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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[ 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?

[Underneath his cloak, Dhaos crosses his arms, gripping at his sleeves. His tone is mostly matter-of-fact, but there is a trace of something beneath it that Martel might find uncomfortably familiar.]

Magitechnology. Despite having nearly brought themselves to ruin only 150 years previous, humanity clings to its weapons and wars, and all negotiation has proved futile.

[ She did find it uncomfortably familiar. It seems that no matter what mankind does history will always end up repeating itself. Hopefully that statement stays true when it comes to the ending. ]

I see . . . To be honest, I found myself in the same exact situation. It was much before your time, about a thousand years ago. Many people lost hope, all except for four. What we- ah, they did was forge a pact with the existing summon spirits and when they obtained the trust of Origin, the summoner created the Eternal Sword with Origin's power.

[ Her voice falls at that point. She doesn't give any further explanation what happened afterwards. That was the part where everything started to go wrong. ]

[Unfortunately, Dhaos catches Martel's slip. Fortunately, he has other things to think about at the moment.]

They created the Eternal Sword?

[So... would the Eternal Sword have the power to save the Giant Kharlan Tree?

...Of course, the only way Dhaos would ever be able to obtain it now would be by killing the current Eternal Swordsman-- something he had already decided he did not want to do.]

[ She nodded her head. ]

Yes. The summoner requested that Origin make this sword as it was necessary for the survival of the world. However, the sword was made specifically for him so only those of elven blood may wield it unless certain conditions were met.

...So the original Eternal Swordsman was of elven blood.

[As if Dhaos needed any more reason to lose faith in humanity's ability to be reasonable about such things.]

He was a half elf to be more specific.

...Were half elves looked down upon in that time?

[Because the first half-elf Dhaos ever met cut his best friend's arm off, and the idea of giving such power to anyone with an excuse to misuse it is a very bad idea in his mind]

[ Her minds goes back to the elves that banished her and Mithos from the village to their warnings falling to the deaf ears of the Tethe'allan royals. ]

Yes, in ways I hope you never experience.

[...

...

A recipe for disaster.

Dhaos is very tempted to ask if the aforementioned half elf eventually used his suffering as an excuse to inflict it upon others, as Dhaos has seen happen before, but he recalls Martel's slip earlier and realizes that she probably knows him personally. And fortunately for her, Martel is one of the few people Dhaos is willing to let such things go for.

So though Dhaos can't help but frown and think of what a bad idea it was to give a half elf such power, he changes the subject.]

...The half-elf Mithos is your brother?

[Nice work, Arche. This is something Dhaos has been wondering about for a while... ~~But we have to be careful to prevent time paradoxes now, urk.~~]

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