A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

A flash went through Erik's eyes as suspicions took root in his mind. "You don't… know about the fairy factions?" he asked, curiously.

And Ymir shook his head thoughtfully, eyes shining with equal amounts of interest in this matter. "I do not. In my memory, the fairies were broken up into families, but they eventually all served a single queen: Nyxandra."

"Interesting…" Erik muttered, frowning as he scratched the stubble on his chin. "I wonder why they split then…"

For a moment, Erik was lost in thought, but then he noticed Ymir's intense expression, and he chuckled. "So, right now, there's two factions among the fairies: the Radiant Glade and the Obsidian Enclave. Nyxandra still rules the Enclave, but the Glade is ruled by someone named Astraea."

As soon as the second name rolled off Erik's tongue, Ymir began to frown. "Astraea…" he muttered absentmindedly.

"Do you recognize the name?" Erik immediately asked, wondering what this ancient giant might know about someone who was universally vilified among Elora's faction. Experience more content on My Virtual Library Empire

"I think so…" Ymir grumbled softly, his eyes looking into the distance. "But I don't think she was a very prominent person… To be honest, I'm still in the process of waking up, and some of the details from that time are still a little hazy. Do you know anything about this Astraea?"

Erik raised an eyebrow, feeling a little disappointed. He was hoping for some truly juicy gossip he could take back to Elora.

"There's probably some bias going on," Erik shrugged, deciding to tell the giant what he knew of Astraea. "But my wife's people hate Astraea deeply. Supposedly, she's no better than the worst members of the Enclave, despite hiding behind a mask of righteousness. That said, I don't know the true reason for their hatred. Assuming there is one."

Back on Söl, Elora had naturally given Erik plenty of basic information about the Enclave, the Glade, and plenty of other factions. Yet, perhaps it was time to learn some more in-depth knowledge about the Glade. He promised himself to ask her later.

"I see," Ymir nodded, his mind deep in thought. Suddenly, he looked over at the vision version of Nyxandra with a strange expression. "So, the two factions must have split sometime after they betrayed us. Plus, if that Astraea was just a minor personality among Nyxandra's people, then something must have happened to prop her up."

Erik immediately understood Ymir's thoughts but decided to bring a little perspective. "Could have been any number of things," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Like a moment of inspiration, a few breakthroughs in a row, affinity fusion, some treasure she discovered…"

Slowly, Ymir nodded, clearly absentminded. "That's true… Or it could have been something else. Something significant enough to split fairy culture in two… What kind of philosophical differences do the factions have?" he asked Erik.

Erik shrugged indifferently. "I'm not too caught up on the specifics, but basically, the Glade is considered 'good', and the Enclave is 'bad', for so far as those designations mean anything. Supposedly, the Glade fairies don't enslave their protectors, and the Enclave ones do."

Ymir immediately scoffed. "No such thing as a 'good' fairy. I agree, the terms good and bad are far too arbitrary, but…" he frowned thoughtfully as he fell silent, the leaves binding his body ruffled. Then, he shook his head. "Fairy's are… inherently devious and cunning. I refuse to believe there's a 'good' faction out there."

Erik smirked slightly. He loved Elora, and he was absolutely confident in her feelings for him, but… devious and cunning she definitely was.

"You know…" Ymir suddenly muttered, his eyes focused on Nyxara and her protector. "I don't actually remember seeing Thraximar or Nyxara on the battlefield that day…"

For a moment, silence fell as they both stared at the frozen vision of Nyxara, their thoughts unreadable.

Eventually, however, Ymir caused the scene to continue.

"Regardless, let's continue," he sighed softly. "We're running out of time. I didn't show you this part last time, because I wasn't sure how your… wife would react to it."

He nodded at the exchange happening in the vision. "Somehow," he explained, "Nyxandra got wind of mine and little Audy's mission, and she decided to find us to… offer her help."

"Why…?" Erik asked, curiously. He couldn't even imagine Elora helping someone out of the goodness of her heart, let alone this queen she admired.

"I'm really not sure," Ymir shook his head. "She simply told us that any self-respecting person would do the exact same thing. Because who would want to live under the yoke of a damn tree?"

At that point, the vision changed again, and now showed a c0llosal tree Erik recognized. It was the same one Erik had seen in his first, Ymir-inspired dream.

It loomed over Erik and Ymir like a cosmic pillar. Its immense brown bark trunk was adorned with patterns reminiscent of ancient runes and seemed to shimmer slightly.

Clusters of leaves spread over its many branches, creating a sprawling green, almost glowing canopy that seemed to cast a shadow on Erik despite the absence of a single light source.

However, it wasn't rooted in the ground. Instead, it floated in the air with its gnarled roots spreading out underneath it like shadowy tendrils. These tendrils were connected to various smaller trees, and bits of light appeared to travel through these roots, feeding the large tree.

"Yggdrasil, I presume…?" Erik muttered as he took in the majesty of what he saw before him. Considering his knowledge of Norse mythology, he'd never expected anything else.

"Right," Ymir said sombrely as an emotional gaze bore itself into the entity's massive form. "This was the first of Nyxandra's gifts: knowledge of our enemy. To be honest, before meeting her, all we really knew of Yggdrasil was its name, power, and connection to our worlds. Nyxandra filled in a lot of the blanks."

Erik nodded and panned his gaze at what the vision showed him. "So, if I can take a guess at the vision's meaning, I suppose Yggdrasil is… the originator of the planetary network? All those smaller trees represent planets, and those lights are the life force he takes from people living on them?"

"Not just that," Ymir sighed, wanting Erik to truly understand the enemy they were up against. "Yggdrasil is the source of all aetherium… The source of life for trillions of people from races who can't live without it anymore."