***** Zona’s POV *****

That feels much better! I thought as I woke up and stretched.

For the first time since we had gotten here, I could finally begin to feel the forest around me the way that I should. It is still a rather large forest, so it will take several months for me to be able to feel all of it, but I was finally making progress.

I was also beginning to feel as if my tree was a part of me, rather than just an anchor point for my existence. The only downside is that I could feel my tree resisting my magic – again.

You’re awake! Excellent! Maybe you could explain to me this new magic of yours that is currently trying to split me asunder?

Speaking of my tree…

“Huh? I don’t feel anything like that right now, but things are kind of unsettled at the moment. You’ll have to show me what you’re talking about.”

I’m talking about here, here, here and here, the four locations where the World System grafted your saplings onto the part of me that is a tree. I can tell that this is an inherent part of you, and as such, it isn’t trying to hurt me, but it is still trying to pull me apart in some fashion.

“Oh? Let me take a closer look here… Aside from these sections right before the grafts, which I’m assuming are the result of you blocking my magic, I don’t see anything wrong. Maybe you could try giving me a better explanation of the problem?”

For whatever reason, your magic sees me as being three separate things in the same spot, and it seems to be trying to tear those things asunder!

“Oh, well duh,” I said, bouncing the palm of my hand off of my forehead, “I should have seen this problem coming. I have to say that I’m glad that you could and did stop it from doing that on autopilot, otherwise, we would end up with a ginormous mess that would take ages to clean up.”

Oh? Do tell.

“Before I explain, there are two things that I would like to do. First, let me put my magic on hold properly so it doesn’t cause a problem being stopped the way that you did, then I have a couple of questions to ask you.”

That makes sense. So, what sort of questions?

“One moment… alright, try taking your block down slowly. My magic should stay where it is at the moment, but this is a bit different from anything I’ve ever had to do before, so be ready for it to misbehave.”

Removing the block… Yup, that looks good to me!

“Great! Now, to answer your question, I have to ask what sort of technological and magical background you have to make things easier for me to explain.”

Hmm… I guess the simplest explanation is that I am the control system for everything that my creators built on this world, so I have a fairly sound understanding of both magic and technology. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think I have sufficient understanding to comprehend your explanation, but if I don’t understand something I’ll ask a question or two until I do.

“That should work. Wait, you’re also an A.I.?”

I’m not sure exactly. My creators decided to use a tree as the focal energy transfer point for the system they were building. This tree just so happened to be me by the way. Constant exposure to all of this energy passing through me jumpstarted my mental growth, and eventually, I accidentally merged with the central control system for the systems that they had buried underground.

“So, you started as a tree but accidentally absorbed something that turned you into what you are today.”

Precisely.

“Do you mind if I ask what they were building?”

You can ask, but unfortunately, I’m not sure what they were building. The curse messed with my memory, scrambling everything that had anything to do with the reason why I rebelled. I can still access the memories, but it is going to take me several years to get them straightened out. At this point, the only functions that I can still use are the spell amplifier that I used on your fireball and the energy transfer function. Everything else was either damaged or shut down by the curse.

With his blocks out of the way, I was starting to get a vague feel for the rest of the tree and that which lies beyond, which seemed to match up with what he was telling me. Besides, our connection was similar to my marriage bond with Broohn in that it made it practically impossible for us to lie to each other.

“Alright, I can work with that,” I paused for a moment to think about what he had said.

“Now, if I’m understanding things correctly, this tree serves as the energy transfer point of some kind?”

Yes, it is the focal energy transfer point for everything that my creators built here. That much at least I can still remember.

“Then that would explain why my magic was aiming for three sections instead of two. Before you ask, let me back up and start at the beginning and hopefully, I’ll answer your questions along the way.”

Fine with me.

“So, I assume that you’ve seen Broohn switch forms a couple of times now?”

Yes, I have. Why do you ask?

“Because it is the very same type of magic that seems like it is trying to split you asunder, just applied in a completely different fashion. This type of magic is called Fae Glamor, and its most common use is to give everyone from my world the ability to switch into a human form and back again. Despite this, it is commonly mistaken for an illusionary type of magic, probably because casting illusions is the easiest thing to do with it.”

What do you mean “despite this”? Making people appear human seems perfectly logical for an illusionary class of magic.

“Ah, but the change is far more complete than any illusion could ever be. If it was just illusion, then every time Broohn came in here you’d have a 115-ton dragon walking around in here without accidentally damaging anything. While his dragon-self might fit through the front door, if only just, there is no way that he could have fit into our bedroom or his workshop without smashing his way through several walls and a floor or two.”

Ouch. I hadn't thought about it that way. So what is it instead of illusion?

“Glamor, especially Fae type glamor, is all about creating, projecting, modifying and playing with realities. In other words, when Broohn switches forms, he is switching which version of himself is present in this reality. Don’t ask me where the rest of him is. All I can tell you for now is that it’s in storage.”

Wait, so you don’t know where it is?

“I do, but that would require a small mountain of math, physics, and runework to explain properly, which we don’t have time for at the moment.”

Very well then. Carry on.

“So, one of the things that Broohn’s father figured out about glamor is that the form switching trick can be modified so that two realities are both present at the same location at the same time, just stacked on top of each other. He then used this trick, along with a bunch of help from my parents, to build a city on top of a rainforest without tearing down the forest. Are you with me so far?”

Yes, I’m just kind of confused as to what this has to do with us.

“I am a dryad and a cyad from that city, meaning that my very nature is to have a city stacked on top of a forest. What my magic was trying to do is take the three different parts of you and put each one into its own reality, those parts being a tree, a mansion, and a focal point.”

Oh.

“Ideally, I’d like to give you some time to think about this, but I can only pause my magic for so long before it starts to look for other outlets, which would be a problem. So I’m going to need your help to mark what parts go where and how the realities should be divided up. Once the marking is done I will release my magic and we’ll have to watch it do its thing to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

Are you saying that I’ll finally be able to have all three functions operating separately without getting in each other’s way?

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I will warn you that it’s going to take some fiddling to get everything marked properly, but it can be done.”

Is there any downside to this?

“Getting the realities to be stable and self-sustaining requires a lot of power. If the power supply fails before we get everything stable, then we’re going to have a massive headache coming our way. Frankly, I’m not sure that we have enough power to pull this off.”

Don’t worry, I have plenty of power in storage. I’m not entirely sure what it was intended for, but I know I can replace it easily enough once we're done.

“Oh? Are you sure about that?”

Yes, I am. Now let’s do this thing!

“Alrighty then. The first step is me showing you how to make the different kinds of marks and what they’re for. The first one looks like this…”