A man and a tree

"Why her?" Ed asked.

"Yes, why her, Ed?" Nti Anem asked.

"You are the one who made this decision," Ed said slowly.

"I made it because you are wildly tolerant of the girl. Why?" he asked Ed. This, he always wanted to know.

"Do I?"

"Ed, you do not tolerate others, but you oddly treat that girl well. I am not stupid enough to think you are in love like a little cultivator," he said and Ed seemed to ponder.

"She is just a little girl," he said and Nti Anem raised a brow.

"Sentiment? Impossible,"

"Sentiment, this word; no, it is not. I just remember her being there,"

"Being there?" Nti Anem asked, "Staying by your side long?"

"When I first came to this world, I could barely survive, but I had yet to forget things from my past. My memory of my world and loved ones still held strong. She just happened to be around me then, up until when it started to fade," Ed explained.

"Oh, that girl is a memory, then, a representation of a memory. It is true that you would have lost your beliefs first. The dashing prince you were would have been the first to fade. But your memory of your parents; your mother and the father you only just found before entering the mist, you hold sentiment for this memory. She is a representation of your sentiment in the mist. Then it is interesting," Nti Anem nodded in understanding.

"You indulge her because you would indulge your parents, especially your mother. I see. That only means my decision is right, the little witch must return to our side. There is no way you are going to kill her by being you. Because she has a greater pull to your memory where you unconsciously, let her do as she likes,"

"Little witch," Ed said and Nti Anem chuckled.

"The girl is going to become quite the witch," he answered.

"You can see the future?"

"I can tell when a principality, no, a god is becoming one, much less a witch,"

"Seeing the future," Ed said and Nti Anem shook his head.

"No. Just the way a person can see another's cultivation, I have seen the end and beginning of gods, I know the recipe for their creation. It is not odd to pass by the kitchen and smell the fish and see the leaves and know what soup is about to be prepared," Nti Anem said.

"A witch," Ed repeated.

"Quite the one too. The moment she entered this world with us, I smelt the fish," he said, getting up to full height.

"We must go get her. I could ask her to come, but something tells me that witch she is learning from wants more from her than being an apprentice. To let her just leave after two thousand years, forget it,"

"Thousand years," Ed said and Nti Anem felt age descend and stepped back slightly as he cast a spell around his body, to freeze it in time.

"Yes," he sighed at Ed's casual words, "Yes, you have been dead... sleeping a thousand years. I am shocked the mist did not take you," he said and paused slightly, "or maybe it did, somewhat,"

Nti Anem stepped out of the cave and Ed followed behind with eyes closed. It made Nti Anem quite bothered because it felt as though a towering tree was haunting him. He laughed at himself slightly, finding it funny that after living so long, someone like Ed could bother him. The moment they stepped out of the cave, the sight before them was bone-chilling. Everything within a mile was dead.

Nti Anem glanced at Ed behind him uncomfortably. He was becoming more dangerous and in a bad way. He had met a lot of dangerous people. This is the second time someone had made his hairs rise in millennia. If this goes on, he will be killed without knowing it. They must stay away from big cities and towns if they can or else people are going to die. As much as he is not worried about the death toll, he did not want to deal with troublesome figures right now.

That little witch should keep Ed on his toes while they find a solution. No. He needed to think of something fast. The boy is manifesting powers he cannot control, he may not remember who he is, but it seems as days pass, he is growing regardless. His being is just expanding unconsciously and this is not a good thing. He needs focus; a presence of mind is needed before he becomes worse.

"You must hold yourself back, Ed," he said and Ed nodded blankly with closed eyes. He followed with eyes closed but Nti Anem was sure he could still see clearly.

"No one can stop your growth, even you. It seems even if you sit in one place for eternity, your being will keep expanding out of memory, recovering whoever you were before your reincarnations. If you cannot gain a presence of mind and a strong consciousness in who you are now, you will be lost," he said and Ed nodded.

"Even if you have lived several lives, you must remember that you are not those lives, even if you are. Right now, you are Prince Edward. The moment you forget and just expand and grow, you will become energy, maybe pure manifestation. Formless without consciousness," he said and Ed paused slightly and continued moving. Inside his being, the tree drawled, "This boy is old. He is too old to be human," the tree said.

"He walked beside the creator, he had once said," Ed said.

"Oh," the tree said.

"People who walked beside the creator are all dead, you better be careful," Ed said to the tree. Finally, someone had started drinking his tea again. He did not want him to be lost.

"Boy," Ed drawled and the boy looked back at the tree.

"He has a point. You must not forget who you are today. Those that have, have become things without form," Ed said to the boy.

"Who I am," Ed repeated looking back at the tree. He admits he is lost somewhat. Sometimes he was a tree, sometimes he was a man. Sometimes he was a man who was a tree.