B3 – Chapter 42: A new species

Tristan shook his head, “I did not want to impact the Realm in such a way. But we didn’t have much of a choice.” He looked to The Matriarch, who had a look of devastation on her face. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

She shook her head as a few tears escaped the corners of her eyes. “It…was necessary. I just cannot believe, a whole species…lost.” She looked at Tristan and dipped her head, “Excuse me. I need to grieve.” The Matriarch’s body shifted to that of the huge fairy dragon, and she flew off.

Tristan looked to the other arrayed forces; struck with mixes of expressions ranging from awe at what he had wrought, to disgust at the burning of the forest, to sorrow mimicking that of The Matriarch’s. “Everyone can go home,” he said as he looked to the tree in the center of the grove, still unmarred. “I’m going to make this right.”

Bertram raised a quizzical eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

Tristan touched the tree, and whispered just loud enough for Zeltana to hear him. “Teach me how to make a species as you did.”

I will, Zeltana replied in his mind with her voice full of pride.

Tristan glanced back to Rory and Bertram, “Thanks for helping.”

Rory nodded and waved as she patted the white unicorn’s shoulder that she was mounted upon. Turning, she and Bertram rode off after the rest of the fairy dragons and unicorns, leaving Tristan, Felicity, and the ever-faithful Onyx.

Onyx nudged Tristan’s right shoulder, “I will remain to convey you back.”

Felicity poked his cheek, “And I’m here, too!”

Tristan nodded, “I trust you both. Just how I trust The Matriarch. I spoke to Zeltana.”

Felicity’s jaw dropped, “What?! When were you going to tell me?”

Well, you are technically speaking to me all the time when you’re here.

Tristan tapped his temple, “When I am connected to the Fey Realm, I can hear Zeltana and speak to her. She can hear what I say aloud.”

Felicity frowned, “How long has it been going on?”

“Just since I gained enough capacity for Fourth Order spells,” Tristan replied as he turned to Onyx. “I don’t want this information getting out – but I’m going to be standing here and talking to her, and I don’t want you to think I am insane.”

Onyx shook his head, “I will keep silent on this matter. Felicity, do you mind helping me take off the armor? It chafes slightly and needs alteration for my regal mane.”

Felicity nodded and flew off Tristan’s shoulder, shifting to her elfanoid form as she set about doffing the Unicorn’s armor.

Tristan whispered, “Okay. How do we do this?”

It is straightforward, but easier if you’re in your Inner World, Zeltana said matter-of-factly.

Tristan sat down, back against the tree. “I’m going to be meditating. You two might want to back up in case things get frosty.” He shut his eyes, steadied his breathing, and focused his attention on the essence crucible in his chest. Being pulled inside, he was standing on the icy expanse.

To his left, he saw that Zeltana had made some alterations to the base of the tree. There were sumptuous reclining couches, and she was holding a wooden mug that held some frothy liquid. “Welcome back,” she said as she took a sip of the liquid.

“You…how’d you change my crucible and inner world?” he asked.

“I didn’t,” she replied as she sat up straighter and smiled. “When you are both-direction spinning your crucible as you are now, it “blends” our two crucibles together. This is just a little something from my crucible, still tethered to my consciousness inside the Queen’s Wood.” She patted the couch next to her, “Come on. Sit. Let’s make a species.”

Tristan walked over and sat next to her. “What’s the first step.”

“Number one is what it looks like,” Zeltana said as she snapped her fingers and the ice in front of them shifted, the ground rising up as a wooden painting easel appeared. “This should be familiar enough, yes?”

Tristan felt a flutter of joy in his chest. The pastime he had chosen to pursue in the arts, as was expected of every noble child. “I need more supplies,” he said.

“Your inner world,” she replied as she leaned back into the couch further and sipped her drink. “Just think of what you want and it should appear in here.”

“No special supplies needed?” Tristan asked as he did just that, and a canvas appeared on the easel along with a series of paints, brushes, palettes, paint knives, and brush cleaners.

“This is just visualizing the species,” she stated. “You could do it in reality instead of your inner world, but this is a lot faster. Now…what do you want to make?”

Tristan gripped a brush and began preparing it with the proper oil, and establishing a base layer for a wet-on-wet painting. “The Spriggan need to be brought back. They were war leaders and forest tenders?”

“Indeed. Prominent warriors and masters of woodcraft; including bowyers, fletchers, and the best at shaping Adamant Wood to a design. And, they kept the forest well-tended. Think of them…like city planners, in a way.” Zeltana crossed her long, pale legs.

“This is just the physical design then?” Tristan asked. “How they will look?”

“Correct. They are the male counterpart to Dryads; so you’re thinking of humanoid tree-people. We will move on to the other steps of designing a species later. But,” she gently grabbed his wrist, “You need to tether them to the Fey Realm. This means a permanent essence cost to the maximum capacity. Not much, especially compared to what a Winterbloom requires in terms of amount of ambient essence utilized. But, part of that tethering is giving them a region that will then spread.”

“The Fallthorn Forest can remain as it was,” Tristan replied. “I’m just making things right.”

Zeltana nodded and let his wrist go, “Then create your design.”

Tristan turned back to the canvas and began. “Do I need a background?”

“No. Just white or black is fine.”

He set to work with gusto; starting with a faint, almost white-grey that barely stood out against the white background. Tracing out the shape of a human, once he had the basics he refined the design, spending gods-knows how long in his inner world. Every single detail had to be perfect, and the vision in his mind slowly came to fruition on the canvas. Zeltana even sat up straighter at one point as the design became more and more apparent.

“Very…brutal,” she stated as Tristan began adding the plates.

“They are warriors,” Tristan replied as he began layering bark and wood onto the thighs, shins, forearms, shoulders, and the top of the head. Natural armor. “And just like a tree in the forest, I think the evergreen coloration is a nice touch.”

“Making them more similar as well,” Zeltana observed. “But why so heavily armored?”

Tristan began darkening certain parts of the painting, making the overall image representative of a heavily armored warrior; with wooden plates instead of metal. “They are protectors in my Realm first and foremost. We will not be conquering as you once did. My Realm is going to explore others; but we will only Graft Lost Realms. If we open up an Active Realm, I’ll just close the Incursion and we’ll try again.”

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Zeltana laughed softly, “You are definitely not doing things how I would have done them. This is good.” She pointed to the head, “You should add two angular branches, like horns. Get a bit of synchronization with the fairy dragon antlers.”

“Good idea,” Tristan said as he immediately pictured what she was describing and made the additions. He also made sure to have the more brutal, juggernaut appearance graced with tiny lines of scrollwork; intricate vines and icy-blue flowers. A hidden bit of elegance inside the harshness of the figure. “I think I’m done,” he said as he put the paintbrush down.

Zeltana let out a light whistle, “Impressive,” she said. “Now that you have the vision of what they look like, it is time to create them. Stand up.”