Ball of Nothing

Chapter 559: Unusual Relationship

It was an unspoken rule that spriggans who were guardians of their trees must guard their secrets with their lives. It was so in ancient times, and it would remain the same, even in the future. That much, Zero understood. However, there was no mention of how the relationship between a spriggan and a world tree should be. For some, they were friends, and for others, they were mother and child. In Spriggan Alex and The Tree of the Future's case, they were neither. They didn't get along very well.

"But aren't the souls of the world tree and their spriggans intertwined?" Zero asked in confusion. Shouldn't spriggan Alex be a little more accomodating?

Also, Zero never heard of spriggans using the abilities of their world tree freely. Sure, they might share that ability, but the world tree has to grant it before they can use it. For instance, Ouroboros in Heaven knows many things thanks to the power of the Tree of Knowledge. However, the serpent's knowledge isn't infinite, and it wasn't real-time knowledge.

The Weeping Willow sighed inaudibly and started telling the story about her history with Alex.

"We started as a mere tree and spriggan. Alex wasn't my first spriggan. He was the spriggan after my spriggan lost his ability to retain his rationality. Seeing the future comes at the price of sanity. My spriggan committed suicide."

Zero was slightly shocked to hear that and expressed his condolence. The Weeping Willow merely shrugged it off and explained that it wasn't the first time her spriggan chose death. The spriggan before Alex was the fifth guardian. He lasted longer than the other spriggans and lived for almost three hundred years before ending himself.

"How did you and Alex meet then? Also, what will happen if you no longer have a spriggan guardian?"

The Weeping Willow chuckled and brushed a leaf on Zero's cheek. This child was too adorable. He was exactly how Gaia described him to be. Hopefully, Zero would be able to meet Nel and change her mind.

"A World Tree without a Spriggan is just another regular tree without the ability to extend its influence. If the World Tree was a body, the spriggan was their mind. I would remain on my home planet for the next spriggan guardian to come along."

As for how they met, Alex wasn't a spriggan when he first chanced upon a root of the Tree of the Future. He was a small forest gnome who sprouted mushrooms and battled earthworms when they first met.

"Initially, I found him in Altear trying to steal the eggs from a nest in a tree. My root was still sleeping when that happened, but I woke up when I sensed an enlightened soul in the vicinity and found Alex. The attraction was instant, and the universe established the bond between us. We became spriggan and tree without consent. Needless to say, the free-spirited Alex didn't like his new responsibilities. I cannot tell you how many times Alex ditched his responsibilities as a new spriggan to create trouble in Altear. He was very fond of playing tricks on elves. I found it tiring to always keep an eye on him because of my duties. However, Alex was nothing but obstinate when he was bored. One day, he asked me to make a bet with him to see if we could successfully change an individual's future using prophecies' power. I agreed because I was tired of Alex trying to intervene with the future of mortals with his pranks."

Zero became curious here. "What did he do to intervene with the fate of those he pranked? Was it bad?

The Weeping Willow thought for a while. "It wasn't bad. It was simply annoying. Unlike the other spriggans who became crazy after watching so many depressing endings, Alex changed those depressed individuals from the prophecy into slightly psychotic ones. An example is a hero destined to lose everything he worked for. This individual's future would make him very miserable, and as the spriggan who shares this sight with me, Alex has to go through all that emotion while watching the hero play out his role in life. However, Alex isn't like the other spriggans who would help the hero make the prophecy come true. Sure, the hero needs to slay a monster to save his village, and in the process, he would lose his family. We cannot change this. However, as a spriggan who can move around unlike me, Alex can affect some of the environment to tweak that outcome. While the hero still ends up slaying a monster to save his village and loses his family, the things he experiences to reach this conclusion would be different. Alex would cause this hero to be unlucky for him to get accustomed to hardships constantly. Then, he would create misunderstandings between the hero and the family to distance them. Lastly, he would spite many different beasts to constantly target the hero to make him stronger before the real monster appears. At the end of it all, you could imagine the kind of hero this mortal with Alex's intervention would turn out to be. He would be less sad that his family is dead because he hates them. He doesn't bear as many wounds because he had experience fighting beasts before he slew the monster and he doesn't get disappointed in the village's miserable reward because he had bad luck all his life."

For a moment, Zero didn't react. He thought about it and realised that despite fooling around, Alex might be a genius.

"That bet of changing someone's life, did you choose King Charo?"

The Weeping Willow became moody at the name. "Yes. I chose him, and it was what caused Alex to distance himself from me. Despite how different we were back then, Alex was still my spriggan. He's only fooling around daily now because he hates me. I changed King Charo's future and made him the very first king of Great Altear. I changed history. Charo was destined to die from betrayal by his comrades as an adventurer if we didn't intervene with his future. Alex wanted me to stop, but I was too determined to win my bet that I caused history to change. There's nothing I can do to turn time back for the blunders I made. Alex was the one who incited the death of King Charo. The women he fooled around with daily were Alex's oasis. He took on those girls and forced them to become his paradise, not allowing them to accomplish great things and overturn the history of Altear that I created."

Zero was more confused now. "Is this why you hate King Sharo?" Shouldn't this be a love story? Why was it more complicated the more he knew?

King Sharo was a child that King Charo had with a lady. This lady elf wasn't an elf. Zero soon found out the real reason why Alex was doing what he did and why the Weeping Willow refused to acknowledge Sharo despite helping King Charo.

As it turned out, Alex posed as a female elf and seduced King Charo to bear an heir. In other words, The Tree of the Future was a third the mother of King Sharo and Alex her spriggan was the other mother while King Charo was the father. The Tree of the Future didn't want to acknowledge the child that Alex created with King Charo, her biggest regret. On the other hand, Alex wanted to use King Sharo to change the history of Altear back to its original history.

"Did Alex get Gaia's blessing to birth King Sharo? Also, does he know that you and Alex are his other parents?"

The Weeping Willow didn't answer, and Zero expected just as much. "I understand now. Let me see how I can get Alex to see you again. I assume you want a chance to apologise to him?"

The Weeping Willow rustled her leaves gently and thanked Zero in advance. Understanding the full picture a little better now, Zero wondered if there was more than met the eye. But first, how would he get Alex to agree to meet and forgive the Weeping Willow?