Dee to the old man, except now the old man had been much more serious.

“She’d punch a fist size hole into you for sure. Assuming you let her. Might be better to not inform her so she won’t go around picking fights with those less willing to just stand there and take it.” The old man countered.

“What are the two of you mumbling about?” Dagnal asked amused.

“Just talking about the fact that she’d kick your ass for sure. She could’ve put up a fight before, but now she’d cream you for sure.” Razark replied with a slight smile.

Dagnal got a lot more serious. “Seriously though, would she do well against me?” She asked.

The old man gave her a long look. “Hard to say for sure. She has the potential, but she is unpracticed. She definitely has the attack power to hurt an immortal of your level now, but could she defeat someone of your level? That depends on the match-up. Depends on would you let her do it. With her being unused to her powers, she isn’t really aware of all her capabilities yet, so her thoughts are limited mostly to punching really hard for now. Give her a month to figure things out though and she will win against you ten times out of ten.”

-----

Once inside, Dee went to see how Noyala was doing. She had attacked the Tree of Life for her sake and she was a little worried. For many reasons. She found Noyala just getting up from her meditation. “How are you feeling?” Dee asked.

“I’m almost back to full strength. I’m pretty sure I can match my sister now since I always was a bit stronger than her. So I should be ok.” Noyala replied.

Dee realized that she was right. Now that she knew what to look for, she could feel Noyala’s power as an immortal. She could also sense it better now, with her own soul space starting to connect. Noyala was stronger than Dagnal and Accirlashk, but weaker than Razark and the old man. “So what happens now?” Dee asked.

“With my powers recovered and the court gathering to decide the future of my race, I will have to go.” Noyala said with a sad look. Dee was about to say something, but Noyala lifted her hand to pre-empt her words. “I know you might want to come, but you can’t. No amount of changing your appearance can erase the life energy inside your body. The other four might be able to pass without notice unless someone looks really close, but you can’t. To every elf and Sidhe living in the forest, you feel just like a small Tree of Life, except with a twisted feeling added to it. I don’t think anyone outside the forest could feel it, so no need to worry about your stealth abilities, but we are attuned to the tree and the forest, connected since birth. Every member of the court would be able to feel you for what you are, the being who killed the Tree of Life.”

Dee made a faint grasping motion towards Noyala. “Someone who did it for you.” She said almost feebly.

“Yes. I won’t forget that. But neither will the Sidhe. I asked you not to go, but you went anyway, knowing the consequences. I realize I would most likely be dead without that, but now we have to live with what happened.” Noyala laid a hand on Dee’s chest in a soft gesture of closeness but also denial. “You have faced your battle, now I must face mine. Alone.”

There was a tear in Dee’s eye. She had known this might be the result of what happened, especially after Noyala had told her it would be, yet she had hoped things would not come to this. She was silent for a long while, holding Noyala’s hand against her chest. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Noyala was quiet for a long while before answering. “Yes, but you’re not going to like it.”

“Try me.” Dee shot back immediately.

“I have a tough fight ahead of me but there are two things you could do to help. You could intercept my sister. You don’t need to hurt her, but you could delay her from reaching the court while I make my play. That would open the way for me. That leaves one problem though. The court might not be in the mood to pick me to lead our people despite my strength unless I can give them a reason. I can’t start off with my plan to lead them out of the forest, as that’s something that will have to happen over a long period of time. Maybe centuries. I need something they can grasp on now.” Noyala left her words hanging in the air.

“Something like the person who destroyed the Tree of Life.” Dee realized.

“Yes. Not actually capturing or killing you, of course, I would never even suggest something like that. But I could emphasize knowing who you are and promise to lead the hunt. Knowing that the nobles must have realized the changes in the forest would mean a lot to our race, so they need a scapegoat. Some of them, like my parents for example, also know I had a falling out with the heart of the forest, and I can use that to my advantage. I could play things so it looked like I wanted to help protect their currently bruised reputation. Trying to hunt the one who destroyed the tree and their reputation would go a long way towards soothing their egos.” Noyala explained.

“And that would make me the number one target for the whole race. Not that I wasn’t on the shitlist already but now they would actively try to hunt me. Probably put a price on my head.” Dee was quiet for a moment before asking. “Well, somewhere I once read a passage; you aren’t doing things right if you’re not making enemies. When do we start?”