Chapter 210: Answered Questions
"All right, Wang, enough flattery — no one else happened to notice, that's all. Go on, what's the question?" Heathermere said with a smile.
"During meditation — if what a mage visualizes isn't a god, what comes of it?" Evan asked.
"You're not visualizing the Death God, or one of the Shadow Element angels?" Heathermere said. "Honestly, this comes up all the time. Mages, especially once they reach Arcanist, start doubting the gods, as a rule. It splits people two ways. Some hold their faith so devoutly they treat it as a trial from the god, let their own spirit dissolve, and merge with the god in that meditative state — those tend to become the standout figures of their faiths. Plenty of mages on this continent turn to the Creationist Church for exactly that kind of anchor. The others substitute something else — some similar object, or even an abstract pattern. Those are the ones who end up as the backbone of the mage community. Have you gone that route too? What is it you visualize?"
"The Black Lotus. But why isn't there anything written about it?" Evan asked.
"Ha, who says there isn't? The library has two parts, you know. What you've seen is only the portion out in the world — there's a great deal more inside the demiplane, and you don't get to see it without reaching a certain level, and having the right standing besides. Generally speaking, once a mage reaches your stage, meditation gets very particular. You've got the standing for it now. Go back and file a request — you can review what those before you learned. Frankly, I'd have expected someone who's published as many papers in Magic as you have to have raised this question long ago," Heathermere said.
"What — I have to raise it myself?" Evan exclaimed, startled.
"That's right. Cultivating magic comes down to luck sometimes, and this is part of it. There's a rule that it has to be worked out on one's own. Nobody volunteers it to anyone else as a rule — if you hadn't asked, I wouldn't have said a word either." Heathermere laughed.
Evan flushed. "I'll go file the request the moment we're back."
"No need to rush — wait until this visit's over first." Heathermere asked another question. "You visualize the Black Lotus, of all things. Since when?"
"Not long after I became a high-level mage, I switched to visualizing the Black Lotus." There was no reason to hide this from her — Evan already knew he wasn't the only one who did it this way.
"Visualizing the Black Lotus that early on — you really did see through the true nature of magic ahead of your time. Once mages reach Arcanist, plenty of them start visualizing something natural, or something abstract. Most base it on elemental theory, though there's no fixed rule to it. Bit by bit it merges with your own soul, until the two are inseparable, like water mixed into milk. The soul changes because of it. Once everything settles into a certain state — and you'll know exactly what I mean once you get there — that's when the Gate to Legend can trigger the spiritual vibration that carries you across into Legend. Before you reach that state, never attempt it. Because if the soul hasn't merged with what you're visualizing and the spiritual vibration hits anyway, more often than not it tears spirit from soul entirely," Heathermere said.
Only now did Evan understand why they said it took reaching the very peak of Arcanist — and why even the peak wasn't a guarantee. So this was the reason behind it. He gave Heathermere a bow. "Thank you for the guidance. A debt this large needs no thanks, but you have them anyway."
He still didn't mention the tree in his own Sea of Consciousness, the one he'd named the World Tree. He had his suspicions, but he decided to file the request first and study what those before him had learned for a while longer — he had no idea yet whether anyone else's case looked like his.
Heathermere said, "You weren't originally slated to come on this visit, you know — it's only because you keep a house on Sky City that we brought you along. That crowd of elves despises necromancers, so you'd best brace yourself."
"I know. I won't say a word while we're there — that work?" Evan said, a little cheekily.
Heathermere laughed and scolded him lightly. "Don't go being glib about it. I know you're curious — most outsiders are, when it comes to the elves. Especially about the legendary World Tree. The elven city is built right on the tree itself. Flowers bloom there year-round, it's beautiful, spotless, and the air is unusually clean."
"But we're arriving in winter, and the Elven Forest sits up north. How could flowers be blooming there year-round?" Evan asked, doubtful.
"That's exactly what the elves' sacred tree — the World Tree — does. Within the range the World Tree influences, it stays spring-warm through all four seasons. Snow could be falling outside and it'd still feel like a gentle spring within; blazing sun outside, same gentle spring within. The World Tree can regulate the climate completely, keeping the temperature inside its range nearly constant," Heathermere explained with a smile.
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"That powerful? How large a range can it affect?" Evan asked.
"A radius of twenty kilometers, and since it sits in a valley, that range effectively stretches further still. Beyond that, I suspect the World Tree might actually be sentient. If it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it's more powerful than the Pope himself. As long as the forest elves stay within its range, they're safe. Elves as a rule have strong natural talent for nature magic, and even the ones with weaker talent make fine archers," Heathermere said.
Evan nodded slowly. "For a race as old as the elves to have thrived this long, there has to be more to it than luck. I'd love to see the World Tree myself."
"You're not alone there — even I want to. Unfortunately the elves' sacred tree doesn't allow visitors at all," Heathermere said.
Shuang had stayed still the whole time, perched quietly on Evan's shoulder and listening. Both of them had forgotten she was even there. Now she spoke up.
"I could get in. Maybe I'd even get to see the elves' World Tree."
At that, Heathermere looked at her and suddenly smiled. "That's actually not a bad idea. As a flower fairy, Shuang wouldn't draw much notice from elves practicing nature magic. She might really get to see the World Tree."
A voice cut in. "All right, you two — no need to hide behind an illusion to fool people."
They turned to find Master Roland had already walked up beside them, his eyes fixed on Shuang. "Still haven't come by my place, I see. How about it — I've got all sorts of rare gemstones over there. Pay me a visit and I'll give you one."
Shuang considered this for a moment. "Five, in one trip."
"That's too many. I can only give you two," Roland countered.
"Four!"
"No good. Three, at most."
"Deal. Old man, you've been wanting this fairy to visit your lab forever — I've decided I'll go next time. Wang, you're coming too, to keep an eye on him." Shuang declared this with great conviction.
All three of them laughed. Shuang added one more line for good measure. "Get those gems ready ahead of time, old man. No backing out at the last minute."
Somewhere amid their laughter, the illusion that had been concealing them dissolved without anyone noticing — and with so many mages around, not a single one had caught on. Seeing the three of them laughing, more than a few heads turned.
People muttered to themselves, wondering just what had happened to leave all three in such good spirits. But once they registered who it was — two Legend mages and an Arcanist — most simply let it go and thought no more of it.
Back at the house, Evan settled into his usual meditation, and Shuang began meditating too. She'd taken a keen interest in the Divine Domain.
Two more days passed. Evan stood with Shuang on the observation deck, looking down at the world below — mountains rolling one after another, everything blanketed in white as far as the eye could see. The deck sat at the very edge of Sky City, a great outcropping of stone jutting out into open air. He checked the magic map and confirmed they'd reached the Elven Forest. It looked as though heavy snow had just fallen. Far off in a valley, a patch of green stood out sharply against the white — an oasis in a desert of snow.
Sky City slowed gradually and finally came to a hover. Down in that valley the vegetation grew unusually thick and lush, the whole valley wrapped in green. Evan narrowed his eyes and turned toward it the sight he'd only recently come to understand — a gift of his god.
This new sight of his had come into being after he'd opened his Divine Domain, drawn from borrowed divine power. It carried the same name as an alchemist's skill — the Eye of Truth — though unlike the alchemical version, which could reveal the true nature of any non-human thing, the moment this eye opened and turned downward, the whole scene below transformed.
An invisible, dome-shaped barrier hung over the valley, and it wasn't still — it moved constantly, in some subtle and unceasing way. At its center stood a single great tree, immensely tall, endlessly reshaping the world around it. The other trees stood shorter beside it, faint light flickering across each one, but the tree at the center blazed like a pillar of light itself. Evan understood that only the Eye of Truth let him see this difference in raw power; to the ordinary eye, none of that light would show at all.
He turned his gaze to the groves and caught points of light drifting here and there — elves, each one. He was about to look closer when the great tree's brightness surged all at once, and for a moment, in Evan's sight, it blazed like a sun — though its shape bore no resemblance to one. He closed the Eye of Truth.
Down on the ground, handsome male elves rose up in pairs, standing in facing rows, leaving a path some ten cubits wide between them, marked out by their own presence. Two unicorns drew a magnificent carriage into the air, two more carriages following behind, and with the elves standing in attendance the whole procession rose all the way to Sky City — a breathtaking sight, a road laid bare connecting heaven and earth.
Sky City had come to a complete stop. A stately golden gate materialized on the barrier, where Heathermere and Roland already stood waiting.
"Esteemed Ruler of the Forest, beautiful Sovereign of the Elves, Bestower of Nature's Grace — Ladriel comes to greet the great Sky City, Hollingburton's creation. May our friendship endure forever!" The carriage door swung open, and an elven lady official announced this in a ringing voice that echoed through the air. From the timbre of it alone, Evan could tell she was at least an Arcanist.
"Esteemed Sovereign of the Elves, Heathermere and Roland await you here. Please, step this way and tour Sky City," Heathermere said. Behind her, the student honor guard struck up a bright, cheerful tune — an elven piece called Nature Eternal. Ladriel stepped down from the carriage, a scepter carved from a branch of the World Tree in hand and a laurel wreath woven from the World Tree's leaves upon her brow, supported on either side by her attendants as she descended.
Evan remained on the observation deck, his gaze crossing the great distance between them, fixed on Her Majesty Queen Ladriel.