Book 4. Chapter 22: Jake and Morwen - Kingdom of Annwn

Book 4. Chapter 22: Jake and Morwen - Kingdom of Annwn

Hundreds of arrows and javelins were launched at the incoming undead, and the massive tree in front of them. Explosions of flame splashed into the tree, the flames spreading before being snuffed out by the blighters surrounding it, their miasmic fumes countering the flames.

They cast blighted gases and what even appeared to be undead healing spells, the flames from the explosions receding as a result.

Jakes many archers targeted the tree creatures, but the enemies were numerous. More kept arriving as the fight went on, the blighters walking over vines and tree boughs that crossed into other nearby swamplike trees.

Jake finished his preparations of switching over to [Avenger]. It was time for him to add punishment for what these creatures had done to the people of Highlands forest.

You ready, Blood, Berri?

Blood nodded. I am ready, milord. I am a little worried about my dear sister, but I shall not fail you.

Berri added, I remember my shape-thingies. I can do it!

The two had finally done it: reached [Advanced Runic Magic]. They could now jointly cast a single spell, a holy runic healing spell, that they could accomplish together.

Once they got the hang of that, they focused on practicing adding the runes to Jake or Ophelias flames. For now, they didnt have a spell practiced to work together with Fhesiah alone.

Jake still hadnt created a runic spell that could contain all five of their runes, but he was working on it. He knew the results would be amazing, but he had many challenges. Mixing Nordic runes with Demonic runes was possible, but had all sorts of rules to consider.

Balancing mana with the heavenly energy, along with keeping both the runes structure and meaning when interconnected, was like a complicated Sudoku puzzle. There were trillions of possibilities, when including both the number of characters and the formations.

He had worked together with Fhesiah for days to create their original three-person spell, and he knew it would be many more to incorporate both additional runes, but also Blood and Berris flavored mana.

There were several group spells Jake came up with that Blood could add her runes, but it really only took three of them to create the spells. Jake was happy with what he had come up with so far, the spells empowered Tier 1 spells which were extremely effective. He had even created a few true Tier 2 spells, finally able to exceed their Tier.

For now, Berri was terrible at forming runes without using her holy mana. Aspecting it into regular mana was a challenge for her while establishing them, so Blood would be the one creating the regular runes. He hadnt worked out a spell that used their holy light and holy dark mana together, either. He was able to practice with his hearth mana, but it was slow-going.

Together, they would all be creating holy flames.

Jake leaped onto Berris battlements, and she surged through the formation until they reached the lioness and Seamus at the front, with Tanda in tow. Her hearth had not yet awakened, but she thought it was getting close. He was excited to see what this meant for her. They all hoped she would be able to use magic and thus Nordic Runes, but he was doubtful.

Currently, her armor had her runes enhanced by auril-based runes. While not bad in and of itself, Jakes knowledge on them were limited. Combining them added all sorts of complexities, and he was having a hard time decoding them and combining them with all his other goals. He had gotten tremendously lucky that his previous runes had worked at all together.

Because of that, Tanda would be much more effective with Nordic runes if she had mana to activate them. At least when she had enough mana of her own, anyway.

Tanda covered Jake and Bloodberris approach with her bow, cutting down ghouls and skeletons that leaped after them as they undulated forward into the enemy formation. Hexes and curses landed on Jake and Bloodberri, but pushing [Purifying Flames] through their bodies crushed the hexes with a flex of their mana.

Seamus and the lioness joined at their sides, fighting at their flanks. Bloodberri swung their maul back and forth, as Jake cut through ghouls and other assailants with his spear from their back.

Jake was in the [Avenger] state, his runes red. He felt the anger of the beastkin people, seeing their proud jungle twisted and turned into an evil fortress of the unliving. Their people killed, the nature twisted for malicious purposes.

The beastkin of Highlands demanded justice, retribution from Tartarus. Their hearts sung the song of vengeance, with each enemy they cut, each blow they blocked. Jakes runes brightened, as his hearth began to pulse along with their hearts.

Jake formed the runes of his flaming spear of fire, pushing through all the power that he could muster with his divine flames. They floated in front of Jake, for Berri and Blood to float their runes into the hexagonal formations they had practiced.

The runes coalesced into the spell, forming into a massive spear of fire. The flames were white-hot, embodying the holy retribution they intended to bring their horrible enemy. It fired off as if shot from a massive ballista, blasting past the many enemies and blighters in between.

It struck the tree, an explosion of holy fire spreading from where it hit. White flames hungrily ate at the tree, the energy meeting its perfect enemy. The unliving tree wailed in agony, as it moved its arm-like branch. The large branch picked up a bone monstrosity.

Jake didnt like where this was going, so he hastily formed his runes, Blood and Berri hurrying to match. They created a second holy spear of flames, Jake using much of his reserves. He could only cast a few of these spells in rapid succession, him better at marathons of fights.

The bone monstrosity was thrown, and Jake held onto the runic formation as long as he could. He did his best to smooth over Berris construct, to keep it from collapsing. When the time was right, he released it to spear the bone monstrosity as it nearly landed on their heads.

Seamus and Ainora both fired beams of auril light, striking the large creature-turned-projectile in the center. The creature was almost the size of a city bus or eighteen wheeler, and flying at them rapidly. If Bloodberri moved out of the way, dozens of beastkin would likely die. Still, Jake willed them to scatter themselves.

The flaming spear was shot and passed through the bone monstrosity, the holy nature of the spell piercing through it and setting it aflame. It continued on to the tree, while Bloodberri prepared their [Maul of Hestia-Echidna], and Jake pushed his Hearth flames into his spear, forming [Hearth Blade].

Bloodberri struck the center of the oncoming mass, much of the center already melted away by Seamus and the heroic beast. An explosion of light and dark echoed out, erasing most of the creature down to its center.

Jake stabbed out in front of Bloodberri over her shoulder, the creature finally splitting in two and passing them mostly harmlessly. Cutting through the center, they had erased at least half the mass and slowed the creatures fall, somewhat.

He sighed with relief. That was a little close for comfort, though after they had eliminated a large portion of the mass, he had some confidence that Bloodberri would have been able to tank the blow without dying. She had a new, more powerful necklace, after all.

The fire had spread up the tree, and even up the same arm that had thrown the large creature at them. The blighters were releasing a gas, but if anything it seemed to fuel the flames. The beastkins justice was spreading, and there was nothing the undead could do to stop it.

The undead gathering under the trees charged, a near endless horde of undead. It was only a matter of time before the second tree was destroyed by his flames, Fhesiah and Ophelia only moments before.

Jake fell back with Bloodberri to the ranks, fighting through the undead. The blighters had leaped from the tree as it was burning, but many were engulfed by the flames. Attacks rained down on them from the many bow and javelin users, small explosions of flame lighting up the forest.

Hundreds of undead enemies approached them, but Jake could tell the weakened tree took away some of the creatures fervor. Hearthtribe met them with shields and spears, their front lines scattering the larger undead to make them easy pickings for superior coordination.

Tanda targeted the undead auril beasts at range with her bow in the air, swooping in with her crescent moon axe and finishing others. Seamus and the lioness both worked well in tandem, the two warriors shredding their enemies with glowing claws.

Her bone king took loping strides over her forces toward the massive tree, and the tree swayed back and forth in anticipation of its foes arrival. Bedwyr increased his aura of protection around the human and beastkin forces as the area filled with even more deathly miasma.

Their elites: Bedwyr, Vesuvius, Darris, Roxo, Jarrix, Yiming, and Longwei all followed the large warrior. The blue flames coating their weapons glimmered in the shaded jungle, the undead version having no bioluminescence to counter the dense tree coverage. The only thing that allowed any light at all, was that the massive trees were now undead, and lacked leaves. Still, the coverage of the massive trees and their network of branches let little light through.

The giant tree leaned forward and swung its clawed branch-arm at their created warrior, but in an act of dexterity that belied its form, it tumbled forward in a roll, avoiding it. It continued its charge, as the tree swung its other arm.

Miasma released from the many ghouls and blighters rushed into the bone king, and its arms and axe were filled with a ghastly dark glow. It swung to meet the large clawed hand, an explosion of wood sending shards everywhere. A large chunk was gouged out of the hand, but the almost-flesh of the undead tree was already regrowing.

The bone king continued its charge, drawing the trees ire as their army got into range. Her priests and priestesses continued to march, as the many ranged beastkin continued to target the blighters up in the trees. Other paladins and their undead servants kept them all protected, the rear of their formation with some of their more physically weak classes.

Their undead domain continued to be pushed, the many beastkin now hammering on the tree. Her people continued their slow march, the bone king keeping the massive tree busy. Until finally, Morwen was within range.

Many members of her clergy started channeling their faith energy into her. She didnt need that for her first spell, but it would take some time for it to build.

Those not busy with that, joined her in a circle around her. Together, they pushed their mana as they created magical scripts and connected them. She stood in the center as she added her own, her creating an inner circle of scripts that connected to the outer over the next several minutes.

Their elites had spread frost all over the tree, and it was already slowing. It had chunks missing all over, from where the cold flaming weapons had cut into it; it was unable to regrow its flesh from where it was covered in frost.

Still, these were nothing more than flesh wounds for the unliving tree, and while the bone king had kept it mostly busy, there were still a few swaths of people crushed by its many swipes of its arms.

Reinforcements for the enemy swarmed around the tree, these being the primary focus of their overall army.

The tree sensed their magical power rising, and rose in its own defense. It attempted to swing its branch at her in a whiplike motion, only for Bedwyr surrounded in a black barrier to intercept. His barrier was shattered, and he was battered away, but him and his horse were a resilient type. The bones which were enhanced cracked slightly, but a reserve priestess had already cast [Mend Bone] to heal his battered body.

The tree reeled back and was about to swing again, but he had already bought the time they needed to finish their circle casting of [Winters Embrace].

Miasma, mana, and a small amount of her peoples unliving flames pooled into the spell formation as it activated, and she slammed the butt of her [Elder Bone Staff] onto the ground. The ground turned to frost in a wave from where it was struck, as if a drop of water sent ripples into a lake.

The ground turned into frost for over a hundred meters in a circle, the frost traveling that time in but a second. The frost crawled up the tree and even slowed its arm to a near stop, but otherwise stuck to the ground and encircled it. The area became freezing cold in seconds, so cold that both the reptiles and brotherhood warriors would be frozen to death within minutes, despite their hardiness.

Hundreds of talismans activated, protecting their bodies from the cold. Preparation was one of Hearthtribes tenets, after all, so they couldnt slack off here and harm their allies.

Her peoples bodies were not exactly like the undead. One might say that undead were not weak to the cold, but their bodies could still be weakened by it. The Emberborn thrived in it.

The frost reached deep into the trees roots, locking it in place, as well as cutting it off from its source deeper in this undead jungle. About half of the tree was now frozen, the upper branches and tree wailing in pain.

Before she first became a priestess of Arawn, she had been nothing more than a frost mage. She prized her skill to create an icy domain of frost, but she gained power over the very deathly energies that made up her and her peoples bodies, along with the undead themselves, as a priestess.

When she completed her Trial with her husband, her frosty domain became something more. Enough faith energy had now gathered, allowing her to move on to the next spell, the finishing blow to this unliving amalgamation of a tree.

She finished group casting [Kingdom of Arawn], the circle of scripts on the ground releasing a blinding light.

A mist rose from the frosty ground, covering everything in sight. An apparition of Arawns kingdom appeared above the mist, a land lush and green, but all four seasons could be seen in the massive kingdom. It was lush and fertile, with beautiful gardens, orchards, and forests. The rivers were filled with fish and swans, and the air was filled with sweet smells and songs of birds.

The spirits of the dead lived in harmony with nature, living their afterlives in perfect balance. It was ruled by a cunning protector, the King of Annwn: Arawn. A place of eternal beauty and peace, having balance and harmony in all things. A place that was magical and as real as it was imaginaryIt was also a place that was not all that dissimilar from Highlands.

The spirits of the dead that made up the tree and the many undead creatures stirred, longing for the perfect embrace of the Kingdom of Annwn. Forced into undead servitude, the many dead spirits of the beastkin and any others shivered and shook, yearning for harmony once more.

Like moths to the flame, the spirits tore themselves away from the tree and any undead not under her peoples control, and floated toward the apparition. The flesh of the tree melted and untwisted, the many blighters that merged into its creation falling apart. More spirits would be pumped into it as the tree healed, if her [Winters Embrace] didnt lock them out through the roots.

The army hacked into it, cutting it down now that its flesh was no longer healing. While its initial structure was strong and powered by undead might, it was little more than frozen wood now. Reaching the core of the tree, Vesuvius unleashed thick flames like lava that washed over it, killing what was held within.

The spirits gathered within the kingdom, finally finding peace and harmony once more. Arawn appeared and claimed their spirits within the apparition, guiding them into the afterlife that was intended for them in the first place. They would spend some time in Annwn, before entering into the cycle of reincarnation once more.

But not all spirits joined Arawn in Annwn. Most were not satisfied, many required vengeance and justice for what Tartarus had done. They floated to the Bone King instead, joining and empowering its body.

The Bone King grew even further, it powered by the spirits vengeance. Morwen felt her hold over the creature be relinquished, as the beastkin warriors spirits took control.

Nobody knew where the Emberborn came from. A kingdom of an ancient people fell thousands of years before, according to the worlds history. Her people emerged as if born from death itself, the icy flame flickering in their unliving chests.

As soon as her people were discovered, they became the enemy of the living. They defended themselves, but otherwise stayed in the North in peacea frozen wasteland nearly impervious to attack.

That was, until Tartarus arrived, her people being forced to participate in the deadly Trial.

Her people fought fervently against Tartarus, joining the living in the fight. Despite their success in their struggle, the Emberborn were persecuted for being undead, and their usage of them. Arawn approached her people, promising them a home as long as they fought for it when they were called.

Of course, her people didnt have a problem with that. They had already fought for their home and won the Raid, and were still rejected by it. The Emberborn stayed Tier 1, waiting for their time to be called.

Arriving at Highlands, Morwen doubted that this place could truly be a home for her people. But finding out that the deserts, tundras, swamps and more radiated death as if a mirror to the powerful life force, made her believe her prayers for a true home had finally been answered.

The beastkin people had become welcoming, seeing them as their fighting brethren. As long as the Emberborn fought to protect the balance, they would be welcomed with opened arms. Hearthtribe treated them with respect, Clan Hart making sure her people were accommodated in every way they needed. Even the Eternum were welcomed, showing Morwen that they would be treated as equals.

The twisted tree was destroyed, and Morwen smiled as she completed her task. Her people had hopefully found their own Annwn a little early. They just had to help reclaim it first.