Library Of the Druids

With other matters settled Kur and Yimi had left the Lair and arrived back at FP-108. They were in the same barren land sucked dry of life. 

"How are we from the library Yimi" Kur asked? He was in a rush and needed to know if they could make it in time or if he would have to carry her.

She covered her eyes and looked at the sky. She was trying to get a better feel of where they were. With the land ruined it was hard for her to get a good gauge where they were, but cold guess. "I'd saw we are another day and a half away. That is if we are going non stop at our current pace. The planet is huge so we have time."

Kur shoot his head. They only had 16 hours to stop the Vampire. They couldn't keep going at that pace. He made his decision. Without saying a word he picked up Yimi in his arms. She did her best to protest, but Kur was much stronger than her. 

"What are you doing?! Put me down!"

"We don't have enough time" Kur said in a low voice. "We need to get to the library as soon as possible. So hang on tight. I'm going to run full speed!"

Before she could say anything else, Kur took off in a full sprint! Yimi had to curl herself into a ball in Kur's arms to be able to breath. She was upset he didn't even ask to carry her like this, but questions started to pop up in her head.

Why was he in such a hurry? Why did he say they didn't have enough time? She had to find out. So she extended her hand and began to cast a technique [Air Shield]. It was a simple technique that would create an air shield around them. It's mainly used to divert arrows or bullets away from the caster. Although, Yimi was using it as a wind resistance shield. Allowing Kur to not only run faster, but give Yimi some time to breath and talk. 

"Kur hang on. What the h#ll is going on? Why are we in such a rush?!"

He didn't slow his pace as he talked. He couldn't afford to anyway. Not sure how to explain why he was in rush he lied.

"While I was working on Alduin, something about this planet didn't sit right with me. Why would a random horde of undead attack this planet? It's not filled with as many living beings as other planets that have cities." He paused to let Yimi closer to the same solution as him

"That being said. This planet is on the outskirts of COS space and only has contact with the rest of the universe once a month. If I was an high level undead this is where I would strike if I wanted to slowly take over COS space. And to top if off if your library had relics an artifacts of your people. I would have another person go there to steal what I could while another group took over the planet!"

As Kur spoke it dawned on her. He was right! There are dozens of relics hidden deep within the library. She felt stupid for not thinking that there was more going on on the planet. Now she understood why Kur was in a rush remained silent and focused on keeping the [Air Shield] on the lowest setting to save as much mana as possible. She had the feeling that there would be a tough fight ahead of them!

Kur spent the next 6 hours running without stopping. He had spent nearly half his mana to maintain the pace they were going. Even Yimi had to deactivate her [Air Shield] every now and then. She was draining mana to quickly. During that time the [Air Shield] was down Kur had slowed his pace, only slightly, to talk to Yimi and make sure they were heading the right direction. He had to be corrected a few times when Yimi had gotten her barring's. 

It took them another 4 hours to finally arrive to where the library was. 10 hours in total. Kur was down to 40% mana while Yimi was down to 50%. It wouldn't look good when they had to fight, but thankfully Kur has a nasty surprise in store for the vampire. Kur was also half glad they didn't run into any more undead. He didn't want to leave them to cause more destruction and he also didn't want to detour away from the library. It was a win win!

The library was a marvel! It was a temple built into a mountain. Very similar to the Varaha Cave Temples in Tamil Nadu. Although the carving on this temple were more dedicated to nature. Large oak trees were the pillars and before them stood two types of mythology creatures; the Satyr and the Dryad. It was beautiful.

"These were the original guardians of nature and the first teachers of magic to the Druids in ancient times." Yimi began to explain a little of their teachings.

"In ancient times before we had space travel Dryads and Satyrs had the power to traverse long distances through trees and forests. Not just from one side of a world to the other, but planet to planet. Many races throughout space had met them and learned the basics of [Nature Magic] from them. Those were the Golden Times. When hundred of races loved side by side in harmony together."

Her voice became more solace. She touched one of the statues as she talked more. "They were our teachers and taught us many things. Although most of it were lost during the Shadow Years. When Dark Druids and undead wear are biggest fear. Those that fell to the need and lust for power turned to the darker arts of nature. One we all knew, but never used. During those times the Satyr and Dryad left us. Since then we have no idea where they've gone."

A single tear rolled down her cheek. "I wasn't there, but stories of the Golden Times and the Shadow Years are passed down from each generation. Trying to raise the next generation to strive to become the next Golden Times, but…it's been hard. Technology advancing rapidly, the birth of Sentients and Druids lived limited to farming planets."

She clenched her fist and slammed it against the oak tree pillar. "Now we are restricted on where we can live and what we can do. Once we deal with this undead I want to raise the Druids up and become stronger again."

Kur was taken aback. He wasn't sure how to help Yimi besides slaying this Vampire. He just hoped she would allow him to take whatever relic he needed. Although things would get… Complicated. He hoped it wouldn't come to anything like that, but he had to steel himself.

"Do we just enter through the doors" he asked while pointing to two ornate stone doors. One had a depiction of a Satyr dancing and playing an Aulos and the other showed a Dryad in a seductive pose. 

"Oh. This is the easy part. For Druids that is. Only the top ranks of our members know the actual secret to open the door."

She weaved her hands in a pattern casting a spell Kur didn't know. A few seconds later two large plants sprouted from the ground. One was a deep purple Iris flower the other was a miniature Sycamore Tree. Then she began to sing.

Her voice was lovely and smooth as silk. As she sang both plants began to change. First was the Iris flower. It bloomed and withered before coming back to life in a full bloom again. On its second bloom it began to sway back and forth wrapping its petals around itself tightly. It shape began to change into an Aulos. Once it was full changed into the instrument Yimi, without stooping the song, picked it up and played. She had also cast another spell to be able to sing and play the instrument simultaneously. 

Kur was amazed by not only Yimi's performance, but also the different utilizations of magic. He gained a greater insight on how to use magic/runes. He began to wonder how he can combine them to preform actions like that!

As Yimi sang and had the Iris petals transform, the Sycamore Tree waved to the beat of her song. The branches and leaves danced in the wind that some how only touched the tree. Once the Iris flower had turned itself into the Aulos instrument and began to play it and sing, the tree moved.

Its trunk moved like rubber. Bending and twisting and turning. It began to shrink inside itself changing its shape to an alluring Dryad. She had long green hair, brownish green skin, deep brown eyes and the Sycamore leaves covered her lady parts. But still showed off her curves. If Kur didn't know any better he would be attracted to this Dryad imitation. 

As Yimi played and sang more, the Dryad danced and moved towards the door. The Dryad began to make her way towards the doors and danced. She would thrust her body against the door. She would sway to the beat of the song. As she moved against the door the door began to glow and sing as well. It hummed the same melody as the one Yimi was singing.

As the song began to crescendo the Dryad began to dance with a renewed vitality. Its movements becoming more sporadic as the music and singing intensified. The door began to glow brighter and brighter. Its humming also changed to sing the same song as Yimi, but the door sounded like dozens of people signing simultaneously. The music picked up even more and grew louder and louder in intensity! If Kur wasn't in his suit the would have to cover his ears from the sound. 

Just as the song got to its peak the Dryad phased through the door.

Silence

CLICK

The door no longer glowed and slowly swung open. Inside the temple itself was lit and bright. It was made of an orange marble. There were statutes of different races of creatures all wearing different robes. Yet each robe had a different type of tree on the back. Yimi was out of breathe and slightly drained of mana. She was now at 40% like Kur. She had her hands on her knees breathing in and out recovering from that spell.

"Sorry" she spoke in between breathes. "That was the [Song of Nature] a spell taught to us by the Dryads and Satyr. Its a type of lock we can use to prevent all from entry unless they know the song. Its one of our secrets that can keep out even a Earth Immortal rank cultivator."

Kur nodded his head pretending to understand. He remained silent as Yimi led them in to the temple.