"In a time, far, far away, and in a land, far, far away, a certain tree grew."
The sinking silence hung in the room every time a voice ceased, as a mother and her son snuggled together in a large bed, seemingly not at all tired despite it having long been midnight.
Yeah, what he said. We slept so much in the daytime that were just staying up together. She's telling me a story right now.
"It was only seen as an ordinary tree, growing normally, and looking normal, until a hundred years passed. Even after one hundred years, it's growth never slowed down, leaving the trees around it long in the dust."
"Is this about the world tree?" I asked, figuring out where this was going.
"You could've just waited…" She sighed. I didn't apologise however and just waited for her to continue, although I know of the world tree and what it did as far as optic powers are concerned, I don't know anything other than that.
"Anyway, after seeing a tree so tall it looked double the size of the already large trees around it, greedy travellers from afar decided to try hacking on it, thinking they had found some sort of special wood. The tree didn't gain a dent however, as no sort of force was able to even shake it."
"The travellers were persistent though, as seeing the tree not even gaining a dent from their efforts, they became even more sure that they had stumbled upon something great, and brought people from far away to try and cut it with them. Eventually, the matter became so big that a whole army had come, to try and cut down the mysterious tree that had ended up growing thrice the size of the trees around it."
"After another year, a dent was finally managed on the trees surface, revealing a golden inside. However, the dent grew back quickly, this time as a branch; this branch yielded the trees first fruit. It was a purple fruit that had a unique pattern on it, seeming almost mystical, as if eating it would allow your body to become made of rubber."
"Out of greed, the first person who saw the fruit ate from it immediately, without warning anyone. And it turns out that the fruit really was as mystical as it looks, as the man who ate it grew ears longer than anyone else's, and suddenly gained skin as clear and pale as the moon. The man gained a sudden urge to protect the tree from harm, and killed every human surrounding the tree. The humans were not able to resist at all, as it seemed he had some sort of supernatural power to be able to control wind, along with being extremely agile, resulting in a one sided massacre. The branch that had grew out of the tree did not stop yielding fruits, and the man began offering the fruits to humans, as ordered by the tree. The population of these long eared humans grew rapidly and exponentially, and by the time an even larger army came, they were met by an army surpassing the numbers of even theirs. Their numbers kept growing and growing, until the humans finally decided not to mess with them anymore. I'm sure you would know who these people came to be called."
"Elves." I confirmed.
"Yes, and the tree was came to be known as the world tree. The elves grew a kingdom around the tree, which had then stagnated at the height of the clouds, also having stopped growing fruits, and they began populating the world without the fruits. The ones who were born without the fruits, had to be taught manually on how to use optic powers. They were known as a species to be very intelligent, and learnt that they all seemed to have a great affinity towards archery."
"Yup, of course." I sighed, marvelling at the sheer creativity of the author. I mean, elves and archery? Has anyone even done that before?
(A/N: Dude can you shut up? Do you want me to kill off Emily? )
"Tch." I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
Emily furrowed her eyebrows, confused on why I was so irritated, yet she still continued. "As time passed, they began to be told prophecies by the world tree. One of the most significant ones they had got went like this:
'Ally with the humans. If you do not, you will not survive the collision of two worlds. And impart on them the knowledge you have gained from me, as indeed, their benefits are your benefits.';
and so they did, and taught us how to use optic powers."
"One hundred years later, the prophecy came true, and there really was a collision between two worlds. It was a massive gate of sorts that was filled in with nothing but azure, serving as a portal that stretched across an entire continent. Monsters spewed out of it uninvited, and not looking to be invited either. The humans and elves were able to fend for themselves with their alliance, but not for long, as stronger monsters began to come out of the gate, as if the invaders had realised that sending in weaker monsters would be a waste."
"This was when a certain human began to rise in the world, being known as an outrageous prodigy who frequently pokes the air for no explained reason, and as someone who had 10 beautiful wives, all with extremely unique personalities. His name was William Ainsworth."
"Unlike others, this human had the ability to enter the gate, and so he did. The elves and humans gradually began seeing the amount of monsters leaving the gate detoriate as the years went by. Soon enough, there were no monsters leaving the gate, and it continued like this for one year, until a single troll went through the gate."
"The troll was holding the hero with a single hand, and holding a foreboding cube that glowed in purple, in another hand. After entering the world, he stretched out the hand holding the cube, and said cube vaporised into nothingness. The monster then threw the hero on the floor, and began speaking in voice that echoed throughout the entire planet, before leaving through the gate:
'I have given you this gift so that you all can become strong, as you are all destined for doom if you do not. Remember this man as your hero, and give him a funeral grander than any lord.'
After leaving through the gate, the gate split into countless particles, that spread all across the vast world. People reported that when these particles reached their destination, they would hover above the ground, and shortly expanded into doors of varying colours. These doors ominously open when someone stands onfront of them, and open to what is called a 'dungeon', they were small confines of space of varying types, some fields, some caves, and some others. People saw that in these dungeons, were the monsters that had been attacking their planet for so long, and that the colour of the door they enter from would tell them the strength of the monsters inside of the dungeon."
"They also learnt that it was impossible to leave the dungeons after entering, unless all monsters inside it were killed. People began to find good uses for these monsters, using their organs for equipment, and absorbing their eyes for better optic control. But definitely the most lucrative benefit, was the treasure chest that was always in the place that the strongest monster of the dungeon would be."
Emily didn't know where to continue from there, so she just ended up staying silent, not warning me that the story had ended. She quickly regretted this however as the silence continued for longer than she had imagined.
"Hm? Is it done?" I asked.
"Yup, still not sleepy?" She caressed my head.
"Nope, I'm gonna go get my book quickly, I'll just start reading that." I told her. Before she told me the story, I had told her all about my life pre-transmigration or whatever, to which she ended up crying. I also told her some funny stories that I experienced in this world being a child with an adult mind, which helped to lift the mood a ton.
"Oh, by the way. When you complete the dungeon, it will disappear. That's why there are things called teleportation gates, for some reason, we could only find a way in order to create a destination for these teleportation gates, by making them seek the closest incomplete dungeon from them. I don't know why I began telling you the rules of dungeons, to be honest." She forgot to add. (A/N: I forgot to add.).
"Ah, okay." I said, and left the room for the book.