“We surrender! Please don’t kill us!” one of them said, raising her hands into the air as Van and the group made it to the end of the land bridge.

Alraunes were much more powerful than mandrakes, and should have proven a difficult adversary in their attempt to rescue Luna. These ones seemed a bit too timid for the alraunes that Van had heard about, as they were supposed to be beings comparable to other forest nymphs such as Bell.

As Van hesitated, unsure if this wasn’t some sort of trap. Water nymphs began to show up from the surrounding waters, and even more sprites, beings similar to fairies but more a part of nature, began to show up.

Van looked around concerned. “You don’t look like you're surrendering…” looking around them as they were surrounded.

“Please understand.” the lead alraune said. “We did not mean for it to come to this.”

Van quirked a brow. “You mean, you didn’t mean to try to kidnap my wife and cause a small war to break out?” he said sarcastically.

“You must understand, most of them are just children and the rest are just very desperate. They did not think of what their actions would entail… we will return your spouse, so please… no more fighting…” the alraune said, motioning with a hand and revealing Luna who was tangled up in vines and being dragged back from the tree that she was taken to.

Van shared a look with his group, Agnès looked particularly heated and ready to fight at a moment's notice. With a nod to Anna, the two went to retrieve Luna and brought her back to join the rest of the group. Bending down, he noticed that she was just passed out, but otherwise was okay. Turning to look back at the alruanes, he was about to ask them a question when Bell beat him to the punch.

“Why did your mandrakes kidnap our friend?” she asked. “It doesn’t make sense… I know you are territorial, that you protect these meadows as part of your domain. But why resort to kidnapping? And why was there no warning? Why are there so many leshies and green mounds? Are you trying to go to war?” shooting off a string of questions.

The lead alraune looked saddened, but replied the best she could. “We are not going to war… or should I say… the war has come to us… this war between the hoard and the alliance has drained our great mother to… death…” she said tears forming in her eyes and earning a gasp from Bell.

“Our children, in their naivety, thought of using your friend to become the new mother of our meadow, by combining her with the tree. They were not aware of their actions… I'm sorry.” she said, looking crestfallen.

“Oh… oh no…” Bell said, completely sympathizing with them.

Van frowned, not understanding why Bell would empathize with the people who just kidnapped Luna. “Some explanation would be nice…” he said gruffly.

“Ah! Yes… sorry…” Bell said, “A great mother… well… it's probably a dryad of sorts, which usually rules over places like this.” she then hesitated and looked towards the alraune. “I presume what must have happened was… due to the horde constantly eating anything edible, the dryad tried to replenish the eaten plants using her own energy. But… it must have drained her to death… it also explains the number of lesheis and green mounds, they were probably created to protect them from the large group of insectoid monsters now roaming the forest. Am I right?” she asked of the alraune, who nodded in agreement.

“A dryad…” Van ponderd. “Did they also come from the Alria federation like your ancestors did?” he asked. “Otherwise… What is a dryad doing here…”

“Not all fae like creatures had to have come from the elves, we are beings of nature, we can also naturally appear in forests such as these.” Bell explained. “And not all of our ancestors came from the federation, we interbreed with the forest wolves to the point we have no ties to the federation anymore.”

Van thought about everything that was said so far. “So let me get this straight…” looking towards the lead alraune. “Your great mother died from trying to protect this meadow, so the mandrakes then tried to look for someone to turn into their new mother… and to do so… they had to fuse that person with that tree over there… but what I can’t understand… if it were so simple, why didn’t any of you just fuse yourself with the tree…” he asked.

The lead alraune sighed. “Because it isn’t that simple… while I can see why our youngest ones, in their naivety, thought your wife would be… compatible… for she does seem to have something about her that is… special… it still wouldn’t be enough… As for us… we are nowhere near the strength to take over as a great mother. You see… while the body of our great mother withered and died, her tree is still strong, which means her spirit is still here, though I can’t be too sure for how long…”

“I think what the children wanted was someone compatible that our great mother’s spirit can inhabit, before it was too late and even the tree withered and died. Leaving us with nothing…” she said sadly. “If only we had a way to stall time for a bit until a solution came about… we would be willing to give anything should you have the means to help us so long as it’s in our power.” eyes looking upwards towards Van in a pleading manner.

“You kidnap my wife and now ask for my help?” Van asked, incredulously. If it was before, he probably wouldn't have minded, but now after everything that happened, he really didn’t feel in the mood to show sympathy.

“Van… maybe we should help…” Bell asked, tail between her legs, ears cast downward, probably aware of how much she was asking of him.

Van frowned, wondering if Bell was asking because it was in her nature to try and take care of others like her, those who are attuned to forests and nature and such. He looked down at Luna, other than a few scuffs, she was mostly fine if not asleep. He wondered what she would say if she was awake. Would she help them?

He sighed and looked back towards the alraune. “What do you want…” he said exasperated, though still feeling crossed about everything that happened.

“We really do not want for much, just a method to save our great mother or a way to replace her, maybe a way to slow down the rate of decay of our tree until a better solution comes around. Do this, and our loyalty and service would be yours.” the alraune said, hands clasped together, looking hopeful now they finally might have some form of help.

Van sighed and closed his eyes, contacting Ren and explaining the situation. After a few moments he opened them again. “I have a method to save your tree, but it would cost your servitude now, not later. If you're willing to slave away for me… become mine… I can swear on my name, and power, that I would at the very least, be able to slow down the decay of your great tree. I will also promise to at least try and look for a solution that would make all parties involved happy… but I'll leave that choice up to you… since you might not like the solution I will propose...”

The alraunes looked nervous, and huddled together to discuss before the lead alraune turned back. “What exactly are you planning to do?”

“My soul realm is very special...” Van began to explain. “If you're willing to dig up your precious tree… we can move it into my soul realm using a special method… in exchange, you all must swear loyalty to me and do what you can to help promote your herbs inside my soul realm… I can even assure you, even if I fail to fully save your tree, I will, at some expense to myself, make it so that I will replace it, or at the very least, save your people and give them a new home inside my soul realm.”

The alraunes looked confused, not fully believing that Van could do such a strange thing. But then again, he did swear by his name and power, which meant there must be something to what he promised…

“Good one Van.” Bell said, “without a dryad or a great mother tree, most of the children would die without its protection. By offering an alternative, you give them an out and tie them deeper to you. Their strength will definitely help your soul realm out.” looking at him impressed, even though that wasn’t his intention.

After much talking the lead alraune left the huddle and addressed Van, bowing towards him. “We will accept your offer… Please take good care of us.”

Van sighed and rolled his eyes, wondering if what he did was right. There was still a part of him that wanted to kill them, but even he knew that he should do his best in gathering more allies in times like these. “Just pack your things and follow me. We’ll do the whole ceremony or whatever of your obedience to me later…” turning around and carrying Luna in a princess carry.

Without looking back, he started to move back home, fully expecting the rest of his group to follow, the leshies, green mounds and treants moving out of the way to let him pass by the silent order of the alraunes.

As Van and his group made their way across the meadow, the alraunes followed behind at a distance along with their own followers, making his back ich from the fact just a few minutes ago they were fighting each other.

He wondered what he was going to say to Kella when he returned… would she be glad that he brought back more allies? Or a little peeved that there will be more work to do to take care of the logistics of the fort? Not that it would matter, he was planning to put them all in his soul realm anyway, perhaps they would be helpful in growing crops in his greenhouse, and herbs for his garden. It would be a nice way to get the ingredients for his potion making without having to go out into the forest every time they needed something.

Then… a buzzing was heard, and he stopped mid walk, eyes widening as he knew what that meant. The alraunes also looked agitated and fearful, probably also aware of what this could mean.

In a panic, she turned, “Everyone! Back to the tree! We have to protect her!”

Almost immediately, all the leshies, treants, mandrakes, flower sprites and more rushed back to the tree to protect it.

Van looked around as their supposed escort left them and looked towards the tree line. Not even a minute later, a horde of giant insects began to attack the meadow, digging into the ground and gorging themselves on the rare and empowering plants that grew there.

“Fucking hells…” Van muttered, then addressed his group. “Everyone! Fall back with the Alraunes!” he shouted. Then jumped onto Rosy’s back and gently laid Luna on her. He then turned and ordered his shadow wolves, about over a dozen left, and told them to form up around them.

The group then slowly moved back towards the tree, watching with trepidation as the horde of thousands of insects slowly tore their way towards the center of the meadow with reckless abandon, caring more for the food in front of them then the potential enemies that lay beyond near the great tree.

As Van and his group fled, he noticed a few leshies forming and trying to fight against the insect horde. Only to be torn to shreds by dozens of insects and their mana cores fought over by the many victors, doing more damage in death to its enemies than when it was alive…

Van and the others made it back to the tree, thankfully it was the right call, he half worried that the alraunes wouldn’t let them back near their great tree. But as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy and all that…

As they arrived and joined up with the alraunes, the leader addressed Van.

“We will need to work together to survive.” she said. “If we can just hold them off until most of them die, the rest should scatter and regroup, which will buy us some time… if you are willing, we would like to work with you to survive this…”

“We must protect the great mother tree…” she continued. “Without it… most of us will wither and lose ourselves…”

“So… it’s something like the effects of insect-kin queens have on their subjects… making them smarter and such…” Van thought. (“Ren, any suggestions?”) filling him on the situation at hand.

(“give me some time…”) Ren replied, (“draw your symbol and magic circle on the tree… I think we can force it into your soul realm… do that, and we will have fulfilled our end of the deal and instead of dying here we can break out of this mess and make a run for it back home.”)

Van sighed and turned to tell the lead alraune of his plan of taking the tree directly into his soul realm.

“You can do that!?” she asked incredulously. “...alright… we were going to swear servitude to you anyway…” thinking about it, though it was clear she was worried about the safety of the tree. “Just please be gentle, you could not understand how important it is to us...”

“You have my word.” he said, looking into her eyes with confidence. “Now… I need you all to protect me while I set things up.” taking control of the situation and already giving orders about.

Soon his group, alongside the alraunes and their followers began to take positions around the tree to prevent any flying insects from getting through as well as making a choke point on the land bridge.

Van got to work on the tree, carving his symbol into it, which made some of the alraunes wince at the sight of it.

The insect horde slowly drew nearer, Van would turn his head every so often with trepidation as he saw the once lush and green land turn brown and barren and grew like a cancer ever closer to him and his group.

Not long after, the first wave of insects crashed their way into their first line of defense. The treants and green mounds doing their best to push them back and squash them into bug paste. Seeing that, Van redoubled his efforts and began to carve faster. Thankfully by the time he was done, the second wave had come and passed and they were still standing.

Placing his hands on the bark of the great tree, he closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing on the magic circle and his symbol. With an eerie glow that reminded him for some reason of the time he was in that haunted mansion, the tree warped into his soul realm safely in the outskirts near Lyn’s soul realm.

A wave of confusion seemed to wash over the alraunes and their followers, before a strange feeling of connections seemed to flow out of Van and back into them. Van wondered about this feeling, but the third wave of insects stopped that with their constant buzzing.

“We need to get out of here!” Van shouted, “form on us and get ready to charge!” as the horde of insects drew closer. “Agnès, you're up!” ordering her to the front.

The Alraunes also ordered their followers to form up protectively around the group, probably feeling defensive about Van’s protection now that they sensed their great mother’s tree through him.

With a yell, he ordered Agnès to do her thing, and she did, blasting a large cone of fire and death in the direction of their way out. She charged forward on Rosy’s back, Luna safely strapped in. And as Rosy charged forward, Agnès would unleash a wave of death towards anything that got in their way.

“CHARGE!” Van shouted, then the rest of his group and the alraunes and theirs followed behind Rosy and Agnès. Many treants and leshies lost their lives protecting the group as they fled through the meadow. Some treants carried the water nymphs from the lake with them, while the larger leshies and green mounds stayed behind to buy time. Van ordered his shadow wolves to sacrifice themselves as necessary in order to protect the rest of the group.

They fought their way through the horde of insects, and reached the forest’s edge, killing hundreds of giant bugs left and right. but it proved to not be enough, no matter how many they killed, there were still thousands more... and as they fled, the horde of insects followed their every step…

All the way to their base…