AS soon as Maxine woke up in a large bed, she was still angry about the events of last night. She had a lot of fun singing, but her previous enjoyment had been ruined once Turan had reappeared. According to him, there had been a few people sent to capture her from the Kelborne clan to force her to remove the construct that she placed in Brant Kelborne. Turan had chased all of them off. Or rather, she hoped that's all that he did. After all of that fuss, he strangely insisted that she sleep in a large, very comfortable bed. She could only guess it was so he could keep a better eye on her.
Regardless, she knew that she didn't have much time to laze about before he returned to observe her. It was especially important since she revealed that she could transform into a hydra last night. She struggled not to sigh in frustration.
She knew making any comments about her transformation into a hydra would be a big red flag to Turan, but in the long run, it wouldn't have made much difference if she had or not. Cassandra or Decaan would've said something about it sooner or later. Even if they didn't, all it would take is a quick search of thier files to find a video of her transformation. In addition, it was less stressful just to throw it out into the open than try to hide it.
Maxine got out of the bed and glanced at the wardrobe full of clothes in her size. The clothes had been a gift from the audience last night. She had forgotten that she was wearing her unaltered Shadow's Embrace armor during her performance and those gifted clothes had been a response to that. They probably thought my armor was the only thing I had left to wear. They weren't too far off on that guess either. Most of my clothes have been trashed from all the fighting. She walked up to it and selected a forest green dress before heading to the bathroom to enjoy a long, hot shower.
After she was finished bathing and had fully dressed, she opened the door to her room and saw a small crowd of humans immediately rush at her with excited smiles on their faces. She shut the door on reflex and proceeded to lock it as her 'fans' shouted and banged on the door. I completely forgot about how annoying it can be to be a celebrity.
"Good morning, Maxine," Turan said from behind her.
"How long have you been here?" Maxine asked angrily. He better not have been watching me take a shower.
"I arrived just in time to see you slam that door shut and lock it," Turan replied, "I know better than to enter the room of a warrior while they sleep. I could get attacked by a relfex."
"Good," Maxine said.
"By the way, you look lovely in that dress," Turan complimented.
"Thank you," Maxine replied, "Still, I would've prefered it if you didn't come into any room I'm staying at without my permission and I don't care what your orders are. Sometimes I just want to be left alone."
"I will try to follow your wishes," Turan acquiesced, "So, what's on today's agenda?"
"I was going to check on the world tree and the night elves under my master's patronage," Maxine stated as a cover, but in truth, she wanted to see the tree itself. She'd only read a description of it. Even Guan hadn't actually laid eyes on a world tree. Or else, he would've drawn an exquisite depiction of one in his notes.
"I heard about that," Turan said off handedly, "And I thank you for taking me with you. Very few among our generation have even seen the remains of a world tree."
"Just be sure to only look and not touch. World trees are far more fragile than you can imagine," Maxine reminded him.
"I'm well aware of that fact. If you've forgotten, humans were the ones driven by greed," Turan said.
"Good," Maxine said as she created a portal that lead to the roof and looked over her shoulder, "You coming?"
"Yes, of course," Turan said while smling before he followed Maxine through the portal.
Once one the roof, Maxine shot straight into the sky while stuffing the inside of her dress with shadow energies to keep Turan from peeking underneith it and focused her spiritual sense to the north. She found a few elves well over three hundred miles away and smiled to herself. So I was right. They were to the north. It only makes sense that they would be. There are no cities in that direction. Although, I'm not sure how far north the world tree will be. It can't be too far.
She turned north and started flying at a modest pace. She just didn't see a point in flying beyond the speed of sound since it would only destroy her dress. However she felt that something was odd after flying more than an hour. I should've seen the world tree by now. Even a relatively young world tree should be overwhelmingly larger than any other tree.
It was another three minutes before a large pink fairy flew up into Maxine's flight path. She only needed to see the spiky hair to realize that it was Petal.
"Hello, my lady," Petal said respectfully, "What is the purpose of your visit?"
"I came to check on the world tree," Maxine replied and gestured over her shoulder to Turan, "And he insisted on following me." Petal glanced at Turan neutrally before she nodded.
"I'm sorry, but I need to notify the night elf elders first before I can guide you inside," Petal explained apologetically and glanced swiftly at Turan, "Can you wait here?"
"Yes, we can," Maxine said in an understanding tone and Petal flew back into the forest. They only had to wait a handful of minutes before she returned with Elder Evensong in tow.
"I was wondering when you would come to check on the world tree," elder Evensong said happily once he was close enough.
"Greetings, elder," Maxine said with a slight bow.
"And this is?" Elder Evensong said as he stared at Turan curiously.
"I'm Turan," Turan replied, "Maxine's shadow lord observer." Elder Evensong's expression soured for a moment before it brightened back up.
"My people don't have a problem allowing you to see the world tree, Maxine," Elder Evensong said, "But we will not allow Turan to approach. If he tries, we will attack him." Uh, this is new. I thought night elves weren't inclined to use violence from their earlier behavior.
"Oh? Why is that, elder?" Maxine asked with genuine curiosity.
"They abandoned their own kind to die. They are no longer elves in our eyes," Elder Evensong said coldly and cut off Turan before he could even speak in his defense, "There will be no discussion on this matter. All shadow lords are forbidden from entering night elf territories. This was decided long before even I was born."
"Very well, elder," Turan said respectfully, "Am I still allowed to wait for Maxine here?"
"Yes, that's fine, but do not move any deeper into our territory. I've been lenient enough as it is because you are her guest," Elder Evensong said and he turned to Maxine, "Follow behind me closely."
Maxine followed behind Elder Evensong as he flew in an erratic patter, and eventually, she felt like she crossed some kind of threshold. At the same time, a massive tree that towered into the sky just appeared out of thin air infront of her. It looked almost as if it was made of organic metal as it shimmered slightly in the daylight. The leaves looked normal, but were as absurdly large as the tree itself. She could lay down on one with room to spare above her head and below her feet. It had a few normal sized flowers, but the color of them was constantly changing. She saw fairies of various colors flying to these flowers to drink the nectar within them. It was such a beautiful sight that she couldn't imagine anyone trying to damage a world tree out of greed.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Beautiful," Maxine said unconsciously.
"Yes, it is," Elder Evensong agreed, "I take it you've never seen a world tree."
"I only read a description of one, but words can't even begin to describe it's beauty," Maxine answered and hesitated before she asked, "Can I keep one of the flowers?"
"No," Elder Evensong said firmly, "You may not be aware of this, but without the fruit of a world tree, night elves can't reproduce." That definitely explains why they can't survive without a world tree. They would all simply die out due to not having any descendants.
"Why do you need to eat those fruit specifically?" Maxine asked.
"The fruit of the world tree has special enzymes that we need in order to concieve. We've looked long and hard for replacements, but they simply don't exist as far as we can tell. The only consolation that we have is that our conception rate is one hundred percent after a couple consumes a world tree fruit," Elder Evensong replied, "To make things worse, world trees only fruit once a century from flowers that bloom for a century." Daddy's notes said nothing about that! So, it seems even his knowledge has gaps in it.
"I wasn't aware of that," Maxine said.
"Very few are outside of the night elves," Elder Evensong replied.
"So why did you tell me?" Maxine asked.
"Unlike your master, you're compassionate," Elder Evensong said honestly, "And are far less likely to harm my people by knowing this. He also cares deeply for you, almost like a father would, and I have a feeling he will do anything for you." Warning bells went off in Maxine's head as she looked at Elder Evensong.
"Humans have a saying: A teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime. I believe he's taken that saying to heart," Maxine said calmly.
"What an interesting saying," Elder Evensong said before he gestured towards the world tree, "Shall we continue?"
"Of course," Maxine said.
Maxine followed Elder Evensong closer to the world tree and she saw three night elves a few hundred feet from the base of it. One was a little girl, the next woman and a visibly old night elf woman, which meant she had to be truely ancient to show her age. But what caught her attention in the first place was that all three of them were singing different songs, but the different songs seemed to resonate with each other. This strange resonance effected the surrounding fruit trees causing them to rapidly flower and bear fruit in mere minutes.
She had seen forest elves do something similar, but it would take them hours rather than the minutes that the night elves were doing it. She had no idea what was the main difference between them. However she didn't think about that particular problem too hard. She didn't have the gift for it anyways. Still, it was quite an amazing sight to behold.
"Our songstresses are hard at work," Elder Evensong said.
"How do those different songs cause the plants to grow so fast?" Maxine asked, "I've seen forest elves do something similar, but it was far slower."
"Your question touches apon the secret of how we nuture world trees and it's not something I'm willing to discuss," Elder Evensong said, "So I hope you understand that I can't tell you the secret behind it."
"I understand," Maxine said honestly. They need to guard this knowledge to stay alive.
"Thank you for your understanding," Elder Evensong said as he bowed to Maxine slightly, "But as you can see for yourself, the world tree is very healthy and I imagine we can at most drain a liter or two of it's sap without harming it." Yeah, trees of this size should have a lot of sap, but simply due to it's size and wieght, it can't have a lot of reserve sap for mending wounds. So it's sap is just really really good at sealing any damaged areas.
"Don't mention it," Maxine said as her eyes were drawn to a young night elf couple as they practically danced towards their home in a tree. The night elf woman was holding what looked suspiciously similar to a purple snake fruit. The only difference outward difference between them was that this world tree fruit was much smaller.
"Oh, it seems those two got the first world tree fruit of the season," Elder Evensong commented, "I know those two have desperately wanted a child. I'm glad they were able to find a world tree fruit so early."
"Elder, that world tree fruit looks a lot like a purple snake fruit," Maxine said.
"I'm aware of that fruit. We found it mere days after arriving on this world, but it's similar in appearance only. It lacks the necessary enzymes that a world tree fruit has," Elder Evensong said sadly, "If only it was so easy to find a replacement."
"Indeed," Maxine lamented and changed the subject, "Have you been contacted by my master yet?"
"As a matter of fact, we have," Elder Evensong said, "He mentioned that you may want to see our world tree. That's why I was expecting you, but he mentioned that you will be leaving this world soon."
"Did he mention why?" Maxine asked.
"I'm afraid not," Elder Evensong said in an apologetic tone.
"Perhaps I should contact him after I'm done here," Maxine said.
"I believe that would be wise," Elder Evensong said, "Is there anything else you would like to see while you're here?"
"Not really," Maxine said, "I guess it's back to putting up with that shadow lord."
"Try not to be too hard on him," Elder Evensong said gently, "He may be a shadow lord, but he is also a young man, who cares for you."
"What makes you say that?" Maxine asked cautiously.
Elder Evensong sighed before he answered, "Your anger keeps you from noticing how he was looking at you while you are not looking at him."
"You have to be joking," Maxine said incredulously. No fucking way. I don't believe he's in love with me. If that fucker actually cared, he wouldn't have let those other asshole shadow lords trap me like that in the past. I nearly died. If Avernus hadn't intervened, I very well may have.
"I'm afraid not. There is no mistaking that look," Elder Evensong said.
"I don't care about him, so let's drop it," Maxine said grumpily, "Can you lead me back outside? I have a feeling it will be difficult without a guide."
"You would be correct in that assumption," Elder Evensong said, "Follow me."
Maxine followed him as he started to fly away from the world tree and felt a need to ask, "How are you able to conceal the world tree so well?"
"Fairy magic contains potent illusion and befuddlement enchantments," Elder Evensong said while they flew, "In fact, it's so potent that you probably didn't realize that you made three laps around the world tree before Petal came out to greet you."
"That's a little scary," Maxine commented.
"It can be, but fairies are not aggressive beings," Elder Evensong said, "In fact, they're quite cowardly."
"I've noticed," Maxine said and saw Turan waiting just ahead, "Well, thanks for the tour."
"It was my pleasure," Elder Evensong said just before she felt the strange field pass over her again and noticed that as soon as she did, Turan's gaze locked onto them.
"Is the world tree as beautiful as in the old stories?" Turan asked as they got closer.
"Even more than in the stories," Maxine said.
"It's too bad I couldn't join you," Turan lamented, "But rules are rules."
"Indeed," Maxine said and added, "I need to contact my master after we get back to the city, so I expect you to give me privacy to do that."
"Very well," Turan said as he gestured for Maxine to lead the way.
"No, I think you should lead the way this time," Maxine said.
"As you wish," Turan said as he took the lead and headed back towards the city, "Are you afraid of men? Is that why you don't trust me?" Where did that question come from?
"I just don't like men," Maxine admitted, "Why did you ask?"
"I just noticed that you avoid physical contact with men and thought I should ask," Turan answered offhandedly, "Is there any reason for that dislike?"
"I don't know," Maxine lied.
"I find that hard to believe, but do you mind if I ask a different question?" Turan asked.
"Go ahead," Maxine said.
"How and when did you become Poison Emperor Guan's student?" Turan asked. Huh? Is he trying to fish for information? Why? He should almost be certain who I really am. I might as well play along.
"He found me a little more than five years ago and asked me to be his student," Maxine said.
"Interesting. That time coincides quite closely with the original's death," Turan said under his breath before asking, "Did he tell you why he picked you?"
"Yeah, he said I looked a lot like his daughter, if she were a shadow elf, and said it would be like teach his daughter," Maxine answered.
"Final question, do you remember anything before you met your master?" Turan asked and Maxine finally understood why he was asking all the questions. It makes sense now. He believes my soul was damaged enough to cause amnesia, but not drive me insane or kill me. And daddy is probably one of the few that could heal such wounds using alchemy alone without any serious side-effects. A physical alteration potion to make me look like a shadow elf is child's play in comparison.
"I... I don't ..," Maxine said in an uncertain tone before firming her tone, "Master said my memories would return with time." Turan nodded his head and didn't say another word. There that should by me some more time and the other shadow lords are likely going to give Turan some time to win me over since I'm already talking to him. He may even try to give me gifts to boost my cultivation to show his 'affection.' I wonder how many resources I can trick him into giving me before he realizes I'm putting on a performance.