318. The Seedling’s Fork

318. The Seedling’s Fork

Year 285 (continued)

Lausanne, on Mountainworld

Lausanne stood at the side of the crater, the demon king already crushed by Aeon’s roots. The corpse of the armadillo demon king was filled with roots that tore it apart. One of the roots was holding an intact demon king’s core. It would be another one for Aeon’s group of mages and artificers to study.

But it was just a passing point of note. Her mind was preoccupied. Ascension.

Something she had hoped for, and now she had finally achieved it. Her mind swirled at the choices.

She had never planned for this part. After all, without knowing what the [domains] were, what sort of planning could there be?

She looked around.

Was she the only one? Ebon looked exhausted, and she felt for him. He had worked just as hard. There was Hoyia on the side, she seemed relieved. She also felt a little bit stronger. Hoyia was in the Level 140s, but she wasn’t exactly at the edge. She must’ve gained a few levels and now she was on the cusp of becoming a domain holder.

But Ebon noticed Lausanne’s eyes, and he walked to Lausanne. “You did it. I could feel it.”

“I did.” Lausanne said, but thought of consoling the knight. Ebon was at that edge far longer than anyone else, and yet the system gave her the domain before him. Why? There were a thousand questions in her mind, but none would help at this moment.

But she stopped before the words left her mouth. Ebon didn’t need it. He’s a damned good knight, he didn’t need her consoling worlds. She knew he would trudge on. He tried his best to smile. “Good job. It’ll be me next time.”

“It will.” Lausanne answered. The rest of the Valthorns packed up. The battle was over, and it was now time for their routine cleanup. A group of mages and crafters teleported in and began to mine the space for anything valuable.

Hoyia walked over as well to congratulate her. “Well done.”

Lausanne smiled and said the usual thanks. There were many others who all came to congratulateher, but for now, she had something to think about. Something important that would truly shape the rest of her life.

It was an interesting set of three choices, and she wondered how they fit in her life. Lumoof once said that one’s domain choices seemed to be based on their [class] and their selection of abilities, but it was also a reflection of the direction of their lives.

She had served Aeon since her childhood and  wondered whether Aeon’s Huntress seemed to represent that. Her early life when she grew up under Aeon’s care and the later years when she served as one of the tree god’s many warriors. As one of the earliest members of the Valthorns, she was sent on many missions to support the then-New Freeka’s issue.

She speculated the first one, the spirit warrior, arose from her attempts at developing powerful piercing weapons, again, as part of her role as an agent of the Valtrian Order.

The last choice made her think of her old Uncle Jura. She would love to see his reaction to this. Maybe she would’ve told Uncle Jura that her dream of being a hero wasn’t impossible after all. Or maybe he would’ve been really proud of her. Even though it had been many, many years since he died, for a moment, she imagined him there tapping her on the shoulder.

“Well who would’ve thought. I was wrong after all.” The imaginary Uncle Jura said with pride. “To think the little girl that I stopped from killing a wolf is now a champion.”

She shook her head, her heart wasn’t ready to choose at this time. So, she looked around some more, noticed there wasn’t much left to do and then said to Patriarch Lumoof. “I think I want to go home and go see my mother and my two kids.”

Lumoof nodded. “That’s a good thing to do. Go and clear your mind. You’ll need it.”

Maybe she should visit her late husband’s grave as well. Yeah. She should. People that she should talk to before she decided on which of the three to go for.

Her heart told her that she should go for the last one. It was a dream, a dream she had buried and told herself was impossible, but deep down inside, her subconscious still didn’t really believe it was.

***

As she returned to Freshka after the war on Mountainworld, there were many others that sought her attention. News of her ascension was only known to the level 140s and domain holders, but she knew it would spread eventually.

For now, home.

Home was her well-furnished mansion in a quiet corner of Freshka. It wasn’t the first home, but it was where she had lived for the past few decades. It was here where she remembered Kei knocked some sense in her and then convinced her to rejoin the Order.

She should thank her for giving her that jolt she so sorely needed. And it seemed that the golem had a talent for impeccable timing.

“I came to see you.” Kei, it seemed, had read her mind and was already in the area waiting for her. “I heard from Lumoof.”

“He told you?”

“I would curse him for an eternity if he didn’t.” Kei the golem tapped her on the shoulder. “One more to Aeon’s pantheon of future deities.” Kei didn’t need to drink, and yet she came with some kind of juice from one of her favorite fruit juicers.

“Did Lumoof tell you about my choices?”

“That’s why I’m here. He didn’t. He said I’d have to ask you myself. That damned old man feeding me with incomplete information.”

The newly ascended elf found the golem’s reaction amusing. “He just didn’t want to spoil the surprise then. Do you want to know?’

“Of course I do!” Kei said loudly and thumped her crystalline chest. Her biocrystalline form was so good at mimicking flesh that Lausanne still occasionally forgot that she wasn’t actually a human anymore. “I’m invested in your success!”

The two settled down in one of the reading rooms in Lausanne’s mansion, and the elf narrated the three choices. In the end, Kei’s choice was very similar to Lausanne’s gut feeling.

“Choose the unchosen champion. It’s the path for you to do what you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t. Star mana is tremendously powerful.”

“I believe so too. But I thought of giving it some time before I make that commitment. We are not at the point where I need to rush through that decision.”

After Kei, a few of Lausanne’s closest friends, families all came to talk to her. Her mother, Laufen, was proud as hell and wished that her father would have been there to see it. Her daughter, Arlisa didn’t seem too excited. If anything, Lausanne’s success turned into a deeper, larger shadow that loomed over her life. Lausanne tried to tone it down, but Arlisa’s frustration only grew.

Her son was fairly relaxed and didn’t have much of an opinion of his own. He was just glad that now that she was a domain holder, she would be eligible for the resurrection ability of Aeon. He didn’t have to fear losing his mother, and that was all that he needed to know.

***

The valley of the Unrotten. It was the name those who came after her gave to this place. The name of the place where they survived the Rottedlands.

She didn’t like the name. It was her home. It was Freeka, and then New Freeka. It wasn’t such a deep, scary valley, either. Their long confinement of almost two decades surviving on their own druidic produce and what little food they farmed in the valley was a memory most of them didn’t think about.

Things are definitely better now.

Nostalgia. Her mind thought about those days when she was trapped here in the valley.

The valley has changed so much. This place used to be home. Their homes used to be within the various [subsidiary trees] of Aeon, but it had been more than a century. She hadn’t been back in a long time, and yet, the very act of achieving one’s domain seemed to refresh her past.

So here she was.

The place felt dense. Aeon’s presence was so heavy here, and before she got her domain, at times it felt suffocating. She could even tell he was trying to shift his presence around, but Aeon’s presence distorted the world and that distortion was unmistakable. Increasingly, even Edna, Stella, and Lumoof all also distorted the world around them.

For lesser beings, they were at the mercy of something that could unmake them in many different ways.

This time, this visit, it all felt different. She could still feel Aeon’s powerful presence, but it gently moved around her, as if she was a boat sailing through calm, peaceful waters. She was once a sandcastle facing the ocean tide, but today, it was as if her sandcastle was made of carved marble and stone, and the waters did not harm her.

“TreeTree, are you there?” Lausanne could speak to him everywhere, and yet, she still came here to speak to him.

Her childhood that at some point seemed hazy, now turned clear. She knew her fellow domain holders had rather vivid memories, but the sudden clarity to her memory and the strength of her nostalgia made her wonder whether this was an effect of the choices available to her.

“Yes.” The voice spoke into her head, and she blinked as she realized she could alter the form of that voice. Aeon’s voice had taken an ethereal, choral quality over the years, as if a thousand trees rustling and speaking together at once. Now, with the domain, the voice she allowed to enter her mind was within her control.

She could shape that voice such that it didn’t overwhelm her, and she blinked as she realized how much leeway she had to shape the voice of those communicating with her telepathically.

She had always known that the [domain] protected them from mental intrusions and the effects of other immortals. In a way, a domain was the [system]’s way of carving up the distinction between someone who existed as a part of the environment and someone who now stood above them.

“I can make you sound like you used to.” Lausanne said, feeling amused at how Aeon’s voice was back to that old, wise, but singular voice of her younger days.

“It seems the domain has brought you a fair bit of nostalgia.” Aeon spoke to her without the echoing. Her mind didn’t have to strain to withstand a powerful being’s intrusion.

“Yes. It has. Since two of my choices make a reference to my past, I would think so.” Lausanne said. Both the [Unchosen Champion] and [Aeon’s Huntress] referred to her roles over the years. “It seems I was held back by my past more than the others.”

“And the [system] recognizes you for it.”

“I thanked Kei for helping me realize that I had unsolved dreams. But now I think I owe her a little more than that.” She should buy Kei a good present for breaking her out of her stupor. A nice meal would be the normal way of saying thanks, but the golem didn’t really need to eat.

“Kei’s casual way of achieving things without much direct conflict is a strength of hers. I would give her a reward, but what she wants is just for the heroes to have a good rest.”

Lausanne smiled. She knew Kei played a big role during the first crusades, then later as the coordinator of the League of Heroes. Now this. “Yes. But this is the start. I am at the starting line. What should I choose?”

“It’s your choice. We will respect whatever you do and know that there will be a place for you.” Aeon said, and for a moment, she remembered the days of New Freeka. “There are thousands of worlds. Stella’s detection finds more worlds the further it goes.”

“The first choice-”

“The first choice, I suspect, is about your youth.” Aeon said. “Your first weapon was a spear, and a dagger. The spear, because you hoped to reach them and hit them before they could hit you. The dagger, because you wanted to kill the moment they got close enough.”

“Edna always wanted to be a knight.” Lausanne said. She actually remembered meeting Edna when she was just a [Grand Knight] undergoing training in Freshka. She remembered Aeon offering her the level-breaking fruit, and she had declined. That fruit, instead, went to Edna. She had wasted so many years.

“That is a part of it. A part of you wanted to wander the world, learn from various spirit trees. We are more than just a single thing, and the [System] probably has to try very hard to boil down what your story is.” Aeon speculated.

Yet thinking about the system’s peculiarities was not why she was here today.

Lausanne shook her head, and approached one of the Giant Attendant Trees. “Is our home still there, inside your [Secret Hideout]?”

There was silence. A long silence she was so used to.

“Yes.”

“Can I see it?” Lausanne said.

The dark, magical bark that was part of Aeon’s gigantic body shapeshifted, the bark itself reforming into a door. It was a kind of wood magic, but maybe not. Her fingers and arms seemed to tremble as she reached for the knob.

The room was unchanged. There were still a few of Uncle Jura’s things all over the place. There were some old clothes, perfectly preserved by Aeon’s preservation ability.

“This was after New Freeka?” Lausanne asked. “We stopped living within you after the Rottedlands Incident.”

“Yes. After my long sleep all of you were used to living outside. You’ve all stayed in for a bit, but then, eventually all of you moved out.”

Lausanne nodded. The valley wasn’t a place to stay. Freshka, the new city that was built nearby, was a much more pleasant place. Not everyone wanted to live under the presence of a god. So, the [secret hideout] was just as it was. Most things of value were taken away, but there were some old things left behind.

They were already a powerful group at that time. Freshka and the Order had risen to dominate the continent. There were a few old overcoats, some thick boots, and a few more gloves. There was the old pantry area, with the old wooden plates and cups.

“The world used to be a lot simpler.” Lausanne said, and she felt Aeon laugh in her head. Without the creepy echoes of Aeon’s voice, the laughter genuinely felt amusing.

“It’s only simpler because someone else dealt with the complicated stuff.” Aeon said.

“You’re right. It was just a silly thought in my head.” The elven girl looked at that. “But I still miss those days. My memories of my childhood are so vivid, suddenly.” Then she was quiet. “I’ve never brought my late-husband here, did I?”

“No. Not to this space.”

“He would’ve loved to see it, and I can still imagine him here. He would have said we lived in a life of luxury. Temperature controlled and stable supply of clean water is something hard to find out there as an adventurer.” Lausanne laughed. “We were lucky. We were very, very lucky.”

Aeon didn’t answer, but she knew it was good fortune. She knew he agreed.

“What should I choose?” Lausanne asked again.

This time, Aeon didn’t answer with words. Instead, a door opened. She knew what it was. It led to Aeon’s secret chambers. It was where the old [Soul Forge] and [Biolabs] were.

She followed the largely unused stairs down into an old room. She remembered she was here often.

She looked around, and then, saw a door that she had never seen before. It opened. 

It led her further, deeper.

Down into the depths, into a secret room. It was larger, newer. And it was filled with treasures.

She blinked.

“This room is-”

“A room of treasures. Things we’ve collected over the years. The various plants from all over the multiverse. The various fruits. Trinkets. Belongings of those who have fallen. The divine log and many others.” Aeon said. “I kept them here mostly as a store of things, and mainly, I wanted you to see the relics we have.”

The divine log. The lens for the Margmarian dwarves. Special weapons used by the old, fallen warriors. Jura’s old set of weapons. Lovis’s old spear. The heroes’ items and a few personal belongings. She recognized many of them. There were things from the other elves too. Aeon kept the mementos and belongings of the Valthorns that fell in battle, it was a connection to those who fought for him. Even items from the very first refugees who came to New Freeka.

He needed them to augment his abilities as a [Soul Tree] and allow for the living to speak to those who recently died.

It was part of what he did to ensure that their spirits were properly handled and processed through the spiritual realm.

In a twisted way, it was a cemetery to those who died. An altar made of the personal belongings of so many people.

“It’s just a place where I kept things. A [Treeasury], if you may.”

Lausanne laughed. “Can I touch them?”

“Try not to. The spiritual remnants of those who have left are very fragile. I keep them protected, but a touch from a [domain holder] is stronger than most.”

“I see. We’ve lost many of our friends over the years.” Lausanne suddenly could remember the faces of those who used to have these things.

“It is. Of the first generation, only a few of you live, or remain.”

There were a few mementos of those who died. Things that belonged to her friends. Emile, Brislach, Wahlen. She looked at them and memories of her childhood with her friends when still lived.

“I couldn’t save them.” Lausanne said. “That day when the Rottedlands happened, I was too far away, and I could only reach a few. In the end it was Uncle Jura that saved us.”

“Death was too common in that era.”

A lifetime of changes had occurred in the past two centuries, and yet, she was now effectively an immortal. There would be a lot more changes to come, and she would play a larger role in shaping that future. She looked at all the relics and realized they were exactly that. Relics of the past. A snapshot of a time that was. But she wasn’t in the past. “I see what you’re trying to do, now.”

“Oh. What would that be?”

“I’m too preoccupied with the past. I should think about what will work better for the future.” Lausanne said. She should approach her choice without the baggage of the past, but instead, think about what would serve her well for the future.