Sachihiro

Time is against us and the time for my mission to Tiba is upon me but I'm heading in the opposite direction currently with Gorr, da, Om, Kuyoki and Volvox. A lot has happened and changed in the short time since I've been home but everything is already prepared for my departure with the family, everything is happening so fast. Departure later because right now we are racing straight for the depths of the Tundra to see my brother the Dungeon Master.

Om's stride is long and hard pushing him forward steadily, he's whole body pistoning like working spring as he pupms his arms to keep pace. A focused frown on his face like he's here but his mind is elsewhere. We are all running casually without sequence keeping to a steady but challenging pace that has everyone breathing.

I'm glad Om is back from his Awakening, and he does seem different in some ways but he won't speak of his experience, not that I'll directly ask. He has been Awake for over a ten-day now and seemed eager to leave his two mates when I mentioned the expedition into the Dawn, knowing Kiera's fiery personality I sympathize with the man but its more than just wanting some air from women and I'm failing to read him.

Volvox has earned himself the respect of the other Awakened tribesmen fighting at the Awakened Arena, he even managed to get himself a set of rooms at the exalted building and with that resume, it wasn't difficult for Om to get him on the list of people permitted deeper into the Tundra when being escorted, I'm just surprised Om cares enough to bother.

I'm not jealous of their friendship, that would be immature and petty but I feel some type of way, he's a good swordsman and he is keeping up admirably so there are some good things I can say about him but still the man is unpleasant. I push the pace a bit more pulling ahead; since the party consists of only Awakened we have been able to run all-out testing our new limits of how fast and how far we can go. Shooting through the grasslands like eagles through the sky, the lowlands like fleet-footed wolves as we open our legs testing our body's even as we compete to keep up.

The wind blows cooly across my face, feet digging lightly with every pump of my legs forward fuelled by a subtle strength that remains coiled within me. I push myself as fast as I can to keep up for a good 2km and the joy of it is I still have energy to burn.

It's soon apparent that Fenrir is the fastest in our group surprisingly followed by my love Kuyoki, then Volvox with me close to his heels, then Gorr a ways off and finally Om and da bringing up the rear. I have never run so fast and felt such euphoria while doing so as I sprint with every ounce of speed and energy I can muster.

I'm slightly peeved that Volvox is faster than me but to be honest I think he is the exception not the rule since I have never even imagined a human could run tirelessly at these speeds. The air bellows around my aura like it does when an arrow cuts through it rushing to a target as we run at full speeds whilst aura enhancing ourselves for maximum performance both in speed and stamina. I'm pretty good at honing my aura, I had to be apt in order to wrestle with a sidhe's aura and come out on top. If my time with Vevina was good at anything it was teaching me aura, spirit and mana manipulation with dominance games during sex.

We slow down for an hour every hour and talk and check base that everyone is still okay before jogging forward another hour and then again sprinting for the next hour or so. By the time we finish the first 100 hours of the trip I am dead tired for the first time since Awakening and I'm happy to have finally reached the limits of my stamina. It's vital for ones survival to know ones limitsand this running is a part of that, now i know how fast and how much stamina all the people with me have, vital information if ever I depend on them to save my life.

Volvox sets wards so we can all sleep, something he has only recently been able to do as some nether realm secrets have apparently come to him through the creature squatting in his body. Since Awakening he seems to have gotten creepier with dark circles around his eyes that somehow still manage to make him look good the way Awakened seem to become as par of the course.

We get a solid 10 hours of sleep before each eating a roast cloud chaser hare and getting back on the road to the Dawn. Fenrir chooses the route and we follow as closely as we are able, to be honest I've never noticed how much faster 4 legged Awakened creature are until now. As he runs he seems to fly through the air hardly touching the ground for more than a moment even as he is able to change directions in a moments notice with his tail, the dire wolf is a majestic creature indeed.

It takes us 6 days to reach the edge of the Dawn Forest with our pace and the route we have been led through and from there its a slow track through the forest. It's night time when we enter the actual forest and I realise it's the first time I've ever come here during the hours of night, at least as far as I can remember.

We are attacked by a nest of magical vampire bats that Om eventually manages to chase off with a sonic roar that sounds like the challenging roar of a bear. The power and mana within the roar seems to debilitate them long enough for Kuyoki to easily pluck them from the sky using her bow. We collect the bodies we down for meat and alchemy ingredients since nothing in a storage ring ever goes bad.

We are attacked again by a nest of snakes that though come in small sizes can down a grown elephant with their venom. I use my water affinity magic for the first time in front of people and cast a puddle in which the snakes get stuck in. It isn't very original or impressive but it slows them enough for us to bypass them with relative ease.

We are stalked by eyes that shine in the night even as the bodies holding those eyes remain imperceptible to most. The darkness holds no surprises for me though as I work out my dimensional awareness in a thick forest with danger all around. But even though I see all around me in my own way I can't pay full attention to everything around me and give it the attention it deserves.

This means I don't spot some predictors that remain still without moving until the last minute, but with Fenrir and Gorr present we are made aware of any potential threat long in advance, and there are a lot of them. The deeper we travel into the Dawn the more quiet and careful we have to be as we are stalked by increasingly more powerful creatures of the forest.

We are chased by a pack of bore that we try our best to avoid as they have natural protection against mechanical damage. We hack through a number of vines that turn out to be from carnivorous trees, we trudge through a wet land region with water up to our knees and mosquitos the size daggers harassing us and snakes that could swallow a man whole slithering through the water.

By the time dawn arrives bringing with it new forest scents and fully exposing the beauty of the Dawn Forest we are too tired from staying vigilant to fully appreciate it. I'm reminded again that though there may be beauty in the way I now see the world there is also beauty in experiencing visible light that I would long for without my eye-sight.

We rest a few hours and we again follow Fenrir and Gorr through what they say is unclaimed parts of the Dawn though by our estimates seems to be protected by increasingly dangerous beasts. We encounter beautiful white antelope that watch us pass with only mild curiosity and we cross the path of an Awakened lone wolf that stares us down before retreating further into the forest.

There are multitudes of carmoflage spiders, flies, birds, lizards, and big cats that we encounter. Most of which retreat after a tussle with Fenrir who is much more powerful than he let's on. We eat from the fruit of the forest and we eat the things we kill as is the unspoken law of nature not to be wasteful in any ecosystem.

We hardly sleep as the days flow by and we push deeper and deeper into the forest of my childhood fantasies and nightmares. How I used to imagine vast and powerful creatures inhabiting this place, creatures beyong human understanding even. We live by the grace of the land as we scavenge and hunt for food whenever necessary but we mainly keep going forward.

It's another ten day before we reach a sort of clearing with taller trees that are not as closely packed together but are tall with big round leaves that keep most of the sun from reaching the ground. This is an area clearly more wooded than forested and it is were we see the first signs of humanoid habitation.

Fenrir is met by a pack of six wolves that circle around us sniffing the air, all bigger and meaner looking than Fenrir. Gorr trudges through them without issue and we follow in his wake. We are met by two barefooted ebony-skinned women, one of them clearly a Dawn Elf while the other seems human. Gorr hugs both then speaks to them quickly as we get closer.

I notice the huge wooden house that seems to have grown from a number of trees put together. Grown into the shape that is the double story very wide construction before us. It's then when studying this wonder of multiple living trees shaped into a single seamless property that I feel his presence coming into my awareness.

I turn my head quickly to follow what I already feel to be true and there he is turning the corner as cool as can be, like we haven't been separated for so many years he saunters over casually. His power somehow hidden but still evident at the base of my awareness somewhere as the vibrations he portrays scream of power and danger. He seems different, leaner, more casual but so much more than what he used to be, so much more than my little brother.

"Da, Sachi it's good to see you." He says with a little smirk and a moment later da is there enveloping him in a hug.

We all seat together in a circle of logs after the initial introductions drinking a sweet tangy liquid produced from one of the fruit here, its delicious and somewhere at the back of my mind I'm thinking of how valuable it could be selling in Pangaea. Daewon is a celebrity today as we all crowd around him wanting to know everything he has been through.

Da can hardly let him out of his sight, I've never seen the old man this animated about a reunion before. Om and Daewon are talking amicably and laughing genuinely but I can feel the tension from them eying each other, they will have to at least have a semi serious spar or they just won't see eye to eye for long.

Thankfully my brother and I are beyond such primitive instincts with each other and we carry on our relations as though we had just seen each other a month ago. I let them reunite as I talk with Gorr's woman Martha the hedge witch and the druid Dawn Elf Elsa. Apparently Gorr, Daewon, Martha, Elsa and another woman who currently isn't present are all undergoing training to become druids.

Druidry is a form of magic or discipline I'm unfamiliar with but the gist is that they get to attain power from nature and the planet itself. They increase strength, speed, agility and more than anything else vitality so long as they remain connected with the world.

They can shape change having three primary forms one a predatory form, one a bird form, and one an herbivorous form. Some get four forms the last being a water form, but each form as the druid develops in their path to power. When they Awaken their mana is specialised in that they learn a lot of plant, earth/prithvi, water, air, life affinity or their variants. A few getting rot, pestilence, beast taming or even death as it is also a natural part of life on Gaia.

Their master is apparently an Ancient Beast antelope that stands 2m heigh at the shoulder with a third eye on its forehead and uncanny magic that makes it possible for the beast to manipulate living flesh. Sounds creepy when they describe it, but with undeniable power. The Ancient Beast Elentril is apparently the entity behind the transformation of Gorr getting a wolf form.

She is not only a druid herself that can take on four forms but she is also a Flesh Mage, and the rarity of her power I'm sure could surprise even the fae. Erentil, an interesting name for an antelope beast if I'm understanding the meaning correctly. I'm eager to meet her when she returns with the other human from inspecting Dee's dungeon or whatever else she may be doing.

We all participate in small talk and of course as a father and mate I can't not mention my adorable girls to anyone that will listen. Dee sucks it all up eagerly, learning my children's names and getting to know Kuyoki as well as any stranger could.

The other women are also social and I am shown around the amazing house that has been entirely built using living trees. Its a tree house on the ground with it's foundation literal roots of the four trees that make up the cornerstones. There are green leaves here and there sticking out of the wall or interesting pink flowers with a refreshing scent that grow mainly on the ceilings.

The walls of the house are not just wood but bark providing a hard barrier that is comparable to a stone wall on Paradisum. Rooms are spacious with a laminated wooden floor in some of them while other have different types of floors.

The four trees join in the middle and one twists into a staircase to the second floor with even more spacious rooms mostly open to the elements with only a few pieces of furniture. Those being some curtains, sleeping cots and blankets, a table and chairs downstairs, a stone oven and there is even a fire place inside the house.

There are some runes carved at the doors of the house and along the big glassless windows otherwise beyond that the place seems mostly unprotected. But who would dare challenge an Ancient Beast and one that's a druid in her own territory of all places?