Ball of Nothing

Two days after the special VVIP treatment, Zero was finally allowed to get on with his actual task. Fae King Vivian met him several times and hinted that he wanted to have a private talk with Zero. Although Zero didn't know what the Fae King wanted to talk about, he didn't have a reason to refuse. Hence, the meeting was set for tomorrow.

Today, Zero left the palace in full disguise with Bob. Thomas was dragged away by Dorgon to check out the Crafting Suit and Zero decided to visit the exotic trader. He had the Desert Poppy flowers and seeds that Axel requested for but he also had to apologise for the sand walkers.

Even though a season had come and gone, Axel still didn't seem to have changed much. As expected of a spriggan, Zero had no difficulty finding his shop that looked very much like a mess. Axel didn't seem to have many customers because other than the growing clutter, Zero didn't see anything else getting sold. The sand walkers Axel sold him were missing but everything else was still there as Zero recalled.

"Welcome!" Axel greeted cheerfully. He didn't recognise Zero in his new appearance and Zero heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, someone who reacted normally to his new appearance.

"I'm here to turn in the quest for Desert Poppy seeds," Zero said and Axel blinked.

It took the spriggan a long while to connect the dots and Zero removed his mask with a smile. "It's a long story," he told the spluttering spriggan who looked so lost at Zero's new appearance.

"I must be forgetting my hospitality!" Axel laughed nervously and ushered Zero inside for tea.

Zero watched as the confused exotic trader fumbled around to look for some cups. His teapot was severely underutilised and collecting dust so Axel had to wash it before they could brew any tea. Zero wasn't in a hurry and took the time to look around the shop while waiting. There were several interesting things around and Zero wondered if Axel knew anything about the Red Phoenix Pearl.

Settling down eventually, the spriggan offered some tea and Zero sipped on the strange herbal mix slowly. Axel looked weary and Zero wondered if it was the stress making him appear more exhausted than the last time he saw the exotic trader.

"You seem exhausted," Zero commented off-handedly and Axel sighed.

"Indeed, I am," he nodded. "I never thought that anyone would be able to find the Desert Poppy seeds and after you left, nobody knew your whereabouts. We all feared the worst and I've been riddled with guilt ever since giving you that quest."

Zero could understand. It was daunting not being able to find the flower at first and if it wasn't for stumbling across the Cacti-folks that Zero and Truen chanced upon, they might never have found the secret to getting the desert poppy. Perhaps, this was something called fate.

"So, tell me more about your adventures. Being away for so long and returning with two completed S-class quests is something you should brag about!"

Zero groaned and buried his face in his hands. He didn't want to talk about his adventures anymore. For the last two days in the palace, he had to repeat his story to the royal bard and Princess Dorothy who wanted details. Zero omitted many things such as the Raju the djinn they met in Gnaway and the existence of the nova cannon. The royal bard made incredibly embarrassing songs about his adventures and now, even dwarven children could be heard singing his tales in the streets.

"Please don't ask anymore," Zero begged and Axel laughed.

He pulled out some desert poppy seeds and passed them to Axel for verification. Axel was delighted to receive a handful. With these, he could easily complete the ritual with spares. The spriggan signed the quest form and Zero tucked the contract away in his inventory to turn it in later.

"Will you conduct the returning spell ritual now?" he asked.

Axel blinked and shook his head. "Not so soon. I need to settle some administrative matters before I can properly leave Rocket Mountain. It has been a good home to me for many years but it's finally time for me to return to where I belong."

Hesitating, Zero wondered if he could ask more about the other tree. Truen told him that the elves of Altear had killed the spriggan guarding the Weeping Willow tree that could see the future and he was curious about it.

"Would you mind indulging my curiosity?" he asked and Axel nodded.

"Be my guest! I have nothing but time right now. Business hasn't been very well ever since the malnutrition issue was resolved."

Zero looked slightly guilty and Axel was quick to correct himself. "It's no fault of yours! It's good that people are happier now. Princess Dorothy became a fine woman too and it's all thanks to you even if you suffered a mishap. Fae King Vivian has decided to take on a new bride at last and the dwarves have never been happier. Really, it's all thanks to you!"

Then, the spriggan looked slightly glum. "You have no idea how lonely it was the past few months. There was no word from you or Truen and I went to Dorgon's guild so many times that he ended up kicking me out. No matter how many times I tried to find my tree, it doesn't respond and I walked around the area near Rocket Mountain but nothing happened."

Zero listened to Axel talk about his misery and sipped the horrible herbal tea. He didn't know how to tell the spriggan that the Tree of Life was not on Earth any longer. Still, he let the spriggan spill his heart out and Zero wondered when would be a good time to ask about other spriggans.

"Do you think there are other spriggans around? I came across some interesting stories about the elves in Altear. There used to be a spriggan for the Weeping Willow. What happened to them?"

At this, Axel paused and frowned. "Who did you hear the tale from?"

Zero explained about the cacti-folk he chanced across in the Derby Desert and Axel shuddered. "Cacti-folk huh? It's a really good thing you didn't meet the carnivorous ones. They're half right about the Weeping Willow incident. The guardian for the Weeping Willow is indeed a spriggan but he wasn't killed by the elves of Altear. He was imprisoned in his tree. Us spriggans won't die as long as our tree is alive and vice versa. If we're killed, we would be returned to the tree and born again. In order for those elves to use the power of the Weeping Willow, they need the spriggan alive."

Zero raised his brow. "Are the elves that powerful to be able to force a spriggan into using the tree's powers for selfish benefits?"

Axel shook his head. While dryads were known to be powerful masters of the forest, spriggans were above them and of a demigod existence in the fae family. There was no way for mere high elves to overpower a demigod existence unless they had divine intervention.

"Impossible," he said. "Spriggans are loyal to only their tree and if their tree refuses to get involved in worldly matters, nothing would be able to change their mind. These elves must have earned the Weeping Willow's favour or had divine intervention to force the spriggan and tree into slavery which would be highly unlikely."

They discussed a little more about the Weeping Willow and Zero sighed. "As a spriggan, you've lived for a very long time. Do you happen to know anything about the Red Phoenix's Pearl?"

"What's that?" Axel asked and Zero retrieved the gem from his inventory, telling the spriggan the full adventure from Gnaway. "I didn't tell the royal bard or Dorgon about this. I found it too strange that something would fall from the sky and hold strange energy traces. It's all too convenient, don't you think?"

Axel scrutinised the rock and poured some mana into the strange gem that quickly absorbed it. He blinked. "This... I've seen something similar or at least heard of it through the fae network. There is another gem similar to this but it's green. In fact, the spriggan of the Weeping Willow is the owner of such a rock. I don't know what it does but maybe if you find him, he will tell you. Us spriggans are close like brothers. Just let him know that I recommended you and he might start talking. Here, take this as a proof."

Zero held out his hands to retrieve something that looked like a bark full of Axel's magical energy.

[Item: Spriggan Axel's Bark

A unique skin bark from a genuine spriggan called Axel.]

Zero blinked at Mind's Eye description of the unique object and Axel grinned. Zero didn't know why the item had no other uses apart from identification and tracking purposes but he supposed this worked similar to DNA testing or faes and thanked Axel.

They chatted a little more and Zero learnt that Fae King Vivian who ruled Mystic Meadows was the guardian of some really odd things as well.

"Faes have the duty to protect the planet as part of Mother Gaia's servants. However, not all races here respect the beauty of nature and try to destroy the planet. It's our duty to punish them and I'm not talking about the tinkering gnomes of dwarves. I'm talking about the U.N.U and the humans who think that they can lay this planet to ruin and defy the cycle of life! If you help to put these sinners in their place, the faes would be forever in your debt."

Zero nodded. "I see. I don't know much about the political arena here but I guess you have a point. Why aren't dwarves and gnomes on the faes' blacklist? Didn't they also destroy the environment quite a bit with their mining and inventions?"

Axel laughed. "Well, you wouldn't be mad if someone gave you tributes from time to time and patch the hole they made in your backyard often enough, would you? Fae King Vivian didn't make an alliance with Rocket Mountain on a whim. The dwarves have very good weapons and armour, better than humans and on par with elves. It's necessary to get them on the faes' side for protection in case another war happens. The same thing with the gnomes but the gnomes left a long time ago and have a non-aggression stand in the conflicts."

Now that the serious talk was over, Axel decided to indulge Zero with stories of the old and Zero enjoyed the anecdotes. History was an interesting thing and he could almost see the events happening before his eyes with how vividly Axel described the war between different races before the territories were distributed. The one place that Axel didn't know a lot about was Indra Seagloo and Zero couldn't blame him. Sea faes didn't often speak with other faes.