"Huh... So that’s how it is..." the dwarf muttered, rubbing his chin as he stared at the Giant Tree "It makes sense now... The Dream Realm creatures are used as messengers. We also found out the Dream Realm is connected to many worlds too..."

His voice dropped to a whisper, heavy with realization. "Like the Abyss..."

The crowd murmured.

The leaders of various races — elves, dwarves, beastkin, and other races— nodded, each bearing the distinct pride of their lineage. The tension was thick, yet excitement sparked in their eyes.

"That’s it," the Elf King said, rising in air with a glint in his gaze. A golden armor formed around him and gleamed faintly under the ethereal moonlight lights. "If we conquer the Dream World, we can invade countless Upper Worlds. Each race shall have its own land, its own dominion to rule. And as an Alliance, we will help one another to secure those worlds. Instead of wasting eternity searching for ’The Eternity’ in the Endless North... we should move toward a new future."

His voice carried a strange conviction — both ambitious and desperate.

Tyler floated silently among them, unseen, as if he were watching through a veil. The words echoed in his mind like whispers from the past. The scenery began to shift, melting into a swirl of light and smoke.

---

When the haze cleared, Tyler found himself standing before a vast tree that pierced the heavens — the World Tree. Its branches reached beyond the clouds, and its leaves shimmered like emerald stars.

Months seemed to have passed since the last vision. Countless floating islands were lined up around the World Tree, tethered together by luminous vines. From afar, it looked like an entire world preparing to move.

Inside the tree was a grand throne room, the very heart of its spirit. Instead of the Elf King sitting upon the throne, a little girl with silver hair and bright golden eyes sat there, her legs dangling from the edge. She held a small wooden elf figure in her delicate hands, caressing it nervously.

"Big Brother..." she said softly, her voice trembling like wind through leaves. "Will it be okay?"

The Elf King stood beside her, his eyes tender. "It’s alright, Princess. Don’t worry."

"But... do we really have to conquer other worlds?" The little elf tilted her head, frowning. "Can’t we just stay here? This world is already vast enough. The gods blessed it with everything we could ever need."

A silence followed her question. Then, a beautiful elf woman with long green hair stepped forward. Her presence was ethereal — calm, ancient, and graceful.

"Princess Silvia," the woman said gently, "remember, the gods have long forsaken this world. The spiritual energy and mana are dissolving. Some new energies — one we cannot understand — is replacing it. Even the angels, the greatest researchers among us, cannot find the reason."

Tyler blinked. His eyes widened in shock.

"This one... I’ve seen her somewhere..." he muttered. His mind spun.

Then he remembered — when he traveled with Yumina, they once stumbled upon statues worshiped by the Lizard Elves. Those statues bore the same face.

"She’s the Ancestor Elf..." Tyler whispered.

The Elf King turned his gaze toward her, his expression darkening. The Ancestor Elf — that divine figure — flinched slightly under his stare.

Tyler’s confusion deepened. Wait... according to Yumina, she fell two million years ago... but this vision, this dream, it’s from a million years ago. So she was still alive then?

He frowned, piecing it together. "Or maybe... it’s not her, but her reincarnation or .. a descendant?"

The Elf King’s next words shattered the silence.

"You might be the product created from the cells of our Ancestor," he said coldly to the woman. "But that does not grant you the right to speak among us."

The Ancestor Elf — or rather, her clone — froze. Her lips trembled, but she lowered her gaze, silently accepting his scorn.

Tyler muttered under his breath, "Oh... so he revealed it himself. Well she is just a clone."

The Elf King turned to Silvia and smiled, though the warmth in his eyes didn’t reach his soul. "Don’t worry... everything will be alright, Princess Silvia."

"Silvia..." Tyler repeated softly. The name stirred something in him — a flicker of memory buried deep within.

He saw flashes — falling naked onto an island, the sea crashing around him, and a young girl waking him up with a curious smile. Then everything blurred again, fading into fog.

The Elf King knelt beside Silvia and said to the elf figurine. "You’ll help us too, won’t you? The world is becoming chaotic. We need you to purify it."

Silvia looked at the wooden toy in her hands — the little elf figurine carved from the heart of the World Tree. Its eyes glowed faintly, like a sleeping spirit.

The wooden toy nodded. Then, before anyone could react, it leaped from Silvia’s hand and merged into the floor — into the living roots of the World Tree itself.

---

The vision changed again.

The World Tree was no longer calm. Its massive trunk glowed with runes as it extended upward, piercing through the clouds and into a spatial rift. The space around it distorted, reality bending and folding like glass.

Tyler shielded his eyes. Through the chaos, he saw glimpses of another world — colorful yet twisted, filled with trees that looked alive but corrupted, their roots writhing like serpents.

The World Tree’s branches reached out like bridges, forming luminous pathways. The floating islands followed those branches, sliding along them one by one, vanishing into the new realm.

A year passed in a blink. Then, without warning — the Dream Realm collapsed.

The rift sealed shut.

The World Tree was severed.

The shockwave that followed shattered the skies. Half of the World Tree’s trunk fell away, and what remained stood trembling, its sorrow rippling across the land. It didn’t scream or cry — yet the entire world could feel its grief.

The vision grew darker. The being created from the Ancestor Elf’s cells stood beside the shattered stump, her expression cold. The last of the elves knelt behind her, their faces blank and weary.

Princess Silvia was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t enter the Dream World either.

"Cut it down," the woman ordered emotionlessly. "Use the remaining wood. Build ships. We’ll head north — to the place the gods abandoned."

Axes swung. The sacred world tree that once held life for eons were severed. Only the stump was left untouched — because an Abyss crack had appeared beside it.

Instead of saving itself, the World Tree began to purify the crack, pouring its life energy into the endless darkness.

It took one hundred thousand years.

By the end, the World Tree had been corrupted — faintly, subtly — but it didn’t stop. It simply went to sleep, its consciousness fading into silence.

Then something from beyond the stars — a fragment of metal, glowing faintly — fell into the stump. The impact was soft, like a whisper, and the Tree didn’t awaken.

Thousands of years later, an island formed around the stump. Forests grew, seas settled, and civilizations rose. Thousands more years passed, and factories appeared — spewing smoke and pouring toxic waste into the waters.

The stump didn’t woke up, but it tried to purify again.

But this time... the corruption only spread.

---

When Tyler awoke, he was no longer Tyler.

Tyler again turned into the female form - Tyla. Her surroundings were dim, the air heavy with dust and decay. She was back in the throne room she had seen in the dream, except now it was ancient, crumbling, and lifeless.

Vines hung from the ceiling, dry and brittle. The once-lustrous carvings on the walls were eroded beyond recognition.

Tyla stood before the same throne — now cracked and half-buried in roots. On the pedestal before it lay a tiny green seed, glowing faintly within the remains of the same wooden elf toy the princess once held.

"The Seed of the World Tree..." Tyla whispered. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

She extended her hand, and the seed responded with a faint hum — a soft, rhythmic pulse that felt almost like a heartbeat greeting her. Warmth brushed against her fingertips, carrying a whisper of life long forgotten. For that fleeting moment, Tyla could sense the joy of the seed, a tiny echo of the World Tree’s once-boundless spirit.

Then she froze. She saw something familiar.

Her eyes caught something glinting faintly beside the seed — a small object half-buried under layers of dust and decay. Slowly, she brushed the dirt away, revealing a dull copper surface marred with scratches and faint, ancient symbols.

Tyla’s heart began to race. She hesitated, unsure why her chest felt tight, as if the object itself was watching her. With trembling fingers, she picked it up.

Simple. Ordinary. Completely out of place in this sacred, ruined chamber. Yet the moment her skin touched it, the soft hum of the seed fell silent.

"What are you?" she whispered, her voice barely audible in the hollow, ancient air.

It was a copper lid.