Path of Dragons 8 - Chapter 29 - Verdant Fang

The tree was ready.

Still, Elijah circled it, inspecting it with each of his senses.  The smell was the most difficult to pick out, largely because it was overwhelmed by the grove’s other aromas.  But just beneath the surface was an odor that Elijah felt most resembled mint.  That wasn’t a good description, but there was something about the underlying sense of biting cleanliness that brought that familiar smell to mind. 

Visually, the tree looked little different than when he’d returned to the grove.  True to its ancestry, it was characterized by pale bark and blue leaves, though Elijah saw faint green tendrils flowing up its trunk like veins.  Without his most recent advancement in cultivation, his eyesight would never have allowed him to see them.  But now, they were plain as day. 

The sound of rustling leaves – even when there was no wind – greeted his ears, and when he ran his hand along the willow-like bark, Elijah’s hand was shocked by a tiny bolt of ethera – not unlike a static electricity, but far more powerful.  If someone like Hope had touched it, she might have been gravely injured.

But to Elijah, it only tingled a bit.

However, as interesting as the feedback to his mundane senses was, Elijah was far more interested in what he felt from Soul of the Wild.  The tree pulsed with ethera, but unlike what he normally felt from other organisms, it seemed entirely unattuned, save to nature itself.  A blank canvas he could turn to his own goals.

“That is by design,” Nerthus said when Elijah remarked upon the characteristic.  “This tree has no spirit.  It is only a conduit for energy.”

“Trees have spirits?”

“Of course.  Everything has a spirit.  With most flora, it is silent and largely inert.  However, if you listen properly, you can hear them,” Nerthus explained.  “This tree has never had one, though.  It is inanimate – a thing of pure energy.  A natural treasure without the connotations that come with such a designation.  In short, it is perfect for your project.”

“Where did its spirit go?” Elijah asked.  He’d extended his soul into a few trees since gaining the ability to do so, and because of those experiences, he knew that plants were far more complex than he’d ever considered.  So, he was more than a little worried about the notion of growing a spiritless tree.

“It never developed,” Nerthus stated. “In the wild, such a tree would have wilted and died.  This one was kept alive by the Shard of Nature’s Might, which it incorporated into its very being, using it as both fuel and in place of a spirit.”

“Interesting,” Elijah said.  However, the idea did bring up more than a few disturbing concepts.  Like, what would happen if someone did the same to a human?  Was that kind of thing even possible?  Suddenly, he realized just how easily someone could toy with the very nature of life.  The notion sent a shiver of horror up his spine. 

“The tree is ready for harvest, and I would ask that you do so as soon as possible.  It does not belong here, and if we allow it to continue growing, it could sully the entire grove with its…unnaturalness.”

Elijah nodded.  “That’s the plan,” he said.  He’d been thinking about his new staff for quite some time.  He knew he needed to get it right – after all, chances to utilize powerful natural treasures didn’t come along every day – so he’d been planning for weeks.  Months.  Even in the Primal Realm, he’d given it plenty of thought.  So, he knew precisely what he wanted to do.

With that in mind, he got to work. 

Cutting the tree down was difficult, though it should not have been.  With how much ethera flowed through the tree, it was incredibly sturdy.  Moreover, with every bite of Elijah’s saw, green sparks flew into the air.  They were so bright that he considered flying over to Carmen’s smithy and confiscating her homemade welding goggles for his own use.  Instead, he opted to keep Blessing of the Grove going, which healed his eyes as quickly as they were damaged.

Once he’d cut through the four-inch-thick trunk, he carried the tree to a specially prepared section of the grove.  It was located directly beneath the treehouse, but more importantly, it featured a large tarp Elijah had spread across the area so he could catch the valuable wood chips and saw dust.  He had plans for those as well. 

After everything was in place, Elijah sat on his favorite round of wood – it had been with him almost since the very beginning – and started trimming the tree.  First came the branches, which he stacked in a pile off to the side.  Then, he marked the appropriate length – a few inches less than nine feet – and discarded the remainder.  When he was finished, there was a sizable pile of leftover wood. 

That ended up inside the treehouse, where it would dry more rapidly. 

In the meantime, Elijah started carving.  He needed to take a lot of material off, but thankfully, he had the tools to do so.  Months before, he’d asked Carmen to forge a set of woodcarving tools, and she’d come through with an even better product than he ever could have expected.

His tools were simple enough – just a file set, a draw knife, a spokeshave, and a few knives of various sizes and shapes – but they were all made of high-quality materials.  That, combined with Carmen’s skills, meant that the tools bit into the wood without issue.  Moreover, they worked to contain some of the ethera that would have otherwise been lost. 

The rough-shaping was accomplished via the draw knife.  Thankfully, the trunk was almost entirely straight, so he didn’t need to work out any bends or curves.  The worst bit was when he found his progress stymied by a couple of dense knots, but he worked through them nonetheless. 

After almost an entire day, Elijah was finished with that step.  Then, he used the spokeshave to smooth everything out until, and after about eighteen more hours, he had a nearly perfect cylinder of white wood.  The process had removed the bark, so the tree’s green veins were much more prominent than ever before. 

With that done, Elijah started on the next stage, which required him to repeatedly soak the shaft in water, then bend it until it had the curves he required.  Thankfully, with the wood as green as it was, it was still extremely pliable.  Even more fortunately, Elijah didn’t need to wait for days or weeks for it to dry.  Instead, he enlisted Nerthus’ help.  The spryggent had an ability that he used to regulate the water content in plants which he employed to hasten the drying process.  So, instead of taking weeks, it only took a little more than a day to get it into the proper shape.

The next phase was more time-consuming, but Elijah sank into a nearly meditative state where there was nothing but him and the piece of wood in his lap.  Throughout the entire process, he’d continued to flare both Soul of the Wild as well as Blessing of the Grove.  The first gave him insight that guided his knives and files, but the second fortified the would-be staff’s ethereal essence, infusing it with Elijah’s particular brand of power. 

It probably wasn’t entirely necessary, given that his energy flavored everything in and around the grove, but it was part of his process.  And he wasn’t going to change things now.  Not with such an important piece.

The entire time, Elijah was very cognizant of how valuable the piece was.  He couldn’t afford to make mistakes, so he ignored everything else around him.  For that degree of compartmentalization, his faceted Jade mind was perfect.

Vaguely, he was aware of Sadie coming and going, but she understood just how important his project was.  So, she left him to his project, going about her own business without interrupting him. 

And Elijah used that solitude to great effect.  At times, he felt like he was back in the beginning, when he’d carved his very first staff.  Back then, he’d had no idea what he was doing.  He had whittled a bit growing up, but he certainly wasn’t an expert.  That, combined with the fact that he’d lacked any real tools had made the process that much more time-consuming.  However, that had worked in his favor, letting him suffuse the project with his ethera and carve something he never should’ve been able to create.

He was more experienced now, and in more ways than one.  Far more powerful, too.  But he kept those lessons at the forefront of his mind, never letting himself grow too comfortable. 

As his father had once told him, comfort was the friend of mediocrity and the enemy of greatness.  At the time, he’d just started boxing, and he’d been on the verge of quitting due to the pain that came from training such a violent sport.  After that, Elijah had taken the advice to heart. 

He’d briefly forgotten it after fleeing to Hawaii in the wake of his parents’ death, but it had returned with a vengeance once he’d decided that survival was no longer enough for him.  Maybe he wasn’t particular enamored with greatness, but Elijah definitely wouldn’t be satisfied with mediocrity.  Not anymore, at least.  He’d nearly wasted his life by going down that road, and he saw the new world as his second chance.  He wouldn’t let himself fall into the same trap. 

Not again.

So, he worked, and hour by hour, the staff began to take shape.  When he began, he had a clear vision for what he wanted, but as time passed, that vision evolved.  That was how it worked for him.  He was no Tradesman who could guide his own creations.  He worked at the whim of nature, following its call and doing its bidding.  So, for him, it was less about forcing the wood into becoming something he envisioned.  Rather, it was letting nature help him reveal what the wood had always wanted to be.

Or maybe it was just his subconscious mind driving him.  Regardless, it had always worked in his favor, so Elijah wasn’t willing to change the technique. 

In the back of his mind, Elijah was well aware of the ethera swirling all around him.  To an outsider, it might’ve presented as a slight breeze, but to him, it was like being in the center of a whirlwind of potent energy.  That helped block out distractions.

Then, with a final stroke of his smallest file, Elijah let out a deep breath.  He looked at his creation, first concentrating intently on the smallest features.  Slowly, he widened his focus until he saw the whole.

And he was very much impressed with the end result.

The shape itself was roughly scythe-like, with a three-foot blade that had been carved to resemble a large fang.  That fang, in turn, had been densely inscribed with a wide variety of symbols that, to Elijah, looked like gibberish.  In truth, they were glyphs he’d carved at the behest of his instincts.  The result was that the densely carved tooth had taken on the basic appearance of scrimshaw.

The attached shaft – which was really all one piece – was slightly curved and had been carved to look like snaking vines that rapped around the base of the blade.  In short, it looked like a scythe that nature had slowly reclaimed. 

However, just because Elijah had finished carving the weapon, that didn’t mean he was done.  Not only did he still need to seal it, but his evolving design also required him to stain the wood.  To do so, he brewed a few pots of coffee.  Instead of drinking it though, he used it to stain portions of the wood.  Already, it was intertwined with green veins, so he just used the coffee to stain the other parts, highlighting the natural look of it. 

For the blade, he used a mixture of lime – the seeds for which Nerthus had acquired from Biggle – and water, which gave it a bone-white appearance similar to ivory. 

For the final step, Elijah sealed it with a mixture of beeswax gathered from the grove’s apiary and linseed oil he’d bought from Biggle.  He applied multiple coats, even treating the edge of the blade with Nerthus’ sap employing the same technique Miguel had used for his sword. 

When he finished, Elijah didn’t need to see the notification to tell him that he’d accomplished something extraordinary.  Still, it was nice to have it confirmed by the system:

Congratulations!  You have created a unique item [Verdant Fang]!  This item will serve to enhance any spells, skills, or techniques with a nature aspect.  Grade: Sophisticated (Low)

Elijah felt like celebrating, but after nearly a week of constant effort, he didn’t have the energy.  Instead, he just stared at his creation with a mixture of awe, appreciation, and a sense of accomplishment.  However, there was some degree of dread in there as well.  With its sweeping blade and aura of power, the Verdant Fang was overtly aggressive – like a challenge to anyone who might oppose him.

He wasn’t worried about how it might make people see him.  Rather, he was more worried about how many people he might have to kill when they decided to accept the challenge such a weapon might promise. 

Sighing, he decided he couldn’t concern himself with that at the moment.  The time for the Summit was fast approaching, and he still had a few things he needed to take care of before that day came.

But first, he needed some rest.  So, he pushed himself to his feet and climbed the stairs to his treehouse.  At first, he tried to wait for Sadie to return to the grove so they could spend some time together, but after taking a long overdue shower and falling into bed, he went out like a light. 

The last thought that flitted through his mind was that he’d staved off mediocrity for the time being.