?2016 Beginning
It wasn't that he didn't know it was powerful, but just that he believed that if it was so strong, then how did the elves and dwarves fall? It didn't make much sense.
"Ah… You've forgotten even this… It seems the situation is much worse than we thought…" The elder's sigh deepened.
"This is a secret only our two races know, but the World Tree isn't from our plane of existence."
"You mean it's from the Immortal Plane?" Dyon asked.
"No. I mean it isn't from our fabric of reality at all."
For the first time in a long time, Dyon's heart trembled.
Not from our fabric of reality? What exactly did this mean?
[Author's Note: No, it really isn't what you're all thinking, lmao. RMW is ending in 3-4 more volumes. Saying this now to save me from the onslaught of 'how could you?!?!?!' comments. Maybe I'll explore that world a few years later].
"When your cultivation reaches a deep enough level, you can begin delving into the Mysteries of Beginning. Of course, us mere mortals have no ability to do such a thing. Only those mighty existences on the Immortal Plane are capable of doing so.
"However, we were lucky. Due to the World Tree, unlike other races, we were capable of keeping in close contact with our Ancestors on the Immortal Plane. Through the World Tree, we could even speak with our ascended Ancestors face to face. It was only after we lost contact with the World Tree due to an Elven Queen not appearing for several generations that we lost this ability.
"Without the World Tree, our flaws slowly became more and more apparent. Eventually, the cultures of our two races became too opposing.
"We dwarves needed precious ores to maintain our strength, but elves were against that sort of mass mining as it ruined the balance of nature. In a way, it was almost inevitable that we would come to a head. I still do not understand why the World Tree decided to give us two such abilities, but it was our reality.
"Without us working in tandem, we first tore each other apart before our enemies further destroyed what we had built."
One had to remember that though the Golden Era was the shortest of the four, it still reigned for trillions of years. It wasn't surprising then that the green-haired elder could speak of matters that took countless generations to unfold.
Elves were beast tamers, they had a vested interest in protecting wildlife and sustaining the balance of ecosystems. But, dwarves were miners and forgers. They couldn't build their strength without destroying these very ecosystems the elves sought to protect.
How could they not clash with such opposing ideologies?
"So to say that it is impossible for the dwarves and elves without an Elven Queen? Do you not feel it unfair that the one that binds you only comes from your rival's race?"
Dyon noticed that the elder never finished his thoughts on the Mysteries of Beginning. He seamlessly changed the subject with an expert ease. Even Dyon almost missed it all together.
That said, Dyon still understood what the elder was getting at. Whatever this 'Mysteries of Beginning' was, when understood to a deep enough level, it became obvious to the one who comprehended it that the origins of their Mortal and Immortal Planes weren't so clear.
Would all of existence disappear once the Mortal and Immortal Planes died out? Dyon couldn't even wrap his head around such a concept.
What about the Heavens? Why was it so obsessed with evolution to the point where it pitted its people against each other with the Ancient Battlefield?
These were all questions Dyon didn't have an answer to, so he could only ignore them and ask this instead.
Why was it that the Elven Queen only appeared amidst the elves? Why was there such an imbalance of power?
"This is just a misconception." The dwarven elder responded. "The Elven title wasn't originally a race. The elves took the name on because it suited them well, but an elf doesn't have to inherit the title.
"Well, even I may be wrong. Maybe Elven really was a race of people beneath the World Tree, I can't be entirely certain of the details. All I do know is that the title itself came from the World Tree. The elves happened to birth the first Queen, so they took the title for themselves. There were many dwarven women who also gained this constitution."
Dyon's gaze flashed with enlightenment, so that was the case. He had been half worried that there would be some hidden Dwarven King constitution that disappeared after the dwarves entered the Ancient Battlefield. He wouldn't like to fall out with the dwarves because they sought after his wife, that would be a massive deal breaker.
"As for whether or not an Elven Queen could repair what we once lost, I can't be sure…"
Only Dyon knew that the elves of the past were nothing like they were now. Many of them didn't even have tamed beasts of their own. It was only recently that Ri began to help them go back to their roots with the help of the World Tree. They definitely wouldn't care as much as they had in the past about the actions of the dwarves. At least… in the short term.
If the dwarves and elves came back together as one, it would only be a matter of time before those same problems began to creep up once more. It was only a matter of time before they inevitable came to blows once more.
It was only now that Dyon understood asking the World Tree about the fallout of the dwarves was useless. Since they only collapsed long after an Elven Queen hadn't appeared in several generations, the World Tree had no way of knowing the truth.
"How did you contact the World Tree in the first place?" Dyon asked curiously, wondering how.
