Madzistrale sat on the swing, and began to move steadily. She sighed, feeling the depression invade her mind once again. Strange how waiting months in advance for a joyous day could result in some days feeling giddy and excited, and others, such as today, feeling sad and depressed that the day couldn't come faster.

Her dark brown eyes scanned the river running before her (well, her parents') estate, hearing the clients laugh.

It didn't helped her loneliness when she felt separate in all manners to her family and the people who came to the estate to relax.

And it certainly didn't helped that she felt solely responsible at such a separation for something as benign as a belief that no one else had around her. Feeling a knot form in her stomach, she closed her eyes, silently wishing that anything could make that guiltiness go away.

When she opened her eyes, she was still seated on her swing, but before her laid a grass field as far as the eyes could see. The sky was clearly at the turning point between the sun-filled clear sky and the sudden summer storm. A breeze made Madzistrale's curly brown hair flow freely, and far behind her, she could hear distant thunders.

She looked puzzingly at her new environment, and jerked in surprise as an indistinguishable voice rang all around her.

"Good day, Madzistrale."

The voice was undefinable in its gender; even more startling, it appeared to come from everywhere: outside of Madzistrale, inside of her mind, across the sky, following the wind, from deep within the grass field.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The voice chuckled.

"I am."

Madzistrale frowned.

"That doesn't really answer the question."

"Not now. But it will one day. Beside, I was given too many names to count."

Before Madzirrale could reply, the voice resumed:

"Why are you so troubled, old soul?"

"Old!? I'm not old! I'm 17!"

The voice chuckled once more.

"My apologies. I did say 'soul', however. Your soul has had quite some journeys before this lifetime... so what is the matter?"

Madzistrale considered the strangeness of the situation, but gave up.

"In two months, I'll be leaving my family's estate"

"Shouldn't you be happy?"

Madzistrale sighed.

"I am, but I feel conflicted. I'm leaving my parents to be who I am with an understanding friend... but I feel I'm being unjust. Yet I feel like there is no common ground possible."

"That's only what your parents have taught you."

"But they're right!"

The voice chuckled once again.

"What makes you say that? Your friend has clearly shown it wasn't true."

Madzistrale hesitated.

"He's... he's different."

"Not so much than you think. Look behind you."

Madzistrale slid from her swing and turned around. At about 100 meter from her stood a great wide tree. The sun was setting behind it, so it was engulfed in golden-orange rays, passing through the massive branches and the leaves. Far behind it, in the sky, dark clouds loomed dangerously close, the thunder still rolling.

"What a magnificent creature a tree is," the voice almost sighed. "It links the earth and the sky together, making them become one, linking everything else in-between."

Madzistrale gazed at it, curious by the tree's familiarity.

"Is that Yggdrasil?" she suddenly asked, a spark of wisdom hitting her.

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The voice chuckled; Madzistrale grimaced in annoyance at the voice clearly making fun of her.

"Close, but not quite what you think. It is indeed the last biological offspring that Yggdrasil gave birth to before evolving into the first non-Phoenix-kind entity to breach my world. But that's not the point. Look closely at the tree. What do you see?"

Madzistrale placed herself below the branches and looked at the thick smooth gray bark, at the strong branches.

"Umm... branches, leaves, trunk?" she attempted.

"Exactly. Beliefs, philosophies, all linking to one core. The core of these entirely different beliefs, uniting and sprouting from the common roots of knowledge. The entire system working together to achieve one singular goal: to reach beyond the limits of the sky, because beyond that lies something so incredible yet mind-boggling and thoroughly incomprehensible to the minds."

Madzistrale realized what the voice was telling her. Then the thunders came even closer, and drops of rain splashed against the toppest of leaves.

"Don't move," the voice told her. "You'll see, nothing will happen to you... or the tree."

The storm hit hard, and Madzistrale flattened herself against the thick trunk. She was glad for the fact that the lowest branches were still about twice as high as her height so that it could not whip at her; and she found herself indeed protected from the heavy rain, the strong winds, and the thunders. It lasted for ten minutes, then as swiftly as it came, the storm system moved foward, and rays of sun shone back through the branches.

"Look how strong the tree is when all elements of it coexist together. The same goes for your world, for your lives, and for your beliefs. Not one belief is separated from the other in a non-collective way, and that unity can survice the strongest of storms. That is the essence behind your friend's eidomorph nature."

Madzistrale didn't bothered to ask how the voice knew about that unique word her friend invented to describe his belief; she pretty much already guessed who that voice was by now.

"Thank you," she said, feeling the knot in her stomach leave.

"My pleasure! See you later, old soul."

"Woohoo! Oh sister!" A familiar voice reached her.

Frowning, her eyes closed and reopened, seeing straight back at the river were the clients were still bathing. Tom was playfully shaking her, smirking.

"Oh sister, stop napping, supper's ready!"

Madzistrale smiled and got off of her swing.

"Etsuko! Let's go," she said happily.

"We really need to stop acting like nerds," Tom smirked.

"Who cares? It's fun using foreign words."

"What did you dreamed about?" her brother asked.

She chuckled.

"Nothing. Just a guy that couldn't tell me his name because he got given way too many."

Tom looked at her quizzingly, then smiled.

"Well, try not to turn crazy until we move into Gabzryel's farm."

"I'm afraid he already beat us on that level," she joked, as they then laughed.

Following her brother, Madzistrale instinctively turned to look back. She was slightly disappointed to not see the tall, massive and unmoving tree set in the background of golden sun rays. But she definitively could tell that someone would be chuckling at her way too often for her own comfort. And that made her chuckle as well.

"Now I see why he does that," she thought amusingly.