As Marigold and an invisible Waxwing rushed towards the Docks Waxwing caught a glimpse of Error near the town, the Adikia barrier was currently in the process of being deleted with various fractures forming across the Elvenheim barrier as well whenever it was struck by one of Error’s strings or gaster blasters.
Finally they entered the Dock’s building where various A1, B1 and C1 outcodes were being shackled together and led outside towards a large ship
’Shit, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to sneak onboard’ Marigold said quietly as they both noticed the guards and scientists boarding a large vessel made from mahogany wood with and decorated with silver and gold, some outcodes were already on the vessel
‘Over here, they probably already sent someone ahead to warn the mainland but as long as you stay invisible you should slip through just fine’ Marigold said bringing Waxwing over to an unguarded part of the docks
’Wait where will this take us?’ she asked
’to an outpost located among the roots of the tree of magic’ Marigold responded as Waxwing stepped onto the silver platform that had runes etched into the sides of it
’Marigold! What are you doing?’ a familiar voice sounded as a pair of Qalupalik agents came running over
’Nothing, I was just trying to let Lanny know what was happening’ Marigold responded
’… Marigold…’ Calid sighed
’I know 1031 is nearby wearing your armor, I can tell because you’re not wearing yours but you have to understand that this is the lesser of two evils… it’s wrong yes, 1031 shouldn’t have to die nobody should but if we don’t keep the barrier up then the shades from Mythos will invade’ Calid continued as Waxwing tensed up preparing a green attack in case the duo tried stopping them
’How is it the lesser evil when we’re preforming sadistic experiments on them?! And couldn’t we just use the tree to power the barrier?’ She responded angrily which seemed to cause Nox to tilt her head thoughtfully
’I—…I don’t know… but Lanny has her reasons and I won’t be the one to invoke her wrath’ Calid sighed
‘Wait actually that’s a good point, shouldn’t we do that instead?’ Nox asked
’I don’t know okay! But if you aren’t going to kill her at least come to the ship with us, we can say 1031 escaped on her own’ Calid responded as Waxwing felt a wave of pity for them, Calid almost reminded her of Horror
’I hope he’s okay…’ Waxwing thought sadly
’No’ Marigold responded turning away from Calid and Nox as she stepped onto the platform and summoned an orb of light
Calid took a step forward magic crackling around their hands, even without seeing their face Waxwing could picture the look of desperation on their face especially when Nox put a hand out infront of them as a silent signal to stop as the orb of light drifted from Marigold’s hand and floated down to the platform, then in a flash of light they were gone.
As she and Waxwing appeared on the platform in the middle of one of the many outposts that surrounded the tree of magic she spotted Warden Knile talking with a pair of elves who were likely one of the ones in charge of removing Armillaria (a parasitic fungus) and other types of growths from the tree while also removing any rotten roots
’we should probably go before he notices me’ she whispered to Waxwing
gladly, also how come the tree of magic is so big? From what I heard the tree of feelings and tree of life were way smaller’ Waxwing responded in a hushed voice as they made their way through the enclosed space that consisted of a watchtower next to the teleportation platform
after the two had climbed over the wall of roots Marigold responded
‘considering what I’ve seen today I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s from her keeping too much magic in the tree’ she replied
’Too much? I thought the tree dispersed magic evenly’ Waxwing said confused
’It does, or at least it tries to… but Lanny’s been able to redirect some of the magic that goes to monsters and other magical beings so that it goes to elves instead… she claims they take to much and has even been using the tree’s magic to keep us young forever, my mom arrived from Sapios before she even knew she was pregnant with me so she was excluded from the spell at first and after her… passing me and any other young elves were allowed to age until we turned 25’ she explained
’How long have you been 25?’ Waxwing asked as they walked through a tunnel of roots
’I lost count but since the death of Quetzalcoatl— no wait that was when my mom first arrived with the other refugees… I think before or after the birth of Reapertale’ she responded
’Cool! wait what happened before Reapertale formed and should I be concerned?’ Waxwing responded her voice quickly changing from intrigue to worry
’People stopped dying but new life stopped being created… everything was immortal but also infertile for that time, that’s why Lanny made us stop aging at first because everyone was essentially growing too old to even move around properly… then once balance was finally restored she’d already decided that she’d rather we be immortal, I’m pretty sure Knile was one of the elves that became crippled from age before Lanny cast that spell, at least judging from how old he is’ Marigold responded
’I’m sorry that happened…… what about your mom? What was she like’ Waxwing asked
’One of the most compassionate and loving elves from what I’ve heard, but Lanny always called her a naive fool and said that she hoped I would make up for her actions, she never said what they were though’ she responded
‘What about your parents?’ Marigold asked
’oh me? I never had any that I knew of, some guy I later found out was XGaster overwrote my au and that overwritten code fused together and absorbed itself into me while I was still a just a soul, I still remember the sudden sensation of gaining sentience as the process was happening and when XGaster left’ she responded
’damn, I’m sorry’ Marigold said sympathetically
’it’s okay It was kinda boring my first few years of existence, I’d often pass the time reading, exercising, playing games or even just sleeping’ she said as the tunnel turned inwards
’what about your time on Mythos, if you feel comfortable talking about it’ Marigold questioned
’Stressful, I had to weaponize my adhd and autism just to keep me and Passive safe, I couldn’t ever leave the castle due to not being able to teleport but I could still see the destroyed village that surrounded what remains of the tree of feelings’ Waxwing replied
’as for the inhabitants, the shades weren’t much for conversation unless you wanted to willingly talk to Corrupted and Killer was a complete dick but Horror and Dust were nice, one time Dust brought me and Passive a lego set from an au he and the other two had destroyed but Killer stole it weeks later only to get caught playing with it by Corrupted who fed it to Q’ Waxwing responded
Marigold opened her mouth to speak only to hear a twig snapping somewhere nearby so without hesitation she point towards a gap near the bottom of the tunnel and quickly stood in front of it to try and limit the sight of the roots shifting and dirt moving as Waxwing squeezed through
’Ah, I thought I saw you earlier… why’d you come here I already told one of the elven scouts to go tell Lanny about the breach, by the way you did take care of 1031 did you not?’ Knile asked
’No, she wasn’t in the cell when I got there but shouldn’t you have warned her yourself?’ she asked
’And climb all the way up to the canopy? Nah, why do the work yourself when there’s plenty of scouts to do it for you, and besides breaches always end after a few hours so I don’t see what the big deal is, I just hope 1107 will be alive when I get there, he’s quite reactive’ Knile responded causing a chill to run down Marigolds spine, something felt off about his words like he was implying something horrible, Knile didn’t seem to care and instead started going on about everything he’d discovered from his research on outcodes while Marigold just stood there and listened waiting patiently for this one sided conversation to end.
As Dream, Blue, Cross, Dust and Color finally arrived on Joy island via a boat (while Ink and the harmony guard evacuated everyone on Sapios to a waterfall and ruins themed pocket dimension before safely bringing actual refugees to the omega timeline) Dust immediately summoned a ring of gaster blasters around a mahogany boat
‘EVERYONE OFF! Where is she?!’ Dust demanded as Dream noticed Error standing on top of his own gaster blaster in the distance
‘Dust wait-‘ Blue started attempting to grab him by the sleeve as a few scientists and guards left the ship only for Dust to pull away still glaring at the elven scientist who spoke up
’w-we don’t know! Who are you even talking about?!’ One of them stammered causing Dust to summon a jagged bone in his hand
’Dust wait! I understand your angry but he’s telling the truth, Blue you and Color go talk to Error I’ll deal with this’ Dream said as Dust seemed to relax slightly after hearing that the elf who spoke up wasn’t lying
‘Everyone else off the ship, we aren't here to hurt you but you took someone my friend here deeply cares about so please just come out, It’ll be safer that way’ Dream continued as he felt strong feelings of hatred and anger coming from Dust
Dream was glad he had his brother and Neil stay behind, Neil didn’t want to come near this place and Passive was still learning magic attacks and likely wouldn’t survive an accidental hit from Error
as everyone slowly left the ship many with broken armor similar to the shard Blue had found Dream also noticed various outcodes among them, a few with bruises around their wrists and ankles, a few of the outcodes he even recognized
‘Alright, now tell us what the hell you’ve been doing on this island!’ Cross said raising his voice so they could all hear them
‘W-We were just trying to protect our home!’ an armored guard blurted out
‘By kidnapping Waxwing? Tell me where you’re holding her or else!’ Dust demanded
‘… isn’t that the name of outcode 1031?… a scientist whispered only for their soul to turn blue as they were lifted into the air
‘STAY DOWN! AND YOU, WHERE IS SHE?!’ Dust yelled the gaster blasters aimed directly at the scientist
‘Dust wait! You’re scaring the outcodes, they’re victims to also please don’t kill them, some of these people could be forced to do this’ Dream explained, Dust didn’t put the scientist down but the grip on their soul seemed to loosen and he even unsummoned all but two of the gaster blasters
’Excuse me but what’s your name?’ Dream asked calmly
‘N-Nudi… I-I didn’t even want this job when I found out what was happening but I thought maybe I could help outcodes get lower threat levels so they could live peacefully in the town after draining…… please don’t kill me!’ Nudi responded causing Cross to sigh
’We won’t, just tell us where Waxwing is’ Cross responded
‘Solitary from what I heard, I’m sorry but that’s all I know’ Nudi responded as in the omega timeline a few more elves got unbanned unbeknownst to them
‘She’s not, Marigold helped her escape, they’re heading for Sapios but you guys should probably evacuate the others as well, I think the A5– I mean Error stopped erasing everything’ an armored agent said as Dust released the guard
‘Thank you’ Dream said sighing in relief that nobody died
‘Dust, Cross I’m gonna go confront Lanny, can you two please evacuate and outcodes and elves who don’t agree with whats going on here to the pocket dimension Ink set up’ Dream asked
‘By yourself?! That woman already gaslit you for the past 10,106 years!’ Cross said
’I’ll be alright I promise, just make sure you get everyone out safely’ he insisted
‘Alright just make sure you kick her ass for me’ Dust responded before summoning several blue bones to pin any guards and scientists in place just as Dream walked over to the teleportation platform he’d seen elves use to travel from village to village and tapped his bow on it before being teleported to the outpost.
Waxwing sat in a narrow rocky passage behind the wall of roots listening to Knile go on and on about what XGaster told him about the overwrite button, eventually after he began describing how XGaster told him about it after an entire day of water droplet torture she got up and walked through the passage hoping to get far enough she wouldn’t have to hear him until finally she emerged into a tightly compacted dome of roots with only a few gaps that let in the sunlight which illuminated the Armillaria growing along the infected base of the trunk where a root had encircled the trunk and begun burrowing into it, for some reason it felt like the tree was calling her
’Poor fella… wait do trees even have genders?’ Waxwing thought to herself feeling bad that the tree couldn’t get help like most mobile living things, making her way over to the trunk she began plucking off the parasitic fungus while wondering if said fungus was edible, she heard from Horror that some were but couldn’t remember if this was one of those
then after all the fungus was removed she tried pulling the root out before resorting to summoning her scythe and cutting it off and then weakened the root with a tiny spark of fire so she could pull it out and quickly smother the tiny flames left behind
’Sorry about that’ she thought before gently placing a hand over the infection and using healing magic to heal the area which gave off a strange blue glow that began to resonate with her soul almost as if it was trying to connect to her before suddenly being interrupted by a blast of pure magic that knocked her from the trunk and destroying the armor she was wearing in the process
’And just what do you think you’re doing to my tree!’ An accusing voice said as Waxwing spotted a blue elf practically irradiating magical energy
‘I was just healing it, I’m sorry but one of it’s roots was going through the trunk’ Waxwing responded as the elf twitched her decretive wings in disgust
’Lier! You were probably using your magic to create that infection, don’t think I don’t know who you are Waxwing’ she said as Waxwing began to realize who she was talking to, suddenly they both heard the sound of rustling coming from down the passage and then Marigold came rushing in with Knile not far behind her
’Good you’re here, now do your job and kill her or you’ll both be spending 10 years guarding Sapios’ Lanny said
‘What no, I saw what you were having us do on that island! At first I thought it was the only way but you— Silence half breed! If you won’t do as your instructed then you’re no better than your treacherous father! Knile restrain her while I deal with this one’ Lanny interrupted as Waxwing quickly got to her feet only for rings of pure concentrated magic to swirl around her as she was lifted onto the air telekinetically
‘Wait half breed? What do you mean by that’ Marigold asked as Knile grabbed her by the arms and pinned them behind her back before summoning threads of light to bind Marigold’s wrists and ankles together
‘Tch, I suppose since you’re already going to Sapios you might as well know who your father is… your mother and Quetzalcoatl were pretty close after all, close enough to have a child’ Lanny spat as Waxwing struggled against her telekinesis
‘My dad was— Yes, honestly I thought your elf side would be stronger but apparently you’re just as bad as him… instead you’ll be stripped of your immortality and live out the rest of your life in Sapios’ Lanny interrupting her
’Wait a second, why are you upset at her for what her dad did? She wasn’t the one who— Enough! You’ll speak when you are spoken to!’ Lanny shouted
‘Aren’t you speaking to me right now? And I really was just trying to heal the tree’ Waxwing responded
’I don’t care if you were trying to heal Dream! You brought his brother back, the one responsible for this mess and not to mention you worked for the human that killed Nim in the first place!’ Lanny screamed visibly enraged to the point she threw Waxwing hard against the earth and quickly summoned a floating guillotine blade
‘Reaper if you’re listening please take my soul instead of Passive’s should I die’ Waxwing prayed quietly in her head
’WAIT! DON’T!’ Marigold cried out as the blade fell, only it didn’t land
‘I thought you said it was me and my brother who killed our mom…’ Dream said unsummening the forcefield he had used to protect both himself and Waxwing
’Dream I— It’s not what it looks like! This outcode was about to destroy the tree, do you want that?’ Lanny said as Dream stared at her with a look of disbelief and anger as Waxwing stood up behind him
‘Stop, just stop okay… I saw the island, or at least enough of it… it’s true isn’t it what Neil said, everyone who goes to that island never returns’ Dream said gritting his teeth as his fist tightened around his staff
’They murdered elves! It was for their protection, if I simply punished the monsters and humans like everyone else they would’ve gotten killed by the victims families’ she pleaded
’Even if that was the case you don’t spirit people away to a death island! And kidnapping Error?! What the hell were you thinking?!’ Dream shouted
‘He’s a destroyer Dream, they’re inherently dangerous!’ Lanny responded as though scolding a child
’So? Dangerous doesn’t mean evil, plenty of destroyers only destroy to maintain balance while trying to minimize harm! And some like Error are easily talked down if you don’t kidnap them! And also without Error the multiverse could’ve become unstable’ Dream responded
’What about her? She’s killed people on purpose and just because she brought your brother back all she has to do is help Reaper, and you’d let Error erase timelines instead of stopping him?’ Lanny said coldly with a hint of disappointment
’Of course not, that’s why we evacuate timelines and aus before Error gets there, and also he’s agreed to only go after one’s that are already in the process of decaying! And as for Waxwing what do you think would’ve happened to her if she refused to kill?’ Dream asked
’I don’t care what would’ve happened she shouldn’t have done it! She should’ve been stronger’ Lanny replied angrily, Waxwing flinched at her words but this time she held her ground
‘She was a child, both her and my brother were… so tell me, why did you kidnap her if you knew she was under a contract with Reaper for my brother’s life’ Dream asked
’I was going to do what was necessary, his life is an insult to the balance and is that the only reason you’re protecting her?’ Lanny responded trying to turn the conversation on Dream
’No and honestly Reaper would probably take her soul if she died because unlike you even he cares for Passive which is why I want them both alive! And what was that earlier about how it was a human who killed Nim’ Dream said
‘It was nothing, a simple slip of the tongue’ Lanny replied as Knile stared uncomfortably at the ground
’You know what I’m talking about Lanny’ Dream responded but Lanny didn’t speak
’Waxwing let’s go, I think we’ve had enough of this place… and you, release her she’s coming with us’ Dream said to Knile
’What no! You can have the half breed and your brother but that outcode is staying here!’ Lanny said
’No she isn’t, and you’re not gonna kidnap any more outcodes, we are going to evacuate the island and Sapios and you’re going to disband the Qalupalik and NEVER do anything like this ever again! And if so much as one more person goes missing it won’t be just me you’ll be answering to, you’re lucky I’m physically incapable of feeling hatred Lanny because I’m feeling pretty damn close so do something right for once and back the fuck off!’ Dream responded glancing back at her
Lanny stood there for a moment dumbfounded, even Knile was looking a little pale as he unsummoned Marigold’s restraints
’fine, but don’t come crying when she kills someone…’ Lanny said sounding defeated as she glared daggers at Waxwing
‘Ignore her, let’s get you two somewhere safe’ Dream said gently to Waxwing and Marigold as he led the two away from a fuming Lanny and a startled Knile.