Letting it go

The scenery of his dreams never changed. As far as he remembered, it had been the same expanse of land with identical elements. If he had to guess, then he would without a doubt say that even the leaves were identical.

Once again, the animals gathered around him, hopping around and minding their own business. The butterflies were once again being absorbed by the white grass when they flew too close to it.

And once again the silhouette of the figure sat in front of him.

But his feelings were much calmer than ever. Maybe because of his exhaustion or maybe due to all the emotions he had suffered throughout the day, he felt much calmer and ready to face him now.

“Do you have something to ask of me again?” The starting question was always different but it generally held similar tones.

He preferred it like this because it gave him a semblance of balance and familiarity in such a situation. But today was turning out to be an unusual day with him being here without any apparent reason.

“Unfortunately no. I wandered here by accident, but I’ll keep you company in any case” Xiao said. This was an experiment for him. He had theories about what was going on around him in real life and this was the best place to confirm them.

His companion chuckled, apparently finding humour in the situation.

“The world tree brought you here, inside the domain of its power. Surely he wants you to realise something you missed. Why don’t you talk it out with me?” The man in front of him tilted his head to a side as his eyes stared at him.

Xiao for his part took in the disguise of the person in front of him. Purple eyes with black silky hairs started back at him. It reminded him of Kei, but at the same time not. The shape of the jaw, the eyebrow shape and eye the eye shape was different.

It was a familiar yet unfamiliar face that stared back at him.

Generally, when he was stared at by the figure in front of him, it left him feeling angry, but somehow, the feeling was not so prominent today.

And the figure in front of him also seemed to be much more self-aware than anytime before.

In the past, there had been instances where the fraction of imagination had shown signs of knowing himself to not be real, but somehow, lately, it seemed even more prominent.

He had often felt frustrated by his visits here, but somehow, today was much different. The feeling he got being here, the calm of his surroundings, even the figure in front of him - they all relaxed him somehow.

“I’ll take you up on this offer then” perhaps the person in front of him was his most important person and a stranger person at the same time. He sacrificed something for Xiao which broke them both.

It made him experience things he was not ready for and made him a slave to the world tree. But for all Xiao’s feelings and not being able to forgive him.

But there was another part of Xiao which just reminded him that the other had been a lonely soul trying to hold onto his important thing.

And after having the taste of genuine care himself after a lifetime of loneliness, perhaps Xiao could empathise with him a little. He didn’t have to forgive him, but he felt ready to finally look past it and make this part as civil as possible.

Even if all this was not real and inside his head, it would prepare him just in case he was fortunate to encounter him once more. If he was alive that is.

He took a seat opposite the already seated party who was pouring tea into two cups. He paused seeing Xiao’s action.

“Not trying to avoid me today? What changed?” There was genuine surprise in the voice of the person in front of him. The animals and the wind around him froze and as he took everything around him in but all Xiao did was pick up his teacup and took a sip of the tea.

“While my heart still feels colluded, I feel I'm ready to move on past what happened. It has been a long time after all” there was something in his voice he himself was surprised to find and the eyes of his companion widened before a smile bloomed on his face.

“I see” his companion’s voice broke at the end and there was a suspicious moisture in his eyes. Xiao refrained from commenting on the topic but gave him a look to continue. “I would like to say I’m sorry for what you experienced, but I'm not. I’m not sorry for my selfishness though”

The figure in front of him was really self-aware today, but Xiao did not feel it odd. Magic worked in mysterious ways and he knew more than anyone else how twisted the world tree was.

This was no doubt one of its schemes to fulfil a wish, but Xiao found himself not caring. He didn’t respond to the last words either, for he had nothing to contribute.

After a long time, he no longer felt like rejecting this place.

But still, he was on a time limit here and there were things he needed to work on. Even his companion knew it and quickly gathered himself all the same. He looked no different from when Xiao first saw him at the start.

“Let’s continue then shall we?” his companion asked after the moment had passed and Xiao found himself a little relieved. It was awkward for him to start conversations. He could do it when the amount demanded, but generally, it was easier for him to butt in.

“A part of the world tree emerged into the northern branch. A root of all things, so we went there to take a look” Xiao began, not looking at his companion but rather at the brown liquid inside his cup.

“I’m aware of it. The feeling reached this place too” his companion said as bend down and picked something up. A black crystalline body was thrust toward him and Xiao looked at the hands holding a kitten toward him.

He gratefully took it and cuddled it while he continued.

“The pillars wished for us to eradicate the root, but we found them dead the next day. Thankfully he had already signed the contract beforehand so that was one thing already out” Xiao continued while playing with the cat.

There was no need to explain everything to his companion. Since it was inside his mind, the other person knew as much as he did, even more so since one’s subconsciousness picked on more than the normal stuff.

“Perhaps someone didn’t want the pillars to get involved? Or wanted it as a distraction?” that had been his first guess too, but there were too many inconsistencies with it. Also, that was a territory he didn’t want to get involved in since it was troublesome.

“I don’t think so. It was most likely to weaken the current power structure. As for now, there is already tension between different branches and someone took advantage of it. The bigger problem is how did they get such access?” Xiao laid out his current thoughts.

It sounded much more plausible and his companion obviously agreed.

“You think it’s the hunters trying to weaken the other side little by little? Besides, their status as guests provided them with the perfect opportunity and access for this. But someone on the inside had to be involved too” that was true.

Hunters were not a well-liked group right now, but they had their advantages and power. Someone on the council had obviously seen this as the chance to gain favours.

He would run these thoughts by Noah when he had the chance to do so.

“Yes, we can’t rule it out fully. The hunters we faced against were insistent that it was not someone from their side who did it but with Sumera there it is entirely possible that their side was just not informed of it”

That would be something Sumera of today would do. His carefree personality had taken a massive hit after his lover’s death and he had become both cautious and bitter due to the result.

Apparently, he had also learned to become a great strategist to plan everything out.

“But that is not your main issue there. I can see something else bothering you greatly” his companion had spotted it. There was another bigger issue at hand. The main problematic feeling he was having.

“Yes, you see when the root got destroyed by one of my new employees I felt its power disperse. But the bond of the eish is still there. It had never happened before” Xiao said, but he chose to keep Kei’s name out and impersonal.

Kei was a friend of his and it won’t feel right to talk about him behind his back. Even if only to his subconsciousness.

But apparently, the look on his companion’s face made it seem like he did not agree and wanted to continue the topic about his employee. His next words confirmed it so.

“You and this employee seem close. I’ve not heard you talk about anyone in that tone before” of course he would not have. The sparsely had people he could genuinely count as friends.

And one of the persons had been himself. Of course, Xiao was not going to talk about him in front of his face. It would just be rude. Besides, he felt embarrassed talking about such things about Kei openly and it felt wrong to do so too.

“We’re friends, I guess. But you can’t change the subject like that” there were much more important things than to figure out what criteria a person fell into in his life and he could not allow himself to get distracted.

But the look back clearly conveyed their disagreement on the issue. Really, this person had been overly invested in his personal life. Projection or not, he felt exposed in front of him.

“I’m glad you have someone more permanent now. Remember, you can’t trust Noah fully. As for the wish, are you sure the root is fully gone? Even a little can grow back given enough time. I would suggest to go back and check on it as soon as you can”

This was the first time Noah had come up in these conversations and it startled Xiao a lot. His subconsciousness had been content to leave his cousin alone. In all his previous visits and conversations he had never been a topic.

He wanted to continue the topic but the last part of the sentence made him stop and shift his priorities.

He had never considered the possibility of the root regrowing and in hindsight, he should have. Roots generally were more resilient than the trunk and had a better support system in the ground.

If what was being implied held true, then to eradicate the root and fulfil the wish, they will have to capture it, extract and isolate it first.

And to do so, they needed something which had the capability to do the same.

“It looks like time to collect on another due debt for a wish. I wonder when this will all end” that was a hopeless question to ask that would go on forever. It was an endless loop he was stuck in.

His companion didn’t answer him but Xiao didn’t mind. He would rather not have an answer to his question than get a negative answer to his question.

At least not all of his questions went unanswered. He knew just where he had to start off and what needed to be done.

He would visit the site of the bloom in the morning and confirm for himself the state of affairs. Then it was off to listen to the music of the council. Hopefully, it will all go smoothly tomorrow.

I'll see you all on late Saturday/ early Sunday next then. This will be updated twice a week - on Wednesdays and Saturday/Sundays.