33 Risen#re

A body tumbled to the ground in a bloody mess, her clothes were in tatters and the only thing noticeable on her was a gold earring with a golden thread and a small golden ball no larger than a pearl.

The person tried to crawl forward, but her body failed her when she needed it most, she turned over and met the black beady eyes of her pursuers while heaving out a clump of blood and flesh mixed together.

Behind her lay a path of ruin, the land had been upturned it looked like a rockslide happened in the wrong direction.

Numerous trees were upturned with their roots were facing the sky, and in between the bodies of elves, dwarves, and the last of the humans were lying broken, leaking their bodily fluids on the ruined soil.

She knew that this was going to be the end, but she would never beg for her life, it was beneath her to do such a thing, she had accomplishments under her belt that had left the two beings chasing after her cry out in envy and shame.

"How, disgraceful, a bunch of sixth-graders chasing after little me," she spat in an amused tone with as much strength as she could muster.

Two green-haired people walked forward it was hard to tell if they were male or female, they had thick carapaces on their bodies that looked like tree bark and two long antennae that stretched out of their heads.

She recognized the two of them as the patriarch and matriarch of demi-Ents, a race of hybrids between human and Ent, there were a few other races' genes mixed into them obviously but, human and Ent were what made up most of them.

"The war with the human race is over," the matriarch whispered, "The woodcutters are no more we have freed ourselves from that nuisance, but we can't have you running around to the other races."

"You should blame your own ability for the fate that is about to befall you, greatness is a double-edged sword, as a testament to your greatness we came personally to end you," the patriarch said with respect in his voice.

"Kha...haha..." the girl laughed and choked on her own blood, "You only came because you knew that anyone else would fail," she choked out the words.

They didn't retort her, it was a truth they could never deny, the human girl was truly remarkable by their standards.

"If the dwarves get their hands on your mind only the gods know what new contraptions, they might be able to build to fight us with," the matriarch said she held a hint of reverence in her voice for the human girl.

She was a weak second-grade cultivator yet she had changed the human race in a few decades and made them a worthy advisory.

"We have consulted with the great ancestor tree," the patriarch said, "We know that you are not of this world, if you tell us how to find your world, and share with us your knowledge we will consider letting you live."

The girl's eyes turned wide, but she didn't answer them, it was a surprise to her that they were aware of the other worlds, no one had ever mentioned it when she visited the other races.

"No need to look so surprised, the great ancestor tree is very old, as old as the gods themselves she has recorded the travels of others like you," the patriarch spoke like a fanatic.

The girl wanted to laugh at his ridiculous claim, she had seen the great ancestor tree, it was a million years old at most.

But she could see how these fools made such a mistake, after all on this world, they believed any who reached the seventh grade was a god, and they only had one such person in their recorded history.

"There have been a few dozen of your kind to come here so far," the patriarch continued your people send you here while you are still young, it allows you to grow with the people of the world and collect information about our power, we know that you will soon launch your invasion of our world."

'If they only knew that their entire world, is just viewed as a trial world by the empire,' she thought imagining the looks on their dumb faces, but she couldn't say it, she was already having a hard time trying to stiffle her laughter.

"Don't waste your breath on her," the matriarch said sharply, "They have even brainwashed many of our own against us and you think that you can make her betray the invaders," the matriarch said with a hint of anger in her voice, what kind of techniques these invaders had to turn people against their own race she had no idea but it made her angry.

The girl let out a bloody chuckle, they were so foolish, "You think highly of yourselves," she whispered, but they paid attention to her every word, "If there was anything of value here this world would no longer belong to you and anyone standing in the way of my people would have died."

"Do you think you can scare us, we are the greatest beings on this world, we stand at the front of all mortals, your world might be stronger than ours for now but now that we are aware, we will rip the memories from your head and use it to advance our world, in a few centuries we will be ready to wage a war your people could never imagine."

The princess candidate, did her best not to laugh she was struggling for air as it was, but blood gurgled in her throat as she laughed hysterically, more blood poured out of her but she couldn't stop shaking from laughing.

As for their desire to extract her memories, she worried even less, the empire had placed certain barriers on her mind so no intel could be leaked, they would probably kill themselves trying to learn anything.

She opened up her hand and looked at the ring in her hand, she had given the two of them the slip for weeks as she tried to retrieve the ring from its hiding place, it was her only way out, but she only managed to retrieve it when they were hot on her tail it would take time for the portal to open... time she didn't have.

She pulled herself up against a tree trunk and leaned against it, she used her strength to toss the ring to them, she knew that it was hopeless for her, but she wanted to see them despair.

With that ring, she knew that they would fall into the pits of despair, she wouldn't get to see it, but just the thought brought a smile to her face.

"That's my way home, it's a one-way trip, once you use it, it will break down and if you try opening it to analyze the parts it will detonate, go on ahead and knock yourselves out," she gave one last laugh as she pictured their despair when they faced a single one of the academy guardians, and life fled from her body.

The gold earring on her ear fell to the ground imprinting the map of the Eden world onto the messy soil.