Chapter Three

Santiago had been around when Gran Domingo had been established, it was one of the farthest outposts in enemy territory ever constructed. His army had been using it the most as a base of operations when they started conquering this region. It had been one of the hardest outposts to defend which was why Santiago had chosen it as his base back then. After conquering the region and then the entire continent he had chosen his best men and invaded the last of the remaining enemy footholds on the world. The quarantine zone had nearly been his grave, it amazed him somewhat and disappointed him, that the family had not managed to conquer it even after he lost.

He was proud of what greeted his eyes. The outpost had been made of crude stone walls and spikes while the dirt had remained dirt and mud trampled by the march of soldiers and weary civilians. The houses had been made of wood and everything had been basic, there had been no established running water or electricity. The ground had been full of craters and mines lined the outer walls. Today, he saw, Gran Domingo was as vast as the eye could see with tall skyscrapers and a grand harbor. There were crowds moving around either using levitating strength to skate across the stone paved roads or flying about to their destination.

The family had always been strong with telekinetic and telepathic abilities after the Awakening, it would seem that the strength in the bloodline had not dwindled.

He had used the elevator to get on the top of the carrier again and from there he was guided off the ship and beyond the harbor. He was told that elder Noah had invited him to stay at the naval base while a transport vessel arrives to take him to the main continent. From the docks he followed a group of escorts that took him to the naval base which was quite large and completely surrounded by twenty foot tall walls of hard concrete and reinforced steel. The height of the wall was only a hurdle jump for him but for all other normal size spire trees they were formidable enough.

The open yard beyond the gates was large and filled with fertile soil, the roots of his suit begged to dig into that soil, but first Santiago needed to know what was going on before taking root. Noah had arrived ahead of him having travelled via levitative skating which moved a whole lot faster than a giant tree’s footsteps.

Near the start of the bunkers and main buildings he found Noah standing next to another man.

“Welcome to my base elder Fortino I an elder Cane,” the new stranger greeted. “It has been a while since I have seen such a magnificent specimen such as the suit you wear, not that I have ever seen one as grand as your own. My friend tells me that you identify yourself only as of the Fortino branch, if it is not too rude to ask, will you reveal your name to me?”

“I will hold on to my name a while longer,” Santiago replied nodding in respect to the elder’s greeting. “I was told that I would be staying here?”

“Yes,” elder Cane nodded. “I was told that you do not leave your suit and since that is the case the open yards are yours for you to take root at your leisure. No one will bother you here until another vessel that can transport you to the main continent arrives.”

“Then if you will excuse me I shall go ahead and take root,” Santiago turned towards the spot his roots begged him the most to dig into.

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(one week ago)

“Blood Chains of the Black Tails has returned,” the tree spires had no sense for naming themselves because they knew exactly who was who simply by the mind that connected to the great network. Each mind was as unique as a fingerprint, there was only one like it and so identifying each other by name was meaningless as they would know whom they talked to and whom they were being addressed by without ever having uttered a name, but for the sake of those who rely on names for identification this one will be named Wing. Wing was also the one who tested Blood Chains when he had awakened on their island.

“Impossible,” the one who responded shall be named Scar for the never healing gashes he suffered at the hands of Blood Chains. “I personally skewered the spear that brought about his end.”

“It would seem that the wound was not fatal,” Wing stated.

Scar released a wave of anger, even from the center of the continent where Scar took refuge his rage could be felt far and wide by all connected to the great network.

“Invade Gran Domingo,” another voice, an elder and Great Spire spoke. This one shall be named Elder Spire One. “Many of the stealthy young saplings have confirmed his location being there. We have the strength to kill him now.”

“It will come at a great cost,” Wing disapproved.

“It will come at a greater cost later if he is allowed to once again lead his armies against us,” Elder Spire One stated. “It would be better to suffer now than completely be removed from this world. The next wave promised to us to aid in removing this plague will not arrive for another five years. We will not survive that long if he is allowed to regain his full strength.”

“I will correct my error of not having assured his death by leading the frontal forces,” Scar volunteered.

Throughout the continent the call rang loud throughout the minds of the spire trees and as one thousands moved to the shores morphing their bodies as was required to make the journey across the salty waters to find and kill their prey.

Scar, a great tree, equaled Blood chains in height and strength. Both were of similar density and sturdiness though Scar was slightly more grey of bark and thus somewhat softer, but only by a miniscule difference. Even with such similarities the fighting would surely still be in favor of Blood Chains which is why Scar would not be the only great tree to join him in this battle. Wing and Boulder, one whose build was constantly on the tanky side no matter what form he took, had answered the call seeking the glory of killing the monster that had trampled over many of their brethren in ages past.

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(Five days ago)

“Sir we just lost two more destroyers,” the sensor’s officer said as he watched on screen as two small crafts took heavy damage and sunk, one of them had capsized from the impact of a large underwater target.

“Inform all nearby…” the commander never got a chance to say anything else as the carrier they were on took heavy damage amidship. The impact threw everyone in the control room to the ground, some received serious wounds from being thrown around while most suffered only cuts and bruises.

The commander did not get a chance to recover from the floor as a spire tree ripped upwards from the hull to the carrier’s blacktop. It caused the vessel to buckle and crunch inward as the tree submerged again, the damage caused by the piercing blow destroyed most of the main systems creating catastrophic failure in the engine room. The chain reaction that followed raised the center of the carrier off the water with the force of its explosions. What remained of the carrier quickly sunk to the ocean floor.

Many of those that abandoned ship fought outside in the water and in the sky using the strength of their telekinesis as their weapons. Unfortunately the Geno branch’s sailors, as was the case with most of the peaceful branches of the Alocarta family, were poorly adept at using their own abilities. Many killed themselves attempting skills and using forces that were beyond their ability to handle. Many more succumbed quickly to exhaustion as they flexed previously poorly used cranial muscles.

High in the skies flying type trees downed the strongest of the telekinetics overwhelming them with numbers. All around high above and down below the unfortunate fleet was torn to shreds as the mass of thousands of trees made their way to Gran Domingo.

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“How could this have happened?” Elder Casio asked the elders that were present in the city. They had gathered to address the current crisis. News had quickly reached them that the seventh fleet had been destroyed by an unknown enemy and all scouts sent in that direction were getting destroyed far too quickly to get a good picture of the enemy. All that they could make out from the surveillance videos and photos was that a mass blur was making its way to Gran Domingo’s shoreline.

Aside from elder Casio elder Noah, Cane, Sabil, Trent, and Rumor were present in the security room looking over a strategic layout of the region. Casio, like Noah and Cane, is a member of the Geno branch and a grand merchant whose fleet was currently refueling at the docks. Sabil, Trent, and Rumor are members of the Notario branch and all three are military leaders. Sabil leads the division of twenty thousand that is constantly garrisoned in the city as a deterrent from invasions from the quarantine zone. Trent and Rumor are both commanders of a hundred men each, all of them are spire tree bonded. The Notario branch took after the Fortino branch and formed mercenary companies, both Trent’s and Rumor’s were taking a two week rest on Gran Domingo. They were to join six other companies from the Fortino branch and head off to an unconquered world to dig out a foothold.

“It doesn’t matter how it happened,” Trent replied. “What matters is what are we going to do? I don't think you realize that even with the division stationed here and our two companies we are out tree’d at least a hundred to one.”

“We could call in reinforcement from all the surrounding cities,” elder Casio said.

“Unfortunately even if we made a call like that they would arrive far too late,” Sabil explained. “The enemy is already at the gate, they will be beaching in under a day. I have already ordered for full city lockdown and armament, but we are likely going to lose half of it before we get enough reinforcement to crush this massive invading force. On the bright side it looks like a large number of the older trees are taking part in the invasion, we might have a chance to grab a foothold in the quarantine zone after this.”

“Thank you for finding the bright side in all this,” elder Can said sarcastically.

“The truth remains the truth,” Sabil shrugged.

All of a sudden the city sirens started to blare loudly warning everybody to take shelter because a lot of butt hurtness was about to come in from above.

“Air raid sirens?” Rumor looked towards the door in confusion.

Before anyone could say anything else a young officer rushed into the meeting room with a look of panic and fear on his face.

“Flying types are bombing the city!” he announced huffing out of breath. He must have run all the way to the room from his post, well of course who wouldn’t when charged with delivering a very important message.