Jake sighed, tossing the spoils of death around like a small ball. Mizutsune was currently wandering around in circles, his nose brushing over the grasses and dead leaves littering the forest floor. After Jake had gone to discover what the five [Unidentified Beasts] were to gain his missed experience, and the duo had left the now deceased Leshy’s domain, the duo had backtracked their trail towards the Elven Enclave to sleep and prepare. After walking for over an hour, Mizutsune had lost their trail.

Jake watched the pulsing [Heart of the Woods] rise and fall through the darkness, its healthy green light offsetting the royal purple of his flames. After watching the Heart tumble through the air for a few minutes, he turned his mind inwards. Giggles, you back yet?

A screen appeared before his eyes as soon as his thought finished, blocking out his vision.

Lilith is unavailable at this moment. Please leave a message.

Jake sighed again, waving away the message. He had been trying to get in contact with the goddess ever since he had taken the heart. It would really help if she told me what to do with this thing. I mean, come on. It’s the fucking heart of a tree-man. What the hell am I supposed to do with this?! Grumbling to himself, he threw the Heart into his inventory then stood, applying pressure to the small of his back to the sounds of gas bubbles between the joints of his spine snapping and popping. Sighing in contentment, he gazed into the darkness lurking between the trees.

He gazed into the darkness for some time, his mind wandering, before Mizutsune’s cold voice broke through his thoughts.

“Master, I have picked up the trail again. I am ready to continue whenever you are.”

Jake grunted in affirmation, and strode over to where his fox was waiting. The duo continued to wander through the darkness, and Jake could not help but wonder if they were moving in the proper direction.

After a few hours of walking through the woods, and occasionally scaring off an angered monster, the duo returned to the specific Elderwood tree that housed the Beast-Kin representatives. Jake flicked a burned out cigarette but into the shrubbery, and glanced at his companion. “You need a lift?”

Mizutsune shook his head, staring at the towering trunk of the tree. “I will hunt on the ground for a while, Master. I believe that with the death of that large monster, I am close to reaching my breakthrough and gaining my next tail.”

Jake blinked, nodding slowly. “Alright, that sounds good. Think you’ll get enough from wandering around and killing random stuff?”

Mizutsune shrugged, his gaze still locked on the tree. “Possibly. I will refrain from hunting too far, should you need my assistance for anything, Master.” With that, the fox turned his gaze and began to walk into the dark woods.

“Good luck.” Jake called after the fox, who shot a feral grin over its shoulder at its master.

“I do not believe in luck, Master. Only skill.” And with that comment, the fox disappeared entirely into the hungry shadows.

Jake chuckled to himself, shaking his head. Fucking fox. Concentrating for a moment, a pair of inky black wings grew from the humans back, and he launched himself into the air. Pumping his wings furiously, he gained altitude and flew up the trunk.

Passing by multiple flats, he continued to climb until he was above the flat where the Beast-Kin were living at. Letting himself fall downwards, Jake flared his wings before he touched down, landing gently on the wood of the flat.

He glanced around, not seeing hide nor hair of the Beast-Kin that he was looking for. Surprisingly, the flat seemed completely empty. There were normally a few Elves sitting around the fires, speaking to each other or resting, but it seemed that he was alone.

Shrugging to himself, he moved to the bonfire that he normally rested at, and sat down, pulling out the [Heart of the Woods] from his inventory as he sat. He stared at the pulsing knot of wood in his hands, moving and rotating it around to get new perspectives on the item.

Giggles.

Lilith is unavailable at this moment. Please leave a message.

Sighing, Jake waved away the message and went back to staring at the Heart. She said something about using this in an item to ‘help’ with Binding. What this help means, I have no clue. What the hell did she mean by ‘use in an item’, anyways? Jake sighed again, and he pulled a cigarette out of his inventory. Lighting up, he took a drag, letting the toxic smoke enter into his lungs. Exhaling with a slight cough, he cleared his throat and continued to stare into the pulsing green light.

Not knowing what else to do, Jake began to experiment. Closing his eyes, he pushed his mind onto the beating Heart in an attempt to learn something more about it. Recreating the [Heart of the Woods] in his mind, he focused his mind onto the beating knot of wood. An image of the heart slowly blossomed into his mind in perfect detail. He saw each and every ridge of the knotted wood, and felt the constant thrum of magical energy pulsing through the object. He paused, inspiration trickling into his mind.

I wonder if… I mean, could this work? It might…

Creating a miniscule tendril of darkness in his mind, he began to trace a single artery of pulsing green lights with the tendril. Layering the artery with the smoky darkness, he tried to apply pressure to the tendril, forcing it to merge with the Heart. The tendril disappeared, and Jake watched the Heart within his mind. Slowly, the artery began to change color. Instead of the pulsing green light, a splotch of darkness emerged within the emerald light. With every ‘beat’ of the Heart, the splotch would swell, and then collapse upon itself in tandem with the glowing of the Heart.

Jake grinned to himself, but before he could continue something caught his inner eye. With each pulse of the Heart, the splotch would appear to grow smaller. Watching carefully, he witnessed the splotch of dark magic slowly fade into the emerald glow of the [Heart of the Woods].

In the waking world, Jake scratched the back of his neck. What the hell. Would that even work? I don’t know if I’m imagining this, or if this is how it’s supposed to be done. Why couldn’t Giggles give me a fucking manual or something? Grumbling to himself, Jake delved back into his mind, bringing the image of the [Heart of the Woods] to the fore of his consciousness. He spun the image around, checking for anything new.

I mean, it looks perfect. I didn’t even notice this little indent right here when I was looking it over before. Maybe this is like a building or crafting thing? Fuck it, go big or go home. With that thought, he moved to get his consciousness into the heart of the Heart. Imagining his conscious shrinking, the Heart grew to loom over him like a wooden giant. Finding what would have been a vein that would bring blood back into the heart, Jake moved his conscious into the wooden organ.

Following the vein into the knotted wood, Jake was amazed at the minute details within the wooden vessel. With each ‘beat’, the walls seemed to flex and pulse with unseen power, and a greenish wind blew through the orifice. Wait, how is there still stuff in here? Shouldn’t it have all come out by now? Unless… something is creating it in here. And if I can change that…

Jake delved deeper into the wooden heart, following the pulsing green energy. The circular tunnel suddenly expanded into a cavernous void. In the center of the void, a vortex of emerald energy violently twirled, sending pulses of green light arcing through different tunnels spread along the wooden walls.

As a pulse passed through Jake’s imagined form, a sense of peace and calm spread through his being. Taking the feeling in, Jake paused for a moment. It feels… clean. Like untouched nature. He moved his attention to the vortex, a smile breaking across his face in the waking world. Let’s see if we can change this.

Hundreds of inky black tendrils burst forth from the wooden walls, rushing in towards the vortex. They began wrapping around the end of the vortex of emerald energy, forming a cocoon of shadows. With a mental command, the tendrils began to constrict tighter, smothering the green light.

Wood groaned, the walls began to shake. Cracks and fissures formed inside the Heart, spreading quickly through the cavern.

Shit. Creating more tendrils, Jake sent them to wrap around and reinforce the walls surrounding the cavern. The walls continued to shake, but the complete melt down of the [Heart of the Woods] appeared to stop for a moment. I have no idea what I’m doing… Umm, maybe fire?

With a thought, purple flames raced through the tunnels into the center of the heart, and began to spin around the cocoon of shadows in the center, replacing the once emerald vortex with one of violet flames.

The wood of the Heart groaned loudly, and more cracks began to form around the walls. Jake continued to feed mana into the flames and shadows, hoping for the best. The vortex of fire sped up and expanded, tongues of violet lapping against the walls covered in veins of darkness. The shadow cocoon continued to tighten, streaks of emerald being seen through the constricting darkness.

With a crack of thunder, the vortex of flames imploded around the cocoon. When the violet flames touched the orb of shadows, it exploded with the roar of a dragon, immolating and stripping the wooden walls of the cavern, and blinding Jake in a flurry of darkness and purple light, forcing the human to break out of his imaginations.

Jake groaned in pain, his head pounding. His hands reflexively clenched at the throbbing pain, and through the pain in his head a new feeling came through. One of burning heat, accompanied by the sounds and sickening smells of human flesh being roasted.

With a yelp, Jake threw whatever was in his hand at the ground, shaking his burnt hand in a feeble attempt to fight off the pain. Opening his eyes, he glanced at his hand. Blisters were already forming on the reddened flesh, his hand quivering slightly.

“God damn it…” Shaking his hand again, he looked around the flat for what burned him. A screen appeared before him, blocking out his view. Jake paused, blinking in confusion at the message.

Congratulations! Through trial and error, you have successfully converted a [Heart of the ____ ] to a new Elemental Alignment! Conversion [Heart of the Woods] has been Converted into [Heart of the Fel Lord]!

Jake waved away the message with his unburned hand, then looked around for what he had held. Laying on the deck of the flat, and blackening the wood it was resting on, was the new Heart.

The wood of the Heart had completely vanished, being replaced by a ropy black flesh. Rivulets of liquid flame danced across the surface, glowing cheerily with a purple light. Tongues of violet flames with a center of black danced across the surface, reaching towards the sky. The Heart pulsed occasionally, forcing the flames to grow higher and fall in a hypnotic dance.

Jake slowly moved his uninjured hand towards the heart, feeling for any heat. While not as biting as it had been, the heat was present. Slowly, he touched it with the tip of his pointer finger, feeling the burning flesh with his own. Quickly withdrawing the finger, he paused again. There was no pain, only uncomfortable heat.

Gritting his teeth, Jake reached down and gently grasped the pulsing Heart. He ignored the heat, and raised the Heart upwards. Black smoke eked out of the bottom of the Heart, dispersing from the wind after falling for a few inches. Whenever the Heart pulsed, a spurt of smoke came from the heart, before being blown away by the wind.

“Holy shit…” Jake spoke in a whisper, not believing his eyes. A smile bloomed slowly on his face, and he laughed. “I fucking did it!”

Heart of the Fel Lord Locked away and forgotten, the Fel Legion waits for release. For thousands of years, the Fel have watched and waited for a break in the fabric of their prison, hoping for a momentary lapse of caution. When it comes, the Legion shall be reborn in this world, and all shall know their wrath. The [Heart of the Fel Lord], when brought together with appropriate materials, will help weaken these bonds. When added to an existing Formula, adds the following benefits:

Reduces the sacrificed mana cost of Binding beings from the Fire, Dark and Fel Elements by 50%

Increases reputation with all Fel aligned races

Reduces reputation with all Fae aligned races

Jake grinned, and slipped the [Heart of the Fel Lord] into his Inventory. Grabbing a cigarette, he lit up and inhaled the toxic smoke, the smile never leaving his lips. Exhaling the smoke with a sigh, Jake rolled backwards and laid down on the wood, staring into the darkness above him. A lance of pain reminded him of his injured hand, and he concentrated on it for a second, preparing himself for the pain. A small orb of violet flames appeared over his hand, and the human’s face locked up in pain, his eyes clenched shut.

After a few moments of blinding pain, the fire faded, revealing the healed hand. Jake sighed, thankful for the release of pain, and pillowed his arm behind his head, bringing the cigarette back to his lips. God I hate how much that spell hurts.

“Pardon me, God-ling.” A voice broke him from his thoughts, and Jake opened his eyes to see who had spoken to him. A female Elf was standing over him, looking down on the lounging human with excitement. She was dressed in a simple robe, and an emblem of a hand holding up a blooming plant glinted from her breast. Oh, this was… that one lady from the council. What the hell does she want?

“… Yes?”

The female Elf blinked, an excited smile blooming on her face, revealing her needle sharp teeth. “I have been looking for you, God-ling. I want you to show me your magic.”