The World Tree
Upon arriving in this strange dimension, what appears next is first a blanket of solid, barren ground beneath his feet, then a giant metal... carriage-looking thing lodged firmly in place on a metal rail.
The metal rail stretches so far into the distance that it seems to disappear into nowhere. Everything around as far as the eye can see is an endless field of brown ground… with the occasional flowers and grass patches sprouting out of the earth.
Far in the distance, there is a ginormous white tree stretching so high in the sky that its branches overarch everything – its thick canopy of leaves completely blocking out the sky. The only source of light is glowing white fruits hanging from the tree – illuminating the "sky" like unnaturally bright stars.
The trunk of the tree is so far away in the distance that the bottom of it is far past the curvature of the earth, making it impossible to estimate how big it is by looking from the surface.
Das pulls the confused Haalfrin in the carriage after him, smiling at the boy's reaction. Everyone acts surprised the first time they see the world tree.
"Where are we?" Haalfrin asks, feeling a little intimidated by the weird things he's been seeing.
"Look up," Das says while gesturing widely with his arms. "We're in the shadow of the World Tree. It's... how to explain it simply..."
Das mumbles for a second as he finds a basic way to explain the World Tree. "The World Tree's a thing that exists in a higher dimension of space. Its branches extend to every world - hence the name. Us gods use it to travel, since a world may be a few steps away down the branch here, but hundreds of thousands of lightyears apart in the physical plane - far too distant to reasonably travel for anyone who doesn't know the way… the way of the World Tree!"
"Hmm..." Haalfrin only sort of understands, since he has no idea what a 'light-year' is. Putting that aside, he has a question to ask. "Can you tell me why we emerged into empty space earlier? Why all this traveling?"
"Well... the best way to explain this is by first telling you about elementals," Das answers vaguely. "You know about them, right?"
"Yeah. My master told me they're spirits that are birthed in objects and places," Haalfrin replies.
"Close enough," Das concedes. "Well, what you may not have thought about is that every world & star are objects too, and these objects have their own elementals."
"Now, having a spirit, every world and star also has a lifespan too… though it takes millions or billions of years for them to actually kick the bucket on their own," Das continues.
Das patiently smiles, "Where do you think those elementals go after they die?" He waits for a second and is disappointed by Haalfrin's silence. "They go to the death gates with Felkawyn, just like everyone else!"
'So... worlds and stars die too?' Haalfrin thinks. 'Hmm... I'll remember that.' The idea of worlds coming to an end should've disturbed Haalfrin, but for some reason, he feels nothing.
The Longevity god then points to the World Tree. "That tree connects to every space in the universe. When something dies, it falls off the tree and lands on a place unreachable through actual space… meaning you'll never reach the death realm no matter how far you travel in the physical plane."
"In other words," Haalfrin says, "the tree itself and the ground beneath it are separate dimensions. The tree is the living plane, and the ground is the Death Realm."
"Y-yes," Das has never been very practiced in explaining things since he's never even had an apprentice before.
He then points to some glowing lights off in the distance along the ground. "Those are deceased worlds that fell here to the ground beneath the World Tree Igdris. These 'Fallen worlds' are really the only land available for the deceased spirits to dwell on in their afterlife."
Haalfrin squints as he looks up at the canopy of trees.
"So," the boy asks, "When a person dies, their spirit falls from the tree, and they land on this barren land… However, since their own world hasn't died yet, they'd normally materialize in that scary, empty space… They have nowhere to live, huh?"
Nodding, Das adds, "Yes. That's part of the work that Death reapers have; we snatch up the souls of dead people and move them over to worlds that have already died... so that they can have a place to live. Any more questions?"
Haalfrin takes a moment to consider, then says, "For now, no. I just want to think to myself for a bit."
"Very well. Have a seat in my carriage, and I'll prepare you some tea for the long ride over."
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After the god and the boy both get into the metal carriage (a "tree crawler", Haalfrin learns it's called), they begin gliding along the railroad.
Haalfrin looks out the window out of boredom while Das prepares himself some tea… again.
In mild irritation, Haalfrin looks at the god, his plain but stylish clothing, his old face, his wise eyes, his ramrod straight back, and his graceful mien. 'Is Das always drinking tea in his eternal quest to look elegant?' he thinks.
While staring at the ground silently whizzing by, Haalfrin notices that the tree crawler is going faster and faster as it constantly accelerates. Yet… it feels like no matter how fast they're going, the tree isn't moving at all in the distance…
Even still, Haalfrin doesn't feel like talking to Das or asking him about how big the tree actually is.
…Perhaps it's because the change in scenery is so gradual that Haalfrin doesn't actually notice the World Tree creeping closer as they ride straight toward the base.
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Several days pass and they finally arrive at their destination – a glowing, fallen fruit the size of a human head lying directly at the base of the world tree. Of course, the fruit is glowing so brightly that Haalfrin normally would've been blinded, had Das not already prepared him with a special pair of glasses to wear.
They both step out of the Tree Crawler, and Das leads the way as he reaches out his hand and touches the fallen fruit – the medium of this special realm for the world Das is leading Haalfrin to.
The moment Das touches the glowing fruit, the space around them both seamlessly unfolds again, and the world tree, along with its entire realm, slips into cracks of space and disappears entirely...
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... Haalfrin opens his eyes and finds himself standing in a large stone square surrounded by tall metal towers lining the streets. The metal towers are tall enough to block out all but the noon sun, and the towers are lined up in neat rows far off into the distance.
"WELL," Haalfrin blurts out, "this looks cramped."
"Haha, yes," Das comments, "Worlds don't die nearly as often as people do, so there's never a lot of room for people to live in the shadow of the World Tree. In fact, it's a lot worse than it looks."
Seeing he has Haalfrin's attention, Das says, "Those towers are all living areas for the Death King's citizens. We've had to use spatial folding magic on all the apartment buildings to make several layers of reality in each of them so that you can fit many different versions of the tower while taking up the space of only one tower."
Das points over to the base of the tower closest to them, "You see the rows of doors lining the base of each tower? Depending on which door you enter through, you'll enter an entirely different tower with different people living in it."
"How... With this many people," Haalfrin asks, "why is there no traffic?"
"Easy. There are advanced teleportation circles inside each tower, so you never see anyone traveling through the streets."
"Well," Das corrects himself, "the only ones on the streets are the ones who feel like being outside for a bit."
They walk for a little bit to let Haalfrin look around and get familiar with the place.
Once Haalfrin grows impatient with their aimless traipsing about, Das asks, "... Aren't you going to comment on the thick Aura?"
"It's Death Energy. It's the Death realm, so there's obviously more of it here."
"Ah," Das realizes, "so it was your Yiir Name you have. Being able to sense and store Death Aura is a byproduct of the Yiir Name - a power each of us death gods has."
"Makes sense...," Haalfrin mutters – obviously uncomfortable talking about his Name in front of a person he doesn't trust.
"Well, are you done looking at the streets?" Das asks – tactfully ignoring Haalfrin's discomfort.
"Yes. Just show me what you wanted to show me."
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After being taken to a teleportation circle on one of the street corners, they're moved to a small cottage in the middle of a forest.
"Das, I thought there wasn't a lot of space on this world," Haalfrin asks while looking the cottage up and down, as well as the abundant woods surrounding it. "What's with this dinky little cottage with so much space around it?"
"That's MY dinky little cottage, and I'm pretty rich," Das answers. "Someone of my status can afford to own this land."