whatdeheckisdat | 002 - [Written/Action]

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002 - [Written/Action]

[Dhaos is, as a general rule, not a social person. He certainly doesn't mind being surrounded by people, but when most of the residents of Luceti are human he finds himself half-wishing he could strangle some of the people around him. As such, he's spent an awful lot of time in his apartment for the past few weeks, dwelling over the latest experiment and pretty much waiting for himself to calm down.

He really was powerless here. Even if he had been weakened by mana deprivation and injury, the Demon King of Aselia controlled his own fate, made his own decisions, chose his own path. But here, the Malnosso could do as they wished-- they could transform his body and erase his memories, wipe the urgency of Derris-Kharlan's situation from his mind, give his heart to another woman. Dhaos had always been in control of his own fate, and the fates of others as well, and the change was... upsetting.

Although, as Dhaos once realized with an unhappy surprise, it was something of a relief not to be the one responsible for the lives and deaths of others...

Anyway, now that it's been long enough for Dhaos to think back on the experiment without throwing a fit or something similar, it's time to get something he's been wondering about straight. This is his first time using a filter, so he's not sure he has it done correctly, but he does his best.]

[Written, Filtered to Martel: 70% Unhackable]

I need to speak to you.

[Written, Unfiltered]

What are your worlds called? Do the people of different regions call it something different? Is there a meaning behind the name, or has it been lost to the ages?

[And after a minute:]

And if there is anyone else here from Derris-Kharlan, I would like to know.

[And he can be found reading in the library/on top of the library. It's been a little while and he still hasn't read up on any of the other worlds, so he's rectifying that today. And as always, feel free to find him stargazing at night.]

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[Dhaos makes his usual sound of acknowledgment before shutting the journal. The Welcome Center, then... Hopefully there all this confusion would be set straight.

And Dhaos will probably be there before her, idly waiting for her to arrive.]

[ Just as Dhaos had thought, Martel came by a few moments after his arrival. As friendly as she wanted to be she felt that it was necessary to keep a respectable distance from him. At their first encounter, he didn't seem that keen about humanity. Hopefully, she'll be able to fix that by the end of their conversation. ]

Good evening!

[The distance suits Dhaos just fine-- he did not want to alienate her, but she was still little more than an acquaintance at the moment, experiments aside. He nods at her greeting.]

Good evening. I hope I did not interrupt anything.

[ She shook her head and smiled. ]

Nope, not at all. I was actually trying to find something to do.

[ That was a bit of a lie. She was originally going to plant a garden in the backyard, but Dhaos sounded urgent over the journal so the flowers could wait. ]

[Good, then. While Dhaos wanted his answers, he did not want them at her inconvenience.]

I doubt this would have been your first choice, however. Thank you.

It's no trouble at all.

[ An expression of puzzlement came across her face. ]

May I ask why did you call me out here?

[Dhaos averts his gaze for a moment.] There are some things... I should have asked you when we first met.

[ The confusion only further grows from there. What he would have asked at their first meeting? ]

What do you mean?

[Her name, for one thing. He knew her presence felt familiar, and if only he'd asked for her name he would have figured it out long ago.

Dhaos doesn't really know where to start with all this, so he simply gives her a prompt and hopes he at least gets a reaction.]

...The Giant Kharlan Tree.

[ How does he know-? Her puzzlement only deepens from there. It's becoming evident to her that Dhaos could be from the same world as her. However, that doesn't explain why he was inquiring about the Great Kharland Tree. That tree withered and died thousands of years ago. It couldn't be that he knew of her involvement with mana? ]

That . . . was a tree that died long ago.

[A tree that died long ago...? In Dhaos' time-- no, not Dhaos' time, but the one he'd been inhabiting when he died-- the Giant Kharlan Tree was still alive, if in bad shape. That meant Martel was from a long way into the future...

...Or perhaps into the past. Maybe the gap of time between the death of the first tree and the birth of the current one was much larger than he'd imagined...

Aselia's calendar as Dhaos knew it was based on the number of years since the birth of the tree. If he asked her what year it was, would she give him an answer he could make sense of? ...If there was no Giant Tree in her time, how could Martel exist? Why was she an angel, and not...]

The Giant Kharlan Tree I speak of is 4353 years old.

[ To say she was stunned was an understatement. His words took her breath away. 4353 years?! The Giant Tree lived far longer than amount of years! ]

P-pardon? I'm sorry but I believe you're mistaken. The tree I know of lived far longer than that.

[...While very telling, that was a little unhelpful. She could still be from either the future or the past...]

We may be speaking of two different trees. The one I am familiar with is called Yggdrasill.

[ Before the tree's name was completely said, she reflexively clasped her hand on his mouth. ]

I'm so sorry! But you cannot speak its name in the open!

[ She sent worried glances to her left and right. It didn't seem like anyone overhead them but that didn't make her feel any better. Her head pauses in a moment of contemplation. She slowly removes her hand and stares at Duals with wide but curious eyes. ]

How . . . do you know that name?

[Dhaos is more than a little taken aback at Martel's reaction, though he still does little more than blink and start. He waits patiently for Martel to release him, and then speaks.]

...The tree is dead in your time?

[ She gave an exasperated sigh inside. When were things not going to be confusing? But from the sounds of it, it seems they're both referring to the same tree. (He even mentioned the name that no one else aside from certain people should be aware of.) ]

No, the tree I'm speaking of is very much alive - Wait, what do you mean by "your time?"

You just said--

[Then...]

Then Ygg-- the tree I know of...

[...isn't the first tree Aselia has endangered...]

...Ah. You may have heard: the residents of this village are often from the same worlds, but different times.

[ His words were simple, but she still found it difficult to comprehend all of this. ]

Are you suggesting you're from the future?

[If she thinks she's confused, she has no idea how he feels about this whole business. Aselia and Derris-Kharlan have a history together? What the?]

That would appear to be so. As I said, the tree is over four thousand years old in my time...

[ The tree was just born in her time so that meant . . . Dhaos was four thousand years into the future. ]

Four thousand years . . .

[ So she was going to be subjected to another thousand years of observing the world? ]

So why did you call me here? Is . . . the current tree in danger?!

...Yes.

[But that's not why he called her here.]

And the spirit of the tree is named Martel.

[ She was surprised but not so much. As the guardian of the world tree, it is expected of her to be able to live for so many years. But it was still baffling to think that she managed to live four thousand years.

What happened before she became a spirit didn't count. Technically she was still dead. But that wasn't really the point.

The thing was that the world tree is in danger and if this were to continue, Lloyd and the others' effort to save the world would be all for naught. ]

So . . . You wish to seek my aid to save the world tree?

[That would be nice, but... If the Martel the Heroes of Eternity spoke to could not help, then it was very unlikely this Martel would be able to do anything. No... What Dhaos wanted was information. Or, to just know. The nature of the Giant Kharlan Tree, the connection between Aselia and Derris-Kharlan, who and what exactly Martel was. Derris-Kharlan's salvation was his first priority, and all of this was essential to that, but he could not deny that there was a certain curiosity beneath it all.]

...Anything you could tell me would be appreciated.

[ A momentary silence fell between them. It wasn't that she was questioning whether to trust him or not. He had it from the very beginning. She doesn't doubt that his intentions are good. It's just that she wasn't sure what was the answer he was looking for. ]

Alright. But could you answer a question of my own? Why . . . How is the World Tree in danger?

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