The Amber Sword

Nodas had a dream, in which he was surrounded by dead creatures like the tide, and in the endless desert of silence, those bones appeared calcified, grey-yellow, hollow orbits dangling with a raging red flame of skeletons, coming at him from the waves of darkness.

He dreamed of his comrades falling one after the other, and the position was filled with arrows, looking up, all four bodies, and Elouin's broken flag drowned exhaustedly, motionless.

Until the last moment, it was as if the heavens and the earth had poured down upon Him -

Then he woke up from this dream, screaming, sitting out of a bed covered in soft reeds, with a hint of chill in the black forest in the morning, but Nodas touched his back, his vest was wet, and his pale forehead was covered with fine sweat beads.

He gasped in his bed and sat back for a while, raising his head to see that a dawn of light had flowed through the window sill into this tiny room - a window that was in fact a round hole dug out on the trunk.

The room is simple, mostly wooden, and even the whole room is empty, dug out in the trunk, with some vines dripping down from the top, creating a natural and simple space.

Nodas held on to his forehead, which was a shocking reminder that he was no longer on that battlefield. It had been months since he had been rescued here by strange people, but he often had nightmares like this.

He took a breath and stood up, shaking a little, and then suddenly he heard a noisy noise coming from outside the window, which was a little strange.

The village has always been quiet.

Is something wrong?

Or has Easter begun?

Nodas came to the window, and his questionable eyes looked out--

……

The Druids set up a settlement on the outskirts of the Citywind Ring, a town called the ’Green Tower', which is a town, and indeed inhabits thousands of people, as well as a large number of half-humans, tree elves and some Tanians.

The Druids have long lived in the Black Forest mixed with other races, and they have built many such villages in the Forest - planting a fast-growing ancient tree and living in the trunks of these magical ancient trees.

Built about twenty or thirty metres from the ground, the village is connected by suspended bridges, which are tangled together by magical vines, placing wooden planks in the middle that are stronger than the most robust stone bridges.

Countless suspension bridges cross between ancient trees, constituting a strange landscape of a city in the middle of the sky, made by Druids at sunrise and at sunset, but half-mans do the opposite, they love the glorious market of lights, and they are also decorated with lights on suspension bridges - a huge flower bud, like a lantern, that can glow at night in a bell orchid.

But more are those spinning, crude vines that lead to the upper levels of the town, the Druids rally, and the eagle nest of giant eagles.

Druids have been allied with giant eagles for centuries.

Brando followed the Grand Druid gray crow as the green vines crawled up and down, watching these wingspans fly up and down between those giant trunks.

The giant tree crowns are like their clouds, allowing them to travel between these green clouds.

Of course Brando also saw the patrols of the semi-man guards, who were wearing shiny armour and walking past them with a serious sentry helmet - a combatant nation that lived with Druid for quite some time, and whose individual strength was even stronger than the cavemen.

But in the Black Forest, they also depend on the Druids to survive.

In addition to them, there are plenty of Tree Elves, Tanians and Bear Monsters in the town, inhabited by flying horses and unicorns, all guests of the Druids as long as they believe in Nia, the goddess of the forest.

Druid, however, is not responsible for the day-to-day operation of the town, in fact the defense of the Green Tower is in the hands of a semi-human chief named Zegna, while the day-to-day operation is managed by an executive council composed of Tree Elves, Tanians and Bear Monsters.

The Druids live in the upper Druids, which have their own independent body called the Deadwood Parliament to handle all Druids' internal affairs.

Their main business, of course, is to monitor the rings of the wind and the dynamics of the black forest.

The upper reaches of the Druids are much simpler than the towns, with the Grand Druids wrapping around a square with thick vines between the six ring-distributed ancient trees, the center of which is the statue of the Goddess of Nia, and the hollow branches of the six ancient trees in six directions make up six halls, while the lobby just west is the seat of the dead wood parliament.

Sitting two ancient tree men, two or three stories tall, sitting at the entrance to this hall, napping on their upper bodies with the palms of tree girls - tree men who seem to be guards in the lobby, but have not fulfilled their responsibilities.

But as Brando's pedestrians approached them, the tree man on the left half opened one eye, sweeping Grey Crow Grand Druid's eyes and slowly closing them again.

Another tree man is snoring, sounding like a song from an ancient woodland.

“Please follow me.” Grey Crow Grand Druid points to the two tree men and then turns back and says to the others.

Brando nodded and followed him into the lobby - his young men had long been left in the town, naturally hosted by welcoming tree elves, and Kuran and Lopal were with them in case these over-energized guys got into trouble.

The only people behind the young lords at this moment are Sy and Antitina, who have never seen anything like it before, full of curiosity in their eyes, even if the aristocratic lady wants to hold onto something, she can't help but measure it.

The hall is no different from the traditional architectural style of the Druids, plain and natural, with little extra decoration except for the statues of some of the ancestors Druids and the Beast Spirit - but the hall was excavated around, leaving only a few columns to make it look like it was bare in the wind.

Of course, the magical ancient tree is very resilient, and even so, it will not affect their growth. From here up, this ancient tree is as lush as a leaf.

Brando saw a circle of people standing in the lobby.

The Druid Elder Andrew, whom he met for the first time, was among them, along with several other elders, a total of seventeen. But Brando felt something like Grey Gray Gray Grand Druid from them, only two.

So the three great Druids of the Green Tower are here.

“You can really see me.” Brando couldn't help but think, and then suddenly he saw a tiny figure coming out of the room on one side, with long green hair and one head pounding into his arms.

“Brother Brando!” Fania buried her head in Brando's arms and shouted happily.

As the chosen Forest Goddess, she had long known that Brando had left Cold Cedar Collar to go here for more than a month, finally waiting for the day.

Brando didn't recognize this little girl until a moment later. Fania has grown a little taller over the past six months and her face is much more red. It looks like Druids are taking good care of this little girl.

But he didn't know there was a misunderstanding, and the Druids wouldn't take care of people, and Fania's life and living in the last few months has actually been taken care of by the Tree Pokémon Council, because, commissioned by the Grand Druids, these hospitable Pokémon dare not be lazy.

Brando touched Fania's head and raised his head and said to Elder Druid, "I like people who believe in words, and you're not lying to me —— I'm happy. ”

Fania seemed to understand that Brando was about to get down to business, and she responded to Brando's hand twisting her head and then stood aside.

Antitina crouched down and grabbed the little girl's hand and smiled at her.

Fania responded with a sweet smile.

“Lord," said Grand Druid, the oldest man in the centre of the seventeen Druid elders, with his crutches and a long leaf cloak, his eyebrows must be grey, wrinkled grooves staggered on his face, but only one pair of eyes sharp and divine.

But when he had just spoken, Brando politely interrupted him: "Elder,” he said: "I am a nobleman of Eruin, but it makes no sense to leave the human world in that capacity, so you don't have to call me that. ”

“Here you are the elder, I am the young man, and you call me Brando. ”

The elder slightly beamed, then his expression softened a little and nodded. But looking to Andrew beside him, he asked the latter to stand up and say to Brando, "Lord, let me tell you...”

Brando knew it was in return for respect, and he nodded and didn't object.

“The elder wanted to ask, Lord, how many layers of credibility did you want to know about Druid's ancient magic and even the secrets of the Black Forest? ”

Brando thinks these Druids don't deal with people, so why don't they come all the way to the mountains to talk about business without first giving someone a break? It gives the impression that it's too close.

However, he likes this style, otherwise if he really stays here for three days and then slowly discusses business after dinner, he won't be in the wind ring for half a month.

He doesn't have that much time to waste.

And he thought about it, and he said, "Ancient magic is something I just know, and it doesn't mean I understand, or even better. As for this black forest on the Tonigal border, I do know some insights. ”

“For example, the ruins in the forest are Valhalla. Is this true?” A tall Druid asked.

“No,” Brando looked at the guy and confirmed that he was Druid of the Ring of the Beast: “I'm just saying that Valhalla is in the Ring of the Wind, and as to whether it's that relic or not - only that the two positions are very close. ”

The elder nodded his head, Brando complained and didn't come to an easy conclusion, which made him feel somewhat credible. But he didn't answer, and the other Druids just looked at each other.

……