Intermission - Late night stroll

The two walked through the door and both were silent; Ellie was awed once again. Above them was a lovely clear night sky with a waning moon peeking from behind one of the very few wispy clouds. The air was crisp and fresh, with an autumn chill.

The sound of the wyrmlings clattering around in the potting room caused Ellie to turn back, ready to scold them. No sooner had she turned than the little dragons escaped. They hid in the grass except for one who climbed up onto the workbench next to the exterior door.

“Hey! Get off that! Oh wait, that’s the potion I put in the greenhouse to absorb sunlight. Glad it didn’t vanish with everything else,” Ellie said, walking over to the wyrmling attempting to eat a small potion vial twice the size of his head.

Ellie picked up the wyrmling and put him on the floor, then she palmed the potion and let out a sigh before turning to look at the area. The land consisted of rolling hills, and though she couldn’t see the entire plot, the treetops told her the area was quite large.

The wyrmlings got Ellie’s attention again as they all reconvened and raced up the beaten path, leading off and over a hill. The pair wordlessly followed until they reached a fork. One of the paths led in the direction the lizards went, while the other continued for a short distance before ending abruptly, a small mound of dirt sitting at the centre of the path’s end and bearing a flag. Ellie looked down at her hands, both filled, one with the potion she had just picked up and the seed in the other.

She pulled the flag and pushed the seed into the loose earth, stepping back and waiting. She had the feeling that it’d grow almost instantly but a moment or two passed with nothing happening.

Ellie let out a sigh before she backtracked in the direction of Cyn. The huntress’ eyes were fixed and her body rigid, her hand firmly grasping a blade. Ellie followed where Cyn was looking and felt an oppressive, ominous sensation as she stared into the darkness beyond the tree line that surrounded them. It was then that she realised the complete lack of natural sound, like the area was devoid of life or any creatures present were trying to stay as quiet as they possibly could.

“H-hey Cyn, do you think there’s something in there?” Ellie asked, now wary and feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

The huntress shook her head, sheathing her blade. “N-no, sorry. This place feels like we are actually outside; it doesn’t have the same feeling as a barrier, so I guess my instincts took over… Might be a good idea to bring in some animals; they’d help with anything you’re growing, especially if you get pollinators and the added sound would ease the atmosphere.”

Both girls' attention snapped to Ellie’s knapsack which started moving on its own, thrashing. Ellie grabbed the bag, and as she did, the flap opened and something jumped out.

“QWEST!” the little green creature shouted as he ran off.

Cyn moved in the same direction. “Wait! Mimi, stop! Wait… I, uh, sorry… **** of habit. What exactly was that?”

Ellie laughed awkwardly. “Long story, I guess. He’s been appearing everywhere. Mimi said his name is Sprout.”

Cyn looked at Ellie, with disbelief and weariness. “Oh no… not another one,” she said, sighing.

“What do you mean?” Ellie asked, walking to meet the huntress.

“Well… Mimi has an effect on the friends she makes, particularly the kiddos. One minute, they’re just kiddos, the next they’re appearing and vanishing everywhere and being all… derpy,” Cyn explained.

“Oh? Well, I’m not sure this is Mimi’s doing. Sprout was already popping up and disappearing on his own. In fact, he first appeared in a barrier taken over by Hemet,” Ellie informed the huntress.

Cyn raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Cyn asked, to which Ellie nodded. “Odd…”

A loud belch echoed from the direction Sprout had run off to and a giant swarm of fireflies flew up into the air looking almost like an upside-down Christmas tree, before scattering and distributing themselves evenly across the landscape. The ground began twinkling as the fireflies hovered above the grass.

Movement in the corner of her eye drew Ellie’s attention back to the small dirt mound. Wooden vines began to grow, slowly to begin with but the speed increased quickly. Six wooden pillars shot up and branched out.

Before her eyes, a wooden structure had grown and shaped itself. Arches formed between each pillar, and within each arch a leaf-like shape grew, with a thick wooden trunk forming the midrib and smaller branches creating the veins.

The roof of the wooden structure was covered in slate-like bark and in the centre was a second raised roof whose appearance mimicked the building only at a scale roughly one-fifth the size.

Ellie walked towards the structure, and as she did, the wooden leaf structure closest to her began to pull back, allowing her to enter. Inside were deep planter beds and in the centre a small table. A glowing orb floated below the roof; it gave off a soft light and a small amount of heat ensuring the structure inside was temperate. Despite the large holes and gaps in the structure, no breeze or wind penetrated, creating an overall pleasant environment.

She turned and looked at the huntress, who was curiously inspecting the area. ’Glad she’s being patient with me at least, I’ll be quick.’ Ellie thought. She decided that a thorough inspection of the structure could wait, but she felt too curious to not summon her tome and cast Observe.

Verdant Haven

[Gazebo Form]

The Verdant Haven is a type of tree that was magically evolved by elves with the help of dryad magic. The magic allows this tree to take on several forms to suit a number of purposes.

The primary use of this tree is to care for and protect any vegetation planted within, This makes it perfect for farming even in harsh environments.

Ellie’s eyebrows raised. “Huh, that’s gonna be extremely useful,” she said.

’Better get back to Cyn’ Ellie thought, shaking her head. She walked back over and took hold of Cyn’s hand. She smiled and pulled the huntress down the path to explore the land more.

The two crested the hill and were met with more open grassland. Off in the distance, Sprout could be seen chasing and being chased by the wyrmlings. Following the beaten path with her eyes, Ellie spotted a stone bridge which crossed a small river.

Both the river and path lead towards the gap Ellie had seen in the treetops and right on the edge of the land was a lake, tightly enclosed on all other sides by forest out to as far as Ellie could see through fog over the surface of the lake.

“I guess it’s basically a blank slate,” Cyn reasoned.

Ellie looked at the huntress quizzically. “What do you mean?”

Cyn pulled Ellie along the path until they had reached the bridge, and instead of crossing it, she pulled the alchemist onto the grass. “You have roughly like ten acres of land here. It’s completely inaccessible to anyone or anything unless you bring them in. Now it’s possible that you introduce some creatures by accident, like the fireflies that now live here thanks to your green friend,” the huntress said, nodding in the direction of Sprout, just in time for him to burp and let out a dozen more fireflies.

“This place could be anything you want it to be. Bring in some magical farming equipment and you have acres worth of crops. You could bring animals and either allow them complete free reign for you to hunt or you could fence off areas and allow free-roaming farm animals. Heck, you could even just turn this place into your own personal park so that you can relax outside without worrying about animals or insects.”

Nodding Ellie hummed in thought, interrupted by Cyn again. “All I’m saying is that you could do so many things with this land,” Cyn explained. “Either way, now that we’ve taken a look at just how big this place is, how about we relax and get a little warmer? Luckily, I have the perfect thing.”

The huntress pulled out a wooden stake, pushed it into the ground and then hit it with the hilt of her knife. She took a step back, then another.

The stake began smoking, then burst into fire, its ash falling to the ground and turning into more firewood, allowing the flames to grow. The smoke stopped rising; instead it gathered in the area obscuring everything but the flickering light of the campfire.

A thick column of smoke formed as the smog began to clear and a cosy-looking campsite began to come into view. Three large tarps stretched above to create a canopy, with a hole in the centre allowing smoke from the campfire to escape.

By the fire were two logs, hewn flat on top to make a comfortable seat. Finally, past the fire was a bundle of blankets that were a cross between a picnic blanket and a futon.

Cyn took Ellie’s free hand again and gently pulled her into the campsite. “These are really useful when we’re out on hunts. It looks pretty nice in this spot, right?” Cyn asked.

“Yeah, it looks great. Actually, it reminds me of a bar we went to in the Inferno called Pink Pitcher. It’s really nice,” Ellie agreed.

“Oh? Been to the Inferno too, eh? Maybe you can tell me about it later. Anyway, since this looks nice here, I was thinking you could just keep it,” Cyn said.

“Wait, what? I don’t know if I should, I’ve been taking too many gifts lately,” Ellie declined.

“These things are pretty troublesome to take back down, like more than they’re worth, so you keeping it would be more of a favour to me than it is a gift to you. If you really don’t want to keep it, though, I can pack it back up before I leave.

“I do have an actual gift that I hope you won’t refuse; I thought they’d be really useful for you,” Cyn insisted.

Ellie cocked her head as the two moved fully underneath the canopy. “You really don’t need to give me anything,” she assured.

“You are new to the Abyss, this isn’t going to protect you or anything but it should be useful. It took me a minute to remember who Robin was by the way, no offence. It was kinda shocking that you three were together; from what Erica told me, Robin is a homebody who rarely gets involved in the Abyss, other than going to the Inferno, that is.

“Anyway when I heard you guys were foraging in the barrier. I assumed it was for your potions, and since I was doing some equipment maintenance, it got me thinking. I had some spare materials from some recent hunts and I thought you’d make use of foraging pouches so I made a few. They don’t take too long to make but they’re quite useful. In total I made four but I thought I’d give you one of the pouches I made a while ago too, since it has a minor enchantment on it, and it’s basically been collecting dust,” Cyn explained.

The brunette pulled out a tightly bound leather pouch. She popped the button and began unravelling it to get a twenty-five by forty-centimetre cylinder pouch. She turned it upside down and four more fell from inside.

“So this one’s the enchanted one, nothing fancy, it has about a sixty-litre capacity and you can completely collapse the bag even when it’s full. The other four aren’t anything really special,” Cyn said, holding out the bag. “Maybe you should put the potion you’ve been clutching away, you could put it in one of these. Actually, let me just grab those I threw on the floor.”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll get them. I’m gonna put the potion in my knapsack anyway,” Ellie said, kneeling on the ground next to the bench. She placed the potion on the log and pulled her knapsack off, opening it and putting the pouches inside.

Cyn stretched and dropped onto the bench, causing it to rock back and forth. The potion lost balance and began to fall. Out of reflex Ellie’s hand shot in its direction but only caused it to collide with the log and the fragile glass shattered, coating her hand in the liquid which rapidly absorbed into her skin.

“Shit!” the alchemist spat. She didn’t stand or move, just stared at her hand.

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