Supreme Magus

Chapter 3465 Dichotomy (Part 2)

Dir looked like a tall man, over two meters (6'7") made of brambles, with crimson-red hair that was actually thinner brambles soaked in blood. His arms and face showed the ritual markings that granted him part of the Sapling's powers and authority over the city.

"Now I'm really getting confused." Feela furrowed her bushy brows. "How can no one know about the crisis at hand if we do?"

"Because what I told Lith was supposed to be a secret." Aalejah groaned.

"Too bad I can't ask people to help me on a 'trust me, bro' basis." Lith replied. "If someone has to risk their life for me, they deserve to know what they are going against."

"What secret?" Lotho asked. "How is Verhen supposed to stop this? Is this your fault, Verhen?"

"Finally you are here, Verhen." A dry cackle made everyone turn their heads and stopped Lith before he could answer any of those questions. "It's a good thing you moved so fast. I'm barely holding on."

The Sapling spoke with two overlapping voices. One was young and vibrant while the other was old and rasping. The second voice reminded Lith of Nana exhaling her final words.

I would expect the World Tree to sound like that if he was ten thousand years old when I killed them or if they were an undead.' Lith thought.

"Hello, brother. What plagues you?" Lotho extended his arms and turned them into roots, wishing to form a communion to understand and help the Sapling.

"Lotho the Treant." The voices hissed and a branch of the Sapling slapped the tendrils away along with their owner. "A petty tyrant in a line of petty tyrants. A useless pile of leaves only good as fertilizer!"

"But-" Lotho tried to deny the accusation but countless sickening lights surrounded him, each releasing the stench of Forbidden Magic.

"Be quiet, or I'll give you a practical demonstration of what plagues me." The World Sapling rumbled and with it, the rest of the city. "You plant representatives failed to help anyone but yourselves.

"You grow rich while the rest of the Fae grow stale and the rot takes hold. We're doomed. Doomed!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Calm down, Esor. I'm here for you!" Dir tried to establish a telepathic connection to comfort his friend and understand what was going on, but the Sapling rejected the Redcap as well, albeit much more gently.

"No, Dir, you can't and you must not get inside my head." The younger voice turned dominant. "Stay away. I won't risk your life or worse, your sanity. You are a good friend with a long life ahead of you whereas my days are numbered."

The Sapling trembled and their voice sounded like they were panting from the effort of keeping the older voice under control.

"There is no time, Verhen." The Sapling said. "Wait until I'm done talking and only then ask questions. Not because I don't want to answer but because I don't know how long I've left. The sweet Aalejah already explained to you what she knew, correct?"

Lith nodded for the Sapling to continue.

"Good. What she doesn't know is that you did more than scatter the memory and the power of the World Tree into fragments, you also killed the old fool. The Yggdrasill is both dead, beyond us, and alive, inside all those like me.

"The old voice you hear belongs to the late World Tree, tainted by madness, death, and visions I don't dare dwell upon. Not all Saplings received a fragment, but those who did are entrusted with a specific portion of the Yggdrasill's essence.

"In my case, I was cursed with the knowledge of all the horrible things the people of Mogar have done in the past and do in the present. Plants, beasts, humans, undead, Guardians, I know them better than they know themselves.

"I know every single Forbidden Spell, Cursed Ritual, and how to craft the most twisted abomination of a lost city. I know what all the Council representatives did and do. Most importantly, I know what you are, Verhen."

Lith's face remained a stone mask but his eyes darted to Solus for a split second, long enough for the Sapling to notice.

"Yes, I know about you and your lady friend but that's not what I'm talking about.

'Fuck me sideways, couldn't you word it in a less ambiguous way, old fart?' Lith inwardly grumbled. Now more rumors will spread and Kami will never let me hear the end of it.'

"I'm referring solely to you, the greatest dichotomy on Mogar. A creature of this world yet not. Alive yet dead." The old voice became dominant but also distant, as if the Sapling had fallen into a hypnotic trance. "The holder of the powers that can make you into the protector of all forms of life..."

A city-wide hologram replaced Esor with the Trawn Woods. Every leaf, tree, and flower were wreathed in silvery flames yet didn't burn. Plants grew faster while animals grew stronger as the fire cleansed everything that was harmful.

"Or their greater enemy." The hologram still depicted the Trawn Woods but now everything was ablaze in blue flames. The land was reduced to a charred surface where life was impossible.

Mogar, making them eternal and ever-spreading.

"Nothing and no one will be spared from them. Not even your daughter." The cry of a baby resounded through the air, quickly snuffed amid the roaring of the fire.

"Cut the crap!" Lith could take it no further. "This is no choice. There is no way in this or any other world I'd do something like this!"

His fury was met with a wry cackle that sounded like the snapping of dry wood thrown into a fireplace.

"Do you think this kind of power can be unlocked just because you want to? That this kind of choice takes place when everything is right and proper? No, young fool, and

again no.

"This will happen when the pain is so great that death would be a liberation. When you are forced to choose between becoming powerful through your sweat and blood or just being powerful by making everyone else sweat and bleed.

"In that moment, the price will seem reasonable and the offer alluring. So, remember this day. Remember my words when you are at your highest, and life seems perfect, and when you are ay your lowest, and everything you treasure is lost."

"Why are you telling me this?" Lith asked. "I thought time was of the essence yet here you are going full prophet on me."

"Because this is relevant to our problem, Verhen." The old voice became fainter while the young one grew louder. "You know how to conjure both Flames and have mastered

none but that's enough.

"If you decide to help me, you can use either Flame to vanquish the threat I pose to

everyone's life. The difference is that the blue flame will kill me through a slow agony while the silver flames will extract the fragment of the World Tree without harming

me.

"Either way, you get the fragment and my pain ends."