150 – Start of Arc 9.

The sound of animals stepping on wet soil accompanied the chit-chat of our group. As always, tall and thick trees stood to our sides, and their canopy covering the road provided shade.

“It's such a beautiful thing~ Loooveee,” Bromisnar sang while playing his lute atop his big horse. “Gods, Halves, and mortals~ None escape this fooorceee~”

The man's voice was pleasant, relaxing, and tender to the ear. The music was calm and low.

Elena, who was riding her mount behind me, was humming along with the tune.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the moment.

“The love from a parent – gentle and firm~ Chases nightmares away and brings calm sleep~ And the child, so innocent and pure~ Feels warm and saaafeee~”

I let out a tiny sigh, then opened my eyes and looked at the sky through gaps in the canopy. Is it like that, though? I wondered, not having experienced that myself.

And yet, despite having a less than ideal childhood, my heart was at ease. There was no melancholy, no nostalgia for a life I haven't lived, no jealousy or envy for those who grew up in complete families, and no anger at having missed a normal life thanks to selfish adults. Not anymore.

I raised a hand and looked at the golden digits. I hope to be a good parent if I have children in the future. Yolin told me I'm strict, I recalled balled my hand into a fist. Is that bad? Did I give my brother good memories? Was he happy? Am I strict with children because of him? I did my best, though. I sighed and looked ahead. I truly hope that was good enough.

A few memories popped in my mind, like when I had to pull his baby teeth with a string, teach him how to ride a bicycle, teach him to communicate with me and be his true self, teach him the value of life when he tried mixing bleach with alcohol to kill a cat that scratched him, and listen to him when he told me how he practiced killing his toys for when the time to do it on humans came.

Still, no emotional response came from the memories.

Hmm... I grumbled in my mind. Isn't it odd that I feel nothing from my memories? I wondered. Another thing to ask the Gods. Ah! I produced a sheet of paper and a quill, then wrote down a list of things I wanted to ask them.

1- Can you heal Elena?2- How and why did Demons come to Galeia.3- Are Demons Changelings' ancestors?4- What's the deal with the trials we Halves went through? What about our memories?5- Ask Danuva to teach Alyssa and Yolin.6- Tell Saravia his legacy's tradition is silly at best, and ask him if he can teach Bromisnar.7- Ask Shorvanna to teach me a cool Halve-exclusive Class, and to teach Thelea.8- Any dangers I should be aware of?9- Ask about Power Tongues. (IMPORTANT!!)10- Where is Yulianna?

I reviewed the list and nodded a few times. I've thought about asking other things but those are pretty irrelevant now, I concluded and stored the sheet of paper and the quill.

The following day.

Bonte and I were leaning on a tree and looking up at the canopy.

The treetops were pretty close together but had a few gaps between them that revealed the sky above.

“If you can see the sky, look for clouds,” he educated me, pointing at a gap in the canopy where a white, fat, lazy cloud was moving. “You can see where the wind is blowing by looking at the treetops. That will tell you where the cloud will go. The Cradle of Life is a tight forest so you have to rely on the trees,” he said and turned to me. “Other than when you were in a city, when was the last time you didn't see a tree nearby?”

I squinted my eyes, trying to remember. “Never,” I replied, looking around us. “Trees are everywhere.”

He nodded, and his amber feline eyes squinted a little as a smile formed on his face. “Correct,” he confirmed and looked back at the sky. “There is a very important thing you have to consider when it comes to rain. Even if thick clouds cover the sky, rain might not come down,” he pointed out and looked back at me. “Why?”

I looked into his eyes and thought for a few seconds. “They're too high?” I tentatively replied.

His feline ears shook a little. “Well, yes, but no.” he denied. “It's temperature. While it's true that the higher into the sky you go the drier and colder it gets, you have to think of the big, juicy clouds you see now,” he continued, pointing at the cloud in sight. “Temperatures go up in summer, making it hard to judge rain simply by cloud height. There are cases where they are too high up, but you'll notice that right away. Now, trees help in regulating atmospheric moisture. The Cradle of Life is large enough and its trees tall enough to influence hundreds of kilometers beyond its borders. The desert up north starts right where this reach ends. Back to clouds and temperature, if the weather is too cold rain won't come down. Most of the planet goes into the negatives during winter, except the area influenced by the Cradle of Life.”

“I see,” I muttered with a nod, looking at the sky.

“Clouds also move big amounts of E'er with them,” the Tigea continued, tapping my nose. “You can smell it in the air. If it's too rich, rain won't fall. That's because E'er itself keeps the temperature down. Why? I don't know,” he chuckled. “Some say the planet doesn't freeze during winter because of it, but we don't have anything to compare that claim to.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “But if E'er keeps the temperature down, wouldn't that be... even down-er during winter?”

The catboy shook his head. “It keeps it down during summer, but high during winter. It regulates, trying to keep temperature to the point it's beneficial for life... or so the theory says.”

“Hmm...” I hummed.

The lesson to spot when rain would fall continued with me absorbing as much information as I could.

Two days later we reached a small town called Rahini. We stayed the night at an inn and continued moving the next morning.

After six days of traveling, the road we had been following took a sharp turn to the left.

At the corner of the turn stood a tall stone, around fifty meters in height. It was like a pillar of sorts, but covered in vines and vegetation. The Blue-ish material was screaming for attention in the brown and green environment. The area around it was clear of trees, and the blue sky was visible.

“We've arrived,” Alyssa announced in a quiet voice that wasn't quite a whisper. “Divine Lands!”

I looked up at the canopy and tried doing quick maths. If we've moved at 50 kilometers an hour for 8 hours each day for six days... that would land us... I squinted my eyes. At least over two thousand kilometers north of Ladania... and about three times that to the northeast of Lumin Kingdom. I looked around at the trees around us. This forest is huge! My eyebrows joined in my forehead and I produced a map of the world, then ran a finger over it. We passed two whole countries already. We're pretty close to the coast, too... well, considering how big everything is, we're still a whole Europe away from it. Exploring the world is going to take me a minute, I chuckled to myself.

Lapia stopped her mount next to mine, then placed a hand on my thigh. “Lost?” she chuckled, nodding at the map I was holding.

I shook my head. “Not really,” I replied, then looked her in the eye and gave her my most in love smile. “Not after finding you, Lala.”

Her eyes widened, her face turned red, and her lips curled up. “Wow,” she whispered, then laughed, “That was absolutely unfair! But so good!”

I laughed with her.

Alyssa, Elena, Hanna, and Yolin dismounted and moved to the rock. The rest of the party followed, standing in front of the pillar. They all went down on their knees.

I watched from atop Sonya, not knowing what they were doing.

“Mentors of old!” they called in unison. “We request permission to enter Divine Lands.”

Cringe crept up my spine.

A massive amount of E'er shifted above us, larger than any I had felt before.

I looked at the sky and puckered my asshole at what I saw.

A giant eye was looking down at the world, occupying the entirety of the sky. It focused on my companions, then on me.

“Sup,” I said to the giant eye in the sky, giving it a peace sign.