Master Of None

"My queen. The council will come together to run over what has happened and what the heroes have done while we were incapacitated. A guard just came to deliver the news. The city is being fixed and checked now." The enforcer that reported left immediately while Alma was helping the queen up. 

Alma had woken up and rushed to the small elven forest that they had made within the city. She had found the queen sitting on the bench she had passed out on in a daze. This was a major blow to her strength since she was forcefully disconnected from the forest for so long. 

"If this is too much for you I can take over. I was able to go all the way to find the source of the sealing and I can stand strong here. You should return home and gather your power. There will be more trials ahead." Alma knew full well that there would be more demons on the way to cause them trouble. Even if Greed was alone that did not mean that all of the demons with ill will have been defeated. 

"I will remain here. I have items set aside for such times. I have been alive much longer than you and learned to deal with my connection to the forest. I have gathered my mana in to many crystals to help myself when I leave the forest and they are sealed by magic that even I can not break unless I follow certain rules." The elf queen was bound to the elven forest. Yet, she had found ways around this if necessary. 

One enforcer left the shadows of the trees around them and presented a crystal glowing with green light. The crystal had mana straight from the forest fused with the queen's own mana. She touched it and the color began to return to her cheeks. She even gave off a more powerful aura which made Alma feel as if she needed to bow to her. 

"See? I have ways to become strong again. You will learn these things as you get older. I know that you can only manipulate a few plants now and they all cost you a lot of your energy and mana. But imagine being able to control an entire forest one day. You should be able to do such a thing with your system. I recommend you plant a mana crystal tree here. I have five seeds in the vaults of our city. I was going to wait for you to reach a higher maturity, but the times demand for you to grow one now." 

The mana crystal tree was less of a tree and more of a living mana crystal. It was something many of the elves only dreamed about in fairytales. Little did most of them know, that they were real and very rare. If Alma could grow one then she would be growing a mana source that could store mana for her a hundred times over. She would, in theory, be able to rival the strength of some of the most powerful elves in existence if she was to properly grow it to maturity. 

"You…are you sure you should give me-"

"Yes. You need to be the strongest of the elves to represent our people here. When the other elves come here, they will see you first and everyone else last. The water elves looked down on us for living in a forest. The rock elves looked down on us for being so open and easy to find. Even the snow elves looked at us with our tan skin as if we were freaks. Be the best elf around and show them the strength of the forest elf." 

There were many reasons that the different elves had split from one singular race ending the high elf bloodlines. It was simply the discrepancy in their beliefs when it came to mana and the world. Some chose to follow different elemental manas and went to those locations to study them. Others became biased to the point that they rejected other elves. All came together to create different elf variants. 

"I will do exactly that. You can trust in me." Alma heard her queen well. She was young and had not personally felt these things that the older elves had. But the stories were passed down for a reason and Alma would heed them. 

"Then we shall go and meet with everyone else. I wish to hear your report alongside the heroes." The queen knew well that the city was going to gain a lot from this meeting. She just didn't know how much and what. 

Walker felt a soft push on his arm. When he woke up he was looking at the black and white scales that covered Midnight. Onyx sat staring at him on her back. "You two are awake and safe. I was so worried." He didn't hesitate to hug them. They just stayed that way for an unknown amount of time before Midnight finally shrugged Walker off to look at him and sniff him completely. "I know, I went to the desert to find a magic tablet that could help me seal Greed. I wish you could have come. some really weird stuff happened.

Walker laughed a little while Onyx slithered toward him, "Brother, thank you. I was dreaming of you going through a dark staircase in to an odd room. I knew you were coming to save us. I trust you will always come to save us." Onyx was still the youngest of their party and when he shed a tear it made Walker worry that Onyx had suffered more than he knew. 

"Ehm, I'm glad that you are all safe. I wish I was not interrupting, but I have come to hear the report." King Rorick knew well that this was a delicate moment. However, there were pressing matters to take care of and he had to break it up. 

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