[Kliss Eliza Cessna]

I couldn't believe it. I was free… I was completely, fully free to make my own decisions for the first time since I was seven. It felt strange not to have a Vow hovering over me, making choices for me. It felt strange not to be bound to a path or to a cause. It felt strange not to have someone whispering at me constantly, watching me, telling me what to do next. My future was completely… open.

I wanted to follow Dante to his Alanian tower, wanted to talk to him, wanted to learn more… but I knew that if I did… I would simply be bound to another path from which there would be no turning back. As much as the mystery of a man from another world who had seen the Wheel and broke Vows for lunch taunted me, I knew that I had to conserve my remaining soul, to meditate, to relax and to finally rest… rest for the first time in my life and not be haunted by nightmarish dreams that portrayed the consequences of my betrayal of the Laws of Equality.

I knew that I was a sinner in the eyes of the Goddess, a traitor to the Empire… and yet… I didn’t feel bad about it.

Nobody was judging my actions anymore.

I was unbound.

“I’ll be back,” I looked through the stained glass to the forest which hid the ruins of the Alanian tower. “I’ll be back… someday... and then I’ll figure you out. Someday... I’ll repay this debt.”

I yawned, laid down on my bed, curled up and for the first time in my life, I relaxed fully and completely.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I fell asleep without an angel watching over me.

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[Dante Alan Skyisle]

As I laid down on the soft moss beneath the sparkling stars, and listened to the whispers of the leaves of the Mystic tree above me, I contemplated what I could do about the new Overseer of Skyisle that was her replacement.

“What do you think, tree?” I asked. “How can I stop the new Overseer from ruining my plans?”

Purple leaves above me shimmered with orange and gold colors as late evening wind blew from the mountains.

“I don’t think that Leemy can speak Ishikarian,” Delta pointed out.

“Hmmm,” I rubbed my chin and then started to slowly hum the Alanian Sentinel’s song up to the tree.

The song whispered, danced across the tower, and responded from the soul-sucking hex-beacon. It danced across the tree’s branches and leaves and then came back in barely perceptible whispers, an echo that lasted far too long as if the tree was singing the same soul-calming melody, but at a much, much slower rate.

“She’s definitely singing back,” I said.

Delta nodded.

“Leemy,” I spoke-sang in ancient Alanian. “I hope you can understand me.”

No response came back.

“Well, we’ve tried,” Delta yawned.

I stepped closer to the tree, and reached out with my hand, touching its moss-covered brown bark.

“Don't be afraid. I’m the last Alanian Sentinel. I don’t know if this means anything to you, I don’t know if you can understand me… but I’d like us to be friends. My twin sister and I are alone in our mission… and we are trying to save Skyisle. I could really use your help, Leemy. I know that your large roots go deep, far across the forest.”

Silence.

I sighed, stepping back. What did I expect? It was just a big tree…

“F-r-i-e-n-d-s?” the leaves suddenly whispered. The word started at the bottom of the branches and slowly echoed upward the enormous trunk resonating all the way up into the sky.

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I nearly jumped in surprise.

“Holy crap, she can talk!” Delta gasped.

“Friends, I’d like to be friends with you,” I said slowly. “I’m Slava. What’s your name?”

“L-e-e-m-y,” the answer cascaded into the sky with endless whispers.

“She’s aliiiiiiiive!” My twin squeed.

“How much do you remember?” I asked.

“I died when Tricameron was besieged,” the tree whispered. “It has been long. I miss my mom.”

“Kopusha?”

“Yes,” the tree replied. “She died to give me… life.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you remember what Tricameron was… before it was destroyed, turned into the Valley of Death?”

“Yes,” the leaves resonated. “I have. It was beautiful…” The Mystic tree sang in slow, echoing whispers.

My experiment with soul shards worked, I brought Leemy back to life as a dryad tree!

“Can you tell me about your skills?” I asked.

“I have Chrysalis, a skill designed by my Agromancer mother. It was created so that I could… survive anything, grow once more if only given enough time.”

“Do you remember me?” I asked.

“I… do,” Leemy said. “You saved me from the Astral, planted me into the Mystic-Willow-Oak tree.”

I smiled. “Can you tell me how old you are?”

“One thousand, one hundred and seventy seven springs,” the answer came in Ancient Alanian.

“Was this tree your body then? You’ve survived the destruction of Tricameron?” I asked.

“Wait, what?” Delta blinked.

“Barely,” Leemy said. “This tree… was but an empty shell without me. It… I lost most of my soul. Only a single shard of me remained in the ashes, buried deep within my scorched bark. It took me a long time to grow from the dead remnants of the forest. A long time to find sufficient mana. Many centuries…. My roots slowly grew through the ruins of Skyisle, seeking life… seeking energy. I found it here, in the derelict of this tower… a cracked Alanian battery deep in the ground. I moved into the tower to be closer to it, grew tall and thrived. I helped the land rejuvenate, drank the poison from the air and the ground and brought life back to Skyisle.

When the humans came from their shelters, emerged from the underground tunnels… I did not speak to them, for I was but a nearly-mindless tree trying to survive. For hundreds of years more I fed upon the leak of the Astral Engine… until you brought back my soul, until Chrysalis repaired me, awakened me fully.”

“So you’ve seen… everything,” I said.

“I have, young Sentinel,” the leaves sang languidly. “You and that girl… cut out a piece of my crystalline core. It hurt.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I uttered.

“It is fine. I am strong,” the leaves whispered. “I was too afraid to speak to you... with that angel-bound girl around. Kliss. Her forefathers, people guided by angels and gods are vile monsters that destroyed our Citadel, killed my mother. I was afraid that she would set me on fire again while you slept.”

“I understand how you must be feeling,” I said. “You’ve been alone for a long time.”

“Yes,” Leemy said.

“If you’re a Dryad… can you make a human avatar?” Delta asked.

“In time. Essential knowledge was lost… I have been slowly dying for centuries, fighting off Decay pouring from the Valley. I have not bloomed in two hundred springs. My roots aren't strong enough to break the other batteries...”

“I can crack another battery open for you, help you bloom once again,” I smiled.

“That would help, yes,” the leaves whispered. “Thank you, young Sentinel of Alania.”

I yawned as I realized that our incredible conversation had taken a few hours. Leemy was a very slow narrator, slow to answer my questions, each of its words a somber, languishing song of pain, loss and growth.

I noticed that Delta was already asleep inside the tent.

“I’m a tad tuckered, had a long day. I'll be heading to sleep now,” I said. “You don’t mind that we stay between your roots, right?”

“I do not. Sleep well, little Sentinels. We can talk tomorrow.”

"Tomorrow," I yawned.

I crawled into my tent, tied up the front entrance and curled up into my sleeping bag with a big, wide smile. Radiation and poison cleanup was an enormous issue on my mind. Leemy was my bright hope, the reason why I didn’t have to convince anyone to relocate anymore!

I didn’t have to abandon my home to the magogenic fault.

I made a new friend, a shard of the Alanian civilization, a Dryad! Leemy was the solution to the poison leaking from the Valley of Death, the reason why people could live so close to the fault.

Whatever had remained of her kept this valley alive and green.

She was growing weaker, yes... and her slow death was likely the reason why the level cap was behaving as it was.

Leemy’s skills could decontaminate radiation and oppose decay, she could help me save, rebuild Skyisle… as long as I fed her power.

I yawned once more and my eyes closed.