Chapter Forty-Three

Arden stared at the core for several long moments before speaking. “Who are you?”

“I am the staff of the Prime of life. As were my predecessors.”

Realization dawned, prompting Arden to comment. “So, the tree spirit was your predecessor?”

“I only have vague memories of my predecessors, but hers are clearer than the rest. She was not my direct predecessor, but more like an ancestor. It is accurate to say she is the mother of all of us.”

Arden nodded his head as things clicked into place. The tree spirit seemed to know more than the other trial holders. Now he knew why. The quest called them the trials of the first. Was she the first of her kind? How many of these Primes of life were there? Many questions.

“So, what does it mean to be a Prime of life?”

“It can mean many things. As with all prime elements, it has many paths one can take. Each Prime receives a mission to fulfill, but the Primes may complete their mission any way they desire.”

That was a useless non answer. “How many Primes of life were there before me?”

“I do not know the exact number. Most of my memories are vague. According to mother, the chain of succession broke millennia ago with the death of the last tree of life.”

The next question came a moment later. “Tree of life?”

“The tree of life only blooms when life mana reaches its peak. It is both the beacon of life and the biggest weakness. As long as a tree of life lives, life mana will remain strong, but if it dies, a long period of stagnation will occur as the world recovers.”

Worry sparked. “The ultimate goal is to create a tree of life?”

“Yes, and no. It is the biggest boon to prime life, but opposing prime elements will target it. It is an all-or-nothing gamble that a prime should only attempt when they have an established power base. Failure means the death of the prime and devastation to the world.”

Curiosity sated, he narrowed his eyes at the core once more. “So, I am guessing you are supposed to support me? Was that why you tried to strengthen our connection?”

“Yes. I cannot communicate with you or the other one without a deeper connection. Unless you delve into my core. I have many other abilities to aid you in your journey, most of which need a stronger connection. From the memories I received, you will need all the help you can get. The outside world is quite hostile to life.”

Still suspicious, Arden pressed further, asking the next question that popped into his head. “What will happen to me if I let you deepen the connection?”

“Besides allowing me to provide better support and a connection to your fellow prime of life, nothing.”

Arden latched onto the mention of another prime. “What do you mean by the other one? The snake?

“Prime elements always have two bearers at a time. Whether they work together or go their separate ways is up to the primes. It is advisable in the earlier stages to support one another, but it is not needed. However, together the primes are much stronger. Deepening our connection also won’t affect the other Prime. If you two decide to separate, I will split into two to support both primes, giving an equal level of support. Likewise, if you two decide to work together, I will remain whole and provide a bridge between the two of you.”

Arden crossed his arms as he stared at the core, unconvinced. “So, the only downside of letting you split is I lose the bridge?”

“No, but if the bearers go their separate ways, they won’t need the other benefits.”

“Are you in communication with her?”

“Yes.”

“What does she think about it?”

“She is undecided. Like you, she doesn’t trust you.”

Arden fell silent as he thought things over. Did he want to sever their connection? They worked well together, but that was in the dungeon. What would happen outside? He didn’t hate her, but he didn’t trust her either. Was it worth having a connection to someone he didn’t trust?

Actually, wouldn’t he want a connection to someone he didn’t trust? With a connection, he had insurance. If they were both primes of life, they would likely run into each other in the future, no matter what. They may as well have a way to communicate. What were the drawbacks if they separated later, though?

He returned his attention to the core. “If we established this connection and still separated, is there a downside?”

“No, even as one, I will still perform my duties to the Primes. From the memories of my predecessors, those who keep me whole live longer, but many Primes lived successful lives severed from one another.”

Feeling like it couldn’t be that simple, he pushed further. “So, no downsides?”

The core paused for a few seconds. “Well, one downside. If the bearers come to hate one another, they can track the other. Some generations turned into a prolonged chase. Though since both sides can track the other, often it usually turns into a stalemate. However, such generations rarely fulfilled their duties and as such don’t last long.”

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He flashed back to their early interactions with the snake ambushing him. A life filled with him dodging assassination attempts from that snake would be a miserable experience. Sure, the snake couldn’t hurt him right now be he had no doubt she would find a way even if they weren’t enemies just as insurance. He would do the same after all.

If he severed the bridge, he wouldn’t see her coming. What was stopping them from turning into enemies even if they severed their connection? Better to keep potential enemies close. There didn’t seem to be any real downsides if he were to trust the being.

Did he trust it? His first instinct was to block the tendril when it tried to force a deeper connection. Was that instinct right? Or was it just his caution? It wouldn’t be the first time his caution ended up hurting him or wasting time.

Caution was good to a point. When one was paranoid about everything, one got nothing done. His parents showed him many times the downsides of too much caution. So far, leaps of faith have helped him in the dungeon. Should he take another one?

Still undecided, he asked his next question. “Can I speak to the other Prime?”

“Yes, but time is running short. This dungeon nears the end of its cycle, and bonding outside is inadvisable.”

Arden nodded his head. Then the next thing he knew, he stood in a dead forest. Well, not dead like the desert he grew up in. It was more like the pictures he saw of winter in the forests near Magna Vita Urbs. The tree’s weren’t stone like outside.

Were the stone trees the result of the death of a Tree of Life? Did he just solve the biggest mystery of the desert elves? It made sense. One thing that was odd. Why didn’t he read about a tree of life? If it was so important, he should have heard of it.

To be fair, any record from before Ortus was spotty at best. Did Ortus cause the death of the tree? That didn’t explain the surviving records speaking of a devastating world. It was more likely Ortus came after the death of the Tree of Life. If Ortus caused the death of the tree, it wouldn’t have given him the legacy quest.

A flickering of the crystal ceiling broke his train of thought. He turned to the girl, who stared down at her daggers, lost in thought. “What do you think about all of this?”

Her head jerked up and locked eyes with him. The steel he saw in her snake form flashed. “Your parents didn’t tell you? They wouldn’t have sent you here if they didn’t know of your potential. I knew since childhood that I may be the next prime of life. Unlike this backwater place, everyone knew of the primes. Whether they fear or worship them is the question.”

Did the staff lie to him? Or was she lying? The staff seemed to think the last prime of life died out millennia ago.

“It said there hasn’t been a prime of life for thousands of years.”

She held his gaze for a few moments but ended up averting her eye soon after. “It’s right.”

As much as he wanted to press her further on that another flicker of the ceiling forced him back on topic. “What do you plan to do?”

Her eyes remained locked onto the ground usual steel gone. “I don’t know.”

Confusion sprouted. She seemed to always know what she wanted. “You don’t know?”

Her shoulders tensed as her hands clenched around her daggers, but she made no move to attack. It didn’t last long, though. The previous vulnerability vanished in favor of a stoic steel as she met his eyes. “No, I don’t. They sent me here saying it was for my own good, as if living in this backwater place would do me any good.”

Unaffected by her jab, Arden maintained an even gaze. “So, am I right in guessing you are from Magna Vita Urbs?”

A scoff was his only answer, prompting him to shift back to the main topic. Time running short. “What do you think about the guardian of life? It said you accepted the connection but were unsure about allowing it to create the bridge.”

Before she could answer, the dungeon went dark. For several seconds silence reigned but fortunately the light returned, though dimmer than ever. They were out of time.

His gaze drilled into hers, asking the important question, done with dancing around it. “Do you want to split the guardian or not?”

Uncertainty flashed across her features so fast he would have missed it if he wasn’t watching. Instead of answering his question, she asked one of her own. “What do you plan to do?”

The image of two smiling elves appeared in his mind. “Find my parents to get some answers. Unlike you, my parents kept me in the dark. Until just before I entered the dungeon, I thought I was a pure-blooded desert elf.”

Again, he received a scoff, but he ignored it and continued to stare at the girl, waiting for an answer. The longer she drew it out, the less he wanted to deal with a connection to her. She seemed like a spoiled noble. He knew her kind, and they were never fun to be around. If he wasn’t a prime himself, he doubted she would have spoken to him. They barely knew each other. Maybe it was better to go their separate ways. He didn’t even know her name.

Just when he was about to give up, her shoulders slumped, though her face remained impassive. “Fine, I will accept the prime bond. However, I don’t know if I’ll travel with you. You show competence and I can respect that, and passing up a beneficial connection would be stupid.”

Arden nodded, his head having come to the same conclusion himself. There didn’t seem to be any drawbacks. Even if only for the short term, the connection may help them. Also, if she betrayed him, he’d rather be able to track her.

Now the question was, did he trust the being in his staff? He knew it even less than the snake, and he didn’t trust her. Did it give him any reason to be suspicious? Aside from the intrusion, it didn’t wrong him. Also, the melody told him it was friendly toward him.

At the thought of the melody, he tuned into it as he looked at the girl. She gave him an odd look, but he ignored it, keeping his expression blank like her own.

Internally, he sighed in relief. While the tune wasn’t light, it wasn’t dark either. It was about as neutral as it could get. Better than nothing, he supposed.

If he trusted the melody to give him the assurances he needed, didn’t that mean he had his answer about the staff?

As a last nudge, the dungeon went dark again, this time for even longer. When the light returned, it was barely enough to illuminate their clearing, even with the canopy comprising leafless branches.

The dungeon looked a little too similar to the desert to his liking and the ambient nature mana was nearing the levels of the desert as well. It was now or never.

Arden steeled himself and released his hold on the tendril, allowing it to continue down his tether. It was over in a moment.

A heartbeat later, he felt two connections establish. One to the girl next to him and a much stronger one to the staff in his hand, which also branched off though much weaker to the daggers held in the girl’s hands.

He knew if it came to it, he could wield them, but he couldn’t use them to their full potential, just like she couldn’t push the staff.

With the deepened connection he felt the dozens of sparks within the staff he knew to be cards, causing his heart to jump, but before he could check them out, the dungeon rumbled and went dark once more, this time for the last time.

He spread his senses out but found other than the two of them, no mana stood out to him. Even the core seemed to be gone. It was like the place was now a dead husk.

A voice sounded in his head, tinged with a bit of fear and much clearer than before. “Hurry up. Fly us out of here.”

Not needing any further prompting, he shifted to his bird form and activated his dark vision. He found the snake laying at his feet ready for transport.

With practiced ease, he grabbed her and took to the sky toward the tunnel leading out.