Sproutling 118

“They are retreating.” I said, watching with my energy senses as the masses of monstrous creatures attempted to escape the human’s old lands.

Dryad said nothing, looking at me with expectant eyes.

I had really wanted to spend more time exploring, see the sights, visit the local magma pools, enjoy a bit of a vacation.

However, there isn’t really anything on this dirtball that’s worth my time besides the Worldheart.

As for vacation spots, I probably could just build my own with less hassle.

Ah, well. Maybe next planet?

Reaching out with my power I activated one of the primary Rune chains circles that looped about the Voidship in dizzying ever-changing patterns.

This is a ship designed to traverse the Void.

A place, where there is essentially, almost nothing to draw sustenance from aside from Void energies.

As such, like any good ship, it is has the distinct ability to draw energy, of any type, to continue powering itself.

In the Void it would be void energies.

On the surface of this planet though, the process is simplified.

It simply draws from everything, not in the ship.

***

Lim had served his King for just under three thousand years, with extreme distinction.

As a Living Armor, he didn’t have blood, or flesh, or even a heart.

It made doing his jobs, like the extermination of species the King required, much easier.

However, just because he wasn’t made of flesh and blood, didn’t mean he was an unfeeling machine.

Staring at the titanic stone egg that was at the rear of the rapidly retreating army while floating in the air, he felt disturbing chills run through his body.

It was a long time since he’d felt the emotion of fear.

There was a possibility this was all part of Lux’s plans, something he hadn’t been informed of.

Lim thought briefly on it, and decided that if his master had the ability to create something like this, he wouldn’t have waged a thousand year war.

No, if Lux had the power to create something like this, he would have used it immediately.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Ergo, this wasn’t from the King.

This was something else.

A new player in the game.

Lim paused, thinking hard about all the snippets he’d heard before.

Although he’d never encountered them personally, he knew there was a race the Demons hated greatly…

Could it be a Divinity?

Starting to pace in mid-air he thought further.

If it was a Divinity, what could the egg be for?

An attack? A defense? Something beyond comprehension?

Lim reached into the tiny spatial pouch on his belt and drew a small stone carved with tens of glowing green glyphs out.

The stone was a precious resource handed directly to the King’s most trusted subordinates.

Crushing the stone would bring him immediately to Lux’s side.

Crushing the stone would mean he was running away.

Lim hesitated glancing backwards once more, just in time to see a rippling wall of something pulsing out from the egg.

His spirit senses were screaming at him to move, now!

Almost reflexively he crushed the stone in his gauntleted hand and watched in shock as the green light engulfed him.

As a Living Armor, one of his distinct abilities was that of soul sensing. It allowed him to both avoid assassinations, and keep tabs on his subordinates.

In the last moment before he departed he felt countless hundreds of thousands of his subordinate’s souls being ripped from their flesh.

The egg, it was eating them, using their souls to power the strange spinning runes!

Lim was horrified, and yet simultaneously relieved.

Horrified at the loss of those under his command, yet relieved he had something to report.

***

“Sorry about the forest.” I said. The entire forest surrounding the mountain as well as countless creatures within were now nourishing the Voidship.

Dryad glared at me.

“And the grass?” I said, waving my branches.

Dryad rolled her eyes at me, “I expected as much. At least nothing exploded this time!”

“Explosions are very rare when I do experi-” I got cut off by a hand wave.

“I already had everything important inside the ship anyways. Besides, I wanted to see the effect too.” Dryad said smiling, while staring outside the bubble of time that was protecting us both.

I had raised it just in time to prevent the ship’s energy drain from drawing upon, us.

Good thing my lightning quick Tree-like reflexes responded in ample time to save the day.

Watching the pulsing waves rippling outward from the egg’s sphere I saw that the draining system worked effectively. Anything with a soul, lifeforce, or energy of almost any type was being turned into nourishing energy for the ship’s systems.

With a tiny release of my Soul Seal I gathered and compressed all the dead monster bodies, from the Demon King’s army, into one of my spare leaves for storage. I’m sure Wen, the cook of delicious things, can figure out something tasty with all these samples.

If not, they’ll make great fertilizer.

Using my senses I expanded my search further, encompassing the entire surface of the planet.

The drain from the Voidship was currently running along the surface of the planet, eating everything as it went. Within a few hours the top of the planet would be nothing except a lifeless husk. I had taken care not to allow the ship to drain beneath the surface, due to the Worldheart.

Partially because that was my meal, and partially because I didn’t actually know how much the ship could store in terms of energy.

I’d rather not accidentally explode this experiment.

Dryad would never let me hear the end of that.

Although it was a risk, I calculated that the only remaining possible danger would likely be the ‘Demon King’ that the humans had told us about.

My senses have been sweeping looking for some type of power spike for some time, yet…

Strange.

There’s a city filled with monsters over there, but, I don’t sense any creatures of extreme power around.

Oh?

There’s a portal…gah! It closed!

Tsk.

I was too slow…

My leaf is off to you, Demon King, you’re a smart cookie. Probably a tasty one too...

Next time, then.

I teleport Dryad back inside the Voidship, before I plunge down into the slowly cooling magma the egg is currently perched upon.

Diving deep below, I begin to collect the various species that live at this depth into a leaf I’ve specially prepared. The environment within the leaf is a living world of flame, bolstered by a central portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire. The ability to open a portal to this place was one of my recent talents thanks to my personal training. I can open portals now to Fire and Lightning, there doesn’t seem to be an Elemental Plane for Time which answers a few questions.

When I tried to stick a root in and feed off the planar portals, I was instantly full within seconds. Both of the portals feed more energy in a single second than a Worldheart, yet the energy itself is incredibly volatile and requires a massive amount of time to digest.

After all how can you compare a mere Worldheart to the level of energy an entire Plane produces?

It’s like comparing ants and Titans, in my honest opinion, the scale is simply nowhere close to each other.

So of course, there’s a drawback. Perhaps at a higher level of the Dao I will be able to consume the energy like drinking water. Right now however, I’m not even close to that level.

It’s humbling to realize compared to certain things I’m still an ant.

While I finish my musings on life I wave my branches in satisfaction. I quite enjoy the thrilling feeling of saving many species from extinction before I remake a world.

It’s not like I’m a collector or anything.

No.

Not at all.

Right?

Right!

Once I’ve managed to get everything I’m interested in I head deeper down towards the Worldheart.

Like before, there’s a nice massive spinning….

Eh…?

Why is there a giant snake sleeping down here?

Especially one who is wrapped around my next meal!?