Eeek! Wh- what is this? Is this… sunlight? I don’t like it.

Bright light shines straight into my eyes blinding me and causing me to stub my poor little toe on a rather unforgiving rock. Stupid rock! Still blind, angry and foot hurting I kick out at the offending object. OUCH! Okay well that was rather stupid of me.

Great now my foot hurts and I feel like an idiot. Stupid sunlight, making me do stupid things. This is all your fault!

After being underground in the Twilight Grove for I don’t really know how long it takes some time for my eyes to adjust to the bright morning sunlight beaming straight at my face. How do I know it’s morning? Well that’s an easy one. I have fabulous instincts.

Once my eyes are finally able to adjust to the new and more intense light the view nearly takes my breath away. No, it’s not because the view was beautiful, well it was, but due to the immense size of the forest.

I stand atop a large, rocky mesa that just barely reaches above the tops of massive trees. Spreading out below me in what seems to be a verdant carpet of shifting greens, the forest stretches as far as I can see. In every direction trees reach towards the sky.

Oh wow. That is a lot of forest. I really didn’t give that old tree enough credit, well I didn’t really give him any credit at all but I should have. I am quite impressed that he was able to control that much. How will I ever be able to take care of more forest than I can even see? I really need to grow my little seed into a new heart tree as soon as possible. You know… I really should give my little seed a name. How about planty? No, that won’t work. Hmmm… Seedy? No that won’t work either. Oh well I’ll think of something later.

Turning away from my introspections and the view of the forest I take in the mesa that I am currently standing on. Made almost entirely out of granite, the mesa juts from the ground like a glittering black mountain with its top chopped off. Set into the top of the mesa an intricately carved, or what was once an intricately carved archway since most of the carvings were destroyed, leads to the tunnel I had wound my way through.

Awww, why did the exit have to be at the top? Now I have to climb all the way down. I really want to stand here and admire the beauty of the forest some more but my druidic instincts are practically dragging me to the edge of the mesa. Wha wha wha, self control yourself! I start internally screaming at myself and manage to stop myself before I throw myself off the edge. Oh wait that’s a path. Whew. Sorry self I won’t accuse you of trying to kill us both anymore.

Placated now that I realize that my instincts are not going to throw me off any cliffs I start to make my way down the mesa. My druidic instincts despite being very helpful in knowing more about the forest, seem to be unable to tolerate anything that is harming the forest. Right now those things are the blight and the queens. Since they somehow seem to know that encountering a queen will result in my instantaneous death my instincts are practically dragging me to the blight so that I can fix it.

Ouch! Stupid path covered in all these stupid rocks! Continuing to curse mentally as rock after rock along the path jabs into my poor feet. After stepping on each rock I give a quick pulse of mana to my healing matrix in order to sooth the pain away. It works great, mostly. The more I use it the more tired I feel.

This is not going to work. If I go too much longer I’m going to succumb to mana exhaustion. I cant make it down without using the matrix though, and I cant afford to use it with almost every step. It would be great if I didn’t have to activate my entire healing matrix all at once just to heal my feet. If I could activate only the part of it in my feet… wait can I do that?

Breaking from my increasingly pessimistic thoughts by the new idea I turn my entire focus to attempting to activate only a portion of my healing matrix, the part around my feet.

The first several tries yield no results, activating the entire matrix again. Exerting even more mental effort and a small bit of my mana manipulation, I manage to activate everything but the matrix covering my head. “Yes I knew it!” I shout gleefully. The next hour or so is spent playing- fine tuning my healing matrix.

By the end I am able to activate the matrix covering any portion of my body and can even adjust the output a little bit. I can now activate only the portion below my knees and do so at approximately 80% of full power!

Ding- Healing Matrix has reached level 4!

Haha operation comphy feet is a success- ohh what’s this? My healing matrix reached level 4. I don’t think I used it that much. Hmmm, maybe it was because I was able to learn more about the skill and not just use it? That’s probably it. I thought the matrix would just do healing, but to be able to control where the healing goes and how much power is behind it is definitely cooler, plus way more energy efficient. I wonder if all skills work like this? Adding that to the research later list.

Done experimenting for the time being I resume my journey down the mesa. Despite my new growth in the healing matrix skill and its corresponding reduction in mana consumption, I am dead tired by the time I reach the bottom of the hill. Collapsing into the first patch of grass I can find I just lay there gasping for breath.

Ding – Endurance + 1!

I hate you system. Also I don’t like this grass as much as the stuff growing in the Twilight Grove, it isn’t as soft. Come here tail! Ahhh, so soft. I really do love holding my tail, and wrapping it around me, and stroking it. My tail is like the softest blanket ever, and stroking it just feels good. Hu? What’s this? My tail isn’t black? So pretty…

I hadn’t been able to see it in the low light of the Twilight Grove but out here in the sun I can see that my tail isn’t completely black. It is mostly black but there are subtle hints of dark purple running through the fur in strange patterns that shine when the light hits it just right.

I hope my hair and ears have the same coloring to them! That would be so great. I should lay here just a little longer. The sun makes me feel all warm… and I’m so… tired. Ahh!

The warmth of the sun and softness of my tail and probably the exhaustion of my long hike down the mesa are lulling me into a stupor and I am about to go to sleep when I receive a large mental kick from my druidic side.

Okay, okay I get it, sleep later move now.

Getting to my feet and feeling slightly, well mostly recovered if I’m being honest with myself, I look into the shadows cast by the towering trees.

Those are huge. They didn’t look that big from the top of the hill. The lowest branch is easily ten me off the ground and that’s just the start.

Relegating the feeling of being small and insignificant compared to the size of the forest to the back of my mind I take a deep breath and plunge forward into the trees.

Jogging under the shade of the canopy is much easier than walking down the mesa. For one it is nice and cool here, and the ground is much softer. As I continue through the forest my druidic instincts point out different plants to me. When I look at them I just know what they are called and a little bit about them. Like that one there. The little patch of stalks with green and yellow blade shaped leaves is blade weed. It is basically exactly what it sounds like, a small grass like plant with razor sharp leaves. Note to self don’t touch that one. The little group of mushrooms growing out of that fallen log are called pale maidens. They are deathly poisonous! Okay definitely don’t touch those ones! This bush here is called a blueberry bush. It grows little berries that are edible, and blue.

Wait! That bush has a bunch of edible berries on it! Not realizing it until that moment I was so hungry. Skidding to a stop next to the bush I stare greedily at the tantalizing little blue berries covering it. Reaching out carefully I pluck one and toss it straight into my mouth. It is safe to eat after all.

A heavenly mixture of cool sweet and tart pulp fills my mouth and I groan in pleasure. Instantly moving to strip more berries from the bush I pop one after another into my mouth. After downing dozens of them in a couple of minutes I manage to stop myself from stripping the bush bare.

“Whew that was tasty! I wish you could have a few little seed. Hmmm, I do feel a little guilty for eating without you though.” I am getting rather used to talking out loud to the seed at this point. To alleviate the slight feeling of guilt I once again prick my finger to feed a couple drops of blood to the seed before healing and sending it a small thread of mana. With both of us now feeling much fuller I set off once again.

Picking up my pace as my instincts give another insistent call to action I run into the forest once more.

Over the next couple of hours I run past trees, jump over a small creek, and see hundreds of different plants. I even gained 2 more levels to my endurance!

The ground beneath the canopy is its own thriving ecosystem. I had initially thought the ground would be clear under the trees like it was around the mesa but I was wrong. Here beneath the trees the ground is covered in bushes, flowers, and even smaller trees forcing me to follow a small winding trail.

I am about to run right past an overgrown and almost unnoticeable trail when something much deeper than the instinct pulling me towards the blight stops me. The two feelings are contradicting each other. One is telling me to follow this new path and the other telling me to keep moving on. “That’s strange. What could be over that way? What do you think seed?” I ask. No response. Thinking for a minute I decide to take a gamble and step onto the overgrown path.

Ding – Primal Senses has reached level 2!

Oh good if I got a level to my primal senses for taking this new path then there must be something important at the end. I wonder what it is.

Following the path, I have to step carefully around bushes and over roots. After approximately 15 minutes of travel the path ends. At its end a small clearing filled with flowers swaying in a gentle breeze opens to the sky through a small gap in the trees. Something about the clearing is nearly hypnotic drawing me in. Without realizing it I start to circulate mana to my eyes and gasp.

Inside the clearing thin glowing lines of teal dance with the flow of the wind. No… those lines are the wind. Am I seeing wind mana? I think I am. Staring entranced I watch as the this streams of wind mana twist, turn and spin around the clearing. I wonder if I can copy how the mana is moving. If I do maybe I can learn how to use wind magic!

Jumping into action I extrude two thin lines of mana from my hands and try to copy the smooth twisting flows. I fail abysmally. My mana lines jerk and carve a jagged zigzagging path through the air. Grunting in frustration I am about to give up when the thin lines of wind mana collide with mine causing something interesting to happen. The instant the two come into contact the entire length of my pearly white threads turn into the teal of wind and the feeling of the mana changes.

The abrupt change is so startling that I loose my connection to the mana and the wind quickly steals it away, incorporating my mana into its flow. What was that feeling? Is that what wind mana feels like? Can I make that happen?

Now I’m fully invested and my frustrations are forgotten. Eager to experiment some more I extrude a small amount of mana from my right hand while watching it closely. Holding the small thread in front of my face I try to remember what the wind mana felt like… nothing happens. Not giving up I try to push that same feeling down my arm and into the mana stream. This time the mana changes color and the smallest breeze tickles my eyelashes.

Giggling in delight I push the feeling down my other arm and am now holding two threads of wind mana. Yay! I can make wind mana! Now how do I use it? Oh I know I’ll just copy what the wind is doing! Eager to learn wind magic I set to work trying to copy the wind. My efforts are a little better than last time but not by much. The wind mana lines I produce are still refusing to follow the same elegant grace the actual wind is able to produce.

As if it is taking pity on me the wind once again connects to my mana and this time I am able to hold onto it as the wind tries to pull it along. Not wanting the connection to break I quickly stop trying to direct my mana and let it be guided by the wind. This causes something rather awkward to happen. With the wind pulling on my mana threads my arms are pulled around throwing me off balance. Stumbling around the clearing I try to get my feet under me as my arms are pulled this way and that.

Looking like a total fool for a few minutes I start to get used to the flow and fall into a kind of dance with the wind. It doesn’t even feel strange after I start to get used to the movements. The more I was able to move with the wind the closer my mana threads started to copy those of the wind. So, I danced. Moving, twisting, and flowing with the ever-changing wind.

I learned how the mana moved to produce light flutters and heavy gusts, my mana spinning in gentle curving loops and circles as each was produced.

It started as the faintest of whispers, but as I lost myself in the flow of the wind the words grew clearer. A soft flowing cadence speaking of great hurricanes and the gentle caress of the faintest breeze. The words filled me in an intoxicating surge begging, pleading, to be let free, so I sang.

As the song began the world went quiet and still. The birds stopped singing, the grass was no longer swaying, but the wind… the wind danced as I sang its song.

“Flying softly through the trees

a silent voice, a face unseen.

The slightest touch, before it leaves

the gentle breeze

Gently shifting

Ever changing

Forever free

Twisting turning blowing

Coming going staying

The ever-changing wind

Roaring up the mountain

Screaming across the stones

The brutal strike, through cloak and sail

The howling gale.

Gently shifting

Ever changing

Forever free

Twisting turning blowing

Coming going staying

The ever-changing wind

A passing friend, or hounding foe

The softest touch, the final blow

Forever free, but never far

The ever-changing wind…”

The last words of the song are carried away as the wind steals them. I could be mad about it but I’m not, for that is the nature of the wind. I understand it now and no matter how the wind changes I will always remember this part of its song.

The song of the wind was beautiful but as I was singing it and even now, I can feel the echoes of something far grander. A song where the wind is only a part of the whole.

Quest Alert: The Endless Song

A song of incomprehensible power that bends the very laws of nature; it is beyond your current understanding. To know this song you must know the 6 primal aspects of nature. Feel them, listen to them, and understand them.

- Understand Fire (x)

- Understand Wind (complete)

- Understand Water (x)

- Understand Earth (x)

- Understand Light (x)

- Understand Darkness (x)

Reward: The Endless Song

“You see that little one? We are on our way to learning something great.” In the usual fashion no words come to me from the seed but I smile as small pulses come from it. “Hey you’re trying to sing the song of the wind too!” I exclaim.

Feeling even happier that I can now share this beautiful and primal aspect of nature with my little seed a sudden idea hits me. “I know what to name you! From now on you will be Melody. The heart of the forest who sings its songs, alongside me.”