CHPT 296: Your Eyes are not All that can See....

"I want to know more about these Druids..."

That was what he asked, but the man hadn't spoken in the last ten minutes of their trek into the lightly snowed woodland surrounding them. Instead, he calmly walked-- with the absolute understanding of his desired direction as if he'd walked the path a dozen times before.

Every step through the wettened cold leaves, every time he let his hand brush against the bark of a hardy oak or snowy barked birch tree, it was all relaxed and purposeful. Leaving Claude with more questions...more things left unanswered.

He'd had about enough gossiping with Arne and the not-raven cacoon wrapped in his arms. If Rollan didn't want to start the conversation that seemed highly important, he'd do it himself.

The lack of morning exercise glazed his eyes over in the beginnings of a predatory green shine. That same predatory razor sharp edged deepened his voice a few octaves, made worse by anxiety and aggravation, "Alr--"

"So, Monsieur. What is it you'd like to know about the Druids?"

Typical.

"God damn, I thought you'd never ask.." Claude glowered in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Rollan shrugged ahead of them but made no move to slow his lumbering long limbed gait, "Pardon. Sometimes my mess of a mind needs me elsewhere. Now tell me, what is it you'd like to know?"

Claude felt the bird coo silently and shake in his arms as if it were shivering at the world of knowledge held within Rollan's mind that swirled unknowingly like a storm now aimed at who the man thought would be the next holder of all its vastness, "Well....you said the Druids are a lot of things. You said they were...judges...uhm...priests...cultists...and followers of all religions-- among other things. I know that's what other people have called you. But as a Druid, what would you say you are?"

"Well. That's just it..." Rollan started before coming to a stop in the middle of the increasingly thick forest, all around him it seemed to create space in the form of a clearing-- only it wasn't large enough...perfectly fit for a select few. "The Druids are few and far between. But they occupy many fronts. There was a time when we were divided in name and practice...the Bards...the Vates and many others were once their own. But the emergence of this new world brought us under one collective...yes, yes it did. Now we have a simple purpose, hm? Craft your own philosophy, let it lead you as a judge of good and evil, retain balance wherever you roam....and get rid of that which is unnatural.."

Claude felt a shiver run down his spine at the final words of Rollan's speech. "....And that's why you're here? To get rid of the unnatural?"

Rollan spun around to face him for the first time. The calm and laughable demeanor of the man who'd just been speaking cracked, and within each fissure he could see the cold surface of his true sober self beneath. He could feel the man's eyes burning through his blindfold. And then, it was gone.

"Wrong question. Don't you worry about why I'm here, hm? I believe you need to know more about the Druids, yes?"

Claude nodded to himself, slowly walking into the individualized clearing that was almost like a room within the woodlands. He stopped in front of Rollan and placed the bird to his chest. The not-raven looked about as comfortable as a whale in a desert.

"Sure. There's definitely more I need to know, but I need to eat. We'll talk while I do that and workout....it's hard to focus when I don't. Shifter thing..." He said before bounding off into the woodland with the pack in tow as if they'd already found something.

Rollan chuckled to himself as he listened to them bound off into the forest, "I wonder at the heights of your power when given ample direction..." He murmurred while petting the birds head.

The action caused him to pause and touch the bird again, now paying more attention to what he felt, "What the hell kind of bird is this????"

***

Less than half an hour passed.

At the edge of the clearing, partially submerged in the woodlands, Claude sat on a fallen log with the pack not far off.

Rollan sat nearby, bunching up his nose in disgust at the scents of the obviously rotting log combined with the smells of death, blood and scorched flesh.

"So there's more of you?" Claude asked while he held out a piece of sheep meat in front of him.

FWOoSH!

A ball of green flame erupted from Gil's jaws and cooked the meat upon contact as Rollan worked out a reply.

"Yes, there are plenty of us. We tend to roam-- often confused with Nomadic tribes and whatnot."

Claude forced down the scorched foul tasting meat while his mouth salivated everytime he looked at the blood of the carcass reddening the grass, "Why aren't you with any other Druids?"

It came again. The sudden fade of cool and calm, leaving only cold and barely contained violence. Gone again, "I'm a special case, Monsieur. But it's not rare for Druids to roam alone. Our goals and pursuits are our own before anyone else's."

The rest of his meal was one shared in silence.

When it was all over, he stepped back into the small clearing and began moving immediately, eager to get the usual morning electrifying ache and jolt out of his muscles that could grow into a homicidal urge if not tended to quickly enough. While he did so, Rollan roamed around the surrounding forest, answering more of his questions and watching from his unseeing eyes.

"So, what made you think I could be a Druid. Is that just an option for all Nature Element users?" He asked as he placed the bird on a branch. The whole endeavor made him nervous, but he wanted to give the creature the freedom it deserved at least in some capacity.

"No, Monsieur. The path of Druidry is one available to all wielders of the Natural Elements. Sure, some are better than others, but Nature does not instantly mean Druid. I chose you for a much more important reason."

Claude heard his words but he was equally focused on the bird. As soon as it's talons hit the branch, it looked around as if it would run away any second.

"Ah-ah!" He snapped, stopping the bird midstride before reaching for the raw meat in his pocket. "Come on, you're smart. You know where survival is...let me help you." He murmured, waving the meat in front of the bird.

In a flash, it's deep black and violet ringed eyes fastened on the food.

Fwoo!

He threw it at the creature, giving it the room to chase and snap it out of the sky with it's drill-like beak.

It didn't try to run again. Smart indeed.

"What reason?" He asked, in reference to Rollan saying why he chose him.

Rollan sauntered through the trees and bushes on the other side of the clearing, letting his cane-claymore hit it's hard bark as he spoke, "How loud was the call for you?"

Claude rolled his shoulders and dropped into a fluid set of push up variations meant to heavily target his chest and triceps in a number of ways, "The call?"

"The call of your element, Monsieur. How loud was it?"

When Claude finished thinking out the memory he was on forty-five push ups, "It was loud..it's always loud."

Rollan chuckled, "See. They call for you. More than once, that is the sign of someone who is deeply connected."

He wanted to ask who "they" was, but something at the back of his mind told him Rollan would call that a bad question. He let the idea slide out of his mind and finished his set of push ups at eighty repetitions.

Without a second for break, he leapt up to grab ahold of a branch and let himself fall into the rise and falling rhythm of pull ups.

"Ok. So A strong Druid can be decided by the connection to their Element. Wouldn't that make most Mages good Druids?"

Rollan spoke from beside him as if he'd always been there, "Sure. But that all depends on which schooling of Druidry you follow."

Claude was at thirty pull ups, he could feel the livening pump of blood that puffed his muscles, "Schooling of Druidry?"

"Oui, despite the union of the Druids, there is still difference. When an apprentice joins his first Grove, your affinities and strengths will land you in one of the two schools. The Scholars, or, The Warriors."

Fifty pull ups, "I see. The path of the Scholars is for magical classes...and the Warriors are for the physical."

Rollan grunted in confirmation, "Like me, Monsieur, I will train you in what it means to be a Druidic Warrior. You are far from the ideal home protector, but this will bring you closer.....maybe closer than I could've imagined."

Seventy pull ups. New record.

Claude ignored Rollan's verbal backhanded...well, backhand, and focused on the beginning of what he said while he felt his blood pulse wildly through his arms.

".....You're a Druidic Warrior??"

***

Another question he wasn't supposed to ask apparently.

He continued the rest of his workout, conversing with Rollan and Arne while he kept the bird busy chasing flung pieces of meat. The creature was surprisingly fast with it's long stick-legs.

He and Rollan discussed the history of the Druids, how they once held power as priests, judges, renowned Healers and teachers-- even being able to stop wars with their presence or being aids to Kings and other beings in power. The Druids sounded so powerful and influentially based on how Rollan introduced them-- and yet, he'd never heard of them.

Even Arne heard very little, and the Druids were largest in number in the dreary sun blocked lands of Arthuria.

He didn't feel the need to explain why. More pressing matters were upon them. Training was beginning.

Claude dropped the log he was squatting with a quiet thud and stretched his muscles that sat puffed under his skin like plates of lava. Hot and volatile. It felt good.

Rollan emerged from the woodland and approached him.

"I believe it's time to begin."

Claude bounced on the balls of his feet in preparation, "What am I learning? How to wield Nature better? New Magic? Or Skill?"

Rollan fished through his pockets with a blank expression before pulling out a black cloth and tossing it to Claude, "No. You'll start by going blind."

"...The fuck?" He thought as he looked over the cloth and realized it held a symbol on it.

While the entirety of the cloth was black. At it's center, a three legged insignia stood out in a strong shade of dark green. The three legs swirled into spirals and spun his vision endlessly. There was something simple yet culturally compelling about it's never ending design.

"This is the first lesson to every Druidic Apprentice that hears the call of the Nature Element. You must shut off your eyes to see what is needed, Monsieur."

Claude looked up from the cloth at him, "And the symbol?"

".....It's a Triskelion. It signifies progress, competition and cycles. These are your best friends as someone who is new to the game, no?"

Claude nodded along weakly.

Rollan waved his hands in a hurrying motion and began to circle him, "Alright, alright. Put on the blindfold, loup garou. It's time to work."

With a sigh, Claude pushed away his hesitance and misunderstandings and fastened the blindfold over his eyes. The Triskelion sat in the center like the grotesque eye of a cyclops.

Immediately he felt a wave of anxiety wash over him as his world was plunged into blackness. He relied on his senses, to have one taken was like loosing an extra limb.

"[Relax, Claude. Remember that your eyes aren't even your best asset. Just focus on the training, you may finally have a Nature Element teacher.]"

He shook off the discomfort and took a breath in through his nose-- letting the world show itself to him through an array of scents and sounds.

"Alright. So what am I supposed to be seeing...without my eyes?"

He heard Rollan step behind him, but when he spoke the words came from the front.

"Nature."

Claude almost ripped his blindfold off to let his look of confusion truly meet Rollan's face, "What are you talking about?"

"You need to see your Element. You've done it before, Monsieur. In the forest....with the Centaur corpses..."

He continued circling the blindfolded Lupine, "How did you know where the disaster site was before we got there?"

A lightbulb ignited within Claude's mind, "I touched the ground.....I felt the wrongness in Nature."

Suddenly Rollan's words were making sense.

"What did you see?" He asked.

Claude didn't need a moment to sift through his memories this time. He'd seen it plenty of times. "A world of green..."

CLAP!

Rollan's hands startled him but his words came quickly after, "Exactly! You see, that is the difference between Nature and the other Natural Elements. To truly see Nature you must go blind. It's something many Nature users do once and think it's there imagination....such an idea ruins that sight--- destroys its accuracy. You need to learn that when you close your eyes....you can see just as well as when they were open. This is your first step. Sit here in this forest, and let the natural world show itself to you."

"Let the natural world show itself to me...." He repeated in thought as he dropped down to the floor and placed his palms into the cold blades of grass.

Maybe not what he thought it would be. But, without a doubt. Training in strengthening his Element had just begun.