Trials of a Past Wood Read online

  Foreword:

  I am starting this book a little differently to give credit to the wonderful artist Daniel Knight who did not only the covers, but whose creature and character design inspired this entire book! Below are links, in order of when they show up, of all the girls in the book. They are purely included for you to be able to reference and to give credit where credit is due. Their descriptions and the like only helped inform me as to how to make their personalities and settings. I will warn that not all of them are SFW, so look them up at your discretion,

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/Voodoo-Witch-Ayida-784066365

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/Forest-Elemental-Version-with-tail-in-comments-781379968

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/Fire-Elemental-780415836

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/Rock-Elemental-781150188

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/cyberpunk-Harbinger-783131615

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/Cyberpunk-Oracle-779981903

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/Earth-Elemental-780326108

  https://www.deviantart.com/coldsixthousand/art/Shadow-Elemental-780448749

  With that out of the way, please do enjoy the book!

  Introductions

  Ayida hummed to herself as she walked across the floor of her small cottage, moving into the rather large main room. It was in a classic setup for a ‘voodoo witch’ such as herself, though really she enjoyed Herbalist Extraordinaire more. After all, she didn’t deal in zombies or curses. Well, not usually, but you need humans for those usually. Instead, she just spent most of her days working on her potions, hence why a large cauldron dominated her domicile, and the rest of the main room was simply made up of shelves and cupboards of ingredients so she could retrieve them.

  She had smaller cauldrons of course, which she now pulled out and tucked under one of her arms to work with. The large one was for anything she wanted to make a large batch of, such as the growth elixir she made to grow her plants year round, medical poultices for the various creatures she had pacts with, and the poisons that she used to make wards that would make sure she could force invaders away like the time the king sent his army in. That was a day.

  Now though, she felt one of her wards go off, just as the globes of magical fire in her house dimmed. The ward depicted a cave painting to her, a basic idea of what it saw that could be parsed easily and kept the magical tax of creating it low.

  “Claws, sword, and knife. Oh, wait, that’s a moon behind them. Interesting.”

  The lights dimmed again, before the fire beneath her cauldron flared to life. It was all very cute of her visitors, but Ayida didn’t want to be given a reason to have to stop them. After all, she lived in a wood, so her house was made of the most common material in the area. If she lost it just because of someone getting overly excited, she was going to be miffed. “Now, where is the sparkroot?”

  The next painting came to mind, along with three others, and then one that was an actual photo. The first four depicted, a swipe, a parry, a shield, and then a charge. The last one showed a young man, clad in what appeared to be armor, being thrown against a tree while a large, hulking, black beast made its way towards him. “Common soldier’s garb. Velixia, please do be careful not to explode.”

  That got a click of gears and the whir of motors. That was actually somewhat surprising, especially as Ayida began to grind the root with one hand, and with the other redid the white, tribal markings on her body. Then again, she normally didn’t wear her mystic runes, made up of stripes on her thighs, circles in a chain just under both of her shoulders that wrapped around her arms, and finally two crescent moons, one above and one below her nipple, two circles at the left and right of her nub, and large dot that was painted over the center of each breast. Honestly, that all was fun to do, even a bit arousing with how she had to lift up her large breasts to get the undersides with the paint. The problem was the face paint that covered everything above her lips. Like her visitors though, she had been expecting this visit for a few days now, which had allowed even the most odd of her friends to make their way here.

  The next warning as to the young man’s arrival came in the sound of a roar. Ayida’s ears twitched as her purple eyes glowed green for a moment, the markings following in the action a second later as they helped attune her to the emotion behind the howl. She could tell what many of them were by the exact tone, but that left room for error. This sort of reading didn’t. “Pain, and failure. She had to disengage for some reason.”

  And then she let out a long sigh of relief. “Good. I was really afraid she was going to over do it. I guess I’m up next then.” She dumped the dust in her pestle bowl into the cauldron, before waving over to the front of the cabin. A purple wrap came over and slipped around her head, helping to control her long, sleek, black locks, before a similarly colored thong and loincloth slipped under legs as she kept walking. She didn’t want to be entirely informal after all, and she needed one of the bone pins in the wrap anyways. Made cutting the burnswax she needed a lot easier.

  The final wards came with video, showing the young man as he slowly walked towards the cabin. He had a cloth out and wrapped around a short, silver dagger that was in his hand. It had to be the one that was missing from the scabbards on his belt, each made for a different type of dagger. It fit with the Steam Dragon insignia emblazoned on his breastplate, which was the heaviest his armor got. Imperial Lightning Drake standard issue, with a leather bracer for one hand, and a steam powered, heavy gauntlet on the other meant for blasting anything that got too close with high pressurized and heated steam. The leather greaves and shortsword on his back finished the standard kit, though she found it interesting that he was missing a helmet. Then again, given the circumstances of how he got the armor… Well, the black bandana over his face worked well.

  The boy had grown up well, with a strong chest, long args and legs, but he wasn’t overly burly. Instead, he resembled the figure of a hunter more, which made sense with what Ayida knew about him. That fact would have also helped him even more with the beast he had faced before as he was likely faster than most soldiers would be and could actually use the fact that they were equipped with daggers rather than fumbling with them with fingers that were the size of sausages. Yes, he was everything she had hoped he would be looks wise.

  Now he would hopefully be able to prove himself at heart.

  A knock came against the door and she took in a slow breath in. It was time to get her act together. She was known as a Voodoo Priestess after all, not just so happened to turn one guy into a toad, but no, that’s something you can never live down. Ugh. No, bad Ayida. She was supposed to be getting serious.

  With one more breath, and slipping on some prayer beads, she finally opened the door. With one hand she almost traced her breasts before bringing its fingers to her lips, just avoiding kissing them. After all, the man before her would barely qualify as one. Perhaps eighteen? She wasn’t sure actually. She had lived so many… of her twenty seven years of life. Yeah, that’s how old she was. Totally. Even with the distraction she could tell that her antics had the desired effects as shades of red managed to make their way past the boy’s handkerchief. “Oh, and what a cute snack that the wood has brought me today. Are you sure you’re not lost, little boy?”

  That got the blush to go away as his eyes hardened on her for a moment. The green eyes sparked with a fire that for a moment made her want to step away from him, right before they made her want to know more. His voice helped pull her in more as his deep voice was broken by a youthful crack. “I am not here to fight you, w-witch.” And he promptly shut his eyes at the highe
r pitched break.

  “Oh, you don’t have to pretend that you’re some sort of baritone. I like tenors after all. I suppose just like with your voice I would like to know the truth behind your words too.”

  Much like his words though, his voice stood firm now, the dulcet tones making her shake as he talked in a low volume, but held an oddly booming authority to his tone. “I said I’m not here to fight you. Instead, I am here to seek your guidance through the wood so I might be able to track down one of the Shadow Elementals that stalks these woods.”

  A shadow elemental huh? It wasn’t surprising to Ayida at all, but it was concerning. He might claim to only desire to track it, but tracking was normally used for one purpose in these woods. She stepped back into the cottage as she hummed to herself. She had a plan of course for what would happen but he didn’t need to know that. Instead she could continue to tempt the youth with her swaying hips and uncovered bosom.

  Neither of which he seemed to keep his eyes on for long. Now where was the fun in that? “You know that I oftentimes require things from the elementals myself and the vanquishing of such a rare source of materials would be quite a bother to me. Why should I help you?”

  The man’s eyes glanced away, before he performed a stiff bow. A bow that included a grunt from him as she imagined the breastplate dug into him. He musn’t be too used to wearing it which she supposed that was a good thing.

  “I, Nathaniel Hargrov, offer to you my services. A favor for a favor, as would be expected of any deal.”

  And she was waiting for him as he righted himself, much to his surprise as his cheeks became flushed with color again and he stepped back. Ayida let out a giggle, making sure to keep an arm under her breast to help them bounce a little more with her delight, before she opened her other hand over her cauldron. A few leaves fell in and a green smoke began to casually drift from it. “I don’t know. Such an innocent boy as yourself probably wouldn’t be able to focus enough to deal with my tasks.”

  He let out a small growl as he turned away before finally pulling down his handkerchief. Under it there was a scar where his lip had once been split rather nastily by one of the creatures in the forest, but there was no scowl to go with it. Instead there was a grim line that reflected well with the fire that was fading in his eyes. “It is not innocence, ma’am. I merely am trying to be respectful. After all, just because you are comfortable baring yourself to me does not mean that you have given me permission to ogle you.”

  “That’s a lot of fancy talk for a village, wanna be knight.”

  He sighed as he turned to look at one of her shelves. “My father and… others made sure I was well read. That I knew more than many and that I wasn’t some brute.”

  Ayida smiled for a moment. It was sincere this time though as she pulled a vial from the wall across from Nathaniel and brought it to the cauldron with another few ingredients that turned the smoke to brown and the water to a deep, deep blue. “I must admit that that would make you much closer to a proper knight than most I’ve met.” She then looked to him as she lowered herself. It was two fold as she needed to be able to read him as they discussed the more important aspects of their deal, and she also wanted to see his reaction to the last ingredient that needed to soak in the pot.

  To which he opened his mouth as her breasts sank into the cool liquid, causing it to bubble and boil as strands of almost every color drifted from her. He then shut his eyes, shook his head, and simply stated, “My father would possibly agree with you on that.”

  “Ah, cute.” She stirred the pot with one finger, the ripples from the motion spreading and amplifying to properly get the liquid going, along with her from the nice, gentle slaps against her chest and the current that ran across her nipples. “Now, if I am to get you to the Shadow Elemental, I will want you to gather for me supplies from the five realms of the forest you shall pass through. Nature, fire, mechanical, desert, and then finally the realm of the Elemental you seek.”

  Nathaniel paused for a moment before swallowing hard. “Okay, I am willing to perform such a task, but how is there a desert in a wood?”

  Ayida chuckled as she rested her head against a cloud of smoke. She shouldn’t be uncomfortable just because she was cooking after all, especially when she was bleeding magic like she was to finish it. “This place has always been full of magic. Some theorize it is a gate between planes of existence. Others believe through time. Where and when you are can become quite unclear if one does not know the way, but fortunately accessing each portion can be near to impossible without a guide. As such, part of why you must grab me so much is because I am currently making you something to help you on your journey.”

  Nathaniel fidgeted as a small smile, and a light blush, came across his face. “I thank you for that, and apologize for the inconvenience.”

  “I would not apologize just yet.” Ayida’s tone snapped to one as cold as steel. After all, there was one thing she could not allow near her friends and subjects. Or, well, they would be her subjects if they paid her tribute, but most of the animals didn’t have anything. Is it so wrong to want a rabbit haunch every now and then? Ugh. “Your third knife, the detonator one, stays with me.”

  Nathaniel grinned at that as he pulled it from his sheath. Instead of the normal triangular, copper and glass blade, filled with steam and lightning, it was black, rough, and glistened in the light. “I would be happy to, but I much prefer mine.”

  Ayida blinked a couple times before shouting, “What the fuck is that?” After all, he wasn’t supposed to surprise her! She had lived too long for that! She had been told everything that would be important in meeting him and where in the world did he even get an onyx blade?

  As it turned out, she overestimated the quality of the weapon. “It’s a flint dagger. It’s not a weapon but a fire starter. My pommel’s weights are made of stone to go with it. That way I can’t lose basic parts of my kit so easily. Besides,” he said with a pause, his proud smile fading quickly, “I’ve seen what those steam knives can do when something doesn’t die instantly from it. I… I don’t want to risk that.”

  Ayida was quiet as she stared at him. So young but… Well, he had indeed proven himself, at least enough for her to risk having him around the forest, and so she removed her chest from the liquid, forewent any teasing of him needing to drink from her breasts and instead filled the vial she had brought over with it. She then stepped over, her free hand flicking up a list of ingredients she had already prepared for him, and extended both towards him. “Well then, drink this. It will help enhance your reactions and speed so you can be a good courier as well as leading you to the breaches in the wood.”

  Nathaniel nodded as he reached over and grabbed the bottle. He didn’t even hesitate once he had it but instead slammed it back in one gulp, only wincing once it was too late to stop himself as his knees slammed into the wooden floor. Ayida merely stepped back, her chest tightening as she prepared her magics to make sure that if he reacted poorly to the side effect that he couldn’t hurt her.

  Just as she had been told to expect though, he did no such thing as he slowly recovered on shaking legs, the veins on his neck turning green for a moment before the color faded and the potion took ahold. He then looked to his hands. “I… I don’t feel very different.”

  Ayida let out a soft breath as she stepped back towards him, smiling at him turning his head away from her nipples brushing against his armor. “You’ll notice it more when you need it, I promise. After all, it can only last so long, so please try not to take forever to run my errand, okay?”

  Nathaniel nodded as he handed her back the vial and took the paper. He was still breathing heavily and Ayida knew that he was probably trying to hide the fact that the potion would still be tearing its way through his body. She might have even soaked a little too much of her magic into the brew as she saw another pulse of green come through his veins, but he instead merely walked towards the door.

  No, that wouldn’t quite do as she s
napped and shut the door. He stopped, his head snapping back towards her as his eyes narrowed. There wasn’t malice in them like there should have been. “Why didn’t you make sure the drink was safe first?”

  “What do you gain from poisoning me?”

  “What makes you think I actually need to gain anything from you?”

  “The fact that I don’t think you’re just a senseless murderer.”

  Ayida was silent for a moment as the ice cold words drifted in the air. Despite how he said them though… He must have known how they made her feel and he only scowled more as she smiled just before he yanked the door open and marched out.

  Ayida bit one of her fingers, smiling to herself as she reflected on how she could see exactly why her friends liked the boy so much, and how she hoped he would be able to properly enjoy his errand. She knew she would while one of her familiars slithered after him. She wasn’t about to miss this adventure after all, not when she hadn’t had good entertainment in so long.

  Forest

  Nathaniel took a deep breath in as he stepped away from the witch’s hut. He could feel some sort of pull forming in his stomach and pointing him in a direction. As one would expect of the first stop being Nature it led towards the trees but in a direction he’d never been in the forest before. Then again, he’d never been this deep into the wood before so that wasn’t a hard thing to accomplish.

  And then he blinked and smacked himself. Of course he forgot to actually ask what the hell he was supposed to look for. Maybe it was on the paper? He unfurled the list and felt his eyes become crossed for a moment before they refocused and the paper didn’t have a list of areas. Instead words wrote themselves on it as it claimed, ‘Where bark and flesh become one, thistles black as the night form that can be claimed only by those who happen to be worthy for their appearance.’

  He blinked for a few moments as he rubbed his chin. After all, he could immediately think of one thing that had bark and fle- No. No he couldn’t. He didn’t know anything like that. Never. Nope. So it wasn’t useful at all. At all.