Mash, Toroken, Ythass, and Lisa went to go see what lived within the tree. The others had stayed behind and would start the moving process for any beastmen that still wanted to come. Luke, Valeria, and Jill went to tell people about the change to the plan, and what it would probably mean for anyone that wanted to move. Mash rightly believed that his presence would make things more difficult and decided to deal with his own thing.

It only took them a little while to get to the tree, and it wasn’t hard to sense the life Toroken had mentioned. Mash could sense it like he could anything else within his domain. The entire tree had a sense of life; a spirit, or soul as Luke would see it. Mash felt like this was closer to when he made things from his magic. It was closer to an entity of mana somewhat like Lisa was now.

As his domain took in more of the tree, he noticed that the spirit he sensed wasn’t the entire tree. He traced the thing with his eyes, following it as it moved through the tree toward him. It was definitely connected to the tree somehow. The creature, whatever it was, had noticed them and was approaching them too. Although, its form was completely blended in with the mana of the tree. The only way Mash could even see it was from the way the mana shifted.

“It’s coming!”

He shouted for the benefit of the two dragons who weren’t privy to his telepathic connection. Lisa shifted slightly behind him, and the mana in her body hardened slightly. Neither Toroken nor Ythass took any precautions. They just seemed excited to meet a new creature. Was it just in the nature of dragons to be unconscious? He kind of expected Toroken to be more careful considering that the dragon had already died once. Well, Mash couldn’t really judge someone’s arrogance.

Toroken and Ythass halted just before the tree, and Mash flew up beside them. It took another second for the creature within to make itself known.

“Hello. Who are you?”

The voice sounded like it came from within a deep tunnel. Mash heard and understood the word, but nobody else did. The language the creature used wasn’t anything any of them had ever heard before. Only Mash had an item to understand it, and he replied knowing that it would work.

“We’re friends. This is sort of my world.”

He wasn’t sure if it would trust him, but it was the truth as he saw it. Mash followed the creature as it came to the edge of the tree and started to come out. It pulled the bark with it, wrapping the wood around itself like skin. It was vaguely humanoid at first, although detail only came after it had completely separated from the tree. The bark changed shape. It formed into clothes too, though it just looked like engravings on a piece of wood.

Either way, the creature was boyish, and small, about as big as two fists stacked atop one another. It had a crown on its head and wore a perfect suit. To Mash, that made the creature seem even younger. It was the type of outfit that belonged to noble children who let their mothers dress them. Once the clothes and features were done, wings of pure mana sprouted from his back. They were nearly translucent and flapped quickly like a dragonfly. Finally, its face filled out, and it had the visage of a young boy that barely looked 10. Mash stared at the strange creature for a moment before remembering to speak.

“What are you?”

Mash asked the obvious question and waited to see what he would say.

“I am Damah, the first of my kind. But more are coming!”

He spoke confidently with his chest puffed out to make himself seem bigger. Considering that he was barely a foot tall, the gesture just seemed cute. Mash raised an eyebrow.

“Coming from where?”

The boy looked at him carefully, and then back at the tree. Mash got the meaning before he spoke.

“From you and mother.”

Mash didn’t like the implication behind that statement, though he didn’t get to respond as Ythass poked him.

“What is he or she, saying?”

Ythass sounded annoyed, frustrated that she could just understand the conversation as he did. Mash looked at her and saw a similar expression on Toroken and Lisa. He sighed a little before responding.

“This is Damah. Apparently, he’s the first but more will come from the tree soon.”

Mash left out the part involving him, choosing carefully to omit any notion of him being a father. The others were satisfied with his explanation and cooed over Damah. Ythass and Toroken both approached quickly hovering around the wooden child with obvious fascination. Damah reacted by puffing out his chest even more. When neither dragon seemed to care about the gesture, the boy turned to Mash.

“Father! Who are these creatures?”

Mash flinched at the form of address and quickly shook his head.

“Just call me Mash, and they are dragons. Basically, just powerful and magical lizards.”

He added that last comment when he realized that Damah likely wouldn’t understand what a dragon was. Ythass and Toroken both looked affronted, but neither rejected the description. For better or worse, it was an apt definition of a dragon. However, the child might not even know what a lizard was, so it might have fallen on deaf ears. Damah didn’t say anything though, instead, he eyed the two dragons more inquisitively. Lisa tapped Mash on the shoulder and whispered behind him.

“Why is he calling you father?”

Mash glanced at her. He had forgotten that she had a translation item. He didn’t really have a good answer. Nothing good came to mind either. Lisa smirked and then frowned.

“I’m sorry, I was just kidding. I kind of got the idea. But what are you going to do?”

She didn’t need to apologize. Even after advancing, she had barely opened up, so he took the jab with good humor and gave her a smile in return.

“Honestly, just going to leave them be.”

Despite saying the words simply, he knew that it was his best option. Mash couldn’t control people or well anything. He could kill them though, not that he would do that. However, it did leave him with limited options on most things. In this case, he would just leave Damah and his people alone. Realizing that there was nothing for Mash to do, he called out to the others.

“Well since Damah seems fine, let’s go back to the others.”

Nobody protested, and they left. Mash started to fly away and noticed Damah following him. Mash glanced back at the small kid.

“What are you doing?”

Damah rested on his shoulder and smiled up at him endearingly. Mash somehow knew that it was fake. Both the smile and his words.

“What me? I just thought…”

Mash grimaced a little, but let the little guy join.

“Yeah, okay. Just remember to call me Mash.”

Mash wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. He still didn’t know anything about this creature, except for what Damah claimed. Mash wasn’t sure if he could actually trust it, but it was made of an amalgamation of his own magic so it probably wouldn’t be that bad. Plus, Damah really was just a little kid. However, Mash couldn’t help but think that he looked mischievous and decided to keep an eye on him.

The trip back didn’t take that long, and the others were already there waiting. Priscilla had told him when they had returned from speaking with the king. Now, they just needed him to open some portals to get the transfers going.

Mash landed on the ground and felt Damah use some type of illusion magic. He could roughly tell from the type of mana, and the similarity to his own magic. While he never really bothered with illusions, he guessed that it was something he could do. Mash traced the little guy with his domain and watched as he tried to sneak up on Jill. Before Damah could surprise her, Jill spun and shouted.

“Boo!”

Damah reacted, flying backward and smacking into a nearby tree. The boy shrieked; his illusion faded. Seeing a kid of any size or kind get hurt wasn’t exactly enjoyable, and even Jill had the decency to look abashed.

“Oh, Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

Jill seemed to struggle with what to say, and only then seemed to realize the true nature of Damah. The boy wasn’t like any creature she or anyone had ever seen before. Luke, Red, and everyone else stared at the tiny woodwork boy with curious glances. Mash saved Damah from scrutiny by introducing him.

“That’s Damah, he was the thing in the tree.”

“Thing?”

Red's one-word question, was accompanied by her reaching down to pick Damah. The boy saw Red and flew away from her rapidly. He screamed a childish scream while fleeing. He flew fast, stopping behind Mash’s head and watching Red very carefully.

“What’s wrong?”

Mash whispered the words to Damah.

“She is touched.”

That had to be something to do with her skills. Red’s magic bothered people, herself included, and Damah seemed more aware of it than others. Maybe he had more insight than he let on.

“What do you mean by touched?”

Damah gave Mash a look that said it was obvious. It was the same expression a kid would have when they were confidently telling you about an imaginary friend.

“She is wrong! She is, uhm… Life in death!”

Mash understood very little of that.

“Yeah, so am I. Ends and beginnings, life and death?”

Mash said it like a question, prompting Damah to explain more clearly.

“You are both. One and the other. She is one. One in the other.”

Damah talked a little bit like a kid, but one with obvious knowledge of something. Mash wondered where Damah gained his language, but then again, maybe Mash’s translation item cared more for intent than actual language. Either way, Mash didn’t get the meaning.

“And that matters because of something?”

“It’s naughty.”

Damah said it was like it was the most scandalous thing he had ever heard. And for a child as young as he was, that might very well be the case. Although, it did introduce another question.

“Why would you think that?”

Where in the world did, he find someone to teach him about what was considered naughty? Mash highly doubted that he was speaking to any of the others in the world. Damah replied easily.

“Mother did.”

“As in the tree.”

Damah nodded, and that just introduced more things Mash wasn’t sure about. Did the tree have a degree of sentience separate from Damah? Or did Damah have a way to communicate with the tree? And did that make a difference? Where did a tree get its moral compass? So many questions bounced around in Mash’s head, and he settled on addressing none of them for the moment. He instead just turned toward Luke and Valeria.

“So, Portals.”