Seeing Elandris run past me while I got tangled by the thorny vines for the hundredth time was annoying. The deep forest was a nightmare to travel through. Even though I have been in other forests after I came to this world, this one was too dense with life itself. Trees were thick and long with their branches reaching everywhere. Countless flowers, bushes, and vines sprouted out of the ground. I literally couldn’t see the ground from the plants. I had never seen this thick and dense plant life in my life before and I was raised in a rural area.

Lily, despite being nimbler than me was in a more troublesome situation than me. He wasn’t used to walking through wilderness as much as me and his relatively low Vitality showed itself.

“Elandris. How long until we get to an easier road?”

I called out to him. Even though he was several steps in front of us just a second ago, I lost him due to the long grass covering my vision.

"We should reach a clearing soon," his voice carried back to me, sounding somewhat muffled by the dense foliage between us. I heard Lily sigh a breath of relief. I laughed.

“What happened? Not excited about getting elven booty anymore?”

He stepped on a thick plant and cleared the bugs and pollens stuck on him. His exposed skin was red. It was normal. With the amount of plant life this forest held, it was normal that one or two would irritate his skin.

“I hate this. Carry me.”

He extended his arms to me. I slapped them away.

“Hell no.”

He threw his hands in the air in frustration.

“Why? You carry him!”

Gökbörü popped his head out of my chest plate and stuck out his tongue. And just like he and Lily started a “tongue sticking competition” with each other.

“He is a pup. You are an adult. Wear the cloak I gave you. I told you before that what you wear is not suitable for a hike through the forest.”

He was wearing a sleeveless turtleneck crop top for fuck’s sake. Why is he allergic to wearing normal clothes?

“But it is too hot for it! How are you fine with wearing your armor all the time?”

God, I have forgotten how much he complains when things don’t go his way.

“Gökbörü, please cool him off.”

Gökbörü released a wave of snow and ice to Lily. As the icy blast from Gökbörü enveloped Lily, he let out a yelp of surprise, quickly scrambling to brush off the frost that clung to his clothing.

"Hey, that's cold!" he exclaimed, shooting you a reproachful look. "You didn't have to sic your little ice monster on me."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his dramatic reaction.

"Maybe if you listened to me and wore appropriate clothing, you wouldn't need to be cooled off."

Lily grumbled something unintelligible under his breath but begrudgingly reached for the cloak I had offered him earlier. As he draped it over his shoulders, I could see the relief wash over his face, the fabric providing some protection against the irritants of the forest.

"Better?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“This is a crime against fashion…”

He sulked again.

“I can’t believe I am missing our power armors.

They were clunky as hell but at least they provided environmental protection.”

I wish he didn’t mention about them at all. I missed my power armor too. Even though my Spark created an armor for him, it was hard to not miss a technological wonder.

“Hey, give some credit. They weren’t that clunky.”

He laughed.

“Of course, you would think like that! Yours was made for you. I wore a mass-produced one.”

I snorted.

“If you didn’t fuck around all the time and rose through ranks you would have yours too.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Boo.”

“Enough bitching. We are going to lose Elandris at this rate.”

Lily nodded, his expression sobering as he took in the dense foliage around us.

“Fine, fine.”

With that, we pressed on, following Elandris's lead as he navigated through the tangled undergrowth with practiced ease though I suspected being an elf also somehow helped him. One would guess that being a Guardian of Forest and carrying a part of the Mother Tree would help but it did nothing for me.

As time passed, I got so used to following Elandris’s steps that I nearly fell when he suddenly stopped. I quickly recovered and thanks to that I didn’t fall when Lily slammed me from the back. Before I could ask what was wrong, I felt a shift in the air. It was like… static. With how battle-ready I was from my dungeon trip, I quickly jumped back, my right hand grasping my spear as my left dragged Lily to the side. I pulled my spear back, tensing my back muscles so hard that they ached. I was ready to throw my spear and skewer whatever was about to come.

“Heya, Eleeeeeeee!”

Thankfully, I wasn’t trigger-happy so when the childish voice rang out and an elven figure appeared, I didn’t nail her with my spear.

“Methild, Elders talked about not teleporting randomly. You may get attacked.”

Elandris knew her. It was a relief. But seeing her teleport causally meant that she was a fairly adept mage.

“Come on Elee. You know that I can just woosh! Whoah!”

She created half-translucent shields out of mana and swung them like she was play fighting. I looked at Lily, then shot Elandris a look of pity. I guess he too has to deal with tricksters. She leaned back to us without turning to us. Okay, she is as weird as Lily.

“What do we have here- What?”

Her voice suddenly turned serious. She straightened her back and actually turned to us.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“How is this possible? A human carrying Mother’s gift? And a human elementalist?”

She turned back to Elandris.

“What is happening?”

Elandris slowly blinked.

“It is a long story and we are in a hurry. Haven’t you received Mother’s news?”

She put her hands behind her back like a guilty child.

“I heard her calling but… I was too busy.”

Elandris made a face I made many times before when I was dealing with Lily.

“Nidhogg is in the Mother. We have to hurry.”

Lily looked at me with a mischievous expression.

“Too soon, Lily.”

He innocently shrugged.

“I didn’t say anything.”

I shook my head, knowing full well what Lily was implying. Despite the gravity of the situation, his penchant for mischief never seemed to wane.

“My name is Poyraz. This is Lily. I am a friend of the beastkin and I made a deal with the Mother Tree to get rid of Nidhogg. I take that you are a Guardian of Forest too?”

I said my tone firm. Methild nodded solemnly, her playful demeanor fading as she took in the seriousness of the situation.

“I see. I see. If that’s Mother’s decision, I’ll accept you. So things are that bad… Okay, let’s go. No time to waste. I will be teleporting all of you.”

With Methild's offer to teleport us, a sense of relief washed over me. Navigating through the dense forest had proven to be more challenging than anticipated, and the urgency of our mission demanded that we waste no time. Lily was even happier as he threw his hands in the air.

“Holy shit, thank you!”

Thankfully, Methild didn’t take Lily’s words the wrong way. She giggled before focusing, as she began to channel her magic. I felt a tingling sensation as the air around us shimmered, the familiar sensation of teleportation enveloping me as we were transported to our destination. When the sensation faded and my surroundings came into focus once more, I found myself standing in a clearing bathed in dappled sunlight. The air was thick with the scent of pine and earth, and a sense of tranquility washed over me.

A tree as thick as a massive building was the first thing I noticed. It was so big that it took me some time to realize it was a tree, the Mother Tree. I raised my head so up that my neck hurt yet I couldn’t see where it ended. Countless branches and even more countless leaves filled my vision yet I couldn’t see the end of it. Where I thought the tree reached its end the space itself twisted. Trying to understand it made my head hurt.

I put my hand on my chest. The root of the Mother Tree inside me felt hot. Not in a painful way, however. It was more like meeting with someone close to you after a while. Bruh, I only had this root for less than a day and it felt like this already?

Several undiscernable shapes moved between the branches. I guessed that they were the spirits and elementals drawn here by the Mother Tree. Several elves, clothed in casual clothes looked at us in shock and curiosity. They were skinnier than Elandris. I guess that’s what an elf civilian looked like.

“What is this madness? Why have you brought humans to the presence of our Sacred Mother? Explain yourse-“

A male elf holding a wooden staff and adorned with green robes shouted until he locked eyes with me. I made another guess and thought that he was one of the Elders Elandris talked about despite looking young. I looked for Fealin and Aelith as we sent them before but they were nowhere to be found.

As the male elf's accusatory gaze fell upon me, I squared my shoulders and met his gaze with a steady one of my own.

“How are you? What are you?”

He must feel the root of Mother Tree inside me. Her words about it helping me convince elves was true.

"I am Poyraz, a friend of the beastkin and currently in a contract with the Mother Tree.”

I began, my voice carrying with it a calm authority. The elf's expression softened slightly, though he remained cautious. He looked at Elandris. I guess it was easier to speak with someone you knew.

“Have Fealin and Aelith arrived, Elder?”

Elder took a deep breath.

“Yes, I heard the news. However…”

He looked back at me.

“I see that the situation must be worse than what I heard.”

The male elf regarded us with a lingering gaze, his expression thoughtful.

“Yes, it is. But it is better to speak in private.”

Elandris continued, looking at the elves around us. Not only them but those undiscernible shapes also seemed to gather around us. Suddenly Gökbörü popped his head out of my chest plate and let out a loud bark, causing them to scatter. The elder’s gaze focused on him for a second before turning back.

“Follow me.”

He walked to the Mother Tree but disappeared without a trace. I looked at Elandris for an answer but he wordlessly walked forward. Just like the Elder, he also disappeared. I slowly walked forward and extended my hand. My hand passed through something, it felt like the gates that connected dungeon floors. Guess that shouldn’t be that surprising. Dungeons were space anomalies formed due to immense mana and the Mother Tree also had massive mana. I walked forward and found myself in a room.

The room looked like it was carved inside a tree, like a squirrel’s nest but I saw no trace of tool use. Mushrooms poking out of the walls gave out enough light to see comfortably, even without Night Vision. The walls were adorned with animal furs. Two huge bookshelves filled with ancient-looking scrolls caught my eye. It seemed like unlike the beastkin, elves had a written language. A table with several chairs was in the middle. Elder gestured for us to sit. As I sat down I noticed how the chairs, the table, and the shelves looked like they were made with plant manipulation magic, instead of with tools. They felt alive, still connected to whatever tree they were made out of.

“Please take a seat and explain what is happening.”