DRAGON: First Link

34.0: Fortress

Northern Boundary of the Lush Dessert, five game hours before war starts.

"Hmm, you sure about this?"

"I'm more concerned with whether or not you could do this."

Rin's eyes hovered over the blueprint we're facing. "I could, but my MP after casting would be dangerously low."

"Don't bother 'bout that." I grabbed the largest mana pack I invented and slammed it on the table. "A whole thirty-five fold of my own mana pool inside this pack. But can you do it?"

"Geez, hime, you always fill the holes your own plan made, with us in tow." Rin harrumphed, poising to cast a chant. "This, this is why I hate blueprints. And mugs where you put your coffee in."

The eminent vicinity fell into heated silence as everyone gave Rin the space she needed for concentration. Soon, the Evangelist's voice came low and sweet, surrounding everyone with a somewhat mystical aura.

"Oh, seed of divinity, source of all, heed my will; the Creator came and saw, and did his deeds for us to do ours. And thus he planted your soul to the earth, from which you sprang from the depths of those that is not us; I heed thee rise from your dry slumber and see the world that thou gave birth to. You are created to give life, now protect the very life you gave."

The world below us shook as she sang; slowly the earth moved, tendrils sprang up from the ground, and the ever present aura of creation was somewhat stronger.

"I call thee and rise, tower above this land, come and protect us; Jotun Yggdras Rysen!!"

Three hours later, a tree of intense dimension ang tumubo sa kabubuan ng Lush Dessert; the trunk spans about a hundred feet in diameter, encompassing the sandy area where our base is located. But the real deal is in the branches of the great tree; the underground base of the Holocaust Company, formerly reinforced with platinum walls, now nestled in its core. It's all majestic as such, and a bit on the 'awkward' side too; since the base is somewhat out of place inside the branches of that tree.

"Before we go 'whoa' over this thing." Sabi ko. "Sa anung mythology ba galing ang Creator ni Rin?"

"All of it. It's not the system that gives Rin this knowledge of myths and chants, you know." Chiro mused. "It was Rin, and her addictive reading. The system just guides her to create the spell."

"So that's why it doesn't fit." Sanders added. "Yggdrasil* was not created by a god; it was not meant to give life either."

We all looked at Rin, na ngayon ay hinihika at parang hihimatayin na dahil sa pagod. Before anyone could say a thing, she raised her hand for us to stop.

"I... I don't... wanna do... it again..." She said through spasms.

"Are you sure?" I asked, giving her the heavy mana pack. She literally jumped at it with visible thirst, and hugged the pack like a squirrel to a nut. "Yep, you're sure."

---

Recal Outskirts, three game hours before war starts

Xin can only just gasp and sigh as he watched through a ward the growth of the mighty Yggdrasil in the base camp of his enemies-to-be. Even though he knew that the leader is a hardcore gamer that goes beyond the heights of the game he/she plays, he still can't believe that the Holocaust's members hold some of the most powerful classes in the whole of DRAGON. Hell, that caster who created the tree even matches up to Anynomous.

"Milord, messenger from the enemy camp." Sal Escobar, the sister of the disconnected general Rall, announced at the door, at the same time revealing one of the faces that caught Xin's interest. He gestured for all of his teammates to leave the tent as he closed the ward.