For a long time, I did not have a chance to simply sit down and practice my magic. But now I had more than enough freedom, with the empire most likely thinking I was dead and my only company a curious wooden woman. The dryad was largely uninterested in my magical pursuits. The back-and-forth questions largely petered off, since there was only so much we could talk about. But still she remained watching me.

  My main project before I left the forest was creating a new binding. It was significantly more complex than creating a new arcane formula. The project was simple; I wanted to tackle one of the problems with unfocused bindings, particularly the issue with the sphere of influence. My energy ring was a foot wide, and with a passive binding, the sphere of influence was limited to that size.

  That was fine for the ring, but my protection amulet couldn't function without changing the size of the sphere of influence. Knowing this limitation and my intention to start recruiting people, I needed to offer them added protection against things like arrows.

  All bindings really did was establish the sphere of influence and create a channel for the primal energy to flow. Therefore, I had to modify how the sphere of influence was defined within the binding.

  It took hundreds of attempts over weeks; even the slightest error in the binding would result in failure or an unstable circuit. Fortunately, there was plenty of fuel around, and the dryad seemed not to care if I started a fire. I often felt less like a friend to her and more like a wandering mouse that she felt no need to crush.

  In the middle of the clearing was my bracer with the reduced gravity circuit activated. The sphere of influence was around ten feet wide, and it only had enough power to reduce the effects of gravity by around 20%.

  Still, I smiled as I walked into it. Energy was draining from my amulet, but the binding was completely unfocused. I succeeded.

  “Admirable work, though I am surprised you did not consult me,” the dryad observed.

  “I wanted to know how difficult the process of creating a new binding would be; I won't always have you nearby to ask this information.” I cupped my chest and started jumping up and down. Then I shook my head. “The efficiency is quite lacking; any suggestions?”

  The information she provided me was usually sparse, at times unhelpful, and once she even asked if I was willing to sacrifice again. I didn't even want to know what else she would want from me.

  “Your definition for the sphere of influence is prone to instability and inefficiency without accounting for the material being used. When projecting the sphere within your animus, imagine the circle being stretched. The same amount of material just over a larger circumference,” she stated.

  I raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Defining the material within the binding runes… And stretching the material? I suppose it would just be a thinner ring. What a novel idea!’

  “Would that not apply to any binding?” I asked.

  “Of course, these bindings you use are primitive, like the runes in the arcane formulae; more detail and complexity are needed for increased efficiency. I presume you have been accounting for this using the strength of your animus.”

  I blinked repeatedly. “That would imply I would have to use a unique binding for each circuit.” Then my mind continued along that path. “What if I defined both the source and load material within the bindings?” I mused.

  “It is odd that you have not done this already.” She stated, and while her voice was monotone, I could almost feel the bemusement in it.

  ‘Well, I have some time before my inevitable departure.’

  Three days later

  It was indeed foolish that I didn't add more complexity to my bindings; accounting for the material being used made the circuit at least 10 to 15% more efficient. After my success, the dryad and I devolved into another bout of pseudo-philosophical discussion.

  “Your life was certainly unpleasant, but why do you seem slightly grateful for your suffering?” The dryad asked.

  “Grateful?” I questioned.

  “Indeed, I would understand a human child facing abuse would feel resentment, but I also sense gratitude from you as you speak about that time.”

  I hesitated to answer, and I searched my mind.

  “It’s not gratitude exactly. Most humans live empty and meaningless lives; we are born, we work, we marry, we breed, and then we die.” I sighed as I thought back to my childhood. “Most of us will never be remembered. Content to spend their lives meaninglessly and die in the village where they were born.”

  “I see. If you were properly nurtured, then you would have been like them. Happy and content, no magic, no dragon, nothing. A life meaningless… But I must ask, does your life have meaning now?”

  I nodded firmly. “Indeed, I have more meaning…more purpose than most humans will ever experience.”

  “You have killed, lied, cheated, and stolen. Done everything in your power because of this inherent meaning and drive.” I nodded, and she continued speaking. “Are other humans not capable of this?”

  “Certainly, but their goals are little more than getting some form of employment, feeding their family, or some inane ambition that ultimately leads them to the same meaningless death all humans share.”

  “And these same people have the capacity to pursue these goals with the same drive you have.”

  “A few do. Flaketh comes to mind, Heywood, Derek, and even Neil to a certain extent.”

  “Yet you consider your goals above theirs. Though the only difference I can see is your personal belief in its superiority, there does not seem to exist a measurable value that raises your goals above theirs.”

  The dryad actually made a decent point. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I responded. “You have a point. Perhaps that’s another reason kings and generals send young men to their deaths. However, there is some measurable value that places my goals above theirs.“

  “That is?” She asked.

  “The effect on the world and the byproducts of my actions. If you’ve never done anything to be remembered, made no changes to the world, then did you ever really exist?”

  “That’s limited to humans.” She countered. “Your feats with magic are no more impressive to me than a child learning their letters.”

  ‘Well…that’s humbling.’

  “Do you hold your goals above others?” I asked.

  “I am a plant. I absorb sunlight and nutrients from the soil to grow. I am not different from a fern or tree.”

  “That is quite humble,” I said.

  “I simply state truth. You are, in the end, an animal. You will live and die, as all things do, even me. We will all fade in time. Your ambition is not unique; others have walked your path of power. Most fail; some succeed. You hold yourselves above human peasants, but in reality, there is no difference between you and them but what you perceive.”

  ‘Strange for her to be so… Moral?’

  “You almost sound like you have morality,” I gauged.

  “There is no such thing as morality. There is only action.”

  “Can you elaborate?” I asked.

  “The mating practices of ducks can be rather brutal and damaging for the female. Transpose the action on humans, and instead you call this gang rape… a horrible crime in your eyes. To me, there is no difference.”

  ‘I really shouldn't ask her this, but I’m too curious.’

  “The humans you had captive. Was that something you observed? ”

  “I encouraged it. Most of your human army was composed of males. It was an effective measure to ensure insemination and examination of your reproductive processes. However, due to the psychological damage, compounding after each birth, some females committed suicide or attempted to.”

  I should not have asked; unfortunately, the dryad kept talking.

  “It turns out a female body can still sustain a pregnancy even after significant brain damage. That made the births more efficient, though the men had to be forced to participate in reproduction after that point.”

  A cold chill ran up my spine as I finally had the answer to a question asked long ago.

  ‘I see it now, priest; this is what I would have become if I had truly stripped myself of any morality. I rarely pity people, but even I had limits; at the very least, all those people are dead now. Should I hold her in judgment? In her own words, she is just a plant. Rabbits often eat their own young; is she any different? Too much to think about now.’

  I took a deep breath and released all my tension.

  ‘It’s best if I never ask her about those humans again.’

  ~

  “Glorious,” I muttered as I created a one-inch-wide bracelet with shape transformation. My animus had truly progressed significantly. Before, when using shape transformation, I would use stamps or carving to inscribe the runes onto a surface, but now all I had to do was picture where the circuit would be in the bracelet and how deep the runes were to be embedded.

  Another great suggestion from the dryad was to incorporate multiple materials into the shape transformation circuit. It made the circuit slightly less efficient, but I could simultaneously shape both iron and copper. I shaped a bracelet from pure iron and inscribed the runes into the inner ring of the bracelet with molten copper. The sheer precision I could achieve was glorious, completely negating the necessity of manually stamping and filling in runes.

  Using this fact, I created a ring with a heat metal circuit. I reused the modified circuit from the enchanted swords to exclude the ring itself from the metal being heated.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Another circuit was for potential energy absorption, heat absorption from the air, and the circuit to reverse corrosion, and finally, a second protection circuit, five rings in total, all adorning my right hand. I even had the chance to analyze the circuit from the occularum.

  It was rather useless to me since it worked in two parts. The circuit was very simple; it pulled on the twin of itself. "Pulling" wasn't the correct word; it was like the two circuits were one, and once separated, they would try to move towards each other to recombine into a single entity. I had to be missing something or not using the right binding, since the circuit refused to function.

  Not even the dryad had an answer for that problem. Either way, it was of little use to me at the moment. I found that as long as I worked on something, the dryad would watch and offer advice. It was much better than asking directly, since I didn't want to risk her asking for something in return.

  I took the time to recreate most of my tools, pots, pans, and the like from the remnants of my armor.

  ~

  “Can you guess what humans would use azurite for?” I asked. Unfortunately, all my clothes were destroyed, so I had to make do with wrappings of leaves and vines. I currently looked like how most books and stores described dryads: comely women wrapped in leaves.

  “Unsure, I use azurite to control this body and make large-scale changes to myself. The sweet-smelling scent you have no doubt noted is one of the effects.”

  “What is that scent?”

  “Pollen, it is a weapon spread throughout the forest. If I desired, I could modify the pollen and turn it into a poison. You would die within minutes.”

  “Ahh, that’s how you killed so many humans.”

  “Indeed.”

  I straightened my waist-length hair and asked. “Does the size of the azurite matter or change the range?”

  “If a creature has azurite, then it is already a powerful magical beast; the size of the gem is proportional to the size of the creature. Larger gems simply create more powerful magical effects; it does not change the range.”

  I looked up at the cloudy sky and mused to myself, “So we can assume that magi use the gems for some kind of long-distance magic.”

  “That is a reasonable assumption.”

  A smile stretched across my face as I realized what the azurite was used for.

  ‘Greystone! I did wonder how thousands of lights were being powered, even though the water wheels were miles away from most of the lights. Then there were the crossbows and wagons; how were they being powered? They had to be using the stones to transmit primal energy over a long distance.’

  I kissed my teeth, still mildly annoyed that I lost out on the dragon's gem.

  ‘I do have that ring from Enoras buried… Something to think about later.’

  One Month Later

  I sprinted, heart pumping, sweat running down my back as I pushed my body and my animus to the limit. With a 30% reduction in the force of gravity, my animus bolstering my speed and stamina, I sprinted like a galloping horse, reaching speeds that should be impossible for a human, let alone a woman with my level of physical conditioning. It was strange, my animus never being off, but like anything else, it became natural over time.

  I slid to a stop, easing the strength of my animus, as a rush of exhaustion washed over me. It would still take months before I fully recovered from my healing, but I was at an acceptable level of physical conditioning. Over two months had passed since I entered the forest, and I was ready to leave. The dryad, while decent company, unnerved me; perhaps it was the sense that at any moment she could kill me or worse, depending on her intention.

  The fact that she didn't kill me was simply due to a lack of interest. I could not harm her, and all it would take was for her to activate the pollen in the air, and I would die in minutes.

  I returned to the tree and stared up at the over 500-foot-tall oak.

  A smirk came across my face.

  ~

  I took almost an hour to climb the tree using crude climbing circuits. Near 450 feet up, I sat on a branch as thick as my waist, staring out into the vast ocean of trees, watching the sun set.

  To my left, the dryad slowly emerged from the branch. She had no name, strangely enough. I looked down to see another one of her bodies still standing there staring into nothing, reminding me that she was the forest, not the beautiful wooden woman with vine hair sitting next to me.

  “I’m planning on leaving on the morrow,” I said, hoping the dryad wasn't thinking otherwise.

  “I see… Your journey should be relatively safe; your body carries my scent and a large amount of pollen. The beasts will be wary.”

  Relief flowed over me as she didn't seem to care.

  “You are free to return once you have completed your goal.” She said after several minutes of silence.

  I raised an eyebrow. Looking at her, I asked, “You assume I will?”

  “Not necessarily... I rarely have conversations with people. It is…enjoyable as far as my capacity to enjoy something goes.”

  ‘Don't ask questions you don't want answers to, Myr.’

  “Then why not force me to stay?”

  “You are too focused on your goal; forcing you to remain will lead to hate, and the conversation will cease.” I nodded in satisfaction, finding it reasonable, then she asked, “You did not answer my inquiry from two moons ago.” I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

  “Whether I find your form attractive?” I inquired.

  “Yes.”

  Throwing my mind back to that conversation, I said, “I believe I said yes. But the lack of flesh, blood, and bone does little to entice me.”

  “So, if this form were flesh, blood, and bone and I propositioned you for sex, you would accept?”

  ‘Conversations with this dryad are strange sometimes.’

  “Certainly.”

  “Curious. However, I do not have sexual desires.”

  “Then I would refuse. If my partners aren't enjoying themselves, then there is little point.”

  I could almost sense a lingering question from the dryad.

  “You want to ask something.”

  “Yes,” She paused for a moment, then asked, “Would you like to touch my animus?”

  ‘I should say no, but…’

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “We will share a memory. I do not feel as you feel or think as you think; this is the only method through which I can understand hate, love, desire, and happiness… Emotions. And I will share memories with you. ”

  ‘I wonder if I could learn something.’

  In truth, I was going to refuse, but when have I ever been risk-averse? If she could offer me any insight without some enormous cost behind it, I would take the risk.

  Taking a deep breath, I said, “Yes.”

  “Do not be alarmed; I will bring you to my heart. And hold your breath; it should not take but thirteen breaths for us to arrive.”

  My body started sinking into the wooden bark. A deep sigh escaped my lips.

  ‘There better not be vines involved.’

  I held my breath, and my body flowed through the tree. By the change in orientation, I vaguely got the sense that we were headed to the center. I fell into a pitch-black chamber. After a few moments, a light hovered in the air, illuminating the room.

  It was just a large circular wooden chamber with a massive azurite gem, as tall as I was, wrapped with vines, securing it to a wooden pedestal.

  'This was what? 40-50 times larger than the dragon's. How powerful is she? Don't even think about it, Myr.'

  Her wooden form came out of the wall and walked over. ”That would be best described as my heart.”

  “It's beautiful,” I said.

  ‘Does that mean destroying it would kill her? ... I’m ambitious, not stupid.’

  “Place a hand upon the gem, and you will feel a calling upon your animus; answer it with a memory, one of hate, one of happiness, one of love, and one of desire.”

  I nodded numbly, then she asked, “What do you wish to see?”

  “You lack emotion, but is there a memory you find precious, one that if, for some reason, you had to choose between every memory, you would keep above all others?”

  She was silent for a full minute, then said, “Yes.”

  “Then let it be that,” I said.

  “Very well, place your hand upon the gem.”

  ‘What a strange path my life has taken. But who knows what this could teach me.’

  I placed my hand on the gem, and immediately I heard a voice in my mind and felt a desire. I opened my mind to it.

  ‘Simply bring the memories to the forefront of your mind.’ The dryad said in my head.

  I started with hate, which brought me back to Farway, the lashes, the contempt, and worst of all, the cold apathy. It was so clear it was as if I was living it again; I could feel the boiling hate, the anger, and the pain. I didn't know how long it lasted until I felt a request for another memory.

  For love, I thought back to those months I spent at Darion’s dish, the dinners and breakfasts with Beth and Darion, the plays...the time spent cooking with Darion and reading with Beth... Trips into the city with Yarah... Drinks with Hewitt. It was as close to love as I have or will ever feel.

  It took longer for the dryad to request another memory, but she did.

  For happiness, I thought back to my first bit of magic, the realization of all my sacrifices being worth it, and the pure joy of finally becoming a magus. It felt so far away that melancholy washed over me.

  Finally, there was desire. I thought back to my first time with Jenna, her smell, and the taste of her skin. The sounds that escaped her lips. I shared all the memories of our dalliances; each time we grew more comfortable with each other and experimented with many ways to achieve pleasure.

  I could almost taste her on my tongue, such was the clarity of the memory. Of all of them, it was obvious the dryad was most interested in this. So I let it drift to Silvia, the whore whose name I couldn't remember, and finally Lindra.

  ‘Thank you, Myr, I will show my own. Precious memory.’

  Suddenly, my mind went blank.

  ‘

  There is nothing—no light, sound, emotion, or desire. Time moved slowly and quickly, then there was a light far into the distance, birthed from me, then another, and another. After many thousands, I began to know myself.

  Many more thousands, and I saw myself. Endless thousands, and then I saw the world outside myself. I was born; I was alive.

  After countless millions my mind awoke. I saw the real world, the true world beneath and beyond myself, beyond the illusion.

  It was beauty.

  Countless billions of lives all around me, interconnected and separate. I wanted to know everything about them and about myself. I learned even more, plunging deeper into reality.

  ‘

  As I saw the birth of the dryad’s animus, I felt tears flowing down my face. To feel life taking shape was beyond anything I'd experienced. The memories kept coming.

  ‘

  The stars, earth, blood, bone, and the basic structures of reality lay bare before me. Beneath the chaos, there were fundamental constants that governed reality.

  Time…space…dilation…warping… Gravitation… magnetism…interaction…fusion…fission.

  Cells…bacteria…evolutionary…mutation…change…blueprint…life.

  '

  I couldn't understand anything anymore; it was too much. As soon as the thought that I wanted it to stop entered my mind, everything ended, and I was standing in the wooden chamber with my hand pressed to the stone.

  I gathered my breath as the massive amount of information slipped from my mind, leaving only a vague sense of its enormity.

  “That was amazing,” I said, wiping away the tears from my face.

  ‘When was the last time I cried?’

  “There is so much more to the world, isn’t there? Far beyond what a single person can learn in a lifetime or a thousand lifetimes. I can't even begin to understand what I was seeing,” I said.

  “It is complex; perhaps if you remain for a few decades, you could begin to learn. But even then, by the time you die, it will be a drop in the vast ocean that is knowledge.”

  ‘Odd, it's almost like she’s enticing me to return. You’re not as unfeeling as you appear, are you?’

  As much as I would like to unravel those mysteries, I had my own path to follow. I sat down, staring at the massive gem. "You have so much power, yet you are content to remain here, alone."

  "Does power exist to be used? Must I have a grand goal? Power is power; it has no purpose or reason."

  I opened my mouth and closed it as I reached a realization.

  'That's why people keep asking me, "Why don't you do something with your power?" They're imagining what they could do with it. I just haven't coveted another's power in a long time.'

  "You are right. Your power is your own. There is no need to justify not using it." I said calmly.

  'Still, I wonder what kind of devastation she could create.'

  ~

  “I suppose this is farewell,” I said, standing at the edge of her clearing.

  “Indeed, safe travels. I wish you good fortune on your path.”

  Before I turned to leave, I asked, “Can I give you a name? I would rather remember you as something other than "The Dryad".”

  The dryad was silent for a few moments before she spoke. “The humans referred to my genus of tree as a Dalian oak. ”

  “What about Dahlia?” I suggested. ”It’s a rather pretty flower.”

  “That is acceptable; you may refer to me as Dahlia.”

  I smiled and said, “Until we meet again, Dahlia.”

  The wooden face smiled, the first shred of emotion. Though I knew it was simply another form of mimicry, it was still the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

  ~

  As I walked to the edge of the forest, my mind flew back to that moment, sharing the Dryad’s memories; it was glorious and terrifying. It was as if reality was laid bare to me, and I saw truth beneath the truth, though it was beyond what my mind could understand.

  It was, as she said, what I knew was but a drop in a vast ocean. It added to my reasons to achieve immortality.

  ‘Let’s bury the goal for now, Myr. It is time for us to return to the world. It was time for me to take control, to bend this empire to my will. Furthermore, it will be a long road, a timescale measured in decades.’

  ‘So be it, I am willing to sacrifice the rest of my natural life towards this goal. At thirty, I should at least be able to create Eaqlicite and already be a queen. At forty, I should be an empress, well on my way to achieving my ultimate goal.’

  ‘I have a few things to clear up first. I need to rid myself of all of my past grievances.’

  An evil chuckle escaped my throat.

  “Mother, Bren, Aalis, Treanor, Laron, all you people of Farway, and of course, my dear husband Greg.”

  ‘Yes, Myr. Burn everything they love, everything they cherish. Bathe it all in fire; make even the ravens and rats starve when you’re finished.’

  The evil chuckle turned into a full-blown laugh.

  “Your dear Edith is coming home. I do hope you’ve missed me, because we have so much to talk about.”