The Dryad - Chapter 101

We continued walking in silence making our way through the woods. The longer we walked the stronger the fire energy grew. It would not be long before the fire energy outshone the plant energy. I was not sure if that was really a fair comparison. Fire energy came quickly, but in return burned out quickly.

As we started to get closer to the fire, I spread out my senses more finding exactly where the fire was and what it had already burned. Behind the fire was practically blank to me with only some roots still holding onto life. It was hard to see this much destruction, but in some ways the completeness of the devastation was good for me. The fire had nowhere to go but forward.

Stretching out my powers, I made a ring in my mind a few miles around the fire spirit. Starting from the outside edge I caused all the plants to wither and die. “Ivy, continue what I started, working closer and closer to the fire spirit.” Then turning to the bowl of water in my hands, “Mist, call on any water you can find. From the ground or the dead plants, wherever you can find it. Make your name sake proud. I will speed on the photosynthesis as much as I can to push more water into the air.”

Increasing how much water the plants released was the easier part, but the next step was harder. Dead wood would just give the fire more food. On the other hand, rot did not burn well at all. The death I had caused earlier was only the plants. I had left the fungus alone. But it would not stay that way. Focusing on fungus, I caused its filaments to spread and grow releasing enzymes into the plants that were no longer able to resist them. I did my best to keep the fungi focusing on developing more filaments and breaking down more plants, but my control was lacking some and many mushrooms and molds sprouted fruiting bodies.

The ring of decay spread throughout the area, growing faster and faster, with the fog that had started to fill the air. This was not the death that Maximus had brought on my woods. This was rebirth. Once this crisis was over, this ground would be the best in the forest if I could get the fungus back under control. In the end it would only take a few years for them to run out of food at this accelerated rate. I wish I could get the insects to aid in breaking apart the logs, but without Faun the fungus would have to be enough.

Ivy was doing a great job and most of the trees inside the circle had already fallen. She even was trying to help me with the fungi but her control over them was still basically nonexistent. Mist was also doing a good job and the surrounding woods were covered in a fine mist. The fire would not be able to jump this break. We continued as the fire grew closer.

Something was not seeming right though. The fire spirit should have already noticed what we were doing. But it just continued on devouring the forest as if nothing changed. It would not take long at all for us to meet. A few hours at most. But the longer she gave us to prepare the less chance she would have at escaping.

Mist, Ivy and myself continued to work hard, but Mist was hurting. The water energy in this part of my woods was thin. She had used all of the free energy in the woods and much of her internal energy. Even then she pushed further. She was grasping at the remaining small traces of water energy she could find in the woods. She had to stop. Her pond was small and far away. If she did not stop soon she might harm herself permanently. Mist had already helped so much, and I was sure I was not going to lose to the fire. Worst case it would take me a few centuries to recover.
for visiting.

“Mist, you need to stop,” I said looking down at her in concern.

“I can still do some more,” she replied through her fatigue. She kept pulling on more energy. As she did, she started to shine while vapor billowed off her bowl.

“Mist, you have already done enough,” I said but she did not seem to agree. “Mist, you are running out of energy. You need to stop,” I said in a stern voice.

She still did not listen. “I can still do more, I know it.”

She really had done enough and the risk she was putting herself in was not worth it. “You are going to hurt yourself. Please stop,” I said pleadingly. I felt my focus on the fire break slack a little as I was dealing with Mist’s rebelliousness.

Finally she ran out of what little energy she had been working with. I thought she would realize that she really needed to be done. When I felt Mist reach out even harder I was shocked. For a second I thought that she was gaining greater strength all of a sudden, but then the light she was emitting began to flicker and fade.

I sent my energy into her trying to find what was wrong. “No! No nonono!” I cried out feeling her spirit. The recirculating spiritual pathways within her had started to run dry. There was not enough energy flowing through her to keep the pathways stable. This… could not be happening.

As I was watching I felt some of the outer layers begin to break free of her control. “Mist, no! Noooo!” I shouted as I fell to my knees still holding on to her bowl. I cut off all my power from the fungus and focused it into the bowl. Nothing else mattered right now. I used my power to push her thin energy along its pathways, trying to keep them from deteriorating further, but it was like grabbing air. Nothing I did seemed to work at pushing or pulling it along the paths. Watching in frustration, tears fell from my eyes as Mist continued to unwind. Why was it not working? I was supposed to be able to do this. I was told I could do this.

Every time I felt another part of her coming undone I tried to grab onto it and hold it in place, but it just continued to slip through my grasp, wiggling its way around my strands of energy. There was nothing I could do to hold onto it. Mist had used all the free water energy and she was having an even harder time than normal converting my spare energy into the water energy she needed. I saw her fighting, trying to hold on, but there was nothing I could do. I was failing.