Tree of Aeons

342 - Time leap.

Year 316

I took a nap, and allowed my people to deal with issues. Lumoof, who remained awake, handled the affairs on my behalf. We still had not located Neira, though we had ventured deeper and further into the Neiran core worlds. 

There were divine relics of all shapes and sizes across the Neiran core world, and the Neiran High Priests seemed to bear some kind of divine blessing that made them the immortal representatives of their god.

As we moved closer to the core, the intensity of the Void sea pushing against us increased, and my domain holders had to work a lot harder. The nearest node tree for my domain holders was located on the peripheral worlds of Hawa, and from there, it still took a few hops to get to the Aivan territories. 

Year 317

We hopped some more worlds and realized we were within the Neiran core worlds. The Neiran Core worlds were managed by decentralized Overlords, many of which were puzzled by our search for their god. 

Neira, in their own words, did whatever it wanted to do. Even the Overlords could not compel their God to appear. 

But we searched and still couldn’t find Neira.

Until we noticed an unusual world within the void sea, that felt like it thrummed with divine energy. It stood out once we were fairly close to it, as if the void sea swirled to a swirling sphere that resembled a black whirlpool, and in the center of that sphere was a shining blue world that was invisible from afar. 

Curious, the three domainholders arrived in a world with no living body. A world that was inside out, on the inner side of the sphere. 

There was nothing here, except for a dim blue light in the center of the massive cavity.

And then, a blue dragon emerged to meet us.

“A guest from afar.” The dragon answered, and at this distance we could feel its divinity. The blue hue of the world now had a vivid life to it, as if it was alive when the dragon appeared. “Welcome to the Blue Cave. This is my world.”

“Neira?” Lumoof asked. Simultaneously I was jolted awake, surprised to encounter a divine dragon. The World was blue. The world that felt empty before transformed. There was water moving around us, though it was clear it was not water. At the same time, we also felt the dragon’s divinity spread out around us, and now we were encapsulated in a sphere of blue gas that felt like a part of the dragon. 

Here, we were within its flesh, its body, and this world was the god, and the god was the world. 

“Ah. I go by that name in most worlds. You can refer to me as the Blue Dragon Anayayiaraneisha, but it’s not exactly an easy name to remember.”

At that moment we felt a pressure on our minds, a thumb on our imaginary foreheads pushing against our head. It was our fortune that our domains protected us. 

“Hmm, I can see why you could survive a journey and reach me. And I thought I could send all of you away. I felt your presence from my outermost worlds, moving slowly towards me. So, why have you sought me out? ”

Lumoof gave the usual summary of our plan. The same pitch we gave Aiva, Hawa and Gaya. 

The Blue Dragon listened, and shrugged. “Some change is better than no change. Very well, here. The mutant demons have grown complacent. But first, let us have a match.”

“A match?”

“You ask for my help. You must be worthy of it.”

The dragon breathed, and from the dragon’s nostrils, emerged a gigantic blob of water. Right before our eyes, the blob of water gained density, weight and texture, and began to take the shape of a dragon.  ṝΑƝỌ𝔟Êʂ

From the thickened water, scales, skin, eyes and claws emerged. 

“This is your foe. Fight it, and I will judge whether you are worthy.”

Edna smiled, and then, from her [quest swords], a blood red sword emerged. “Gladly. I had always wanted to use a dragonslayer sword.”

Stella squirmed. “I’m definitely not prepared for a battle against a dragon!”

Edna, however, ignored Stella’s words and already charged ahead. Her dragonslayer sword glowed with bloodthirst, and her sword slammed into the dragon’s claws. The dragon’s deep blue claws cracked on impact.

The Blue Dragon Neira watched from the side, and looked at both Stella and Lumoof. “Well, you two should join the fight. She’s not going to win that alone.”

Lumoof frowned. “Must dragons always devolve to fights and displays of power?”

“We are what our people think we are.” Neira chuckled. “I thus play to our followers’ desire.”

My avatar leapt forward as l activated the avatar form. My roots spread out from my avatar and  towards the dragon. The dragon breathed a kind of ethereal, ghostly fire that looked purple in color, and it burned my wall of spreading vines.

It tried to burn it, but the damage was minimal. Neira, still in its dragon form, clapped. “Fire resistance, I certainly should have expected that from a tree that survived so long.”

The giant woody vines slammed into the dragon’s body, and I felt the hardness of its powerful scales. Unlike demon kings who now felt weak, it was strangely refreshing to feel something that felt strong. Not just that, it was strong in a way that didn’t repulse me. It was a pleasant sensation to fight and feel the power of a dragon, even if it was aimed at us.

The dragon used its claws to slice off the vines instead. Or, it tried to. It wasn’t easy to cut my heavily enhanced and strengthened vines and the dragon had to apply a good amount of force.

My vines were hardy and made of woven strands of multiple smaller vines. The dragon’s claws, unable to break through in a single strike, now had to saw through them with the jagged edges of the dragon’s claws. It took a while for it to saw off a few of the vines, but that still wasn’t fast enough to prevent the rest of my vines from wrapping the rest of the dragon up in vines. 

Then, I drained the creature of mana. I felt the vigorous, powerful mana of the dragon flood my avatar’s body, and Lumoof groaned. But he activated his ability, and strengthened both myself and his own body to withstand the dragon’s mana.

“A dragon’s body and mana is filled with life. In many worlds, we are symbols of incredible vitality. Energy. Vigor.” Neira spoke. 

It felt quite similar to wrestling demonic mana. It was stronger in some ways, yet its texture and sensation was different. It also lacked the malice of demonic mana. It lacked the desire to consume, and instead, the dragon’s mana pushed because it was a dragon. Its vitality demanded itself to win.

The battle between our manas felt as if it was about conceptual understanding of the nature of mana. To understand, is to control. 

“In the early days, the first wars were between beasts and demons.”

But what were trees if not symbols of nature? Just like dragons, trees were also symbols of life. Symbols of growth. 

The dragon’s mana was powerful, vigorous, but in the end, it was not too difficult to overcome the fight. 

A dragon was but a piece of nature. It claimed itself to be the apex of life, but in the end, it existed as a part of nature, not above it.

So, my mana overpowered the dragon’s mana, and then we absorbed them. 

We purified them, and my avatar grew. The vines and roots that wrapped the dragon grew with each drop of dragon’s mana converted. 

The dragon flailed. Its tail slammed into Edna’s magical shield, and Edna’s blade sliced through the weakened tail. 

I was already Level 250. My avatar’s abilities further amplified my ability. Even if I wasn’t optimized to fight dragons, in raw metrics I was not behind a dragon.

A dragon was no match for our might. 

The dragon’s struggle weakened.

I drained more of the creature’s mana, and I found that they were tasty. 

I could hear the voices of the trees throughout my world rejoice at the incredible life of the dragon’s mana. So I devoured more of it. More vines. The vines grew larger, more muscular, and grotesque as it fed on the dragon’s vitality. 

There was an explosion of life as my vines feasted.

The wider world loved the dragon’s mana, and at this moment, a part of me wanted to create dragons of my own. Breed them to feed the rest of my trees. 

This desire was reflected in Lumoof’s greedy stare at the fallen dragon. This was the end for Neira’s warrior dragon. The powerful dragon’s life was drained out by an ever more hungry network of trees. 

On many worlds, trees began to bloom and flower, empowered by the dragon’s vitality. This season’s harvest would be exceptional. 

Neira mused. “I see you don’t have a problem dealing with a dragon.”

“I would not mind if you have another one. A dragon’s mana is fantastic.” Lumoof added, while my vines feasted on the struggling dragon’s mana.

The Blue Dragon laughed. A divine dragon’s laughter was strange, the world itself seemed a lighter shade of blue as if it reflected their master’s joy. “Ah. It’s good to be reminded that many in the living world still crave dragon’s blood.”

My vines cracked through the dragon’s scales and revealed the flesh beneath. Edna’s dragonslayer blade, a product of her many quests, radiated the energies of a level 200 Martial Paragon. It slammed into the weakened dragonscales and shattered it.

Then, her second swing sliced the dragon’s head off. 

The rest of the dragon’s body lost its struggle, and my vines made easy work of the rest of the creature.

Stella smiled at the spectating divine blue dragon. “It appears my participation is unnecessary.”

Neira’s dragonic form mustered an amused smile. It looked absolutely sinister, and yet we didn’t feel any bit of hostility. “Well done, my dragon was slain by a knight, a priest and a tree.”

The dragon snapped off one of its claws, and gave it to Lumoof. 

The claw looked so simple. 

A claw with an intense, vivid blue. In its full size, it was as large as a man, but the moment Lumoof’s palm touched the object, the claw shrunk into a small bracelet with a single claw, small enough to fit on one hand.

[ Neira’s Claw - A claw from Neira’s manifested divine draconic flesh. Use to summon Neira’s divine draconic form. ]

“That should assist you, should that world’s darkness not consume our divinity.”

Lumoof knew the dragon referred to the void’s suppression of divine power. Stella recently developed a theory that the accumulated effect of travelling through the void also caused the World Faith System to experience ‘power loss’ over distance. It might be fairly miniscule, but it certainly added up over sufficiently large distances.

Lumoof then spoke of Hawa’s bomb and Aiva’s offer to make a realm egg. 

Neira merely shrugged. “I need no such thing. The Claw is more than enough. Is that all?”

Stella couldn’t help herself and asked. “Why do you take different forms in each world?”

“Because I can.” 

“There’s no reason?”

“Is there a need for a reason beyond my desires? I desire something, and it is so.”

We all realized that Neira was likely the mercurial type.

“You made a Marble Statue very mad with your people’s blood ritual.” Lumoof decided to bring up the White Statue. “But it certainly sounds like you have no part in it.”

“Oh? A soul trapped within a statue, gaining power and ascending into the higher realms is quite a story. But I certainly have no part in it, though the people of my faith have many, many tales about blood ceremonies and rituals. After all, many since time immemorial have tried to take a dragon’s blood into themselves in hopes to be one of us.”

Lumoof looked at the dragon-form, and wondered whether Neira was formerly a dragon. “If I may, were you formerly a dragon?”

“Ah, I forget that it is not obvious.” Neira chuckled and nodded. “Yes. This is a form I favor, because it is what I was, a memory of a time before the current system. But when we ascend to be the faith gods, our forms are whatever we want them to be, and humans are fond of gods that look like them.”

“Have your kind ever lived in our world?” Lumoof asked, as we remembered that very old memory. Of a dragon king. “Our ancient memory recalls a time when the world was filled with dragons.”

Neira paused. “The Old Era, a period of war between the beasts and the old demons. That is an era that predates our current state. I was not there yet, though I am a descendant of them. I surmise that your world is one of the first worlds to drift away from the chaos if your world still remembers such ancient history. Perhaps one of the first thousand.”

“Is that something we should know?”

“Ah, it’s not really something important. Just these first thousand have the longest histories. Worlds are created all the time. Some have short histories, some longer. Though, you are more likely to find ancient beings in these first thousand worlds. Many of these first thousand drifted outwards, and nowadays they are no more than worldly prisons for these ancient beings.”

We had more questions, but Neira decided it had enough of us.

“I have given you what you want. It is time you go.”

We felt a strong divine wind, and this time, it actually forced us out of its world, and we landed on one of its nearby core worlds. 

“Well. A dragon-god.”

“They started powerful and became even more powerful. It’s actually surprising that we only encountered one now.” Edna countered. “The greater worlds should be filled with gods like that.” 

“It didn’t feel more divine than the rest, so I am certain that there are tradeoffs.” Lumoof countered. “Something we don’t know.”

“Maybe it’s a personality tradeoff. A god that does whatever it wants wouldn’t optimize for faith, and thus suffers weakness.”

***

Year 318

The White Statue was pensive when I spoke of Lumoof’s discovery of Neira, and how it did not care for their ways. He cursed. He cursed in many ways, and then, like a philosopher, mulled the insignificance of their lives to these beings. 

“These beings do not deserve to be gods.”

“Unfortunately, the system does not care. It only cares that they are worshiped as one, and thus they are gods.” I answered. 

The White Statue adjusted itself, and entered a thoughtful pose. It was as if solid marble was carved into the lifelike recreation of a thinking man. 

After a long musing, it declared. “Deliver this letter for me. That is all I wish to say to that foul existence that claims themselves gods.”

The White Statue gave a letter wrapped in a white, marble-like envelope. It was a kind of glass container that kept the content safe. 

“Will it cause us problems?” I asked, curious about it’s content.

“One is never sure.” The White Statue sighed. “But the letter is nothing more than a condensed writing of my intense frustration with Neira’s callousness and my anger for being abandoned so far away.”

I thought the notion of gods is devoid of morality. Gods had no reason to be moral. All they required is worship, and worship could be achieved with fear. Sufficient fear could manifest itself in profound belief. Shock. Awe. Morality was a byproduct of a just god, but not a requirement.

The White Statue, deep down, still wished that gods had morals. 

Maybe they would have, if they were someone like Aiva or Hawa. But these gods that possessed such values would likely never create the circumstances that could give rise to an individual like the White Statue. 

“It seems I am doomed to a troubled birth, when you put it that way.” The White Statue sighed. “To think that I am a creation out of the ignorance and false beliefs of Neira’s followers, and even when I am created, they do not care for us.”

“In all the gods I’ve seen so far, all I can say is they don’t really care. Individual lives have very little value. The only reason they’ve given me any value is because of my levels and my abilities to move to places they cannot.” 

The White Statue sat and thought. It made no difference now. “Any form of struggle I do against such an existence is meaningless, is it not?”

“As you are now, yes. But I do not view the struggle against the demons to be so. Life spreads. Life prospers when these destructive creatures are purged.” 

***

Year 319

Neira didn’t seem to care very much when we visited his core worlds. Unlike Hawa, Aiva or Gaya who protected their core worlds strongly and tried their best to minimize our presence, Neira allowed us free reign.

“It’s too proud.” Edna said. “It believes that those who believe will believe.” 

Neira’s core worlds did bear some similarities to how Aiva or Hawa described their core worlds. 

The inner Neiran worlds were massive realms. 

We visited a realm with thirty separate planets, all massive and somehow all populated with billions of people. Each of these thirty had a single Neira-appointed Overlord, whose goal was simple. High populations, high faith, tremendous belief in Neira in whatever shape or form. 

Everything else was up to the respective Overlords. 

The Overlords were all like mini-Neira, many of them took different shapes and forms. Some worshipped Neira in the form of a human, some as angels, some as dragons, some as other monsters. 

These were not peaceful worlds, though there appeared to be rules that encouraged sparing lives, and the Neiran faiths on these worlds were huge on having children. 

According to Hawa and Aiva, there was some difference in the faith produced by a high leveled individual, but it was infinitely better to have a hundred low leveled believers than one high leveled believer. 

Thus, population boom. 

Still, we noticed that the various societies felt strangely like they were breeding livestock within a planet-sized farm. Sure, they were fed, lived decently, but there was overt breeding and brainwashing policies in most of them. 

It was an uncomfortable realization that these populations had to live long enough to produce faith. 

We suspected Hawa and Aiva’s core worlds too practiced something similar.

Next, was Sun-Rings VI. The last of the Sun-Rings for us to explore, and we wondered whether a god claimed these worlds. 

***