Chương 60: Yggdrasil?

Andy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He was avoiding the comments The Harness had made during their last meeting by trying to come up with a way to remove that chapter (56) entirely from the book he was writing in his head. No matter what he tried, he just couldn't seem to.

"Andy." A voice startled him back into the present"Huh, what?"

"You zoned out. Is everything all right? My healers insist you are healed, at least physically." Barnacle said gently.

"Oh, yeah. I was just trying to remember where we left off." Andy said quickly.

"I think we have been covering countries and kingdoms. The Kingdom of King–""Barnabus." Auri offered.

"Right, the human king, Barnabus rules the northern kingdom of this continent. He is not happy with us at the moment."

"That is an understatement. His kingdom butts directly up to Auri's land which holds the life Nexus." Auri nodded thoughtfully, purposefully ignoring the low hanging butts, (she'd definitely been hanging around Andy too much).

"Thank you for assisting in brokering that deal for me."

"Which, Lady Teeth," Barnacle added with a hint of soft teasing, "has graciously allowed Sessaly and her Merfolk to study alongside any other sophonts so long as they do so peacefully and without causing harm, in exchange for guarding the land from Lord Fergus."

"Fergus is the worst." Andy added.

"But I think we scared him off." Barnacle gave him a pointed look.

"You think hanging a Lord upside down and embarrassing him in front of his people is somehow not going to come back around?" Andy looked away.

"Well…" A muffled voice was heard outside of the door.

"I am sssssupposed to be in there! I got losssst. King Zyphraxon isss expecting me."

"Name?"

"You know my name! I come here every day."

"State your full name."

"Ssssir Reginald Boggart Hemsssworth the Third Primordial Basssssilisk" Barnacle began rubbing his eyes. The muffled voice continued.

"Purpose?"

"I am late! Let me through! The king isss expecting me." Barnacle shook his head.

"Anyway. In addition to the Life Nexus there is the Fire Nexus. I know you're also aware of the Fire Nexus. We were all there at its creation, after all." He raised his eyebrows at Andy. Muffled arguing continued.

"Currently the Mythic Council is monitoring and protecting that Nexus. The hope is to keep the knowledge of its existence to as few as possible. We've begun routing traffic around that area and sworn all council members to secrecy. That includes the three of you as well. On your journey let's not talk about–" he looked at Andy sternly, "--or allow your horn to talk about the Fire Nexus." Andy colored and his horn dimmed. It trilled several notes that sounded suspiciously like a sad trombone.

Barnacle waited a moment to ensure there were no questions or rebuttals. Reggie burst through the throne room doors.

"I am sssssso sssorry your highnessss." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Barnacle's mischievous twinkle returned to his eyes.

"You are late, Reginald." The rather unimposing snake hung his head in shame. The plum silken cape that had a collar high enough to give Reginald the appearance of a cobra seemed to wilt as well, falling loosely around his long body. About the size of an adult boa constrictor, Reginald was more brightly colored than any Andy had seen in his previous life. Rather than the plain browns and tans meant for camouflage, his scales were black mixed with dark purple patterns down the length of his body.

He raised his inky black eyes up toward Barnacle. His silver slitted pupils dilated to cartoonishly large proportions and his four vestigial nubs wrung with nervous energy.

"It won't happen again."

"If you continue hanging out with this pair, it's guaranteed to happen again. Everything is fine, Reginald. You haven't missed much, we were just about to get to your imminent journey." Auri rolled her eyes. Reginald straightened up, eagerness returning to his face.

"You will be leaving after this meeting so that you can catch the transport ship. It will take you to the closest port on the continent of Braulora. From there you will have to get directions to catch up with Treeven and meet with the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil." Andy and Reggie exchanged a glance, and in unison said, "Its name is Yggdrasil?"

"Yes." Barnacle scratched his chin, "Did I not mention that?" They both shook their heads.

"Is that an issue?" Both Reggie and Andy shook their heads again.

"Okay… As I was saying, Yggdrasil is the most advanced sophont in Life magic and if anyone can help you unblock your Life Affinity it will be them."

"Okay, but we don't know where they're located on Braulora." Auri chimed in.

"I've never been out of this continent, how will we find them?"

"Ah, yes. I have asked around, considering my information may be…slightly out of date. But we could not gather any concrete knowledge of Yggdrasil's whereabouts. As it is my understanding, they are rumored to be near the city of Lief. That said, I don't have a working knowledge of where Lief is in relation to where you will be making land." Reggie held up a hand. When it became apparent he was not going to ask his question without being called on, Barnacle asked, "Yes, Reginald?"

"I met Treeven briefly. Would you sssssay most flora sssophontsss are like Treeven?"

"I would not. There are just as many if not more types of flora sophonts as there are fauna sophonts, and they are just as varied. There used to be a great deal of fauna sophonts on this continent but due to the Harness and Madam Tempest, things changed.

"So are there still Nexuses on Braulora?"

"No one knows for sure, but we don't think so. The Harness seems to have a multi-continent reach and Madam Tempest spread as far as she could as resources grew scarcer here. After a few centuries, the entirety of the world stopped replenishing its magic."

"Why don't the Merfolk know?" Andy asked.

"Merfolk don't spend a lot of time on land. Really the only reason they were here was to study the life nexus in efforts to bring a water nexus back to the sea." Andy nodded.

"Fair enough. These Nexuses are quite the big deal."

"Indeed they are. They're the main connection we had with the elemental plains. A lot of sophonts were born from the condensed magic in those areas, or grew stronger because of them. With the reappearance of three nexuses, there will be quite the influx of everyone desperate to get close to this magic again. Those who want to embrace it, those who want to hoard it, and those who want to destroy it."

"Who doesn't love embracing?" Andy chipped in Barnacle's tone turned grave.

"At this point, it's no longer coincidental that your magic is connected to the creation of the Nexuses. This, so far, is a closely guarded secret. It is in everyone's best interest if you keep it that way." Andy's horn, being prominent and glowing as it was, had never once been very good at keeping secrets.

"I will absolutely keep this secret." There was strong doubt in Barnacle's raised brow, but the king moved on."It is safe to assume the Harness will figure it out if he has not yet figured it out."

"Can't you just take out the Harness?"

"It is not that simple. We don't know how far and wide the Harness' reach is, or even how powerful he is. This is part of Gustave's quest. We will hopefully have more information on what that looks like and how to stop him when you return from Braulora."

"And what if he comes after me?"

"I would guess it's not a matter of if but when. This is why you must travel to Braulora, seek out an audience with Yggdrasil, and master your Life affinity as quickly as possible." An advisor quietly entered the chamber and stood near the door, hands behind their back.

"I do wish I could come on another adventure with you, but it seems as though I have quite a bit to attend to here. Make sure you are ready to tell me about your adventure on your return, Andy. I have always loved your stories." The advisor quietly cleared their throat.

"I'm sorry my friends, but it is time." [SPECIES: UNICORN(MAGICAL BEAST)- Tier 7] [GALLOP EFFICIENCY: 90%] [XP: 15874/?] [PARTY MEMBERS: 3] [HERD BOND: HERD(GREATER KITSUNE)- Tier 6] [HERD BOND: COMPANION (PRIMORDIAL BASILISK)- Tier 6] [ELEMENTAL MASTERY: ACQUIRED: 3] [LIFE MAGIC AFFINITY: IMPROVED] [FIRE MAGIC AFFINITY: BASIC] [DEATH MAGIC AFFINITY: BASIC]