The presence of the World Tree has changed, and it took us all, humans and mossbears alike, by surprise. At first, it almost felt like a ripple slamming into us, a kind of cry, you might say. Then, little by little, the playfulness which made my whole training more enjoyable began to fade from its presence.

We all stopped what we were doing and stared in the tree's direction. The whole thing was kind of surreal, considering I was in the middle of a fight. Fortunately, it happened while I was still darting around the young mossbear, trying to douse it in my poison, and not while I wasn’t being crushed under its massive body or bleeding while being torn apart in its jaws.

The slowly changing presence of the World Tree did not hold the young beast’s attention for too long, and it soon looked back at me. There was a glimpse of hesitation in the beast’s eyes, though. Like me, it had no idea whether to continue or not.

The first time I ever heard the young beast whine like that to the mother mossbear. She growled back at him in response, denying her young one the fun it had enjoyed for several hours of this night. Our fight, our training, has come to an end.

“Miss Grey, feel free to tell me what’s going on,” Lord Wigram spoke in my mind, his inner voice carrying a hint of concern and urgency. He didn’t say so, but he demanded to know what was going on.

“Training is over, my lord. We’re going back...to the pond,” I interpreted the gist of mother mossbear’s grunt to him.

“Are you sure there’s not more to it?”

There was no mistake about what was on his mind. “We are good so far. The mossbears do not blame me nor you and your men for what happened.”

“For now,” he remarked after listening to me, letting out a deep sigh. “We’ll see how long it lasts.” Then he gave me a nod and turned to the soldiers, both to the ones who came with him and to those watching my training, ordering them to return to the pond.

“Come on, that goes for you too, Pip. Time to go,” I said to the little squirrel, holding out my hand, as Lightfeather did for her, to climb onto my shoulder. Of course, Pipsqueak didn’t stick around to watch my training the whole time. In fact, it hadn’t even been half an hour since she returned from her adventure, wherever it was.

The crazy thought she might be responsible for the tree’s change of spirit crossed my mind, though I quickly pushed it away. A creature that small couldn’t possibly have had any impact on the awakening of the World Tree, could it?

As the squirrel scrambled up my shoulder and scooted over to the top of my head between the antlers and moss, I set off in the wake of Lord Wigram and the imperial soldiers. It wasn’t that far away, yet the presence of the World Tree seedling had changed almost beyond recognition by the time we reached the banks of the pond between its roots. The playful vibe that lifted the spirits and lightened the mood was practically gone. Instead, heaviness began to creep into that youthful and energetic vibe.

“Wren,” Pipsqueak squeaked when she saw Lightfeather approaching. And along with her walked the man I got into this mess. Deckard was alive, and I didn’t even try to hide my relief when my eyes fell on him. Though tired, he seemed otherwise perfectly fine. Even his clothes and the light armor he sported showed no signs of damage, the polar opposite of my outfit.

Well, the one stashed in his storage, my clothes torn in the frantic flight from the northern eagle. I wasn’t dumb enough to wreck it even more in my training, but was  limited by the space in my spatial ring. Hence, he had my clothes, and I was basically naked.

Though thinking about it, he was quite likely wearing brand new clothes and armor now. It was simply impossible for it not to suffer any damage in a fight with an adult mossbear.

When they reached us, we all struggled for the right words to say. Then, when I decided to go for it and open my mouth, I realized Deckard didn’t have the union ring, hence a way to understand me.

“Lightfeather...” I addressed the beast-talker instead of asking him how his training went. “...ehm, c-can you tell Deckard to give me my rags? I’ll change and shift back.”

She gave a tired but amused smile. “Sure, Grey.”

“Why hide your fur, lady?” Pipsqueak asked as I, still in tier three beast form, slipped into my clothes without minding the three. With the fur covering my body, I saw no reason to seek privacy somewhere behind the root of the World Tree. There was nothing to see on my hairy ass.

“I’m shifting back to my human...form, Pip. Less fur, more cold,” I said to the little squirrel and adjusted my shirt before letting the beast go.

“Better to stay like this then,” Pipsqueak remarked, yawning. As it is with yawning, it was contagious, and I couldn’t help but open my mouth in one too while my beast form receded.

“Sorry,” I said at once in excuse, finding Lightfeather yawning too and Deckard stifling one. Fatigue caught up with both of them, as it did with me.

“That’s odd,” he remarked, stretching his neck in an attempt to ease stiff muscles affected by fatigue. “...and I’m not talking about your panties now, Little Beast,” he added when he saw my puzzled expression over his remark. 

“Funny,” I snapped back, but checked to see if everything was as it should be after the shift back to human Korra. And it was. All I did was adjust my pants around my tail a bit. That was it.

Yet something entirely else caught my attention. Changes brought by Tier II of [Call of Nature].

Here and there, the fur covering my body naturally and not just under the influence of [Beast] receded a bit, and like my mane, it thickened. In my beast form, I wasn’t sure. Now I could confidently say that my wingspan had grown. When I spread my wings, they were easily over three and a half meters in span. While that brought me joy, the increased length of the ears did not. They were annoying as they were, and I didn’t need them to be any bigger, even if it meant better hearing. 

Sage was a similar case. He has grown to an impressive length of 1.8m, and though I deemed it impossible, he became even more fluffy. I loved the change but, if this keeps up, Deckard’s gonna make even more fun of my tail. 

So yes, I found a few subtle changes on my body, while some things remained the same, like my antlers.

“I wasn’t talking about your tits, either. Can you stop groping yourself?” Deckard requested, tired of my antics.

“Um...” I cleared my throat, crossing my arms under my chest and pretending nothing happened while I was trying to remember what the hell he was talking about earlier. “So, what do you find odd?”

“The way I’m tired.”

“Weren’t you fighting an adult mossbear just a little while ago? How did that even go?”

“As expected.”

Okay, I had no idea what he was expecting from that fight. “Not so great? Did you get your ass kicked? None of your skills leveled up?”

He chuckled. “You don’t have to brag about your success, Little Beast.”

“Okay, I figured it was none of my business, but I have to bring it up. How the hell did you get five levels? It’s only been a few hours since we’ve seen each other, Grey,” Lightfeather said, not holding back her disbelief at my current class level while trying to fight the overwhelming fatigue and dullness limiting our senses.

Yeah, I gained three more levels during my training with the young mossbear, and it was no surprise, at least not to me. Deviant of Humanity was a class about pushing one’s limits, and that’s what I did. I would dare say I went beyond those, shed blood, sweat, and tears. In the end, I was able to push [Unbending Resilience], [Fierce Pounce], and [None to Squander] into Tier II too.

Lightfeather didn’t need to know that, though. “It just kind of happened,” I said, giving her a what-can-I-say look, while I tried to wipe the fatigue from my eyes.

She took a breath, most likely to tell me that such things don’t usually happen, but Deckard stopped her. “The Miracle Chance, Major. You’ve heard of those, I’m sure. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to push yourself further quickly. This is one of those for her.”

“Shit, I’ve never been this lucky,” she cursed under her breath, then looked up at me. “No offense, Grey. If your training looked even remotely like Deckard’s, you deserve the levels. It was...brutal, a real battle.”

Brutal? That’s what my fights were. I glanced over at Deckard. “How many times have you ended up under the moss?”

He shook his head in amusement. “I don’t know how you can be so relaxed under that shit. It’s so itchy.”

“Not if you have fur. So you got your ass kicked?”

“Did I need healing? Yes. Could it be called a victory for the beast if it needed the same treatment? I wouldn’t say so. And before you ask again. Yes, I benefited from the fight quite a bit, albeit not in class levels. You don’t have to worry, though. I’m still stuck on my bottlenecks.”

An obvious tease. I was confident enough to say that even if he broke through his bottlenecks, he would not give up on me as an apprentice.

“You’re both kind of crazy, you know that?” said Lightfeather, shaking her head while I yawned again. “Anyway, this is all weird,” she added, responding to my yawn with one of her own.

“That’s what I said,” Deckard pointed out. “Despite my stats and skills that should keep me at full vigor for days, I’m as tired as if I’d spent two weeks in Fallens Cry. The tree’s presence is more intrusive than I gave it credit for.”

“I was thinking the same thing. One could resist that playfulness, but this... I would love to just lay down and fall asleep,” Lightfeather said, stretching to stave off fatigue. “Actually, I’m pondering about taking a potion.”

“Or just sleep,” Pipsqueak squealed, cozying up on my head. “When tired, sleep.”

Lightfeather frowned. “Unlike you, you little rascal, I can’t afford to do that.”

“None of us can,” I remarked.

“Seriously, ever since I met you, I feel like a third wheel, Little Beast. You’re always talking to beasts and animals without me having a clue about what. Now there are two of you. No offense, Major. Makes me wonder if I should learn to talk to the beasts, too.”

“Not as easy as Grey here might make it seem,” she pointed out that it took her years to get to where she was. “Not to mention that you would have to sacrifice at least one of your skills to do so.”

Yeah, switching skills at level 5 was certainly easier than swapping skills at levels approaching three hundred, maybe more.

He nodded, agreeing with her. “Maybe when I reach the next evolution, then. Until then, I’ll just have to deal with it. Anyway, what do you think about the tree? Is it dying? Because it sure as fuck looks like it to me.”

I’ve been wondering about that the whole time, while fatigue weighed me down and dulled my senses. “I wouldn’t panic just yet.”

“Esu?” he asked, giving a glance to the massive ancient beast lying under the World Tree. 

“Yeah, Esu. Does he look to you like someone’s worried that the tree is withering?”

“So close to the tree, he could have been affected by this fatigue much more than us,” observed Lightfeather. “He could be more apathetic about what’s going on.”

“He’s also much more powerful than us,” I argued.

“Be that as it may, this is not how many hoped the night would unfold,” Deckard said, gesturing to the sky hidden behind the crown of the World Tree. He meant the northern eagles and especially Zeew.

Speaking of the devil, her melodic shriek struck the expanse. She was demanding an explanation of what was happening and what went wrong. There was a hint of panic in her voice and accusations directed at the humans.

“Not good,” Lightfeather remarked, picking up on the same thing.

Esu, not as asleep as he appeared to be, raised his head and roared back. “Tree, tired. Falling asleep. Every full moon, for many cycles.”

Zeew paused for a moment, considering his words. “Not dying?”

“Not dying!” Esu confirmed.

“There you have it. The World Tree isn’t withering. It’s drifting off to slumber,” I said, so Deckard wouldn’t feel as much as the third wheel as he said. Lightfeather was already by Lord Wigram’s side, telling him what was going on. He and the soldiers needed to be in the loop, too. Plus, it was her job and the reason she was here.

“How to stop it?” Zeew shrieked her question, determined not to give up, unlike Esu, who seemed at peace with it. Just another failed attempt to him, no big deal. If this had been going on for years, it was no wonder he was not alarmed like the eagles and us.

Before Zeew could reply, another ripple in the tree’s presence swept through the expanse, similar to the one that interrupted my training. Only with this one, I realized it wasn’t a cry like I thought it was, but a yawn.

“Why stop it?” returned Esu her question, showing his composure and incredible patience. He was willing to try again and again until he succeeded or the World Tree seedling withered. In contrast, Zeew did not abound in such patience and did not find logic in his reasoning. 

“Sometimes chicks need a little peck.”

Hearing her compare the tree to a chick and saying what she would do just reinforced my belief that growing up amongst the northern eagles couldn’t have been easy. She was basically suggesting that Esu slap the tree. A bit harsh solution, especially quite risky. On the other hand, it was something that might work.

They bickered back and forth about it for a while before Esu gave way. He still wasn’t willing to slap the World Tree, either physically or with his presence. However, he was open to giving a somewhat forceful awakening of the tree a shot.

“Pup, come here!”

When his growl reached my ears, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He did not refer to any of his offspring scattered around the expansion. Esu was talking directly to me. I was the one who was supposed to come to him and the World Tree.

“Grey?” Lightfetaher asked, hearing the same thing. She was looking to me for answers I didn’t have. At a loss for words myself, I was unable to answer her.

Of course, she and I weren’t the only ones who didn’t grasp Esu’s intentions with me. 

“The flightless chick?” Zeew wondered, asking for the reason he wanted me by the tree. All she got from him was a growl, a sort of dismissal, as he was losing patience with the mighty Miros up in the sky.

“Pup!” he growled at me again, and I knew I didn’t want to keep him waiting any longer. I carefully took the sleeping Pipsqueak off my head and handed her to Lightfeather. Whatever was about to happen, the little squirrel didn’t have to bear the brunt of it along with me. With Pipsqueak in her friend’s hands, I promptly went to the World Tree without much explanation to others.

Even if I wanted to, I simply didn’t have the answers they were looking for.

The whispers of the soldiers and their confused looks directed at my back were something I had to bear and ignore while leaving the explanation to Lightfeather. Although she wasn’t able to tell them any more than I knew.

“I got the ring back, Little Beast,” Deckard echoed in my mind as I crossed the dam of roots to the banks on the far side of the pond. “What’s going on? Do you want me to come with you?”

“I have no idea, Deckard,” I told him, considering taking his offer. It would be great not to be alone in this shit, but... “Stay there. I don’t think you coming with me is a good idea.”

I didn’t even see myself going there as a good idea. Seriously, what was Esu thinking? That I could somehow miraculously rouse the World Tree from its slumber and help it gain consciousness? Ridiculous. All I was, actually used to be, was a florist. And I haven’t even been that my whole life, just the last few years when my hobby and passion became my job. I knew how to take care of flowers, bring them into bloom, and make them pretty, not how to take care of trees, and certainly not this kind of otherworldly tree that went beyond my imagination.

There was still hope in the back of my mind that that wasn't the reason Esu wanted me there. I failed to come up with another, though.

The closer I got to the tree, the harder I was forced to fight fatigue and dullness. 

 

• [Striving Mule] reaches lvl 15

 

No surprises there. By the time I reached Esu standing at the base of the World Tree, I had yawned thrice and stifled half a dozen more. The presence of the tree here was pressing hard on my senses, forcing me to succumb to fatigue and slip into slumber. It would be so easy. All I had to do was close my eyes and...who knows when I would wake up? With another full moon? No, thank you. So I fought back.

“Esu, I’m here. Confused,” I grunted with great effort, expressing my bewilderment about why he wanted me here. There was no point in lying to him when my life could very well have been on the line here.

When he growled, it was towards Zeew, voicing his displeasure with her persistence in hastening the tree’s awakening. According to him, it just took time. When his eyes rested on me, I gasped, not daring to yawn when I so badly wanted to.

“Pup here to wake the tree,” Esu growled, making it clear that I’m not getting out of this. My response? I stood there frozen, having no idea what to do as my fears came true.