Chapter 15

Lord Mitten avoided making friends with short-lived creatures. A being could only endure a certain number of losses without losing his mind or will to live, and he clung to both his mind and his life.

He had even had to say goodbye to some of his longer-lived friends over the years and the circle of those who continued to accompany him had become smaller and smaller.

As he hurried through the forest, the glowing red artifact made him reminisce about old times. Back when Glacial Doom was still an egg and he had fought the army of the undead together with her father Cold Wrath. They had rained down deadly ice rain and huge fireballs on the soulless fighters and under their attacks the army had melted away like ice in spring. It had been a truly magnificent sight!

And then came the clean-up, Lord Mitten recalled with annoyance.

Fighting an army of the dead in an open field might be a glorious spectacle. Scouring every corner of the continent for the remaining undead in the aftermath to prevent a resurgence of the army was much less glorious.

And before he could get around to asking his old friend for support, he had already left. His partner was expecting his support in raising their offspring, he had said.

What could one say against that?

And so Lord Mitten had once again been given the inglorious and dull task of visiting every last village on the continent to eliminate the remaining walking corpses.

Unfortunately, as he had discovered, eliminating the undead up close was also much more unpleasant than from the air at a reasonable distance.

The mixture of corpse smell and sweetish pus had made him curse his nose and -,

Lord Mitten suddenly paused at the thought.

This sounds familiar, he thought suspiciously, thinking back to the dwarven kingdom that had perished due to poisoning.

A terrible realization spread through him.

The common denominator of the disasters he had overcome seemed to be the olfactory horror that accompanied them and bothered him.

He wrinkled his nose.

All the more reason to refrain from doing any more guarding in the future, he decided.

Forgetting smells was tedious work, after all. He remembered how unpleasant it had been to wake up and start the day with the smell of a corpse in his nose.

"Hmph," he grumbled to himself, brushing aside the unpleasant memories and continuing to focus on the pleasant ones.

"Ah Cold Wrath," he sighed at the thought of his longtime friend who perished in the dragon uprising over a thousand years ago.

If you saw me today, disguising myself as a village cat and shirking my duties - you'd probably give me a good telling off.

An image of a huge, muscular dragon emerged in Lord Mitten's mind, its dark blue scales shimmering in the sunlight.

"Starbound," he would say in a deep voice that resembled the rumble of thunder. "You lazy cat! Get off your butt and do what you were born to do and what your destiny is - to watch over the continent with honor and might!"

His heart grew heavy at the thought of his dead friend, whose ashes they had scattered from the air over the entire continent so that he could watch over it from the realm of the dead.

Why didn't you stay alive, old friend? Then the last centuries would have been much more bearable, Lord Mitten thought melancholically.

The next thought lifted him somewhat from his dejection.

In any case, with his death, Cold Wrath had forever and ever forfeited the right to accuse him of idleness and laziness! He himself had become idle far too soon.

After all, what was death but eternal idleness?

Lord Mitten had to grin when he thought of how Cold Wrath would have reacted to the accusation of laziness.

With pure contempt and a decades-long friendship break to make his point, he thought with amusement.

All these old creatures just take everything and themselves far too seriously, Lord Mitten decided.

B'ellfyth, too.

He was filled with joyful anticipation at the thought of finally seeing his longtime friend again after such a long time. B'ellfyth was the opposite of him, conscientious and hardworking. He would never give up a role as guardian and would discover a meaningful aspect in even the most boring activity.

Lord Mitten was curious to see how his friend, so different from him, would react to his resignation and increased the pace.

After moving through the forest for the first few hours to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, he had now been hurrying across the canopy of the seemingly endless forest for a while. After two days of incessant movement, the trees had become even mightier and the animals in the air and on the ground rarer. The glow of the evening sun settled on the canopy and made it appear golden.

"S-T-O-P," a voice spoke.

Suddenly, the canopy of leaves opened up around him. Thick branches shot out from the leafy canopy and enclosed him in an impenetrable thicket.

Lord Mitten stopped abruptly. He had finally arrived in the Ty'lle Forest.

The branches around him stretched out inquiringly towards him, ever smaller branches growing out of them and moving towards him. They stopped just before him.

Good.

He would pay his respects to the guardian, but he would not allow himself to be touched. And he was unsure how she would react to the loss of a few branches. Trees did not necessarily act rationally.

Lord Mitten looked at the tangle of branches in front of him, which slowly turned into a gnarled face looking back at him.

"Hello Mangdrila," he said, nodding to her thoughtfully.

The lumbering face looked at him and slowly opened its gnarled mouth.

"S-t-a-r-b-o-u-n-d?" it creaked dully around him.

"Indeed," he spoke.

"S-t-a-r-b-o-u-n-d," it growled deeply.

"That's right, I'm on my way to -"

"S-t-a-r-b-o-u-n-d," it sighed deeply.

"-B'ellfyth."

He sighed.

Trees.

I could never live with them. Far too slow and cumbersome.

"Like I said, I'm on my way to see B'ellfyth. He's awake?"

Lord Mitten looked hopefully at the old creature.

"A-w-a-k-e?“

Ah yes.

The concept of sleep was unfamiliar to the trees, as they never slept. Or always, Lord Mitten mused, depending on how one viewed the twilight state of their existence.

"His heart beats and his mind moves?" he corrected himself.

"A-w-a-k-e." it hummed through the forest.

Lord Mitten's heart was pounding.

So it was true, he would finally see his friend again soon. A smile stole onto his face unconsciously.

"I'm on my way to him, will you let me pass?" he politely asked the wood element that had watched over his friend and cared for him for over a thousand years.

"S-t-a-r-b-o-u-n-d ... A-c-c-e-p-t-a-b-l-e." the branches slowly formulated the desired words.

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A rustling went through the branches.

The small branches retreated back into the larger twigs and branches and moved away from him. The branches and twigs in front of him also retreated into the crown of leaves. The gnarled face disappeared.

"Thank you," Lord Mitten said into the silence of the forest.

HHHRRRMMMMM

A dull roar from the trees around him answered him.

Lord Mitten left the canopy of 200 m high deciduous trees towards the forest floor and strolled at a somewhat slower pace towards the center of the forest. After a few hours, he came upon a clearing in the middle of which stood a gigantic tree whose crown was only dimly visible from the forest floor. The thick, gnarled trunk was wide enough that even 20 people would not have been able to reach around it, in theory. For no one ever strayed into the heart of the Ty'lle Forest by mistake, and even those who deliberately set out into the forest failed to make it past the eternal guardian.

Lord Mitten slowly entered the clearing, the mighty tree firmly in view.

There was still nothing unusual to be seen. The evening sun's rays warmed the forest floor, which was covered in lush green grass. Butterflies danced lazily from flower to flower of the dark green Phal bushes that grew around the clearing in purple.

Every now and then a chirp came from the trees.

Lord Mitten sat down on the ground in front of the mighty Atal-Tree and began to preen himself extensively.

If he had to wait, he might as well occupy himself with something meaningful in the meantime, he thought and licked his dark brown fur thoughtfully. After a while, when there was still no movement, he decided to take a little nap.

It was slowly getting darker and the last rays of sunlight were shining on the tree in the middle of the clearing.

Suddenly the birds chirped excitedly from the branches and a slight murmur filled the forest.

Lord Mitten opened his eyes.

The gnarled trunk in front of him groaned.

HhhRRRRMmmm

At a knotty point in the middle of the trunk, a meter above the above-ground root system, its bark pulled apart. Deeper and deeper the crack went and an opening appeared in the interior of the Atal-Tree, widening upwards.

HRRRMmH groaned the tree and the ground beneath Lord Mitten vibrated.

Slowly, the transformation came to a halt and the rustling of the forest stopped. A tense silence spread, even the birds stopped chirping.

Lord Mitten stared at the opening.

Slowly, a hand appeared in it. Then a leg and finally the rest of the body. The formerly trapped creature hesitated briefly before stepping out of the trunk and into the clearing.

B'ellfyth had really woken up. Joy spread through Lord Mitten.

He stood up and walked towards the tree.

"Hey B'elly!" he called out with a grin. "Well? Had enough sleep?"

"That the first thing I see after my sleep had to be you, Starbound," the elf replied dryly.

Oh B'ellfyth, I've missed you, thought Lord Mitten and grinned happily.

The tall elf stretched extensively in front of him. His long white-blond hair hung straight down and a slight smile lay on his finely chiseled features. He closed his almond-shaped gray eyes and enjoyed the last warmth of the sun.

"You've gone pale in your wooden coffin," Lord Mitten teased the elf, whose pale complexion would not get any darker even with constant exposure to the sun.

The elf raised an eyebrow.

"It's called royal pallor, Starbound. But you have no idea about that, you dark bundle of fur," B'ellfyth said, looking down at him from the corner of his eye.

"Whatever you say," purred Lord Mitten contentedly, the joy of the reunion greater than the desire to tease his friend.

"I've missed you, B'elly," he finally admitted with a smile.

B'ellfyth looked at him and smiled.

"I'm glad to see you again, too. Even though it seems like only yesterday I was saying goodbye to you, old friend."

Unfair, Lord Mitten thought sourly.

"Yesterday, huh?" replied Lord Mitten. "If it had been, you unfaithful friend."

B'ellfyth looked at him for a while before finally asking the decisive question.

"Tell me, how long have I been asleep?"

Only a slight twitch of the corners of his mouth indicated that the answer and its consequences were of great importance to the elf.

The time for jokes was over.

Lord Mitten looked B'ellfyth firmly in the eye.

"About 2000 years," he answered truthfully.

"2000 years?!" exclaimed B'ellfyth involuntarily, staring at Lord Mitten.

"More or less."

"Huh."

The elf frowned and was lost in his thoughts for a moment. Finally, he sighed deeply.

"The dragons?" asked B'ellfyth after a while, looking worriedly at Lord Mitten.

"Defeated."

"The continent?"

"Saved."

"Hmm, — The elves?"

Lord Mitten looked at his friend, who had slept through the age of the dwarves and their end.

"A bit complicated," he finally admitted.

"There was an incident with the dwarves a few hundred years ago that caused many elves to move west. But some stayed in Amanth, and now that nature has recovered, more and more are coming back."

Lord Mitten felt a little guilty for not looking after his friend's people in his absence. He had successfully put down the dragon uprising, but had been so badly injured that he himself had had to retire for a long time.

Who could have guessed that the dwarves would pick up exactly where the dragons had left off, he thought disapprovingly.

B'ellfyth breathed a sigh of relief. Much of the tension left his body.

"Thank you, Starbound. That is good news," the elf said.

Lord Mitten suddenly realized: Apparently his friend had expected worse after his long absence.

He looked at him sympathetically. It must have been challenging for B'ellfyth to ask about the fate of his people, who were so close to him and for whom he felt responsible. And who he had left behind alone for a very long time.

Unlike him. When he withdrew to heal, there was no one to care for. Friends, yes. But they got along just fine without him, as long as they hadn't died during the uprising, he thought cynically.

That had made it much easier for him to withdraw from world events for a while.

B'ellfyth was watching him —, for how long actually? Lord Mitten wondered. Had his thoughts wandered off again?

"It sounds like you've been busy as Guardian in my absence," the elf said, looking at him sympathetically.

"I've been busy," Lord Mitten admitted, thinking enviously of his other comrades-in-arms who had been able to keep their continent quiet for a long time. Was he doing something wrong? Or was he just unlucky with all the conquering creatures on his continent? He would have to think about it again in time.

"How are things looking at the moment?" B'ellfyth looked at him questioningly. Apparently his biggest concern, the whereabouts of his people, had now been sufficiently clarified, so he turned his attention to his friend's circumstances.

Lord Mitten focused again.

And here we are, he thought.

Hm, the detailed version or the short one? he pondered internally.

Let's keep it short, Lord Mitten finally decided.

“Ahem.”

"I retired after the dwarf debacle," he said, eagerly awaiting his friend's reaction.

“Retired?” B’ellfyth seemed confused.

Understandably so, thought Lord Mitten. Elves knew no retirement. Once the calling was given to them, they lived it through all adversities - until the end of their lives.

Like B'ellfyth, the king of the elves and his closest friend.

“I have decided to quit as Guardian,” he said with conviction.

“Oh,” replied B’ellfyth, smiling.

That's an unexpected reaction, thought Lord Mitten, who was somewhat taken aback by the answer. He had expected something different.

“Everyone decides at least once in their life to take a break and prepare for the next challenge,” said B’ellfyth.

Lord Mitten frowned.

“No, no break,” he corrected his friend. He was clearly misunderstood.

“I really and truly quit,” he confirmed his decision with emphasis and a proud chest.

B'ellfyth tilted his head to the side and thought for a moment.

“Have you ever just let a catastrophe happen and not intervened?” he asked.

“Not yet, no?” replied Lord Mitten and looked at his friend. What was he getting at? Since his decision, nothing major had happened that would have given him the opportunity to carry out his plan.

“Then you take a break!” B’ellfyth confidently told him.

“Sometimes you just need an inner distance to recharge your batteries. When it comes down to it, you'll be there," he continued with a trust in him that he undoubtedly didn't deserve.

"No, I... whatever." Lord Mitten sighed and gave up for the moment.

In time the Elven King would understand that he was truly serious about this. Actions instead of words would ultimately convince him, he was sure of that.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked B’ellfyth, changing the subject.

The elf graciously accepted the change of subject and left it at that.

“I’ll take care of mine for now,” replied the elf.

“Mangdrila lets me know that the first ones have already happily made their way to me. We will organize and rearrange ourselves. The news that the Elven King is awake again will be spread among the people and we will rebuild our empire."

He looked down at Lord Mitten.

“You are of course welcome to accompany me, but I have the feeling that your interest in it is only moderate.”

Lord Mitten grinned at him.

"Rebuilding an empire sounds like a lot of work. Work that others are better suited to than I am."

"Why am I not surprised?" replied B'ellfyth, shaking his head in amusement.

"Besides," Lord Mitten continued smugly, "I do indeed have an important project that I am currently pursuing."

"I'm about to open a store for books and artifacts in Minthral," he revealed proudly.

B'ellfyth paused and looked at him in disbelief.

"What?" asked Lord Mitten with a furrowed brow. His tail twitched from left to right.

"You intend to do ordinary work - voluntarily?" the elf asked suspiciously.

“What happened to my relaxation-loving friend who avoids the stress of everyday life wherever possible?”

Lord Mitten increasingly felt that 2,000 years of separation were not conducive to friendship. Misunderstandings upon misunderstandings!

“Of course I won’t work!” He wrinkled his nose.

“I let work and the world benefit from the treasures I have collected.”

He would never in his life admit that he had actually gotten a little bored lately. That would be grist for the mill of his friend, who only expected him to take a short break!

B'ellfyth looked at him again for a suspiciously long time and smiled.

“As you say, dear friend,” he said at last.

"Then I guess we're going our separate ways again, it looks like?" B'ellfyth said after a moment's hesitation.

"Yes, then I guess we'll be going our separate ways again," Lord Mitten reluctantly agreed.

"For now, anyway."

"For now." the elf confirmed with a smile.

"I look forward to receiving regular reports from you about your project."

"As soon as I have anything worth mentioning, I'll get back to you," Lord Mitten assured him.

"And thank you."

"Hm?" Lord Mitten looked at his friend questioningly.

"Thank you for being the first to greet me, Starbound." B'ellfyth smiled at him.

"You're welcome B'elly."

Lord Mitten hesitated briefly. "But let's keep it to once, shall we?"

"I'll do my best." the elf replied only half-seriously.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lord Mitten saw the first elves gather at the edge of the clearing and look excitedly in their direction. They had waited 2000 years, he would not make them wait a minute longer.

"Goodbye my friend," said Lord Mitten. He turned somewhat reluctantly and left the clearing.

"Goodbye," it called after him.