Path of Dragons 14 - Chapter 24 - Keystone

The night was quiet, but for the steady sound of a file scraping against wood.  Elijah sat, hunched over as thick drops of rain fell upon his back.  His clothes were soaked through, plastered to him like a second skin, while a dense atmosphere of vitality surrounded him.  He ignored the vines and roots wiggling beneath him, his focus so singular that he couldn’t be bothered to pay them any mind.

To Elijah, there was only the branch.

He’d been at it for days.  Perhaps even weeks, though he paid so little attention to the passage of time that he couldn’t be certain.  When he grew hungry, he simply summoned a grove fruit from his Arcane Loop and ate it while continuing his task.  The same strategy combatted his thirst.  And he’d yet to grow so tired that he needed to rest.

Instead, he focused entirely on the task he’d adopted.

Carving the limb into a staff proved to be both rewarding and frustrating.  The first, because he felt more connected to that piece of wood than to any other with which he’d ever worked.  Perhaps it was the integration with the World Tree.  Maybe it was his relationship with Treebie, who’d donated the limb. Whatever the case, the connection was palpable, and in a way he’d never before experienced.

It flowed through him, keeping him focused and flush with inspiration. 

And all the while, he filed away. 

The rough shaping was already done, though Elijah didn’t let himself truly experience it.  Instead, he concentrated on the square inch on which he worked.  The rasp of the file was loud enough that it could be heard, even dozens of feet away.

At times, he’d attracted an audience.  The first were children who’d sat, transfixed by the swirling ethera and vitality.  But soon enough, adults had joined them.  Even now, a Woodworker – one of the highest level amongst the grove’s Tradesmen – sat nearby, her legs crossed as she stared at Elijah’s progress.

Thankfully, everyone knew better than to speak. 

Elijah’s focus would never have wavered, but he also lacked the capacity to hold a conversation while working.  He was aware of her, though.  Just like he knew that Nerthus watched him from time to time.  Just as he’d sensed Carmen come by.  Miguel as well.  Even Kurik. 

They all let him be, though.

It would have been easy to let his mind wander, especially given how much he was struggling with Earth’s new status quo.  With the dissolution of his relationship with Sadie. 

He accepted that things had changed, but he wasn’t made of stone.  When he tried to quarantine his emotions, it just left him feeling dead inside.  He knew that wasn’t healthy, that it wasn’t sustainable.  Not unless he wanted to completely disconnect from everything. 

For all that his emerald mind was great at dealing with trauma, it was not a cure-all.  He still needed to process those emotions, and it would be a while before he managed that task.

In the meantime, he did what he always did – focused on a project. 

In a lot of ways, the carving served the same purpose as the construction of his trilithons.  In both cases, it gave him an outlet for nervous energy.  A way to keep his anxiety, fear, and other emotions on the backburner until he was ready to confront them.

And he needed that now as much as he ever had.

The gentle rasp of the file continued, minute after minute.  Hour after hour.  And day after day.  Elijah’s concept of time became muddied, though he never let up.  Not until, at last, he’d finished, and he finally allowed himself to see what he’d spent so long constructing.

He held it out, his eyes dancing over the piece.

Elijah had been forced to repeat his steaming process more than once, just to get the proper curves.  And if the limb had been any normal wood, it would have snapped under the stress. 

But nothing about it was normal.

The shaft was perfectly straight, but Elijah had used Nature’s Design to force it to grow off-shoots that wrapped around the staff like vines.  They were carefully placed so that they wouldn’t interfere with his grip and would function almost like a guard and protect his knuckles.  Those off-shoots were carved with sharp thorns.  At the tip of the staff, they flared into leaf-like shapes that came to a sharp point nearly a foot above the shaft.

At the center of those leaves was a white gem. 

It had been provided by Atticus, who called it a Keystone.  The jewel had cost Elijah an arm and a leg, but he believed it would be worth every copper ethereum.  Largely, because it had the distinction of being entirely unattuned.  That, combined with its storage potential, made it a perfect crafting component.  It was also exceedingly rare, which only magnified the cost.

But the potential it represented was well worth it, even if the rarity of the raw material ballooned the price well beyond what it should have been.

At least he hadn’t needed to hire a Gemcutter to prepare it, though. 

Elijah preferred to do that himself, and through means most people would find entirely incomprehensible.  Of all the people on Earth, only Nerthus stood a chance of understanding it.  But based on their many conversations, the spryggent wasn’t completely convinced it would work.

For that, Elijah took inspiration from a specific type of bacteria called chemolithotrophs, which took energy by oxidizing inorganic substances, primarily sulfides.  Often, those were used industrially to liberate metals from ores.  Elijah also incorporated some ideas from various fungi that were known to secrete acid, though that was a lesser part of his plan. 

He laid his hand on the crystal, his fingers wrapping around it as he closed his eyes.  The world stilled as he used Nature’s Design, manipulating the microbes already contained within the staff to spread into the gem.  At first, they met resistance, but with every passing minute, Elijah adjusted the nature of the bacteria to better resemble the one he’d so meticulously planned. 

It responded eagerly, like evolution in fast-forward.  And soon enough, it began to eat through the Keystone.  However, it only took the path Elijah dictated.

Without his many years of practice on Druhmor, Elijah never would have even tried it.  Even now, the control required to guide the bacteria into proper runes very nearly exceeded his abilities.  After all, he was working at a microscopic level, and that came with a host of difficulties.

Like that, days passed.  At times, Elijah was forced to take breaks, but he never stayed away for longer than a few minutes.  Otherwise, the bacteria might grow out of control and ruin the Keystone.  Thankfully, Elijah was no stranger to obsessive focus, so he managed to keep it under his thumb until, at last, he had finished.

He let out a sigh as he killed every last bacterium within the crystal.

He hated doing it.

Over time, he’d become bonded with his creation.  But if he let it live, it would have continued to eat the Keystone until it became unusable. 

Closing his eyes, he let himself relax.  His back cracked as he leaned against the trunk of his treehouse. 

“Halfway home,” he muttered to himself, the staff resting against his thighs.  For a second, he just basked in the power of Blessing of the Grove, letting it wash away any lingering fatigue.

“So you’re alive,” came a voice from above.  Elijah looked up to see Carmen leaning over the balcony.  “That’s good.  Some people were starting to get worried.”

“Just working,” Elijah replied.

“Want a cup of coffee?” she asked.

Elijah nodded.  “I could definitely use a pick-me-up.”

After that, she disappeared into the treehouse, and a couple of minutes later, she appeared at the bottom of the steps, a pair of steaming mugs in hand.  She handed one to Elijah, who accepted it gratefully.  After taking that first sip, Elijah let out another sigh of mingled relief and pleasure.  “You really don’t realize how much you love something until it’s gone,” he remarked. 

“How are you doing, Elijah?” asked Carmen, settling in next to him. 

He shrugged.  “I’m just about finished with the Keystone, but the staff is only –”

“I’m not talking about that.”

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the trunk.  “I know.”

“But?”

“But I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Want to or not, it’s necessary.”

“What do you want me to say, Carmen?  That I feel like a stranger on my own island?  That the woman…”

He couldn’t even finish the statement.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Carmen said.

“It could’ve been.  The whole time I was gone, I was convinced that Earth had been excised.  Do you know what that’s like?” he asked.  He didn’t allow her time to answer.  Instead, he just went on, saying, “I told myself that you would all make it.  I dreamed of coming back and finding out that everyone was okay.  That Earth still existed.  And now that that’s what happened?  I realize that I should’ve been worried about something else.  Something more personal. 

“They don’t need me anymore,” he said.  “Nobody does.”

“That’s not true, Elijah.  The grove wouldn’t –”

“They need my power.  I’m like a walking gas tank for the engine that is the Hartwood Grove.  But me, personally?  I barely even know any of these people.  And the ones I do know, they’ve moved on with their lives.  Miguel is a father, for god’s sake.  I’ve only seen Kurik a couple of times since I got back.  Sadie wants nothing to do with me.  And…”

He trailed off, unable to keep going.

“Elijah, it’s…”

Finally, he said what he’d been thinking since the beginning.  “I should have just stayed on Gorveth.”

Rationally, Elijah knew the thought was born of self-pity.  He could recognize that much, at least.  However, logic also told him that he was right.  Returning to Earth hadn’t been the homecoming he’d imagined.  Far from it.  But on Gorveth, he could have continued his work.  He could have finished terraforming the planet and, perhaps, rescued it from the abyss.  He could have nurtured Treebie and helped him attain sapience.  He could have figured out a way to cleanse the adults afflicted by corruption. 

He could have been happy. 

He could have been important.

He could have been needed.

Carmen didn’t respond to that statement.  Instead, she just threw her arm over his shoulder and hugged him close.  There were no tears.  No outbursts of emotion.  Just the comfort of a woman who, over the years, had become family in a way no one else could claim.

Finally, Elijah said, “I don’t mean it.  I know I don’t.  I just can’t help but think it.”

“You know what you need?”

“What’s that?”

“You need to leave the grove,” she advised.  “And not to go kill a bunch of asshole slavers.  You should go out, see the world.  See all the things you missed.  Visit all the places you never had the chance to visit.”

After a moment, she said, “And I also think you need to get laid.”

Elijah was speechless.  “I’m really not comfortable with you talking about my sex life.”

She just shrugged.  “Calling it like I see it,” Carmen said with a grin.  “But my point still stands.  You need a vacation.  A real one.  You need to relax.”

“And you think a world tour will do that?”

“Maybe,” she said.  “It definitely wouldn’t hurt.”

“Yeah.  Maybe you’re right,” Elijah allowed, taking another sip of his coffee.  There were a few places he wanted to visit, and not just for sightseeing purposes.  He needed to reconnect with Isaiah, for one.  And in the back of his mind, he also wanted to check out some of the Primal Realms he’d missed.

After all, he still knew the value of progression. 

With a sigh, he said, “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For being here,” he answered.  Then, he glanced up to his house.  “Not for being in my house without an invitation.  Obviously.  But for trying to help me.”

“Who do you think has been keeping the place clean?  I bet I’ve spent more time in there than you, by this point.”

“Wait, you’ve been keeping it clean?  I thought that was Nerthus.”

“Nope.  All me.  And of course I have.  Couldn’t have you coming home to a dirty house.”

That act told Elijah more than anything else he’d experienced since returning home.  Upon realization, he set his mug aside, turned to his sister-in-law, and wrapped his arms completely around her.

This time, a few tears did escape, but Carmen was good enough not to mention them.