“Druids aren’t classical mages by any means. They rarely move away from the place they swore to protect, caring for the giant trees together with Rangers and hunters.

It is no surprise, then, that their lack of mobility is vastly compensated by massive boosts while being near their chosen tree, and you can be sure that fighting one inside a city is suicidal. Of course, they can also commune with plants, which turns the whole place into a spying device.

Oh right, they are also the fairies’ favorites.

-Sage Sarianna, historian of Nortanis the Safe Zone.

Nashariel pov

“And it would be rude to simply refuse, right?” Nashariel replied with a grin. Inside, she was… less than confident.

/We’re ducked, aren’t we?/

Oh, absolutely.

“Indeed. Why don’t we go somewhere more… private?” The woman purred with an unsettling smile.

“Phaia, what the…?”

“Darling, shut up, will you? All of you.” Her words pulsed with power, the magic invading Nashariel and her elven guides.

*Mental domination blocked. *

Astill, I’m so grateful for having upgraded [Omnidragon body] …

/Focus. Act as if the skill worked/

Nashariel assumed a vacant expression, letting her guard drop.

The woman smirked. “My dear, I can feel when my skill takes hold and when it doesn’t. Good try.”

The dragokin huffed. “If you say so. Still, following you doesn’t seem like a good idea, doesn’t it? I’ve been tortured enough as it is.”

The owner of the Hut snorted. “Do you think you have a choice?”

Nashariel turned to look at him with a humorless smile. “I just handled a Warband by myself, this morning. Yes, I think I have a choice.” Lightning might be out of the question, but I can absorb their mana to restore mine. Secondary mind, try and see if we can drain this rope.

/On it!/

The other laughed, as did many others. “Good one, but-”

“Wanna bet? Why don’t you take these bindings off from me and then talk?”

The man started to approach with an angry stride when his eyes glowed purple. A moment later, he dropped to the floor. Nashariel heard no breathing.

“Risking our mission for pride. What an idiot.” The woman whispered in an irritated tone.

Nashariel started to sweat cold. Did she… did she kill a person? Just like that?! “What’s wrong with you?”

Phaia smirked. “If you want to grow a healthy tree, you have to cut the sick branches.”

The artifact?

/Already draining it. Need a few minutes/

“Now, little dragon, follow us.”

Nashariel gritted her teeth. “You’ll have to force me.”

“May I remind you that I only need to scream for help to call dozens of angry Rangers upon you?” She replied in a mocking tone.

The dragokin clenched her fists, then relaxed them. “Very well. Lead the way, Ranger.”

The group moved, the guides forced by the woman’s powerful magic.

They ended up in a two-story house whose inside was covered by a thin layer of dust. The stench of rotten food wafted from the kitchen. A single chair lay overturned on the ground, giving the place an abandoned.

Nashariel smelled no corpses, at least.

The Mind-mage commanded all the guides to sit down in a far corner, standing still and silent. They were sweating so much that their hairs were glued to their foreheads.

Phaia and a pair of 'Rangers' went to the upper floor, forcing Nashariel to follow. Once there, the two sat at the opposite sides of a table. The elf put her arms on it, smiling dangerously. "Finally, a bit of privacy. I hope you like it.”

Nashariel remained silent, glaring. Artifact?

/Done. It’s just a piece of rope now/

Good job. Resources?

/Not optimal. Stall for as long as possible/

The other’s smile turned upside down. “No fun.”

“Look, I only know that you tried to murder my friends. Just what’s there to talk about?”

“Well, I was curious. You see, trying to get your hands on a dragon's corpse is understandable since your bodies are worth their weight in Tiered gold. On the other hand, enslaving a dragon is widely known to be a bad move. So, we asked ourselves: what does this dragon have that the syndicate wants her for?"

Nashariel put on her best poker face. “How the heck should I know?”

“Oh, c’mon! Are you the bastard child of a dragon and a Templar? The daughter of the Grandmaster? You have discovered a secret weakness in another Syndicate? Tell me!” Phaia tried to use her magic once more to no avail.

“Sorry, none of the above.” This woman has eaten the wrong mushrooms one time too many.

The elf scowled. “Fine then, keep your secrets. I’m sure that someone else will pry them out of you. I can’t damage the merchandise, after all.”

Energy?

/Almost there, keep talking/

“What’s so important about me taken back alive?”

“Better pay, prestige, probably a promotion…” The elf listed raising a finger for each word. “Oh, and getting assigned inside a proper city instead of a hollowed tree would be pretty nice.”

/Resources topped off, even your fourth ones. Let’s give them hell!/

Not yet. Nashariel let out the breath she held since setting foot in here. She masked it as being a sigh in defeat. “How did your… friends know where I was anyway?” I didn’t detect a spell on me…

“Getting chatty, eh? Trying to get used to your new home?” She chuckled. “Don’t know, don’t care. I only know that we’re going away today.”

Nashariel scowled. “I’m under a Deal with a fae. I can’t leave before Spring’s Equinox.”

The other waved her off. “Hardly a concern. We can use the Elder’s Core to teleport out of here, and what’s a fae out of this forest? Nothing.”

Hold on… “Another Elder told me that only Lyah’thien’s faithful could use the Network.”

The woman grinned ferociously. “That would be true, usually. But…” She brought out a strange-looking amulet with a beautiful sapphire shining from within. “We have this little beauty right here. It will bring us to safety after we deal with the Elder.” She dangled it in front of her.

/Artifacts do make everything easier/

Nashariel ignored her secondary mind. “Deal with the Elder?”

“You don’t think that she’ll let use her precious Core for free, right?”

Nashariel clenched her fists. “I won’t-!”

A plethora of ‘thumps’, interrupted her next words. Then came the sound of windows shattering. A moment later, Nashariel heard heavier objects dropping on the floor.

Bodies... She realized, somewhat uneasy.

Phaia lost her mirth, instantly standing up. “What’s going on down there!?”

“Someone’s attack-!” The shout ended in a gurgle.

The woman turned toward Nashariel with a calculating gaze. Seeing her confused look, she cursed. “We’ve been followed! Repel the Rangers!” Phaia shouted, subtly infusing her voice with power. As soon as the others went down, she glared at her. “Follow me, or I can assure you that you’ll regret it. Now, jump through the window.”

Nashariel obliged, her skin effortlessly repelling the glass shards.

/Why are we…?/

The guides are innocents. I can't risk their well-being.

The capturer followed, dashing ahead, intimating to the dragonkin to stay close.

The moment the two women turned the corner, they saw four heavily armed Rangers and the Elder herself.

Phaia paled.

“Getting rid of me won’t be that easy, child.” The old woman chuckled. “Now, let the Templar go.”

Phaia glanced at Nashariel, then unsheathed a sharp-looking dagger and brought it against her throat. “I’d rather kill her! What will the Bastion say when they’ll learn of her death in this city? And the Paladins? Move out, Fairy slave, if you don’t want to know!”

Despite the steel pressing against her throat, Nashariel had to suppress a chuckle.

/Do… do we tell her?/

Nah, give her a moment.

The Elder laughed. “Child, I believe you’re about to regret it.”

The dagger pressed harder. “That’s a no, then…” the weapon loudly snapped in half. Phaia turned to stare at it in shock, looking then at Nashariel’s unharmed scales.

“I'm not hanging out with a fairy to pick flowers, you know?" The dragokin said. She flexed her muscles, easily snapping the now mundane rope. Her Presence flared. "And I wasn’t lying when I said to have killed an entire Warband by myself.” She added with a growl.

Phaia turned to run but found Nashariel in front of her. The dragokin smashed her head against the elf's. A sickening crunch later, and the elf instantly dropped to the ground, unconscious.

/Well, that was anticlimactic/

Better this than demolishing half the floor with a fight, right?

The other mind remained suspiciously silent.

Right???

“I suspected that a Tier 1 artifact wasn’t enough for the likes of you.”

“Dragons?”

“People who work with fairies for prolonged periods. And yes, dragons. May I ask you to help my children? I don't want to lose any more of them this season. Nor any other, if I'm being honest."

Nashariel nodded, dashing towards the sounds of fighting.

Long minutes later, the syndicate’s goons lay dead or unconscious on the ground,

The dragokin had limited herself to non-lethal attacks, roaming through the battlefield in her Healing affinity. Right now, pretty much everywhere had become hallowed ground thanks to her breaths.

"Did you get them all?" She asked the Ranger under her care.

"With the First Hunter's blessing, yes." He replied, sighing in relief.

Nashariel patted his shoulder, dashing toward her friends’ temporary prison. She knew that Phaia had to rush to her location, but…

Once arrived, she found the building unguarded.

Fearing the worst, she kicked the door open, and…

Dan jolted out of the way, letting out his signature masculine screech. “Boss! What the heck!” He actually fell on the floor, swearing once or twice.

Seeing that her friends were all fine, Nashariel broke down into a burst of nervous laughter. She approached Dan, crushing him into a hug.

“Uh, you good?”

“I am now.” Nashariel pulled away, looking at the bindings. I’m sure that they won’t mind. She kneeled, shifting into Metal and summoning liquid iron. Less than a minute later, the handcuffs opened with a satisfying click.

The Inquisitor massaged his wrists, letting out a relieved breath. “Thank the Goddess.” He murmured. He didn’t bat an eye at the action.

Dorel and Veliel were still sleeping, but Nashariel freed them all the same, healing them with a supercharged breath a moment later. Her monstrous friend healed rapidly, especially her broken wings.

“How many people did you smack around?”

“A few,” the dragokin chuckled, “it felt good, not gonna lie.” She turned outside, seeing that two Rangers of the Elder’s personal guard were approaching with unsheathed weapons.

Once they noticed her, they lowered them. “Are you all well?” One asked.

“Yes, and I freed my friends. I believed that the bindings were no longer necessary.”

The other nodded. “True. The Elder would like to offer you hospitality to her floor.”

"Let her know that I'm thankful, but two of us are still…" she glared daggers, "recovering. We’ll stay here, for the time being.”

“Very well. I’m glad that you could prove your innocence.” The man concluded.

Nashariel watched them walking away with mixed feelings.

The next day, in the middle of the night, while Nashariel stood guard, Veliel and Dorel finally woke up. The two of them also questioned their boss about how everything had been cleared up.

Not willing to repeat the deed potentially three times, Nashariel had asked Dan to delay her tale, a thing he patiently agreed to.

“… so, in the end, I rushed here. When I saw that none was guarding you…” The Templar repressed a shudder.

Dan playfully smacked her arm. “Ehy, we’re still here, aren’t we?”

Nashariel smiled. “I guess so. Vel, do you need more healing?”

The priestess nodded. “I would like that, thank you.” After the breath, she asked. “Do we stay here?”

“No.” Was the instantaneous reply from Nashariel. “They’re a bit too trigger-happy for my tastes.” She brought up her map, frowning. “But the only village near here is right on the border. I don’t want to accidentally break my Deal by going there.”

“Why don’t we go by ourselves?” Proposed Dorel. “I stand by what I said about going home together, but I don’t like us being put in chains. We’ll wait for you there.”

“Seems good enough for me.” Added Dan.

Veliel also nodded.

Nashariel raised her eyebrows, resting her back against the wall. “Is this an adventurous spirit that I hear?”

“We trained hard too, you know? Ahem, not to the point of visiting Dangers, but, ya know, dangerous stuff.”

“Good to hear! As soon as you recover, I’ll accompany you as long as I can. Good night, guys.”

“’Night boss.”

“Good night, Boss.”

“Remember to rest too, Nashariel.”

“Will do.”

“Dan, make sure that she rests.”

“Sure.”

Nashariel cursed.

As her friends fell asleep, Nashariel let out a long sigh of relief. That was too close. Again.

/We couldn’t do much more than this/

No, but they also need to strengthen themselves. They can’t be dependent on me. Nashariel brought out her map, searching for… found it!

Along the way to the next village, there were two other Dangers. One was full of flying creatures, which was utterly unfair to the humans in her group.

The other was a nest of Stone-creatures, probably where those Petrifying snakes had migrated from. Based on what her friends had told her, these monsters were challenging but manageable. Plus, she would be there too.

And she had plenty of magical goodies to share with them.

Nashariel resolved to talk to them about this. Tomorrow.

“Do you really think that we can do it?” Dorel looked dubious.

Nashariel lifted her hand. “Perhaps not the alpha, but, the rest of them? After seeing your levels, I’m more than sure of it.”

The dragokin had asked her friend's permission, and she noticed that she was the lowest leveled one among them. Which was a bit irritating, considering how much work she had done in a month, but such were the advantages of [Human kin] and evolving a Tier.

“Because a few snakes weren’t enough, uh?” Dan sighed. “Fine. When do we go?”

“Are you topped off?”

Their gazes became unfocused for a moment, then they nodded.

“Then we could leave immediately. I don’t know if there are other Solkans here.”

The group gave their assent, but Veliel gazed longingly at the Clinic in the distance. “I wanted to say a proper goodbye.”

“Let’s go together.”

“Thank you, Nashariel.”

The place was much busier than the day before, Nashariel noticed. Many beds were occupied by sleeping or groaning people, and the number of healers had only grown.

Veliel entered, the others watching from outside to give her both privacy and safety.

The siren had been stormed on by the young elves, their youth making her appear even taller than she was. They all bombarded her with questions.

“She’ll be busy for a while.” Dan chuckled.

Nashariel echoed him. “I wish the others did this with me!”

Dorel snorted. “Your training was hell.”

“Ehy!”

The other human nodded sagely.

Nashariel rolled her eyes. “Fine…” Was it?

/Based on the training books that you’ve read… yes, primary mind, by all standards/

It wasn’t that bad!

/May I remind you that fighting dragons is not something that most people do in their entire lives?/

Damnit…

An hour later, the group was standing in front of the Oak, ready to leave for the snow-covered forest in front of them.

Each threw its gaze within the giant tree, lost in their own thoughts. Nashariel wondered what became of the Solkans, but the Elder’s words didn’t leave too much space for imagination.

She filled many flasks with the lake’s water.

/Do you think that she interrogated them?/

I don’t know. Probably? Yeah, at the very least to find everyone still on the run. Not our business.

The group marched onward for a while, then Nashariel returned in her true form and sped up to their next fight.

The large cave led them to a wide system of dry tunnels. Probably thanks to the cold season, the many walls were riddled with holes, each hosting a solitary stony snake or an entire family. The group had easily killed hundreds of monsters during the days they had entered.

At least, being partially made of stone, the monsters didn’t bleed normal blood, but a viscous odorless liquid. The acidic fumes, though…

As Nashariel had expected, her friends were powerful enough to tackle the Danger.

She was standing at the back, ready to intervene, but otherwise limiting herself to observing the trio. They have developed quite the teamwork.

/Indeed. It seems that being away from you has forced them to improve considerably faster/

The forest changed us all, uh?

/Adapt or die is a powerful motivator, that’s for sure. I’m glad they chose the first option/

Me too.

With the majority of the snakes dead, a pair of young basilisks came out of a large tunnel to their left, angrily hissing at them while extending their ridges up to the wall.

Nashariel signed her friends to tackle the things, standing at the ready in Protection attunement. Better safe than sorry.

As always, Dorel took the front, shield shining proudly.

Dan vanished from plain sight, enjoying his new Hybrid affinity, not sooner than riddling the ground in front of him with caltrops. Their pointed bits glinted purple under the other human’s light.

Veliel hummed a song of night and blindness. The basilisks found their most potent weapon stolen. The song had conjured a thick layer of black mist on their yellow eyes.

The oversized snakes shook themselves so hard that one of them collided with a wall, making the cave tremble under its weight and strength. Some rocks fell on it, immobilizing the monster.

The other shot directly ahead, colliding against the waiting Defender. Without its petrifying eyes, the monster was little more than a hardened sitting duck.

The trio focused on the exposed one. As Veliel started to sing a song that tinted her friends red, Dan reappeared on the monster’s neck, sinking extended daggers beneath the scales.

Dorel kept the monster taunted, retaliating with shield bashes empowered by the foe's own strikes.

The monster soon tried to flee, but Veliel used her staff to cast a binding spell. Thick roots enveloped it, their grip tight.

The group’s tactic proved its worth, felling the snake in mere minutes.

Dropping down from the corpse, Dan smirked at Nashariel. “Have you become lazy?”

“Oh?”

“Leaving your students to work by themselves doesn’t set a good example!” Added Veliel, smiling.

Dorel looked at his dented shield, sighing. “Not again…”

The dragokin rolled her eyes, metaphorically rolling her sleeves. “Vel, drop your spell on the trapped guy. I need a just bit more to unlock Stone.”

The snake’s eyes regained their glow, glaring at the approaching Nashariel.

She felt the pulse of magic wash over her, trying to transmute her flesh into hard rock. The girl listened intently at the intent transmitted to her by the spell while the secondary mind accelerated the essence intake.

By the time she stood but an inch close to the monster, it started to slither back in fear. Nashariel transformed, biting the monster’s neck, then twisting it. A second of intense pressure later, the loudest of snaps echoed in the tunnel, making the Astillians shiver.

After dropping the corpse, Nashariel turned toward her friends with a smirk, returning back into her dragokin form. “Shall we go to their nest?”

The others rolled their eyes.

How close am I to that attunement?

/You’re 1 point short/

Nashariel groaned.

After finishing their clear of the tunnels, they reemerged under the sun’s gaze shining upon the snow.

“Was starting to feel a bit cramped down there.” Dan commented.

Nashariel stretched. “You can say that again!” A blur caught her eyes. “Oh, hi Omen.”

The spectral fairy was slightly hovering over the ground, her head cocked. “Salutes to you again, Templars. If we had guessed about your companions’ potential, perhaps we would have included them in our Deal too.” She declared calmly.

Looking a bit uneasy, they greeted the powerful fae in their own ways.

“Did you watch us since we set foot there, or…?”

Fel scowled, the blizzard around her whistling furiously. “Regretfully, we have been… kept busy. We have followed your investigation, hoping that all would go for the best. We applaud your haste and results.”

“Thanks. I had hoped that you would’ve stepped in while I was there, though.”

The blizzard died down. “We would have, if only we were allowed to…” Fel couldn’t physically sigh, but her eyes frowned in annoyance all the same. “Where are you directed to?”

“The border. I’m accompanying my friends as far as I can, and they’ll stay in the village until our Deal is fulfilled.”

Fel nodded. “You didn’t feel welcomed in the Oak any longer.”

“Precisely.” Nashariel almost snarled.

“We understand. We have no objections about you carrying them there, even beyond the border. Provided that you come back, of course.”

The dragokin smiled. “Thank you, Omen.”

“You may use the name we provided with others too, Nashariel.”

“Then thank you, Fel.”

“It is no trouble for us. We shall take care of a few things before your return.”

Nashariel returned in her true form, allowing the others to mount on her. Giving a thankful nod at the specter, she rose in flight, quickly beating her wings toward Valkas.

??? pov

“Is she gone?” One voice thrilled in the sound of falling snowflakes.

“Yes…” Another answered, resembling the growing stalks of grass beneath the ground.

“Aww… should have we kept her? Her songs were the best!”

“No, Filly said we couldn’t, that we have to mind our own business until we’re Tier 1.”

“Boring! Boring!” The other four pixies chanted together.

“Do you think she’s angry that we’ve helped them?” One asked, suddenly worried about losing her daily supply of freshly baked sweets.

“Nah, she likes them too! I’m sure she’ll overlook it.”

“Yeah, well said! Those meanies didn’t see that coming!”

The pixies giggled together. “Should we do it more often? Imitating voices is fun!”

“Let’s bother the Elder!”

“YEEEEEHHHH!!!!” The army of small fairies fluttered to the top of the tree.

For the next week or so, the Oak’s inhabitants heard echoes of friends and families, only to find no one when they turned around.

It all ended the day that a suspiciously large amount of sweets was baked.