Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3476

The Sapling waved at the scenic view of the hill. From there, one could look at the sky, with nothing blocking their view until the horizon, or at the valley below, where a snaked river crossed the land in twists and turns.

"I am afraid of you, Verhen. I remember your blade and the excruciating agony you inflicted upon the Tree. Yet I’m also filled with joy and curiosity, two powerful emotions that have allowed me to keep the madness and trauma at bay.

"You have nothing to fear from me because what I know makes me a wonderful tour guide, not a threat."

"How are you resisting the call of the other fragments?" Lotho asked.

"As I said, I’m different." Xaphen replied. "My fragment contains the yearning for freedom the World Tree bloodline has suppressed for countless millennia and has no desire to be chained and ignored again.

"The essence Verhen holds wants to settle down, call the elves to themselves, and resume their task of collecting knowledge with the help of the Chroniclers. My fragment, instead, wants to travel. To be more than a dusty, living library."

"Let me guess. You don’t want the mantle of the Yggdrasill." Lith extended his ajar hand and the Sapling closed it until no light came out anymore.

"You’re right, I don’t. It would be torture for me."

Aalejah recognized the look in the Sapling’s eyes. The look of someone who wanted to be part of something greater but, at the same time, craved freedom and didn’t want to be chained by duty.

It was a feeling she had experienced during the centuries she had spent as a Chronicler candidate. Yet unlike her, Xaphen couldn’t walk away. Once the fragment was removed, he would lose his memories and go back to being a Sapling.

In due time, he would grow big enough to be a city for the Fae, a haven for the plant folk, and a prisoner of his own making.

"Then I won’t impose this burden on you." Lith replied. "Yet I still need to take your fragment."

"Wait!" Aalejah stepped between them. "I’ve looked at him with Soul Vision and I can tell you Xaphen is sincere. His fragment holds no useful knowledge. There is no reason to take it away.

"You could purify him to make sure the madness of the previous Tree doesn’t corrupt him and let him be. We can come back after collecting the rest of the fragments or let him out of this. What point is there giving the next Yggdrasill dreams they can never follow?

"Maybe without Xaphen’s fragment, the next World Tree won’t fall into madness because they won’t care about exploring Mogar and their role as keeper of secrets won’t burden them so much."

"I’m sorry, child." The Sapling moved past her and offered his hand to Lith. "I appreciate your kindness but you got it all wrong. Without my fragment, the next World Tree will go insane in a matter of years.

"Without the love I feel for Mogar and the wonder for discovery, the Yggdrasill would consider their repository of knowledge not as a treasure but as a weapon. They would seek a new purpose to fulfill their existence without a care for the civilizations they destroy.

"My fragment is the reason the World Trees never dared to abuse their knowledge or leave their Fringe. They cared too much for the elves and every other living being to endanger innocent lives.

"The Yggdrasill never intervened in conflicts not because they were indifferent to the suffering of those they observed but because they knew they would only make things worse. Outside the Fringe, the World Tree’s power is limited.