One With Nature

Tree to Tree: 3

I spent some time talking to Yggdrasil and humouring her with questions.

They were mundane things. Who sealed Tiamat? Who were Gilgamesh's parents? What happened to Uruk after I left? What were the Gorgon sisters like before they were cursed?

They were all questions I knew the answer to. I just wanted to avoid making the very old tree that somehow sounds like a little girl cry again.

"I have to say, I am enjoying myself," Yggdrasil suddenly said.

"Doesn't anyone else asks you questions?" I asked.

"To be honest, I never even talked to anyone for this long," Yggdrasil said making me look at her in shock. "The longest I've ever spoke to anyone at all was when Odin made that offering to me. Even then it was for an hour at best when I was sharing the wisdom of the Nine Realms with him. Because of your unique nature, I am able to speak to you easily. This is, in fact, the longest I've spoken to anyone."

Okay, now I feel even worse for what I did earlier. She was literally just lonely and happy that she got to talk to someone and wanted to come off as smart, even though she came off as an arrogant brat instead.

"Well, I have one more question," I said and I crossed my arms. "What's it like to... you know, actually watch nine worlds at the same time?"

"Hmm... there might be... a problem," Yggdrasil said.

"Why?"

"It's not something I can explain easily. As you can see, I have no eyes. The way I 'see' things and the Nine Realms is not the same way you 'see' the world in front of you. For example, what you see as 'blue' might be 'black' for me," Yggdrasil explained.

"Well, can you tell me of something you see right now?" I asked.

"Well, there is a village being attacked by giants in the south and-"

"Wait, what!?" I didn't even wait for her to reply as I transformed to my wind element and shot into the air.

"Wait!" Yggdrasil tried to call out to me but I didn't really want to risk waiting so I just headed south.

I guess I went out of her range because I couldn't hear her anymore.

It didn't take me long to see the smoke and burning houses. A village with buildings made of wood was being attacked by a group of three giants.

The giants were as big as a house themselves and each had red skin. Their skin also looked like it was made of stone and and they were all wearing a fur cloth on their waists. Each of them was also holding a giant spear made of stone.

"Hey!" I yelled as soon as I reached the village and saw the giants turn to me. "Easy way or hard way, your pick," I said while motioning to the mark of Archtype Earth.

The giants didn't respond for a few seconds before one of them reached downwards and picked up a giant boulder from the ground.

"Hard way it is," I mumbled as the giant threw the rock at me.

Guess they're not intelligent enough to recognise the mark.

The rock, as expected since I'm still I'm my wind element, just passed through me. I turned to my stone element and raised my hand. Smaller rocks began gathering and forming one that was three times as large as the one the giant threw at me.

I hurled the rock at it and it smashed the giant into the ground. The second giant came charging with his spear raised. He swung it down and I just turned to my water element, letting the spear pass through me.

I sent a crescent wave of water at high speed with a swing of my arm at the giant's neck and his head was sent rolling away. The body dropped like a sack filled with rocks.

The last giant ripped a large chunk of the ground and held it up in both hands. It started walking towards me in a rather slow pace, probably planning to smash the rock on me.

I wasn't gonna give it the chance though. I did to it what I did to the last giant and its body dropped along with the boulder with a giant thud.

"That's better," I said while shako my head. I looked behind me and saw a group of people, all of which were wearing a mixture of leather and fur armours while holding weapons. "Don't worry I took care of it."

The people just stared at me for a few seconds... before they all started screaming in rage and began charging at me with their weapons.

"Woah! Woah! Hey!?" I began moving back before turning to my wind element and flying up above their reach. "What's wrong? I know I look scary but-" the people didn't even listen to me and began throwing stuff at me. "Ah, screw this. I'm outta here," I groaned as I flew away.

I just went to where I met Yggdrasil, and just like before, I didn't see her until she was right in front of me. Whatever kind of field she has must be pretty powerful to hide her so well.

"Well, that was a total mess," I mumbled as I landed and changed to my wood element. "Mind explaining what that was about?" I asked, knowing she most likely saw what happened.

"I was ABOUT TO warn you when you left but you completely ignored me," the tone alone made it obvious that she would pinch the bride of her nose if she actually wasn't a tree. "You don't know how things work here in Norse territory, do you?"

"Uh... I'll admit, I'm not really well-versed in Norse mythology," I confessed.

Well, I never claimed to be perfect. People can't expect me to know everything about the entire lore or Mythology. I just know what I looked up.

"Figures," Yggdrasil sighed - or at least sounded like she was sighing - before she began explaining. "Here in Norse territory, dying in battle is the greatest honor anyone can ask for. The Allfather's daughters, the Valkyries, take the souls of warriors who died bravely in battle to Valhalla where they may rest in glory. The warriors here do not care about their chances of winning. They see it as a 'win-win' situation whether they survive or die. You stepping in is equivalent to stealing their chance at glory and to rest in the halls of Valhalla."

"... oh," was the only thing I can say.

"You really don't know much about this territory, do you," it was a statement, not a question.

"Would you like to teach me?" I asked.

"R-Really?!" Yggdrasil sounded way more excited than any other time I asked her a question.

"I have no plans, nor anywhere else to be, but if you don't want-"

"No, of course I would!" Wow, I guess she really wants to explain the Myth that she's basically the centre of. "Alright, where to begin? There's so much to talk about? Runes? Or how about where it all began with Ymir? Or maybe Asgard? There's so many topics we can talk about!"

She's REALLY excited about this.