The Fleeting Nature of Time
“If you have something to say, say it plainly.”
—We have more than enough time. That is why we are relatively patient, and why it is easy for us to hold on to the feelings we have once formed. But they are different. Their time is short and limited, which makes them fickle, and their hearts change far too easily.
It was the inevitable nature of beings who must feel their lives dwindling with every passing moment. Never close to eternity, they constantly made choices—conscious and unconscious—to escape the anxiety and fear that crept closer with each second. Those choices were bound not only to the mind but also to their imperfect bodies, and thus could never be consistent.
—You can certainly wait. You believe that if you simply endure, unchanged, through this fleetingly short time, you will eventually obtain everything.
Within those words lay self-mockery, derision, and even a trace of anger.
—That is an illusion. While you wait, he will change all too easily.
“Anak would never change.”
The voice that offered only a simple rebuttal was filled with nothing but resistance; there was no conviction in it.
—How long do you think a human can live? A hundred years? Yes. Right now, that might seem quite sufficient to you. You probably think he still has about seventy years left.
His words were no longer directed only at Rofena, but at himself as well.
—But humans age quickly. Their minds and emotions are heavily influenced by their bodies. Do you truly believe he will remain the same twenty or thirty years from now?
She could not answer. Though she had thought much about Anak and tried to understand him, she had never considered this. She tried desperately not to show it, but her eyes were already trembling.
—Do not delude yourself. Time is not the leisurely thing you think it is. Even now, the time you have to spend with the version of him you love is shrinking far faster than you imagine—and it will never return.
“Then what the hell are you telling me to do?!”
Her emotions, which she had been barely holding back, exploded outward.
“He doesn’t want the situation to change right now! What’s the point of saying all this to me? What am I supposed to do?!”
Intense flames surged along her body and struck the barrier walls. Once the fire filled the inside of the barrier and then vanished, Granbipra, who had paused for a moment, continued.
—…I do not know what you should do either. That is something you will have to figure out from now on.
Perhaps because Rofena had released her emotions in an instant, Granbipra’s voice, which had been growing heavier, and the emotions beneath it, had returned somewhat to their original state.
—I only spoke because I did not want you to make the same mistake.
There was no more conversation between Rofena and Granbipra. Rofena needed to reconsider her emotions and circumstances once more, while Granbipra remained lost in ancient memories, clutching the remnants of choices he had never made—choices that now held no meaning.
“Got it. That direction, then.”
Following Erill’s signal from above, I moved toward the opposite side. Scouting from the sky first was essential for finding a suitable location, but because Erill herself drew so much attention, we had no choice but to proceed this way.
Erill drew the gazes directed at her and gradually moved farther away in the opposite direction, while I activated an autonomous barrier around myself to erase my presence and scent before slowly advancing.
Even though I was surrounded by a barrier, walking through a forest with no proper path—never knowing when I might be discovered—was far from a pleasant experience. I tried to console myself by recalling the time I had infiltrated an enemy fortress through the sewers.
Finding a place where I could hide completely, like the spot where Granbipra had been, was practically impossible. Whether sooner or later, discovery was inevitable, so the best option was to find a location that was easy to defend.
Though burying myself deep underground was one possibility, there was no guarantee that being underground would be safe. Monsters that dug tunnels and lived beneath the earth were common, and I had no idea how many such creatures existed in this Ancient Forest.
After walking a little farther, I found the kind of place Erill had spotted and reported earlier. It was not an open clearing; rather, it was densely packed with trees and grass. At least from the sky, the ground below would be invisible, and thanks to the thick trees and lush undergrowth, it would not easily catch the eye unless someone came quite close.
It was not an ideal spot for combat, but the terrain made attacking far more difficult than defending, so it was good enough. After finding a suitable place to position the egg, I took out the crystal. I took a few more steps to fine-tune the location, then activated it.
“It’s done. I’ve found a suitable location, so now……”
Something felt off. I had never expected the atmosphere to be pleasant after leaving the two of them alone, but the very air was different. Granbipra’s face was hidden behind his shell, so I could not tell, but Rofena wore a grave expression, her lips pressed tightly together.
“Did something happen between you two?”
No answer came.
“Rofena?”
“No, nothing happened. Let’s go.”
I did not believe her, but pressing further would not change anything, and wasting time was unwise.
“Understood. Then I will see you in two days.”
I placed my hand on Granbipra’s shell and activated the crystal. We returned to the previous location. I had tried to be precise with the positioning, but there must have been a slight error—the egg was tilted a little, though it had still settled properly.
“…What did you say to her?”
—I offered a few presumptuous words regarding the feelings you two hold for each other.
I had no idea what he might have said. Or rather, there were far too many possibilities to narrow it down to one. The only certainty was that whatever it was, it was not pleasant.
“…As you said, it was a presumptuous meddling.”
At my gesture, sentences appeared in the surrounding air. As I had already said, I had no intention of simply praying we would not be discovered. Whether sooner or later, discovery was inevitable, and I had to prepare for it perfectly.
From between the floating sentences, creatures resembling clumps of green moss crawled out. Behind those moss-like bodies stretched a long tail like a scorpion’s, tipped with a brown stinger.
The difference from a scorpion’s stinger was that these could be fired at enemies.
Their name was Stis Dazlang. Dazlang was the name of a tree that mainly grew in the south, meaning “shooting tree.”
The creatures slowly crawled toward the trees positioned relatively outward and climbed up them. They settled onto leaves, branches, and trunks, and within mere seconds of stopping, their bodies changed to perfectly match the color of whatever they clung to.
Those on leaves turned deep green, those on branches turned brown, and those on trunks took on a darker, rougher brown pattern that mimicked the bark.
This was why they were called Stis Dazlang—shooting trees. They generally lived on trees and indiscriminately shot stingers at approaching prey. A single stinger was not particularly potent, but enough of them could fell even an ogre or a troll with strong regenerative abilities.
Controlling them was easy, but no matter how detailed my commands, they were too primitive to distinguish friend from foe unless I maintained a constant mental link. That was why I had rarely used them in the last war, but now, identifying allies no longer mattered. Every being approaching from this direction would be an enemy.
Next, more sentences appeared across the ground. Though I had nearly exhausted my stock and only a few remained, there were still some that could be useful in this situation.
When the sentences vanished, green, round-bodied creatures with five vine-like tentacles raised upward appeared—things that could easily be mistaken for plants at first glance.
Ashd Trappers. They snatched prey with acidic tentacles and dissolved them for food. I had used them so often during the last war for buying time during retreats and in siege battles that only these eight remained that I could summon. I did not know if others existed elsewhere, but the ones within reach of my call now numbered only this few.
To fill that gap, I summoned slightly similar but fundamentally different creatures.
Round bodies with three or four tentacles stretching upward. Up to that point they were almost identical, but the massive mouth gaping in the middle of their bodies and the sharp teeth inside were completely different from the Ashd Trappers.
Their name was Kwooli. Monsters that shoved everything that approached into their mouths first, they were not as effective as Ashd Trappers, but as traps they were sufficient to block or slow down incoming enemies.
—Will this be enough?
Granbipra asked, sounding somewhat doubtful. It was a reasonable reaction. The creatures I had summoned and placed were little more than traps, and that was all I could expect from them. Once our location was discovered and a large force attacked, these alone would only buy time.
“Our goal was to buy time anyway, wasn’t it?”
—Of course, but ordinary monsters are one thing. If even one of the managers comes, this will not be nearly enough. Of course Satal himself will not come, but Hirde or Toquas will definitely appear in person.
“Those are the names of the other managers?”
He gave a brief affirmation. It had been a pointless question anyway. I wanted to ask why he thought the manager named Satal would not come personally, but I decided to set that aside for now.
“Don’t worry. I only summoned this many to avoid drawing attention. Once the battle begins, Erill will arrive, and I plan to call forth my other summons as well.”
—It is presumptuous of me to say this when I am the one receiving help, but even if you and she are strong, protecting me while surrounded by two managers and countless monsters seems difficult.
Though he had included me out of politeness, it was clear from his earlier words that he did not consider Erill and me to be of equal weight. I was not particularly offended; rather, I found it impressive that he did not forget courtesy even in small matters.
In truth, it was common for a summoner to be treated as weaker than their summons, even during the era when we Dark Priests had been objects of fear.
“Don’t worry. There is a reason I chose this location.”
At my words, he said nothing more. Whether he believed me or was merely pretending out of politeness, I could not tell.
—What the hell are Hirde and Toquas doing?
Duru Satal was flustered by the sudden loss of contact with Elde Toquas and Wabutu Hirde. Although their subordinates and soldiers still seemed to be searching for Granbipra, the sudden disappearance of two key figures in such a critical situation was enough to make him uneasy.
—Could they have been attacked? Has Granbipra already revived? No, that cannot be!
Countless monsters under his will were conducting the search, and he was especially monitoring the movements of the phoenix flying through the sky, yet nowhere could he find any trace of Granbipra.
—That human… where on earth did he come from?
When he had first heard about the human and the unfamiliar monsters he commanded, Duru Satal had not paid much attention. It was not common, but humans occasionally entered this forest, and they either left soon after or, more often, lost their lives.
When his army had marched toward the cave where Granbipra was hiding, he had been able to observe the human directly through the shared consciousness. He had seen the man using strange monsters and spells to block and slaughter his forces, but even then he had not been particularly concerned.
He could not tell whether the human was helping Granbipra, trying to capture him without knowing his place, or simply chasing the phoenix, but the army advancing on the cave had only been a distraction anyway. The real main force had been preparing to collapse the cave from above.
Moreover, the human had fled soon after. Duru Satal had erased the man from his mind and watched the collapsing cave with satisfaction. Although Granbipra would eventually appear somewhere in the forest again in the form of an egg and wait for the day of his revival, he had believed the immediate crisis had been safely overcome.
However, after examining the remains inside the cave, he discovered that Granbipra’s egg was not there. Only then did he focus all his attention on the human he had seen earlier.
Yet even now, with nearly a full day having passed, neither Granbipra nor the human had appeared, and to make matters worse, contact with the other two managers had also been lost. He could not help but feel impatient.
—If only I had a body that could move!
Duru Satal, Astar Prte. He Who Hides Everywhere. The Ever-Abundant One. Fitting those titles, he connected and shared consciousness with countless other creatures, existing everywhere and possessing many things, yet his true body could neither hide nor move.
There was nothing special about the ordinary scene of trees growing thickly. Duru Satal’s form was nowhere to be seen, yet this was precisely what Duru Satal was.
Though they appeared to be ordinary trees, the roots of roughly twenty trees in this area were interconnected, their tangled roots forming something akin to a massive brain.
A collective consciousness of trees. That was Duru Satal’s true nature.
—……!
He felt the consciousness of one of the searching soldiers cut off amid intense pain. At the same time, his impatience vanished.
Although not every creature in this forest was under the managers’ influence, in all his long years he had never encountered a being in the Ancient Forest that inflicted such pain.
This was clearly the work of the alien creatures commanded by that unfamiliar human. He directed every soldier sharing his consciousness toward that location. There was no need for yesterday’s deception or special tactics.
He would summon even the subordinates of Hirde and Toquas. This time, he would end it for good.