One With Nature

Making Your Mark: 3

(A/N: just wanted to say, the reason a lot of time passes with Zack doing nothing between Eras is because Zack has no perception of time. Unless he has humans around and watches them as they age, Zack would have no idea that much time passed. If he stayed in a cave, centuries can go without him realising.)

"Well, this is boring," I commented as I kept making runes in the air with my wind element.

They would always light up and make fireworks. I would say I was probably the first person in history to use fireworks in this time, but you can never tell in the Nasuverse.

"Why don't you go visit Svend? It HAS been a while since you've seen him," Yggdrasil said.

"I know, but I figured he's okay since you can probably see him and didn't warn me about anything," I shrug while crossing my arms. "Though, that IS a good idea. When was the last time I saw him?"

"Around ten years."

"Oh, ten ye- TEN YEARS?!" I asked to make sure I heard her right.

"We really have to teach you how to keep up with time," Yggdrasil commented, making me feel even worse. "Anyway, you should go and pay him a visit. I'm sure you'll be in for a surprise."

Despite her wanting to sound teasing, she just sounded... tired. She's been sounding more and more tired lately, and every time I asked her she would brush me off.

"Well, alright. I guess I should visit the kid," I said as I started flying. "Where is he?"

"Head southwest and you'll see where he is. You can't miss it."

"Alright, thanks, Drasil," with that I started flying.

I was definitely gonna ask her about what's going on with her, but Svend is my priority right now.

I kept on flying in the direction that Yggdrasil pointed me at. It wasn't long before I found something, but it was definitely not a village.

What I found was nothing short of a large city.

Hundreds of wooden houses all lined together. Many people wearing leather or fur clothes were walking around. A lot of the buildings also looked like they were blacksmith workshops or armouries, giving the city a feeling that it was still filled with warriors.

However, what surprised me the most was the fact many of buildings had a mark on them.

The mark on my chest. The mark of Archtype Earth.

"What in God's name is going on?" I asked myself as I watched from the air.

I turned just my head to my wood element and sensed around. Finding Svend's energy was easy considering I've had a lot of time to memories how his energy feels like.

It was coming from the building in the middle of the alrge city, which was the largest. It wasn't a castle, exactly. It looked like a town hall more than anything else.

I landed in front of the building and was honestly expecting the guards near the door and the people around to react like I'm a monster.

They did jump in surprise and shock. But, as soon as I turned to my wood element, they seemed to relax and begin whispering amongst themselves. They all seem to say the word 'Skogvættir' one way or another.

"I'm looking for Svend. Is he here?" I asked.

The guards near the door, both wearing leather chest armour and metal helmets with horns, frantically nodded. "Y-Yes, Skogvættir! We'll get him right away!" They both ran inside after that.

The people around started gathering and a crowd was formed behind me. They were all whispering stuff and pointing at me like I'm some kind of... unicorn or something.