Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!

Chapter 97: Chapter 97 - The Unconditional Love of the Golden Tree 2

After about half an hour, he suddenly spoke with a voice that does not match a boy that is only 5 years of age. It was more mature and modulated similar to a young man in his adolescent years. He said in a serious tone, ”What if I told you that everything I showed you all this time were just illusions that I previously used to delude myself so I do not regret providing anything for the useless beings living under my care?” This single statement shocked me to the core. I thought he was genuinely happy about being a little landlord but why does he sound frustrated, unhappy and even disappointed to the point of regretting doing his job and fulfilling the reason that this realm was created?

It took some time to reel in my shock on his sudden change of emotions and the only question I could ask back about his statement was, ”Why would you show me an illusion instead of the truth?” He looked at me with eyes void of any emotion and replied, ”I don’t want you to think that I am stupid. Though you might start to think I am a liar instead.” He gave me a small smile that did not reach his eyes and he looked some place faraway as if in deep thought. After quite some time, instead of him answering my question, he looked down and the little boy started to cry quietly. This... I don’t have any idea how to coax a crying child. I never had siblings and have never been a mother. What did I even do wrong for him to cry like this?

He kept sobbing quietly and I saw his shoulders shivering. It was a cry full of pain and self-blame that I am quite familiar with since I was also like this when I was living alone. Since I did not know what to do, I moved bit by bit near him and then put my hands under his armpits and lifted him up. He looked shocked and it made him stop crying immediately. When he realized what just happened and what I have done, he looked at me like I was bullying him. He tried to struggle so I will put him down but what I did is place him on my lap and hug him tight from behind instead. Maybe this would work? Is this how mothers coax their children so they’ll stop crying? Hopefully, it would work.

We stayed like that for a few minutes. As for the little guy, though he seem to be trying to leave my embrace at first, he eventually settled down on my lap. He even moved a bit on my lap so he can lean sideways on to my chest and he even used one of his chubby little hands to hold on to my clothes while still sniffing and sobbing a bit. He finally calmed down after quite some time. Once I noticed that he did, I asked him, ”Would you like to show me what your territory really looks like? I promise that I will never think that you are stupid, okay?” He nodded silently but still stayed leaned on to me like I’m the most-needed support that he finally found.

He looked up at me and when I looked into his eyes, I started to see a different place as if it was part of a vision. It took me a few seconds to realize that I am seeing his memories and all the real events that happened through his eyes. He showed me all the things that he has gone through and all that he had to do to create this realm.

At the start of the vision, I was transported to a desolate place, much like the time when I first opened the new world tree realm. It was pitch black, the ground was stony and infertile and the atmosphere is not even conducive to life. I saw him put his consciousness in to a small golden seed and he did everything he can to bury himself on the ground. His next hurdle was that he had to fight to live and grow despite the very scarce resources available in the realm he created.

The next visions then increase in speed for a few seconds and then finally stopped at the time when the realm looked way better. The air is now clean and plants have started to grow. There was already a small source of light akin to the sun in the sky but it could not illuminate the whole realm yet.

The vision sped up once again and then it stopped at a next scene which showed a lush forest, flowing rivers, clear lakes and the vast blue ocean. The source of light is now clearer with something that looked like a sun and a moon. I was showed that there was already a clear partition between night and day. I can almost feel the warmth of the sun, the fresh smell of the forest in the morning and the calming sound of sea waves.

The vision sped up once more and the next time, it stopped at the time when the realm was already welcoming its first inhabitants. It started with a couple of races but as more layers were added to the realm, more races were then able to migrate and live within the world tree realm. Everybody looked happy and contented in their new homeland. I also felt the happiness of its creator through our soul link. The visions stayed with this scene for several minutes as if trying to stretch the good times that were happening in the earlier years of this realm. It was as if Nische was trying to delay showing me the bad times that I knew was about to come. Those times were inevitable since I knew that the old world tree realm has ceased to exist.

After a few minutes, I noticed that the visions were changing. It became less colorful. The happy noise of people going about decreased. The races living in the realm are no longer smiling and the overall atmosphere was getting darker and gloomier by the second. The scenes that were playing in from of my eyes then seemed to pause and it even glitched before it focused on a particular part of the world tree realm.

The next vision then panned to the area where the elves lived. There was a scene where the elders of the elves proclaimed themselves as protectors of the new homeland. They started making rules that the other races have to follow. They controlled the lives of most of the races who were previously living peacefully. They even issued some threats that if they don’t follow the rules that were set, they can say goodbye to all the things that they are used to having and they can even be kicked out from the realm. As for the races, they found it a bit weird and somewhat constricting but as the years went on, they got used to it as if its part of their daily lives. Eventually, the heralds also started to create their own faction and rules, proclaiming themselves as the messenger of the gods who created Aeocrescens this time. They must have learned through the sham that the elves started. As for the world tree, as long as there is a semblance of order and the people do not fight or hurt each other, he let the races decide how they would want to live their lives. No matter how they pretend to have a semblance of order and leadership, after years, decades and then centuries, these things caused most of the races to get the feeling of being oppressed. These little sparks of unhappiness eventually spiraled out of control and caused bigger problems that even the world tree could not fix anymore.

As for all the races that have been spoiled rotten throughout these years, they started to take for granted the use of the resources given to them. They all thought that it was infinite since the world tree was all powerful and the resources were periodically refreshed so why should they conserve or be mindful of how much they consume. They became wasteful and eventually greedy just like the elves that they always said that they hated. They also became rude and ungrateful to the realm creator that was taking care of them all these years. As for the world tree, he has long regarded them as his children or his ward so he made sure to continuously provide for everything they needed since he took it as his purpose in this world. No matter how rude or ungrateful they were, he repeatedly forgave them. He even thought that the reason they are unhappy maybe because he has not given enough. He continued doing this sacrificial form of love even at the expense of his own lifespan.

The vision then sped up and after it stopped, it showed an era of division and civil strife. The races started barricading themselves within their assigned territories and setting up their own laws and punishment system. It maybe their desperate need to take back some form of control but they have put the elves and the heralds in a high pedestal for so long that even with those systems in place they were all still under the rule of those two races.

As for those that have claimed power and authority among themselves, the greed of the elves and the heralds did not die down but instead it grew more severe. Eventually, they even questioned the authority of the world tree and the gods as if they forgot who were the ones that created the world and the realm they are currently residing in. They thought that with their numbers, their growing power and the fact that their races have intermarried with the royals of Eieneos several times in the last generations, they are now more powerful than the rest of the races and should have equal rights with the management and the ownership of the world. The unrest turned to isolated fights between some races, then a rebellion against the elves and heralds and eventually an all out war. As for some races, they remained isolated from others and did not care for the life and death of their brethren in the realm as long as their safety is not being threatened in any way. These races included the dragons, the giants and the fairies.

The visions sped up and the next events were the ones that I saw when I glimpsed at my inherited memories which was during the war between Eieneos and the two traitor and greedy races of the elves and heralds. It played the war in full detail till Eieneos closed themselves off and the last of their people turned into specks of lights except the four that are currently preserved inside the palace.