They were close to the World Tree. She didn't know it from the growing darkness or the increasing number of fungi. No. Not at all. It was the vitality that was telling her that. Obviously, a living being as colossal as the World Tree possessed massive amounts of vitality proportional to its size, Aloe had known that since she started infusing seeds.

  But even then, that wasn't the vitality that was calling for her attention. The vitality that piqued her interest was… hers.

  Dots on the horizon that she could only feel thanks to her enhanced and trained vitality sense. They were many, they were moving, and they contained a kernel of her vitality.

  Even Xochipilli, who was exhausted to death, gave a final sprint as they became aware of the looming presence of the Heart of the Evergreen.

  Foliage and trees became suddenly sparse, and they made almost a perfect circle as they gave into the rgest clearing in all of Khaffat.

  The base of the World Tree.

  "Woah…" Xochipilli mussed behind her, his eyes swaying from glowing mushroom to glowing mushroom. "The mushrooms glow! Are they also evolved pnts of your creation?"

  "No, they are not. Mushrooms are not pnts." Aloe responded. "By being, they are not evolved at all. Just common fungi."

  Kadashayka had been right, even if the light wasn't as plentiful here as outside the Evergreen, many fungi projected their own light, but Radiating Undergrowths they were not. Aloe didn't even need to touch them to know they weren't evolved fungi. She had too much experience with Evolution to tell if a living being was evolved or not at a gnce, even though no real clues existed for her to tell so.

  She just knew.

  And that was what confused her about the dryads, they weren't evolved. As far as she was concerned… they were just normal pnts. As normal as magical pnts could get, but they weren't pnts produced by Evolution. Not directly at least.

  Xochipilli blinked in confusion repeatedly. "But how can they glow if they aren't evolved?"

  "There are many phenomena in our world that may seem magical, but they are not reted to the vital arts at all," the master expined. "These fungi have a property called 'bioluminescence' that allows living beings to emit light, and many things can portray them, not only fungi but animals and insects too. As a matter of fact, humans are bioluminescent too."

  That confused Xochipilli even more. "But I'm not glowing, Aloe?"

  "Human bioluminescence is very, very weak. I doubt you could even perceive it whilst donning acuity. Only I can perceive it with my enhanced senses." She had… become too knowledgeable of darkness and illumination with the centuries. "But that doesn't mean that the fungi here are normal. Perhaps they are not evolved, but they are certainly influenced by the World Tree as this kind of mushroom shouldn't be this potent."

  "So they are magical?" Aloe tapped the child on the head, prompting a weak "Ouch!" from him.

  "I just told you they are common mushrooms. One could say they are wielding their own… stance." Then everything clicked. "Kadashayka?"

  "Yes, mother?" The dryad dutifully came to her mother's side in an instant, casually putting young Nai's speed to shame. Of course a teenager with three Haya couldn't compare to a dryad with many more, even if that sultanzade had been a master of the speed stance.

  "Are these mushrooms infused?"

  "…I'm afraid I don't understand the question," Kadashayka said sadly, like a puppy that had been scowled.

  "Ah, my fault," Aloe instantly corrected as she could read a specific type of confusion in the dryad's eyes, even if they were monochromatic. "I should have guessed you aren't aware of vital art terminology. It will be best if I show you instead of expining it."

  With sublime sleight of hand, Aloe materialized a seed on her hand. It was a simple Flourishing Spring seed; one the dryad could easily recognize. She presented the seed before her and then she applied an accelerated growth external infusion to the evolved seed.

  "Ohhh!" Kadashayka excimed in understanding. "So that's what infusing something is. Yes, yes, we do that. These seeds are 'infused' with more radiance."

  "Do you have your own name for Infusion?"

  "No… we don't really give names to anything," the dryad responded with continued sadness.

  "I guess our minds work differently. Don't be sorry for that," Aloe patted and caressed Kadashayka's hair like she would do with Xochipilli. The dryad must have enjoyed the gesture greatly because she started to purr. "Let us get going," her mother took her hand a moment ter, much to the daughter's dissatisfaction.

  They treaded slowly toward the World Tree, the bioluminescent fungi on the ground almost looked like it was illuminating more brightly to mark a path for them to follow, and their eyes wandered everywhere.

  "Sooo big!" Xochipilli's head was locked upwards as his eyes followed the World Tree's roots. Not only were they massive, but some of them also hung tens of meters in the sky, making tall arches completely impossible for human architecture to recreate.

  In all honesty, it was a frightening sight. Yes, she was mighty, but so was the sight. This tree couldn't harm her, and her mind knew that, but her body gged behind with its primal instincts.

  So Aloe was bewildered at the fact that Xochipilli could be so serene before such a monumental sight. Ah, how intoxicating his youthful hope is.

  Even in the nightly darkness of the World Tree's base, its exposed roots were so den with bioluminescent fungi that it was easy to see the silhouette of the arches. Oh, it was a marvelous outline only made better by the dream-like light.

  But as, they weren't alone. And as they closed to the trunk of the tree, their onlookers had finally decided that it was enough. Their eyes opened all in a chorus, colors filling the surroundings as their inhuman sclera reflected the yellow-green bioluminescent light.

  Tens, if not hundreds of dryads stalked at them at a distance, and they had made themselves known.

  Xochipilli took a step backward at the intimidating sight. He had been walking forward in their small convoy since they reached the clearing, but he had been the only one who hadn't detected the host of pnts lurking in the shadows. Aloe could only smile as he waddled to her side and hid behind her dress. The futility of the gesture only made it more amusing as he was wholly unaware that there were also presences behind them.

  Aloe could have done many things in the moments that followed. She could have comforted Xochipilli. She could have continued forward. Or she could have directed herself to the many sapient pnts gazing at them. Yet all she did was calmly stand like a tree.

  Kadashayka was the one who stepped forward.

  "Sisters!" The dryads of the wooden cws shouted powerfully, a stance bolstering her body. "Hear me, for today onwards I am known as Kadashayka!"

  The other dryads looked at her with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Some were more civilized as they stood upright on their two feet, but others were more feral as they were on all fours with an intimidating posture. Yet they voiced no comments. Whether it was for a ck of communication or out of respect, the dryads remained silent.

  "And Kadashayka must inform you of something important. Far more important than a name!" It was the strength stance the dryad was donning to bolster her shouting capacity, yet it felt like the charm one from the way the dryads looked at her. "Today I have brought our mother with us!"

  It had been as if everyone had been waiting for that confirmation. They could detect Aloe's vitality like Kadashayka had, but only once their sister had confirmed their doubts did they accept it.

  And accept it they did.

  All the dryads, even those that seemed but rooted roots, rushed to their mother. In a matter of seconds, Aloe and Xochipilli found themselves surrounded by a legion that could only be called a forest.

  Vegetable all of them, yet distinct from one another.

  Some dryads were more humanoid, others weren't. Not all of them had eyes, yet she could feel their gaze. Not all of them had mouths, yet she could hear their unspoken words. It was a sensation like no other. A bond she couldn't understand but wasn't repulsed by. Warm wasn't the right word, but it was suitable, nonetheless.

  Xochipilli pressed himself closer to her, his fear palpable. But she only needed a single caress to show him that he shouldn't be scared or show the others that he wasn't an intruder.

  There were many things that she could say. A myriad of things were already in her mind, but like water being drained from a barrel, the hole limited how much liquid could come out by the second.

  And that hole was her mouth.

  The vegetable woman took a deep breath. If quantity couldn't make it, then she should aim for quality. A smile was drawn on her visage, her eyes shone with lovely emerald, and her lips moved with sublime grace.

  "I'm here, my daughters."

  That was the single word they needed. A green tide moved as the dryads started kneeling one after another and they all looked up to her. Kadashayka was the st one of them to kneel as she pced before her and then they all spoke at the same time.

  "Welcome, mother." The rustle of foliage accompanied their cacophony.

  Aloe Ayad had fashioned herself as a mother of pnts on her mind, but now as it would seem, that title was truer than ever.

  Epsilon_Twilight