Lilith watched Atheline carefully. His breathing had steadied, but his eyes remained distant. She had seen him disappear with her own eyes.
One moment he had been standing beside her, the next... Reality itself had swallowed him whole. Only to return him a few seconds later.
Whatever he had experienced, it had left an unmistakable mark on him.
"What happened? Everything you said doesn’t make sense. "
Her voice remained calm, but Atheline could hear the concern beneath it. He took a slow breath before answering.
"I don’t even know where to begin."
She folded her arms.
"Start from the beginning."
He nodded. Then, without hiding anything, he began recounting everything he had witnessed.
He told her about awakening in an ancient elven city unlike anything that existed in the modern world. He described towering crystal towers woven around colossal trees. Living bridges that stretched between buildings. Countless races fighting side by side.
An army so vast that the horizon disappeared beneath banners and soldiers. He spoke of dragons darkening the skies. Giants walking across shattered mountains. Creatures whose existence had vanished from history.
Lilith listened without interrupting. Every detail matched the scale of a civilization that had existed before the Cataclysm.
Then he described the Sovereigns. His voice unconsciously became quieter.
"I couldn’t see their faces; their Aether distorted everything around them. I could only make out silhouettes."
He looked toward the floating orb.
"The Supreme Sovereign, they weren’t merely stronger than the others. They were in an entirely different realm."
Lilith raised an eyebrow.
"That powerful?"
Atheline gave a small laugh.
"I don’t think ’powerful’ is enough. I watched them use every element as though the laws of the world simply obeyed their will. There wasn’t a single wasted movement."
"It felt..." He searched for the proper words. "...perfect."
He continued describing the battle. The overwhelming strength of the Sovereign of Death. The cooperation between the Supreme Sovereign and the Sovereign of Darkness.
The impossible techniques that reshaped the heavens. The armies below watching with hope as victory slowly approached.
Lilith remained silent. Her eyes never left him. She could tell these were not dreams. He remembered every detail too clearly.
Then his expression darkened.
"The battle should have ended there."
He clenched one hand.
"The Sovereign of Death had already been pushed back. The Supreme Sovereign had drawn their bow. They created an arrow out of pure Aether, and I honestly thought everything was over."
Lilith already sensed what was coming.
"But..."
He nodded.
"The Sovereign of Fire, they betrayed everyone."
The chamber fell silent once more; even saying those words aloud felt unreal.
Lilith frowned.
"So the stories were incomplete."
"Far more incomplete than we imagined." Atheline nodded. "I watched the spear pierce straight through the Supreme Sovereign’s heart. The Sovereign of Life tried everything, but it didn’t matter. The spear carried the Sovereign of Death’s own power, and no healing could erase it."
Lilith slowly closed her eyes.
"So that’s how they were wounded."
"There was something else." Atheline hesitated. "I think the Supreme Sovereign noticed me."
Lilith immediately looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"I know how impossible it sounds, but they turned toward me. Twice."
"The second time..." He unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. "It felt as though they knew I didn’t belong there."
Lilith didn’t dismiss the idea; instead, she looked thoughtfully toward the orb.
"If this object truly carries memories from before the Cataclysm... Perhaps it also carries a fragment of its creator’s will."
Atheline slowly nodded.
"That’s exactly what it felt like."
Finally, he spoke of the World Tree.
"The battle ended. The Sovereign of Death retreated, and they had won, but nobody celebrated."
"Then..."
He looked toward Lilith. "The World Tree had been destroyed."
For the first time since the conversation began... Lilith’s composure visibly shifted.
Destroyed?
"The entire tree?"
He nodded slowly.
"It had already fallen, and I never saw how. But every soldier reacted as though the impossible had happened. The Supreme Sovereign immediately descended toward it, but they never reached it. The memory ended before I could see anything else."
Lilith remained quiet for a very long time; when she finally spoke, her voice carried far more questions than answers.
"If the World Tree truly perished, then what is the tree standing within the High Elven Kingdom today?"
Atheline sighed.
"I’ve been asking myself the same thing, and another question."
She looked at him.
"The continents."
He nodded.
"The battlefield stretched across one enormous landmass. There was no sign of separate continents, so..." He slowly looked around the chamber. "...what possessed enough power to split an entire world apart?"
Neither of them could answer.
Their conversation eventually came to an end. The chamber once again became completely silent. Only the pale orb continued floating peacefully in the center of the room.
Atheline found himself staring at it.
"It showed me all of that."
Lilith followed his gaze.
"But why you?"
He smiled faintly.
"I was hoping you’d know."
She shook her head.
"For once... I have absolutely no idea."
Curiosity gradually overcame caution. Atheline slowly approached the orb once more, his footsteps echoing softly throughout the chamber.
Lilith remained where she stood, watching closely.
"You think it’ll respond again?"
"I don’t know."
He stopped directly before the floating sphere.
"It reacted when I touched it before; maybe there are more memories."
Or perhaps... More answers.
He slowly extended one hand, his fingers brushing the glowing surface, but nothing happened. The orb remained perfectly still.
Atheline frowned.
He withdrew his hand before trying again, still... Nothing.
"This time it doesn’t seem interested," Lilith observed.
"So it would seem."
He circled around it, examining it from every angle. It looked exactly the same as before, almost disappointingly ordinary.
He reached out once more, again... Nothing.
Minutes passed. He attempted different approaches. He infused Wind Aether into his fingertips, but nothing. He tried Lightning; still nothing; water, fire, and earth.
Even combining several elemental affinities produced no reaction whatsoever. The orb floated motionlessly as though mocking every attempt.
Lilith eventually smiled.
"I think it’s ignoring you."
Atheline laughed helplessly.
"It certainly feels that way."
After nearly half an hour... He finally gave up. Whatever the orb had wanted from him, it had apparently already accomplished.
He released a quiet sigh.
"I suppose that’s all."
Turning away from the floating light, he began walking back toward Lilith. He had only taken three steps; behind him, the chamber suddenly became brighter.
Neither of them had time to react before the orb shot forward without warning, too quickly for either of them to stop it.
"Atheline!"
Lilith’s warning echoed through the chamber. The glowing sphere struck the center of his back; instead of colliding, it passed straight through him.
The light disappeared into his body, for one heartbeat... Nothing happened, then Atheline’s entire body stiffened; his pupils contracted violently.
Every channel inside him erupted with blinding pain. He fell to one knee as an overwhelming torrent of ancient Aether exploded through every corner of his body.