Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO ON KINDLE SEPT. 2)

Elijah had forgotten that the world could be hospitable.

As he dove beneath the waves, he was reminded just how pleasant something as simple as a swim could truly be. Back on Gorveth, such an act would have been plagued by monster attacks and caustic corruption. He’d long since proven he could endure whatever that planet threw at him, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

It always hurt.

He had just grown very proficient at compartmentalizing pain.

That was unnecessary on Earth, as evidenced by the lack of pain. Instead, as he descended into the ocean, he only felt cool, soothing, and blessedly clean water. All around him, sealife danced and darted. Seahorses, kelp, schools of glittering fish – the ecosystem was so vibrant that it nearly overwhelmed his senses.

Elijah loved it.

Somehow, he’d convinced himself to forget just how much he’d been missing.

He swam forward, losing himself in a forest of seaweed. Tiny fish darted in to nibble at him, while a sizable octopus curiously wrapped its tentacle around his leg. It was an exploratory thing. Not aggressive at all. Elijah allowed the creature to climb his leg, then settle onto his shoulder.

He'd always liked octopi. They were wondrous creatures that were surprisingly intelligent. One of his fears had been that his time on Gorveth – plagued as it was by tentacled monsters – might put him off of octopi and squids. But thankfully, that was not the case.

He accepted the beast’s curiosity, even embracing it until, at last, it detached and swam away. Elijah watched it disappear beneath a pile of rocks.

For a long time, he remained in place, just treading water as he enjoyed the environment. He’d had to swim for more than a hundred miles before he reached the edge of his domain. He hadn’t stopped there, either. Instead, he kept going until he was well out of range of his grove.

Of his people.

He’d been home for less than two weeks, and in that time, he’d learned quite a lot about the development of the grove. Some of it was useful, but for the most part, Elijah found himself bored by the details. Despite the fervor with which he’d sought a way home, Elijah couldn’t escape the fact that he’d never found managing the grove to be very interesting.

That was why he had Nara, who seemed to revel in those sorts of tasks. She should have been an Administrator, she was so enamored with all the little details he found so tedious.

Certainly, his grove was still home. But that didn’t make Elijah feel any less out of place. The result was his foray into the sea and his hesitation to return.

It couldn’t last, though.

As relaxing as it was, Elijah felt the need to move. To do something worthwhile. From a physical standpoint, he’d completely recovered from his time in the void. It would be some time yet before he could say the same about his psyche, but that was another story altogether. By necessity, that would be an ongoing process – even with his ability to rid himself of mental scar tissue by discarding the leaves within his mind. That kept it from taking over, but it did nothing to help him adjust. To leave behind three decades of fight-or-flight. To move on from the effects of isolation.

No - that would take a while.

In any case, he soon shifted into the Shape of Sea, which sent most of the local sea life swimming away. He beat his mighty flippers against the water, quickly accelerating to a speed he never could have attained before his time on Gorveth. Part of that came from the effect of his improved cultivation and his attainment of demi-god status. However, Elijah couldn’t deny that he also benefited from a significant increase in his attributes.

As he swam, he looked at his status: