40 Secrets of the Life Tree (1/2)
”Lord Luna, does this Life Tree belong to you?”
”It does.”
After hearing that, Elder Aran suddenly knelt down on both knees. After seeing this sight, Arbane and Alea didn't even stop him, but proceeded to kneel down as well.
Luna couldn't make heads or tails of this. Weirdly enough, not even Sura had any idea. Noticing their confusion, Elder Aran stood up and explained.
”Lord Luna, Lady Sura, what I'm about to tell you both is the most closely guarded secret of the Elves. I hope you consider this as a sign of good faith.” Elder Aran had a solemn expression on his face. Arbane and Alea seemed a bit unsure, but eventually nodded towards the Elder, expressing their agreement.
”Lord Luna, this tree belongs to you on the level of a soul connection, correct?”
”Indeed. It lives and dies by the <Sovereign Nation>. Should I die, so will all of it.”
”All of it?”
”Yes. Including this one, we have five in total.”
”Eh?!” The three Elves yelled out in unison. It took them a minute to recover from their shock. ”Five!?”
”Yes. One, two, three, four, five. Five.” Luna specified.
Tears started falling uncontrollably from the Elves as Elder Aran spoke again. ”When our Race was awaiting to be released from that dome, even the most miraculous of situations we could have hoped for, was only limited to meeting a 'ONE' candidate that could be reasoned with, at least. But to actually have five life trees. Lord Luna, I originality came hereto negotiate with you, but now.. Please allow our Elven race to serve you faithfully! In exchange, allow us to be the caretakers of the Life Tree!”
Luna was wondering what a ”ONE candidate” was, but even more surprising to him, was when Elder Aran mentioned the word ”serve.”
This old monster whose level is unknown even to him, wanted to SERVE him?
”Elder Aran, for someone as powerful as you, why would you wish to serve me when we can just be allies? What is a 'ONE' candidate?”
Elder Aran composed himself again before continuing. ”You must not have known yet, neither will Lady Sura. After all, the Asuran race has always been above and beyond the rest, exempting them from these matters. ONE stands for Overlord of the Next Eon. In every onset of this new world, there are numerous 'ONE' candidates. More specifically, they are the leaders of a <Nation>, big or small. Did you know that in every world, it always starts out as one super-continent? Eventually they are all broken apart, because they are to made use of as a stage for candidates, in the event of the new world starting on that planet, albeit, something seems off about yours, you mentioned it has only been a few weeks, yet I'm seeing creatures from the void that didn't show up in ours until months later.”
”It's because something has happened that has even the Gods that we know of, to be in a panic.” Sura answered.
”I see. That would seem to be the best and only explanation I could think of. There's no point in worrying about it too much. Even if we knew what's happening to them right now, we wouldn't be able to help.”
”Right. Elder Aran, you were going to share with us the secret of the Life Tree?”