All around Pagan were a multitude of other creatures, groups from various races.
To the right were the shrooms, perhaps the smallest of the groups, with the chieftains standing at the forefront.
Directly behind Pagan were the members of the Internal Security Department, with Artemis at the helm. And behind them were the rest of the leaf beings.
To the left were the larger creatures of the group- several dozen mole people, at least a dozen beaver-like humanoids, and a few other small mammalian creatures.
Though they were different in appearance, at that moment, they were united.
For a moment Lucius pondered what sort of mind magic Pagan had used on them, but he quickly understood what this was all about.
The creatures here were from the same groups that filled those cells he had seen in the woodland mansion. They were the groups being exploited by Eiknyr- mistreated, and devoured like food.
Though there was probably a bit more to it than just that, he understood at least this much.
"M-My lord, we heard you killed Eiknyr," one of the smaller mammalian creatures stuttered. It looked almost like a prairie dog, and unlike the mole people, this one was not humanoid. Though it's speech was clear as day.
Pagan turned towards it with an annoyed expression, no doubt to silence the creature, however, Lucius quickly raised his hand.
"He's dead... Eiknyr is dead," Lucius responded.
And to that, several creatures lifted their heads with looks of disbelief plastered onto their faces.
"It's true, we saw his headless corpse lying on the ground," one of the other mammalian creatures added.
"Silence in front of the Lighted One," Pagan interrupted, his voice strained to keep from shouting at them too roughly.
"I'm sorry about what happened to your people," Lucius added after a moment of silence had passed, remembering the state that they had been in.
The creatures went silent at that, the relieved expressions on their faces turning to one of guilt.
~Most of these are tier 5 creatures. Though their power levels are...~ Lucius thought to himself, noting the marking on some of the mammalian creatures' bodies.
This confirmed his earlier theory of the tier system being more of a complexity indicator than one of power.
"Where are we? What is this place?" Lucius asked a moment after, walking away from Ghost's embrace, and down from the Altar.
As he walked forward, Pagan moved aside, and the creatures behind made a path for him to walk through.
"We are deep underneath the pristine forest, The Elwood Den," Pagan responded, as Lucius continued walking towards one of the runes on the wall to inspect it.
"Then was it you who set the walls on fire?" he asked, looking at the inscriptions around the rune. It was an exact copy of those he had seen at the mansion. They'd probably just stolen a few from somewhere else and placed them down here.
Although the area wasn't nearly as decorated as the woodland mansion, he had to admit his children had done well for themselves. At least this was better than anything he could've offered them.
"The red flowers? Yes, it was us," Hannibal responded this time, walking to stand beside Lucius.
Complex emotions now clouded Lucius's mind. On the one hand, he was happy to have found his children, though, on the other, he wondered if they would've been better off not meeting again.
This seemed like a relatively stable place where they could live safely, and he had no plans to stop trying to kill the necromancer. In fact, recent events had even opened up the possibility of there being another enemy force at play, yet another danger he would be exposing them to.
He could very well start over, and look for dispensable soldiers that he'd have no problems sacrificing for his goals.
However he also understood that he was mentally exhausted, and perhaps these thoughts weren't the most logical.
"We tried to fend off the necromancer. We thought you would come back... but..." Hannibal began explaining, staring at Lucius -as he looked off into the far nothingness.
"I tried to use The Great Tree... but I didn't know how. They destroyed it, but at least we all got out safely," he continued, still no reply from Lucius.
"When we came here, we tried to get the council to help us. We told them that you were still fighting outside the walls, but they wouldn't listen...
Eiknyr and his father captured some of us... we still don't know what happened to them," he proceeded.
Lucius nodded slowly at this, now running his fingers over the inscription.
"We'll get our revenge. On the necromancer... and the council," Hannibal finished.
Lucius noted how different Hannibal sounded. Although his voice hadn't changed, his intonations seemed more complex, like he was a different being. Although the symbols on his back signifying his tier still showed only 2 marks.
"Would you all excuse me? I want to talk to the members with cruxes in private. Only for a little while," Lucius whispered, after some thought.
With that, the other creatures began standing up, and slowly leaving the chamber, most of them taking a glance at Lucius as they went, whispering awe-filled remarks as they did so.
"Artemis and Internal Security, you guys can stay," he added, as he noticed them leaving as well.
*
Once the original council were the only ones left in the area, Lucius began:
"I can help evolve all your new members, and you guys will be able to create a good settlement for yourselves somewhere in the Clan Lands. If they were able to construct these tunnels, I'm sure they'll be able to do even more once they've evolved."
The others nodded their heads in understanding, as he spoke.
"You guys will be safe there. There aren't a lot of creatures that could pose a threat to you guys, and I'll even stop what I'm doing to help if things get too hard," he continued. However, at this, Hannibal realized something was off with the wording he was using.
"What exactly does this mean?" Hannibal asked.
"I'm giving you guys an out. You can focus on building a safe space for the rest of the commune. You can go looking for other leaflings if you want, I'll evolve them as well... if their still any left that is," he explained.
"And what will you be doing?" this time it was Ghost that asked.
