We entered a beautiful garden filled with all kinds of flowers of all shapes, colors, and sizes. Birds flitted about singing their songs while squirrels ran across the thick branches of the trees that circled what I would soon learn to be the Sacred Grove. In the middle was a crystal clear pond, where oversized multi-colored fish swam about. Nymphs, Dryads, and Sprites pranced about tending to the various plants. All of sizes, shapes and colors, both foreign and familiar.

As we took our first step into the Grove, a massive Elk darted across our path, braying his indignation. A path of stone led us around to the other side of the pond where possibly the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen sat on a wooden throne next to a massive oak.

Junipher sat to this woman’s right, and I instantly saw the familial resemblance. If I didn’t know better, I would have said this woman was Junipher’s slightly older sister. The body shape and face were almost identical. The only major difference in the white robed woman compared to Junipher was her milky white skin tone and raven black hair that flowed straight to her mid back. Piercing green eyes quickly analyzed all the members of my current party before settling on me. Her rosy lips quirked up slightly at the sight of me.

Junipher had been dragged along before us by what remained of her scouting party. A half dozen guards stood stiffly to each side of the pair and eyed us warily. We came to a stop on an ornate stone pad that was polished and engraved with an intricate scene of forests and lakes.

Junipher’s mother stood and approached me with a sultry smile.

“Come, let’s have a look at the man whose heart you have stolen.” Her voice was musical and enchanting. I swayed as an overwhelming power tried to assert itself on my mind. It wasn’t so much a brute force attack, as a subtle prodding that crawled up my spine and tried to sneak it’s way past my mental defenses.

[The Monarch’s Unflinching Gaze] activated in reaction to the illicit mental intrusion. I took a step back as my mind cleared and noticed that all of my companions except Shubin had collapsed into the soft grass behind us. They all seemed to be sound asleep with pleasant smiles on their faces. Shubin had dropped to a knee seemingly fighting an inner battle of his own and was currently checked out.

Junipher’s mother, who’d yet to introduce herself, was in the middle of placing a gentle hand on my cheek when my ability activation caused a backlash in whatever she did. The hand that had been reaching for me now was reaching for her temple as she was inflicted with a terrible mental strain.

I gave the woman a hard look, then rolled my eyes, “Really?”

“MOTHER!” Junipher rose in anger, a look I’d rarely seen on her before. “You didn’t just try to charm the father of my first children!?”

She stumbled backwards, hand still pressed to her head, eyes wide with shock. “How, I... “

“I can’t believe you!” Junipher was now standing just behind her mother with her arms crossed in frustration.

Before I could form a proper response, the kind that in my mind ended with my woman’s mother lying in a pool of her own blood, the great oak behind them began shaking, and a raspy sound almost like laughter vibrated through the ground. Then a man’s face, formed of bark, leaves and branches, slid down to an empty space against the trunk of the tree.

“Ho ho ho ho ho, it’s been a long while since someone has been able to resist the charms of my wife. Other than myself of course. Lira, step away from the boy and leave him be.”

Lira, cheeks flush with embarrassment, turned her head away and nodded, “Yes, dear. I-I’m sorry. I, how?”

Junipher came up to stand next to me and was about to begin apologizing for her mother when the big tree spoke again.

“So you are the one that has stolen my Junipher’s heart? Warlord of Winslow. Merciless Reaper of the Foolish. And several other accolades and titles. All barely into your first class advancement.”

I looked at the old tree, remembering what Junipher had told me about him on our way here. We hadn’t talked much of her family before then. I knew she had one, but was content to leave it at that. At least until she announced she was pregnant. Sorta. Kind of. At least in the way a half Siren, half Dryad woman can get knocked up.

“That would be me, which would make you King Maroo Oakenheart. Last Defender of the Sacred Grove. Protector of the Forest. Sovereign of the People.”

“Wha.. what happened!? Did I miss anything?” Shubin muttered out loud at that very moment. It appeared he had finished fending off whatever spell Lira had attempted to place on us.

Before anything further was said, a pair of high backed seats made of roots and soft moss rose from the ground behind myself and Junipher, for his size, an intricate sitting stump the size of a tree trunk appeared behind Lord Shubin.

“Please, sit. Let’s get properly acquainted, Sir Reaper. And, again, let me apologize for my wife’s behaviour. You see, we meant no harm. It’s just, well…”

It was Shubin who’d finished Maroo’s hesitant thought, not I.

“You needed to be sure that Lady Junipher’s particularly interesting inherited gifts hadn’t inadvertently dominated the young Reaper’s mind? Is that correct?”

Maroo shook in what could only be interpreted as embarrassment, “Indeed. Your analysis is quite astute, Demon Lord.”

“I have had interactions with… similar beings in the past. Though none so powerful as your wife.”

I looked behind me as a bed of roots, leaves, and moss lifted my companions that hadn’t been as fortunate as Lord Shubin in resisting Lira’s charms, and carried them away. A petite nymph escorting them to some other location within the Sacred Grove.

“Relax, Son. They are going someplace to rest. They will be cared for. I assure you, I wished you and your companions no harm. I just wanted to be certain my daughter hadn’t found herself a toy to leave broken on the side of the road, completely useless due to the effects of the domination magics she inherited from me. I am sorry for the sudden intrusion.”

I stared at the woman with a significant amount of animosity radiating off my person. Her actions were foolish, though her reasons for them made sense in a way. The Reaper inside me howled for retribution. However, Junipher’s delicate hand on my elbow stayed the demands of slaughter coursing through my blood.

Before the system, my rage would have robbed me the ability to speak normally. I’d devolve into a sputtering and tragic mess of swear words and incomplete sentences, face getting redder and redder as my rage grew. With the System boosting my Intelligence and Wisdom to over 200 points each, that was no longer a problem.

Of course none of my attributes could wipe the look of pure anger from my face. Even Shubin, the massive Doom demon was caught eyeing me sideways. The dozen Dryad guards that were gathered looked considerably worried and I noticed that more than one had shifted from their rigid positions of attention to a posture that would allow them to react to any sudden threat. Of which I am sure I appeared to be at the moment.

“Well, the only effect Junipher has had on me or my people has been on their libido.” I responded slowly. Maybe a joke will break the tension. Maybe.

Silence reigned amongst the grove. The big trees' eyes became saucers the size of dinner plates. Lira cocked her head, furrowing her brow in confusion. Even Junipher managed to somehow blush through her green skin. It was Shubin who broke the tension with booming laughter.

“HAHAHAHAH! That, Master Karl, is very true. Imagine the frustration of being the last of my kind!? I learned early on to stay away from this man’s encampment when these two expressed their love for each other, good King Maroo Oakenheart.”

Junipher’s already raging embarrassment resulted in her visibly wilting. Her grip on my arm tightened noticeably as she attempted to hide behind me. “Oh my gods... “ I heard her mutter.

“Junipher says this is where our children must be… planted. And I took her word for it. I was told I’d find allies here as well. This… is not the behaviour of ones who wish to be allies.”

The big oak stared down on me, his beautiful wife's expression switching from exasperation when looking at her daughter, and barely disguised hate filled daggers when looking at me. This was a woman who lived to control all that wandered within her grasp. She was quickly realizing that I was not one of those things.

“I assured Karl that we would find friends here, mother. I warned you both, father, that he could not be manipulated.” Junipher exclaimed to her family, stepping forward despite the embarrassing and awkward turn of events.

“He is, you must understand, daughter, your gifts are wildly unpredictable. You know this. And you also know that most Reapers go insane. We had to know.”

As Junipher and her mother argued, a moment crossed between the big oak shaped Treant and myself. He was watching the heated display between his wife and daughter when his big brown eyes landed on mine.

Deja Vu has increased in level by 1!

Deja Vu has increased in level by 1!

In that moment, I saw what would happen to the Grove if we did not come to an understanding. And all I saw was smoke, fire, and alien warships drifting above the burning landscape. Strange red and white banners with a familiar sigil scrawled across them hung below the ships, flapping in the fire fueled winds. A pinkish skinned being with multiple limbs, adorned in brilliant red armor that was trimmed in gold and silver stood at the head of the ship, commanding the conquest of Earth. I knew that the conquest on his end, was extremely successful.

The scene shifted to the center of the Grove where the old tree flared his branches in defiance of a massive onslaught. What remained of his people, including his wife, huddled in the safety of his trunk. All fear had fled the Nymphs, Dryads, and lone Siren as resignation of their impending end overwhelmed their emotions. With a final heave and shrug of Oakenhearts branches, a beam from the lead ship caused his rapidly wilting leaves to burst into flames. He didn’t have a chance to scream in pain as that same beam engulfed all that remained of his people.

The vision faded and I found myself kneeling on the ground, retching bile into the lush grass that tickled up inches from my face. As my senses slowly returned to normal I felt Junipher’s grip on my hand and smelled her sweet breath inches from my cheek as she screamed for me to respond.

“KARL! KARL! What is it, Karl!? What have you seen?”

I looked around and saw Shubin standing protectively in front of me with his back facing me. Lira had stood and made to possibly assiste when I went down, and Maroo somehow was leaning to the side to peer at me around Shubin’s massive bulk.

“What is wrong with him, daughter. What do you mean by seen?”

“He- he’s a Seer. It only seems to come when an important decision must be made, what did you see, my love?”

I looked cautiously up at Maroo, then pushed myself up onto unsteady legs.

“I saw you all die. I saw your end, Great Tree, and it was not a good one.”

“Nonsense! We control the forest. And Maroo, our King, is halfway through his Master Class. There is no being on this planet that poses a serious threat to our dominion of this land!”

Junipher wanted to say something in response, but held her tongue, unlike her mother, she noticed her father was quite shaken.

“No dear, I felt it. Or… glimpsed it. Your constant needling of this young man stops now. I am sorry for her behaviour, young Reaper. She still wishes to protect our daughter. I see now, that is not our providence any longer.”

Lira looked up at her husband in stunned silence, “W-what do you mean? I didn’t feel a thing.”

“A fleet of ships, flying red and white banners, drifted across the sky annihilating everything and anything that resisted them. I think you were one of the last to defy them. I didn’t see my own people in this, only yours. A man, with many arms and scarlet red armor, commanded them. He was a conqueror. And I got the impression he was very pleased with his progress.”

Maroo looked at me with a grave expression, “The Templar, Domitor. That’s the banner. The general you describe sounds like one of the more warlike races in the Universe, a Hecatonis. Dangerous people, with an insatiable thirst for battle.”

“Gods above and below.” Lira collapsed into her throne with a dramatic flourish.

No one spoke for a long time before a woman’s voice reached out from behind us.

“We have had run-ins with the Hecatonis and the Templar, Domitor. They are not to be taken lightly. Also, you and I will have words, woman.” Freya stumbled into the clearing and placed a hand on the chair that had been raised for me.

A rustle of leaves quieted everyone present, Maroo spoke, “I ask you all to leave me with the Reaper, with Karl. We have things to discuss, things that don’t mesh well with all of this familial bickering. I believe we have embarrassed ourselves and each other enough for one day.”

Lira looked like she wanted to protest, though it seemed when the big tree gave an order, all followed it. I respected that kind of authority. I respected the way the people who followed him, did so unquestioningly. Even when some clearly disagreed.

Shubin looked at me questioningly as the guards, Lira and all of their attendants began to file out of the Grove. “I’m good.”

He nodded and assisted Freya back the way she’d come. Junipher lingered against Maroo’s piercing gaze, “Even you, my beautiful child, this meeting is one only for Kings.”

She cast her eyes down and nodded, “Yes, father.”

Then she too left.

“I felt alot more than I let on. I did not want to worry my wife or people.”

I stood before him silent, he clearly had more to say and I wasn’t going to interrupt his train of thought. Now that it was just us, we could discuss our futures going forward.

“I don’t know how much of your vision I caught, but I did catch my last thought as I burned and my people died. I shouldn’t have turned the boy away.”

I’d caught the emotion, but nothing that specific, “It seemed you missed your daughter. She loves you. I wouldn’t want to be the one that breaks your relationship. And, I know how infuriating mothers can be.”

He shook in laughter causing multicolored leaves to drift from his enormous canopy. “Yes, mothers never want to let go, even when it is clear their daughters have chosen their own paths. Junipher is the youngest of her sisters. Lira is very unwilling to release her influence. I suppose I’ll have to give her more children, hmmm?”

“Heh, I wasn’t planning on starting a family just yet, but…”

“You love her, and that’s all I can ask. Well, I’d also ask that you do everything in your power to protect her. She’s like her mother in some respects, one such is that she will never leave you to fight a battle alone. She will always be by your side.”

“Yeah. I got that part figured out.”

We sat for a long time in companionable silence. Each sorting through our thoughts and feelings. I was the one that eventually broke our moment of solace.

“Usually Junipher helps me through the visions. This one. This one is pretty clear. Bad things are coming for us. For all of us. I need to at least unite as much of Arizona under my banner as I can. And I’m running out of time.”

“You do. And you are. The Templar, Domitor do not tend to follow the rules. I will introduce you to our Patron today. We will form an alliance, for the good of both our peoples. And Junipher will plant your children in this Grove. And you know I will defend them until my last breath.”

“Thank you.”