Tree of Aeons

End of Year 133/beginning of Year 134 ~ city of Perhimpunan, of the Sultanate of Timurtengah, Eastern Continent.

Lausanne stared at the Aivan templar. It’s been a few years, 6 years since they released her from their home imprisonment, but somehow, the sight of templars still triggered her, a little, little bit. Even if her stay was pleasant, a prison is still a prison. 

“Greetings Lady Lausanne.” The templar of Aiva handed her a magical letter. “A message from Grandmaster Engka.” 

She frowned, but this wasn’t the first time she received a letter from Engka. Engka had convinced her, as part of her release terms many years ago, that she would assist with demon-related matters. No matter, the letter magically unlocked itself the moment she touched it. 

‘Investigate the village of Dimusnah. Demon sightings suspected. Local Temple did not respond back. More info at City Temple.’ She frowned. At first, this didn’t seem like something that needed her assistance. But then she pondered it and a gut feeling told her it wasn’t so simple. 

Her husband and the rest of the Playing Swords were there too. A few members changed. Two died. Her husband frowned. “Engka has some task for you again?”

“Yeah. But investigate this village of Dimusnah. Any idea where that is?” Lausanne repeated the contents in private to the rest of her adventurer team. 

One of the team members unfurled a map and they soon found it. It was a few days from the city, it was a small village that bordered the central canyons.

Lausanne nodded. “Alright, thanks. I’ll be going.” She walked with her husband to somewhere quiet, and gave him a hug. “I’ll have to go do this.”

Ardi just smiled. “Take care alright. It’s very close to the start of demon-season. Don’t bite more than you can chew.” He said that every time Lausanne went out on her own, but he knew Lausanne wasn’t reckless. Clueless occasionally, but not reckless. “We’ll be taking on missions around here.”

It wasn’t right for her to ask her team to go with her for her personal bargain with the Temple. 

-

As Lausanne walked up the steps into the Aivan temple, two templars stopped her. “State your business.”

Lausanne nodded and flashed a special Aivan-Ring. They nodded and let her in. It was her first time in this city’s temple, but they all had a similar layout. The High Templar was at the top. 

The High Templar was already waiting. The High Templar was the lead military officer of the temple in this city. Every large Aivan Temple had one. “Greetings Lausanne.” There were two other templars in the room.  “We believe demons from the rift have been spotted near Dimusnah, and Engka believes you’re the best person to investigate. We would have sent templars, but we’re shorthanded at the moment.”

Lausanne shrugged. All the High Templars always sounded like they were a bit irritated at her. They, of course, didn’t know her Aeonic origins, or else they’d all attempt to kill her. Instead, Engka had constructed an elaborate plan to ‘drown’ out news about her origins, so they only know that she’s an elf from the Highland Cities of the North. It was easy to fake her origins when she left the Central continent so many years ago. 

“We’ll arrange a carriage to get you to a nearby town. And here’s a document for you.” The High Templar said and that was the end of the conversation. The document was magically sealed, but it was more elaborate. There was a small guest meeting room where she sat, and opened it. It seemed that Dimusnah was already destroyed, but they didn’t know what, so essentially, they needed someone who had a scout or ranger’s abilities to track the demons. There were no known markings or footprints. 

Lausanne made the journey that night, and in two days she reached the nearest town. From there, she would have to walk. The mood in the town was strange, and she noticed how sparsely populated it was. 

She was the only one in the inn that day. Have they disappeared?

“No. Most of them have fled the town.” The innkeeper said. “The sudden destruction of Dimusnah was scary.”

Huh. It wasn’t a secret. 

“And no one dared venture near.” 

Lausanne just glanced at the map again. This was a sparsely populated part of the continent anyway. If demons wanted to hide away and bide their time, this was the perfect place. But that implied they could think, and Lausanne was relatively sure not all demons can think. Could this generation think? At least to a limited degree? The very few hints she got seemed to imply it. 

She continued her journey the next day. The area is dry, almost-desert like. There was some vegetation, but most of them were small. There were cactuses too. Still, a village existed here simply because of the mines and the minerals that wash up on the shores of the canyon’s rivers. It would take her a day and some to finally arrive, at her speed. 

It was early morning when she arrived at the village and saw the destroyed village. There was visible charring on the floor, as if some intense flame burned through the entire area. She touched the charred dirt, sniffed it a little. Demons. Unmistakably so. 

But there were no footsteps of creatures or demons. Well, there were fleeing villages, but the ground burned wherever they fled. She looked at the shape and angle of the charring. Whatever it was, it attacked from a higher altitude. Possible the height of a walker. 

“Could be some kind of ranged attacker, or flying.” Lausanne said to herself, as she examined the ruins. She looked at the direction of the flame... and went the other way. If it’s a tall demon like a walker, there should be some footsteps or imprints on the ground.

Nothing. There were more flames and charring, but no footsteps. 

“Most likely a flyer.” She paused. She briefly remembered one of her many dream-spars, where she fought flying creatures. This seemed to match it. Had the rift opened? It was about time. A generation of flying demons would be frightening. 

She mentally informed Warden to prepare some extra throwing spears, and adjusted the three wooden spears on her back. If they really are flyers, she’ll need them soon enough. 

The trail of flames eventually ended at the edges of a canyon. 

“Where did they go?” Lausanne looked at the river, and at the edges of the canyons as far as she could see. It was dry. There were no monsters either. “Upriver then. That’s the typical answer.”

She began walking along the canyon. If they were hiding, they must have found a cave or something. She looked at a map, and there are parts where the river’s hidden underground. Or perhaps on the other side of the tributaries. Vines extended from both her hands, and she used them like long feelers. 

At her level, she could stretch it from one side to the other side, and she’d be able to use her vines and swing along the river, using the canyon walls as her anchors.. That would be a faster way to travel along the canyons. 

She steeled herself, and began moving. There was nothing.  The canyons were vast, and as she moved upriver, she noticed little shiny things in the river. Gems. The reason why the village of Dimusnah even existed. 

“Now’s not the time for that.” She said to herself. Maybe on the trip back, once she located the demons. It took about an hour, then she thought she heard something. A soft growl. Almost imperceptible. She reeled in her vine and it pulled her to the canyon walls. A few vines popped out of her body and allowed her to latch onto the wall like a spider. 

Then she saw it, a hole in the wall right at the river water’s edge. This was almost three hours away from the village

There were easily five of them, three of them were massive. Large, winged, and they were in different colors. Black. Dark Brown. Reddish-black. Horned. But they also had glowing red eyes. 

Dragons...? 

Lausanne paused, and she stared a little longer. 

No. Demons that resembled dragons. But why were they hiding? 

It was then she saw smaller dragons. The smaller dragons stepped out of the hole and dived into the river. A while later it emerged. 

What was it doing? Using her vine-legs, she crawled closer, then she saw it half-hidden inside the hole. A larger, wingless dragon. The smaller dragon walked next to it, and it spat out some gems. This larger demon-dragon ate it, and it glowed. 

Then it laid an egg. 

Lausanne felt chills. This was a breeding demon, like Sabnoc! Sabnoc latched on magical locations to grow massive armies. She looked at them, and sensed their magical power. They were not weak. Not as strong as a walker or a champion, but certainly more of the demon-elite or demon-general tier.

It made sense why the village was destroyed so easily. These demons, they are only a few of them, but they needed someone at least level 50 or 60 to fight them. The demons did not spot her. She used a bit of her druidic powers to move the rock around her, like a natural camouflage. 

She waited, and watched them a little more. They were eating the gems in the river, and they would also feed the gems to the wingless demon in the cave. What made them suddenly attack the village? Were they spotted? Were they instructed by the demon king to hide and multiply until the time is right?

She waited till night. The demons still didn’t spot her, and she noticed they were constantly eating. 

Then, two of the large demon-dragons flew away. Only the wingless, one larger demon-dragon and two smaller ones were left. 

If she wanted a chance, this was it. She waited for the two large demon-dragons to fly further away. She took a deep breath, and reached for two wooden anti-demon spears. 

She leapt out of her hideout, and quickly activated her [Anti-demon suppression aura]. 

The demons turned, and her wooden spear glowed in a bright green light. [Spear of Destruction] She landed right on one of the smaller demons. It was unprepared, and the spear went through the head. It collapsed there and then. The wingless demon roared, and its breathed a jet of fire. The other larger one quickly took flight and opened it’s mouth. 

She threw her other spear at it, accelerated by her power. [Flying Spear]. The demon’s firebreath clashed with the flying anti-demon spear. But she had no time, she quickly leaped away to avoid the wingless demon’s fireblast. 

She cursed. She should have attacked the wingless demon first. She thought she could take that one later. The wingless demon’s firebreath continued to streak across the canyon walls, as it attempted to chase her down. She called on Warden to produce more throwing spears, and she flung it at the wingless demon. It wasn’t moving, only it’s head was. 

But the other, larger flying demon was already flying into another position. She turned and quickly used her vines to change directions. There was another jet of fire. 

She landed on another side of the canyon walls. The demon was still flying, and it breathed fire into the canyon. It intended to coat the entire canyon with fire. “Ugh.” She grunted and the flames started to coat her surroundings. The wingless dragon was still there. She couldn’t get it. She made a mistake!

The demon-dragon kept breathing fire. If she wanted to fight it, she needed to get it down, lower to the ground. Or... she had to fly up there.

That area of the canyon would be entirely blanketed with fire soon, she needed to do it now. She used her vines and attached itself to the canyon walls, and with some magic, transformed herself into an arrow and shot herself into the sky at the demon. Then, with another spear, and a vine attached to it, flung it into it’s body. 

This time, the demon aimed it’s jet of flame at Lausanne instead of the spear, so the spear managed to pierce the flying demon.

[Steelwood Barrier]. The jet of flame burned the wooden barrier, but she was fine. She landed on the ground, and then activated [Constrict]. The vine exploded into a massive tangle of vines around the demon, and she planted her feet on the ground.

[Entrench]. The vines linked up with the roots Lausanne created in the ground, and with the roots supporting her, she pulled the constricted demon out of the sky. It crashed into the ground with a loud bang, but it wasn’t over. It breathed fire again. 

[Steelwood Barrier]. 

A barrier blocked the flames, opening a space for Lausanne to quickly move ahead. She had to do it now when it was on the ground. [Super-antidemon rootstrike]. Three massive roots emerged from the ground and it skewered the large demon-dragon. It then disintegrated, and left behind... gems and some other things. 

A roar, followed by another. The two large demon-dragons were coming back. She had to get the wingless dragon first! She suspected the wingless dragon to be something like a ‘birther’, so she needed to get rid of it, else the demons would continue to multiply. She used her vines and her abilities to speed up. She needed to get back to where the wingless dragon was. 

But it was gone. Only the smaller one was there, and it roared. 

“Ugh.” Lausanne decided a demon was still a demon, even if it’s small. With a vine attached to a spear, she flung it and the smaller demon. It died instantly from the attack, even though it did try to fight it off. 

She heard the roars again. If the two large demons are back, it’ll be another hard fight. The mature demon-dragons were just below a demon walker in offensive ability, but thankfully their defenses were rather weak. But where’s the wingless one? If it’s wingless, there should be footsteps. 

She looked around and activated a common druidic ability, which was to ‘borrow’ animal-like abilities. [Scent of the Prey], and she followed it. It went even further upstream and it didn’t manage to go very far. It was large, but not very fast. Lausanne used her vines to slingshot herself at the wingless demon. It’s a grounded demon, so she should be able to use [super anti-demon root strike] once she gets in range. 

The demon’s head turned and it spat a huge amount of fire. It charred the wooden barrier around her, but not good enough. She was almost there. It had a massive tail and it moved to strike. It smashed into the charred barrier, but the barrier was still intact. There was another tail that came at her from the right. Did it always have two tails? The tails smashed right into the wooden shield and knocked her into the canyon wall. 

“Ugh.” She didn’t see that coming, and mentally thanked Warden for a protective shield that helped absorb the impact. Still, the shockwave hurt. At least it wasn’t a walker-class enemy, and at this distance, she could counterattack. 

Five anti-demon roots emerged from the floor and pierced the wingless demon-dragon, and it roared. Almost like it was in pain, but it turned and breathed fire. She sensed its energy dissipating, and yet it kept breathing fire into the narrow canyon. Lausanne leaped and then used two vines to latch on to the top of the canyon walls, and launched herself up. The wingless demon wasn’t moving. The five roots were still firmly planted in it’s body. She retrieved another wooden spear from Warden and flung it at the wingless demon. 

This time, it smashed into it’s body and then the body cracked. Then the cracks lit up, and the wingless demon exploded. It left gems and other things splattered all over the canyon floor. 

Yet, it’s not over. Not yet. There’s two more larger demons that should be on the way. She heard their roar, and again. They were... fleeing? 

She didn’t expect that. Or did something else call them? 

“Ugh.” Lausanne found a place to stop and just do a short self-check. Parts of her skin were bleeding, and some parts burned. She’ll need a day or two to heal them. One of her prized wooden spears broke too. Still, now she had time to think.

Strategically, they would need a whole lot of archers and mages. Way, way more. Anti-demon arrows would need to be the default equipment. 

She was in no condition to chase after the two large demon-drakes. The battle used up quite a bit of her energy, so she decided to head back instead. 

A templar was already waiting for her at the nearest village. “Lady Lausanne, you’ve located the enemy?”

“Yes. Identified as winged demons that can breath fire and perhaps other elemental attacks.” She gave a long list of observations of what she’s seen, things like size, attack patterns, types of attacks and so on. The templar nodded and quickly started to compile it into a document that will go straight to the Grandmaster. 

Once completed the templar left, and Lausanne rested in the village. She wondered whether the two large demon-drakes would return, but she’s too tired to care. 

[Summon Spirit Bird]. Lausanne looked at a small ethereal bird. “Keep watch, little one.” The bird nodded and flew off. 

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