A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

Just the fact that they had been rather…open and accommodating to my presence raised a great many red flagS in addition to all the ones I'd seen thus far.

Sure, I devoured that fruit without hesitation, but I also thoroughly checked it before doing so and was absolutely positive it had no negative effects. Something able to give me – even a marginal boost in strength – without any drawbacks and without any effort on my end? That was significant enough that I felt I owed them a debt of gratitude, so my immediate response wasn't anything hostile.

That being said, I was highly skeptical of what was going on.

What benefit did this tree gain from doing such a thing? Clearly, it was an entity born in this realm – and by extension a Fae themselves, even if they're in the form of a Tree. Perhaps you could call it an Elemental or Nature Spirit, but the fact remained. It held to the logics of this place in its mind, it operated on nearly the same principles. 

What was the goal here?

I had that entire thought as Unnulf led me to the base of the big tree that hung over our heads.

No qualms about it, no hesitation and there was no 'security' around it.

Sure, people walked to and from around it, as the human city had extended rather far around it as the base. 

But no one gave a second look when I walked up and put my hand on the main truck.

However, the fledgling World Tree inside me seemed to shudder, vibrating in response to a strange feeling emanating from the Tree.

I wouldn't quite call it a resonance, but it felt like the Fae Tree recognized the small World Tree I had growing inside of me, and I felt a pull.

The surroundings around me changed, or rather, my mind was projected into a mental world.

The Fae Tree stood tall, and behind me, my budding World Tree stood unwavering, smaller in stature, but its presence loomed over the Fae Tree regardless.

However, looking at the Fae Tree, I noticed something odd about it.

A few things started clicking into place.

The Fae tree vibrated and something pushed out, a humanoid shape, perhaps a mix between a person and a tree. Reminiscence of a Tree Nymph or some variation thereof. 

It was a reflection of the Tree's will, it's consciousness.

And it was old.

The Elderly Fae Tree's projection looked like it would fall over and die at any moment.

Yet, it looked at me then at Yggdrasil in awe and wonder. Despite its old age, it held an odd, almost child-like curiosity in its eyes.

Yggdrasil behind me swayed gently despite no wind existing in this mental plane.

"#@$%^#@$" The Fae Tree opened its mouth, saying something I couldn't comprehend. It looked at me showing a faint frown. "#&%&#@, !*$*%^*, @&%&#*" I could vaguely recognize that it was continuously speaking in different…languages? I don't know if I could classify the sounds it was making as a language. "Is this better?" A horse voice finally sounded that I recognized.

"I can understand you now." It wasn't hard to gleam its intent.

"*$#*(%." Her brow furrowed. "#$%^, Words are hard. Not used to this way of communicating."

"Do you not communicate with the humans outside?" Unnulf was pretty clear that they did have some form of communication with the Tree at certain points.

"Feelings, intent." The Fae Tree answered, smiling happily. 

That made more sense. It seemed like….the tree was having a hard time even projecting a mental avatar in this place.

"Hello. Hello. Hello." The Tree spoke oddly, quickly and with a strange perkiness. "That's what they say right? Things like how are you? Greetings. I watched them for so long, I never thought I would be saying them myself." 

I tilted my head, completely taken aback by how the Fae Tree was acting. I decided to humor it for now. "That's right. Humans generally introduce themselves in their first meeting. I'm Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg."

"Introductions?" The Tree seemed to understand, but still perceived it as a foreign concept. "I don't have a name. A name…..some of them called me Yggdrasil but…" It stopped, looking at my Yggdrasil. "It would be strange for me to adopt that name. The others too are….they belong to others. I suppose I do have one title that belongs to me alone, but it isn't a name."

The longer the Tree spoke, the more familiar it became with doing so. 

"Are you a god?" The Tree suddenly asked me, not even giving me a chance to respond. "They all talked about their gods. I don't know what a god is, but I feel something from you, and the term came to me."

"I'm not a god, but I possess divinity, a power possessed by gods." I didn't lie, still trying to take this Tree's measure. 

"How interesting." The Tree looked at me curiously. "And you have that young Elder inside of you."

Young Elder? I suppose that's a very apt description for a sapling from the World Tree.

"I heard the whispers among them too." She abruptly changed subjects. "I can hear them even now. They're talking about how they may finally have a chance to go back home. That you all have a way to take them back. Is that true?"

I readied myself because if I affirmed her suspicions, I was fairly confident she might attack me. "That's right, if they want to leave, we can take them all back to the Human World."

The Fae Tree looked at me and smiled brightly. "That's wonderful! Please, take them home. I'll even give you a reward for doing so….but I don't have much left to give…"

"You're not upset?" I hesitantly asked.

"Upset?" The Fae tilted its head. "Why would I be upset?"

"What….is your relationship with them?" I decided to just be blunt.

"Isn't it obvious?" The Fae Tree said as a matter of fact. "They call me mother." 

Was….it really that simple.

I had a sudden realization.

"Those fruits….you're using your own life force to nurture them."

The Fae Tree looked at me. "Of course, how else would they grow? I have to feed my Children and keep them healthy." She once more spoke as if it were an obvious fact. 

It was literally expanding its eons of potential lifespan to keep the humans here living.

"Why?" I asked.

The Fae Tree smiled wistfully. "I remember before they came. When these waves were new and I started thinking for myself. Everything was so new and bright, so lively. But eventually, I realized that I was all alone. I couldn't venture out, I didn't have anyone else to talk to. The rare few times that someone came to this island, they left in a hurry when I tried to reach out. I don't know how long it was, until they came, I didn't perceive the concept of 'time'."

I closed my eyes letting out a long breath. "It was until they started aging, right?"

"It was strange, watching one of my children age and die. I didn't know what those words were until then and I decided I never wanted to experience them again." The Fae Tree spoke. 

"Even at the cost of your own life? It's natural for humans to grow old and pass away. They're mortals for a reason, everything eventually returns to the earth." 

The Fae Tree simply continued to smile. "My children, they speak of this word 'love'. I didn't know what it meant until recently. They say it to each other, saying it to their mates, their own children, their parents." The Fae Tree looked up, touching her own trunk, the weathering of old age showed in obvious signs. "Against my instincts, I wanted to ensure their survival regardless of what cost I had to pay. They are my children, and I love them all dearly."

Was I looking for an evil that simply wasn't there? Upon arriving here, I never found anything wrong. Sure, many strange things for my sensibilities and my perception of the Fae Realm in general.

But….

The Fae Tree's words but explained everything properly and left me confused.

In the end, it was just a Mother wanting to protect her children.

"You ate one of my fruits, right? The first one is always the best, but consecutive ones aren't as good as I've seen with my children. But I can give you a few dozen if you want as a reward." The Tree paused. "Oh, I also have this." She held her hand up and her true body in this mental landscape trembled, a branch fell down. It looked much different than the others, still full of vitality and life. "This is one of the good branches I had left. You can have this too if you help my children go back home."

It didn't even give me a chance to refuse before I was whisked out of the mental world.

My eyes opened, I was holding the branch and there were dozens of the fruits sitting on the ground around me.

I let out a small sigh, feeling a strange twinge in my heart.

I really did have a soft spot for loving mothers. Even if I didn't plan on already helping them, even if I didn't receive a reward, I would have helped regardless.

Regardless, wasting more time here was not something productive. Despite their plight, we had our own goals for being in the Fae Realm. 

Time to find their leaders and settle this place properly.

@***@

POV Crom Cruach

I calmly sipped my wine as I looked out one of the highest windows of the Winter Castle.

Say what you will about the Fae – especially the Winter Court – but they had dreadfully pleasant wine.

Even a dragon such as myself, I found it rather worthy of my palate. In truth, It made my foray into this dreadful place somewhat bearable.

I particularly did not like their species – as broad as that term claimed. They were just as insufferable and annoying as they were thousands of years ago before they retreated back into this realm at the behest of the wardens of the pathways.

Particularly, they were prevalent in my homeland. The metaphorical walls that separated us are rather thin around that part of the world.

And here I am again, mingling with the sort I utterly despised for my own goals. I can truthfully say that if I were a couple thousand years younger, I would not have the patience for this.

"And the forty-third term of the contract – which I don't believe I need to explain is only valid during the 8th full moon of the stellar cycle – is operable on the conditions that both parties – "

It's a strange thought that just entered my head. How amusing it was that the ones of this court have the same beauty standards as humans. There are of course the more rugged and 'monstrous' members, but simply being outwardly and objectively 'beautiful' seems to win you quite the merit here.

How strange that this was a facet that seemed to carry over to not just the majority of species on Earth, but even to Dragon-kin such as myself.

I created a humanoid form, and I did it to my own specifications, and I would objectively say that I am a handsome individual in the purpose of this thought experiment, even if such a thing was ignorable to me.

A strange thought that I would need to consider later. If it was my unconscious decision – why was it such with me being a Dragon?

I will ask some other Dragons a similar question to see their opinions.

"—and the forty-seventh term of cooperation. The sub-divisions of regulations regarding the use of food items for weaponization purposes. The rules state that you can have no more than –"

Yes, it was a rather peaceful moment all things considered. As I stood at one of the highest points in the Winter Castle, watching a strange creature swing around Jormungandr – who was only about half as large as he normally was – like a club, beating up quite a few of the Winter Queen's forces.

I didn't know what that thing was, but I wanted to fight it.

However, I had previous engagements of my own hand. If it were someone else's matters, I would have simply ignored them. But one must take responsibility for one's own actions. I am nothing if not true to my word and actions.

"Sir Crom Cruach, are you listening to me?" 

I finally spared a glance towards the gnome who had a parchment unfurled, the majority of which was long enough that it touched the other side of the rather large room. 

I held out a finger of mine and flicked the glass window, shattering it. 

Casually, I then grabbed the little gnome and tossed him out the window.

The sound of him hitting the ice below was pleasant as I continued to sip my wine in silence.

One of the others in the room went over to look over the edge, confirming that the gnome was indeed splattered in a pile of blood and flesh.

"A pity, he was good at his job." The other – the Elf in bone armor bar his normal helmet spoke softly. "The Queen will not take kindly to you killing one of her better scribes. She will expect a proper explanation."

"I am a Dragon." I responded, sipping my wine again.

"I will pass on your words." The Elf wisely didn't ask further.

Thankfully – for purposes of my continued mental health – Strength still spoke the loudest even to these creatures.

I am a Dragon was a proper response to a great many questions levied towards me that I didn't feel like answering.

Hmm, it seemed the strange creature , the newly ascended God accompanying it, and Jormungandr were retreating.

Perhaps a wise decision as the Winter Queen's forces weren't something ignorable. She had amassed a certain strength that couldn't be ignored. It was enough that I was not dismissive of her either.

"If I'm not mistaken, the forces that were sent to deal with the newest intruders, they were about to be deployed to stop the further expansion of the Youkai Invasion?" I glanced at my 'minder', before turning back at the thousands upon thousands of dead Fae that laid across the snowy and icy fields.

"That is correct." The Elf continued to speak politely and pointedly without the normal 'mannerisms' that his people often utilized.

Well, I should hope so at this point.

I've had to kill a great many of their people since coming here that would just not take a hint. 

I am a Dragon.

I did not play their games.

"That is unfortunate." I sipped my wine again. "How much territory have they seized since their invasion started down south?"

"The estimation is at 30%." The Elf replied.

Hmm, that should only be 30% of the territory below the Great Sea – as they call it. Some sort of distorted space overlapped in a large gorge that held an Ocean in the sky that required manual traversing. 

How annoying, it made it a tad difficult to reinforce down below, but likewise, it made it somewhat difficult to launch a proper invasion across it.

Well, It's not like I care about them. I just wanted to test the host of the Great Welsh. I wanted to see the decisions he made and his worth as a Dragon.

It's the first time that one of Ddraig's hosts had ever slain a God, it's important to watch his movements carefully and note them down.

There was a knock at the door, but I could already sense who it was, not that they waited for me to answer.

"I brought him like you asked." 

"Thank you, Aži Dahāka." I looked at the recently resurrected Evil Dragon who just grunted.

I should ask him about his choice in 'humanoid' form later too. He took one because it was more convenient to do so while walking around indoors. 

Though, my eyes turned from him to the object of my request.

"Leonardo, thank you for coming." I spoke towards the young boy, the once former member of our illustrious 'hero faction'.

The amusement from that labeling was still present.

The boy didn't speak. I couldn't blame him, he was in a particularly awful situation. 

My many years of traveling the world allowed me to...emphasize with the ants that I normally stepped on. Oh, it doesn't stop me from pursuing my goals and crushing everyone that gets in my way. But it was important – I believed – to understand beyond the reaches I had been born to.

It was a novel experience in my earlier years of traveling while I wandered aimlessly in my pursuit of finding the true meaning of being a Dragon.

Regardless, the boy was too useful for me to overtly care since he wasn't being treated poorly.

Ample threats, coercion, promises of boons. It took awhile to break him, but they always do in the end. 

Luckily for him, his purpose made it difficult to be overly aggressive in how my compatriots went about their recruitment.

Leonardo Da Vinci, the boy named after his ancestor. The blessing or perhaps the curse of being born with one of the most interesting Sacred Gears in the world.

His Sacred Gear required that he couldn't be mentally controlled nor drugged to the point of compliance. His….imagination was required for the full breadth of his Sacred Gear to show its potential. 

The Annihilation Maker – a device capable of creating monsters with the possibility of killing Gods. 

"Come along, Leonardo. We have some monsters to craft." I put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Perhaps we can finish in time for me to catch up to Jormungandr and his companions. 

@***@

A/N

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We got, a Kunou chapter, two Arachne chapters, and a Cyclops chapter ahead if you want to check it out!