Auru POV:

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I don't even know for how long we've been wandering around in this accursed forest.

Igni told me that we'd be fine if we were to stay on the road, but eventually, the road diverged into three separate paths.

Grinla said that the path in the middle should be the right one since we needed to head deeper into the forest.

As we progressed deeper into Nirva Forest's deep and crowded shadows, we began to hear the laughter that sounded like small children playing together.

Usually, this would have calmed me down but in the Underdark of the trees and mushrooms, the laughter made it even more eerie and unsettling.

After roughly an hour, the laughter stopped meanwhile wisps of light began to glow far beyond the bound of the pathway.

[Grinla: "So these are the fairies... Actually, they are very pretty."]

[Igni: "Don't take them lightly, they are natural masters of Illusion magic!"]

[Grinla: "Well, considering that we've been walking for quite some time, maybe we are already under their Illusion?"]

[Igni: "Impossible, the great I have never been under any kind of dis- or illusion!"]

There they go again. It's never boring when I'm with both of them.

Well, we continued walking while Grinla continued teaching me magic, while Igni went on about not being able to teach me magic because he was "such a natural talent, that after I learn the basics, I did it by intuition."

After crawling under countless Roots and climbing over massive Mushrooms, we reached an excessively gigantic tree. It was at least the size of a small city.

[Igni: "We're finally here!"]

[Grinla: "The World Tree."]

["Whooa..."]

Its Silvern bark reflected the sun just enough, to not hurt the eyes and Its golden leaves filled the air with a sense of majesty.

Right at the roots were doors, as if someone was living inside.

[Grinla: "So this is where the ancestors lived..."]

On our way here, Grinla told me that the elves, the dark elves' ancestors, once lived in a city made in the World Tree.

We made our way to one of the doors, and the moment I entered, I heard whispers inside my head.

(Don't go further!)

(You'll regret it if you go.)

What?

(Not since IT came.)

What is IT? and what are these voices I'm hearing, no thoughts!

The pain.

The agony.

The IMMEASURABLE FEAR AND DESPAIR.

[???: " -Hey, I'm talking to you."]

["HUH?!"]

[Igni: "I said that an awful lot of magic power is up ahead..."]

[Grinla: "And I don't see any elves, gnomes, or fairies around... It's as if the entire city is a ghost town..."]

(What HE seeks is up ahead.)

(But what you seek, you'll lose.)

When I looked around, I saw a golden light in the dark hollow of the tree city.

The light walked through the empty streets and across the pathways made of wood until I could make out the silhouette of a person.

The person clad in a brown robe had gentle, feminine features and long, green hair, almost like leaves. Her golden eyes seemed to pierce through the dark like arrows. Other distinguishing features were her long, pointy ears and golden pixie wings on her back.

[???: "Greeting, I have awaited your arrival, being that rivals us."]

[Igni: "Gaia..."]

["EHHH?!!"]

Wait, wait, wait... we already met one of the Iuga Septem?!

[Gaia: "Ignatius. I want you to take your belonging out of my territory already."]

(Are you sure you want him to have it?)

Yes, that's definitively Gaia's voice.

But what does she mean?

[Igni: "That's why I'm here!"]

[Gaia: Good, then I'm going to take you to the World Tree's crown, where the parasite is."]

[Igni: "Parasite?"]

[Gaia: "So it wasn't your doing?"]

[Igni: "I don't know if you've realized, but I'm not even the leader of the demons anymore..."]

[Gaia: "I have not. I haven't been able to leave this place, since that parasite with a similar mana-signature as you entered this sacred place."]

Suddenly we were lifted by the inner wood of the tree, which began to carefully lift us in the direction of the tree crown.

[Gaia: "You'll see soon, what I mean. I defeated it multiple times, but every time I did, It healed Its wound and vanished."]

[Igni: "I already have an idea, what the cause may be."]

[Gaia: "Oh, and I also have sensed the presence of humans here, they seemed to have followed you."]

Oh no. This is not good!

As we got closer to the top, slowly but surely spiderwebs began to appear.

Not just some small webs, but gigantic ones.

Then we saw It. A gigantic spider nest and in the midst of it a jet-black spider the size of a dragon.

Its long, furry limbs twitched as if It noticed our presence.

Its maw had mandibles like greatswords and Its eyes seemed to see everything. Right in the middle of Its head, yes, there it was.

A large, reflective shard of a mirror that seemed to hold some strange presence within.