"You're not making any sense Cedar!" Geline says, arms crossed. I've just finished explaining everything to her about how I was reincarnated, lost my memories, got bullied by a god, became a tree.
Most importantly I told her what I had seen on the table of possible species.
"So you're saying you could have been the Demon King?" She keeps circling back to that.
"Well yeah, demon hatchling was one of the options-"
"You could have been the Demon King... and you chose a tree...?" She asks, still not believing me. Geline is really homing in on that, other world be damned it was all about the damn Demon King.
"Like I said, I didn't choose anything! I was going to pick the griffin!"
"Instead of the demon king?"
"I-I didn't know that's what that meant!" I say in exasperation. I'm frustrated, but it is nice being able to argue and be heard. Even if i'm not understood, my days of solitude as a tree sapling are thankfully behind me.
"Hmm..." Geline is looking me up and down now, maybe with concern, does she think i'm still not feeling well after my evolution? "Why do you look like this...?" Oh. That's why.
"Evolution, remember when I passed out?" I ask, she doesn't seem to believe me but that also means she's not mad at me being an ex-human.
"I was under the impression Tree Children were fully evolved... hm..." Geline strokes her chin, still looking me up and down.
"That system, Alice, it told me I was a Bark Knight, whatever that is..." I shrug.
"A Bark Knight... Can you change back...?" She asks, almost urgently.
Well I did have Wood Transformation..
"Maybe for a little while, but it would take a lot of magic power to stay in it for too long." I answer, wondering why she asked.
"Oh..." Geline pouts. "I guess that's fine..."
The hell? Maybe she had grown accustomed to my smaller form. Well it's not like I could help it. Maybe the next evolution options would allow me to more leeway in terms of looks. Well, if I got an option this time. Stupid Red... Yeah you!
Nothing. Silence..The system really was down and not only that it seemed to directly interfere with communications between at least myself and Alice, any of them. The demon king was reborn. zi have a bunch of orc kids to worry about now. What else could-
No, don't say it, me.
"But anyways, that's why we should... maybe at least see what others say about this demon king before you go pledging allegiance...?" I ask smally.
"Tch! What sort of knight do you think I am? Of course I would vet them out thoroughly." Geline harrumphs. But seeing how she reacted around people and things she finds cute, I'm starting to think all the reincarnated demon king would have to do is call her big sis. But hopefully we don't have to find out! Thinking about it, I'd be pretty sad without Geline and Blobert. I'd also probably be pretty dead.
If I had ever even managed to catch up to those slavers, the minute that mysterious stranger regarded me as a threat, I would have been dealt with. I only got him with surprise and Blobert's help. By myself I wouldn't have been able to accomplish anything.
"Okay, I trust you." I tell Gilene. And I genuinely mean it. I have to at this point. Sure she's a little crazy but she doesn't want to upset me, and seems to genuinely care for those that can't protect themselves like the orc children. I have no doubt she would have taken care of all the slavers and that mystery man by herself without me there. In fact she probably wouldn't have taken that cut from him if it wasn't for me caring about humans. Yep, theres no helping it, Gilene and Blobert are my first and only friends so far in this world.
"If I can help you become a demon lord, I will!" And I genuinely mean that too. Gilene blushes, she seems to be overcome with emotion herself. But that's okay, that's what friendships are for! Besides, I have a feeling this Demon King isn't gonna be a great guy. Maybe... just maybe... we can put Gilene on the throne... Hm... Maybe once the system comes back up I can do some tests with Sim. I didn't get a chance to play with that one yet.
"Cedar..." Gilene hugs me tight, and I hug her back. "I promise I'll become the best demon lord, maybe even Demon King! And I'll do it only killing the bad humans. For you." She pats me on the head.
"T-Thank you Gilene." This is probably a huge step for her despite the way it sounds. I will never ask, but I'm certain she's slain plenty of humans and other sentient and civilized species to get where she is now. Well, people change right?
"Of course. Though you needn't pretend you used to be human just to make me more civil." She boops my nose. Well the knot of wood I called my nose.
"I-I'm serious! That's one of the reasons I don't know anything about this world! Like at all! I-I don't know languages-"
"You speak the Tongue of the Land just fine." She furrows her brow. Right, she didn't know Common either.
"I-I've evolved twice in two days!" This catches her attention.
"Twice...?"
"Y-Yeah in one week I went from a Tree Sapling to this! And you said yourself you don't even know what this is!"
"Well yes, but I also said all Treechildren were thought to be gone from these lands. Most have probably fled to the location of the last Great World Tree, Gaiaterro, home of the elves. Well that's if there's any left at all." Geline says in a matter-of-fact tone.
"S-See you say that like I should know any of this!" My tone is exasperated, and Geline is picking up on my stress.
"A-Alright, Cedar, I-I'll believe you." She says like she's forcing herself to try. She looks at me with a rather stiff face, concealing another emotion behind it. I know she doesn't really believe me but there's no use in pushing the subject now.
"Anyways why.. why did the rest of the Treechildren flee?"
"Well you see..." Her face looks troubled. "Like most tragedies it starts with the humans. Around a hundred years ago, they had finally learned to make contracts with spirits. This both boosted the humans range of spells they could use, and also allowed the spirits to do as they pleased in the human world, enjoying their cities and luxuries as they wished, but still being able to return to nature as they pleased."
"Well that sounds like an alright trade I suppose."
"You would think... But as per usual, a human got greedy. This human realized that if he changed just a few words around in the contract, a spirit would be entirely subservient to him, having practically no will of their own." Geline grimaces.
"T-That sounds terrible."
"It was. The spirits rightfully stopped wanting to have anything to do with contracts. And word spread fast. But so did greed. Humans began poaching and kidnapping spirits, especially young ones, and forcing them into contracts. Eventually, they all either died in service to their masters, were bought up by the rich, or fled to the land of the elves." That was certainly dark. The humans of this world seemed just as capable of atrocities equivalent in my home world. I wasn't too sure what they were, of course, the details and the hows and the whys got muddied up in the brain fog that happened anytime I tried to remember who I used to be. Well let's focus on what I can learn here and now.
"What's the land of the elves called...?"
"It doesn't have a real name for us in that sense. We all call it different things but no one has been allowed there for centuries. Im sure some old dusty tole probably has the name, but for monsters and demons, they usually call it Eion. Supposed to mean light in some long dead language." Geline shrugs. History was clearly not her favorite interest, but she had blessed me with some much needed information. I knew far too little about this world. Day two had already been way too many surprises so I need all the info I can get.
The light peeks up above the horizon, a pink and orange strip signaling the dawn of my third day in this new world.
"Well Geline, shall we go see how the orcs are coming along before we take our next step?" I ask, my hands holding on my hips as I turn to face her. God damn it felt great to have opposable fingers!
"Yes, let's." Geline smiles widely, maybe thinking about all the big sister stuff she could do with the kids.
The pink light rises, dappling into red and orange and fading into the blue sky. In our wake we leave the dappled red and white roses, a memorial to those lost by the now much smaller orc tribes.
"Mmm... You were thinking about me, and specifically me this time weren't you; pet?" Says the voice of Red in a teasing tone inside my head. It's almost a relief honestly. This must mean the system is back up.
"Mmmm... Uhhh... Not quite..." There she goes again, plucking my thoughts out of my head.
"What does that mean...? The system is still down?" I ask aloud. My slime based companion turns towards me.
"I didn't s-" Geline starts to say before once again time and space around me freezes.
"Well I uh... So I made a mistake..." Red says in my head with a nervous laugh.
"Something tells me I really don't like where this is going..."
"N-No come on you were so excited to hear from me a second ago-" She sounds almost desperate. There's no chance it's good news.
"I-... I need your help... Cedar..." She says my new name like it's bitters in her mouth.
"What did you do..."
"I didn't do anything... I just gave someone... Too much information..."
"Red please stop beating around the bush." I say exasperated. I wasn't a huge fan of this frozen in time thing. For that matter, was it everywhere in the world that was frozen or just my-
"Just your surrounding area, I'm not that crazy. That would get noticed, like, so fast." B-By who?
"Alright, well, spit it out!" I say in exasperation.
"I may have told the Demon King reincarnation where the Alicean Stone is, and she may or may not have taken it for herself and may or may not be keeping it in locked away in her castle to make everything harder for both the other reincarnations and any potential Worldborn Heroes to stop her from total world domination." Red says super fast, and like I should know what any of it means.
"Ugh god! I don't wanna explain everything to you. Here! I'm pretty sure you had this skill level up anyways."
"History and Geography skills have reached Lvl. 5!" The much nicer iAlice says.
"What?! Do you like that robot over me?" Red sneers through the telepathic link.
"Well she's- Ack! Uagh!" I clutch my bark head as a total of ten levels worth of knowledge pour into my brain. It's impossible to sort it all out as everything flies by, but I get the general gist of what she means now.
The Alicean Stone is responsible for communicating the Alice system's functions to the inhabitants of the world. That includes things like Stat Screen, the skills you level up, evolution paths, and pretty much anything in regards to those things.
So with the system down for maintenance no one who's based in the system can level up either themselves or third skills. This includes, but isn't limited to humans, elves, dwarves, demihumans, spirits, demons, and some fully evolved monsters.
In essence, with the demons controlling the Alicean Stone; and having taken it from its altar where the Alice system communicates everything, no one but monsters can progress. The demons are no doubt researching to find a work around that allows only them to level.
"Right on the money." Red says flatly. "Now be a doll, like how you used to be, and go out that stone back will ya?" She takes on a fake sweet tone.
I'm still reeling from the sudden bursts of information. She probably knew how bad it would hurt to throw ten knowledge based levels at once on me.
"I'm not evil you know.." Is she.. pointing? "There's much meaner Alices than I, alright. And the other one who loves you so much never even stops by huh!" What is her deal...
"My deal is I need you to get that stooone!" She whines. At this point I'm willing to get the stone just to shut her up.
"Wait if the knowledge you gave me is correct... The altar is like inside the scariest labyrinth here and you need some ancient keys to even get in.. Then how the hell did the Demon King do it?!" After my question there is a pregnant pause.
"Well.. You know... I thought she was my friend..." Red says quietly. It honestly hits me with a pang. Maybe it was lonely to be an Alice. No real identity, maybe not even a real body. Is that why she wanted to be called something else? To feel like her own person... Yeah, someone like that... Hmm...
"H-Hey q-quit reading into that, y-you're not my therapist! I-Just hurry up before I get in trouble!"
"Wait, do Alices have therapists, bosses?!" I ask, bewildered. Maybe there was a whole Alice HR, Alice benefits and paid Alice vacation! Could I have been reborn as an Alice instead?!
"You don't want this. Trust me." Red says firmly. There's some pain behind that. But she did ask me not to psychoanalyze her. Anyways, it was an objective at least. And it didn't seem like I'd be leveling up without it. I was some sort of spirit after all, at least I thought so.
"Yeah, you're still a spirit. It shouldn't have worked like that but since you pushed for Minor Bless so hard as a Tree Sapling, Treechild and its evolution Bark Knight became available to you." Red explains, giggling as she says 'Bark Knight.' A surprisingly decent explanation, so she can do her job after all.
"Hey fuck you! I know all your thoughts, you dumbass! Get me that stone or I'll never forgive you!" Red curses at me one last time before the world returns to normal.
"-ay anything...?" Geline finishes what she had started asking, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Yeah sorry, looks like some bratty divine intervention has given us a quest."
"I heard that!" Red's voice returns to my mind in an instant. I can't help but smile.
I know, Red. I know.