In the early Morning hours Null and Snow were visiting the hedge maze. Bushman, a walking humanoid completely covered in vines, was tending to the dream flowers which were growing everywhere through the hedge walls.
“Hello Bush! How are you?”
Snow greeted Bushman but did not get a word back. He was not able to talk but over time he became more and more social. He looked at Snow and made a nod. For an experimental Monster without direct connection to Null he was starting to notice more than just tending to the plants and even responding to orders… sometimes.
Deep in the Hedge maze was a Pavilion without a roof. Inside the Pavilion was a gigantic flower which had their Pink petals unfurled. Inside the middle sat Leaf with an extremely pretty girl with long pink hair hiding her ample breasts from view with the hair. On her back of the Spine was a large flexible stem which connected her to the Flower below them. This pink haired Girl was Petal, who was a former Root and now an Alraune by her own request.
“Good Morning you two. Are you ready for the trip?”
“Kind of. I never left my Flower for so long and went so far away from it.”
“While it should have no ill effects the worst would be that your separate body wilts and needs to regrow. We do not know how long it would take, so better not try anything funny.”
“I would like to leave my wife out of your experiments, my Lord.”
“Leaf, I would never mess with any of you if there is no need for it.”
“I remember you about Esther.”
“Esther is an exception. She was originally an invader. Now I would not mess with her… much.”
“She is now family!”
Snow told the truth right out at the end. Null himself was at first a bit guarded against Esther who was formerly Elane from the magical Caste of Blue Ice, but now she is part of the people who are living here. With time she became a Member of the Castle and even helped out in the Lost Village. Her runic knowledge has exponentially grown after Null showed her how to feel the Mana flow inside of Runes.
“By the way I increased the Mana and miasmic flow. You should be packed up to hold on for longer, right?”
“Yes Lord Null. I feel rather bloated, but understand what you are trying to do. Okay, here we go. Hold me please, dear.”
While Leaf held Petals humanoid body the flower stem wriggled and came slowly loose. After Petal groaned the stem detached with a bit of green sap oozing out of the spine and stem.
“It still feels wrong. Let us travel, as I would like to be back before this human body wilts too much.”
“Sure Petal! Let’s go Null, I want to finally see the City myself!”
As Snow never saw the true City of the Root and only knew about it from hearsay she was happy to visit them for the first time. Snow loves to see new Cities especially with Null, as she loves traveling. This time she was determined to go with them.
“By the way my Lord, do you not want to go with Red?”
As Null had multiple bodies one of them was similar to Leaf, a Woodwalker named Red. This Body was long time not used and would be a perfect fit to visit the Root.
“No, firstly I do not want to listen to all the plants in the Forest at once through him and second I do not care about keeping appearance. I might not even be here that long anymore. I am waiting for a call from my little invader and setting the cleansing Circles for Simov to work. Maybe Snow and I will say goodbye to the Bull tribe in the Steppe and break some Empire outposts for them before leaving as an apology for not helping with the coming war.”
“As you wish, my Lord.”
With this the party walked briskly to the tunnel exit out of the Crater. Seeing the Mist around the Trees made the full view only white and at most five meters and at least not being able to see the hand directly in front of them.
“Wow! The Forest changed quite a bit! I can not even smell the surroundings fully.”
As Snow said this she let some of her shadow rats out. Those scurry right into the fog and vanish like they were not even there anymore.
“Huh! Even my little ones can hardly notice anything.”
As the sight was heavily limited, Leaf took the front.
“No wonder the Queen Mother wanted to send us a delegation. Message of our departure was sent through the trees already to the City. They will be expecting us in a few hours.”
Walking through the Woods the group vanished into the eternal white of the Forest.
—
“Rather interesting.”
“Did you notice, my Lord?”
While walking they snaked through the trees sometimes going abruptly left sometimes going directly after a tree right. Once they had gone into a small clearing only to directly go back where they came from.
“Of course. I am connected with the Crater. I know where it is and feel it suddenly changing where it is supposed to be if we were going straight.”
“And how you walk is making me dizzy, Leafy. Left, right, right, left. Even I notice that these Woods are not making any sense anymore.”
“Yes, the Fog makes directions spin, but it is not all Snow.”
“You mean the spatial disturbances, Leaf?”
“So you also noticed that too, my Lord.”
“This Forest is not the Dark Forest we know anymore. It knots its ways like a ball of yarn and has now even some kind of Pocket dimensions expanding it in different ways I can not fathom right now.”
“My Lord, I find my former home totally foreign, but the way is still the same for the trees will lead me.”
“Thank goodness, Leafy. My rats have no Idea how to navigate.”
*giggle*
“What is it, Leafy? Did I say something funny?”
“No, there was a Message to the City. It just said ‘they figured it out’.”
“So their poor trap did not work, huh? Better to hurry up now. Let’s go.”
“As you wish, my Lord”
With that the group of four hurried along the Forest to an auspicious large Tree where some grown steps were hidden, going up into the treetops into a spiderweb of secret suspension bridges between most of the trunks. The travel further was still convoluted but way less as before, supposedly because the magical distortion does not work that strongly higher up. Looking down from the bridges, the Mist was not that impenetrable anymore and showed giant bubbles of different parts of Forest moving irrationally like they were some kind of dreamscape, exchanging places and even intersecting in mysterious ways.
“How pretty. Is this our former home in its true form, dear?”
“Yes Petal. The legends of our Forest being formerly magical Woods seem to be true. I am glad to see it for the first time with you by my side.”
“Aww, they are so cute Null. Can you cuddle me too while looking down on the Forest moving?”
“Well I can hold you and pat your head. How about it?”
“...Okay, that is fine too.”
So while they took their time to marvel at the new mysteries, they further traveled to the City of the Roots in the middle of the Forest.
—
“...Welcome to the City of the Roots. You are early.”
“Not really, we took the scenic route to watch the spectacle in the Mist from above.”
“...scenic route and still…”
“Let me guess, your Elders said we would need more time?”
“Yes, they said you were presumptuous and declined our guidance through the labyrinth of trees.”
“We never declined, they just said we would not need it, but whatever. We have Dreaming Leaf and Dreaming Petal with us, so even if it were true, it would never be presumptuous.”
“You… No, you are right, I apologize, as you have a Woodwalker and… um Petal with you.”
‘Not really knowing what Petal is now, right? Well the words should not be that spread about what she had become inside the City.’
While thinking about those things the Guard leads them to the waiting tree for the audience to be ready.
“It will not take long, our Queen Mother wants to speak to you urgently.”
“We understand. Thank you for your hospitality. An appreciation for your hospitality.”
Null gave a small bark vial to the Guard.
“This is… ?”
“Mana dew. While I guess the need is not that high anymore it should still be worth something for your herbalists to experiment on.”
“I appreciate this gesture. Especially being in a proper receptacle. Please rest and I will see to it you get fresher dew for yourself and your friends.”
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Afterwards the Guard spoke to a few servants who changed the dew for new ones. Null knew they would get rather old things instead of the good ones but the honesty of the Guard herself made him understand the slight shift into less supremacy and more acceptance of them as peaceful neighbours, even if it is still rather small steps into more friendly connections.
The time was rather good as Leaf and Petal were having a good time being back to their home together and having fresh dew with their home grown fruits they had only after each escort brought some. Although they felt homely, deep inside they knew it was not their home anymore which made the vacation here bittersweet.
Snow herself made no restraints and ate her fill on the Fruits but the dew was not to her taste and took more a liking to the tea even if it was brewed cold. It took only half an hour before the Servant came again.
“The Elders and Queen Mother would like you to meet them in the audience Tree now.”
With a nod from Null the others made themselves ready to see the Queen Mother.
‘My Lord, you can ignore the Elders, but be friendly to our Queen Mother.”
Leaf sent through their Soul connection a thought to Null. Imperceptible Null nodded for only his retinue to notice.
‘Do not worry, she was always nice and I repay behaviours back with the same coin.’
Hearing this, not only Leaf but Petal were more relaxed now and visited the biggest tree in the City, which also held not only the audience hall but also the throne Room of the Queen Mother of the Roots.
—
“Lord Null, as I see you are in another new form. You are rather active in changing your look and even body.”
“Queen of the first Child you are still as radiant as I last saw you. Ageless like the Woods themselves.”
“You flatter us. Right now we are here because of the Mana you send to the Forest. We thank you for the revival of the true form of our Forest. This is an auspicious event.”
“I thank you for noticing our work in making the World a better place without so much miasmic pollution. While I will not be here for that long anymore I would like to ask to guard the entrance of the Crater for the runic Circles are hard to keep up if someone messes with them.”
“So you are readying yourself to leave our World. We heard about you wanting to leave. We did not know it was so soon.”
‘Let me guess my plants in the farms did tattle? Annoying how they can talk with things that should not, but whatever. Nothing that needed to be hidden.’
“I am waiting for word from my Guide. It can still be a few months for the first message and one or two years to be ready.”
“We would like to ask, would the Mana still be spread through the Forest without pause?”
“Highly possible. The other way would be to create another exit. It would be annoying, but if it is too much I could think about it for the friendship between us two.”
“No, that was not what I meant. I would love for it to even increase. To be honest this could be the beginning of a new chapter of this Forest if it would at least keep like that for a short time of about a hundred Years.”
‘Short… Those long living, long eared, anti aging freaks of Nature…’
“A hundred years is not short for other creatures, but while the intensity would drop after twenty to thirty years as the Miasma stored below the Mountains would be cleansed, the flow would hold on still.”
“...For it is regrettable for the Mana to stop growing after such a short time, it should be enough to start.”
“Could you tell me what you are trying to do? Has it something to do with some kind of World Tree?”
“Impudent!”
An Elder was blowing up as she already was incensed of the casual talk between Null and her elated Queen Mother. Now asking about such a delicate topic made the most incensed one break her silence.
“You, an Outsider not even of the Forest but the whole World should not even mention such things! Who do you think you are!”
“”Silence!””
Not only the Queen Mother but Null at the same time shouted at the Elder. At first both were surprised and after a small cough Null bowed as apology and gestured to her to have the word. With a nod the Queen Mother accepted the apology and looked to the Elder.
“We invited Lord Null out of Friendship and we know very well how you all treat him despite our Orders. Do not think just because you being a high Mother makes you immune to punishment for disrespecting not only official Visitors but Ourself!”
‘Wow, the queen has started to be more direct. She does not wait that long anymore for them to mess with me before roasting them over coals.’
Null was impressed about how the Queen was more active and demanded respect. Prior she was more lenient and was taking a long time to explode. Also what made himself surprised was his own shout, as he just… felt like it.
“Back to the query to us; Yes it is true, the World Tree seed is stirring.”
“Queen!”
“I said SILENCE!”
The Elders were shocked, but were shot down directly by the Queen herself.
“You might have already heard from Fall… I mean Dreaming Leaf, the information about the World Tree, no?”
“She is honorbound to your Majesty and would never reveal something she should not talk about. Also she was hesitant to speculate about it, as she might have the wrong folklore about it and could say something false.”
“Honorable and dedicated like always. Being cut off by your Family Tree was a great sin I am starting to amend, dear Leaf.”
Bowing her head, Leaf was not sure what the Queen meant at the moment.
“We need to talk about the World Tree, as you might be the lynchpin and greatest Benefactor Lord Null.”
While the faces of the Elders show their hard reluctance about their Queen talking about the World Tree, they held their tongue way more than in the former Visits.
“The World Tree we have is a Seed, which needs a place with abundance of Mana to grow. Also the supply is needed to not stop and Miasma can not be too close while it germinates. Otherwise it retracts back into its seed.”
Null nods. Understanding until now he was the source of the Mana and if he just stopped suddenly the World Tree would fail to grow.
“If this happens, my Sacrifice would be in vain and another would take my place.”
“Sacrifice?”
Null was somewhat confused and the look showed the Queen he really does not know, which made her appreciate Leaf and Petal even more for their silence until now.
“The World tree seed is in our womb. While it waits to grow we protect it until we die and the new queen keeps it safe.”
“Queen!”
“Again, silence!”
Null was collecting his thoughts about this Information. The whole honesty was a breath of fresh air and also concerning. The Queen herself seems to just do what she herself wants to do and the reason was she would…
“So, you are saying you would die if it succeeds and if it fails?”
“Partially correct. We will become the Spirit of the World tree if it succeeds being connected through the Worlds to our Allmother the World Tree Yggdrasil.”
“And you are telling me this because…”
“We have faith you might bring enough Mana to this World to let the Tree germinate and grow into what it should have been thousands of years ago before the start of all these calamities.”
Nodding Null understood. What was needed was the steady Mana he supplied and obviously some more things like the Mana Dew he had on hand.
“What do I get out of it?”
“Insolent little-”
“SILENCE! Do we have to raise our voice every third sentence!? Do you all want to be replanted with your family Trees so much!?”
“Replanted!”
Leaf gasped and Petal was also rather startled. To get better Info Null rummaged through the memories he still had stored from the Root and other elves he had taken over. Red was his main source but he had such a skewed mentality he was the worst source and Null understood this over time.
“This means the Falling tree was replanted? They had to change their Tree Name to atone for a grave sin?”
While cutting off a branch was the Name of disinheriting a person or small group of Root Elves, replanting meant they were moved from grace and everyone who had that Name must change it to show the shame of the whole bloodline.
‘It is starting to get interesting.’
A slight smirk was seen on Null’s face. He was somehow enjoying this total chaos creating a different order on a deep level.
“Let’s keep track first. What would I get from it?”
“...Our thanks would be insufficient?”
“Well it is a start, but to be honest the Root are rather unpleasant Neighbours since I made my Territory open. What would I get out of helping stuck up pointy eared green bloods like those old fossils around your Majesty?”
A massive pressure of Rage was erupting from the Queen, but not against Null but the Elders who all were close to exploding into insults against him. It held for a long time until someone fell to their knees and was near fainting.
The Queen was not playing around and all too aware of how Null was helping them all this time accidentally but was being scorned like a troublemaker and scourge needed to be expunged. It was all too ironic how something from the Void would heal the World instead of devouring it, but now they had to work hard to not only appease something completely foreign but also amend their past slights.
Finally the pressure was vanishing and heavy breaths were heard from all elders.
‘So the World Tree seed gives her so much power? Why is she so ignored before I muddied the waters? Maybe because she was only seen as the World Tree vessel but not as the true Ruler? Huh, if she was chosen when she was just a little elfling or what they call their Infants, I can understand how she was indoctrinated and finally had the upper hand now.’
“We do not know what we could give you as a true compensation. All we have is this Forest and what is inside.”
“Oh, you have to give nothing. I would help you personally just if Leaf and Petal asked me politely. You were the most honest of all the root that did not become my subordinates or died going against me. I am more perturbed that the Root themselves are gaining everything and are still so high and mighty against us.”
While many faces were screaming out to interject, not one Elder even thought about making a noise and just swallowed the humiliation. From behind Null could be heard a slight giggle coming from Petal. She already knew how Null was if he was playing around and knew there would be a solution, mostly making the ones he does not like even more humiliated.
“We thank you for your generosity. No, I thank you. I was never able to have a friend, just subordinates or those old barks telling me how to behave as Queen, you are the closest to an outside friend I ever had.”
“Queen, if you do not behave we have to-”
“You have to do WHAT?! Dethrone me?! Sure, take the Seed and replant it into a more docile candidate, but remember it will take Centuries for her to adapt and be able to start the process of germinating the World Tree! If you think the risk of losing the last chance seeding this World is worth your manic control, vote now!”
Even the leaves of the Tree stopped making any sound. The World felt silent and no one wanted to argue for the risk of losing their only chance. Out of an unexpected Root came finally a comment.
“Our Queen is finally putting her roots into the earth to shake it up.”
It was Petals Grandmother. While she was silent all the time and only had angry or indignant faces to make, she could notice the shift of power and commented like she always did without mincing any words.
“Great Mother Dancing! This is serious!”
“Oh, old bark you should know this is the best and maybe only time for the World Tree to set root. If you keep bickering you all will be the greatest sinners of our race. Who is ready for this?”
Again Silence, but shortly after she doubled down.
“Also the stronger the will of our Queen the better will the Tree grow. This is my opinion.”
Null nonchalantly interjected afterwards.
“We could let the Tree also grow in the Starfall Crater-”
“””No!”””
There was a unanimous chorus in the Chamber. The elders, the Queen and even Petal and Leaf were making a statement.
“Fine, but better find a good compromise, as if you even think of dethroning your own Queen I will protest.”
“And what will you do, outsider?”
“...War?”
“You think you can win a war against us in this now awakened Forest? Do not kid yourself, weakling!”
“Changing the flow of the Crater to not only let the Mana stop but flood the whole Forest with so much Miasma you had never even thought possible is work I can do in less than half an hour.”
“You DARE!”
“I dare. And not only that, I will make it the one Miasma that does not mutate but eradicates all life. I do not care for any of you treehuggers, but I like your Queen, Leaf and Petal. I would feel remorseful but still strike with all I’ve got for someone being taken from, I care for.”
This time the tension was heavier than ever. While they thought about Null being able to revive the Forest with so much Mana they totally forgot how it had to come from somewhere and if it was true, that there was so much Miasma in his small crater, they would die before the next day would even start.