A forest that was not there yesterday

[unprophesied_of_ages]

The Lord Ruler is in his palace, when he sees a sight he hasn't seen in centuries. Trees, sunlight...is he hallucinating? The fact that there's a forest in his living room isn't the surprising part. The fact that there's a forest on his planet is. As soon as he walks through the door to where his living room isn't, it's definitely not a hallucination.

His stores of Allomantic metals abruptly disappear. They're still physically there, but the power is completely gone. He immediately turns to go back, only to see more forest.

At least his Feruchemy still works—he can tell because he's still alive—but that won't last him forever. He only has so much stored youth, and without both sets of abilities he can't replenish it. He hasn't been in so much danger since the beheading that one time. Returning to Scadrial is the highest and currently only priority. If spontaneous forests are a thing, he needs to find someone who can explain them and more importantly how to get back.

The next few hours are spent walking in an essentially randomly chosen direction, with the sun to his right. He's quite certain that suns are supposed to be moving across the sky, but that's not a pressing emergency. He already knew he wasn't on his own planet when he saw proper trees and plants instead of ash-covered monstrosities. Whenever he calls out, nobody responds. If it's an empty spontaneous forest, he's probably doomed.

After some time, he hears his stomach growl. He hasn't seen much that looks edible, but possibly that's just because he's not used to real plants. Berries. Berries used to exist. Those berries look tasty, and if they're poisonous it's not like he needs to worry about it. As always, he has a truly ridiculous amount of stored health in his gold jewelry. Tapping gold just in case, he eats a handful.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"And how did you overpower her to begin with?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'm larger and stronger than she is, and I have magic that made it easier."

[alicornucopia]

"Mm. How does your magic work?"

(Blossom returns again.)

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"The magic I used is that I can draw on a large but finite store of different attributes. If I store speed in a piece of steel, I make myself slower for a time I can become faster later. I also gain various abilities from swallowing different metals, though that mostly only works on my own world. If I use that on a metal that has an attribute stored in it, then the metal does not have its usual effect and instead I get several times what I put in.
I can also gain physical or magical abilities by killing people who currently have them, but it's inefficient."

[alicornucopia]

Thorn scritches Blossom under the chin. She bleeds a little but doesn't flinch. "This may not be your lucky day, pretty one," he tells her.

Blossom hisses again.

"How hard would you be to keep?" wonders Thorn.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"You would have to let me go back to my world to recharge my stores, probably every few years depending on which ones I use and how much. Other than that, probably not very hard."

It's true. He's well and truly trapped.

[alicornucopia]

"Who's the sorcerer you have?" wonders Thorn.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Promise. She used to be a vassal of yours before you sold her."

[alicornucopia]

"Ah yes. She wasn't very, mmm, trainable. How did you get her?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Her subsequent master captured me. We escaped together by each vassaling the other, and I gained control by commanding her to take no new action."

[alicornucopia]

"Huh," says Thorn. "She added a word."

Blossom snickers.

"Well, if the leaflet's yours now then she's mine again now. May as well try again. What would you need to do to fetch her for me?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I would need to go back to my world, open a particular door a particular way in case she's watching, and find her to give an order."

[alicornucopia]

Blossom looks at Thorn, unhappy. He ignores her. "Mmm. State your name," he instructs Alendi.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Rashek."

[alicornucopia]

Blossom looks slightly cheered up.

"Look at your left wrist," says Thorn. "Contemplate despair." This last is not an order, just a suggestion.

Embedded in Alendi's left wrist is a little tiny dart, stuck into his skin, barely there, attached to a tiny vial that no longer contains anything.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi's reaction is less despair than it is "Oh, that's how that happened." Then despair.

[alicornucopia]

Thorn plucks the dart out of Alendi. "Blossom, find the rest of them, take them out, refill them, put them back in the rig."

Blossom finds three more darts on Alendi's person.

"What nickname do you use?" Thorn asks.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Alendi."

[alicornucopia]

Blossom goes off with the darts.

Thorn contemplates Alendi.

"Tell me, is there anything you haven't told me yet that I'd want to know?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I came here with the specific intention of capturing you."

[alicornucopia]

"Promise been filling your head with tales?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"She did say you were an unpleasant master, yes."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm only unpleasant if you make me that way," purrs Thorn. "Blossom likes me quite well, for example. Promise, by contrast, was scarcely worth the trouble it took to take her, but now she's sent me you, which might make up for all her... misbehavior. I don't advise misbehavior," Thorn adds. "I haven't had a mortal in a while, let alone a dubiously mortal one, and for all I know if you make me punish you I'll overshoot and you'll die incapable of screaming on my floor and I'll have to console myself with a much better pleased Blossom and Verve. Tell me what you're thinking."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"That I better not offend you."

Really, what else could he be thinking after that?

[alicornucopia]

(You never know; Promise used to say the most amazingly cheeky things when made to describe her thoughts.)

"Stand up. In general, if you form any intention to do anything that seems like it might in my opinion constitute a loophole, an exploitation, or a violation of my desires, bite off your tongue and calculate the cube roots of the numbers between one trillion and ten trillion by brute force until further notice from me. Follow me."

Thorn leads him out of the library.

They are joined by a short red and yellow fairy. "Master," this fairy says to Thorn.

"Yes, Twirl?"

"Rainfall says she wasn't taken."

Thorn looks over his shoulder at Alendi. "Did you get your captive's nickname wrong, Alendi?"