"Worst case scenario I'll get Ghost to take her out if she breaks away,~ Lucius thought to himself, noticing Pagan approaching from the distance.
"Ahh, Hannibal. I've yet to give you the Elmando skill, huh?"
"Your commandment?" Hannibal asked, a tinge of unexpected excitement in his voice.
"Commandment?" Lucius repeated, side-eyeing Pagan.
"What I said was The Commandment. It is the power you gave me to bend the forest to my will," Pagan explained, before calling two nearby vines toward him.
"Elmando... Commandment... anyway, here," Lucius whispered, opening his system shop and giving Hannibal the skill.
"The skill seems to scale with mental power, so you should practice it on your off time. It's an interesting skill, and I'm sure you'll find a creative way to use it for your research," he added, as the information pertaining to the skill was being fed into Hannibal's mind.
Pagan and Lucius watched as Hannibal tried and failed to use the skill for several minutes. Right as they were about to call quits, Hannibal managed to make one of the leaves on a nearby shrub move.
~Hmm, this settles it then. Pagan is in fact a prodigy,~ Lucius thought to himself as Hannibal smiled with a sense of self-achievement.
"Hmm, you sully the gifts the Lighted One has given you," Pagan said, before moving the entire shrub that Hannibal's leaf was on.
"And you sully me. What use will putting him down do?" Lucius asked, staring daggers at Pagan. Though Hannibal didn't seem phased by Pagan's taunting, it greatly annoyed Lucius how sardonic Pagan was becoming.
~Hmm, is this what they call bad parenting? Pagan has become so powerful that I shouldn't even be surprised he's acting this way,~ Lucius thought to himself, easing down on his stare a little.
"Nevermind, this isn't your fault, Pagan," he said out loud.
~Losing to me won't teach him anything... he needs to be beaten by the others. Talking won't make him see them as equals,~ Lucius realized.
And besides, they ought to be training anyways, since he would soon be leading small-scale missions to stop the advance of the necromancer, as well as to prepare for the Shu'hakan.
"Hmm, you guys follow me," Lucius ordered, before making his way toward the marked tree.
"Place your hand on it," he said to the two of them, and after some thought they obliged.
[『Hannibal 』and 『Pagan』 request access to 『Tree mark』.]
~Accept,~ Lucius responded, before touching it himself.
~I can see... everything.~ This was Pagan's voice. The three of them were currently sharing the same vision, and Pagan was constantly shifting it, exploring the entire camp.
~Lucius, what is this place?~ This was Hannibal, he seemed to be taking a back seat, observing how things worked before trying to do anything himself.
~This is the mark. Currently the most powerful skill at our disposal,~ Lucius explained, mentally overpowering Pagan for control.
~This tree increases the power of Elmando, photosynthesis and...~ Lucius paused his explanation to cast a solar burst above the camp. The thing seemed like a second sun. It had a 10-meter radius and caused the air around it to boil, making the whole scene look a bit odd.
~... and increases the strength of spells. When I am not around, and you guys cannot stop whatever enemy may be approaching, come here and use the mark. I doubt anything will be able to get past this...~ he continued explaining. However the image of the furry-folk played in his mind, and he doubted that this would be enough to stop them.
~You've met the dragons, Lighted One?~ Pagan asked, and an image of a furry-folk walking alongside a plant-human creature was displayed in Lucius's mind.
~Wait, we can share... memories?~ Lucius wondered, admiring the scene that was apparently being broadcast from Pagan's mind. At this, even more, images were shared amongst the three, however majority of them were Pagan's.
~It seems to be the case Lighted One... in that case, let me show you...~ Pagan responded.
His memories told an interesting story, like a time-lapse of the forest. The creatures in his memories were indeed god-creatures. They seemed to have a skill similar to Elmando, that allowed them to change the structure of the forest with mere gestures. However, it was at the level where they could shift the very earth itself.
The forest looked... beautiful. It was like a portrayal of the Garden of Eden... millions of different creatures living in harmony. The forest was filled with many vibrant colors, ever-changing as if the trees were more than alive... sentient.
~Pagan... you lived through this?~ This was Hannibal, his voice shrouded... as if he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing.
The images now shifted to an ancient city. The structures seemed to be made out of a white marble substance. For a memory of the past, its technology seemed way too advanced, as Lucius could not even tell what some of these things did.
However, some things were clear. The ancient city had transport, fast-moving objects similar to cars, but it would seem Pagan's memories did not go into detail on their working... so Lucius couldn't hypothesize past this.
Another thing was that the city seemed to have some sort of religion, as a giant statue of the sun stood at the center of the city.
~So even god-creatures like these served gods? Ironic~ Lucius thought to himself.
The vision shifted once again. This time it focused in on the sun statue. Its center was made of a glass-like material, unbelievably clear, and unfathomably circular. In fact, its shape seemed eery, like something that mortals were not meant to lay their eyes on.
The vision showed the god creatures bowing to it, and chanting something in their ancient tongue. Odd writings began appearing on the center of the sun statue, and a beam shot, seemingly from the very sun itself, passing through the glass part of the statue and covering the god-creatures in its radiance.
~Photosynthesis,~ Lucius realized as the creatures seemed to have grown in both size, and power.
The image shifted once more, it showed new types of creatures coming into the forest... Lucius was familiar with these creatures, in fact, he had hoped he would never have to see them again.
Humans... and for some reason, he could already tell how this was going to end.
In this new vision, the humans began having talks with the god-creatures. They brought gifts, and they seemed to be forming good relations with the city.
The city thrived for a time, and humans began to integrate into its civilization.
The image shifted once again, but this time the creatures seemed to be fighting amongst each other. The fae and furry-folk especially seemed to be at each other's throats.
The next vision showed the furry-folk leaving the civilization. The fae fought for them to stay, but the humans seemed to comfort them, allowing the furry-folk to leave.
~No... don't believe them,~ Lucius whispered.
No person, regardless of how cold, would not fall in love with the beauty of this ancient civilization. It was like a paradise, no... more than that. And to see the selfishness of humans destroying it... it could break even the devil's heart.
