13. Wisdom Tree

Seraph sat with his back against the tree and entered his soul space. The star that represented his new familiar had a swirl of grey fog madly rushing through. Seraph sunk his wisp of consciousness into the star to try to feel what what was going on.

Seraph then got to see a glimpse of the tree's soul. Every being had a soul with their own pillars, but some species were so ordinary, like this tree, that they had not even one pillar occupied by a spirit. They normally had no hope to every become a spirit beast or spirit plant, until now. The pillars of this ordinary tree were taking in the unique qi and growing bigger and robust. Seraph stayed there within his new familiars soul space for over an hour as the tree went through a metamorphosis. The unique qi came to a stop like the pillars finally had their fill and the soul space came to standstill. Then an explosion reigned out. Starting from the center of pillars, an explosion of lights went off and spread throughout the trees soul. Seraph was blinded by light for a few seconds which was strange since we wasn't actually using his eyes to see.

The first thing Seraph saw when his vision returned was the totem that was now formed. It was a tree that stood three times the height of the tree's around it. Then he noticed that the soul space now had balls of lights everywhere. He didn't know what they were so he concentrated on the totem instead. Whether this tree becoming his familiar was a tragedy or a lucky encounter was up to this totem.

Seraph meditated and probed the totem. All totems had a name and if a cultivator concentrated, they could learn the name as well as it's basic abilities. Learning the name wasn't like someone told you, it suddenly just appeared in your mind like you knew it all along but forgot.

The totems spirit was The Wisdom Tree. It collects all the experiences of the plants around it and slowly spreads it's influence to absorb more knowledge. It is revered by all plants. The grandfather of forests.

Well it seemed he could use it to collect information but at the moment it didn't seem the tree had formed an intelligent conscience yet so it wasn't particularly useful.

Those balls of light must be the experience of the plants of Rubin's Forest Seraph thought. Once it's done absorbing them, it'll probably have a full conscience then. The usefulness of his new familiar would have to be seen at a later date.

Seraph backed out of the space and into the real world. He dusted himself off and activated his Soul Tribe spirit. A tiki mask formed behind him and he accepted the Wisdom Tree into the tribe. The tree disappeared and Seraph felt a sharp pain on his back. A tattoo of a tree was formed all the way up his back.

[You're more dangerous than I am.]

"What, how?!"

Cal had finally spoken up again after so long.

[I'm a bad luck charm with anger issues and you can manipulate soul pillars and mutate spirits. You just turned an ordinary plant into a rare spirit beast. You're the one who should be locked up for millions of years.]

Cal admitted his short comings, but also brought up a fact Seraph didn't know before.

"Well the first step to recovery is admiring you have a problem. And just how old are you!"

[I'm immortal, gods can't die so of course I'm old. What did you expect? And I don't have a fucking problem!]

"You're not a god."

[Che, what does a bumpkin like you know. If you weren't so interesting and I let my full power loose, you'd understand my name.]

Cal liked to mention that point a lot over the years.

"Does that mean we're friends?"

[What! Are you crazy?! Say that again and you'll regret it even in the lives after this!]

Seraph laughed and summoned Artax.

"Ugh, finally. I can only sleep so much you know."

"Yes, yes. Let's head back home. I have guests to greet."

Artax froze a little before saying, "Do we have to? We could just leave now. Why wait? I hate seeing you act all gloomy and being mocked at the castle. I would kick all their as*ses for if you let me you know."

Seraph just laughed and jumped onto Artax's back. He only acted gloomy to keep others away so he didn't hurt them by accident. Cal wasn't joking when he said he was a bad luck charm. The night when he got back from the Silent Forest, a small fire started in his father's study. A month after leaving Aspern, the city was nearly wiped out by a beast invasion. Little things popped up all the time but nothing as serious as Aspern happened again.

An hour later, Seraph passed through the gate and headed to the castle. The sun was going to rest over the horizon but the city was still alive. Dancing was a huge tradition of Agea and every night a neighborhood would find a reason to clear a space to dance and visit with one another. His father wasn't a very good dad, but was a great ruler and Ageaen was prospering.

He passed through the castle gate easily and rode around the outskirts of the palace to his courtyard. He heard a racket from the banquet hall and figured his father was welcoming the Sky Summit Institute representatives. If they wanted him to attend his father would send a servant to his courtyard.

After passing through the arch leading to his isolated courtyard, a bird flew down and landed on his shoulder. It was the Dream Eagle that Ari wanted to see. It was a pure white eagle with sparse rainbow colored feathers on its wings and chest. It had broken it's wing a year ago and after Seraph fixed him up, it visited every now and then. Seraph laughed thinking about the eagles impecable timing and gave it some of the leftover fish he had wrapped up.

Seraph dismounted Artax and went to his wash house. He shouldn't go to the banquet smelling like smoke and dirt. After a quick bath and changing into some clean clothes, his mother's servant arrived.

'Yup, figures,' thought Seraph.

She appeared slightly nervous and told him his mother wanted him to come to the banquet.

"Okay, lets go then" Seraph said.

"Y-Young master, we have important guests today you sh-should dress appropriately."

"Will the food taste any different if we're to wear those tacky robes."

"I-I don't believe so young master."

"Then I'm going, enjoy you night."

He was wearing clothes he commissioned to resemble formal wear from Earth. The tacky silk pants and robes that were considered formal dress in Ariadel were horrible. Seraph was wearing a pair of black slacks and had a dark red button up with pearl studded buttons. Seraph's hair was short on the sides and the top was longer so he could brush it to the side like how he did on Earth. It was his habit from his brief military career.

He recalled Artax back into his tattoo and headed to the banquet. This should be horrible.