“Control of the space around you begins with yourself. If you have no understanding of what your own capabilities and limits are, then power over the elements of arcana will never truly be yours.”

– C. Depliagus, The Depths of the Mage

A mighty willow tree hidden somewhere in the floating islands of Oceansky–that was all Rali Wyndesnar had to look for–The World Tree. She’d been searching for weeks, with very little else to go on. But finally, she’d found it–a tiny lone floating island with high stone walls on each side located close to the air current border of Shaladinath. Now, she could finally pursue something she wanted. Now, she had a goal in life other than aimlessly studying the connections between worlds.

In flight, the world seemed so weak and insignificant–a simple footstool for Rali to skip over. As she crested the great stone wall of this new island, she looked into a secret wonderland of greenery and life. The inside of the stone walls produced multiple flows of water that ran down their sides and into a river circling the edges of the space. Also engraved in the walls lay various symbols, enormous and lit up with different colours. Toward the center lay a ring of stone, carved with many intricate patterns. This section of stone surrounded a broad space of greenery, lit up by tiny glowing orbs that seeped from the ground and popped like water bubbles.

Atop the ground lay the very centrepiece of the space. An enormous tree, hundreds of meters tall. It still grew before her eyes, planting some of its roots into the ground, some over the stone paths and others into the river’s edge. Near its very base, ten figures encircled it, each with green bursts of energy flowing from their palms, connected to each other by one long magical tether. Just in time.

Rali burst through the air at high speed, landing near the base of the ever-growing tree. She let loose a smile as she stood beneath the expanding branches of such a magnificent piece of magical architecture. Already, a pair of roots split apart and linked together to form an archway–soon to be a gateway to another wonderous plane of existence. More of these gateways formed amongst the branches and in the trunk. The formation bordered on completion.

‘Hey… hey! Get away from there!’ one of the ten mages cried.

Rali turned, putting on a mask of innocence. Ah, this is going to be such a treat!

‘Did you hear him?’ a much larger mage snorted.

Rali took a deep breath, and readied words of fire on her tongue. She spoke, saying, ‘oh my, a goliath archmage? Why, the Quinnis School of Magic must be doin’ terribly if it’s scrapin’ such creatures from the dirt for students.’

The goliath man scowled, but her words didn’t hurt enough to throw him off.

‘Miss,’ another archmage began. ‘You should be leavin’. We ‘ave guards at the ready outside, and their leader ain’t one to play games.’

‘Oh come off it.’ Rali flicked her wrist, and the arcane energy within her burned its way to her fingertip. ‘You won’t have time to be callin’ any guards. Ever studied the spell that kills upon the point of a finger?’ Rali had to simply point at the man with her little finger, and a mote of green energy shot from its tip, boring a hole through the mage’s chest and eating away the matter of his very being. His remains crumpled onto the stone floor in a heap. ‘I’ll take that as a no.’

Shouts of fear and anger burst out from amongst the mages, each scowling and cursing, but unable to stop her–a wrong move meant the end of The World Tree. Rali sauntered to where the man’s body lay, and grabbed hold of the green tether that bound each mage to their neighbour. She smiled and waved daintily at the goliath mage, as he was clearly losing his temper.

‘Oh dear,’ Rali said with her hand covering her smile. ‘I hope he wasn’t important to you.’

A tear rolled down the cheek of this large being, as he roared with frustration and anger.

‘Here, let me help.’ Rali blew a kiss toward the man, and her breath turned to frost. What began as a small vapour, turned to a gust of cold wind that froze the man in place, coating his body in ice. Rali gently tapped his nose and turned to the other mages.

‘Let me make this quick and easy for you.’ She charged bolts of lightning in her palm, and launched it across the next group of mages. The electricity leapt from one to the next, creating a chain of electrified bodies that fell in a heap.

‘So sad, you can’t even muster a simple counter to me. Ah well, seven down.’ Rali looked to either side of herself, as two of the remaining three slowly edged towards her, trying to remain focused on the final parts of the world tree spell. They appeared ready to give up their big spell and strike her down, but she reacted before they could ruin her plans.

‘I might get in trouble for this one–let’s see.’ Releasing the green tether, she performed the many hand gestures required to form a new kind of attack. Releasing a great blast of energy about her, the sounds of water flowing and the whipping wind stopped. The shouting mages froze, as they became locked in time. ‘Tut.’ Rali effortlessly blasted them both with bolts of fire, burning large holes in them. She rolled her eyes, and grabbed hold of the green tether again.

She couldn’t see the final mage, so she assumed they were on the other side of the tree. She waltzed alongside the green tether around The World Tree until it finally led her to one last mage. Cloaked in bronze and red robes, this last mage hid their face beneath a hood.

‘Why?’ the tenth archmage asked.

‘How can you move?’ A cold shock ran through Rali, and her hands shook with a sudden and unexpected sensation of fear.

‘Time magic is a farce. Few have truly tamed its wild nature, and you are not one such person,’ said the figure. ‘Now answer my question.’

‘I have–well I–you can’t…’ Rali took a second to settle her twisted tongue. ‘I can have whatever I want, because I’m me. It just so happens that this is what I’ve always wanted.’

The figure turned their head slowly toward Rali, hesitant to look away from The World Tree. As one of their hands held that green tether looped around it multiple times, the other reached to their hood.

‘Goodbye.’ Rali loosed a bolt of lightning towards the being, but they reacted with precision, countering the bolt with a spell that let it simply fizzle out.

Once again, the figure reached for their hood. Rali couldn’t comprehend how a single mage could alone hold a ten-mage spell together and still counter her spell. That was until she saw their, no, his face. Grey and featureless, this being’s face had only big yellow eyes and long silver hair that made his identity clear.

‘Ah,’ Rali did her best to conceal the fear that rattled her very core, but surely this man saw through that. ‘I should have done my research. I thought you’d be dead by now, Clivin Depliagus, the Golden Wing Guild’s finest archmage.’

‘I will not die until I see my work finished,’ Clivin stated with a tone that rebounded across the island.

‘My apologies, archmage, but I would like this place for myself.’

‘You seek such a gift as this to be only for you?’ Clivin asked with a head cocked. He cast protective spell after protective spell upon himself, but Rali knew it was for nothing.

‘I’ve earned it. Those who stole from me in the past have taught me that if I want something, I just have to claim it.’

‘You’ve earned my life’s work, quitan?’

‘Yes.’

‘I see.’ After casting too many kinds of protective spells on himself to count, Clivin stroked his chin with his free hand. ‘Allow me to impart upon you some wisdom from an old man. Certainly, life is unfair in that people and things steal from you to make it their own, but consider that the world is not a product of what is taken, but what is given. Life is defined by what you put into it, and that is why I will leave the greatest legacy behind that I can.’

‘What of war, then?’ Rali asked. ‘Don’t wars form the world? I wouldn’t consider a war giving to the world.’

‘That is correct, but war has always taught the need for giving over taking. Eventually, everything comes back to that. Life is defined by the lessons you learn, and the story you produce from those lessons.’

‘Whatever.’ Rali formed a small ball of green energy in her hand, and thrust it at him. ‘Now, disintegrate into nothingness, old man.’ The blast shot for his chest, but he parried it with an arcane shield.

‘Your spells cannot affect me,’ Clivin proclaimed. ‘Let me complete my life’s work.’

‘No.’

‘Too late,’ Clivin said with one last flex of his fingers. The green tether bound itself around the tree, causing it to glow with a brilliant light. The gateways littered about the tree all burst into colour, now gateways to other lands.

‘No!’ Rali screamed. She drew something from her pocket–a small black box with different coloured gems dotting the outside. Clivin reacted quickly, forming another barrier of energy to protect himself. In her anger, Rali felt pleased, having just fooled one of Igharias’ greatest mages. She opened the box and released a tiny black bead–a void of colour and light. Willing it forward, she thrust it directly through each and every barrier that Clivin put up. It ate away at all magic and matter, and found its way to the center of his chest. It drew back to Rali, leaving behind a great hole in Clivin’s chest. His magical barriers shattered like glass, and he fell onto his knees, facing The World Tree.

‘How do you have… this changes nothing at all.’ Clivin stared longingly up to the mighty branches filled with coloured gateways. ‘I’ve achieved my life’s work, and you will not have control over this place–I’ve chosen its guardian, and she will do a greater job than even I. Thank you for letting me finish this mighty feat.’

In an instant, Rali screamed, casting a spell of disintegration on the old man, then took off to the skies. ‘I will have what I want,’ she roared.

With Rali gone, Clivin’s ashes settled between the roots of the great tree, and the dirt rose to meet it, drawing him into its depths. There, with his cloak lying neatly in front of it, a small fern grew. And it may have been the fact that its leaves shone in sunlight, or somebody listened in to the conversations that day, but either way, a plaque was placed before it that stated, “The Golden Legacy.”

•••

Mere moments after Rali took her leave, an older human man entered the dominion of The World Tree from a nearby tunnel in the wall of the island. He wore simple adventuring armour and had a broadsword slung over his back. He walked with steps that sounded like thunder, and magic in his very breath. He knew what had come to pass, and swiftly arrived by the fern which still grew leaves before his eyes.

‘I am both blessed to have known you, and cursed by my rules, old friend. I am sorry.’ He knelt, closing his eyes in a moment of prayer. When enough time had passed for him to feel he had respected his friend, he lifted his eyes to the great tree. ‘If I cannot intervene, surely I can at least send an emissary to ensure this doesn’t happen to others.’ He turned to the tunnel, and gestured to a silhouette waiting inside.

Out of the tunnel came a woman. Young and appearing human, she walked with staggered steps, clutching herself with tears pouring down her cheeks. Her long blond hair fell to her waist, and her bright blue eyes had red stained whites about them. ‘Long life really is horrible,’ she stated.

‘Yes, but we’re here, Lily, and we can do something now.’ The older man drew a long chain from his pocket, tethered to a strange amulet. ‘Keep this on you, and seek her out in Hophreda’an. Do not exact revenge, but put this on her. This amulet will take her to the guild hall.’

‘What do we do about this place?’ Lily asked.

‘I will seek out a protector. I’m sure a location with a gigantic tree would warrant finding someone with the title of Forest King to guard it, don’t you think?’