With the scorching sun out, I thought I’d be strutting my stuff picking up the stares of elf babes as I crawled around; however, when I woke up my body had aged to that of a 4 year old.
“They grow up so fast…” remarked Súliel while pretending to wipe away a tear.
“I didn’t!” Lhosben shouted with something akin to fear in his eyes.
“I know, you never grew up” I muttered sarcastically.
“IT SPEAKS!”
WHACK! “Gray is not an ‘it’. I told you not to fall asleep during the elder’s prophecy on the Freeman. They all age rapidly until a certain point and then stop. Also, most seem to possess a sort in-born knowledge.” She said angrily while facing him, then turned towards me with a shiny smile. I Can’t Believe My Mother Is This Cute.
“Forgive Daddy for his ignorance. Mommy thinks he was dropped from Yggdrasil when he was born. You’ll let it pass, right?” Súliel said with sparkling eyes that couldn’t possible belong to *CENSORED* year old.
“Of course (my wonderful) mother!”
“Good” she said while flashing her pearly whites that could put the sun to shame “Could you take Daddy out to show you around and get you some food? You are a growing, young boy. I’m sure you’re famished.”
“Yes, ma’am” I saluted and then proceeded to execute my commanding officer’s request. Ignoring his antics and theatrics, I dragged him out of our house as fast as a 4 year old could. “Come Lhosben, we must make haste and depart immediately. We shan’t make mother worry and allow her to rest.”
“Why won’t you call daddy, daddy…?” he sighed as he closed the door to the house.
Because of my mother’s surprising ability to use mind-control, I had forgotten to ask what she meant by “Yggdrasil”, but now I knew. I was on a colossal tree. If the appearance of bird nests on the ground weren’t enough to convince someone of that fact, maybe the 100 feet drop could. That’s right, these elves had made their home on a tree whose branches scratched the heavens and whose roots burrowed through hell.
“Ah, could it be that you weren’t aware of this tree?” Lhosben said taunting after looking at my shocked expression. “And here I thought you Freeman were all-knowing” Real mature dad.
Not allowing myself to be provoked by his senseless ignorance, I replied “No, I was not aware of this tree. Please tell me more about my birthplace before I tell mom that you weren’t showing me around” alright, I might have gotten a little bit provoked.
“Daddy sorry!” he shouted incoherently “The Yggdrasil is a great tree that has been on this land far longer than our ancestors have. Our first records of civilization start with this tree too. Those elves might even have been humans before coming here, but what changed those ancient beings was a fruit from Yggdrasil that increased their affinity with nature and life. As a result, Elves now live far longer lives than humans and are easily more in tune with mana. Elves still live here to maintain the tree in return for its great gift.”
Wow, that actually made sense. My opinion of you has been changed… is something I’d never tell him. “Tell me about our
village”
“Our village is a relatively small one compared to the rest. Since our branch extends onto the ground, this village is tasked with protecting Yggdrasil’s offspring, Acacia. It’s a child at maybe 9,000 or 10,000 years but we’re ever grateful for the duty.” Child? I think being an elf distorts your sense of time. “We have been blessed with two Freeman including yourself and know this to be a sign of something great” he preached.
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Small is an understatement. It’s like an ant calling an elephant large. This place wasn’t just big; it was endless. There were houses scattered everywhere like leaves in fall. Big ones, small ones, round ones; whatever you wanted. Heck, there was even a leaf shaped one. My wonder flabbergasted me temporarily and quickly brought out an unimportant question that I would have originally been able to answer myself. “What… why can I see every house from here?”
“Haha!” my dad shouted with his nose extending once more “that’s because we live at the very top of the bottom. Your mother and I are elf nobles who live in a home built into the trunk itself!” What. Isn’t that sacrilegious for you people? “Using our healing magic and nature affinity, we built it by wishing Yggdrasil to grow in a certain manner. And she did!” he said answering my unspoken thought. Arodeth did refer to her as “Lady Suliel” before.
“Well, enough about Yggdrasil.” I said in an attempt to stop his nose from growing any further “Who is this second Freeman?”
“Ah, that would be Sylvia, daughter of Arodeth” he said before laughing some more “Even though you are my son, I still get frightened with Freeman. I mean, the girl was born with blazing red hair!” Red-haired elves weren’t rare, but basically non-existent. Their nature affinity made sure of that by making it so they were only born with hair colors like green, yellow, or brown. Rarely are they ever born with white hair like mine, but not rarely enough to make me an endangered species.
“Ara? Not even two days old and you are already interested in girls?” he said when he saw my ears perk up at the mention of a female “Haha, don’t worry about it. In order for you two to get enough food for today, you’ll be training together”
Quest: Eat Your Vegetables or DieIn order for the Freeman to grow properly, Acacia has deemed it necessary for all Freeman to strive to get their own food. As she put it “Those who don’t work, don’t eat”.
Current amount of nutrition 0/200
BECAUSE OF ACACIA’S WHIMS, FREEMAN GRAY’S REQUIRED INTAKE SHOULD BE TWICE AS LARGE AS ANYONE ELSE’S (Ex: The first day’s required nutrition is normally 100).
Bonus stats are awarded at the end of the growth period if the required amount is surpassed.
WARNING: An inadequate amount of nutrition will result in a temporary death that will restart your growth.
QUEST CANNOT BE REFUSED
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Spoiler :
Author’s note: Sorry, it seems like 1,000 words is my limit. Anyways, I think I’m basically done with world building (for now). I myself was surprised when a certain idea popped up in this chapter, but I won’t even hint at what it might be or its future uses. In addition to their training, I’ll start to flesh out their characters and will introduce a special one after the next chap. Again, please treat my writings like a trailer park wife and talk trash about her whenever you can. Otherwise, my original purpose for writing this would be lost…