The moon watched.

The spirits watched.

The earth held its breath.

The air brimmed with excitement.

The elves cheered and cried, a pleasant mixture of pure emotions.

The kobolds prayed, adding a thrum that vibrated in the undercurrent of the mood.

The bodies laid to rest.

The sapling was planted, dirt scooped by hand and pushed into place.

A light, cooling breeze wrapped Felix in a hug as he stood up from his place next to Eri. The new queen smiled, even as her eyes were wet from tears.

The time was upon them. The moon at its zenith.

Felix wiped the dirt from his hands and gestured to the opposite side of the sapling. She gave him a nod and moved.

“Let us begin.”

The words were whispered, yet their weight could be felt across the entire Endless Forest. In fact, they could be felt all the way out to sea…

The two closed their eyes, the noise, the cheering, the crying, faded.

From his bond, he could feel Zira. He could feel how proud she was of him in this moment. No doubt, Eri was feeling something similar from Kyrith.

Yet, in that instant, that single instant of time, his thoughts turned inward. They turned to the past. They turned to his soul.

Deep in his core, he could feel a beat. A heart beat, it was his but it was powered by her.

Fea… The only response was the feeling of a smile. A caress of his cheek. A kiss–

The scene of Eri kissing him back during the ceremony in Bernel, back when he presented her the carving of Kyrith, entered his mind. The look of happiness and joy on her face.

His love for Eri was real, genuine, and without comparison. His past may have loved Fea, but they were now together. Bound together for the rest of his life.

An early thought entered his mind, of somehow pulling her out from him and bringing her back like she had done to him.

A foolish thought now. Fea had what she wanted and was content.

His heart settled, the beating too fading from his consciousness. In its absence was a hum. In its absence were his friends… His family.

There would still be trials and tribulations for him. There would be moments of doubt and pain. But, so long as he had them all, his family, he would power through. He would fight for them.

He would die for them.

The hum grew louder, it was Eri as a single note rang out into the night.

Felix added his own voice even as he reached for his own mana. The air responded, it vibrated in tune with them.

His mana pulsed out from him, swelling and swaying. He need not guide it, to ask it for help. He simply continued his hum.

It grew in strength, the note reaching a crescendo. It did not stop.

As his mana continued to spread outward, it touched every soul there. A strange, foreign feeling, almost incomprehensible. Almost…

He saw their lives, the elves and kobolds and dragons. He felt their happiness and their fears. He felt Mirezabeth and her child-like playfulness. He felt Nevrim give him a nod and…

He felt Calinna.

He felt her smiling down at him.

He felt her warm, cheerful demeanor.

But he also felt her regret.

He felt the pain that her father had caused her.

He felt her future, gone.

Felix took it all in. He gathered everything, the happiness, the fear, the anger, the sadness. He took it and gathered it.

Like the spell that powered the world and gave them magic, he did something profound and groundbreaking.

Eri is right. We have opened a new book, started a new chapter. The future we had is no more. But we have the chance now to shape the new one.

No longer was he going to create just an anchor. He was going to build a true monument, one for the new future. One for everyone.

He buried the gathered emotions, the mana, the memories, the pain, the suffering, the happiness, the joy, the wondrous, the past, and the present.

He drove it deep. The earth gladly accepted it, the wind howling its approval.

A burst of color, an explosion of rainbows. A release of energy, potent and intoxicating.

It breathed, sucking more mana, more memories, more emotions.

The sapling grew, its roots digging into the wellspring of pure, raw energy. It quickly towered over everything in the clearing, and soon even the forest beyond.

Its trunk expanded, gently pushing all away as if not wanting to hurt a single soul–

A soul could be felt within the tree.

No, a thousand souls

A million…

It was endless.

The tree was the future. The souls, all that would be…

Felix stood, his breathing ragged. Every fiber of his body was exhausted. He wanted nothing but to collapse. He couldn’t though, he was not done.

There was one last thing he had to do. The tree needed a guardian, and there was only one soul, one spirit, that could do it.

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Raising a hand, he gathered the evaporating mana and set the final piece in place.

He clenched his hand shut, the mana condensed one final time. The last enchantment set.

To the future.

A blinding white light took his vision, took all their vision. And still, he knew it was working.

He could tell Calinna was accepting her new role.

He could feel her taking on a new form.

He could see her smiling.

And when his vision returned, she stood before him.

Gone was the tense, nervous woman. Gone was her self-doubt. In their place stood a confident woman. In their place stood a proud woman.

Felix smiled back, even as he fell forward from exhaustion. He did not hit the ground, however. Instead, he felt arms wrap around him.

Calinna, the guardian of the future, held him tightly in a hug.

“Thank you.”

Her words were melodic and pleasant. The air around her smelled of the forest, fresh and clean. Her features, though, took on something more ethereal.

Her hair shimmered in different colors as it moved. Her eyes gave off a faint glow that, like her hair, changed colors the longer you stared into them. Even her heartbeat was different, it ticked.

With a tired smile, he shook his head at her words. “No…”

His eyelids felt heavy.

“Thank…”

Felix felt his consciousness slipping.

“You…”

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Oralyn stared.

As Felix was carried away, as Eri stumbled after him. As the night grew old, as the crowd slowly dispersed. Oralyn could only stare.

In front of her was her friend, changed but still her friend.

“Calinna.”

The name slipped out in a whisper and Oralyn barely realized she had said anything. All she could do was stare.

Calinna smiled. She was only a few short feet away but it might as well have been a chasm, miles wide, separating the two. At least, that was what Oralyn felt.

Calinna thought differently.

With a single step, that short distance, that chasm, was crossed. She appeared directly in front of Oralyn.

The two stared at each other, one with a wide smile and infinite possibility and the other terrified.

“Oralyn.”

Hearing her name startled her. “Calinna… I’m–”

Calinna embraced her in a hug.

Oralyn couldn’t take it any longer. All the repressed emotions, all the anger, all the despair, all the regret… It gushed forward and she let it out.

Oralyn wrapped her arms around her friend and cried into her shoulder.

“I’m…sorry.” It took Oralyn several long moments to finally get the words out. But Calinna only smiled.

“I… I wasn’t strong enough… I couldn’t do anything… I-I… I let you down. I let you die.”

“I’m grateful for you.” Calinna said. “And now, I get to watch over the future. I get to watch over you. I have so many things I want to draw, including your smile. So, please, smile. Let me capture it.”

The two separated and Oralyn quickly wiped the tears away. She took a moment, taking it all in before looking to her friend once more. This time, she smiled.

At first, it felt forced but the longer she stared at Calinna and her genuine smile, the more hers became natural.

“That suits you much better.”

That got a slight laugh from Oralyn. However, there was a burning question on her mind. “What… What are you now?”

“I am the guardian of the future.”

That only confused her more. “What does that mean? What will happen to you from this point on?”

“So long as this tree, The Tree of Providence, survives, the world has a future… We have a future. I must stay here and protect it. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t watch over you. Your future is within the tree as well.”

“I… I don’t understand.”

“You will, in time. Just as the rest of the world will.”

Silence fell between the two as Oralyn took in her words. She knew not how this tree mattered to the future, but it was clear that it was unique and special. Just being so near to it, she could feel the mana pulsing and coursing inside it…

“I must go for now. But, Oralyn?”

The words startled her and brought her back to the present. “Y-yes?”

“Please, come and visit again. I might not always be able to show myself, but your presence will always be felt. It gives me comfort.”

“I understand…” She shook her head. “I will! I will come every day! I will come and–”

Calinna laughed. “You don’t have to come every day. But once in a while, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I will see you later, that, I know for sure.”

“Good bye,” Oralyn said but Calinna was already gone…

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Aluin let out a sigh as he plopped down into a chair. He was in the sitting room of the manor, taking a short rest after everything that had transpired. Already, he had ensured Felix would be okay, and sent Calsen and his conspirators to the dwarven prison.

Now? He only wanted a few moments to relax and meditate. However, he was not alone…

“That was so cool! I can’t believe he was able to do something like that! I mean, I never foresaw it!” Mirezabeth shouted while prancing around in excitement.

That caught Aluin’s attention. “You didn’t? I’ll be honest, I thought you had a hand in that.”

“Nope! I didn’t do anything, that was all Felix!”

Strange– No, that isn’t the word for this… A miracle, is what it is. But that presented several unique and interesting problems. Chief among them was, How?

For once the great Sage is stumped, he thought amusingly. But in my defense, something like this is beyond logic and reasoning. This is the world interfering, and doing so in ways no one could possibly predict, plan, or prepare for.

“You’re wrong, you know.” The words caused him to look down at the little girl. The fact she could read his mind didn’t surprise him.

“How so?”

“It’s like I said, this was all Felix’s doing. And, something like this has happened before. In fact! It’s happened a handful of times!”

The Great Spells…

“Yep!”

The Great Spells were just as mysterious as they were world-shaping. Their origins were not known nor when, exactly, they were cast. However, that didn’t mean their effects weren’t known.

One gave us a universal language. And, it's thought the famine that eventually led to the war was caused by another one.

“Oh! Don’t forget about the most important one! The one that gives us magic!”

“Indeed… Though, that isn’t exactly agreed upon. It was Yarnel who first suggested such a thing, after all.”

Mirezabeth rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to disagree with him just because the two of you see the world differently. Besides, I’m older than both of you combined. And, I think he has a point.”

“I don’t disagree with him because of that… I think he is partially right, but I also think there is more to it.”

“Hmm, if you say so,” she said. “Anyway! I can’t wait to see what that tree does! Something about the future is all I can tell!”

Now that surprised him. “You don’t know what the spell does?” In truth, he didn’t know what it did either, but he also hadn’t had time to properly study it…

“Not a clue! I doubt anyone knows exactly what it does, not even Felix! It doesn’t predict the future like I can, it does something…else.”

Hmm, how interesting…

“It sure is! You can feel it, the world is different somehow. I just don’t know how or why, not yet at least. And that’s what makes this exciting!”

Mirezabeth stopped her prancing and stared up at him. “I do know one thing, though.”

“Oh? And what is that?” he asked.

“That bastard of a false god and that puppet master of a prophet…” She gave him a mischievous smile.

“…Are losing control.”