Linaeren Bloodleaf the Acumen of Beasts

Role

Chapter 6

The evening was cool and damp and there was a low lying fog across the
valley. Under the light of the new moon there was a gathering of wood-elves.
Scattered among them were druids of various races and faiths. It was spring
and the time was ripe for selecting apprentices. Every adolescent with an
aptitude for the divine that had an above average inclination towards nature
was present from the Jade Valley.

One young elf in particular, who had wandered up to every druid present and
eventually wandered back off again, found himself bored and uninterested his
initial excitement quickly waning. His name is Linaeren and being restless
was nothing new to him. As he walked he caught side of a figure standing
next to a tree at the edge of the clearing, his feet changing course and
guiding him straight for this new unknown.

As he approached he could still make out very little. He was wearing a thick
white fur draped over his body, the head still attached rested atop his own
like a crown. The mans posture and angle of his head kept all but the
lower half of his face in the shadow of the maw of the wolf. A strong earthy
scent of dirt, herbs, and sweat hung about him in a cloying cloud. His build
lent a sense of him being human, despite his feet being bare, not something
most humans in the wilderness were prone to do. He was standing there
silently and not moving the only thing that changed as Linaeren drew near was
that the man began to grin. Not a disarming charismatic grin, but the grin
of a dangerous man about to do something he knows he should not and will
enjoy it all the more for that reason. Then he spoke.

"Are you not afraid young elf, to be so far from the others in the dead of
night?" he asked suggestively.

"No" was the response, stated flatly.

"Not as eager as the others to begin training to become a priest of nature
I take it?" was his second question.

"I am drawn to the wilds. Nothing these priests have to say about their
faith moves anything within me. What are you doing here?" Linaeren asked
absently, beginning to grow bored again. As he stood there the man did not
answer he just cocked his head to one side and the grin on his face deepened
further. As Linaeren narrowed his eyes about to ask what was going on a five
foot snake wrapped itself around him binding his arms to his sides and
quickly covering his mouth. The young elf did not flinch, he stood calmly
and a moment later there was a small spray from between the snake and the
boys face. The snake quickly dropped away trying to limp back towards the
shadowed man. Blood covered the boys mouth and he spit a chunk of the
snake at the mans feet. "Do something like that again and Ill be
spitting out pieces of you" Linaeren stated calmly but defiantly.

"Why do you not run from me now, lad?" asked the man.

Linaeren simply stated "For the first time this evening Im curious."
The man broke out into boisterous laughter that drew the attention of the
gathered crowd in the clearing, though no one moved to come over. "My name
is Nizier. I did not come here for an apprentice. But it seems I will not
leave empty handed. Come with me if you wish, perhaps you can learn
something. At the very least, I doubt you will be bored."

Role

Chapter 5

The wind was the only sound he heard as he ran at a dead sprint through the
woods. His lengthy silent strides covering ground fast. He was fairly
distracted by his thoughts as he ran. The more he thought the angrier he
became. Nizier had spotted a camp of young duergar warriors, he had said it
would be a treat to send them back to the soil. There were only four he had
said, Nizier was likely having a good laugh at this. The plan was simple,
Linaeren was to provoke them and get them to chase him and Nizier would pick
them off. He had said nothing about the fire giant dark knight that was
commanding them, and knowing Nizier, he had known about him all along.

He could feel the blood running down his arm where the lightning bolt from
that giant had struck. As his shoulder throbbed his anger grew and he ran
faster. He was so distracted he almost missed the scent on the wind. Rotten
decay with a hint of abyssal sulfur, it was enough to pull his attention away
from malicious thoughts toward Nizier and he felt that uncomfortable twinge
that ran up his spine. Iron. There was a blur of movement from a tree
directly ahead of him and instinctualy dove and rolled. As he glanced back
he saw the huge iron axe as it slammed into the trunk of a tree with a lock
of his hair imbedded. He was on feet and ready to keep running and saw he
was penned in. The duergar. The giant grinned as he wrenched his axe from
the tree. He stopped grinning when the bear almost the same size as him
crashed into the clearing scattering the duergar. Linaeren darted back
behind the bear as it charged toward the giant and he could swear he heard it
laugh as he passed it.

The fire giant grabbed a duergar by the back of his armor as he ran past him
and heaved the dwarf at the bear as he charged himself. Nizier, in this
ferocious form swatted the living projectile away with one massive claw laden
paw without breaking stride. The duergar's broken body sliding across the
pine needles and coming to a stop in a heap of blood and protruding bone. The
two giants collided and it only took moments for Nizier to rip the giant
apart. He made short work of the duergar that tried to escape.

As Nizier changed back Linaeren was already walking away. He didn't ask and
the elf did not offer any explanation so Nizier set to pilfering the bodies.

As Linaeren strode off, fists clenched, he decided he had learned all he
could from Nizier. He needed no teacher to become what he knew was his path.

Role

Chapter 4

Linaeren spent many days wandering in the wilderness alone after he left his
would-be mentor behind. His mind kept going back to something that crazy
plant the seed of wisdom and grant the insight to see through the
deception..." Linaeren's mind stuck on these words and they gnawed at his
mind like a tick burrowing under the skin. As he wandered he appeared to be
just lazily walking along, all the while his mind was working over that
thought, like a seagull with a clam trying to find the right angle to
maneuver its beak in just the right manner to crack the shell open to get the
prize inside.

It was not quite a voice but it was also more than just a feeling. Something
seemed to speak in that fashion both to his ears and internally directly to
his mind. "Sit, close your eyes, clear your mind" was the message he
received. So he did, for over half a day he sat like that. He did not
notice the passage of time. Only the sounds of the forest. The wind through
the branches of the oak trees, various birds speaking to each other, the
faint murmuring of a swollen creek. In his mind came the vision of a sapling.
Just a few feet tall with only a smattering of sparse branches. The tree
began to grow as if a hundred years passed over the course of moments. As he
saw this, he could sense strongly enough to see what was so easily over
looked. The tree does not merely grow "up". It grows out, down, in all
directions at once as it grows. Symmetry without premeditation. Perfection
in the compensation of the reaching roots, the swelling trunk, the reaching
branches. Function and life without plan, always changing on every level at
all times. An animal, a plant, a river. All things in nature. Lived, grew,
changed constantly according to no set pattern but always in the way that was
needed.

It had come, he knew finally, the wilds had spoken to him. Had placed before
him potential insight and he had grasped it firmly with both hands. He let
his instincts guide him onward, listening to the wilds, feeling with his
spirit like an ant probing the ground for the scent of food. He felt a voice
rumble in response. He did not know how he knew but he did, this voice felt
like something older than the mountains, as old as the dawn of the world.
"Lyristeon" it expressed. One word without explanation.

He paused only for a moment before his own instincts for growth took over and
he called out as a priest for the first time, speaking through nature. The
wind, the soil, even the heavenly bodies for this Lyristeon. With little
surprise his call was answered and he felt for the first time the sensation
of the chaotic wisdom of nature coursing through his physical being.

Role

Chapter 3

Many, many, many years passed since that time of his first communion with the
imp through the wilds. Linaeren grew as the tree in his vision, his mind,
his wisdom, his aggression, and just like the lean muscle on his frame his
spirit became hardened over time.

The tree of Ages was mostly empty during most of those years. It has only
recently begun to blossom with fruit again. During the winter of barren
branches he struggled greatly, often outnumber and overwhelmed he fought as
he was able but his spirit began to suffer for it. It had grown so brittle
he knew the day was soon approaching when it would break and he with it.
That day grew ever closer and in his desperation to cling to the fight that
remained within him it was fear of that moment that began to consume him.
Then it happened. His spirit broke and he lost his will to continue. A
miraculous thing followed that moment. That part of him that he thought he
had lost was reawakened, renewed, and more feral than ever. The realization
of what happened allowed him to finally see through the deception. That part
of him was not his entirety. It was akin to the deer that eats the apple,
and destroys it, so does it shit that apple out, the seeds unharmed, and a
new apple tree with a fertile bed from which to rise anew

Role

Chapter 2

Linaeren moved through the woods in a gangly loping gait making almost no
sound. The dominating form of the treant shadowing him made absolutely no
sound and flowed effortlessly across the soil. Weariness was beginning to
weigh on him and being a creature of impulse he found a suitable place for a
mid-day nap. He laid his head on the roots of the treant and blended into
the surroundings like a ghost that was never there.

Sleep came strangely fast and the dream that followed was as visceral and
real as anything he had ever experienced while awake:

He was a young boy again, before adolescence had begun to leave him bored and
jaded. He ran through the forest with wild abandon and a huge grin on his
face. He burst into a clearing at the edge of the woods, the steep drop off
of a cliff not twenty paces ahead of him. Plenty of time to stop. He ran
faster. As his foot hit the edge he leaped with every thing he had flying
out over the water. The only sound that followed the young elf down the
hundred foot drop to the water was a light hearted laughter. He broke the
surface of the water and was still laughing as the salty water filled his
lungs. He let himself slide down into the darkness of the water with a
relaxed look and light smile on his face...

He dropped onto a branch, the dark depths of the water giving way to dimly
lit night under the waning moon. He was older but still young. He was
stalking something, someone. He was tense like a hunting cat preparing to
pounce. Narrowed eyes with a mischievous glint he ran along the branch and
leapt to the nearest tree grabbing the branch and hoisting himself up to
continue stalking from on high. Moving ever so slightly and his light frame
disturbing barely a leaf in the branches he traveled on. He could not see
his prey, but he could sense it, smell it. The smell was tangible in his
mouth and made him want to spit. Filth, feces, and iron. He halted and
waited muscles taught. From the movement of the underbrush the orc was about
to emerge. As the orc stumbled into sight, Linaeren flung himself from his
perch like an owl swooping down for a field mouse. Cudgel gripped with both
hands and a savage yell as he descended. The orc looked up and saw death
approaching swiftly...

Linaeren landed and looked around. He was at the base of the tree of ages.
He had never seen it so alive. So vibrant. His senses were so focused he
could see every beetle scuttling around in the bark and hear sap moving ever
so slowly in side the tree, individuate each locust in their soothing thrum
as it rose and fell in decibel. The woods around grew silent. He looked
around saw a low lying fog rolling in only a couple inches off the forest
floor. As he looked down the mist parted slightly and there was a cheshire
grin of white sharp teeth grinning up from the soil between the roots. As he
stared dark eyes took form and he recognized the face. Zekaris. The grin
opened and the earth loosed a sound the was like a landslide groaning. A
familiar disembodied voice spoke "We are the roots in the dark earth, take
your place in the trunk, joining us to the leaves reaching for the sun."
Linaeren stepped closer to the trunk tendrils of the mist that had begun to
swirl up the tree reached out for him and began to pull him towar

Role

Chapter 1

you have are to ever come to fruition, seek the Mass." He turned to leave
and Linaeren knew Nizier walking out was for his benefit, so he could see the
ground where Nizier stepped. Every step of his that touched the soil
instantaneous growth occurred of the most bizarre plants, every single one
vanishing. He simply stated "Linaeren, if you do not live up to the
potential I see within you. As your first step along this path was with me,
so will it be your last." Not threatening. Just a statement of fact.

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