“I hope I can soon show you something else as well.”

His demeanor also exuded confidence. And Asillion hurried the journey as if wanting to prove those words as quickly as possible.

Before long, Jiwoo was able to reach the place where Elandos, which they cherished and loved, was.

It was only a few days after Jiwoo and Kallan’s group entered their cold war.

* * *

As autumn drew to an end, the journey was filled with the scent of autumn leaves falling, but now the air was mixed with the pungent smell of a stagnant, sticky marsh.

It was quite different from the dry Elandos before.

While the Elandos of Helkainis’ group was situated in the midst of a sparse, sprawling field, the Elandos of Asillion’s group was nestled amid the rugged grassy slopes of a high mountain.

The area surrounding the dry Elandos had nothing, but the path to get there was much rougher than before. Wild, overgrown grasses reached at least knee-height, some even surpassing the waist. The grass, blackened as if charred, resembled thorny vines of a marshland.

A fully-grown tree withering was more impactful than a sapling drying up. Their diseased tree proved that fact, and the barren land was alarming. It was almost terrifying to walk on.

Unbeknownst to herself, Jiwoo broke into a cold sweat. This level of terrain was a place she rarely encountered while fulfilling her duties as an Akarna.

“Shall I… go alone?”

Asillion chuckled in embarrassment. Seeing him looking very apologetic, it seemed inevitable.

“I also wish to go with you as much as possible, but if I were to become contaminated along the way, it could put you in danger.”

“Well, I guess there’s no other way.”

It meant she had to walk the long path alone.

Jiwoo covered her face with both hands, sweeping it, and then slowly rubbed it down.

“Huu…”

The bad feeling had lingered for quite some time, but now she needed to shake it off.

The power of the Akarna often depended a lot on one’s mood.

She had come this far on her own request, and it wouldn’t be right for her own bad mood to dictate the fate of someone else’s life.

“Then, I’ll be back.”

Jiwoo nodded to Asillion and glanced at where Callandein was before heading towards the place with the diseased tree. They had been watching her from a distance all along.

While Jiwoo sent cold glances the whole time, they seemed somewhat downcast.

She had thought it would be a pleasant journey, but the cold war due to unexpected problems meant that even Jiwoo wasn’t entirely at ease.

“Let’s finish this first and then talk again.”

As she took a step forward, a rustling sound came. The overgrown grass, which seemed as tough as thorns, scattered like burnt paper as Jiwoo touched it.

‘Not as challenging as I thought.’

Though it felt like walking through a thorn bush, it was more like walking on an expansive array of ash.

After walking for a while, Jiwoo looked back.

Asillion’s group had their gaze fixed on the Elandos towering in the middle of her destination. Asillion’s eyes met Jiwoo’s belatedly, he nodded and then raised his head.

It was both an encouragement and a sign of gratitude. It seemed like there was a mix of expectation and concern that their Elandos might be revived.

Still, they patiently waited for Jiwoo.

Compared to Helkainis’ group, they were remarkably calm.

Helkainis, on the opposite side, seemed to be approaching this side but were restrained by the others. Then they started a serious conversation, their gestures pointing at each other in a somewhat aggressive manner.

Just from their movements, it was evident that they were raising their voices in disagreement.

‘Are they fighting? Why…?’

In truth, Jiwoo had mostly seen their harmonious interactions, so witnessing them clash was the first time.

Deciding to ask after finishing the current task, Jiwoo walked ahead without looking back.

It had taken just under an hour. The stinging air and the sinking ground made it quite difficult. When she stood before the dying tree, her vision was filled with the pitch-black trunk, which resembled charcoal.

Jiwoo placed her hand on the trunk, which was too massive to be called a trunk but had grown frail and unimpressive.

Through her hand, she could feel the feeble energy of the tree. Having communicated with another Elandos before, it was easier this time to sense its faint energy compared to the last time.

Elandos.

The pure white tree.

Thinking about it, Elandos was not so special.

Just a part of nature, as was everything else in this world.

Therefore, if she can consider herself a part of nature, she too can blend in as a part of it.

‘I want to communicate with it again.’

Jiwoo is a human. At the same time, she was an Akarna.

In Caranazion, she had to choose to live as one of them. If she wanted to live as a human, she had to give up being the Akarna and conceal it, and if she wanted to live as the Akarna, she had to give up being human and become a symbol.

Only after meeting the children of Elandos did Jiwoo come to accept that she could be both human and an Akarna, and that she wasn’t a special existence but just a part of nature.

But even so, she could still be special. Nothing yet unique to each other. Such connections and bonds that gave life, sustaining intelligent beings like them, weren’t it special?

The moment Jiwoo realized this was the moment she could communicate with the tree, and it was also the moment when the Akarna, who accepted only the human part of her as a side of her, could extend her healing power to the tree.

‘Ah, I see.’

The reason she wanted to feel this sensation again was because she needed assurance in her heart.

It was those people who made all of this possible.

Whooong. Jiwoo’s heartbeat resonated, and slowly, vitality began to fill the withered tree.

It was the same feeling when she saved the first Elandos. The relief of finding a place to stay in a strange world. Affection for those who regarded her as herself and needed her. The peace that made her feel that even wandering aimlessly in the world without thought wasn’t the wrong path.

She wanted to feel the joy and excitement of that moment when she was filled with exhilaration once again.

Yes, what could have been the problem?

All the concerns she had been struggling with felt futile.

Jiwoo smiled faintly and opened her eyes.

The sight before her eyes was already shining brightly in dazzling whiteness.

Turning her head, she noticed that the land, which had been like a marsh full of thorn bushes, had now become lush. The hill that seemed to have stood alone with Elandos was now surrounded by densely growing trees. The golden light coming through the foliage and the white light emitted by Elandos itself, sone in the midst of the lush forest.

Asillion’s group was now happily running around the newly revived tree. Some were even touching their foreheads to the revived Elandos, overwhelmed with emotion.

It was a sight of success that needed no further second thought. Jiwoo wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.

Though the time where they interacted felt short, it seemed to have been much longer than she thought. The accumulated fatigue in her body was akin to what one would feel after standing for a long time.

“Phew….”

At Jiwoo’s shallow sigh, Asillion, who had been looking into the distance, turned his head.

“Oh, Seo Jiwoo, I’m sorry. We were too excited, and we got too late in expressing our gratitude.”

As Asillion’s face flushed, he belatedly approached Jiwoo and bowed his waist. When he raised his head again, his expression seemed somewhat embarrassed.

Jiwoo once again surveyed Asillion’s group. The Elandos didn’t revive in a single moment, it gradually recovered over time, changing the surrounding environment.

Rather than to disturb Jiwoo, who they might not know when she would end the interaction and open her eyes again, they focus on their beloved tree and adjust their growth to the environment that suited them.

However, Helkainis’ group did not just leave Jiwoo to walk that path alone. Even after their Elandos had been revived, before rejoicing at the tree, they ran to Jiwoo and proposed.

It simply meant they were that different.

__