I was looking at some kind of well.

Never seen anything like it before. Made of rough shaped stone with whorls carved into them. I think I had seen something with markings like that on the History channel once, but no I couldn't remember what it was about exactly. Some of the engravings reminded me of the Moon.

Now the truly strange part was the water spilling over the edge, into a small moat which had a stream leading off from it, glowed with a silvery blue light despite still being clear. There was some kind of blue flame at the top of the well, but I got the sense it wasn't really fire.

This was great because it seemed to be nighttime, and the soft light allowed me to see some of my surroundings.

The Branch on my arm gave a rustle.

[ Adjusting...]

[ A Moon Well linked to an extradimensional source. The water inside is clean and pure, while being infused with the essence of Elune. Slowly infusing mana into the environment. This will provide mana, both to yourself and your troops.

While in its vicinity gain +10 Mana Regen

Drinking the water straight from the well is not advised. ]

Yeeeah. None of that meant a thing to me. I didn't even know where to start.

I mean at least it looked like something you'd call a Moon Well.

"What is mana?" I asked to no one in particular.

[ Mana is the Fuel of Life and Magic. ]

"Magic? Really." I had a hard time believing that. On the other hand, The Well was glowing and that fire did look pretty odd. But just because I didn't know how it worked, didn't make it magic.

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I thought back to the Rooms, shuddering, maybe...

Going back to my surroundings, the water flowed into a stream and a cobblestone path paralleled the steam. Both lead down an obvious slope. So I was on a Hill? A Mountain?

I looked up at the night sky, I could make out a few constellations. Hey, that looked like the sky from home, except there were a couple of extra lights I didn't remember. Satellites maybe?

I could also make out the glow of a City's lights bouncing off the sky in one direction, must have been a big one. Maybe I could get home if I found this city.

Later.

That helped me frame out the horizon though, which lead me to the thought I might be in a valley, I was surrounded by mountains, insofar as I could tell.

I looked at the path, well when in doubt follow the trail.

There were smaller stones, set next to the path, about waist high also with whorls carved into them, these stones had a hole toward their tops filled with more of that blue flame. There was something sad, but also cheery about them. Like they meant something more than I could understand.

I stepped over to the closest one, and slowly placed my hand next to the flame. I felt something, but it wasn't warmth like from a normal flame. Huh.

Wait. I knelt down and looked more closely at the grass, one type was blue, the other was purple.

File that away under the growing pile of other shit that I didn't understand.

I must of passed a hundred of those stones, when I came to a pond. the water still glowed with the silvery blue light. what caught my attention here though was the tree on an island in the center of the water. I had started seeing it on the way down, but didn't think too much of it.

First it was pretty big. Somewhere over 50ft tall, and it would take maybe three of me with arms fully extended to surround it.

I noticed the bark was silver and the tri-pointed leaves were purple, just like the Branch I had growing on my arm.

"Is that where you come from?" I questioned the Branch.

It twitched but nothing else happened.

I saw a bridge, and thought it might be interest to see the big tree up close.

The bridge was made out of purple wood also covered in swirls and whorls. The anchor posts had small holes in them that also had blue flames in them.

As I crossed the Bridge I saw a giant face had been carved into the tree. The face somehow conveyed a sense of timelessness and wisdom.

The Branch rustled,

[ This is Meadran, descendant of the Great Trees. He has agreed to act as your Tree of Life.

This is the Heart of this Outpost. If Meadran falls, you lose any chance of achieving the Company Goals.

Trees of Life produce Wisps of various types.

Wisps have many uses, including building and resource gathering. ]

The eyes of the Tree began to glow.

"HELLO YOUNG ONE!" A booming yet gentle voice filled the Valley.

"Ahh!" I tried to backup but fell on my ass.

What the fuck?