“Bone emperor? That sounds overly ominous.” I say flatly.

  “Yes, and for good reason.” Snowstorm nods, gesturing for us to land. We do so quickly as a small clearing was nearby, appearing like a bullet hole in the green outer flesh of the forest. This clearing has lots of blue and pink flowers everywhere, and the grass is practically nonexistent. A few small patches linger, but its like a balding man's head.

  “I know a bit about the emperor.” Evelyn chimes in, climbing down from me and sitting on a log. “He used to be one of 10 tier 5 beings on the planet, but somehow he lost some of his power and was downgraded to tier 4. Its believed that the great tree was formed by him as a catalyst to grow his power.”

  “I heard the same theories, or read them to be more accurate.” Snowstorm nods. This Aftermath dude seems interesting and like someone we absolutely don't want to mess with, but it's not like some former god would go out of his way to mess with us, right?

  “Why are we even considering this guy?” I ask. “Why not just go to the city anyway? We might be able to find someone willing to whisk us across the planet.”

  “Or just a teleporter, but we severely lack the funds for that.” Snowstorm mutters a few unintelligible things I can only classify as complete and utter gibberish from his mouth before nodding.

  “We need something to sell, somewhere to sell it, and a way to not seem suspicious.”

  “Maybe a skill?”

  {Jim:You have the maximum amount of purchased skills and mutations for your tier.}

  “That's new. But it does make sense.” I comment.

  “Did you never ask if the system had limits to what it can give us?” Snowstorm asks flatly.

  “No, not really.” I say, shrugging sheepishly. Now that I think about it, that would've been really smart to ask. Why didn't I ask that?

  “It can give 2 skills and one mutation in tier one, doubling with each tier. Your eyes are considered an amazing mutation, as mana sight is a rare skill, and you got it for a steal along with extra abilities.”

  “Like illusion magic and being a sneaky shadow crawler?” I offer. Evelyn chuckles at that.

  “You are not sneaky. Even with a sneaky skill like that you use it in such an open way.”

  “That's just my fighting style.” I deflect, looking away and scratching the back of my neck.

  “More like lack there-of.” Snowstorm counters snarkily. I swat him with my tail and he gracefully dodges. And by gracefully dodges I mean he jumps back as I clip his snout.

  “Stop it with the side-tracks. We need to move.” I press the issue with a frown. “For starters, we can't wait. I don't care about the consequences, but I don't want either of you to get pulled into my, franky, stupid decisions. I'm going in alone.” They immediately protest.

  “Thats way too dangerous.” Evelyn jumps up from the ground to frown up at me.

  “Absolutely it is.” Snowstorm agrees.

  “I'm not asking. I won't let either of you get hurt.” I turn away. “Just let me go alone.”

  “Abhor, Don't.” Snowstorm insists.

  “If I don't, we don’t have half a chance! I'm not going to lose both my parents, Snowstorm. I refuse.”

  “Abhor, please, we can-”

  “Don't follow me.” I Interrupt her.

  I spread my wings and then, to make sure they don't know my location, I fly directly into a tree, merging into a shadow, and appearing 50 meters closer to the city and tree. Behind me I can hear them both shouting for my, Snowstorm far louder then Evelyn by default, but I ignore them. It feels selfish yet selfless at the same time to me but I honestly can't find it in myself to care. Snowstorm emphasized the danger in this, so it'll be a cold day in hell when I let them join. I will find someone to transport us, then go back. Nothing will go wrong if I can help it. I even have something to sell.

  Wrapped around my wrist, I have a big, thick green root overflowing with mana. I had to tie it around half my arm too. Honestly, I think It looks good on me, but I know from literally everyone I met that my fashion sense is questionable.

  The big tree is damn close, since even while flying between trees I can keep comfortably flying at the speed of sound, terrifying local wildlife as I knock leaves off of trees just by being nearby. One might think its hard to fly at such speeds, and they would be damn right. Luckily my perception grew with everything else when I went on steroids- I mean essence. In only a few minutes Im at the entrance to the city. The trees have gotten bigger and bigger the closer I got, now towering at hundreds of meters tall and multiple meters in diameter. The undergrowth is equally massive in size, making me feel like I'm a velociraptor in a movie about questionable life choices regarding people wondering if they could do something, not if they should. Slowly the canopy above started to show less and less openings, the light of the sun being replaced by glowing yellow berries. I heard they’re called sunstar fruit, and that they carry a lot of fire mana in them. There's a story behind them, I'm sure, but I don't remember what it was… meh.

  Up ahead is a wall that looks both out of place and somehow right at home in the mystical forest scape all around. Slowing down and stopping in front of the gate, I get a moment to look over the walls. A solid steel, engraved with green runes on every single surface, spans too far to see in every direction, likely spanning the whole way around the tree. One might ask “Abhor, you're a dragon, why not just fly over the walls?”. Are you stupid? Dragons and humans both live here. First of all, trying to just fly into hear will get you hit by anti-air artillery, and even a tier 3 would have a hard time surviving those. Secondly, the trees here form an impenetrable canopy all around the great tree. I can see thick streams of life mana being fed from the tree, into the other trees, then into the canopy to form a canopy able to take a hit from a tier 3 and survive. I'm not tier 3, and I'm also not trying to cause a fuss. Above, 2 clearly Forestry dragons and 2 humans peer out at me through a large slit in the wall up above. A human could maybe squeeze through it, but a dragon has no chance if they're older than 3. And these dragons are definitely older than 3.

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  I wonder what their levels are. Probably high, I would assume. 1 of the dragons is definitely tier 2, judging that he has thick veins of mana instead of the softer streams of tier 1’s, as well as his larger size overall. He has a deep brown underbelly and dull green scales, as well as almost glowing yellow eyes. The human beside him looks to be tier 2 as well. Wait, is he even a human? Short legs, stocky build, looks like a deadbeat dad… a dwarf? Cool!

  “State your name and purpose here” The second person says. Definitely a human. I would assume shes at least triple the level of evelyn. Honestly, fighting the 4 of them, I would lose utterly.

  “Um… I'm here to sell a root?” I hold up the root to the stoic faces of the dragon’s and humans stoic faces. “And to find transport. Me and my group need to get across the world fast, and I wanted to sell this root because I hoped I could use the money to get there within 20 to 25 days.” For a moment I just expect them all to laugh at me. The two dragons both look at me with caution and an emotion I can't quite read. The humans definitely look at me pityingly though. Pity is good, right?

  “Do you have the entrance fee?” The tier 1 dragon asks, one with a smaller, more slender build, and more vibrantly green scales and an orangish underbelly.

  “A fee?” I ask, suddenly feeling very worried. If I don't have the fee they want, will they not let me in?

  “We aren't allowed to let you in if you don't have the fee.” The human says, thinking to herself. “Tell you what. Me and Willow here will take you somewhere to sell the root, and then you can pay us the entrance fee with that.” I think I’m going to cry. These people are so damn nice!

  “I… thank you.” I say, offering a smile. The human smiles back, the dwarf gives a gruff nod, and the dragon, Willow, looks curiously at me. The tier 2 dragon looks suspiciously at me, though.

  “How old are you, kid. And what kinda dragon are you? A Dusktail? I’ve never seen a Dusktail like you.”

  “Ey, Gran, rude.” The dwarf frown’s at his companion, then turns back to me. “‘pologies, lad. e's a little suspicious of the non-greens.” Assuming that the dwarf is referring to to the Forestry's as “Greens” I just shrug.

  “Its fine. Im 16, and I used to live with my guardians before… well, stuff happened. As for my species…” I pause. telling them about being a time dragon likely isn't the best idea. I don't align with any of the 10 clans, and I don't doubt for a second that they might do something to me if I revealed I can sneeze myself to last week. However, thinking back to that little identifying tool that the people watching us had, I would be surprised if they didn't have one too. Deciding to come clean I continue. “I don't exactly think I'm any of them?” I offer. “My species says “Time dragon”.”

  “Never heard of one of those.” The human comments. I shrug nervously.

  “Neither. It's awkward to know I don't exactly fit in anywhere…”

  “You said you were with others earlier, correct?” The human asks me. “How many, and are any of them different too?”

  “Well, my brother is an Ice wyvern, and we accidentally picked up a human friend too.” I say. I’m starting to get worried I'll never get inside.

  “Your brother is an ice wyvern? Who fucked who to make you both?” Willow asks, her snout scrunched in confusion. I'm glad by how little racism is present. It just seems to me like blunt curiosity, though how would I know?

  “We just hatched together, not blood related. Never met my parents, though I assume at least one was a Dusktail.”

  “A fair assumption.” The tier two says, nodding.

  “What did you say your name was?” I realize I forgot to tell my name and scratch the back of my neck in embarrassment. I have a feeling this could have gone better.

  “Abhor.” I say. “My name's Abhor.”

  “Abhor?” The Dwarf frowns a little, but tries to play it nice. “Ye know what that means, ei?”

  “I… do.” I say after a moment, nodding. Desperately wanting to change the topic, I scramble for something else. “What's your name?”

  “Name’s Dairren.” The dwarf says with a respectful nod.

  “I’m Carmine.” The human says with a soft smile.

  “Call me Willow, kid.” Willow says with a cheeky smile.

  “Grante.” The dragon nods to me gruffly. “Our shift is about to end, so wait by the entrance for us, then we will all go with you.”

  “Oh, thanks!” I say as the gate opens.

  “No prob’ kid.” Willow responds, nodding. “Most people inside are less then decent to outsiders, especially those they don't much get. It'll help you if we are with you.”

  “That makes sense.” I nod to them and walk through the gate. Inside is a short tunnel, maybe 50 meters in length. Inside I g0 through vasious scanners and screening until I'm finally let through into what I can only describe as a metropolis.

  “Whoa…” I look around, pausing at the end of the tunnel where I was told to wait. Massive towers steel getting taller and taller the closer you get to the center, some even floating in the air. Traffic lights float in the sky between places and flying transportation vehicles fly everywhere. The outermost ring seems to be where the humans and other sapiens live. Condos, houses, mansions, hotels, everything, all made of bristine metals and glass, some glowing with runes, others with plants and pottery. The width of the residential ring seems to be 20 miles. The next ring seems to be for the smaller work buildings, where you find restaurants, office buildings, entertainment districts, all over the place, yet well organized. Some buildings float here, but only the seemingly most important ones. Same with the residential district as well, where some mansions float in the air. The innermost district is all towering skyscrapers. The smallest one I could spot war 20 stories tall, and the biggest 400 stories at least. All seem to be everything in the middle work ring, but bigger and better. Huge restaurants with millions of people and dragons dining there, pools as big as a neighborhood, and more and more and more. It seems endless! But the center is what intrigues me the most. No, thats the wrong word. It utterly takes my breath away. A massive tree trunk, possible 100 miles in diameter, swarming with dragons. Attached to the trunk are homes for dragons. The canopy outside seems to start at a few hundred meters high at the outermost area where I am, and get higher and higher to be miles high at the trunk of the great tree. And at the top of the tree is a massive hole into the trunk, glowing a soft constant green.

  “Its beautiful, isn't it?” I turn to see Willow walking up to me, followed by the other guards. I didn't even notice their replacements pass me.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it…” I admit, breathing in the clean air. I cough as I inhale some dust, drawing a chuckle from Willow and Carmine.

  “Ready to sell your root? Tour's on us.” Carmine smirks.

  “Yeah… lets do that.” I nod. “Lets go.”