Chapter 30: 30 – Feelings

Feelings

 

After making sure my camp is in order, I fly over to the gate. I wanted to just fly straight to the tree but since the Quest mentioned I need permission to touch the tree I figured I’d go to the gate since I don't know where anyone lives in the village.

 

Once I land everyone draws their bows again but quickly settles down and one waves his hand motioning me towards him so I jump up to the wall with a wing boost. I see it's the leader fellow from yesterday.

 

“Yui. Didn’t expect to see you here so soon. I’m sorry about yesterday.”

 

“It’s ok. The Elder and Scout from yesterday explained the circumstances. I understand.”

 

“Cool. So? What are you here for?”

 

“I’d like permission to touch the World Tree.” His eyes get serious and he responds in a heavy voice.

 

“Who told you about that?”

 

“Ummmmm… M-”

 

“Nevermind. It’s best if you discuss it with the Elder. He is the only one who can grant you permission anyways. Go relax at the house he guided you to yesterday and I’ll send someone to fetch him now.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“It’s Troyuya by the way. I'm the Guard Captain here. People call me Troy for short.”

 

“Thanks Troyuya.” He bows and leaves to go towards his men while I head to the house from yesterday. Once I get there I go to the same room and sit down. After waiting for a while, getting bored and starting to read, eventually the Elder comes and sits down while I put the book away.

 

“You're early.” He breathes loudly out his mouth and then straightens up a little.

 

“So, I hear you want to visit the World Tree. Who told you about it?”

 

“Nn. Skill.”

 

“One of your skills huh? I assume you don't want me to ask about it since you phrased it that way. Does this skill of yours give you a reason?”

 

“Get rewarded.”

 

“What kind of reward?”

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“I don't know.” He looks pensive but I will explain a little more. “It usually tells me what reward I’ll get but this time it didn't. It did say I’ll acquire Elven Clothes and Supplies though. That's usually separate from the actual reward though.”

 

“Interesting. It was decided last night that we will give you some clothes and supplies. I wonder if it would have told you something different or maybe nothing at all if we didn't decide that. Hmmmm…” I sit around for a bit as the Elder sits there with his hand on his chin. “Oh. Sorry about that. A habit of old age, we tend to drift into our thoughts. I’ll allow it as long as I can accompany you.”

 

“Sure.”

 

“I’ll also show you around town today and give you a few lessons. I'll treat this as your first day here so next time come in 4 days.” He gets up and starts walking so I follow him. He eventually takes me to a main street and starts pointing at all the houses. “Troy lives there, Darlay lives there, Shannon lives there, Makoto lives there.” He just keeps telling me who lives where to the point where I have trouble remembering all of the names. 

 

Finally once we get closer to the tree I see a bunch of houses that are a little bit bigger than the normal houses. “These are the Elders' houses. There are 8 Elders in our community and they are in charge of the various villages in the forest. They are here often as we have to discuss all of our issues there.” He points to another building that looks less like a house and more like a wooden ball of some kind. “That's the meeting hut. I called everyone there yesterday to discuss your stay with us and we agreed to let you stay here as long as you come here periodically and let me and a few others teach you some things.”

 

“Ok. Thank you.”

 

“Now let's go see the World Tree.” As we get closer I feel a weird energy around me. My body also starts to feel warmer as we get closer to the tree. Panicked, I look over to the Elder but he has a bitter smile. “It seems she is a little more excited than she let on.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Never mind. You’ll understand when you reach the World Tree.” We walk for a few minutes under the same conditions but as we get closer I start to feel an intense pressure from the tree itself. It feels like it’s a person itself, a very very powerful person. For some reason I think fighting it is impossible. I Analyze it for the first time but once I do that my brain experiences searing pain and I drop to my knees holding my head. What? That? There’s way too much information… I’ve gotten overwhelmed by the knowledge Analyze has given me before but I usually just ignore the information I don't care about. This… It feels like the entire world's information is in that tree. I cant gleam anything. The information is too dense. The second I try to understand even the slightest bit of what I acquired my head overloads again.

 

“Hey! Are you okay? What happ… You… You tried to Analyze it didn't you? I am surprised you managed to stay conscious. Ignore it for now. I’ll give you a proper lecture on the World Tree after our visit.” I nod and get back on my feet. This tree… Not only is it absolutely massive, it has such a huge presence and it stores so much information. I'm looking forward to finding out about it later. 

 

Eventually we reach an area far from any houses and roots start to appear from the ground, except the roots are the size of people and I can feel some kind of energy radiating off them. The Elder walks through the maze of roots, leads us up a small hill than we reach a root that has a path on it. Following the path eventually we reach the trunk of the tree. I look at the Elder.

 

“Go ahead.”

 

I approach the tree but I'm shaking a little. After everything that happened on the way here, I'm apprehensive about touching such a powerful being. I summon up the courage for the sake of completing the Quest, I close my eyes and lay my hand upon the bark.

 

I’m instantly flooded with some kind of power, it feels warm but after jolting from surprise I settle down and embrace the energy as it feels warm and refreshing. Eventually I get a sense of feelings from the tree, I don't understand feelings well enough to interpret them. I only feel warmth and like that warmth is wrapping around me. All of a sudden I feel like nothing matters anymore and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my entire body. Once again I fall unconscious.

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Once Yui lays her palm upon the World Tree, visible green energy surges around her. Eventually the bark starts to grow, it grabs her and pulls her into the tree leaving enough of her visible that I can tell she is ok. It seems she closed her eyes but I can sense the feeling of the Great Spirit pouring out. Although I am happy I also feel a little jealous. Every Elf has something similar happen at their birth and coming of age ceremony but it's usually just a tap with a branch or maybe a little bit of green energy. This is way too much that I can sense everything the Great Spirit is telling her. It's mostly just a Motherly feeling but there is also a little sadness and relief. It might have been a harder journey for her than she let on.

 

Eventually something seems to happen to Yui as her body falls limp although she is supported by the World Tree she seems to have let go of something and it even looks like she has grown a few centimeters. Her black-purple wings extend as if she is about to take off but they only lean against the tree as if to return a hug. Tears start to fall from her face and even a little from mine. It seems like a long lost reunion of some kind. It provokes emotions in me that make me miss my own parents who have long passed. Maybe I should pay a visit to my kids after this.

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