The dome was even stronger than before as golden light shone around it, causing all the monsters that had been charging toward the city to stop and screech in anger and frustration before turning around. The monsters had sensed the hundreds of thousands of humans living in the city, but before they were able to charge and partake in slaughter and carnage, they were forced to go back as the dome that had surrounded the city in the past appeared once more.
Reign stared at the golden child that was floating in mid-air before suddenly feeling a sense of weightlessness and floating himself. He wasn't doing anything, his body was not responding to him, but he was calm as he knew that it was the golden child, the manifestation of the branch of Yggdrasil that was bound to him that was making him float toward itself.
"Reign?" The child suddenly spoke directly to Reign's mind as the latter looked at it with surprise. He had been able to sense the emotion of the golden tree before, so he knew it had a consciousness and could feel, but this was the first time he heard its voice.
"Why did you leave us, why … for so long?" The golden child spoke before suddenly looking at Reign with confusion.
"Oh … no … you are not him … and yet, so familiar … almost the same." The golden child said before extending its hand and touching Reign's cheek.
As for Reign, he was confused as he didn't understand a single word that the golden child had spoken. The language it used was at the same time familiar, and yet completely foreign to him.
"Odd … and yet not odd at the same time … foreign, yet familiar … friendly … yet deep inside, monstrous." The golden child said as it placed its palm on Reign's chest as it furrowed its eyebrow.
"What are you?" The child asked before bright light shone from it, shrouding the area.
"Too much … I used too much energy … have to … rest … sleep again." The child said before shaking its head.
The light from inside its eyes dimmed before disappearing, but the child was still present in front of Reign.
"Reign?" The child spoke, but this time, it spoke with a different voice, and Reign was able to understand it.
"This is the first time we have managed to speak normally." The child said in a cheerful voice as Reign stared at it with confusion.
"You … why is your voice different, even the way you speak, it's completely different from before."
"Different from before, what do you mean before, this is the first time we are speaking, do you mean to say you heard me speak before … that should be impossible." The child said with confusion as Reign simply looked at it.
"Boy, what is it?" Aethion asked Reign as the latter told him about the child.
"I didn't hear a thing, you came to the child and then there was a bright light, and then it spoke, are you sure you didn't imagine it, I should have seen it as well if it happened."
"It happened, my sensors have been able to pick it up, but unfortunately, I cannot gain access to them … whatever happened before, whatever was spoken … the encryption has deemed it as too much for any of us to know for now," Jared said as Reign nodded to him, still confused.
"You … were you always able to talk?" Reign asked the child who nodded to him eagerly.
"I was sleeping before … too tired to do anything after being sent away from Mother, just like my other siblings."
"We … we have to grow … become more powerful … become bigger and stronger with the person we bond so that we can turn into what we were all part of once."
"We … we have to kill each other, only one will become the victor, the others will have to join the one that turned into what Mother used to be … or be content with always being weaker." The child spoke with a clear voice and almost no emotion.
Reign could sense that the golden child was in fact just a child, the way it talked, the way it thought, it was clear that it didn't think too much, even the act of killing his 'siblings' didn't make it sad or hesitant. It was like it was created for that one purpose, and that wouldn't be far off from the truth.
"My brother changed, he was … infected in a way … he became a monster, so it was to me to ease his pain and take his power in order to grow." The child said as it looked down at the withering tree that once shielded the city. After taking its power, it became much smaller, there was no more power left in it, no consciousness, nothing.
"I … I have to rest now … absorb all the power so that I can become more powerful and help you more in the future, you have to become stronger as well … we can only be partners if we are both strong." The child said as it smiled at Reign before it scattered in the air.
As for Reign, he was sent back to the others, floating slowly before touching the ground again.
Reign glanced at the golden tree that was growing in the distance. It had once again climbed to the top of the building where the Butcher had been as even after Amanda's death, the power she had remained, it was only invisible to Reign and the others, but not to the tree that had taken it as nourishment.
Roots started growing again, burrowing through the building, slowly, but surely.
"Wait, if the tree grows here now, what will happen to Doncaster?" Wolf asked Reign who glanced at him before shaking his head.
"It doesn't matter where the tree is, it has spatial powers, so every territory we control will be connected through it, hell, we don't even need to use the portal we have built here as we can teleport to and fro this place with the tree." Reign said as he gained knowledge from the tree after the child went to slumber.
The tree was connected to him, so he was able to understand many things that it could do without ever even asking about them. Of course, as the child had previously said, the tree was undergoing something similar to an evolution as it had devoured another branch of Yggdrasil, one that was actually more powerful than it was.
It was mostly because the branch had been changed and warped so much from the constant killing and sacrifice in the city that its powers changed, became muddled, and twisted, making it unable to use its full power and allowing Reign's tree to win and take its power for itself.
'They're just children, that is why the tree here had been twisted beyond recognition, if a branch sees such horrifying things for long, it will make it different, just like how a child would absorb everything it saw for a long time.' Reign thought before shaking his head and turning around.
"Alright guys, we have a lot to do."
"I'll buy some speakers and place them around the city so that everybody can hear us, furthermore, even though the tree is now in slumber, I still have access to some of its powers, so I can create a large holographic image that will allow almost the entire city to see us."
"We need to make a speech, calm the people down and let them know what has happened, and what will happen in the future." Reign said as the others all nodded.
"Furthermore, we need to make sure that everybody is with us, the parties that do not wish to become a part of our territory will be allowed to leave, hell, we can even give them a map of the area so that they can safely go to other territories."
"Even though it seems silly, by doing that, we will foster a good relationship with the populace who will understand that we do not plan on ruling this city like the Butcher had and that we will not do anything that will be bad for them."
Reign suddenly yawned as he truly felt exhausted after everything that happened. Not only did he and the others have a long and arduous battle against the Butcher and her men, but they also spent many hours after that planning and then fighting, until finally witnessing the incredible battle that took place between the two branches of Yggdrasil.
With everything finally being finished, it was time to slowly integrate the city with their territory, and thanks to how the Butcher had been running things, Reign and the others didn't think that would be difficult at all.
The portal was still there as before the tree was finished absorbing the power of the other branch, it wouldn't be able to allow them to teleport to and from Doncaster.
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