System Change

“What do you mean?” Derek asked.

“The Echoing Willow always releases a few intense bursts of its power before going dormant for a short amount of time. Unless it has changed after all of these years, this doesn’t happen often. We’re lucky. It means that soon, the willow will lose control of the abyss for a short time.”

“And it will be vulnerable?” Derek asked.

“Not necessarily…” Alanah said. “I’ve never gotten close to it. It does, however, mean that it will lose control of all the beasts. In other words, the beasts will gain control of themselves for this short amount of time. They will all be busy gathering themselves and even trying to escape the willow. It will be our perfect chance to go there. They shouldn’t attack us or anything else that gets close to them. This could be the best time for us to attack.”

“And you’re sure you still want to do that?” Derek asked. “Kill the willow?”

“Even if I wasn’t before,” Alanah started. “Knowing that the bastards in this kingdom are using the tree to grow stronger has made me sure. This horrifying bogeyman can’t leave them without giving them one last parting gift, after all.”

“No, I guess you can’t,” Derek said with a chuckle. “Well, how are we going to do this?” he asked.

“You said you might have a plan, right?” Alanah asked. “I wasn’t expecting to get this opportunity—especially so soon. What are you thinking?”

“I think that neither of us are well equipped to fight against something as big as that giant tree seemed to be,” Derek said. “I have a couple of attacks that may work on something of its size, but the rest of my skills are much more suited to fighting single opponents.”

“That is true,” Alanah replied. “I also have to imagine that my main controlling abilities will not be very useful in a fight with it. After all, our abilities are very similar. The Echoing Willow may be even less susceptible to my skills than I am to its skills. I do not know if the tree actually has a way of hearing me.”

“Exactly,” Derek said, agreeing with the siren’s assessment.

“So, what do you think?” Alanah asked.

“Well, it’s not like the two of us have to fight it on our own,” Derek said. “Once I saw the thing, I started thinking about ways to defeat it.”

“Very true,” Alanah said. “That is one of the things that makes your traveling skill so powerful. Who did you have in mind?”

“Unfortunately, most of our friends will be too affected by the tree’s abilities,” Derek said. “You saw how much of a toll it took on Ryven just getting to the edge of the abyss.”

“Mhm. That was with him carrying us and not protecting himself with his sound barriers. The Elras family are quite good at countering sound-based attacks with those barriers,” Alanah said. “Ryven still may not be too much help in the matter, but I imagine that Osian would be capable of withstanding the echoes with or without his barriers. I do believe that he is quite a bit stronger than his brother. We have never seen the king go all out, after all. And he could provide protection from the control to any others in the fight.”

“True,” Derek replied. “He would definitely be good at crowd control of any beasts—but because of the current situation, we may not need anyone to control the beasts. And honestly, anyone who can’t withstand the echoes on their own probably won’t be much help against the willow. It also seemed like the elves were having a pretty important meeting. Borrowing a duke without permission is one thing, but borrowing king may be a bit much.”

“Mhm.” Alanah nodded. “Who else do you have in mind? Obviously, you’re going to bring Silvi in. I know that those flames of hers are no joke. She completely melted the talented King of Astrus with those flames. Plus, you have been calling the Echoing Willow a piece of firewood for some time now.”

“Got it in one,” Derek said. “I’m also curious if one of her skills will work with firewood. Other than her, I think it would be a pretty good idea to bring Edgar into the fray. Where I’m from, there’s a lot of lore about lightning striking trees. We also know that he can withstand the echoes on his own, and he has mobility that is close to your own when you are in your siren form.”

“The prince would be a good choice,” Alanah replied. “Do you think he would be up for the fight?”

“Obviously,” Derek replied. “That guy really gets into it when fighting strong opponents. He also missed the fight with the final raid boss, so I’m sure he’s itching for some action. He’s probably been drowned in politics lately—he’d take any excuse to get away from that,” he explained. “I’m also thinking we should bring Avery along.”

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“We should,” Alanah replied almost instantly. “I would like to have one final battle with him by my side. He is also single target damage for the most part, so he may not be extremely useful, but I wouldn’t want to fight without him.”

“Then it’s settled,” Derek said. “I’ll go pick up Avery, Edgar, and Silvi. I’d like to bring a healer or support just in case, but to do that, I think we would need Osian to come to protect them—I’m not sure if any I know would be able to withstand the echoes. I also think that our recovery stats are enough to get by, and we can always retreat if needed.”

“Those three should be good enough,” Alanah said. “Too many more and it could get crowded. You should go get them. I will make my way out of the cave and will be waiting for you outside.”

“Sounds good,” Derek replied. Alanah still seemed a bit wary about showing other parts of herself—parts that would show her vulnerability—so she surely didn’t want them to gather in her former home.

“Then I will see you soon,” Alanah said. After that, the siren began a slow trek out of the cavern. Derek watched as the small orb of light she was holding moved further and further away. Soon, the light disappeared, and he was left standing alone in the complete dark of the room.

“I guess that’s my cue,” Derek muttered to himself. After that, he activated his skill and stepped inside the void.

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When Derek stepped back out of the void, he was inside Rudy’s office—or at least what used to be Rudy’s office. There were walls knocked out, and there were also a couple of people that he didn’t recognize huddled scared over in the corner of what was Rudy’s shop. Uh… what the hell? He thought before remembering that he’d left Malorie and Geoffrey to work out details of different things to do. They had bought the extra lots, after all.

“Carry on,” Derek said to the two scared men, then walked through where the wall used to be. He took a quick look around and saw that the entire room was getting some kind of makeover. And to think I traveled to Rudy’s office so I wouldn’t have to worry about scaring anyone. Derek tisked before exiting the room and heading down the hall.

It was easy to sense Silvi, but even if it wasn’t, the bunny would be easy to find. All he had to do was find his way to the closest kitchen and, more likely than not, he would find the little chef bunny. Sure enough, when he made his way upstairs and to the kitchen, he found both the bunny and Ogre there. He is way too big for this kitchen, Derek thought, but didn’t say anything.

Instead, he watched as a piece of cake floated toward the giant of a man’s mouth and he opened wide—eating the entire big slice in a single bite.

“Good!” Ogre said. “Weird flavor, but good. Still hungry though.”

“Give it a few minutes,” Silvi’s voice chimed out of her communication crystal. “You can have the rest if you don’t…” The bunny then noticed Derek before she finished speaking. “What is it?” she asked. “Did you come to get me? More juicy chicken? Pigs?” her entire demeanor shifted when she saw him. He had told her that he’d come get her if he found something that she would like.

“Nothing like that,” Derek said. “But there is an upcoming battle that we may need your help with. And I’m not sure, but I think the monster may make for some good addition to your cooking,” he explained. “But what was it that you were about to tell Ogre there?” he asked. He was very curious.

“Just making sure he doesn’t die before eating too much of the special cake,” Silvi said.

“Uh… do you two do this often?” he asked.

“We do,” Ogre answered. “Ogre’s belly don’t hurt as much with Ms. Chef around.”

“I see…” Derek was almost speechless. “Anyway,” he started. “Just travel to Alanah whenever you’re ready. But try not to be long, we’re in kind of a time crunch.”

“Kay!” Silvi’s voice chimed again, then she hopped onto a pot lid and floated directly in front of Ogre’s head. “Looks okay,” she said to nobody in particular. “Can have the rest.”

“Cake!” Ogre muttered and took a single, giant step over to the counter with the cake on it.

Derek shook his head, then activated Void Travel—ignoring everything else. Then he stepped inside and closed it.

Next, Derek appeared in the Cydarian Throne Room. Edward was sitting on the throne, Edwin was standing close by, next to his former adviser, Phillip Musgrave, and Edgar was standing off to the side—his sister not far away from him. Phillip was shaking in his boots, and both the former and current king were staring at his arrival with frowns. Elouise was standing stiffly—most likely remembering the last time Derek appeared next to her with no warning. And when Derek looked at Edgar, the prince’s eyes met his own—they had a sort of pleading look in them.

“Edgar,” Derek said. He was closest to the prince since he was the one who he targeted with Void Travel.

“Yeah?” he asked, hope in his voice.

“You want to come to another continent and fight an extremely strong monster with me and Alanah? We may need your help,” Derek asked.

“Oh darn,” Edgar said to his brother and father. “Looks like I’m needed elsewhere. You all will have to continue this without me. If Derek needs help, then it must be something grave.” Without any more words, Edgar walked over to Derek and whispered, “Please get me the hell out of here.”

“We’re off, then,” Derek said before anyone else could speak. Then he placed his hand on the prince’s back and stepped inside his portal with him. He focused on Alanah, and soon after, ripped the void open and stepped out with the prince. They were at the entrance to Alanah’s snake hole, but all the digging and the previous hole had already been covered up.

“Edgar,” Alanah said. “Thank you for joining us.”

“No, thank you,” the prince replied.

“I’ll let you catch him up to speed,” Derek said. “I’m off to pick up Avery now.”

The next time Derek stepped out of the void was in the Crown Restaurant’s training ground—where he had seen Clare, Zac, and Luke sparring before. This time, Avery was standing in front of the three of them. Again, Derek’s arrival—and the feeling caused by it—had shaken the three children. And it was still ongoing because he hadn’t closed the portal.

“Derek?” Avery asked. “What is it? What’s wrong? Is Alanah okay?”

“I figured your first thoughts would go to her,” Derek laughed. “Yes, she is fine. But we need some help, so I’m going around gathering people who might be able to.”

“The two of you need help?” Avery asked with a frown. “With what?”

“Oh… there’s a big tree that Alanah wants to kill,” Derek said.

“Echoing Abyss?” Avery asked.

“Yeah,” Derek answered.

Avery then turned around and spoke to the three children. “Your lessons with me end here today,” he said. They weren’t able to respond, though, as the feeling that Derek’s portal was emitting was just too strong. “You can train how you like if you want or take the rest of the day off—whichever you all think is best.” After that, he turned to Derek. “Let’s go.”

“Stand still.” As he did with Edgar before, Derek took Avery through the portal and out to Alanah.

Once Derek withdrew his Void Creation shield from around the man, Avery walked forward and stood beside Alanah. “Finally getting revenge?” he asked.

“Yes,” Alanah said. “Finally.”

“Hey,” Derek said, causing Alanah to turn to look at him. “There’s a couple more people that I think would be good for this. I’m going to go see if they want to come. Should be great for the roots.”

“Whatever you think is best,” Alanah replied.

Derek nodded, then left once more.

“Fucking hell,” a deep voice sounded out as soon as Derek exited his portal.

“Ah… sorry,” Derek said. Tyron was standing over an anvil with his ball peen hammer in his hand—his arm frozen mid-swing.

“Just eight hours of work down the drain,” the smith said, then with a sigh, asked, “Can I help you with something?”

“You can, actually,” Derek said. “Are you by chance in the need of some extremely high-quality wood?”

“High-quality wood?” The Walking Forge asked. “I’m always in need of high-quality materials. Why? Do you have any?” The smith’s eyes turned from annoyed to hopeful the instant Derek mentioned high-quality materials.

“On me? No,” Derek said. “But we are about to fight an extremely strong tree, and I thought you and Rocky may be able to help. I figure your lava or magma or whatever would be very good against such an opponent. Once we kill it, I’m sure there will be plenty of wood to go around.”

“A battle, then?” Tyron asked.

“Yes, a battle.”

Tyron cracked his neck, then reached out and cracked his knuckles. “I guess I could take a break from the forge for a bit. What do you think?” At that, Rocky’s worm-like form slithered out of the man’s shirt and onto his shoulder. Tyron laughed, “Rocky’s in. What do you need us to do?”

“I just need the two of you to stay really still,” Derek said.

“We won’t have to fly, will we?” Tyron asked.

“No, no flying,” Derek said.

“Good.”

Next, Derek stepped forward and covered the two in his void. After that, he picked them up and walked into his portal—closing the opening behind him. He hadn’t bothered closing the other side of the portal, so he soon stepped out next to everyone else again.

“That… was almost as bad as flying,” Tyron said. “There’s no floor, but there is a floor…”

“Nothing I can do about that,” Derek said with a chuckle as he closed the portal behind him.

“Mr. Blacksteel,” Alanah said. “Thank you for joining us.” After that, she turned to Derek. “Yes, Mr. Blacksteel will be a great addition.”

“I thought so,” Derek laughed. “And he comes with a dragon.” Rocky poked his head out of Tyron’s shirt and gave a quick nod.

“Thank you for your help, too, Rocky,” Alanah said. “Now, is there anyone else?” she asked.

“We’re just waiting on…” Derek started, but felt the dreadful aura appear behind him. “Nevermind,” he said.

A few seconds later, Silvi hopped out of the portal with a void created pot and lid floating above her. After she closed the entrance, she dismissed her pot and lid, and quickly re-equipped all her gear. She looked around at everyone, then, with a chime, said, “Noodle!” Causing the dragonkin to quickly dive back into the safety of Tyron’s shirt.

“Everyone’s here,” Derek said with a chuckle. “You have the lead.”