Chris stood at the gate as the sun broke over the Barrens, rubbing the knot mark on his wrist absently, his mind wandering to the various people he had been picking up on while connected to his newest growth. The Rootmind and little world tree both kept him informed now that he had helped them know what to look out for.
He didn't acknowledge Sera coming up next to him beyond a small nod, his gaze conflicted as he stared off into the horizon. She tried to do the same, feeling as if he saw something and wanting to see what he saw.
"You're up early today. Couldn't wait to get your hands dirty or to link with that thing again? If I didn't know better, I would think you're getting some kind of addiction to it."
Her words were meant as a joke, but he had honestly considered that concern. It was why he had the little world tree set limits for him when using the Rootmind when he didn't need to.
"Already took care of that. But even so, I didn't really get much sleep. I've been up since earlier since I keep thinking we're going to get 'guests' only for them to pull back. I didn't know if they were planning something or not, so I spent a bit of the night teaching it and the world tree what to look out for. Now if they, or anyone who feels similar, come close, they will let me know."
Korr was on the wall, his black armor catching the first light. He'd been there since before dawn, watching. He wanted to see how effective Chris's new plant could be.
Sera narrowed her eyes. "You're sure it wasn't just some beasts? Or another body dump? It has been quite a while, but it wouldn't be out of place out here."
With a sigh, he shook his head. It was Korr who answered for him.
"There were people at my camp last night. A rather small but organized group who approached but kept a fair distance. They stayed for approximately an hour before leaving."
Sera's jaw tightened. "Then it was scouts. But why would they bother being this far out?"
Korr and Chris just gave her a rather flat look before she blushed in realization of how stupid her question was.
"Right, sorry… Which way did they go? If we know that, we should be able to tell who they most likely belong to."
"North," Chris said steadily. "They left heading north and seem to have also come from that direction."
He saw Korr's expression shift. "The Solarian Empire, then. Makes sense since they are closest, second only to the Demon Lands." He seemed to smile mockingly and turn his gaze to Sera. "Your old masters. Best be prepared and ensure he knows what to expect, little girl."
He seemed to enjoy the way she bristled at his words, her eyes narrowing in annoyance and hints of anger as she squeezed her blade before taking a deep sigh to calm down.
"The others won't have heard yet," Korr continued. "No point in watching a place where you dump the unwanted, the dead, or where the desperate try to use as a crossing point to avoid the checkpoints. But that may change soon if they really do take a deep interest in this place."
Chris looked north. "We can't exactly stop it. But I had hoped to have at least dealt with the dungeon first. Either way, we will make it work somehow. Any suggestions? Besides 'grow more plants to make it so they can't slip in' or means to further defend?"
Korr shook his head. "All I can say is to let them see and spread their stories. Most will disregard it, and those who do believe will either show interest or feel that truth is more frightening than silence, especially as the true extent is unknown. At most, they may send people to investigate, so you should prepare for that."
"Then I guess I should start seeing about 'growing' some plants that could act as bowls and cups, then. Maybe a tree I could use as a brewery to make the berries into wine." He remarked with an eye roll. "Wouldn't want our guests from afar to be forced to settle after all."
His remark earned a small grin from Korr and an exasperated huff from Sera, who began to wonder if she missed the more subdued and melancholic Chris over this snarky one.
Three hundred miles north, in a small border town called Dustfall, a merchant slammed his cup on the tavern table as he shouted at his companion.
"I'm telling you! I saw it with my own damn eyes. Green! In the Barrens of all places! A whole patch of it near the old cliffs! I thought it was a mirage, but there was even a thick mist that seemed to try and keep it hidden. I've never seen anything like it in my life."
His companion, a scout who sat across the table from him, simply scoffed as he leaned forward. "I got closer than you, then! Those plants you're bragging about seeing? They move on their own! I saw a damn vine wrap around a mutt and crush it into a paste before another snapped a wolf's neck. They didn't even seem to pause between killings. And then I swear I saw them get dragged into the mist, through large walls that I swear were looking at me!" he said with a shiver.
The tavern door slammed open. A pair of guards dragged a man in rags between them into the hall. He looked half-dead, lips cracked, eyes wild as he seemed to flinch at every shadow.
"We need some water here," one guard called out. "Found him at the town edge blabbering about killer trees and armored monsters. He claims to have survived 'the green place,' but we need to get him lucid to actually get any info out of him. Can't risk it being those damn demons again."
The room went quiet. Everyone stared at the large, half-dead figure as he guzzled water like it was the last drink of his life. One of the guards finally pried the cup from his hands, noticing how he seemed a bit more put together than moments ago.
"Alright, talk. What were the demons doing out there? How large a force are they?"
The man looked at him with clear confusion before he began to laugh, raspy and hoarse. "Demons? The only demon was the one who slaughtered my friends. I got lucky and survived it by hiding among the bodies. After the armored monster left, I crawled out to catch up to my boss, and that's when I saw it."
His eyes widened in fear, his hands violently shaking. "The green hell…" he whispered. "Vines that strangle people and move like the wind. Flowers that scream if you get close. Thick weeds that snake across and either crush or hang you."
His eyes darted around the room. "And then there's *him*. The grower. The monster in human skin. He commands them with nothing but a wave of his finger or a single word. Killing without a thought and a smile far too wide to be human. A dark god of green. A green that will consume us all."
The merchant's cup sat forgotten, but the smile on his faintly red face was filled with validation.
By nightfall, the man was in chains and being marched toward the capital. They called his words mad ramblings, said he was being taken due to a bounty, but those who had seen this act before knew the truth. His crimes would be written off in exchange for his story and any information he could give. His bounty was next to nothing. He was simply a bandit thug, one of the large thugs who had visited back when the old man was alive, the one who had taken the water jar.
Now he was the only surviving bandit who would end up spreading the rumor of fear. Of the green that grows. The green that hungers.
The rumor traveled faster than he did, everyone from that little border town reporting it to anyone who would listen. The way he was taken in chains only added truth to his words as the story began to grow.
While that was happening, something similar was occurring in the Demon Lands. A scout knelt before a throne of black stone. The Demon Lord himself, veiled in thick shadows, simply waved a hand. A clawed gauntlet and glowing purple eyes were the only things visible through the blackness. His voice was calm and measured as he spoke.
"The Barrens have been dead for centuries, and you are reporting that something grows there now? Besides the few harsh plants and weeds? Besides the thorns and sticks? And that it can even fight?"
The pause that followed seemed to stretch before he dismissed the scout with a wave and clear orders.
"Watch for the time being and do not engage. I want to know if this is a threat to my rule or a tool to be used before we take any actions against them. If they are a threat, I will crush them. If they wish to be left alone, I will allow it under a few conditions. But till then, I need more information. I haven't lived this long by being rash. Not like those idiotic humans."
The scout bowed and scurried away, arriving days later where he watched the village from a distance, taking notes each night while slipping away into the dark. He would kill other scouts if needed to get the information the humans may have.
In the Solarian capital, more specifically the estate of the noble family of Jarves sat quietly behind its high walls. Its Lord sat in his study lit by a single lamp. Maps scattered across his desk, half-read reports mixed in with little care.
He had been watching for a long time now, since he had felt his son had died in the Barrens. The token that marked his life had long since shattered. And now the village that he knew was likely the cause of his death seemed to be growing.
He didn't even seem to notice the door open or the young lady who walked in. Her name was Lyra, his only daughter. Dark hair much like her mother's, sharp green eyes, a face that was beautiful but not soft, and a demeanor of one who carried herself in a way that made it clear she had long since learned to be underestimated.
Her father finally looked up, noticing the broken token in her hand.
"So, you finally learned that your brother has died."
She stopped in front of his desk, her face unchanging as she looked at him. "You've known for months and also know who was responsible."
"I suspected I knew. The scout I had tailing him reported him running into bandits, and then about a green place. I thought it was a means to cover up their own incompetence, that the bandits had gotten him…"
He slid a report across the desk. "It turns out that the man who runs that place now appeared about a year ago. And in that time, he has begun to command plants that move. I suspected green magic, like what those farming mages can perform for an exorbitant price, but these are different. Far more monstrous, according to the reports."
Lyra picked up the report. Her eyes moved across the words, noting everything from the walled defenses to the various kinds of vines.
Her father simply watched her, not saying a word until she was done and gave him a questioning look.
"Your brother was a fool. He went to the Barrens for glory, thinking our family name would be his shield. The gods only know he threw it around enough in the Adventurer's Guild. Instead, he met his death out there. And whoever killed him is building something even the empires are not able to ignore anymore. The extremists in the church are even calling it heresy."
She set the report down. "You want me to investigate this."
"Yes. What I want, my dear daughter, is for you to find out what he's building. What his motives are. What he wants and how dangerous he truly is. The Empire is already putting an exploratory force together. I managed to get you to be a part of it."
He pulled out a sealed scroll and passed it to her.
Her smile was thin as she looked at it. "You want to know if the man who killed your son can be used. If he could be a means to grow your own power base. Someone like that could be a great potential tool in many ways, isn't that so, father dearest?" she asked with mild heat.
"What I want, my dearest daughter, is to know if the man who survived the Barrens and made it grow is someone we want as an enemy to face, or who we want on our side as a safety net should things go south."
What followed was a short pause, father and daughter seemingly evaluating one another, searching for any hints of weakness to exploit.
"A man who makes the Barrens bloom but is also the one responsible for my brother's death."
"We don't know the circumstances. You know as well as I do how much trouble that arrogance of Walter's tended to cause."
Lyra didn't say anything further, simply picking up the scroll and walking out, stopping at the frame and casting one final look back at him.
"Then I'll find out."
He watched her go before letting out a sigh and pulling out another report, far older and worn. The picture of a woman who had disappeared from Imperial records stared back at him. A former knight turned assassin. Put through the Empire's "specialist" program and one of the few who survived it. She had carved a bloody name for herself in the light and shadows, only to be thrown away when she stopped being useful and started to be seen as a threat. Marked for death and set up to die out in the Barrens.
He set the report down. He didn't know how, but he knew she was alive. His late friend's daughter was no doubt out there. All he could do was hope she was at least getting the rest she deserved. The quiet peace she had earned.
Lyra rode out at dawn the next day with five others. The knight in half-plate silently took the lead while the mage, one of the two recently summoned "heroes" gifted to them for this excursion, trailed behind her in traveler's robes. Her friend, a fellow summoned hero and ranger with a bow across her back, talked happily and excitedly to her, yet her gaze kept scanning the horizon. The healer with a satchel of herbs at his hip rode a bit to her side, while the scout, nimble and quick, the party's eyes and ears, flittered around them—sometimes taking the lead, other times falling behind, yet always present.
She was the sixth member of their little exploratory group. A noble's daughter with basic training in everything but mastery of nothing. A sword at her side, a dagger hidden beneath her coat, and sent as the one to do any talking, if needed.
They traveled light to ensure they could move fast.
Upon entering the edge of the Barrens, the knight finally spoke, breaking the silence they had fallen into. "My lady, this place is dangerous. I feel we should wait for reinforcements or at the very least head to a town and recruit some additional aid."
Lyra didn't look at him. "No. I don't want us wasting more time. The longer we wait, the more they could spread. I would rather go now and see for myself than risk giving them even more time to prepare."
It was a few days later when Chris had Sera and Korr stand with him by the front gate. He had made good on his word and grown a small patch of flowers that produced small round blossoms that he began to use for cups and, when left to grow larger, bowls. Korr called it a waste of a seed, but he simply replied that they were his and he could do as he pleased. He didn't mention how they could add a range of poisons—from a paralytic to a toxin—to the grown cup or bowl with a thought.
He had also grown another pitcher plant, this one rather different. Rather than filling itself, he had to fill it, quickly having it become his brewer and mixer, making a range of remedies and alcohols from the berries and other plants. Of course, he noticed it sounded like a perpetually drunk Scotsman, but he felt it added character. The fact it got along well with the original pitcher plant was a bonus.
Straightening up, he held his staff in hand, looking at the distance with a serious expression.
"I called you both over because our guests are finally coming over. Or rather, a new batch of them. The others are still 'spying' from a distance and don't know we know about them yet. A few fights have been happening between them, but nothing worth worrying about yet."
Sera's hand moved to her sword. "How many are coming this time?"
"It seems like six of them. Not soldiers or bandits. Coming from the north, like we expected," he told them plainly, noting how Sera seemed to tense slightly.
"We will handle it, little girl," Korr told her, his tone lacking its usual condescending edge. "Your old masters won't be getting their attack dog back. I doubt anything here will allow it. But to err on the side of caution, everything is prepared."
Chris watched the horizon, his grip steady on his staff. His mind drifted briefly to Walter, who had come with arrogance and died for it. To the bandits who had come with greed and found nothing but thorns and vines.
It was time to see what the so-called "civilized" people of this world were like. But he already had his doubts. His time in the Barrens had taught him to judge people by their actions, not their titles.