Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

Her eyes were fixed on a small patch of black soil between two roots of the large tree. That was her world. Everything shrunk down to a small foot and a half square.

Like an Olympic runner, she reached for her finish line, extending her arm to its utmost and triggered Summon as her middle fingertip touched the loamy dirt.

Cedarhowl Splintermaple

Born as the seventh offshoot of the seventh generation of her line, Cedarhowl was born under auspicious celestial signs as well as in a time of great fertility, granting her unique connections to two of the realms. They allow her to cross environments and she has used her abilities as both a warrior and mediator between those in her sphere, making her one of the most respected among animate and inanimate life. All who know her respect her as the most bitchin’ spriggan this side of creation.

Nourish: Pull life force from the inanimate environment to grow at an accelerated rate.

Barkskin: Protect outer surface with a hardened shell of dead rhytidome which shields the user.

Compost: Pull residual life force from decomposing organic material, breaking it down to base nutrients. Does not affect living creatures.

Me So Thorny: Cover a limb with barbed, hollow, detachable thorns that cause a constant bleeding debuff until removed. Forcible removal will result in a base damage of 25 HP per thorn.

This avatar has not had its Ultimate unlocked. Hidden Conditions not met.

Yuki felt roots spring from her fingers and anchor her to the ground, quickly crawling through the dirt as easily as if it were water. She activated Nourish and Barkskin simultaneously as she pulled her other arm and feet to the ground and found areas to dig them into the dirt, anchoring them as well. A heavy scab-like mass began to form on her back, and she felt like a turtle hunched on all fours.

She pulled greedily at the ground, drinking in the energy, absorbing it, making it hers. She sipped through each limb, like a dehydrated hiker finally drinking something cool and refreshing through a straw.

It allowed her to increase in mass quickly, and she began to hear a susurrus as her need was sated. Instead of breathing through her mouth, she felt herself siphon energy that distilled down from the meager light above and from the air itself. She felt like a giant sieve, pulling in from every direction.

The murmurs got louder, and more pronounced and she began to understand some of the whispers.

That is not the way, an old voice said with disdain.

Too much. It is unseemly, a childlike voice interjected.

It will upset the balance. Balance at all costs, a stern voice reprimanded.

With a start, Yuki realized they were talking about her, and how she was taking in energy. She stopped sucking in and removed one hand from the ground, bracing it on one of the thick roots to the tree she had just descended.

Please child, no more, the thought resonated back from the root, whose outer bark had taken a blanched, almost peeled texture, like a croissant or a bad, peeling sunburn.

Yuki stopped taking any energy when a Kaiju-sized claw pried her off the ground and flipped her through the air.

Chapter Seventy-Six

We Intertwined

Light flashed as Yuki flipped ass over teakettle, landing in a large clump of ferns. Slightly dazed, but not hurt, she could sense the gouges in the bark-like plate that had formed on her back. Instinctively, she sunk her hands into the ground, burrowing past the fern and the whispers became sharp, like tuning in a radio station. Though multiple minds were speaking, she could sort and understand them all simultaneously. There was a pause in the conversations as she joined in the awareness, lacking only the awkward record scratch.

One bold tiny voice spoke up. “You were meat. How can you hear us?”

Yuki’s attention drifted downward to a small tree. Though its form was small, Yuki saw its inner essence, which was stocky and had its arms crossed, looking at her with an expression that demanded Yuki explain herself.

“I was being attacked, so I shifted to this form.”

“The matters of meat are no concern of ours!” one of the tall trees boomed.

“Until they invade…” a female voice warned.

“You took from one of the Elders, explain yourself!” a grumpy old man voice demanded.

“I meant no harm; I was just trying to protect myself from… some other meat. I am sorry if I took too much for myself.”

“Insufficient…”

“At least she knows what she did.”

“She is disturbing our rest. I was ripped from my home!” a thin moss spirit whined.

“I do not mean to disturb any of you,” Yuki explained. “Help me defeat this other… meat, and I will leave you.”

“Your kind always takes. Take. Take. Take. Using us for your selfish ends.”

“I… you are right. I have done nothing to merit your trust or assistance, but believe me that I do not want to harm any of you,” Yuki admitted.

“I sense sincerity.”

“Yes. Cannot be denied. I will lend you my poisons, it will stop the meat.”

“And my thorns will taste its liquid iron.”

“My pollen is quite irritating to most meat, here.”

Yuki shuddered as small vines extended and touched her head. They slithered in like little snakes and once they had found a crack, they began to push. Then grow. While the process did not hurt, there was an audible crunching noise that was unsettling. Visions of a nutcracker crushing a walnut were the best description of how it felt as the multiple threads pushed their way inside. When sufficiently rooted, there was a surge. And Yuki just knew.

You have received new abilities:

Spore: Release virulent spores that induce violent allergic reactions.

Toxin: Poison your target in multiple ways, through many different methods. [See variants.] Can be combined with other growths for added effects.

Shred: Create vines studded with thorns to hamper movement and damage enemies.

“Now go. Keep your promise and restore our rest,” the tall tree boomed again, petulant that Yuki had been given anything.

Time moved differently here. Though this communication had felt like