?


    "An intruder?"


    Lethe asked, her hand behind her back as she waved me away.


    "Are you sure it is not the Outer God that Noa kidnapped and brought along?"


    "Miss Noa brought kidnapped and brought along a what?"


    The person on the other side of the door, Anamis, seemed a little shocked. She seemed to be at least ten to eleven times stronger than Noa, but both of them were far too weak for me to understand.


    "It may be that. Do you mind?"


    Lethe nced my way and I blew her a kiss before winking.


    She sighed. "Alright, I''lle along."


    "I''ll call Albert and Luka too—"


    "Those guys are out. Let''s go first."


    Lethe stepped outside and the door closed behind her. I hopped closer and ced an ear outside, no sound.


    "Alright!" I said, stretching my hands up. "Titania, who is this Anamisdy?"


    "I don''t know! I am as much of a stranger to all this as you are."


    We were both people who had been away for five years.


    "Where were you for thest five years anyway?"


    "In your psychopath girlfriend''s drawer."


    "Let''s go with fiancee, only for a short bit."


    Titania shook her head and sighed. The chains on my neck whirred too. Hey, I could have broken Catene in half and made rings with it. It would have died? Well who cared, it could detach anyway.


    But, I needed Catene''s strength too. The unreliable Chains of Adamas had be a weapon that could break that immense scythe with a single swing after all.


    I first looked around Lethe''s office for some snacks, which I found after not that long. Encased in some kind of convoluted magic spell were preserved some cookies.


    It was strange, it wasn''t keeping them cold. Though I couldn''t use magic anymore, it seemed as if the state of everything inside was being preserved. Not frozen in time but.


    "Hey nerd, get the damned cookies."


    "Take them yourself, damned fly."


    Titania red at me and I red back. Then we broke intoughter again. We took out the cookies and some tea.


    After enjoying the impromptu tea party and just a cookie party for the stupid chains, we all kicked back and rxed. It sucked that I couldn''t use telekinesis to clean things up anymore so I did it by hand.


    Waiting here till Lethe came back was probably going to be boring. I had sniffed out my presencepletely and that person from before had no idea I was here. There was no being sure of their techniques though.


    I ced my hand on the window from Lethe''s office and stared at the grand forest below.


    "Titania, let''s go explore."


    "Explore the breadth of the Dark Moon?"


    "The Dark Moon."


    It was time I took on my seat as a cult leader once and for all.


    I tried to walk ahead before stopping.


    "I don''t think these windows open."


    "They don''t."


    "God damn it."


    ***


    I took one of the coats in Lethe''s room and stepped out of the door, straight from the front. The vast expanse of the World Tree stretched in front of me, much like a corporate building they had fucked this thing from the inside out.


    I ced my hands in my pockets, adjusted my sunsses, and stepped out of the door. Titania stayed perched atop my shoulder half as a guide and half as a litmus.


    As I walked away from the rooms where I hade from, I noticed two elvese from the other side with wooden spears in hands and guns on belts. This dissonance was something else.


    "Sir."


    "Sir."


    They greeted me and I nodded back, walking straight ahead. You had to walk like you belonged in these ces.


    The two looked back but I didn''t. Their fault.


    "They''ve done great work with this ce."


    "Sure have, I''ve never seen weapons like those guns earlier."


    Right, she wasn''t from the modern earth.


    We passed through manybyrinthine corridors that were formed with astonishing woodwork. There was no sign of metal or any kind of construction tool touching any of this.


    "This is the power of the Elves and Elementals'' nature magic."


    "I bet it''s rted to spirits in some way or another."


    Titania pumped her brows.


    "It is, how did you figure? Also, can you still see spirits?"


    I nodded.


    "But you don''t see them, right?"


    "I don''t. It''s surprising."


    "That''s because they aren''t around."


    "Huh?"


    I grinned as another person walked by.


    "The spirits are scared of me. They think I''ll end the world."


    "Crazy."


    The second person walking by seemed to be a Drac of some sort. His skin was pale and his clothes dark, but he walked with all the poise of a man who belonged. He either did belong or was a swindler like me.


    "Afternoon," I said.


    "Morning," he answered, his voice gravelly.


    The man turned corners and I held my hand up. A card engraved with multiple magic circles, it was a standard security device used back on Earth as well.


    "Nice pull!"


    "Hey, thanks."


    How the fuck did they not use a goddamn screwdriver even as they installed these fully wooden gates? I ced it on the section of the door in front and the giant wooden door split from the middle.


    A whole bunch of new faces shot up now that we had passed the higher levels. This ce was all built on a single branch of the world tree, and in front of me now stretching down low like an enormous atrium was the trunk.


    Crowds and crowds of people from all kinds of worlds walked about. Some tested  out new magic while others tested new weapons. People carried drinks along and othersined about food.


    Humans and elves in suits ran around scolding at their groups, Vampires and dragonewts returned from their hunts.


    Giants tried to squeeze into the World Tree and were screamed at to fuck off while dwarves and werewolves exchanged ns for battle.


    "Good lord…" Muttered Titania.


    A chuckle left me too.


    So this was the world tree.