As the heat and ferocity dissipated a wind brushed across the surface of these carbon statues and began to pull away bits of ash In an altogether more lonesome rustle some trees with tenuous grips on structural integrity gave way and collapsed Soon new smaller clouds of ash dominated the area masking the hollowed out forest with an ashy fog
More sweat dripped down RandidlyÆs forehead Again he didnÆt dare look away from that solid core that gathered itself He simply waited
All at once the seed of Yggdrasil spread its influence Golden tendrils shyly wandered away from the heart sipping from the various charred tree corpses popping up beyond the soil only long enough to absorb the energy it required Meanwhile underneath the soil that core began to swell with glittering gold and emerald writing that spoke of a different world
Randidly sat with his legs folded beneath him and observed The trickle of energy became a gush pulling more and more of the previous force and warmth and vital energy that Yggdrasil contained into the whirlpool that was the seed of the World Tree Its growth continued but slowed to a glacial pace
RandidlyÆs eyes glittered Mostly the runic sigils across that beating heart deepened The story told by Yggdrasil strengthened itself pulling from the demolished previous image and creating something truly compelling
As his vigil continued the Stillborn Phoenix and the Grey Creature both visit They bore Nether laden bits of images and sprinkled them through the burned field allowing them to sink into the soil and join that swirling reality that began to be born within Yggdrasil Tiny pieces were slowly teased apart and reincorporated to deepen its power
His expression tightened A tremor ran through the seed
A thin verdant tendril wormed its way up from the core It squeezed between the powerful waves of energy and circumvented the remnants of the original Yggdrasil trunk that had embedded themselves into the ground The sprout poked itself out of the dirt edged aside a chunk of charcoal and tasted the air for the first time Two pure leaves spread quickly giving a space for ash to alight
The ground rumbled Golden and emerald light became a physical force that surged up through the stalk and forced itself into the sprout However not a lumen of this energy was displayed all was devoured by those two innocent seeming emerald leaves
Now Randidly reached out the touched the image His Soulspace rose in response
Congratulations Your Skill Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil is evolving Detecting influences
A third small green leaf unfolded to join its two brothers A small dust devil of ash began to swirl around the sprout
Chapter 1913
The slow widening of those leaves and the lengthening of the stalk became everything in his awareness The last few grans of his mental perseverance drained out of the hourglass but he held onto the image with all his might Time turned liquid flowing quickly around the exhausted and blurred edges of RandidlyÆs awareness His perception followed the World TreeÆs minute growth upward in his mind he saw that small little plant as a fist raised against the sky
It was a challenge A promise A dream
A whole new world emerged in the contours of its leaves
Incorporating influences
Congratulations Your Skill Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil has incorporated elements from Fruit of the Planting of Enmity Cycle of the Gloomy Wood and Stalemate Breaker Evolution forming detecting image Recalculating
Congratulations Your Skill Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil has evolved into The First Tree Suffers Only Fealty Skill Levels incorporated new Skill Level set at 830 Range of Skill influence greatly increased User may transform non plant material to resemble roots in the usage All materials are subject to the will of Yggdrasil Damage done by the Skill has slightly increased The more often a material is targeted by the Skill the more easily it assumes the shape of roots When the target is plant matter that recipient will experience several minutes of massive growth when the Skill ends before the life force becomes too much for the mundane item and it burns itself to ash
The ash mist began to roil and seeth bowing to that tiny green fist
Gasping Randidly came back to his body Yggdrasil continued to settle and shift inside of himself but he could no longer maintain his focus His mind had persevered to its breaking point and now he collapsed into a heap At this point even Sulfur steamed just from absorbing the ambient heat that he had been throwing off for the past
Randidly groaned Seriously I was in there for a month No wonder the Penance aches with need
Feeling helpless he allowed himself to slip into that no manÆs land of the Penance his awareness swimming deeper into nothingness Within that oblivion he rapidly stabilized his Nether Core and recovered his mental acuity recovering several days later to the thin island of sunlight that fell down through the eye of his Nether storm upon the top of the volcano
He immediately checked his Soulspace again Yggdrasil had grown revolving slightly upward into a graceful sapling with branches forking out at fixed intervals Each branch was only as thick as two fingers but already they began to cloak themselves in emerald leaves The tree was not yet a size for its bark to darken but there was a strange light to the being the golden and emerald stories that it told were somehow woven into the fabric of its physical state Looked at directly it simply seemed a tree but from the corner of your eye a viewer would feel an irresistible pull to look directly at it
Telman Slate The Progressive The massive man announced his origin with a rumbling voice before proceeding into his question The Zones and independent states are in a wrestling match for political power right now how important do you think it is to agree to a worldwide treaty and how do you see the role of the Order Ducis in that process
Naffur groaned inwardly but for an entirely different reason than from the first question despite his affable exterior Telman Slate came at him with metaphorical teeth The Order DucisÆs silence while most of Expira suffered from municipal extremists unresponsive protectors and wandering refugee groups still reeling from the Calamity or from the lingering Chimeras within Danger Zones was a point of heavy criticism It turned out that the Ghosthound had been prescient with his creating of the Wandering City but for the worst sort of reasons
Expira was unsettled Current estimates put at least one half of the population within wandering wagon trains looking for places to found cities and most just encountering discrimination
As the leader of the Order Ducis this is my decision to make Naffur nodded slowly to acknowledge the question while his thoughts moved a thousand miles a minute He ran over the familiar arguments in his mind but he still came away with the same conclusion
The Order Ducis could do more It could take a more active leadership position and push Expira in a positive direction It could create safe areas for cities to be founded by refugees it could help repurpose collapsed Bubble Cities to house immigrants from other worlds But to do that we would need to grow The loose framework we have now is not equipped to be the compass by which Expira will move forward We would need support systems communication specialists political experts local connections and public relations teams Then we would need a larger frame of management to govern all that
And its hard to believe that the spirit that the Ghosthound wants to cultivate can survive with so many people Or we would grow too slowly to match the needs of Expira while trying to instill that spirit in every hire
Naffur cleared his throat LetÆs address the elephant in the room first the Order Ducis has no plans at this time to take on new responsibilities on Expira We oversee and police the Orders many of which are doing great things to improve the lot of the average individual living in Expira We do support a Worldwide Treaty the current gridlock is by and large the result of the lack of agreements between political entities But it will not come from us