Chapter 473: Battle Of The Manor (Part 5)
"In the basement, there was this giant pot..." Genevieve started, explaining everything in detail as Laz drew closer to the three victims, laying there in silence. There was rot on their faces while their clothes were torn and bloody. It was far to say that they no longer looked human... if one could refer to them as human normally.
When Genevieve finished her story, she looked to Laz with a hopeful eye. Before she had passed out, Maia had said to summon him as he would be the only one who could save them.
None of them knew how he would do that... and neither did he.
"Maia is the avatar of the mother tree herself right?" Laz asked remembering what those six pompous idiots had said before he intervened.
"That’s what I was told. Truthfully it’s kind of hard to believe, but the only two people who know for sure are my mother and Ivana..."
’And me,’ Laz thought to himself as he had been there when she had formed. Despite that fact, he didn’t actually know what she was, nor had he even questioned it. Laz had learned a long time ago that nothing really made sense in the end and to just roll with whatever came along. That was how he had not gone crazy after everything he had seen and experienced in the past six years.
’And maybe thanks to tv and the internet I guess?’ Laz continued with his thoughts going all over the place. He felt like when he didn’t know what to do, it was best not to focus on any one thing and ignore other things. While that might seem counter productive, the truth is that the harder you think about something, the more you’re likely to miss other, equally important things.
’I would be willing to be that now a days, even if hell itself opened up and someone came face to face with the devil, they wouldn’t be nearly as scared as the same person would have been fifty years ago. We’ve all become desensitized...’
Laz stopped. While it was good not to hyper focus, it was also not good to have no focus at all.
"So how does the avatar work as far as the mother tree is concerned?" Laz questioned next, trying to get a handle on everything.
"We uhh..." Genevieve didn’t know how to answer and instead turned to the silver priestess who was in charge of their care.
"It’s hard to explain as a whole, but in the simplest terms possible, she is the mother goddess and the mother goddess is her. Her avatar form is just another form she can take after reaching godhood. It isn’t my place to say, but I suspect that if her main body wasn’t holding up this dimension that we are in, then that body wouldn’t even need to exist since she could just live in her current form," she explained, a hint of sadness and worry in her voice.
"She’s holding up the dimension? I thought the dimension was created for her to recover? Wouldn’t that suggest that it could survive without her?" Laz asked, confused.
"Maybe at first. But I don’t think anyone meant for us to be here for so long. Because of that, in order to protect us, she began supporting the dimension as opposed to the other way around," she answered.
"So then whatever happens to this body,"
"Is reflected within her main body and the same would be true the other way."
Laz sat down on the bed of Sylvia first and put a hand on her head before closing his eyes.
"DON’T" The head priestess screamed, but it was too late.
Reaching out his spiritual strength to check inside of her, he felt like he was going to be burned and removed his hand quickly. Looking down at his hand, there was something on it that resembled a sticky, green substance. Looking back at Sylvia’s forehead, he didn’t see anything of the sort.
"It’s whatever was in the pot. While the explosion was bad, it wasn’t enough to kill them. Instead, whatever was brewing was like a poison that infected them. And we had no way to remove it..." the head priestess said, looking at Laz’s hand in concern.
The green substance that was on it started eating away at his skin. Seeing this, Laz summoned his mysterious black flames and focused them on the substance. As everyone looked on it awe, the green liquid roared to life with an emerald green flame briefly before being burned away.
In only a few breaths of time, the substance had disappeared without a trace.
Laz looked at the women and at his own hand while there appeared to be hope in everyone’s eyes.
Only he knew that it wouldn’t be that simple.
Laz had a deep understanding of his own biology. It was his body after all.
As for Sylvia and Ivana, yeah, they seemed mostly like humans. Well, there might be a few differences, but it wouldn’t be too bad.
But Maia was something else entirely. Her body might resemble a human or Fae at the moment, but she was, in fact, a massive fucking tree.
He had no idea how he would deal with that. And even if he figured something out, he would need an absolutely huge amount of energy to deal with it. She was a god after all.
Getting up, Laz walked over and sat on the bed with Maia, but he didn’t put a hand on her head. Instead, he focused on just seeing what he could using his sense.
What he saw made him gasp in amazement.
While her body was currently small, when he sense inside of her, he could only see the massive tree that was her. And it really was huge, mind boggling so.
’Not as huge as that tree that appeared in the ocean though,’ Laz thought to himself.
’Wait...’ Laz stopped, his thoughts stuck on that tree that he had been too before, even if it was just a projection of his body.
"Wait, wait wait wait..." Laz said out loud.
’The last time I was on another planet, I lost track of her. But I was weaker and really really far away. Now, although this is another dimension, would I still be considered close to her?’
The thought stuck to Laz’s brain and wouldn’t leave.
’She hasn’t contacted me... But I have never tried to contact her either. Not since the last time I was there and revealed my bloodline. Maybe... just maybe...’
Laz took off his shirt armor, much to the surprise of those gathered. When his bare chest was revealed, along with his strange tattoo marking, he could hear the priestesses gasp, but he ignored them.
:Master?: Laz tried, but got no response.
:Master?:
:A’ruya?: This time Laz touched the blackened tree and spoke.
:...:
Laz didn’t hear a response, but he got the distinct impression that she was finally listening.
:I need your help.:
This was the first time Laz had actually asked her for help as it was always her giving it in the past. Mostly though, it was only to save his own life.
:Speak,: came her cold response, something Laz had forgotten about. She was being colder to him now, ever since his last visit.
:Let me show you,: Laz said, reaching out his hand and touching Maia’s forehead, in much the same way he had done with Sylvia earlier.
For a moment, hundreds of thoughts and images blasted through his head, including everything that had happened since he had come to this other dimension. Thanks to the connection with his hand, Laz was also able to show her what exactly was happening with Maia at the same time.
When he was finished, he sat back and sighed in exhaustion. The connection was hard to maintain, but not impossible. The most difficult part was transmitting all of the information through it.
For a moment, he didn’t hear anything. Not a sound or a whisper from A’ruya. But he knew she was still there, watching. Perhaps thinking?
The quiet went on for so long that Laz eventually said,
:Master?:
That’s when he heard it.
:AH HA ha ha ha ha ha. Oh it’s so amazing. So absolutely amazing. Such a thing and they forgot. They actually forgot. This... I didn’t think it was this. It was.. just a whisper, a hint from the past... but this? I just... I can’t even believe it...:
:Master?: Laz said, interrupting her rant.
:Yes. YES. WE SHOULD SAVE HER. NO... WE NEED TO SAVE HER.: Something had changed in A’ruya’s voice. But it wasn’t a bad change. More like she was both excited and and turned on at the same time. Just hearing her voice in Laz’s head was enough to make him feel heated.
:So... So good. You... MMMMM... Yes. Ok. Ok... Right. So, I’m going to tell you what you need to do. Just remember something though my dear boy..:
:Yes?:
:If you fail me in this... I promise I will not hesitate to kill you myself, but only after torturing you for all of eternity until your madness induced mind no longer feels pain, but instead derives pleasure from it. I will break you... do you understand?: A’ruya said. While she was plainly threatening him, she said in with such a sweet and profound whisper that Laz almost wanted it to happen to him.
He quickly shrugged off the thought though.
:What shall I do Master?: Laz asked, solemnly.
And A’ruya told him.
Silence reigned, but only for a second.
"ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME RIGHT NOW YOU CRAZY BITCH????"
