Angel Monarch

"From there on, I don't quite remember what happened. Damien said that we made a quick escape because all the creatures the tree was keeping asleep awakened."

As Bea finished the story, everyone just sighed and became silent. Professor Collins was close, jumping around with excitement.

He was the most invested in the story out of everybody, other than Sera, of course. After finishing, Sera watched her ex with fresh eyes.

This was only one story about the past two years, and it was close to ending in tragedy. It made her think, how many more such stories everybody here had?

Life was like a tightrope they walked on. Each decision felt like jumping up on the rope and hoping to not fall to the abyss of death.

Professor Collins contained his excitement enough to speak again.

"Bea, if it's not too much to ask, could I perhaps read through your status page? I'm really curious to learn more about the World Trees and such."

He was nervous, since it was rude to ask for someone's status, but Bea didn't mind. She just shrugged and showed the page.

Name: Bea

Title: Queen of Nature

1st Kill: World Tree, Horror of the 1st Tier

2nd Kill: Tree of Life, Horror of the 1st Tier

Life Essence Absorbed: 10000/10000Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Abilities: <Nature's Call> <Seed of Life>

Passive Abilities: <One With Nature>

Heritage: <Seed of the World Tree>

Items: -

Overall, her status changed little after her evolution. <Nature's Call> and <One With Nature> became stronger, and she got a new ability. Explore more stories with empire

Her heritage changed too, which she still didn't understand why. She was very curious about what her new heritage could do.

Sadly, she had already realized how useless most descriptions were.

They didn't outright tell what the ability could do. Instead, they just suggested what it might do, and sometimes they cautioned against the over usage of said ability.

The <Seeds of Life> was like this too, and when the professor opened it, Bea read it again too.

<Seeds of Life>

Description: <After Life created the World Trees, She used her own essence to give them help in terraforming Realms. These Trees of life were like the World Trees, but their power was more concentrated and less potent. They were great at keeping small communities alive, but were much too weak to terraform Realms. They were the second victims of the Empyreans.>

Using your own essence, you can grow Trees of Life, wherever you desire. Beware, planting too many trees will cause you to lose essence and eventually perish.

She with the help of a few others had to figure out how to plant the seed, then how to nourish it.

Professor Collins didn't care about that, though. He just read each of the entries and didn't even look at the ability descriptions.

His excitement only grew, and at some point, he started taking notes. He also muttered under his breath, which caused Vicky to giggle and whisper something to Sera, who just smiled beautifully.

Bea stared at her former lover's face for a long time. She lost herself in those heavenly gold eyes, with the hints of green she placed there.

They still haven't talked about what she had done. Bea wasn't even sure that Sera knew about it. Melinda was there when she placed her seed inside Sera's chest cavity, but she didn't know what the seed entailed.

In reality, Bea didn't know either, since the descriptions were unhelpful. It brought a small smile to her face, since this meant she and Sera would have some alone time to figure everything out.

This thought alone brought a smile to her face. The room stayed silent until the door opened again, bringing in the loud electric music.

Damien, Agnes, and David finally came back. To their surprise, they found Sera sitting with her daughter in her lap. What was even stranger, that she was laughing and seemed happy.

"Close that door! I can't bear this noise!" shouted Melinda from the couch.

Upon hearing her, the newcomers came back to their senses. They closed the door, poured a few drinks and sat down on the couches near the others.

"Where did you leave your girlfriend?" asked Melinda with a small giggle.

David just shook his head with a self-deprecating smile.

"You know exactly where she is. Just because Cass is a Transcended, she is still only 19 years old. She loves to party. We left her dancing with Lucy and Will, so she definitely won't remember this night!"

Melinda was about to make some snide remark, but Damien had other ideas about the conversation.

"What are you doing?" he asked while staring at the professor's mad scribbles.

He looked up at him with a large wrinkly smile and began telling him about all his discoveries. It was strange to hear him so excited, and nobody really understood what he was talking about, but they didn't want to interrupt him either.

After about ten minutes, he noticed that nobody was really paying attention to what he was saying. Luckily, he didn't take offense, and just laughed it off.

"Okay, Bea told us a story from our two years. Now it's your turn!" said James with curiosity and anticipation.

Mary had told him a bit about the events happening around Europe, but she was literally living under a rock for most of the two years. He didn't think her to be the most reliable source for news.

Everyone turned towards Sera, but she was happily whispering with her daughter, and they didn't want to disturb her.

After a bit of silence, Bran thought about a good story in the past two years, one that didn't involve the war or killing. Soon he realized, though, that the past two years were miserable, with nothing good happening.

Eventually, he just told them about the 'siege' of New Athens. They listened in awe of how Sera tricked and killed the ruler of this vast city.

Hearing he was a Transcended especially surprised them. Afterward, many questions surfaced in their minds, but only one was truly prominent.

"Sera... How many Transcended have you killed?"

Bea was the one who voiced the question everyone had. Even Vicky seemed interested in the answer.

Sera just shrugged without looking up. "About two dozen, maybe over thirty. I never really counted or cared. They stood in front of me, so they had to die."

Her voice sounded empty and even defeated, like she already made peace with being called a murderer.

After hearing her mother's sad voice, Vicky leaned in and cuddled closer. On Sera's face, a small smile appeared, and she gave a small kiss to the top of Vicky's head.

The room turned awfully quiet. Bran, Melinda, and David already knew all this, but the others were in the dark. A shiver went down their spines collectively, as they imagined how powerful Sera would become.

If she as an Ascended could kill multiple Transcended, would she be able to kill Stellars upon evolution?

The thought was unimaginable and even scary. Damien knew the best out of everyone here how large the gap is between an Ascended and a Transcended.

But upon hearing what Sera had done, the distance seemed much smaller than he previously thought.

"At least I understand why you have your own religion now..."

As Bea said this comment, the room burst out laughing. The solemn atmosphere broke, and soon the topic changed.

They all began telling stories about the past two years. Some were sad, some were happy, some were ridiculous. They laughed through all the pain and suffering of the past.

After an hour, around 2 hours before midnight, more people arrived in the lounge.

Each time the door opened, the music got worse, and the room got merrier. They were all talking, drinking, playing games and just enjoying the moment.

Sera just continued to sit with her daughter. They whispered to each other, telling how much they loved one another.

Both knew that Sera was lying, since she couldn't feel love, but in that moment neither cared. Just because she couldn't feel it, she could know it, and she was a hundred percent sure that Vicky was the most important person in her life.

During the past two years, she never felt so warm, and even happy. Her mood was always uncaring and bored, but now she was joyful and excited.

She kept on asking questions about her daughter. Since she forgot everything, she wanted to relearn all her favorites.

Vicky was much more laid back. She curtly answered her mother's questions and even had a few of her own. But she would've been perfectly content staying silent while continuing to hug her mother.

Eventually, Professor Collins ended writing all his thoughts about the World Trees and whatever else he was thinking.

Afterward, he walked to Sera and Vicky with an excited grin.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you two. I would like to know more about little Victoria's evolution. If you don't mind, could you perhaps tell me how it happened?"

The smile on Vicky's face froze, and her breathing turned quick. Her face went pale, with a fearful expression.

Before anyone could react, she teleported away...