Chapter 568: I just want to find my wife.
Kael kept his eyes fixed on the figure before him.
The reddish flames continued to erupt around his fingers, small at first, but laden with a strange feeling. They didn’t just radiate heat. There was something about them that seemed incompatible with the environment itself. The mana currents of the Central Kingdom instinctively moved away from that fire, as if primordial energy itself recognized a natural predator.
The woman observed this without averting her gaze.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Around them, the guardians remained motionless. None advanced. None attacked. It was as if the entire dimension was waiting to discover what the next move would be.
Then the woman breathed slowly.
"This fire doesn’t belong here."
Kael let out a dry laugh.
"Neither do I."
Silence returned.
The answer didn’t seem to please her.
But it didn’t provoke any aggressive reaction either.
She simply continued watching.
"You speak like someone who has already decided to fight the entire world."
Kael tightened his grip on his sword.
"Perhaps because the entire world is trying to stop me from reaching my wife."
A current of mana coursed through his arm.
The flames grew.
Small dark cracks began to appear around them.
Space trembled.
The woman noticed immediately.
"Stop."
The word came out firmly.
For the first time, there was authority in her voice.
"You don’t understand what you’re holding back."
Kael smiled humorlessly.
"Funny."
The flames intensified again.
"My mother said exactly the same thing."
An absurd pressure began to spread through the region.
The gigantic branches of Yggdrasil vibrated.
The continental leaves above them produced a sound similar to that of a distant storm.
The dimension itself reacted. Not to Kael’s power.
But to his nature.
Because the Chaos Fire was not a force belonging to the natural cycle of Yggdrasil.
It was an anomaly.
A violation.
A magic created by someone who saw limits as suggestions.
The woman finally stepped forward.
The distance between them decreased.
"Listen."
Her voice became more serious.
"You believe you are fighting to reach someone important to you."
"I am."
"But if you continue feeding this fire, there will be nothing to find when you arrive."
Kael did not answer.
She continued.
"You absorbed primordial mana throughout the journey."
Her golden eyes analyzed his body.
"The runes of Elion are forcing continuous adaptation."
Her expression became heavier.
"And that fragment of Yggdrasil is accelerating this process even further."
Kael felt a slight tightness in his chest.
Because she was right.
His body was changing.
He realized it.
He felt it.
But he had been ignoring it since he entered that place.
The woman raised one hand.
Golden currents surged around them.
Not as an attack.
But as a demonstration.
"Your body should be collapsing."
The mana currents began to form images.
Kael watched silently.
He saw his own body.
He saw the runes.
He saw the primordial energy circulating.
He saw the adaptations.
Then he saw something he didn’t expect.
Small fissures.
Thousands of them.
Scattered throughout his soul.
His eyes narrowed.
"This..."
"It’s the price."
The answer came immediately.
"You’re absorbing more energy than you should."
The woman slowly lowered her hand.
The images faded.
"The only reason you’re still whole is because those runes are distributing the impact."
Kael remained silent.
For a moment, he remembered Elion.
He remembered the moment she had engraved those inscriptions on his body.
He remembered her exhaustion.
The worry she had tried to hide.
And the absurd amount of preparations she had made before allowing him entry into that realm.
She knew.
She probably knew from the beginning.
The woman continued observing his reaction.
"You’re not the first to try to go this far."
"But I’m the first to succeed."
The answer came automatically.
The woman remained silent.
Then she nodded.
"Yes."
That surprised Kael.
Because she didn’t deny it.
She didn’t try to diminish his achievement.
She didn’t try to provoke him.
She simply confirmed it.
"You are."
Her golden eyes returned to the enormous opening behind her.
"That’s why you’re here."
Kael felt his heart race.
"Then get out of the way."
The woman remained motionless.
"No."
The flames around Kael grew again.
The space crackled.
Black fissures appeared for a few moments before disappearing.
The temperature rose.
The guardians retreated.
Instinctively.
Even they seemed uncomfortable in the face of that energy.
Kael took a step forward.
"I’m out of patience."
The woman held his gaze.
"I understand."
"Then stop stopping me."
"I can’t."
The words were simple.
But firm.
"Why?"
The answer took a few seconds.
When it came, it carried a different weight.
"Because I’m not a guardian."
Kael frowned.
She continued.
"I’m not a dryad."
One more step.
"I’m not a temporary manifestation."
Another.
"I am the door."
Silence fell over the area.
Kael remained motionless.
The woman raised one hand.
The enormous opening behind her began to glow.
Gigantic runes appeared in the living wood.
Ancient structures awakened.
Millions of symbols emerged along the inner walls of that colossal tunnel.
Then Kael understood.
She wasn’t guarding the entrance.
She was part of it.
A living extension of that mechanism.
A key.
Or perhaps a lock.
The woman watched the understanding dawn on her face.
"Now you understand."
Kael slowly exhaled.
"That makes things more complicated."
"Yes."
The flames grew again.
"But not impossible."
For the first time, the woman smiled.
It was a small smile.
Almost imperceptible.
But it was there.
"You really do resemble her."
Kael froze.
"Resembling whom?"
"The walking disaster that raised you."
He sighed.
"That’s definitely my mother."
The woman nodded.
"I thought so too."
For a few seconds, the strange atmosphere of that conversation almost seemed normal.
Almost.
Because in the next instant the pressure shifted.
Abruptly.
The entire dimension trembled.
Kael felt it immediately.
The woman did too.
They both looked up.
Above them, beyond the continental branches and colossal leaves, something was moving.
Something gigantic.
Something absurdly powerful.
The woman’s expression changed.
For the first time.
She seemed worried.
"No."
Kael felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Now what is it?"
The answer came immediately.
"You angered someone."
Kael remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he pointed to himself.
"Someone?"
The woman closed her eyes.
As if trying to accept an inevitable situation.
"No."
She looked up again.
"Someones."
The entire Central Kingdom trembled.
Not just the branches.
Not just the leaves.
Everything.
The very reality of that place.
Then new presences began to emerge.
One.
Two.
Ten.
A hundred.
Thousands.
Kael felt his expression harden.
Because those presences were unlike anything he had faced before.
They weren’t soldiers.
They weren’t guardians.
They weren’t creatures.
They were consciousnesses.
Ancient.
Immense.
Asleep for ages.
Awakening one after another. The woman watched in silence.
Then she spoke.
"Congratulations."
Kael didn’t like that tone.
"Why?"
"You managed to get the attention of the true inhabitants of the Central Kingdom."
The silence lasted only a moment.
Because soon after, a voice echoed throughout the dimension.
It didn’t come from a single place.
Nor from a single direction.
It seemed to emanate from the very structure of the World Tree.
An ancient voice.
Deep.
Immense.
And clearly angry.
"WHO IS THREATENING TO BURN MY HOUSE DOWN?"
Kael closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath.
Then he ran a hand over his face.
"Ah."
The woman beside him sighed.
"Yes."
Kael opened his eyes again.
"This must be the worst part of my day."
The woman watched the new presences continue to awaken.
"Unfortunately."
She paused.
"Not even close."
The voice echoed throughout the dimension.
It wasn’t just loud.
It wasn’t just powerful.
It was ancient.
Ancient on a level Kael couldn’t even measure.
Each word seemed to pierce the branches of Yggdrasil, travel the rivers of mana, vibrate through the continental leaves, and resonate directly within the soul of any being present in the Central Realm.
"WHO IS THREATENING TO BURN MY HOME?"
Kael remained silent for a few seconds.
The flames of Chaos continued to dance around his fingers.
The woman beside him kept her eyes raised to the sky.
The presences that had begun to awaken continued to emerge.
One after another.
Like stars lighting up in an endless night.
Each one carried an absurd amount of mana.
Each one possessed an existence so ancient that it made the guardians seem like newborns.
Kael observed this.
Then he sighed.
"Me."
The silence that followed was so abrupt it seemed artificial.
The woman slowly turned her head.
Her golden eyes met his.
"You answered."
"She asked."
"It wasn’t a question to be answered."
"Then she should have been more specific."
The woman closed her eyes.
For a few seconds, she seemed to reflect on countless decisions that had led her to that moment.
Then she just sighed.
"Now I understand why Elion drinks."
Kael pointed at her.
"Finally, someone sensible."
Before she could answer, a new presence descended.
This time it wasn’t just a feeling.
The space truly opened.
A gigantic fissure appeared above the continental branches.
Currents of golden mana surged through the opening.
Then something emerged from it.
It wasn’t a creature.
Not exactly.
It looked like an old man.
But only superficially.
His body was composed of ancient wood covered in layers of crystallized primordial energy. Roots formed long beards that descended to his waist. Twisted branches sprouted from his shoulders like a kind of living cloak.
His eyes shone like two golden suns.
They were enormous.
Much larger than any human being.
Even in that humanoid form, he was hundreds of meters tall.
He observed Kael.
Kael observed him.
Silence returned.
Then the old man spoke.
"It was you."
Kael nodded.
"It was."
"You threatened to burn my house down."
"Yes."
The old man blinked.
Slowly.
"Why?"
Kael pointed to the entrance behind the woman.
"Because I want to pass."
The old man mirrored the gesture.
Then he looked back at him.
"That doesn’t explain the fire part."
"I’m frustrated."
"That still doesn’t explain it."
"You keep stopping me."
The old man remained silent.
Kael continued.
"I just want to find my wife."
"So you decided to set a cosmic entity on fire."
"It seemed like a reasonable solution."
The woman beside him partially covered her face.
The old man stared at Kael for a few seconds.
Then he turned his head.
"He’s her son."
"I realized."
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