Rorthik's smile grew wider following Aron's acceptance and he quickly beckoned him over, hurriedly removing the overgrowth of vine like plants that blocked the entrance.
"Please enter," Rorthik eagerly offered but Aron only walked forward and stopped right where Rorthik was standing. "You can go first," Aron replied, although doing so in a casual tone.
Rorthik could now clearly see that Aron was incredibly cautious, so he could only follow along so as not to cause a rift between them. Rorthik was risking a lot by bringing Aron into his settlement, after all, if a fight were to spark between the two, he would suffer the most loses, and even then, there was no guarantee he could win.
So, without saying anything in opposition, Rorthik lead the way while Aron followed behind at a safe distance, observing the surroundings. The inside of the tree was unlike anything he had seen.
The walls of the tunnel like structure were of course made of tree bark, but they appeared naturally, as if said tree had grown in this way. Also in the walls were various balls of solidified tree sap that gave off a bright amber glow, lighting the entire tunnel.
Such a thing naturally couldn't have formed without external interference, but to do so in such a seamless manner…
"You specialize in manipulating plant life, don't you?" Aron asked plainly, his observations leading him to that conclusion.
Hearing this, Rorthik burst into uncontrolled laughter and yelled, "yes, yes, brilliant of you to guess, very good," he praised while frantically nodding his head.
He then stretched out his hands and began to caress the walls while explaining further, "But it wasn't just I who made this, no, cannot manage. This tree has existed for countless generations, surviving the many disasters that plagued the land."
Aron followed Rorthik's hand gestures and observed the walls but still didn't see the point of this tree, aside from a sort of cultural value to the Aethelians.
But, he was wrong, as Rorthik soon revealed. "Our people, for as far back as to our origins, the mergence, yes, yes, have used this tree to preserve our knowledge and history!"
After revealing that, Rorthik retracted his hand from the walls and walked through the tunnel at a faster pace, heading toward the tunnel's end where a bright amber light had shone.
Aron squinted his eyes as they approached this and followed. Upon opening his eyes, they widened at the sight before him.
Rorthik noticed this expression and smiled eagerly while stating, "Welcome to Neglardia! Home to our people's knowledge and history!"
Before Aron and Rorthik, was an expansive network of stairs, made of tree bark and structured in neat and organized manner.
Each of these stairs led towards a large wooden grassy platform, having many flowers and even smaller trees on them.
It was like an entirely separate ecosystem within the gigantic tree. One could even see exotic looking birds fly around under the artificial amber glow of the solidified tree sap cast.
"Incredible," Aron couldn't help but be amazed by the sight before him. It was a method of preserving knowledge he had never heard of, even within Argos's seemingly endless collection of knowledge.
This only served to confirm his theory of the world being far broader than what even Argos had collected, much, much more.
Aron was soon snapped out of his thoughts when Rorthik gestured him to follow as he rushed toward the nearest platform. "Come, come, there's much to see, much to know."
Unlike before, Aron no longer hesitated in his steps and followed closely this time. His mind was eager to discover just what sort of knowledge was preserved here.
The duo soon set foot upon the lowest platform, its structure very much resembling a lone island, only that it was held up by a dark green stem and its surface area was roughly five hundred meters squared.
On said platform were an assortment of strange looking trees and flowers, most notably at the center of the platform, were a sort of wooden pedestal could be seen, marked with a sort of glyph Aron found unfamiliar.
Upon getting closer, Rorthik walked ahead and approached the aforementioned glyph, before lifting his hands and chanting, "Please let me look upon the stories left by our ancestors, Serea!"
Rorthik repeated that line over and over again until the glyph began to glow a bright blue. What followed was the surrounding trees and flowers shaking uncontrollably as they began to morph.
"This is…" Aron was further astounded when he realized the morphing the trees and flowers were performing could be identified as markings of sorts.
On the trees, the once firm bark was now moving in a wave like manner that resembled water. It's surface looked much softer as rough images began to appear.
Appearance wise, they were like animated carvings, telling a story as their movements progressed in a strange loop.
Rorthik ceased his chanting and came over to Aron, looking up at his large frame before pointing at the moving carvings with excitement. "You see! You understand! A shame I cannot understand it all."
Aron didn't respond to Rorthik, his gaze had already sunk deep into the sight before him as he tried to understand what it was he was looking at.
The carvings illustrated two figures surrounding an adolescent tree. The figures performed a sort of strange dance around the tree, and in response, the tree began to grow bigger and bigger.
As the tree grew, the number of visible figures increased, forming a sort of settlement around said tree.
Aron followed the story, casually walking over to the next tree over where the story continued.
This time, it began with the figures around the settlement moving about chaotically as a large bird attacked the central tree.
The figures fought but failed, until only one was left. This lone figure ran away to a location unknown, a structure that resembled a cave.
Within it, the figure sat helpless for a time unknown, until he/she was approached by a dark shroud.
The figure reached out to this shroud and the two merged, providing the figure renewed confidence as he/she returned to the large tree and fought the bird.
The battle extended three trees over, with no clear victor having emerged as the bird retreated and the figure survived, leaning against the tree weakly.
The large tree had been damaged severely, so the figure used the last of his/her energy to repair it, fading into nothingness as the tree healed.
From there, the images suddenly halted as the trees morphed back to their original firm forms.
Aron backed away from the tree he had been examining and turned his gaze over to Rorthik, asking, "what is all this?"
A sentimental look appeared in the eyes of Rorthik as he gently caressed one of the trees and sighed. "This is the origin of Neglardia, the tree of hope, hope is never lost! Many generations ago, that figure you saw, Serea, mother Serea, sacrificed her life and became one with the Neglardia, creating a sanctuary so that her people no longer suffered the atrocities of Limbo!"
Aron looked upward, his eyes flickering as he counted the many platforms present within, all mounds of knew knowledge.
"So this tree, it's a living being with a consciousness?" He asked both curiously and cautiously, but Rorthik shook his head.
"I am unsure, stories say that should our people be in danger, Serea will awaken from her slumber and use the tree's power to protect us! And her gift." He yelled out, almost patriotically.
"Gift?" Aron inquired but Rorthik shook his head vigorously at this. "No, mustn't say, cannot be told to greedy outsiders, but this knowledge here, it is a fair exchange yes? It must be, saw it in your eyes!"
Although curious as to what the "gift" Rorthik mentioned was, Aron didn't insist. For now, it was unknown whether said gift was even of use to him, so he put it aside and focused on the treasure trove of knowledge before him.
"Yes it is." Aron answered flatly, but Rorthik's eyes gleamed in excitement.
"Good, good, now it is your turn to share some knowledge, we can do so over the feast, solidify our friendship! Yes?"
Aron couldn't refuse Rorthik's offer and just nodded weakly as Rorthik already began to descend the stairs, beckoning Aron to move quicker.
As the duo left, Aron couldn't help but glance back, feeling a great desire to just isolate himself and absorb the knowledge present in the ancient tree.
As for Rorthik, he could barely contain his excitement, 'This is good, he will definitely share now, he must. There is hope, soon yes we may go.'
Aron couldn't even begin to guess what Rorthik's thoughts were, but as the duo left the sacred grounds and the palace was in view, the awkward silence that had prevailed as they walked was now replaced by the melodic singing of Aethelians.
Many looked at Aron's 3 meter frame with eyes of curiosity and wonder, especially the children who happily ran around near his legs.
Rorthik found this sight good, "Hehe, you are liked, many here have only heard stories of Kolieans, never seen one."
"I see." Aron trailed off and looked into the distance where he noticed Rose's scouted hovering about.
He gave it a subtle nod and continued on. Meanwhile some distance away from the settlement, Rose recalled her scouter. Beside her was Evanora, whose gaze was fixated on the scouter as she waved at Aron's image.
Rose ignored this and turned her gaze to Jin who had been seated atop a tree. "It's time we move."
Jin simply stretched his arms and yawned before whistling in a unique way, this alerted Jagu who was even further away from the trio, keeping a lookout.
His ears fluttered as he heard Jin's whistle and he huffed, "finally…." Before proceeding in the direction it originated from.
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