When Picea heard my request, a strange look passed over her face.

She looked at me with a placating smile, “Well, Kane. I would love to teach you, it’s just that I can’t at the moment.”

This was like a needle popping my balloon, and I deflated in dejection.

“W-why not?” I asked with a frown.

Picea sighed, “My child, you are still so small. Your celestial core is undeveloped, so even if you knew how to use magic, you would be completely unable to release any celestial energy.” she explained.

This made a lot of sense actually, but this just meant that I had to develop my celestial core.

“So, how do I grow my celestial core?” I asked as if it was obvious.

“You’re quick aren’t you? Unfortunately, even the most talented elves can only develop their celestial cores after well over a decade. Most take upwards of twenty years to be able to proficiently use magic.” she said before pausing.

When I heard all of this, my mood darkened even further. If it took at least twelve years to develop my celestial core, I wouldn’t be able to use magic until I was a teenager!

That was far too long!

Picea eventually continued though, “Luckily, my little experiment seems to have been bearing fruit.”

This caused me to raise an eyebrow at the dryad, “Experiment? What are you going on about?”

Picea laughed with a mischievous glint in her eyes, “Little one, did you think that I was helping you purely because you were adorable? That was the main reason, yes, but the other reason was to satisfy my curiosity.”

“I would describe myself as a scholar, and I have studied almost everything there is to study in my long life. However, I’ve never had the chance to see a baby with an adult mind, let alone feed one with my essence.” she finished, a scary look now in her eyes as she looked at me.

I gulped, not knowing if I should be thankful or terrified of this dryad. After all, they were an ancient being that quite literally feasted on the flesh of mortals.

When you put it like that, I felt stupid for even coming here in the first place.

Picea seemed to know what I was thinking, “Stop looking at me like you’ve just seen a ghost! I’m not going to hurt you.” she chuckled.

I wasn’t quite buying it, but what they were saying still interested me greatly.

“Can you explain what’s so special about your ‘essence’. It does taste really good, but isn’t it just like honey or something?” I asked.

Picea looked offended as she shook her head, “Honey?! How outrageous, my essence is essentially liquid celestial energy in its purest form.” she pouted, her hands on her hips.

That explained its seemingly magical properties, “So, if I keep drinking your essence, I’ll probably be able to use my celestial core sooner.” I realized, speaking my thoughts aloud.

Picea nodded her head with a bright smile, “That’s the conclusion that I came to as well. You’ve only been here for a week, but your body seems to have developed by months. It’s fascinating, a nearly 120% increased rate of development!” she exclaimed.

That was pretty incredible actually. This meant that I was growing more than twice as fast as I normally would while drinking this dryad’s essence.

“How long do you think it will take me to develop my core at this rate?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Picea scratched her chin and hummed, “By my estimations, maybe a little over seven years.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

If I had any water in my mouth I would have spit it out. That was far too long still!

“There’s no other way to speed up the process?” I asked, hopeful.

“I’m afraid not, my dear.” Picea said.

I rubbed my temples in thought, “Okay, well I still need to find my mother. I’ll stay here for a little bit longer before I set back out.” I said.

The opportunity to hasten my development using Picea’s magical energy was far too amazing not to take advantage of. Even if she was studying me, I figured that was only fair because of what I was receiving in return. Besides, I wouldn’t be here much longer anyways.

***

Although I had yet to realize it, I ended up staying with Picea for an entire year.

In this time I had become seemingly addicted to her essence, and I drank from it daily.

The days turned into a blur, and months had passed before I had even realized it.

Picea taught me many wondrous things in that time, like ancient secrets of the Elarion forests, or the history of this world and its warring nations.

They even let me practice my powers fully. Picea would conjure wooden objects for me to lift, and would measure my strength in her different scrolls as my power grew. They made obstacle courses for me to fly through, and intense magical spectacles just to entertain me.

My powers continued to grow, and I could now even lift three objects at the same time with some effort. I would train my powers by juggling wooden toys in the air and shooting them into walls.

Picea would always happily remake the toys that I broke, and she never got upset or yelled.

There was always something in the back of my mind though, nagging me. I would always feel like there was something I was supposed to be doing, supposed to be… finding.

However, whenever that happened my mind became foggy and I forgot what I was thinking about. Picea was always there to feed me when that happened, they would say that I was just hungry.

Except, one day I wasn’t hungry, and no amount of gaslighting could convince me that I was.

“No, I’m not hungry at all! You just fed me a damn hour ago! Why do you always do that?” I asked, looking up at Picea strangely.

Picea merely smiled at me, “Do what, my child? Does my little Kane have a tummy ache? Come here, let me feed you. My milk can heal all ailments.” she said, reaching to grab a breast.

“What the f*ck?” I said, staring at Picea like I had swallowed a bug.

As I stood in front of her, I began to wonder what was wrong with this green woman.

Wait a minute, I was standing.

When did I learn to stand? Wasn’t I only a few months old?

‘Shouldn’t a baby’s first steps be an important occasion? I don’t even remember my mother being excit-’ I thought to myself, my eyes widening in realization.

‘Wait! My mother. Where the hell is my mother at?!’ I thought, looking around in a panic.

I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to be finding her, and that I had actually been here for months upon months.

I actually didn’t know how long I had been here for. If I was standing already, and even able to run around, I had to have been at least two years old.

Picea’s magical milk made me grow twice as fast, so that meant that I had been here for a year already!

‘That fucking milk! Did that b*tch drug it or something?’ I wondered, looking at Picea in horror.

Picea saw the look on my eyes, and she must have realized that I had broken out of my trance.

“Kane! What’s the matter? You look upset, come let your mother take care of you.” she said frantically, creeping towards me.

I flew into the air and summoned my iron sword from across the room, holding it at the ready between the two of us. I had it pointed directly at her.

“You’re not my damn mother! You’re actually a psycho! Did you brainwash me with your breast milk or something?’ I exclaimed, my gaze frosty.

Picea sighed, her expression changing to show that she was pained.

“You don’t understand, Kane! I love you! I love you just as if I was your real mother. Besides, whoever that b*tch is, they left you stranded in the Elarion forest. They are weak and unfit to be your mother if they have not managed to find you yet.” she said.

Her words sounded like poison to me. Had I really thought that this creature was my true mother?

“No, you don’t understand Picea. If you really loved me you would not have kept me trapped away here, like some possession or science experiment.”

“In the time that I’ve been here, my mother could have died for all I know! When I could have saved her!” I shouted, my blood boiling.

I turned to float towards the door at the end of the tree. This magical tree that I had foolishly believed was my home for an entire year.

Suddenly, the door to the room disappeared. The wooden walls had shifted over the door completely, swallowing it back into the tree.

I glanced back at Picea, who was now looking at me with a wicked expression on their face.

“How childish.” I said, sending a wave of my power towards the wall in front of me.

In the time that I had been here, I had given the strange energy my power created a name.

Aether.

My power seemed to be completely invisible, and it operated on laws that were above the normal magic of this world. Aether was a fitting name for it.

During this long year, I had managed to hone my Aether until it reached a point I would describe as overpowered.

Just this one attack I had barely put any thought into had torn the very walls of the tree apart, sending wood flying in every direction.

The early morning sun beamed into the tree from the opening I had just created, and I could see the vast Elarion forest extend past the horizon in a sea of vibrant green.

“NOO! I won’t let you leave me!” Picea shrieked, reaching out her arms towards me.

Thick wooden tendrils grew from the room’s floor and ceiling as they shot towards my position at a blinding speed.

I frowned as I directed the Aether around my sword into action.

White light flashed as my iron sword flew in several sharp arcs around the room, slicing through the vines and wooden tendrils with ease.

The vines were moving at a speed that was faster than my eyes could see, so I simply flew the sword around in circles as quickly as I could.

Evidently, this worked flawlessly.

The severed wood fell to the ground with dull thuds as I sent my sword directly towards Picea’s position.

Picea was raising her arms to no doubt launch another attack at me, but they fell to her side uselessly as my sword’s blade went cleanly through her neck.

Her severed head fell to the ground with a thump, and I watched as her arms reached out towards it.

Looking at Picea’s face, I could see that tears were falling from her eyes.

“K-kane, no! Please don’t do this!” she sobbed, picking up her head with her hands.

I looked away from her, out towards the endless sky in front of me.

“Picea, I truly do appreciate everything you have done for me. You may be a sick, twisted woman, but I will always remember the time I spent here. I know this isn’t enough to kill you, so I hope you don’t hold a grudge.” I said, my tone sad.

I suddenly remembered something, and I sent some of my Aether towards a desk in the corner of the room. I promptly collected a small letter with my power and floated it towards me.

It sat in the air next to the plain iron sword at my side.

‘I almost forgot about this thing.’ I thought, resolving to open it up after I had gotten far away from here.

I didn’t look back at Picea as I flew towards the opening on the tree, towards my freedom.