2631 A Dangerous Path (Part 1)



"Put Lord Qisal's worries at ease and that thing will fade away." Aalejah said.

"Fine, I yield!" M'Rael ordered the guards to drop their weapons and deactivated the arrays before walking down the stairs toward Lith with his hands up. "The truth is that the World Tree isn't interested in a mere census anymore.

"They have reached out to our colony in the hope that we would abandon our home and move to their Fringe. The Yggdrasill needs lots of manpower to preserve the knowledge they have accumulated and keep watching over Mogar once they leave."

"Leave? To go where?" Faluel asked, glad to notice that the Chancellor's change of attitude had quelled the Void's rage.

Or rather, the Voidfeather Dragon had restrained him, to hear the rest of the story. The Void had no means to attack from a distance and with his aura sealed, the fog had stopped spreading.

"The World Tree is tired of sitting on their throne, always watching and never interfering in the events that take place on Mogar. The first World Tree took pride in this policy and passed it down to their successors, yet that pride turned into envy when the First Guardian appeared.

"Unlike the Yggdrasill, Tyris is an immortal being whose power wasn't limited to a Fringe and who didn't hesitate to leave her mark on history. Yet the First Guardian's hand was soft, nudging and inspiring people but always letting them free to make their own choices.

"The World Tree resented her, but since Tyris didn't affect Mogar more than a single enlightened Awakened could if they only had the will, the Yggdrasill learned to respect her.

"The rest of the Guardians, however, turned out to be a bunch of foolish, egotistical meddlers. Salaark altered the Desert as she saw fit, always changing the course of the events with extreme prejudice until she got what she wanted.

"If not for her, there would be only two great Countries today on Garlen. The Blood Desert wouldn't even exist, its lands split between the Empire and the Kingdom while the rest would be fragmented into many free countries.

"The constant infighting between the tribes was supposed to leave them too weak to resist the invaders. They were supposed to become so reliant on foreign merchants for food and weapons that the other countries would force the desert tribes to bend the knee just by cutting off their supplies.

"Salaark, instead, showed them the path of unity and taught them how to rotate the oases to preserve their soil and resources. And that was before she became the Overlord.

"Leegaain freely spread his knowledge, turning the Empire from the military state it was supposed to be into the cradle of the mystical arts that it is today. If not for him, it would have taken millennia for magic to supplant superstition.

"People like Silverwing would have never discovered their talents because killed in the crib by an angry mob of idiots. If Leegaain kept his research for himself as the Tree does, tier four and five would be still exclusive to true mages like us elves and Emperor Beasts.

"Roghar doomed dozens of powerful races, even our own cousins, turning them into hideous monsters. If not for the Svartalf and the Dvergalf falling into orcs and goblins, we would have won the War of the Races!

"Zagran turned nobodies destined to irrelevance into peerless warriors and leaders who changed the history of their countries. Fenagar spread the seed of all the modern branches of magic that were supposed to be exclusive to single genial individuals.

"He and the accursed Dragon gave to the younger and weaker races the means to achieve what elves and merfolk treasured for generations. It's because of them that we lost our superiority and mankind caught up with us.

"The Leviathan even explored the stars, escaping the gaze of the World Tree and spreading his blight uncontrolled through the cosmos!"

M'Rael pointed at the sky, making everyone in the room scoff at such a preposterous idea except for those who had traveled to Mogar's moon with Lith.

"The Guardians and their offspring have altered history too many times to be left to their own devices any longer. They have created an unbalance that favors the beasts over all other races, something that the World Tree had always avoided doing by restraining themselves and the Saplings.

"That's why the Yggdrasill sent a Chronicler to us. They came to ask for our help and give us a taste of what will be ours if we join their cause. The World Tree plans to leave their Fringe, experience world tribulations, and become the first plant Guardian of Mogar.

"This is the only way to restore the balance. Yet they cannot just leave. With them gone, the entire system that until now overlooked and recorded Mogar's history will crumble. Do you understand now why I couldn't tell you the truth?"

"Not really." Lith shrugged. "Sounds like a bunch of crap. Aalejah?"

"He's telling the truth." She nodded. "Every time a World Tree dies and a new one takes their mantle, the youth always wants more than just to walk into the footsteps of their predecessors.

"They want to put their newfound power and knowledge to use instead of sitting on them. Yet what usually happens is that after taking into account the consequences of leaving the Fringe and consulting with the Chroniclers of the old Tree, they always change their mind.

"Becoming a Guardian is a huge gamble and despite their size and knowledge, the World Tree is still just a bright violet-cored Awakened. If they die away from their roots, disconnected from the Saplings spread throughout Mogar, their knowledge would be lost.

"Without them, the elves that have always protected and aided the World Trees in their endeavor, would need a new home, mentors, and another way to safely Awaken. It's a monumental task with potentially disastrous consequences."

"Why don't they just reach the white core, then?" Faluel asked. "If they know so much, the World Tree must be aware of its secret. They could just become a white core, Awaken a lot of elves after explaining to them how to reach the violet, and leave."

"That would be reckless and pointless." M'Rael replied. "The white core also means the freedom to escape a world tribulation and the Yggdrasill might end up turning down a tribulation without even noticing.

"As for the elves, we are indeed better than humans, but we are far from perfect. Those who Awaken might enslave the other elves or simply leave to take care of their business and not waste their lives protecting weaklings.

"The authority of the Tree is necessary to keep order. Before leaving the Fringe, they need to establish a valid surrogate that will keep anarchy from destroying everything that they have built through the millennia."

"That's exactly what I was going to say." Aalejah grabbed Lith's shoulder, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Only someone who has spoken to the World Tree can know such things.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, his story makes sense. The new World Tree must be truly bent on escaping from the cycle of their species."