Yggdrasil back up

   Yggdrasil ch.01


    In the depths of the universe between stars there lies an oddity, a wonder to behold. A disc shaped world spanning thousands of miles across; a world of grassy fields, rivers, mountains, spotted with farms, villages, and stone castles. A world where magic and science mix. Upon the center and overshadowing every starward gaze is the great tree that earned this world its name of Yggdrasil. From the top branches of this tree a great invisible blanket is over the world in a great dome down to the edges of the disc. To approach this world from the top is nearly impossible as the tree defends its self from threats with holy and golden lights; the great invisible blanket protects this world from the dangers of the universe; holding it in warmth and light that spreads across the top of the dome; a fake sun made of holy light.

   Approaching this world from below is folly as this world rests upon the back of a gargantuan Cos'moe'ba; a massive interstellar life form; although to host a living ecosystem upon its back is unheard of for any of its kind save this one as has ever been found by any interstellar civilization. The only way to enter the dome is by the edge of the disc; the no man's land. A graveyard of ancient and mostly forgotten colony ships from which the people descended, barren asteroids, and other space craft drawn to this ring, captured seemingly by Yggdrasil, and its crew and colonists as the cases may be forced to venture inward and become one with this slowly growing world.

   ******

   "And there might be a doorway from here to Other World?" asks Rhulan as she stands looking out the window of a space craft, "are we basing this only on the aesthetic similarity of this world and those in Other World; which I know are not on the back of giant techno-organic space amoebas."

    "Not at all," says Xin standing beside her, "the Dimension Police have set up a Champions System on Yggdrasil, so they have their own portals on and off the planet; and I found out one of the kingdoms, the kingdo of Espa has a royal family claiming to from another planet called Aesperia, having arrived on Yggdrasil via a portal. The space craft they used housed in their royal vault; one of the only cases of a space craft not stuck to the edge of the disc."

   "I see," says Rhulan, "sounds like a long shot; but a technological means to return may work where one based on magic failed."

   ******

  -3 days later-

   Through the curved lense of a scrying crystal ball Rhulan, perched among the large branches of the massive tree that over sees this world watches a familiar sight, a gathering of heroes around an alter, a swordsman, a large man brandishing a battle aze, a lithe archer elf woman, an old man in robes with a long white beard, and a woman in priestess robes. The alter is a great marble bowl from which a pillar of light shines to the cieling, four stone pillars surround the square alter upon which this bowl rests, all raised from the stone floor by three steps up.

   The adventurers bow to the light, the swordsman speaks, "Great spirit of Yggdrasil, I Sir Arthur of the order of light humbly bow before you."

  The large axe wielder bows, "I Master Forester Bartok bow before you as well Yggdrasil."

 The archer elf woman bows, "Might Yggdrasil, daughter of the Eternal Light, I Princess Thistle servant of thine sister and thine great mother bow before your greatness as well."

   The old man bows, "Oh great Yggdrasil I lord Falkor of the order of protections bow before you."

  the priestess bows, "Mighty Yggdrasil, loving mother of all children of light, I Priestess Ella bow before you as well."

   The beam of light wobbles and shakes, within in a female figure appears, a woman who seems to be made of gold, not unlike a stature, her eyes a blaze of fire, and a mighty plume of hair made of flames stretches down her back.

  Without moving her lips the woman's voice echoes, "Children of the light, warriors of my land, warrior from the Champion's Temple, and visitor from beyond; creation of my kin; I Yggdrasil welcome you..."

   The bowing figures flinch as the woman turns her head and looks upward, a liquid motion more like an image being changed than any stretching of skin or muscle as though carved in one shape and then another. She looks back down to them, "Children of Light, the followers of darkness once more seek the destruction of the world of light. This you no doubt know and have sought my guidance. The dark wizard Zeph and his cultists have gathered in the castle town of Espa; there you will find the enemy that must be defeated to end the plague of dark beasts that invest the outlying lands. Heed also my word children of light, be weary of mysterious travelers displaying great power; for I fear another cataclysmic force walks our world with unknown intent; an ancient demon from beyond the stars who is watching this very conversation."

  Rhulan chuckles and whispers, "An Amana, things always get so trippy when they're involved. No matter."

   With a wave of her hand she dismisses the image in the orb, not caring nor wishing to be involved in anything further involving their affairs.

  ******

  -a few minutes later-

  "Dark Wizard Zeph," whispers Rhulan amid the tall branches of the world tree, "below the Espa castle; the portal is supposed to be under that castle as well,...very well."

   She waves her hand over the crystal ball once more and brings up an image of a thin man in dark robes with a pointy goatee and curly mustache bowing before a smaller bowl like alter, this one with a pillar of darkness ascending from it and only a face within, a woman made of darkness with purple rings where irises would be and hair of purple flames.

  "Oh great goddess of night, I Zeph call upon your power to grant me the strength to end the light, to restore this world to its rightful place among the stars; a world ruled by darkness."

   The face speaks, "I the will of night have already granted you this power wizard; why do you wish for more power?"

  The wizard chants, "Oh great will of night, the children of light have summoned allies, an elf from another world of light, and a champion from the tower of champions. I fear the monsters and demon generals will not be enough; as had fallen by predecesors who sought to restore the night; I fear so too shall I and my generals fall. I beseech thee oh will of night to grant us greater power."

   The face turns up, Rhulan feels this one too can see her and it turns back down to the wizard, "Cataclysm walks this world, will it be a cataclysm of light or of darkness I wander."

   "Uh...will of night," says the wizard Zeph confused, "What do you mean? Will you grant us the power to restore this world in your honor?"

   "I will grant you no more power mortal, I can see your heart, your soul, your intent. Carry out my will, restore night to this world, carving the world into your own empire is not our bargain. You will have this power, and carry it with you to whatever other world you desire through the gate of Espa; but this world is mine and mine alone, banish the unnatural light of the parasitic tree and restore the great Cosmoeba to her rightful form."

  With that the face and the pillar of darkness vanish.

  "Something else is afoot," says the wizard Zeph stroking his beard, "what I wander,"

   Rhulan banishes the image from the crystal ball, "Two Amana playing a game; unexpected, but I can work with this. Would be easier if it was just ephemerals and...hmm...tower of champions, a summoned warrior, I wander."

   ******

   Through the scrying crystal ball Rhulan observes another place a far more high tech location within the Tower of Champions that sits outside the Espa Castle walls amid a clearing in a forest looming over the tree tops like some divine spire; as clearly intended to come across to the natives. A man in a white plastic armor suit greets on a screen the Axe weilder from the hero party, Bartok.

  "Update Bartok?" asks the armored man.

  "Yes, sir," Bartok replies, "I have a visual confirmation the spirit of Yggdrasil controlling the local adventurers and religions is an Amana; not one on record however. I have reason to believe the spirit of night may be related; however there are some complications. The Espa kingdom used their portal to bring in a Light Elf, by the name of Princess Thistle. My scanner however confirms this is actually Queen Thistle of the planet Juhn. I imagine calling herself a princess instead of queen to not put these fairy tail culture based people on alert. Juhn's Yggdrasil is according to her and the spirit of light related to each other. Nothing yet on the location of their portal specifically or if they have a way down into the Cosmoeba; all the underground dungeons we've explored so far have been either tunnels in the ground or the remains of old space craft the Cosmoeba likely captured before burying them with dirt and rock. My investigation continues on the relation between these two spirits and the Cosmoeba its self."

 "very good," says the armored man, "anything further to report?"

  "Yes," says Bartok, "the spirit of light mentioned something curious, the entire meeting with it may have been observed by another entity. It seemed to be speaking with the group as well as this entity during the gathering; it refered to it as cataclysmic force with unknown intent and told the party to be weary of travlers with great power."

  ******

  -Several hours later-