“So, you’re leaving.”

The party was too tired to be surprised by the voice. Neither did the appearance of Mai confuse them at all. The elf was still in the brunette, middle-aged form she had assumed for combat. Her true form, the one she had the easiest time maintaining. No wound nor other mark tainted her form, save for the bags under her reddened eyes.

“Yeah,” Reysha responded. The group came to a halt in front of the fungus-covered trunk. Some storm had blown it over years ago and none had made use of it before the wood started to rot. Now, only insects, moss, and fungi had use of it.

Mai ran a hand over the bark. It peeled back, wet from the recent heavy rain. She nodded solemnly to herself. “They’ve finished celebrating. The mourning will continue.” She directed her gaze at the far distance, where the adventurers had their victory festival. “With the outside threat removed, they may turn their anger towards you.”

“They’ve helped us so far,” Apexus stated.

Mai let out a dry chuckle. “A desperate struggle and a trusted mentor do much to weld together strangers. With both removed and many dead, you’ll find that some may change their mind.”

“Maltos isn’t dead,” Korith mumbled.

A wet snap and a chunk of the bark was torn off, revealing larvae writhing underneath. Mai inspected them for a little while, watched them scatter or squeeze into other cavities. She tossed the moist wood over her shoulder. “Empires are strongest when they have an enemy. No gathering of people is different. What’s your plan?”

“Go north. Then, take a ship to the mainland. All the way to the Stem, if possible. Then… we follow the compass my mentor gave us.”

“A Leaf Compass?” Apexus nodded to the Infiltrator’s question. “Maltos always had a great many things hidden away… If you turn right upon leaving this world, I don’t know what awaits you… it’s been over twenty years since I heard news from that direction. Left you will find a few independent Leaves and eventually the former vassals of the empire of Ambrosia.” Mai played with the handle of her dagger. “You’ll find only ruins there. Perhaps a worthwhile experience for young adventurers like you.” She suddenly stood up. “If you go to the harbour, you’ll find a small vessel. You’ll recognize it by the red paint. Use it.”

“You didn’t strike me as the fishing kind,” Reysha hummed.

“Vulk won’t miss it and I’ll tell Joey to haul it back next time he stops here.”

Reysha let out a crazy little giggle, while Aclysia rubbed her forehead. “I’m… uncomfortable,” she confessed.

“He won’t mind,” Korith assured them. After getting beaten, thrown, insulted, and lectured by the man, she was sure he would at worst scoff and at best loudly laugh about this. Even in these current times.

Aclysia remained hesitant. Gladly, she would have directed a few more questions at the Rogue teacher, but she was hidden. Swallowed up by her Skills as quickly as she had appeared. “We’ll take the boat,” Apexus decided. He was too tired, too eager to leave, to forego the opportunity.

They reached the harbour when the sky began to turn purple. The calm sea greeted them, the tides neither in their favour nor an obstruction. Apexus and Korith rowed, managing to find a working rhythm despite their vastly differing sizes. The red vessel parted the greyish green sea.

The sun rose and basked the gold and brown leaves of the Teacher’s Isle in its rays. There, the earliest of birds were awakening. The adventurers were going to sleep long and hard, most of them would awaken to a stinging hangover. Although there was much to be felt, looking back to the island that they had spent most of the past 8 months, they all felt only this mild, peaceful longing for a world without loss.

Alas, this was not that world.

__________________________________________________________________________

They were on the water for a few days, living off the remaining food they had stocked up during their time in their home. Landfall was made at the same port they had originally met Korith at. They did not come across Joey. It would have been satisfying to have one more opportunity to say goodbye to the captain. Another thing the world just did not afford them

They travelled north. A journey of twenty days. A span of time during which their sombre mood surrendered to their companionship. It was nothing special that caused that. They did not come across any great person on their path through the Golden Fields. They did not face any great challenges in the Spilling Swamp. They did not need to go through any unifying process to get through the Northern Wall. Neither the forests nor the villages of Elomerstir offered them any troubles.

It was just time. Day by day, hour by hour, they came to terms with what they had lost and cherished what they had gained. The memories of their teachers became compartmentalized. The way they wanted to remember their time there manifested. The lessons learned seeped in properly. All the while, Reysha was being Reysha, with her quick tongue and her quips. Aclysia was being Aclysia, with her frustration, seriousness, and deep analysis. Korith was being Korith, with her entertaining reactions, her greed and her adorableness. Apexus was being Apexus, with his assertiveness and odd contemplations.

And so they were all perfectly recovered to universally give Anohal dirty glares when he greeted them at the outskirts of Stemfield.

“My, oh my, you did not think you could have the prologue to your next book without my presence, did you?” the priest of the Great Actor asked and bowed deeply. “Do not worry, I am sure I’ll have a passing role from here on out.”

Anohal straightened up to the backdrop of the massive city that had grown where the Leaf was anchored to the Omniverse. The veins that spread through the entire world all were bundled up into a path of silver, shifting threads that reached up into an undeterminable point in the sky. Where normally only powerful adventurers and magical beings could interact with the veins of the Omniverse, their density here was so great that people and carts could travel up and down its steep incline, ignoring the usual suggestions of gravity. That commerce between worlds brought prosperity to an area already located beside fertile woodland.

There were tens of thousands of people. A gathering ludicrous for Apexus, who was awestruck each time he was reminded what sapient creatures could create given time and resources. Towers ten stories tall oversaw fortifications and sprawling urban areas.

All of that was difficult to enjoy with the effeminate man smiling ever so enigmatically in front of them. “So you won’t press us into service?” Korith leered at him and the two glass-eyed people behind him. One was Mehily, the other the Lord Inquisitor whom they had only met once before. The latter was greatly displeased by the question.

“That is exactly what we should do,” he hissed. “You are the reason Apotho walks free, you should help us fortify the city.”

“This is where you will prepare for the other Deathhounds?” Apexus looked around, at the thousands of homes that could be caught up in the crossfire.

“There’s no better position. A chokepoint that cannot be circumvented. Either to enter or to leave, they’ll have to come through and we will be ready.” The Lord Inquisitor straightened up.

“Of course, the villain will not be foolish enough to send his resources into suicide missions like that.” Anohal kept on smiling, hiding his true thoughts on what he had just said. “This is not that kind of play. Resistance must be prepared regardless. One never knows what he may send instead of a Deathhound or what means he may employ to check whether we have prepared or not. Therefore, our new charge will be to stay.”

“As should you.”

“As they should not,” Anohal chided his comrade melodically. “You need to study scripts more entertaining than your theological works, Lars. The heroes of a story cannot stay. They need to explore the world, singular or manifold, and find power within and without.” The Blessed Trickster tilted his head, smile and eyes empty like the mask that symbolized theatre. “Do you wish to go against my orders?”

The Lord Inquisitor saw something in the impenetrable spectrum of colours that was Anohal’s soul and turned pale. Even robbed of his colour, he remained straight in posture. “I’ll defer to the Ecclesiarch’s authority.”

“Ah, to have a patron that bends even the stubbornness of Inquisitors. Truly, I am blessed to know Melawa.” Anohal turned back to the group. “It will all move smoother if we are there to see you off.”

Apexus just gestured for Anohal to lead the way. He truly did not like the priest, even if he had a pleasant chat with his deity before. Followers and gods did not have to be aligned. A fact that Apexus found as puzzling as he found it fascinating.

The streets of Stemfield were busy. So busy, Apexus had to pick up Korith so they wouldn’t lose the shortie in the constant movement around them. It got worse and worse, the deeper they got. Louder and louder, town criers competing with the shop owners advertising their wares, both of them overpowering the constant mumbling of hundreds of voices. The sheer density of different smells assaulted their senses.

Then, they walked past a gate and it all faded into the background. They were inside a fortress now. An arena that wrapped around where the Stem touched the soil, overseeing new arrivals with ballistas and spears. Four gates led in and out, each manned with soldiers who took the necessary tolls of everyone entering or leaving.

The members of the faith militant stood out intensely. Where the local soldiers wore simple armours of iron, those of the Church were dressed in silver-gleaming polished plate, half-covered by tabards. Many had pendants of their deity around their necks. Paladins, as most of them were, they preferred shields and could wield large weapons that would have been too heavy for the average soldier to hold in one hand.

Apexus and his party saw all of this from an elevated position. “Why the fuck did you direct us to a tower?” Reysha asked and pointed at the Stem. “We want to get there.”

“What do you see?” Anohal gestured at the courtyard. He looked at Reysha and softly shook his head. He looked at Korith and she looked away. He looked at Aclysia and she was too busy thinking to notice. He looked at Apexus and Apexus looked back.

“This fortress could not have been erected within twenty days,” Aclysia analysed. “These procedures are too smooth to have been only put into effect recently. I have previously heard that Elomerstir has designs to expand... did the Church have to… no, the Church is…”

“Impartial?” Anohal finished the sentence of the angel with a chuckle. “No, young angel, the Church is a set piece. It takes the role it is required to, to see its purpose fulfilled. We are what wards off demons and Parasytes. We do not favour nations, but we will make deals to assure positions are given.”

“We should just reinstitute the Order of Sanctification,” the Lord Inquisitor growled.

Mehily shook her head and explained it, following a questioning gaze from Apexus. “The Order of Sanctification was a plan to directly sponsor the governments of Leaves. The Church would use its power to create a vassal state, tax it, gather more power, create more vassal states, gather more taxes, until the Church had the power to control everything.”

“Sounds like a fucking terrible idea.”

“It was,” Anohal shrugged. “In the end, even the Church is just filled with sapient and corruptible people. It all collapsed, costing us more than we ever got out of it.”

“An issue of scope and conviction,” the Lord Inquisitor stated, with certainty.

“And besides the point.” Anohal gestured at the courtyard. “Elomerstir will enjoy the backing of the Church. The wealth our garrison makes flow here. The security of soldiers they do not need to pay. The legitimacy of the crown that supports a holy cause. What will they make of it? Expansion, most likely. Will this enable their plans or merely pull them forwards, to take over the Golden Fields and the rest of the Leaf?”

Apexus walked up to the palisades and placed a hand on the flat stone. “You show us this to make us aware of the indirect effects of our actions.”

“You are ever the observant protagonist,” Anohal complimented. “Your story is then your own, as are your consequences. I’m sure you’ll find the rest of the way. Lord Inquisitor, if you would follow me.” Anohal headed back down the stairs, as did Lars. The party did not have a need to add anything to their goodbye.

Uncertain, Mehily stood where she was for a little while. “It’s good to have seen you one more time,” she said.

“Not gonna ask to come along with us?” Reysha asked with a cackle.

The blonde shook her head, no smile on her face. “We both know how that would end, Reysha. We’ve changed, but… I believe we’d bring out the worst in each other.” The tiger girl just shrugged, not caring whether that was true or not. she had asked knowing she would get a denial as her answer. “I’m sure our paths will cross again. In the end, I, too, wish to contribute to Apotho’s end.”

“It’s not your sin to bear,” Aclysia stated softly.

“It is,” Apexus disagreed. “Just not hers alone.” He put a foot on the edge of the tower. “Until we meet again… can you check on Maltos at times?”

“I will,” Mehily promised. “Perhaps it would be wiser for you to-“

The Priest did not get to finish the sentence. Eager to get off this Leaf, to be rid of the meddlesome Church and the noises of this city, he leapt down from the watchtower. A loud laugh warned him and he got into position to catch Reysha the second he had landed in the courtyard. Korith slammed down hard next to him, as unharmed as the landing had been impressive. Aclysia, meanwhile, hovered down elegantly, hands raised to dissuade the soldiers that were hurrying towards them.

“They’re with us!” Mehily shouted down from the watchtower, causing the Elomerstir soldiers to halt and then watch from a distance, as the party marched up to the Stem and joined the loose trail of people that climbed the Stem. They did not care much to hinder people leaving their jurisdiction.

The sensation was nostalgic. Each step brought them further away from the reality of this world. The smell of Autumn faded, making Apexus realize just how thick the humidity had been these past few months. The grey clouds turned opaque, then transparent, finally to disappear entirely. They were replaced with the endless network of silver branches that stretched on in an incomprehensible scale. All existed against the backdrop of the black nothingness that the tree was rooted in and yet more branches in the distance. It was impossible to say how far away it was. All was silvery white and the thickness of the branches was not uniform. What seemed the closest could be the farthest. What seemed like the trunk could just have been a particularly close branch that was vertical relative to them. There was no guarantee they were horizontal relative to the roots. Each branch was its own centre of gravity.

The massive trenches in the bark served as the paths people travelled. Now outside, the commerce seemed so much milder. Many carts went left, few went right. Apexus pulled out the compass and the needle turned to the road less travelled.

To them, that made no difference.