Nirrvash

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“Chick? Wake tree?” Zeew’s shriek snapped me out of my shell-shocked stupor. I think I even yelped a little. Yet my brain struggled to process what I had just heard. Wake up the World Tree, me? Ridiculous.

Why me? What did Esu think I could possibly do? What was so special about me besides my mutations? My mind was overwhelmed with most likely the same questions that lay on the heart of the mighty Miros flying there somewhere above the crown of the World Tree.

“Are you all right, Little Beast?” Deckard asked through the link of the union rings. The connection was weaker than I was used to. I could barely understand him, but I was glad to hear him, no matter how badly. 

“Esu wants me to wake the World Tree,” I said as I looked across the pond to its far bank. Deckard stood there on one of the roots sticking out of the water. It was as close to me as he dared without provoking the beasts, yet it seemed to be at the very edge of the ring’s effective range.

“Shit!” he cursed, shocked any less than I was, then paused for a moment, listening to the people behind him. “Lightfeather says the same thing.”

Yeah, I could hear her even when she was trying to keep her voice down. They were not that far away from me to escape the hearing of my now even bigger fluffy ears. The same was true of Deckard. At this distance, I would have no problem hearing him, and I was sure if I spoke up, he would hear me too. So why the secrecy and risking the use of magical tools in the presence of mossbears?

This way, I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind. Deckard knew who I was, where I was from, and that couldn’t be said for the others. Plus, not everyone needed to know how panicked I was.

“Chick can’t even fly!”

So far, Zeew seemed the most pissed off. Although her annoyance stemmed from a lack of understanding of Esu’s actions and her inability to do anything about it, then directly from my presence at the tree.

“More capable than you know,” Esu grunted back as if he knew something about me that I didn’t. 

Honestly, I wouldn’t find it strange if that were the case. There was a lot I didn’t know about my mutations. Was it one of them that gave him such confidence in me? Did the shit coursing through my veins actually hold the key to awakening the World Tree?

Mossbears, northern eagles. Neither of them were capable of it, and I didn’t think the Poison Empress would either. As far as I know, pretty much any stronger and more capable beast had a core, so what was it that made me so different? Was it dragons after all and not the drakes my heart originated in? That would make the only sense to me. Dragons may have been what the elves lacked to succeed.

“More than you, Esu?” Zeew snapped, striking at his pride. That was as far as she could go without challenging him and risking a fight.

Just because he was benevolent didn't mean he would take it lying down, and he didn’t. At once, the roar of the ruler rang through Esulmor. Esu spared himself the use of his presence, but made it clear that he would not tolerate such insults. “You blind, bird. Can’t see what’s right in front of your beak.”

It took Zeew a while to reply as she struggled with her own pridefulness. She shrieked to express her outrage yet in the end, swallowed her pride and asked. “Pray tell.”

Needless to say, I perked up my big ears, curious as much as Miros if not more. After all, this was about me and why Esu thought it was me who could awaken the World Tree. 

Still bullshit if you ask me. There was no way I could do that.

As if Esu wanted to keep us all on our toes, he took his time with the answer. He almost seemed to be considering whether or not to actually tell us. Then when he growled at last, it made my blood run cold.

“Deckard, World Trees do not come from Eleaden,” I shouted immediately in a panic through the link. “They are not of this world.”

Luckily, he was quick-witted and understood at once. He moved to Lightfeather and put a hand on her shoulder before she could say a word. Even though I was all ears and contrary to my expectations, I did not hear him threaten her in any way. Actually, I didn't hear him say a word. Yet, the woman didn’t speak up either. Instead, Lightfeather waited for him to take out the Silencer, and despite risking the mossbears’ wrath, she let him activate the magic tool, fully aware of the consequences of what she just heard. There was no other way than to silence the two of them and the Imperial Chief Healer from their surroundings.

Damn shame, but including Lord Wigram couldn’t be helped. If he saw the need, he could order Lightfeather to tell him what she heard. And once she spilled the beans, it wouldn’t be hard for someone like him to figure out the rest. The truth about my origins. About me being an otherworlder, just like the World Tree.

Deckard was out of range of the union rings and covered by the magic tool as they were I couldn’t hear them. However, on a night brightened by a light of the full moon, they weren’t far enough away for me to be able to see his shocked reaction when an equally stunned Lightfeather told him about the tree’s origin. Lord Wigram figured out the rest even before Zeew, who, unlike him, did not need a translator and heard the truth firsthand.

Honestly, I was glad I wasn’t there. Yet, I would have loved to see his expression when he found out I wasn’t from Eleaden up close. He must have been dying to find out more. At least that much I could tell by the bristled-up hairs and the feeling on the back of my neck that his intent gaze was giving me.

“Not of this world...” Zeew stammered as she put two and two together. Whether or not she now regretted renouncing me, I could not tell as she was hidden from my sight behind the crown of the World Tree. What I could tell was that she seemed more shocked by the mere existence of worlds beyond Eleaden than the possibility of me or the tree coming from such worlds.

Me? I was still processing the fact and looking for the connection between the World Tree and me. If anything, being from Earth made me even more disconnected from the tree, didn’t it? After all, there were no such trees where I come from. If they were, the internet would be full of them, and to my memory, it wasn’t. That could only mean one thing. The trees came from a completely different world, a third world unknown to me.

Well, the first tree did. The other ten and this seedling came from the seeds of the first one. So you could say they were locals with origins in another world. Not like me, who came straight from one. 

Or was I not so different?

In my veins ran the blood of the local creatures. In essence, I was as much a part of Eleaden as I was of Earth.

“Pup, complicated.” Esu’s growl about my origins not being so simple broke the train of my thoughts. 

Though he didn’t say it out loud, he knew there was more to me than human and mossbear put together in one package. Whether it was from the first moment he saw me that he could tell my true descent, I couldn’t tell. But hearing him, I got the impression he may well have sensed the true origins of all my mutations the moment he saw me. 

Of course, I thought to ask him to elaborate on the issue. Not knowing what I was made of was gnawing away at me since the first mutation when I grew wings. Apart from the sheer horrors I went through to get them, not understanding what shit to expect from my own body was...damn frustrating, to say the least. So when there was even a slight chance to learn more, I was willing to risk a lot.

Like when I confided my secrets to Mr. Sandoval, a total stranger, just to find out more about myself. Not this time, though. I wasn’t a complete moron not to see that it would be a mistake to open my mouth now and demand that. 

Perhaps an opportunity will arise later.

“Chick many,” Zeew confirmed Esu’s words. Even to her, it was obvious that I was not just some deformed northern eagle. “...but where did hatch from?”

“Place beyond this, as well as tree.”

“How you know?” Zeew shrieked the question that was on the tip of my tongue. How could he tell I didn’t come from Eleaden? As long as I knew, I was no different from the humans here.

Well, you know, apart from the mutations. Old plain Korra Grey was a human, just like any other in this world. So how? 

Esu was deliberate, one might say slow in his speech even under normal circumstances, but under the weight of the tree’s presence, he seemed to take even more time to respond. Of course, it could just as well have been my eagerness that made waiting for his answer seem longer.

“I lie by tree every day, many cycles. Noticed difference.”

Not the answer I was quite expecting. 

Actually, I don’t know what I was hoping he’d say. When he spoke of many cycles, he meant tens, even hundreds of years. Practically, he used to lie around here from the very sprouting of the seedling. As his awareness of the tree, his own strength, and perception grew stronger, he simply started to notice the difference between the plants and their connection to Eleaden. Some were more in tune with the world, some less so, but the World Tree, despite its long-reaching roots, was out of tune from the world entirely. And so was I.

This time even Zeew took her time responding, thinking about the implications of what she had learned while directing her gaze at me. Even though I could hardly see her through the treetop, it gave me the creeps. I’ve never felt such an intense gaze before, as if she was staring right into my soul. 

Yet, when her sing-songy snort reached my ears, I knew she hadn’t found what she was looking for. Zeew didn’t see what Esu saw. She didn’t feel any difference in me or the tree, and that pissed her off. It spoke of her shortage, something that had to be hard to swallow for such a proud creature.

“Chick no different,” the mighty Miros shrieked, questioning Esu’s words, not admitting her own lack of ability.

Perhaps more tired of her fawning than of the sheer presence of the falling asleep tree, Esu passed over her insult and gave a short grunt. “Ask pup, then.”

If before the stares of Imperial Chief Healer, Lightfeather, and Deckard across the pond made me uncomfortable and the gaze of Zeew gave me the creeps, now I felt like jumping out of my skin. One grunt from Esu, and everyone’s eyes were on me.

Struggling with that nerve-wracking feeling, on top of the fatigue, did not add to my peace of mind. Throw in the fact that I was lost for words, and I was actually shaking. “I-I am,” I stammered, stopping short. This was no time for Eleaden Standard, so I cleared my throat and growled. “I w-was brought here from...from a world outside this one.”

So, there it was, a confession of my origins. Although in a stuttering growl, it sounded fucking bizarre. Esu didn’t mind, though. His snort directed at Zeew could be interpreted as ‘See, I told you so’.

“Then let her wake tree!” chimed the mighty Miros, shying away from admitting her mistake and shortcoming. “Let’s see truth.”

Let’s see if I was who Esu said I was. That was basically what she said, daring me to prove I’m not just the flightless chick she deemed I was. Though the truth was that I didn’t truly feel to be anything more than that. Just an ordinary woman, kidnapped, imprisoned, thrown into a world and events beyond her wildest imagination. It took me a hell of a lot of courage to dare tell those two exactly that.

“Trust yourself more, pup,” Esu growled as he heard me. “Try.”

“Esu, the tree and I are not from the same world, the same realm. No such trees are growing there,” I blurted out in a growl, as I couldn’t stop myself from panicking. “I have no idea how to awaken the World Tree, how to help it gain consciousness.”

He chuckled, really chuckled. “Didn’t think you would, little pup.” 

“Y-you...” I stuttered, swallowing the rest of my words. Now it made sense why he was willing, despite what he knew about the tree and me, to just keep waiting and give it another try on the next full moon and then the next one if it doesn’t work. 

“Tree intrigued by you, talk. It might listen.”

Yeah, talk to it. Good advice. But what could I talk to a tree about? How was the earth today? If it wasn’t bothered by rot? The weather? About the pests? On second thought, that sort of thing most likely wasn’t an issue that would trouble the World Tree. What about the birds nesting in its branches? Were there any? My perception didn’t reach that far. Oh, or maybe squirrels? I’ve had experience with one nesting in my hair.

“Why waiting?” Zeew shrieked impatiently.

“Don’t mind the bird, just loud, can do nothing,” Esu assured me when he saw me hesitate, gently nudging me with his presence. “Go, talk.”

Reassured by his presence, which, though still powerful, was not oppressive as I remembered it to be, I stole an uneasy glance at the tree and took a step towards it. With his gentle presence, Esu briefly shielded me from the ever-present fatigue pressing on my senses and gave me a bit of courage I was short of.

“Touch tree, tell your story, let it feel your presence, little pup.”

Every step I took reminded me I shouldn’t be here. Definitely not so close to something so old and powerful. It made me feel so small and weak. And I was. Of that, I was more than aware. Yet I pressed on, regardless of the fact that Esu’s presence had yielded to that of the tree and the full weight of the seedling’s fatigue weighed down on me.

One last step, and there I was, just a touch away. 

So close up, the falling asleep seedling of the World Tree was even more awe-striking, making me feel insignificant, like one leaf in the whole forest. It took my breath away, and for a moment, I just stared there blankly, taking it all in without touching the seedling.

Then, as the air shuddered and another ripple in its presence hit me, I remembered to take a whiff of the air and yawned along with the seedling.

“Tired, huh?” I breathed out and carefully placed my hand on the bark of the World Tree. The moment my tips touched the trunk, the pressure on my senses lessened, and though the ever-present heaviness urging one to slumber didn’t disappear entirely, it allowed me to focus on the quest at hand a little more easily. 

“I...” I growled, only to stop short, swallowing the words I had on the tip of my tongue. That was not how I wanted to start this awkward conversion.

“Hi,” I tried again, wishing I’d said something else the moment that greeting left my mouth. “I don’t know if you understand me, but my name is Korra Grey. You can call me Korra if you wish. What about you? Do you have a name?”

So awkward. Seeing me growl at a tree on Earth like that, they’d lock me in a white padded room and throw away the key. Not here, though. Everyone waited anxiously to see if the seedling would answer me.

Of course, it didn’t. It was just a tree.

“Talk more,” Esu growled as I turned to him for advice. “Let it, to know you, pup.”

Taking a deep breath, I gathered my thoughts. “I heard you were curious about me. Honestly, I don’t know why,” I growled, laughing awkwardly. “I’m just your everyday woman. Or at least I used to be. One with ordinary dreams, to have a job I would enjoy, a partner I would love, and children who would bring me joy. That’s not too much to ask, right?” I paused, wiping away tears from my wet eyes, before resuming my rant. “Do you know about Fae? Little creatures with no regard for the lives they destroy. One of them kidnapped me from my world. Perhaps that’s what happened to you, too.”

It was a good guess. Fae could have snuck up on the elves and taken that seed. 

“Do you miss the others? Is that why you don’t want to wake up? I miss my family so much it hurts. That’s why I try not to think about them too much. But then I’m afraid I’ll forget about them altogether. Honestly, I think I kind of did already. It’s so hard for me to recall my mom’s face,” I divulged, my voice shaking. A sad truth that has weighed on my heart for a long time. 

“All because of the deranged mind of a madman playing God who dreamed up a warrior like no other. Sometimes I wish I could just close my eyes, fall asleep and never wake up again. Yet even though it hurts to be awake once in a while, it’s worth the sorrow. When you slumber, you may sleep through grief, loss, and death, but you will not experience life, joy, or love. There is so much in this world to see, so much I like to experience. Hell, I want to meet my family at least one more time, and that’s hardly going to happen while I am sound asleep, oblivious to the world. So...” I paused, wiping tears streaming down my cheeks. 

“...even if life isn’t fair, and it damn well isn’t, I just keep going, struggling in this strange world. I’ve met people who have helped me selflessly, even some who took me into their family. Can you imagine? I’ve made new friends here, one of them a squirrel, others of races I’ve never seen and who knows who the next one will be....it could be you. I would love to share my story with you, my suffering and joy, to hear yours. So, listen...” I said, raising my voice, ignoring the tears stinging my eyes. 

“Live. Wake up. Wake up and don’t let the veil of slumber shackle your spirit.” I paused to take a breath and shouted. “Wake up, and take a breath of life. Enjoy it with me and the others. There are so many waiting to meet you. Wake up and see the world!”

“Wake up!” I screamed at the top of my lungs in a hoarse voice, doused by my sorrow while full of hope and joy. “Wake up...”

Nirrvash

Okay, guys, I'll admit that I originally had a somewhat different idea in mind about how the tree awakening would play out. But then my patreon's comments shaped the story, as they had several times before and led me to another idea, the one you're reading about, so...I'm curious to hear from you what you have to say about it so far, has it turned out well? Or did you imagine it would play out differently? How?