Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Three - 283Wait. That's not the Archon.
Felix's heart was ready to seize in his chest, but its thundering slowed as he took in the creature before him. It was a massive construct, similar to the Archon in size and general design, but made of weathered stone and covered in greenery. Literally. Ivy, mushrooms, and small, blue-bell shaped flowers adorned the thing, as if it hadn't moved in hundreds of years. A large glyph glowed upon its chest, a combination of growth, guardian, and eternal.
Voracious Eye!
Voracious Eye Failed.
"Whoa. That doesn't happen often. What the heck are you?" Felix murmured. Eyeing the swirling cloud of Sprites, he carefully stepped forward. Pit growled caution at him, but Felix was increasingly certain this room meant him no harm. He had Authority, right?
The ground was tiered here, descending by a foot every dozen yards in a series of concentric circles. The overgrown Golem was at the bottom of the tiers, at the lowest point where the massive, green-gold tree was emerging from the cavern floor.
It was as thick as a skyscraper, and the roots at the bottom were matched by the distant braches at the top of the cavern, almost lost in the gloom. Were it not for his Perception enhanced sight, Felix wouldn't have even made out the roof of the cave he found himself within, easily several miles tall. There were no leaves, just a glorious green-gold trunk filled with a luminescence that dwarfed the light of the Sprites.
As Felix stepped down, his feet rang with a certain tonality, like a wine goblet being played by deft fingers. Shudders of energy spun outward from his steps, ripples in a pond that had remained still for a very, very long time. Each tier down added to the song, until by the time he reached the bottom the air was filled with a complex, weaving concerto. It tasted of silvered springtime, and smelled of the high heat of summer, flush with life in a way few things ever were. The song was but an echo, however, to the thrumming contained within the tree itself.
Voracious Eye!
Name: Caryatid Anima
Type: Spirit Tree
Lore: Spirit Trees are a rare and powerful organism imbued with elemental Mana dependent on their growth cycle. The one before you is attuned to Life, Water, Light, and Shadow.
Herbalism is level 34!
...
Herbalism is level 43!
Felix stumbled as the influx of System energy tried to bowl him over. His cores sang as they spun, exuding light and power as nourishing as any spring rainfall upon his Herbalism Skill. Felix could feel it growing, changing as the pattern flexed under the surge of energies.
"Whoa," he said. That about summed it up.
Closer now, the Spirit Tree wasn't tree shaped at all, but formed into a humanoid figure draped with green-gold moss and cascading lights. It's feet melded seamlessly into roots taller than houses, as its lifted hands converged perfectly with the branches far, far above. It was a pillar holding up the earth itself, and smelled of age, soft breezes, and new growth. It felt primal. Vital.
Then Felix noticed that the Sprites still flitted about not just the Spirit Tree, but the strange Golem as well. Standing on the same tier as it was intimidating, though in a way that was different than the Spirit Tree. The Tree was huge, a presence that he couldn't quite encompass. The Golemif that's what it wasexuded an air of ancient patience and timeworn strength and, while certainly bigger than him, it didn't approach the majestic form of the Spirit Tree.
He walked closer, inspected the Golem with all of his senses. His first assessment was correct and it was made of stone, but there were traces of metal in there as well. Moss gathered in the crevices and joints, adding to the flora that sprouted from all over the overgrown sentinel. Small, almost invisible creatures crawled through it all, like insects but translucent. It's eyes were empty, a void where it's helmet opened to the air, save for the colony of mushrooms that had taken up residence along the left side of its face.
"What do I do here?" he asked the Sprites. The little creatures didn't answer, only circled the Golem before spiraling up the Spirit Tree and back into the swarm. "Okay, cool. Thanks."
What do you think, Pit?
His Companion was silent for several seconds, before sending him the mental equivalent of a shrug. Authority?
Dunno. Let's check.
He accessed his Authority again, the little tower icon expanding into the same greyed out menus. The option of [Access Vault] was still there, however. He selected it, and a new series of options arose.
[Drain Well]
[Fill Well]
[Access Belais Crystal Array]
[Commune]
All but the last were greyed out.
The well?
"I mean, it was a big empty well, right? Maybe it was meant to water this Spirit Tree?" Felix had no idea, but something like the Caryatid Anima probably had exotic needs when it came to nourishment. "I'm more interested in the array. Belais Crystal is the same mineral we saw in the Revenant Nest."
Ooh, Pit said as memories of that encounter flashed in his Mind. Felix could see them, taste them, as they flickered through his active memory. Shiny.
"Big and shiny. And magical. The fact that it's greyed out suggests it's either broken or inaccessible. The only thing there is Commune." He considered the tree and the Golem. "Commune with what, though? The tree?"
Worth a shot?
"I suppose," Felix shrugged, trying to ignore the slow growth of unease in him. He selected the option.
[Commune]
The green-gold light of life Mana flared into blinding brilliance as a series of glyphs appeared in mid-air before him. They were complex, a melding of several sigils as all glyphs were, but also more. The green-gold symbols thrummed with a potency that emanated from the Spirit Tree itself, and for a second Felix thought he'd guessed right. Power welled, gathered from the dripping Mana in the Spirit Tree...until it shot outward, directly into the stone Golem.
Eidolon System Engaged.
"Oh no."
Liquid Green-gold light splashed onto the Golem, spraying upward into a corona that smelled of a dewy spring dawn. The flora growing from it, far from being knocked off, flourished and expanded. Mushrooms ballooned, ivy crawled farther, and those dangling blue-bells sprouted and opened. The stone itself rumbled, cracking and creaking, while within its dark helmet two green flames burst alight.
"Who-wakes-me?"
Its voice was like a stretch of sandpaper overtop a lion's guttural roar. The sound of boulders grinding against scree, tumbling down a mountain.
Voracious Eye!
Name: Eidolon Exult
Type: Construct
Level: 6E48-$
HP: ?????/?????
SP: N/A
MP: N/A