Peak hadn’t noticed when they had entered the forest. This was due to Peak being too frustrated to properly focus on anything. Once he was paying attention, however, he was instantly able to notice the difference. The earth was different. Trees would show up as holes in the earth to his senses, countless tunnels through the earth that was their roots. It was different from a road.

This was why, as soon as Peak was done with his self-pity party, he was a bit pissy.

“Emmeth, why are we in a forest?”

“We’re using a shortcut.”

“In order to do what, exactly?” Peak asked, patiently.

“In order to get ahead of the raiders. They’re following the roads. If we avoid using the road, despite walking, there is a chance we can catch up. We are also currently unable to fight against them as equals. I am searching for an opportunity to fight an enemy that will allow me to improve my attributes. There is more likely to be one if we do not follow the path of the raiders and move into a more unpopulated area.”

“Hold on, hold the phone, we’re fighting monsters?”

“I’m fighting monsters. You are unable to do anything. The others will fight as well. Hopefully, some might grow stronger.”

“... So I’m useless, is that what you’re saying?”

“For battle, you are useless. For most other things, you are useless as well. Will you deny it?”

“No, it just hurts to hear that. Damnit.”

It was true. Peak was feeling a little let down that it couldn’t do anything. 

Which is why, it thought to itself, it should be working on that! 

“I’m gonna go learn earthbending now.” Peak said to Emmeth.

“Very well.” Emmeth said, marking the end of their conversation.

So, making rock move with your mind. Or soul. One of those two. How do you do that? Peak had no clue. What the rock did have was a pretty good idea of what made earth earth. That Earth conceptualization skill seemed to help. So did earth sense, as otherwise Peak would have been going in literally blind.

Peak was getting off topic. Making earth move. The possible methods are… shouting at it? Would that work? Peak didn’t know. Learning magic? Maybe, but Peak had less of an idea of how to use magic than how to move earth with raw earth powers. 

Maybe it was like moving a muscle. That would be useful, Peak thought to itself, except it had never moved that muscle before. It didn’t know how to just do it on instinct.

Which, if it was going to be honest, was a load of shit. How the hell was this fair? Emmeth got a corpse to waltz about in. Why did Peak get stuck as a rock?

It was bullshit. Whatever. Peak was getting off topic, again.

So, Peak decided to begin with the shouting method.

“ALRIGHT DIRT, GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR! MOVE!”

The dirt did nothing. Emmeth looked down at the rock in annoyance.

“Peak.”

“Sorry. Thought it was worth a shot.” Peak said, embarrassed. 

Emmeth did not think that shouting at the ground to try and get it to move was worth a shot in any scenario, but did not see any point in voicing his opinion.

Peak decided it was time to try magic.

…

How the fuck do you do magic?

“Hey, Emmeth.”

“Yes?”

“How do you do magic?”

“I do not know.”

“Fuck.”

Well, not knowing how to do shit had never stopped Peak from doing it before. 

Well, except moving. The rock was working on it right now.

Maybe Peak just had to chant some shit? That was sometimes how it would work in books and TV shows. Just come up with something suitably dramatic and the world would accommodate you.

“Emmeth, are you any good at poetry?”

“Please stop talking to me.”

Peak decided that it had bothered Emmeth enough for now.

So, dramatic earth stuff. Peak wasn’t any good at poetry, but acting dramatic was doable.

‘O earth beneath us, unbreaking, unyielding, move to my will!’ Peak chanted in its mind.

As could be expected of chanting dramatically without understanding any of the underlying principles of magic, nothing changed except Peak feeling more like an idiot.

‘Fuck.’

[ ) ( ] [ ) ( ] [ ) ( ]

It was by concentrating on mana did Peak manage to cast magic. What kind of magic did Peak cast?

The golden “You Tried” star of magic.

Peak could now move the magical energies around! Hurray! It was one step closer to becoming a wizard.

‘God fucking damnit.’

Not really. It was more like it was able to make little wisps of mana twist a little. 

But at least, it might finally be able to cast magic.

‘Useless fucking skill, waste of my time, fuck you.’

Peak still had no idea how to cast magic, and was therefore just about as close to moving as before.

Except the rock could make invisible energy move a little.

“I hate myself.” Peak projected.

“I feel the same way.” Emmeth responded.

“… You hate yourself?”

“No.”

“Then why… Oh. Fuck you too.”

The conversation ended with that.

‘I swear to all that is good and holy, I will discover a way to use earth magic if only to crush myself and end my misery.’

“Emmeth, is there anything you can tell me about mana?”

Emmeth, though annoyed with Peak, could tell that this was a serious question and that Peak was attempting to be useful, and so deigned to grant him an answer.

“Mana is the basis of magic. It can be found anywhere. In order to cast with magic, one must manipulate the mana in the air to create a specific structure which will then generate an effect of some kind.”

“... Okay, thank you.” Peak mulled over the answer before picking something out. “Mana in the air? Does the mana have to be in the air?”

“... I do not know,” Emmeth answered honestly, “but from what I have read mana in solid materials does not move easily.”

“... Oh.” Peak felt incredibly let down by this revelation. “How the fuck am I supposed use earth magic then?”

“... Perhaps you shouldn’t be using magic.” Emmeth answered honestly. “Attempt to move the earth using naught but your will.”

“... What the fuck does that even mean?”

Emmeth had lost interest in the conversation with that last comment and made it his new priority to focus more on his surroundings, in case a monster would appear. He had originally reasoned to himself that Peak would probably notice anything if it got too close, but after considering how Peak was just acting, Emmeth realized that he was probably wrong.

“Not going to explain? Fine. I’ll figure it out.”

“Do that.”

Peak grumbled a little before attempting to do some… ‘I guess it kind of is earthbending.’ Peak thought to itself. ‘... Isn’t this a bit of a deja vu moment? Someone discovers a way to compensate for being blind by being able to sense things through the ground and mastering the art of earth manipulation. Haven’t seen that one before.’

…

‘Actually, where the fuck did I hear that? I can’t remember. Shit.’

Peak tried to refocus himself. ‘Alright. Earth manipulation. I can do this.’

[ ) ( ] [ ) ( ] [ ) ( ]

Peak could not do it.

It wasn’t a matter of being one with the earth. Peak tried it. It didn’t work because you don’t perform feats of wonder by doing what you think a guru would tell you to do, especially when that guru is from a world without magic and would most likely be pulling whatever he says out of his ass.

Yes, you can’t solve everything by being #deep. Peak managed to do it for a couple things, but it seemed that following advice with the depth of a puddle is not an applicable solution for manipulating the ground with your mind. 

While disappointing to Peak, it was reassuring to know that not being spiritual enough isn’t a problem for doing mystical shit. It meant that Peak would--

‘Wait. Wait a… What the fuck is that?’

While Peak and Emmeth had been traveling through the woods with their undead cohort, Peak had been keeping an eye on things, somewhat. The rock was observing the ground using its earth sense while it hadn’t been paying active attention, something seriously weird was going on.

‘... Is that tunnel growing? I can’t feel any animals crawling around in, or… Wait, that’s a tree root.’

…

‘Is that a tree root?’

The root in question began snaking towards Peak’s location through the ground.

‘OH FUCK SHIT FUCK’

“EMMETH, STOP! NOW!”

Emmeth halted. The mob of dead did so too, after Emmeth raised his hand to signal them.

“What is it?”

“There’s a thing! Something’s wrong with that tree! To your right!”

Emmeth looked around. Nothing seemed wrong, but…

“Peak, I can’t tell which one. Be more specific.”

“I- I can’t tell exactly either! But one of the tree roots is moving. I think it’s moving.”

“Peak, focus.”

“The root is moving towards us! BACK AWAY RIGHT FUCKING--!” 

Before Peak could finish the sentence, Emmeth was already moving away, keeping an eye on his feet. 

Unfortunately, the mob of the dead was not moving away.

“GET THE ZOMBIES OUT OF THE WAY!”

“Over here.” Emmeth commanded them. They started following him, but it was too late.

From the earth, a thin tree root reached up and wrapped around one of the undead’s feet, tripping it.

Then, as though awaiting that, tens of other tree roots began reaching through the ground after the first tendril.

“THAT’S A LOT OF TREE ROOTS!”

“Peak, be quiet--”

The roots reached out of the ground and enveloped the helpless zombie before dragging it underground.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Peak, quiet.” Emmeth tried to command Peak.

“IT’S STILL SENDING MORE ROOTS!” Unfortunately for Emmeth, it would take more than a little spiritual coercion to get Peak to shut up. “RUN AWAY! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM IT!”

Emmeth decided it would be best to ignore Peak for this. He dropped the rock on the ground before dashing forward into the crowd.

“NO, GET AWAY FROM THE PLANT MONSTER! THAT’S THE BAD WAY TO GO!”

Emmeth drew his sword and prepared to start cutting away roots when they would emerge.

‘Oh god, what the fuck is he doing!? Does he have no idea how many roots trees have?’

…

‘I don’t know how many roots a tree has. Either way, it’s a lot of them and normal weapons aren’t good for cutting through wood!’

“EMMETH, GET BACK--” Unfortunately, Peak was unable to finish that sentence before more roots began to reach up and start pulling down the undead.

Emmeth stepped closer to one of the caught undead and managed to cut away the root binding it.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter as more roots grabbed the zombie from below, dragging it into the earth.

It was more horrifying for Peak to watch as the stone could still sense the undead below the earth, struggling while being dragged away, before being bound so tightly that they couldn’t move any longer.

Peak knew that if it didn’t do anything then Emmeth was going to be nabbed and dragged underground, and then Peak would be alone in the woods with no one to help it. There was nothing Peak could do though.

Unless he spontaneously developed magic during a high stress situation by virtue of luck.

So Peak focused on the earth in front of him, and remembered what it was like to sense earth. He only had to ask to receive an answer. 

So, it was time to ask again.

‘Fucking, MOVE!’ He imagined himself yelling at the dirt as he tried to bend it to his will.

And lo and behold, the earth responded.

Peak didn’t have time to act joyful. Instead, it attempted to force the earth to cut through the roots and release the zombies.

This completely and utterly failed.

More roots kept coming and grabbing more zombies, dragging them under. 

Peak attempted to move the earth around the zombies to try and make it harder or more sturdy. 

This did not work.

Of course it didn’t work. Peak had only just gained a single level in a skill the rock barely knew how to use. If Peak wanted to be able to do something with it, the stone would have to practice.

Unfortunately, there was no time for practice.

Emmeth’s leg was grabbed by a root and dragged him to the ground. He struggled as more roots surrounded him and pulled him under.

Soon the rest of the mob were grabbed as well. Peak could only watch as they were dragged away by the tree monster.

And Peak was alone once again.