Elyonari hadn't expected the transition to feel like drifting underwater in sunlight. But when she blinked and her vision cleared, the scale of the world around her nearly stopped her heart.
She was standing in a place that felt like a dream. She was stepping on an emerald, translucent ground. Beneath her feet, so clear she could see every ridge and bend, lay roots the size of mountains beneath a green crystal sea.
But it wasn't the floor that stole her breath. It was the tree.
In the distance loomed the most colossal, majestic being she had ever seen. A tree pierced the heavens, whose branches were broader than cities. Each leaf glowed softly in hues of emerald. Its trunk was impossibly wide enough to be a continent itself and it pulsed with a soft, harmonious heartbeat that seemed to echo with the voice of the world. Her knees almost buckled under the sheer spiritual weight of it.
"Mintherenia…"
She hadn't meant to say it aloud but it didn't matter. Because standing not far in front of her, still closer than the Tree but equally impossible to ignore, was a woman that defined grace and divinity.
Towering over four meters tall, her form was draped in a flowing, white-sleeved robe. Her hair was the same shade of living emerald as the roots below. Above her head floated a simple crown of flowers that bloomed without stems, revolving slowly in a circle.
Mintherenia, The World Tree, the Supreme Entity of life in the world, was standing in front of her.
Elyonari's mouth went dry. She bowed instinctively, falling to one knee with her hand across her chest, her head lowered deeply.
"Rise, Elyonari Mintheris. You have done well. You've reached the Second Enlightenment as a Divine."
Elyonari swallowed, slowly standing. She said respectfully, bowing her head again, albeit slightly less deeply.
"I am honored to be congratulated by the World Tree herself."
Mintherenia chuckled, taking a slow step forward, her bare feet making no sound against the emerald surface.
"You don't have to be so formal, little elf. Your mother never was."
"I can't help it. I… wouldn't feel right speaking casually to a Supreme Entity."
There was a long pause. Then, with a gentle, weary sigh, Mintherenia folded her legs and sat cross-legged on the ground. Even sitting, she was taller than Elyonari.
"Fair enough. You always were more like your mother in temperament."
Elyonari blinked at that, caught off-guard. Mintherenia gestured beside her, patting the space gently.
"Sit, will you? Let us speak as beings who carry too much on their shoulders."
Elyonari hesitated. Then slowly, she moved forward and sat beside the massive figure. She crossed her legs, still feeling the pulse of the roots beneath them.
Then came a question she wasn't expecting.
"What is your relationship with Vastarael Richinaria?"
Elyonari stiffened. A silence fell between them.
"I…"
Elyonari began, but paused. Her cheeks flushed slightly.
"We've fought and trained together. I've watched him bleed for others. And I've admired the way he carries the weight of things he'll never talk about. We've grown closer over time. And I suppose that I—"
Mintherenia raised an eyebrow. "Even though he has three… no, five beloveds?"
Elyonari's face twitched.
"That's... I mean, I know about Narisva and Adelasta. The other three are…?"
"Phaenora," Mintherenia said plainly. "And the Krepsuna Phantasm who is now a Dragon. Love is not always romantic but it is still fierce."
Elyonari opened her mouth, then shut it. She sighed and spoke.
"I never expected him to be mine alone. I'm not a child. I… care about him, but I'm not foolish. And I respect what he shares with them. I'm not here to compete."
Mintherenia watched her for a long time. Her emerald eyes didn't blink. Then the corners of her mouth curled up into the gentlest, warmest smile Elyonari had ever seen from something that powerful. She leaned back, her hands pressed against the glassy floor.
"Good answer. I was not judging. I only wanted to see if you'd deny it, or twist it, or pretend not to feel something. But you didn't."
Elyonari exhaled slowly.
"You've always been one of the sharpest vines in the grove. I acted like I was against it but truthfully, I don't mind. He's strange, that man. Both distant and incredibly near, like a star trying to hold hands with a river."
Elyonari chuckled softly. "Yeah. That's… actually perfect."
"He'll need you, you know. He'll need all of you. Not just as allies but as anchors."
Elyonari looked at her. "Is something coming?"
The tree above them shifted slightly. Just one leaf fell. It glittered like an emerald comet and disappeared into the air. Mintherenia said nothing for a moment.
"There are fates even I cannot foresee clearly but I feel the roots tremble. The air smells different."
Elyonari swallowed.
"But you'll be ready," Mintherenia said at last, placing one enormous hand gently on her shoulder. "You've stepped into the Second Enlightenment."
Elyonari stared forward at the infinite tree.
"I understand."
"Are you sad that Vastarael, Adelasta, and Narisva have been chosen as Splits and you have not?"
The words cut through the illusion of composure Elyonari had carefully crafted. She glanced down, her hand clutching the edge of her sleeve.
"I'm not... sad. Not really. They deserve everything they've been given. Vastarael has always carried so much on his back. Adelasta is terrifyingly powerful even without it. And Narisva, well... she's always had that overwhelming presence, hasn't she?"
She paused, inhaling deeply.
"I'm proud of them. I really am. But sometimes when I look at themz.I feel like I'm just... trailing behind. Like I'm not strong enough to keep up."
For a moment, the grove was silent, as if the trees themselves mourned that thought. Then Mintherenia shifted. Leaves cascaded in slow spirals from her limbs as petals drifted down. She morphed to a two meter tall height.
"You forget what you are. You are not simply a daughter of the Mintheris. You are a chosen of the World Tree. You are my sapling. My will. You were already a Split, Elyonari."
Elyonari's head lifted abruptly, a gasp leaving her mouth.
"What?"
The word escaped before she could think. Mintherenia smiled faintly.
"The Primordials are not the only ones who can designate a Split. That title is not exclusive to their line. Just as a god can create divinity, a Supreme Entity can create Splits through choice, not bloodline."
"But... you're the World Tree. You can't be replaced."
"I cannot be replaced," Mintherenia affirmed, "but I can give. And I already have. I chose you from the moment you first took breath beneath my canopy. You bloomed with my essence. Elyonari and now I ask again, as I did the day you knew about my existence. Do you want to carry me within you?"
Elyonari gaped. The wind stopped. Her eyes fluttered shut then opened again with resolve glinting behind them.
"I... yes. I want to be strong not just for myself but for them but for what's coming. I want to protect the things I love. I want to protect my kind too."
"Good," Mintherenia said softly.
She stepped forward, her hand rising. It pressed gently over Elyonari's heart. At first, nothing happened. A surge of warmth bloomed from her chest. Elyonari gasped as a a flower unfolded upon her sternum, its petals made of pure energy. Vines spread from the flower, wrapping over her shoulders and tracing down her arms like fine embroidery. Her hair fluttered upward, suspended by the sudden flood of power in her veins.
"You've already completed your first Sacred Trial. And now, as promised, I grant you the first seventh of your reward."
Elyonari could feel it. Mintherenia's hand drew back, and in its place, three seeds floated and were so bright that it made Elyonari's eyes sting.
"These are yours. Plant them when the time is right."
Elyonari reached out, cupping them as if they were the most delicate things in the world.
"When will that be?"
"Soon."
The world around Elyonari began to blur at the edges. The light swallowed her slowly.
"I'll come back," she said quickly, clutching the seeds to her chest. "I promise."
"You'd better. You have six more Trials to complete."
Elyonari vanished. The grove quieted.
Mintherenia exhaled, her vines slowly lowering, her massive form fading back into the roots and canopy of the sacred place.
"She really is cute. She's so small but she'll change everything. Just like I hoped."
And then, with the rustle of leaves like a lullaby, the World Tree fell silent once more.