Kael let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as the three elves vanished. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, silently thanking the game's AI director. It was pure melodrama, but at least they had survived the cutscene without incident.
With Myran gone, Caelthas sealed the observatory's entrance. The Arch Elder then knelt before the Eye of Elunara, bowing deeply as he initiated the summoning ritual.
Kael stood on the altar, gazing up at the artifact. Before, the Eye of Elunara had looked like nothing more than a glowing orb. Now, it felt alive. It felt like it was staring right back at him.
Suddenly, his body froze.
All his skill icons grayed out. Kael tried to speak to Caelthas, but his vocal cords refused to respond. A second later, his perspective violently shifted. He was looking down at his own body standing paralyzed on the altar, with Caelthas and Isilwen kneeling beside it. His consciousness had detached and was drifting upward, drawn into the Eye of Elunara.
The world dissolved into pitch black. He floated in a void lacking up, down, or any sense of direction.
Time lost its meaning before a soft emerald light finally pierced the darkness. A humanoid silhouette materialized, its features blurred and indistinct.
A voice echoed directly in his mind. "Dawnbreaker. To pass the trial so swiftly... you are as capable as they say."
Kael frowned mentally. "A trial? Nobody mentioned a trial."
"It began the moment you accepted the Moonlight Revel."
"Care to explain what it was?"
"You do not need to know. Accept that it was the will of the gods."
Kael knew the lore behind the upcoming Arrival of the Gods expansion. These "gods" were just higher-dimensional beings fighting over turf and resources. To a hamster in a cage, a human was a god, but humans did far worse things than hamsters ever could. He had zero reverence for deities or demons.
But he needed a favor, so he kept his cynicism in check.
"Are you Hakpen?"
"No. Lord Hakpen is occupied. He does not speak directly with mortals. I am Aureleaf. I was the first World Tree; the trees of your world are my descendants."
"If I ask you for an Eye of Elunara, do you even have the authority to hand it over?"
Silence stretched across the void.
Kael's bluntness had clearly caught Aureleaf off guard. He hadn't asked if Aureleaf would give it, but if he could. This mortal seemed to know too much.
"What makes you so certain I will give it to you at all?"
"Why else would you test me?"
More silence. Aureleaf gave up trying to read this player. "Fine. You guessed correctly. I brought an Eye of Elunara for you."
"And what else?"
Aureleaf nearly lost his composure. This human had absolutely no respect for the divine. If Lord Hakpen hadn't given explicit orders, Aureleaf would have severed the connection immediately.
"Amusing. What else do you want?"
"A lot of things. For starters, the truth behind the destruction of Aelindale fifty years ago."
"That... is complicated. It involves divine politics—but I can tell you this: Caelthas's suspicions are correct. Miana is involved."
Kael nodded. That confirmation was enough. He didn't want to dig deeper into divine conspiracies until his stats were higher.
"You said the World Trees are your descendants," Kael pressed. "So fifty years ago, you just sat back and watched them burn?"
Aureleaf sighed. "A mortal wouldn't understand."
Kael smirked. "What's not to understand? You let the demon hordes invade so you could accuse them of breaking the pact, giving you the perfect excuse to descend into the mortal realm."
Aureleaf didn't say a word.
This went way beyond the current game progression. That was the core plot twist bridging the end of WarChief's Descent and the Arrival of the Gods expansion. And this player had just laid it out casually.
Kael dropped the subject. Angering the deity and getting kicked out of the vision wouldn't help him.
"Respectfully, divine Aureleaf, are you going to watch the new Aelindale World Tree suffer the exact same fate?"
Hearing the honorific mollified Aureleaf slightly. "My other purpose here is to assist Caelthas. Give him this message: Hold fast to your convictions, even if it means standing against your own kind."
"Got it. Anything else?"
He received no answer. The void shattered.
Kael blinked, finding himself back in his own body on the altar. Booted me out without even a goodbye. How rude.
...
Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm.
Aureleaf knelt before Hakpen, recounting the conversation.
Hakpen threw his head back and laughed. "Aureleaf, you let a mortal get under your bark. How amusing."
Aureleaf rose to his feet. "My Lord, that human is dangerous. I fear he will turn the Divine Realm upside down in the future."
Hakpen's smile faded, replaced by stern calculation. "Give me your assessment."
"First, his abilities are bizarre; he can even siphon divine power to aid him. Second, he is decisive. His words and actions often seem erratic, but he never loses sight of his true objective. Third, his insight is terrifying. He sees the board clearer than we do, even from our vantage point above the mortal plane."
Hakpen nodded. "I agree with your latter points. As for the first... we can test that theory right now."
Aureleaf tilted his head. "How?"
A figure suddenly materialized beside Hakpen. The god gestured to the newcomer. "Aureleaf, meet a friend of mine."
Shocked, Aureleaf immediately dropped back to his knees. "Great Lord Apollo! It is an honor to see you again..."