Baptism

When the purple rose faded away, Vakt stood straight, free from his prior wounds. Similarly to Orkan, he had undergone a transformation as a result of his baptism by the Essence. However, there were some clear difference between the two.

In contrast to Orkan's large and imposing frame, Vakt kept a somewhat slender build although he was now about twenty centimeters taller which made him to be around a meter-ninety tall. His skin had turned to a very light gray tone, reminiscent of the eagle's coat of feathers.

The most noticeable thing that had changed, was the apparition of a purple marking all along his inner right arm, where there was previously a deep gash. Tiny rune-like sigils sprouted from the line, encircling his arm with a larger concentration of these sigils on his hand.

As he flexed his right hand, a smile drifted to his lips as he felt the great strength he now possessed. His amethyst eyes looked to the distance, it seemed to him as if the world had become more vibrant. Although he could make out the countless leaves on the trees some kilometers away, this overflow of information didn't seem to cause him any issues.

He had been right; the eagle was similar in a way to the bear his brother Orkan had felled. And like him, he had gained great strength, perhaps even surpassing the latter.

A flicker passed through his eyes as small flecks of purple Essence gathered around his fist, small arcs of lightning crackling all around it. He looked to the edge of the forest as the reinforcements sent by his Lord had finally arrived. Although he had not needed their aid to slay the eagle in the end, they would make carrying it back to the Dungeon a much easier task.

Taking his bow in hand, he drew it back before a frown made its way to his face. As he had expected, even if he could still use the bow, his body could now handle a much greater draw weight which rendered his current weapon somewhat obsolete.

Acknowledging a command from his Lord, he slowly released the tension before notching an arrow and drawing the bow again. This time, he also channeled his newly acquired lightning.

Elroy observed attentively as the purple Essence formed lightning which was then drawn around the arrow, somewhat concentrating around the arrowhead. However, he could also see that, as the lightning crackled, it started to leave scorched marks all over the arrow and the bow. Soon enough, Vakt had to let the bow down as it burst into flames.

'Well this certainly won't do', thought Elroy, 'I'll have to find a replacement.'

He recalled the peculiar tree the eagle had made its nest on. It seemed as if lightning had struck it, being charred black, and yet it had purple leaves sprouting from its branches. As Elroy had Vakt go back to the tree, he could now see faint traces of purple Essence leaving the leaves before being absorbed by him.

'Perhaps this is why it nested here' he thought.

He then had Vakt cut down one of the large branches of this blackened tree. Surprisingly, even as Vakt used his steel saber to do so, it took him quite a bit of effort to chop the branch off the trunk. Channeling his lightning once again, the blackened wood seemed to not be destroyed or affected in any particular way. In fact, as the lightning continued to crackle around it, it seemed to be reinforced in some way.

Having decided that this wood would be the material from which Vakt's new weapons would be made, Elroy had him cut a few more branches before accompanying the hobgoblins back to the dungeon. After arriving, Vakt immediately set himself to work to carve out the wood in the desired shape.

Before long, he was now looking at an ebon-black longbow in addition to a set of arrows made from the same wood. He had also used sinew from the eagle to make the bow string and some of its feathers for the ebon arrows' fletching. He still had his previous arrows as he could shoot them from the new longbow, however, he would not be able to use his lightning in conjunction with them. Not unless he wished to destroy the arrows, or set them on fire at the very least.

Testing out his new bow, he notched an ebon arrow before drawing it to a half-moon. Concentrating lightning into it, he then released the arrow. With a low crack, the arrow seemed to transform into a purple ray as it flew through several trees before glancing off a rock and landing some distance away

Similarly to Orkan, he had also taken the opportunity to craft himself some bone armor from the bones of the eagle coupled with its tough feathers for additional padding.

After that was done, Elroy summoned a new warg to serve as a mount for Vakt, the previous one having been killed in the fight with the mysterious eagle. Thereafter, he let him free to do whatever he wished.

Vakt chose to go back to the lightning-struck tree. Meditating under its eave, he could feel that the traces of purple Essence he was absorbing were furthering a peculiar change within him.

In this fashion, a few days passed by in complete tranquility. Not much had happened inside the dungeon as the goblins continued to make steady progress on digging the dungeon further into the mountain. Orkan had continued to train on using his wind-blades, he was now able to coat his claymore in a large amount of wind Essence before launching large wind-blades from it. Vakt had been meditating all this while, occasionally practicing long distance shooting with the aid of his enhanced vision.

Elroy had been experimenting with creating new equipment for the goblins as he had still not totally given up on making them useful in combat. Particularly, he had been experimenting with crossbows. Although they would never be able to fire at the same rate, or even accuracy, of the hobgoblins, when armed with crossbows, the little fellows would still be quite a threat.

He had also been working on trying to summon some kind of lizardmen, however, his attempts were all unsuccessful until now. This was unlike experimenting with hobgoblins as he had had prior experience in summoning their base-form, goblins, in that case. Instead, he was now trying to innovate from scratch which proved itself harder than expected.

On the dawn of the fourth day, Elroy received a signal from one of his eagles beyond the valley that there was a disturbance in the forest. Looking towards the source of this disturbance, he could see a large group of people. On closer inspection, he could tell that the majority of them were workers while there was a somewhat distinct group of soldiers.

They appeared to be protecting a familiar figure.

As he looked at the poor horses dragging loaded charrettes through the forest grounds, occasionally getting stuck and requiring a push from the workers, he couldn't help but feel that this wasn't the most ideal terrain to build a town. After-all, there wasn't even much arable land to farm outside the valley.

He could nonetheless tell that the terrain would be extremely advantageous in case of having to mount a defense.

'A fort would be almost invulnerable in this position', he thought, still looking on as the convoy struggled to make its way up the sloped terrain.