A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Slowly, Ymir's anger started to recede again until, finally, he released a deep breath. A small smile spread on his lips as a self-deprecating chuckle left his throat. "Hehe, oh, how far I've fallen that a little friend like you has to put me back on track."

Before Erik could react, Ymir nodded. "But, fine. You're right. I suppose it's story time now."

Suddenly, the forest around them started to shimmer and dissolve, causing no small amount of consternation in Erik's mind. "What the—"

"Don't worry, little friend," Ymir immediately explained, putting him at ease. "I'm just providing a familiar visual aid."

Soon, the scene around them unfolded into something Erik did indeed recognize: it was the beginning of his strange dream.

He and Ymir were now floating high up in the air, overlooking a tribe of majestic human-like beings below them. Yet, although the forest had disappeared, they remained in the same position, both sitting with their legs crossed and Ymir encased in greenery, unable to move.

Erik noticed, once again, that they were all much larger than him, on par with the giant now sitting next to him. As if needing more proof that these were likely Ymir's people, they also all shared the same granite-like skin.

Last time, he wondered if it was all an accurate depiction or simply a consequence of the vision. This time, however, he could be sure the depiction was true to form, as he had an example sitting right next to him.

With furrowed brows and eyes full of grief, Ymir looked down at the people below them as they lived their peaceful lives in a small village surrounded by mountains.

"Last time, I was exhausted from pulling you over and not even fully awake yet," he explained softly, unable to look away from the scene below. "I couldn't explain what you were seeing then, so let me correct that."

Nodding, Erik directed his eyes downward, and Ymir began: "This was one of the last refuges of my people… as you may have suspected already. We went by the name Jötunn, and at this point, we'd already been practically hunted to extinction."

"Why…?" Erik frowned, finding it hard not to get swept up in Ymir's emotions.

"Because we were a threat to Yggdrasil's supremacy," Ymir sighed softly. His eyes remained filled with grief, but it was clear these events had happened a very long time ago, and he'd had time to… accept what happened, even if he would never forgive or forget.

After a moment of silence, he turned to Erik with a small smirk on his lips, completely detached from his previous grief. "What you are seeing, little friend, is the only race of Runebound in existence at this point. Of course, we didn't call ourselves that back then…" Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

For a moment, it seemed like he was going to explain further, but then he stayed silent. Erik, meanwhile, raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he wasn't as shocked as Elora likely would have been. Elora prided herself on her knowledge, and to find out a race of Runebound had existed before the supernaturals of Earth would shake her.

But Erik had always been a little more sceptical, so he wasn't as shocked. Still, he looked forward to watching her blow up over this, and couldn't help but chuckle slightly in his mind.

Regardless, then it was time to move on. He was especially interested to know why Runebound were a danger to this thing… for obvious reasons. "So, what happened?" he asked Ymir sombrely. "How were you a danger to this Yggdrasil?"

"Watch," Ymir simply said, as the scene below them changed to the next one. Once again, Erik watched these Jötunn succumb to an invisible force as their bodies dried up into little more than husks.

Erik could feel Ymir's turbulent emotions next to him and wisely chose to remain silent. Any sympathy he offered would surely feel hollow, especially because his main concern with this scene was that the same thing might happen to him or his loved ones.

When the village was fully drained of people, Erik looked to his side. There, Ymir's eyes were hard and cold, either unable or unwilling to look away from the scene below them.

Then, he spoke again, his voice strained. "Like a leech, Yggdrasil feeds on the life force of those living on the plants within its network. Naturally, it does so in secret, but that's easy enough. Unexplained deaths happen all the time, after all. It only kills a handful of people every day, and with hundreds of planets under its canopy, each containing billions, or even hundreds of billions of people…"

Ymir shrugged helplessly, or at least, he tried to, but the only proof of such was the rustling of the leaves binding him. Still, Erik got the point. With that many people and planets, as long as this Yggdrasil spread its activities properly, no one would ever notice a pattern in a few more unnoticed deaths.

"I theorize that, at first, 'it' was unable to drain the life force of a Runebound, and only later figured out how," Ymir continued, spitting out the 'it' with disgust and anger. "Its inability to feed on us is likely what first caused its attention to turn to us."

The giant's fingers ground against the leaves holding him in place. "But then, even when it could, it wasn't satisfied. We didn't use aetherium in the same way as all the other races, so it had no leverage over us. And that, to it, was unacceptable."

Erik nodded slowly, his eyes now looking at Ymir with sympathy. Yet, more than sympathy, there was concern over his own future, and that of his loved ones. This Yggdrasil sounded both incredibly dangerous and extremely petty, which meant Erik wanted nothing to do with it.

Mostly, however, there was a spark of anger inside him. He already knew Audumla and Ymir had created his kind, so was he now doomed to be this entity's target because of that? Why would they do that?

If Ymir noticed Erik's feelings, he didn't mention it, and instead continued. "So… it simply drained all Runebound across all his worlds that it could find. Or, at least, those that it could. Some of us lived in separate dimensions that it couldn't access, and others, like myself, were simply too powerful to be drained."

A look of defeat now spread through Ymir's eyes. "But… our already diminished population was devastated… and my village was entirely wiped out."

Then, the gentle giant's persona evaporated completely, and a soul-burning, all-consuming determination radiated from his eyes. "So… I realized the only way to save the remnants of my people... was to destroy Yggdrasil."