243 Chapter 243 Moving Forward

"Merle," said Sarah, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him. "Dad said he already had their entire library at home. If you wanted to read these books, you should do it there!"

"But Dad won't let me read some of them yet!" whined Merle, glancing back at the shelves longingly.

"On second thought," said Bridgette, glancing at the shelves he was looking towards in alarm, "I think you should take the kids to see the world tree, too. Don't they know it personally?"

"Not this one," said Donovan, shaking his head. "They're all connected, but each tree is its own person."

"Oh, I want to go see the tree! Maybe this one will answer some of my questions!" chipped in Merle, dancing towards Aella in excitement."

"I kinda wanted to play with the baby," sighed Sarah.

"No," said Bridgette quickly. "I just got him down for a nap. I am not going to have you messing up his sleep schedule!"

"Well, alright, then," said Aella, still feeling upset that she forced two of her friends into a relationship so quickly. "Let's go see this world tree."

Everyone gathered around her, including the elves, and she teleported them all to the tree.

Merle wasted no time in dashing up to the tree and placing his hand on it. Alfred just stood there, staring up and down and all around, trying to take in the immense size of the tree. The elves all fell to their knees in prayer.

"So, to talk to the tree," explained Sarah to Alfred, ignoring everyone else around them, "You just place your hand on its trunk."

Alfred nodded and stepped up to the tree hesitantly.

Aella just watched as the other two kids joined him, ready to sit down and take a rest, when Donovan disappeared into the tree!

"Donovan!" she gasped, rushing over to where he had disappeared, and touched the tree apprehensively.

"Don't worry," laughed the tree. "He does this all the time with the other trees. He'll be back long before I'm done talking with the others."

"How many people can you talk to at once?" asked Aella glancing around at the others.

Merle had an intense look of concentration on his face as he leaned fully against the tree, resting his forehead against the tree. Sarah had sat down and was leaning back against the tree, as if she was daydreaming, or taking a nap. Alfred had his head bowed, and looked to be about to cry.

"I can talk to as many as wish to speak with me," said the tree. "I'm not exactly sure how many my limit is."

"Why does Alfred look like that?" she asked, in her head, so he didn't hear her.

"I'm explaining the full extent of his powers to him. Unfortunately, for his sister to come back to this realm, as a living person like he is, he would have to give up far too much of his life force. An alternative, would be him giving up his powers, as they would allow me enough magic to bring her back without his life force, but he isn't too keen on that idea. I believe he is struggling with his decisions concerning his sister. She is quite happy where she is, because she doesn't feel pain or hunger anymore, and that is only causing him more grief."

"What do you mean, the full extent of his powers?" asked Aella, choosing to ignore the choices he was being faced with.

"As a Hero of Light, as he is called, he has far more powers available at his fingertips than he has been utilizing. Just as your powers can upgrade, so can his. He hasn't reached his full potential yet."

"What is his full potential?" asked Aella curiously.

"If I were to tell you, you might try to think up ways to protect yourself from them if you ever chose to go against him. Because of the affinity he has with the light, he will never go evil, but if he chooses to lose that affinity, the opportunity is there. As long as he has his powers, he will always try to do the right thing, and will struggle to prevent anything bad from happening. I rather like him, and don't really want to take his powers from him. Trying to find someone suitable to give them to will be quite a challenge."

Aella glanced over at him, and saw tears trickling down his face. Was he going to give up his powers to bring his sister back from the dead? It seemed rather selfish and Alfred had never seemed like a selfish kind of person. He needed a reason to stay a force of good and Aella was starting to develop an idea of how to do that. Could she pull this off? She cherished the relationship she had with him and doing what she was thinking, would destroy it forever.

"If you are asking me for advice," said the tree carefully, "I would recommend you speak with Bridgette about this. Alfred may not understand but I am sure she would. If you go now, I will keep everyone occupied."

Aella nodded, reaching up to pet Precious and then teleported to the library, where Bridgette had a book open before her.

"Aella?" asked the Sage, glancing around to see that Aella was alone. "Is something wrong?"

Setting Precious down on the table, so he could watch and listen as well, Aella sat down in a chair.

"Alfred is the Hero of Light. He is a force for good, that because of his powers, he can never go evil. That is obviously not the case for me, and I will live forever."

Bridgette had narrowed her eyes as Aella spoke and shut her book to focus intently on what she had to say.

"I understand your youngest child will gain his father's powers when Alfred dies, but I need to explain to you what needs to happen."

"What do you mean?" asked Bridgette.

"Alfred is struggling right now with the option to give up his powers to bring his sister back," explained Aella.

"That man," sighed Bridgette, rubbing her head. "I suppose you had an idea on how to stop him?"

"Yes. If I ever truly go evil, this realm will need a Hero of Light to stop me. I don't intend to do it, but we both now that I have tried to destroy it before."

Bridgette nodded carefully.

"I want you to know what I am doing, so I can still have one friend, at least during your lifetime," said Aella slowly, looking down.

"Aella, what are you planning?" asked Precious, perking up his ears in alarm.

"You're going to become the King of Darkness, aren't you?" whispered Bridgette, already seeing where Aella was going with this.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"I read about it in one of the church books. There had been a rumor that there was a Hero of Shadows to complement the Hero of Light, but the church could never find one. One of the most ancient of books talked about a prince of darkness that would cause trouble for the Hero of light to deal with, but he was considered insane. When you revealed that you had those powers from your father, I was thinking maybe there was some truth to it, but you never seemed all that evil. Even when you went to kill everyone, you had a viable reason for it, which is why Alfred didn't kill you when you were capable of being killed."

"Bridgette, I want you to know that I am not truly going evil. Part of the shadow is that it still needs light to exist," said Aella, looking into Bridgette's eyes.

"I understand," said Bridgette with a nod. "Whoever becomes the next Sage, I will pass on this information so that you will still have someone to confide in."

"Thank you, Bridgette," said Aella, standing up and reaching for Precious. He quickly scrambled up her arm to her shoulder and she teleported back to the tree.

"Time to go, kids," said Aella in a cheerful voice. "Elves, you too. We're going to leave Alfred here for a few more minutes."

They all nodded and Donovan popped back out of the tree looking very pleased with himself. With one last look at Alfred, Aella teleported the others to the Trade Town. She had to finish with the elves quickly, so she could return them to the elven lands before she moved forward with her plan.

"Aella! What a pleasure to see you!" said Firion with a grin, looking around at the kids and the elves. "What brings you here?"

"I want these kids to be able to play here for the rest of the week, with Ruth, Louie and Frank," said Aella, spotting the baby hydra through a window. They were standing in Firion's office, where his wife also happened to be standing, having been talking to him about something.

"Alright?" he said, seeming puzzled.

"Is that the baby hydra?" asked Merle in excitement. "Dad told us a lot about it!"

The kids quickly ran outside to play.

"I am tattooing each of the leaders so if there is a need, they can contact me," said Aella, motioning for the elves to begin.

Firion didn't even hesitate, rolling up his sleeve for the elf to start. His wife frowned.

"Please forgive me for interrupting your conversation, but this will only take a moment," said Aella to the demoness, remembering her as the young girl who had been too shy to speak up when asked to repeat what had been said in court.

"That's alright, Your Majesty," she mumbled, curtsying quickly.

"Firion, I will be back in a moment to speak with you," said Aella, as the elves finished and returned to her side. She healed his arm and teleported the elves back to the forest.

"Tell your king I appreciate your help," she said, leaving them where she had gotten them, and returning to Firion's office. His wife had left while she was gone.

"Something's up, Aella. What is it?" he asked, slipping a knife back up his sleeve.

"I need your help being evil," she said, meeting his eyes.