Sarah woke up slowly. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t laying on bare dirt. The surface she was lying on slightly gave with each of her movements and was under tension.

As she had mostly gained consciousness, she realized that her hands and legs were bound, hindering her movements entirely. Within a single almost gasp she remembered what had gotten her here. Her heartbeat accelerated drastically until she managed to get a smidgeon of control after a dozen breaths.

Deeming it would be best to judge her surroundings before making any more moves she tried to sense what was going on around her.

First, she began analyzing auditive input. She heard people scuttling, soft panting, quiet muttering, and agitated yells further away. She heard the muffled cries of people, their sobbing, cursing of the heavens, depths, and Gilmoss – their neighboring kingdom.

Dread and sadness weren’t the only audible emotions she could perceive. Relief, acceptance, and even joy stood out too.

But those emotions were in short supply. Mostly she could hear whispers of a tense nature, lamenting whether people they loved would be seen again, hope that a healer would arrive quickly enough to mend destroyed organs and reattach limbs. But there was also hope, in the form of kind words directed at strangers, the unfamiliarity palpable in their tone but quick familiarization and comfort they gave each other from being in similar situations.

Yet, she could not get over the present undercurrent of dread all throughout what had to be a lazarette. And she feared she knew the reason. She would dwell on it once she got a hand of her situation. Having her thoughts spiral would do no one any favors right now.

Next, she focused on her awareness of plants around her, feeling them grow ever so slightly, swing in the breeze and nurture themselves. There were few. But a few was only a few for so long. She registered mostly moss and grasses, no major shrubbery or anything else close by, but what was present would do. Further away she felt some trees and vines, though nothing of consequence. Nothing that could help her now or that she could effectively control.

But all those sensations came second to her sense of smell. Overwhelming dread wafted over her each time she heard the flapping of cloth. Blood and fire, and something else that was muffled by the overwhelming smell of fire. The latter two not only disgusted her but also angered her. She could tell that she was inside a tent, the persistent smell of ointments and alcohol was one such indication, the lack of real wind another, but it was too cool to be an actual building.

It took some time, but she calmed down completely once she realized that no one around her was worried for their lives. The restraints around her appendages adjusted to her strain but she didn’t probe them much. It could be that someone had control over them and might realize that she was awake.

Her father’s teachings had been tough occasionally, but there was a truth to everything he taught.

Always prepare for the worst.

She would remember that one lesson. She would save her energy and prepare with the excess.

As time passed a root network extended from under her cot. Not being able to open her eyes hindered the most precise part of her perception. Not the second greatest though. And thus, she extended her sprouts as far as she could reach without exerting herself. She would be ready, whatever came.

Unless it would be the monster from before. She shivered uncontrollably. Whatever had caused her to pass out in the first place and damaged her to such a drastic degree without even focusing on her, was on a threat level far beyond anything she could imagine protecting against.

She had wondered several times how someone that was clearly twice evolved had not triggered a War Quest. Those were supposedly handed out whenever such powerful people invaded another country. But Sarah had yet to see any indication of such.

Checking her interface didn’t reveal anything of such gravity either.

Sarah Larsson – Level 18

Pools:

Health 45/126

Stamina 73/76

Mana 498/534

Stats:

Vitality 29

Toughness 10

Endurance 13

Strength 11

Agility 12

Senses 17

Mind 7

Magic 89

Willpower 348

Regeneration 11

Trait 85

Maybe she wouldn’t receive one, because her level was too low, or maybe for some other reason. It didn’t make sense though. She sunk further into contemplation. She should have gotten one, the moment someone realized someone twice evolved was attacking them. That’s how it went in re-tellings at least. Armies with multiple people above level fifty were supposed to be enough to qualify for a such a quest if teachings of her elders were to be believed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden touch. She twitched when something – no someone – touched her forehead.

“Sarah, are you ok?” asked the quiet voice of her brother. It took a few breaths to come to that conclusion yet didn’t quite dare open her eyes. Arryn is here, that was at least somewhat of a relief. But what did that mean. She had postulated that she had been captured by the invaders but if that was not the case, she might have acted prematurely.

She tried opening her eyes, only to realize that she wasn’t able to. They had felt a little sticky early, potentially blood crusted. Whatever it was, made the process hard and painful. There was no use in playing unconscious any longer, with her brother having outed her.

“Wait a moment,” he stopped her as he laid his fingers on her eyelids softly. “I’ll get you some water to clean your face. But you can calm down for now. We are safe for at least a few days.”

And with that he was gone again.

Steps approached and left, each time her heartbeat raced as she hoped for her brother and each time again, she was disappointed. Until she felt his soft touch again and soothing voice.

“You were really messed up, sis,” he said, his tone slightly wavering, studdering. “Mom’s going to be here soon too. Glad someone found you before it was too late.”

Just what had happened to me.

Arryn softly drenched her eyelids in water before grasping her hand and patting it gently.

“It’s going to be alright now. You can come with me in just a bit.”

He patted the crusted blood from her right eye first, before he could move on to the next. Sarah was to impatient to wait and inspected the world around her with just one eye open. Just to make sure her brother was really was himself.

“How are you and Alexandra?” she asked. The person looked like her brother, and felt like him, but she wanted to be safe.

“Who is Alexandra?” he squinted. “Are you testing me?” He leaned in closer in whispered into her ear.

“Our Mom is called Miriam, my fiancé is called Rina, and we don’t like our father. Kent’s gone, who knows where, but hopefully alive. And let’s be real, your level eighteen Sarah. No military is gonna care about you or me. We weren’t even in the town until two weeks ago.

“And you can calm down. We have won it seems. Or at least prevailed. And I’m glad you are ok again. Mother, Rina, and I were worried about you. I don’t think they’ve recovered from seeing you the last time, so take it easy on them ok.”

There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask. Details on what had happened, how they had prevailed, and what had happened to her. One question was more important than the rest.

“What about father? Did he come by?”

He brother ignored her question. They both knew the answer. They both knew it was silly to care what he thought, yet, it was hard to help oneself.

“Father was recruited to a scouting party,” Arryn eventually said as Sarah kept deflecting other topics. She wanted to hear it. Maybe it would give her some of the courage she needed. “As always, he cares more about the idea of having a family and providing for it than actually spending time, energy, or thoughts on them. You need to stop caring, Sarah.”

She would, she told herself. And an idea was growing in her head. But she would need more information first. And maybe she could get Arryn on her side as well.

“So, what happened?” Sarah asked.

“Here or in general? From the news that have reached Reinsteel thus far, there have been a total of nine cities assaulted. Three have fallen. Over forty villages have been mostly eradicated, at least that’s the current assumption. No survivors or bodies were found, and most villages burned to the ground,” he instead responded biting his lip.

“We were lucky, hadn’t we been warned things would have been different. And hadn’t we warned Reinsteel… Well….”

Sarah wasn’t really surprised. They had expected as much. Keeping a traited locked up was difficult at the best of times. Unless they freely gave up their system access and even then, there were supposedly ways for people of greater power to get around even system suppressants. Though all of that went over Sarah’s head. Most of the concepts had been rather recently introduced into her life.

“Mother and I need to talk to you about something. I’ll just see if I can find someone to look you over really quick before we leave. I’ll be right back.”

Being alone again was difficult, she had preferred her brother’s occasional embrace.

She silently thanked her brother with all her heart when he came back moments after he had left the tent. Accompanied by a woman of exceedingly large stature who made even him look like a child again. Which was enough to make her chuckle at the absurdity.

The woman quickly looked her over once.

“It’s really a remarkable recovery you’ve made,” the woman said after looking her over. “I’m not sure anyone here could have done more than preserve your life. What I would give to inspect such a potion. You really had untold luck.”

Sarah looked at the woman incredulously.

“What exactly happened to me?”

“You don’t know?” the supposed healer responded eyebrows raised. “You haven’t told her?”

“No, I would rather not think of that again,” her brother responded. Discomfort visible.

“It was quite fascinating. You were in the vicinity of one of the heaviest hitters from Gilmoss. We aren’t quite sure what their specialty was, but they were reportedly roughly halfway to their third evolution. Just around level two hundred. Some earthen typed trait focused on destruction. They tore apart most of the streets and walls where you were located. One of our own, a Conqueror and scholar from Farburg engaged them in a short skirmish that might have been the result of the shattering of almost all your bones, and flattening your body to roughly half its current thickness. Somehow you lived long enough for them to administer a potion to you to put you in a complete stasis. Healers were able to work on you without time pressure and having to worry about you dying.”

She had a starstruck look on her face.

“I don’t think I can properly convey how impressive such a potion is. Complete stasis, I don’t know anyone – maybe with the exception of them – who could have broken the effect. Either way, that wasn’t all. After most of the heavy hitters were dispatched, they administered another. At this point you were already in the medical tent, and your recovery was quite remarkable. They injected a few drops of your blood into a vial which they then administered.”

“I know of fifteen people that were treated in a similar manner and none have any health issues now. There was a blind person and someone with untreatable paralysis in that group.”

“If you ever see someone wearing only white billowing clothes and floating above the ground, you should thank them. And maybe try to become their apprentice.”

The conversation ebbed quickly thereafter. With Sarah trying to comprehend that she had basically died and been revived.

She found that it should give her courage and hope for the future. To show her that anything was possible, instead she just felt defeated.

Isn’t this like a new start then? But I didn’t even realize anything of that sort was happening, so did it really happen for me. As Sarah was trying to gather herself, her brother led her out of the medical tent.

The two walked through wrecked districts and long torn up roads. Houses that stood tall days ago were nothing but rubble. The local flora was almost entirely destroyed. Sarah felt mostly fungi, mosses, and lichen. Infrastructure was barely existent, though each road they walked along had a trail a couple people wide that was clear of rubble and looked fortified.

At some point her brother had started talking again. Sarah couldn’t really pay attention to most things he said, but his voice played a role in calming her down. She registered the information he mentioned about the last couple days but none stuck to her. Until he mentioned Kent.

“We talked to someone, who saw Kent after we left the village – he was still alive and well.” Arryn paused until they had passed more streets. “Please don’t tell anyone about this, but Garof recommended him to head to Farburg. It’s not that far and Garof thinks he might have made it if he was smart about it. And fast enough.”

Sarah’s heart beat a little faster. And the courage she had lost slowly bloomed again. Without her father nearby she had a solid shot at getting to Farburg and…. What would she do if she saw him again. She couldn’t invite him back to the family and who knew if he would even want to.

And then there was the issue with Uncle Richard. He wasn’t precisely mad at Kent, more annoyed really. But she needed him as a voice of reason if she wanted to convince her father and she wasn’t sure if she could count on him regarding Kent. It would probably be best not to bring him back. But she would like to see him.

***

Sarah didn’t want to stop hugging her mother. Not only was her mother really good at hugging, but Miriam also knew all the right words to say to get her children to calm down. At least if their father wasn’t around. Which made a moment such as the one Sarah was currently enjoying all the more valuable.

She’d been with parts of her family for a good while now, but she hadn’t managed to frame what she wanted to ask her mother and brother for help yet. But it had to be said.

“I think we should leave,” Sarah told them after even more hugging. It wasn’t fair to ask this much of anyone in this room, but it should be mentioned. Asking her mother felt not terrible, but her brother had much of his life independent of their father. “Go somewhere else. Maybe find Kent.”

She was ready to be shot down the same moment. So, she readied her next argument. Not leaving any room for discussion she grabbed her bag from small shelve and loosened a patch that wasn’t visible on the outside.

“I agree,” Arryn said as she was fumbling about.

“What?” Sarah looked at him questioningly. At a loss for words she stopped her fumbling and stared at him with an open mouth.

“He’s my baby brother too you know. But I don’t see what we could do to seriously help him.”

A smile begun growing on her face, as she kept undoing the shoddy needlework within her knapsack.

Triumphantly she held up the seed hidden within for her brother, his fiancé, and her mother to see.

Undertow Oak (Seed) – (Epic): Best known for their ability to create a zone of civilization, the Undertow class of trees only seldomly produces seeds and are thus the main limiting factor on

What had been an ideal experiment at first had turned out to be worth so much more. It was initially just a lazy way of spending her mana to level her skills but had turned into the most valuable item in her possession. It still made little sense for her to be able to do as much, but she held the evidence in her hands. If their own Undertow tree hadn’t been on the cusps of forming a seedling within the next few decades, she wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.

“We have been thinking much the same, but this changes things a bit,” Miriam said after a sharp intake. “But we are nowhere near strong enough to help Kent. But I think we all want to.”