Chapter 32: Crystal Forest

The Destabilization was not alone in our destruction. With our power gone to us, we turned to our servants, the Twisted to defend us against the undead that rose across our cities.

They turned on us. Slaughtered us when we were at our weakest with their Internal Mana, forcing the end of our Empires where we might’ve held strong.

They pay for their betrayal now, exiled from our strongholds to face the wilds on their own.

Curse those traitors.

• The Fall, by Alve Tamor

We leave the camp at first light.

Part of me had wanted to leave with Jasper in the night, but it’s far too dangerous in territory I don’t know. With any luck, the demon worshippers will be just as scared of the darkness, as they should be. Terrifying things stalk the night.

I take a different path than the one we took to get here, heading straight east away from the city of the dead.

Shar watches the sky, and I do my best to increase Jasper’s pace. I know that I can’t push the rock-lizard too hard, but I bribe him with some particularly delicious cedar branches and he matches our pace of a light jog.

I’m watching the sky when I stumble onto a surprisingly open path winding the same direction we’re going.

There are no roads maintained by the strongholds, but there are ancient paths from hundreds of years ago, the materials they built them with preventing the forest from completely blocking the path. A statue of Lumin rests beside the road, covered in moss, but clearly playing his lute.

I immediately change course to follow the road. It isn’t marked on any of the maps I’ve seen, but we need speed, and fighting our way through the underbrush is more dangerous than following an open road.

Shar swoops back overhead, then lowers herself to land on my arm. Her metallic feathers shift as she adjusts herself on the leather of my bracer.

“I didn’t see them.” She says.

I let out a breath, the air misting in front of me. Unfortunately, our path is all too easy to follow if one of them finds our old camp. We either need a fresh snowfall, or for the snow to melt to fully cover our tracks.

I look down the path, then over to Keve, whose breath is misting even heavier than mine. He looks completely unbothered by the cold. I shift, grateful for the enchanted clothes and cloak I wear, keeping me warm with only a small drain on my mana.

“Focus on the path ahead.” I decide, my gaze returning to the broken road we follow. “If you haven’t seen them, then we still have time before they catch up. Better to not run into a reaver nest, or another group of undead.”

The golem nods, then hops off my arm to take to the skies again.

I shoulder my pack, then whistle for Jasper to start up again. The rock-lizard dislikes the cold, but he’ll be fine until we make camp.

We keep moving, and I keep my eyes peeled for anything dangerous. Not many creatures travel in the cold, but that just means that the predators we do encounter are more likely to be hungry.

The snow crunches underfoot, but the occasional statuette of Lumin put me at ease. Beyond being guides, they imply that the path is safe.

I pull some jerky on my bag, hand a piece to Keve, then chew on it while keeping watch. My enhanced perception helps me notice the slow change in the foliage as we walk. The brown bark of the trees turns sharper, more crystalline.

Light reflects strangely off the snow, shining through the crystal-like trees and making the forest off the road hard to see.

Soon, the normal trees are completely gone, replaced by brown and blue crystal-trees. My steps slow.

I glance up to see Shar dodging away from a larger bird. I move towards my bow, but the golem swoops lower and the larger bird gives up on its chase.

“Shar!” I call in the softest, loud voice I can. I don’t want to alert anything living here.

The golem hears me, and flies back, landing on one of the crystalline branches.

“How far does the crystal forest go?”

“It changes back in roughly two miles, the river cutting it off.” Shar tilts her head.

I look around, “Is there anything noticeable in the center?”

“I can look.”

I hesitate, then shake my head. Instead I take off my glove and place my hand in the snow.

Two miles means that it might be outside of my range, but I don’t think so. I close my eyes.

Mana flows through my body, then leaves my hand in a pulse that extends through the earth, searching for manmade structures with the aura of time attached to them.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Find Ruins pings something, a large house to the north.

Then it hits the river, and portions of it return to me as manmade. Finally, I find what I think I’m looking for.

North-East, there’s a ruin extending into the earth, an entrance close to the river.

I open my eyes, and stand up. It’s off our path, and we don’t have time to stop for it. Still, I pull out my notebook, and start to write in the location. My map skill has marked it as well, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Another trip, for another time.

The cracking of crystal makes me freeze, then I hurriedly put my book away, and activate Hide Presence.

Keve drops to the snow, disappearing into it by pulling his white cloak over himself, Jasper sits there like a pile of rocks.