For Taiki and Leonov, seeing the ancient weapon known as Elderclaw rise from its long slumber was an extremely humbling experience. Roni was a little less unnerved, as she’d seen plenty of examples of The God of Nature’s power before. It could be sensed often when nature was at its purest, and she lived in the largest natural reservation outside of Zaban. But even she was in awe of the beast, not to mention the ritual that summoned it.

Falynn wasted no time once they entered the clearing. She turned to face the very edge of the trees, muttering some kind of prayer or spell under her breath, then lifted her hands. The very trees responded to her words, their branches growing and reaching out to the nearest neighbor, spreading to create a very thick barrier of thinly woven branches and vines. She walked the entire perimeter of the clearing, sealing it in the same way.

Leonov took a deep breath, noticing that the air seemed… richer. It had definitely changed since Falynn began her ritual, and even as he watched the elven girl sealing them off, he couldn’t deny the sense of overwhelming calm and warmth that flooded his body. For the first time in weeks, he felt at peace. He was protected from the outside world and those that would seek to undermine him. Even Taiki, normally so stoic, had relaxed a bit, at least enough to study their surroundings with a curious eye rather than a critical one.

“That should stop any interruptions,” Falynn said, letting out a quiet sigh as she finished forming the circle. “I just hope it’ll last long enough.”

“Interruptions?” Taiki asked critically, swinging to look at her. “What kind of interruptions?”

“Oh, nothing severe,” Falynn assured them. “It’s just whenever a lot of pure natural energy is in one place, animals like to gather around. In this case, I don’t want to let them absorb any of it. There’s too much of a risk of them taking more than they could handle.”

“And what would happen if they did?” Leonov asked. This was the kind of information he’d never had the chance to acquire while serving under his lord.

“Mostly, they’d die,” Falynn said with a frown. “But in some rare cases, they’ve gone chaotic. I felt that, since we’ve already fought Corruption, we don’t want to deal with Chaos as well.”

Leonov thought on that and couldn’t suppress a shudder. “You’re probably right. Could you imagine what would happen if that beast had gotten corrupted?”

Roni nodded. Like the others, she was more at peace in the closed-off clearing. She’d even laid down her bow and knives, sitting unarmed on a nearby stump. “It’s already bad enough when living wood becomes corrupted. But if Elderclaw ever was, there’s only a small handful of people that could kill it.”

There was an old story, one they all knew very well, from a past war when Grimr himself had momentarily succumbed to corruption. It had lasted for less than half an hour, but the destruction he’d caused had been felt for more than a century. Legend was that it had taken the combined efforts of Samuel Bragg, Champion of the Mind, and Shigeru Tokugawa, the God of War, to pin him down and push back the corruption. Killing him hadn’t been an option, even if it had been possible. It had taken them all they had just to disable him for a short while.

“Is there any danger to us if we’re standing in here?” Leonov asked, surprised that the question had only just occurred to him.

“No,” Falynn said. She walked a few paces away from them, then paused and turned back. “Err, you should be fine. Unless any of you have any enchantments or spells running on your body or belongings right now.”

Leonov and Taiki both shook their heads. Their weapons weren’t magical, and they had no magical augmentations put on their bodies. But, to their surprise, Roni clicked her tongue in annoyance. The elven woman sounded peeved and began walking to the edge of the clearing. “Looks like I’ll have to sit this one out, then.”

“Is your bow magical?” Taiki asked, glancing back to where the weapon was lying on the ground. “You should probably take it with you if it is.”

“It’s my amulet,” Roni said. “It’s an amulet of Minerva, not Longfang.”

Leonov hadn’t thought of that. He clenched his hand around the amulet to Attos that hung around his neck, suddenly nervous. “I don’t want anything to happen to my amulet either.”

“It won’t affect your amulets,” Falynn said quickly. “Elderclaw is just a magical beast. He can copy spells that he sees. If it’s the wrong kind of spell, it could cause problems.”

Leonov let out a sigh of relief, but Roni continued to stalk toward the wall of branches. “Still going out. Can you open the trees for me, or am I going to have to burn a hole to get through?”

Falynn looked shocked and upset at the cold tone of her voice but made a quick wave, parting a small section of the trees. Roni walked out, sat down with her legs crossed, and leaned against the base of a thick tree. She glanced back at the three of them and gave a shooing sort of gesture, telling them to go on. Falynn closed the gap again, looking doubtful, and the elven ranger quickly vanished behind a thick wall once again.

“Right,” Falynn said, sounding more than a little troubled as she turned away. She cleared her throat, trying to get back on task. “I’ll just start then, I suppose.”

She made her way to the center of the clearing, gesturing for the other two to stand near the edge. They did so, watching curiously as she began weaving her hands in intricate patterns through the air. Around her body, up above her head, and in rotations in front and behind. It looked like an elaborate dance, the kind that druids of old would use to call for a change in the weather. Such antiquated magicks were a thing of the past, they knew, replaced by the sheer advantage of runes and speed casting.

But as they watched Falynn now, they began to get some understanding of what advantages the older magicks had over those practiced in modern times. Sure, it wasn’t blindingly fast like the spells used by speed casters, but it was certainly more potent. As Falynn continued to dance, her slim body mimicking the movements of the wind, water, earth, and even some aggressive actions they assumed represented fire, they felt the energy in the clearing begin to pick up in activity. Slowly but surely, it was waking up, and being drawn toward the small elf who was calling it.

Falynn’s face was contorted in concentration as she moved, trying desperately to keep the lessons she’d learned years ago in the front of her mind. If she performed any step wrong, she would fail, and the free energy around her would react to the inactivity in strange ways. If she were lucky, it would just settle back down again. But she pushed those doubts away, allowing her mind to separate from the task she was performing. The soul of Elderclaw was here, and she let it guide her movements and her mana, roping the life force of the beast into a single location.

Taiki and Leonov stayed as quiet as they could, not wanting to distract Falynn, but even they couldn’t contain themselves entirely. When Falynn finally came to a stop, a tree shot out of the ground before her. It was a massive thing, thundering out of the ground and stretching to a height of eighty feet almost as fast as they could blink. All the natural energy in the area had gone into that one tree, they realized, giving it incredible strength and life.

At the very base of the tree, one of the roots twitched aside, and a hole in the ground opened. Taiki and Leonov leaned forward eagerly, wondering what the legendary beast looked like. But the figure that came out was so small they couldn’t see it at first. It was tiny, no bigger than a kitten, and it was stark white in color. Whatever it was, it stumbled towards Falynn, drawn by the source of natural energy that she’d become. She lowered the staff in her hands to the beast, presenting the very head of it. For a moment, there was no movement as the beast appeared to study it. Then it leaned its head forward and made contact.

Immediately, a rush of wild, cold air slammed down into the clearing, swirling around the very edge of it. The torrent caught all kinds of small debris in its path; leaves, sticks, small rocks, and even some water from a stream on the other side. It all formed a dark whirlwind that quickly shrank, closing in on the elf girl and the small creature she was facing. Taiki opened their mouth to call a warning, knowing full well that it wouldn’t do any good, but then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the thundering wind was gone.

Falynn was on her knees before what they could only describe as the largest panther they’d ever seen. Easily thirty feet from head to tail and nearly a dozen feet at the shoulder, the creature towered over the druid girl. It was made entirely of living wood, and its flank bore about a dozen glowing runes, running from the very base of its tail to the top of its head, between its eyes. Its eyes were bright green and looked more like roaring fires than eyes.

Unbidden, the other two also dropped to their knees, almost as if the limbs no longer had enough strength to hold them. The presence of the creature was almost identical to that of the God of Nature. The same dense, awful power, the same uplifting yet terrifying aura. It was something ancient and long lost now returned to unleash its power.

“How could something so strong exist and yet remain hidden?” Leonov asked. The thought of pitting that monster against Attosian soldiers, even the full grand army, seemed like a suicide mission. He’d never encountered something this powerful that wasn’t either Ancient or Divine.

“There are many great things in the world that remain hidden,” Falynn replied. Leonov gave a start of surprise. Even though he’d been keeping his eyes on the massive beast, he’d failed to notice it moving closer. She glanced up at the beast’s face, equally as awed as they were. “Some of the most powerful beings in the world stay out of sight until they’re needed. It is the way of things.”

Elderclaw lowered its head in her direction, allowing her to place a hand on its broad snout. Some kind of connection formed at that moment, but then it was standing upright again. A deep grumbling noise sounded from its chest, so deep and loud that it reverberated through their skulls. It wasn’t a threatening growl. It was unmistakably a command. At the sound, the vines and branches forming the wall before it retreated, leaving the beast a direct path out of the clearing. It exited without even a backward glance at the weak mortal creatures beside it.

“Longfang has called him,” Falynn said. She sounded exhausted, and her body was trembling slightly. Now that they weren’t distracted by the sheer size of Elderclaw, they could see that she was barely standing, clutching the thick staff for support. “It’s going to keep moving and obeying his commands until it’s either destroyed or it’s done. Either way, he’ll be transported back here to be sealed again.”

“So our part is done, then?” Taiki asked, mentally kicking themselves. They hadn’t done anything. It had all been Falynn. “Let’s get you somewhere you can rest.”

The elven girl smiled at Taiki, grateful for the consideration. She was too tired to be awkward or flustered. She’d accept his offer of assistance and recover from this ordeal before they could take on another job.

“That sounds good. Elderclaw told me where we’ll be needed next, and we’ll need our rest before we take that on.”