The sunrise over the Great Green was not a peaceful event. It was a violent intrusion of gold light through a canopy that had begun to bleed indigo smoke. The Gilded Lilies, bolstered by a detachment of Oakhaven Wardens and "Calamity-Suppression" specialists, had not merely followed the Ember Spark; they had brought a siege train designed to starve the forest of its very magic.
"They've set up Mana-Nullifiers at the base of the Yggra-Vine," Pip reported, his voice high-pitched with frantic urgency. He was hanging upside down from a Gravity-Vine, his goggles clicking through infrared and mana-spectrum lenses. "They're creating a dead zone. If those pylons reach full capacity, the Gravity-Vines will fail, and this entire city will plummet three hundred feet into the muck. Thousands will die."
Kaelen stood on the edge of the Chamber of the First Seed, his emerald eyes fixed on the forest floor far below. He could feel the "One-Week Clock" humming, but it was different now—it was a countdown to a structural collapse. The Scepter of the Unspoken was strapped to his back, a cold weight that seemed to hunger for the coming chaos.
"Vala, your warriors cannot engage them on the ground," Kaelen commanded, his voice carrying the resonant authority of the dragon within. "The Wardens are equipped with Sun-Staves. They'll incinerate anyone who enters that null-field. We have to fight them from the canopy."
"We are druids, not archers," High-Druid Vala hissed, her sapphire scales shimmering with agitation. "The Great Green defends itself through growth, not through the spilling of blood."
"Then let it grow," Kaelen said, stepping off the ledge.
He didn't fall. He used the "Wood-Imitation" to fuse his iron-jade arm with a nearby vine, swinging downward in a massive, controlled arc. Behind him, Ria and Korg followed on a rapid-descent platform Pip had rigged with mechanical brakes. Elara and Sissik remained above, their task to weave the "Nature-Tech" defenses that Pip had spent the last six hours frantically designing.
As Kaelen neared the "Dead Zone," he felt the familiar, sickening pull of the Nullifiers. It was the same sensation as the "Anti-Dragon" field from the First Temple, but broader, cruder. The Gilded Lilies weren't trying to be surgical; they were trying to lobotomize the forest.
"Ember Spark!" a voice boomed from a loudspeaker below. It was Lysa of the Lilies. She stood atop a mobile command-wagon, her indigo cloak billowing in the artificial wind of the null-pylons. "Surrender the Calamity-bond and the stolen relics! This is a Guild-sanctioned reclamation! Do not force us to burn the cradle of your 'Lizard' friends!"
"Ria, take the left flank," Kaelen shouted, ignoring Lysa's ultimatum. "Korg, hit the center pylon. I'm going for the command-wagon."
"You heard the boss!" Korg bellowed, slamming his heavy shield against his chest. As they hit the ground—just outside the null-field—the battle erupted.
The Wardens opened fire with their Sun-Staves, sending bolts of searing white light through the foliage. Ria moved like a blur, her spear catching the sunlight as she deflected the first wave of projectiles. She didn't strike the Wardens; she struck the ground at their feet, triggering the "Sap-Mines" Sissik had planted. Massive, sticky tendrils of amber-colored resin erupted from the mud, pinning the Wardens' legs and gumming up the internal mechanisms of their staves.
In the center, Korg was a wrecking ball. He didn't care about the null-field's drain; his strength was purely physical, honed by years in the mines. He slammed into the center pylon, his heavy iron cleaver shearing through the brass casing.
"Expansion!" Kaelen roared, but the null-field swallowed the heat.
He gritted his teeth. "THEY THINK YOU ARE ONLY FIRE," Ignis whispered. "SHOW THEM THE WEIGHT OF THE WOOD."
Kaelen pivoted, using the Momentum Korg had taught him. He didn't try to summon a flame. Instead, he slammed his iron-jade hand into the trunk of a nearby tree. He reached into the tree's Echo, pulling on the "Wood-Imitation" with everything he had.
"Inversion!"
Instead of draining the tree, he forced the "Void-residue" he had stored from the First Temple into the tree's roots. The result was a terrifying mutation. The tree didn't die; it became a Siphon-Willow. Its branches turned black and metallic, lashing out at the Gilded Lilies' command-wagon. The null-field, designed to stop mana-flow, couldn't stop the physical growth of the mutated wood.
The Siphon-Willow's branches wrapped around the primary pylon, crushing the mana-capacitors in a shower of sparks. The indigo smoke was suddenly replaced by a burst of pure, green light as the forest's Echo flooded back into the sector.
"Now!" Kaelen yelled.
Above them, Elara and Sissik released their combined spell. It was a Verdant Storm. Thousands of leaves, hardened into razor-sharp shards by Elara's mana, rained down on the Gilded Lilies. Sissik channeled the forest's anger, causing the very ground to heave and buckle, swallowing the Lilies' supply wagons.
Lysa snarled, her indigo cloak shredded by the leaf-storm. She raised a glowing sapphire pendant—a communication relic. "All units! Focus fire on the boy! Kill the Ash-Walker, and the forest will collapse!"
Four "Elite Silencers" in full plate armor emerged from the shadows, their blades etched with runes of "Ender-Steel"—a material specifically designed to kill dragons. They moved with a synchronized, mechanical precision that bypassed Korg and Ria, zeroing in on Kaelen.
Kaelen felt the danger. The Ender-Steel was humming, a sound that made his dragon-brand bleed. He raised his right arm, the jade scales glowing with a kaleidoscopic intensity.
"You want the dragon?" Kaelen's voice was no longer his own. It was a dual resonance, a harmony of boy and beast. "Then take the whole mountain."
He didn't punch. He didn't blast. He grabbed the air in front of him and pulled. Using the Scepter of the Unspoken as a focal point, he created a localized Fold in the Echo. The space between him and the Silencers collapsed.
The armored men were jerked forward, their Ender-Steel blades shattering against the sheer density of the space Kaelen had created. He caught the lead Silencer by the throat, the iron-jade claws of his hand sinking into the plate armor as if it were parchment.
"Tell Lysa," Kaelen whispered, his eyes burning with emerald fire. "The Ember Spark isn't a Company. We're a Calamity. And we're done being hunted."
He threw the Silencer back into the command-wagon, the impact flipping the massive vehicle onto its side. The null-field pylons exploded, one by one, as the forest's natural mana surged back with a vengeance.
The Gilded Lilies broke. The Wardens, seeing their tech neutralized and their elites crushed, retreated toward the forest outskirts, leaving behind their equipment and their dignity.
As the dust settled, the Great Green was silent. The city in the canopy was still standing, though several of the lower Gravity-Vines had been severed. Sissik and Elara descended, their faces pale but triumphant.
"We won," Elara whispered, looking at the wreckage of the Lilies' camp.
"We won the battle," Kaelen said, his arm slowly returning to its resting state. The gold-and-violet filigree was pulsing with a dark, satisfied light. He looked at the Scepter of the Unspoken. "But look at the scepter."
The ruby at the top of the bone-staff was no longer dim. It was glowing with a fierce, crimson light. By using the relic to win the battle, Kaelen had inadvertently fed it.
"The King wanted this," Ria said, her voice grim as she wiped Warden blood from her spear. "He wanted us to use the relics. Every time we fight to save the forest, we're powering up the very weapon that will destroy it."
Sissik looked at the scepter, then at Kaelen. "The path of the Ash-Walker is never clean. You have saved my people today, Kaelen. For that, the Great Green is in your debt. But the second temple is calling. The Rust-Dunes await."
Kaelen looked up at the Living City. The Lizardfolk were emerging from their Root-Halls, their voices rising in a rhythmic, clicking song of victory. But he didn't feel like a hero. He felt like a timer.
"We leave for the Rust-Dunes at sunset," Kaelen decided. "Pip, salvage what you can from the Lilies' tech. We're going to need more than wood and iron for the next one."
The Siege of the Great Green was over, but the war for the Borderlands had only just reached its crescendo. The Ember Spark moved toward the desert, carrying a relic that was both their greatest weapon and their inevitable doom.