Chapter 2641.1: Master and Slave (Part 1)

Because never before had a newly ascended World Tree sent their Chroniclers away without taking the time to assimilate the social knowledge that the elven tribes that lived with the Tree carried.

The Yggdrasill kept for himself only what was related to magic and the ways to nurture magical resources.

There was so much to know that even the mighty Tree could barely contain the fruits of the sheer magical research that their predecessors had accumulated from times that long preceded even the Guardians.

Never before had a young Yggdrasill spread their consciousness through so many Chroniclers at the same time while putting the lives of their emissaries at risk. In the rush to leave the Fringe once and for all, the new World Tree had bitten more than they could chew.

Eldun had been left by himself while the Tree dealt with the ongoing crisis caused by their own recklessness, too busy saving the Chroniclers whose lives were already in lethal danger to notice the impending betrayal.

Eldun was wise and experienced, but going from one World Tree to another was an experience as rare as it was traumatic. He had lived all of his life with his master's voice in his head, following strict protocols and discipline.

Now the voice had changed, rushing Eldun and ordering him to disregard the old ways in favor of efficiency. He was no longer allowed to bide his time and study his future hosts from a distance before introducing himself.

According to the Tree, there was no point in doing it.

Elves loved and venerated the Tree. They weren't like the treacherous humans or the greedy beasts. Eldun only had to move in, present them with the Yggdrasill's offer, convince them, move to another Fringe, rinse and repeat.

Or rather, that had been the plan.

M'Rael had been a member of the warrior caste of the Firestone branch of the Ra'Firo clan before capturing Eldun. It had been more a stroke of luck than a real plan, but that wasn't how M'Rael would have told the story to his biographers.

The Chronicler had been unlucky enough to choose the border of the Fringe M'Rael was patrolling. While Eldun focused on piercing the veil separating him from Mogar, M'Rael focused on hitting the back of the Chronicler's head with the Submission Club with surgical precision.

The magical tool was devised to be non-lethal and capture prisoners alive but M'Rael had trusted the World Tree and imbued the Club with his best spells before dealing the blow.

Eldun's skull had been shattered and his brain turned into a mush, forcing the World Tree to focus their consciousness inside the Fringe in order to save the Chronicler. If Eldun died, so would the fragment of the World Tree with which he was entrusted.

The Tree would lose a chunk of his power and knowledge forever, forcing them to rebuild it from scratch. Even worse, the Yggdrasill would have shared the pain of their Chronicler's death and in turn, passed it on to the other Chroniclers.

The shock would have compromised their focus in battle and if another of them died because of it, their demise would have triggered a cycle that would end only with the extinction of the Chronicler Corps.

It would have meant setting the World Tree back of millennia and the permanent loss of priceless knowledge.

M'Rael had exploited the Tree's moment of weakness to cast Body Sculpting spells that twisted both Eldun's and the Yggdrasill's life forces, crippling their powers. At that point, the future High Chancellor had spent every moment of his free time torturing the Tree while making sure that Eldun wouldn't die in the process.

Moving their consciousness through two Fringes and the space separating them at the same time weakened the Tree, but the link still forced them to endure everything the Chronicler experienced.

It was through coercion that M'Rael had been Awakened.

The Yggdrasill would have loved to botch the process on purpose and let the traitorous elf die, but M'Rael had twisted Eldun's life force to the point that without constant treatments, the pain would become maddening.

Before trusting his body to the World Tree, M'Rael had given them multiple tastes of what waited for them in case of his death.

The psyche of the new Tree had barely withstood the experience and needed sheer willpower to stop the crippling pain from spreading to the rest of their Chroniclers.

With M'Rael gone, Eldun would have died slowly enough to infect the rest of the corps. Afraid of the consequences of their resistance and feeling guilt for having endangered the work of their predecessor, the World Tree had submitted.

Then, M'Rael had demanded the secret of the violet core and then something that would prove to Setraliie's people that he was indeed the chosen one. That was how the Sage Crown had taken form from the remnants of Eldun's broken equipment.

M'Rael had purged the Tree's consciousness from it in order to both keep the Yggdrasill near Eldun so that would share his pain and to prevent the members of the Parliament from uncovering his lies.

The plan had succeeded but with one invisible flaw.

The World Tree knew about Lith planning the journey for months so he had named and shaped the crown according to the blueprints of the Sage Staff, hoping that he would notice the red flag.

Alas, they hadn't taken into account that Lith and Solus would have gone separate ways.

Without her, Lith didn't have the luxury to space out and study someone's equipment. He had been forced to focus on the guards and the arrays surrounding him first and then split his attention among the various representatives.

As for the elves, they had been too happy about M'Rael's achievements to wonder why the Chronicler had returned just for him or why he had chosen a humble border captain among the thousands of elves of the vine city.

Clan Ra'Firo, to which his household belonged, had silenced doubts and rumors in order to protect its prestige and increase its authority. The offer of the World Tree was interesting, but according to M'Rael, they could do better.

He told them that just like him, many more could be Awakened without the restraint of serving the Yggdrasill forever. That he was personally negotiating with the World Tree so that every one of those who chose not to become a Chronicler would still reach the violet and receive their Yggdrasill wood weapon.

M'Rael claimed that the people of Setraliie had to travel to wherever the World Tree was herding the rest of their brethren and join hands with their scattered brethren. Together, they would establish Garlen's fourth great country.

Strong of an army of Awakened elves equipped with the next best thing to Davross, the elves would have reconquered the outside world with minimum casualties. M'Rael had also ensured that Setraliie's Parliament would not just be a member of the new governing organ of the united Clans.

Thanks to his contribution to the cause, Setraliie's Parliament would assume a leadership role in the future High Parliament. The idea of standing above others was the selling point of his pitch and the first step of his plan.