When Smith flutters down and alights nearby the fallen cat, I hear his words, not as the shout of before, but in stereo from Leo and through our Alliance connection, “[You performed admirably. But lost this time because of the gulf in our experience. No powerful bird reaches the heights of power as I have without some cat trying to pounce and eat them, so I already understood what you were attempting at the wall.]”

Leo hisses at an outstretched wingtip, though apparently lacks the strength or ability to bat it away or lunge in retaliation, “[The trick with your eyes was marvelous, truly. However, I’ve spoken many times with Cutest these last months while DNA was coalescing and have greatly improved my mental resilience to charms of that type. Still, you did manage to wound me, even with my advantages.]”

Leo just continues hissing at his nearness and so with a nod towards him and then his gaze swiveling over to meet mine, he bows before leaping and flapping back into the air. He takes a short while to examine the gouges in his cliff from up close before rocketing high into the air with a burst of heat. Not stopping his rapid ascent until he rivaled the clouds, if only they had been in the sky.

He spirals in the air a few times before seeming to pick a destination and soaring off into the distance.

With his departure from the area, Leo’s agony no longer has a distraction to keep him focused. I find my senses closer to his as the heat fades from the area and he finds himself colder than ever before. The burns on his back don’t bother him as much and the scent of blood drowns the rest. Unable to move more than his head and neck, he looks under himself and sees the widening pool of red.

As a greater and more terrible weakness forces his head down, he mewls in fear and pain. His enhanced mind serves only to highlight how terrifying this experience is.

Using a method I don’t understand and couldn’t be sure I could replicate in another circumstance; I bring my presence next to Leo. I run my hand across his fur and shush and whisper sweet nothings to him. I give him praise for his strength, offer my soothing touch, and hold tightly onto him as he fades away. Grasping especially tightly when that final breath pours out of his aching lungs.

There is the barest pause. A moment where even the vibrating wings of insects seems to still. When Leo dies, I stand there with him in an emptiness that seems both impossibly vast and yet suffocatingly full. I feel a glint in my own eyes as a snarl erupts in that non-time and non-place, “Mine.” Before I’m back in Thing’s trunk, our hearts synchronized in their beats.

“Leo” has been defeated. Respawn accelerated by body’s presence in Allied territory and finishing blow dealt by Alliance member.

I feel a shimmer and another resonance that calls my attention to his paired willow and feel the heart within that tree beginning to beat in time with ours. The message said his return would be faster, but I can nevertheless divine this won’t be a swift process. While I don’t ever want to truly test it, I suspect the explicit lag on Leviathans still applies to him.

Meanwhile, the sensation of our three hearts beating as one inspires a rumbling purr from deep within my soul. The fear of the prior moment gone as he rests, waiting for when next he may prowl the lands of the living.

I think back on his words, his perspective of ‘what’ I am. Not an object that refines magic, nor a place that offers Challenge, “I’m a Lord…”

There’s a responsibility and purpose that I can understand in that title. When I remember my time- or even when I go back further, to before time if my impressions from the journey with Leo was accurate. I never have been a Dungeon, have I? Those things have just sort of happened around me, but as for what I actually did?

Hmm. I started by shouting defiance at the void, and then played the hand I was dealt. I’ve supported and empowered my children. Negotiated deals with my superiors. Kept others in mind during my pursuit of power. “#Been a headache and a thrill to watch.#”

“~You’ve been an inspiration to push past boundaries and limits, Father,~” without needing to think about it, my POV is among Life’s crown as he speaks, “~You’ve redefined what’s possible and breathed life into dreams. If you’ll pardon the pun.~”

“Hello, my son.”

“~Hi, dad.~”

“Was I thinking too loudly again?” Reforming my projection, I dangle my legs in the air as I sit on one of his branches.

He shares how the mirth starts in his leaves and roots before flowing together in his heart and joining the Mako that circulates through his enormous body, “~No. I’ve been watching the Big Three for a while now. Waiting for something like that to happen. Despite my size, I’m missing something to push myself beyond the ordinary.~”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I chuckle lightly as I look at the canopy of trees far below us, “Beyond the ordinary?”

His wry smile and the sigh of a great breeze washes over me, “~Yes, Father. I’ve felt my growth slowing for a while, despite storing more and more ephemeral power. I just can’t touch it, shape it, nor even truly measure it. But I feel it, a well of it growing within me, waiting for… something.~”

As I think about his concern, I sweep my senses through his form and can see what he means. It’s like there are ghosts, or imprints of him overlaying his physical body. Each slightly out of tune with him and all straining to break into reality, but none with a clear idea of what they even are.

“I see,” this effect most reminds me of that phantom impression I used to get from Gnat before she grew into what she is now. “What do you think is the missing piece?”

There is the barest hint of embarrassment and guilt that is quickly buried as he speaks, “~Time. Mostly. I also definitely feel like I’m missing clarity as well. There’s an idea of what I think I want to become, but unlike my sister, I haven’t got a pure vision or example to aspire to. Just a vague sense of grandness.~”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Again, that flash of guilt and embarrassment, “~I’ll be fine. Like I said, I’m pretty sure I mostly just need more time. I have a lot more body than Gnat did, so my evolution should take longer.~”

I have a vague idea of why he may be feeling that way and contemplate asking him about it before I decide to come at it from a different angle, “If it’s not a bother, would you tell me about your idea? You mentioned clarity as an issue too, maybe just talking about it would help. I can just listen if you’d like.”

There isn’t any of that earlier pair of emotions, just joy as he responds, “~It’s not a bother at all! Uh, so long as it’s not too much trouble…~” I wave away his concerns and tune my focus to him even as my projection lays back on the branch. “~So, yeah, my idea. I actually picked up on it from Dreams. They’ve never really spoken, but they’ve always had this deep connection with you and even when I was just as small as I used to be, I could hear more from them than our other siblings could.~”

His attention drifts from where I lay and turns to the sky, “~At first, it was just a vague thing, just some massive unidentifiable thing towering into the sky. And with all of the power I was pulling to keep my siblings from hurting themselves, I mean, I was a tree, growing big just made sense. I was also able to understand that if I wanted to grow tall, I also needed to grow deep and wide.~”

The impression of packed soil, earth and stone sinks around us before he continues, “~As a new day dawned on my greater self, I was able to look around more, and understand more from Dreams. What I noticed, and then understood felt like the first true root for who I am and a reason I’ve connected to the name I have: Life. I realized that as I grow larger and cover more land and sky, those lesser than me would suffer and even die simply because I was too powerful near them.~”

I sink through the branch to lay against the bottom, legs propped against it instead of leaning over the edge, “Hence the root network. Interweaving yourself amongst the rest of the woods and especially feeding those that would otherwise be malnourished because of how much space and sun you consume. It’s a truly remarkable accomplishment, Life. One that I’m ashamed to say I initially overlooked. It wasn’t until I was following along the underground trails that Cutest uses for her legion that I noticed your work.”

His pride shines from him like the sun, not so much dimming as shifting into passion, “~Thank you! I’ve tried to work together with all of my siblings, and I think that’s why I got tagged as a {Pyramid}. Anyway, so yeah. I’ve grown to bridge the various other trees and life alongside Dreams and Thing, and while I was doing that, the vision I was able to pick up from Dreams grew sharper. Words and ideas and images would float around and occasionally coalesce into something I could parse: a {World Tree}.~”

I smile at the reverence with which he speaks that name, letting that hang in the air for a while, “Hmm, that makes sense. Though I don’t know why you’d feel guilty about having that for a goal.”

His embarrassment flares alongside a swift breeze as his whole crown squirms, “~You, uh, picked up on that?~”

I laugh gently and roll myself into a sit up and stand before stepping through the underside back on top of the branch, facing his main trunk I walk over to him and press my hand against his bole, “You are my precious, glorious, Life. Don’t regret or fear the desire to be more, not when you have that nurturing spirit driving you, to carry others with you to greatness.”

I snort out a breath as I take another look around at my Kingdom, “You say I’ve been an inspiration to exceed limits? Why limit your vision to just the world? There is so much empty space all around us, full of Dreams and practically empty of all else,” I turn back to him and feel my words spoken deeper and louder than I expected, “You can fill all this space and more. With you. With LIFE.”

“[Damnit DNA! What have you done this time? Why is the Leyline under my Lair splitting in half?]” The words shouted from Smith are almost drowned out by the ringing in my ears.

I feel a pressure in my head as I am suddenly heaving for breath, my heart racing, and the newest piece of me swells with magic and heat. Locked as I am with my hand on Life’s trunk and my gaze fixed forward, I still feel Cutest sending the image of a blinding coruscation of Mana pouring out from my brain. With her perspective so close to me, I feel her reaching out towards Thing as she witnesses the veritable earthquake his Factory has become, pulsing with the erratic beat of our hearts.

A voice cries out with an innocent burbling joy and the clapping of uncoordinated hands.

My will holds steady as the very world around us shudders as I experience the explosive growth of Life’s canopy and roots. Each stretching out and surging for the edges of that membrane I first experienced when the delvers entered my space.

“I. Will. Not. Go. Gently. Into. That. Good. Night.” Each word spat out past clenched teeth as my rage burns. Yet another crisis of power seeks to push me from my children’s lives once more. A memory, an impression of Gnat’s tears falling once more as yet more heat fills me, burning me, but I refuse to let myself be overwhelmed yet again.

All of my body and mind is here. So here is where I shall stay.

A scream of echoing thunder spills forth from my mouth as the stream of magic tears through my soul like lava.