“That’s about what I was expecting,” Luka said as casually as he could. He glanced to his left, finding his daughter staring straight up, her neck craned back, and her jaw opened wide.

  “But— What are—” Annie just couldn’t get the words out. “How does this happen!?”

  Dirt cascaded down the new world tree’s bark, piling around its wide base. Luka, Annie, and Jear stood a few feet away from the monstrosity, each watching it grow. It breached the clouds, its orange-yellow leaves spread far over Emberwood Village and World Walker Park. The blue sky was mostly gone, only specks peaked through the twisting branches and nested canopy.

  “How are we not in its shadow?” Luka asked.

  Jear looked at him like he was stupid. “Magic.”

  “Oh right.”

  The consort scoffed, scratched the back of her head, then begrudgingly stepped forward. She crossed the short distance to the tree, placing her palm flat on its bark. Her skin glowed green, magic pulsing rhythmically like speech. Then her leg pulsed green, shoving magic into the dirt. Waves rolled through the forest floor like the surface of the ocean.

  Around, the emberwood trees moved, riding the waves away from the world tree. In moments, an amply sized clearing surrounded the massive tree, the grass trimmed, and the weeds plucked. The forest continued to shift and adjust, but eventually the movement stopped.

  Luka pursed his lips at the surrealness. He knew Emberwood Forest was magical… but he never knew it was. There was a difference in understanding and seeing—a fact he was rather intimate with after coming to this world.

  “Dad?”

  He turned and found Annie’s eyes wide. “Yes?” he asked.

  “What just happened?”

  “Jear planted a tree.”

  She smacked him a little too hard on the arm. “You know what I mean!”

  Luka chuckled and rubbed his soon-to-be bruised skin. “Would you believe I was sort of expecting this? I mean, Jear specifically told us the acorn was for a world tree. What’d you think was going to happen?”

  “I don’t know, a smaller tree!?” Annie had her arms out wide, her palms up. Her father just gave her a shrug.

  “Better get used to it,” he said coolly before stepping forward. He stopped beside the elven consort, eyeing her pulsing green hand. “What are you doing?”

  “Talking to my child,” Jear said quickly, her eyebrows dancing in tune with her lips. Whatever the tree was telling her was obviously not expected.

  “What’s its name?” Luka asked after a moment.

  “Her name is Ressen.”

  “Ah, like the sticky stuff trees produce.”

  Jear glared at him. “Yes—exactly like that,” she said sarcastically. “And little missy is throwing a tantrum right now.”

  Luka scratched his chin, glanced up at the tree’s canopy, and asked, “Over what?”

  “Growing pains.”

  That… oddly made sense to him. He gave Ressen’s bark a soft pat. “Growing pains are part of growing big and strong,” he said tenderly. “And you’re the biggest, strongest tree around.”

  Jear eyed the World Walker up and down. “What are you—”

  “I may not have been the best father in my world, heck, I was a terrible father, but that doesn't mean I don’t know a thing or two about consoling children.” His thoughts went to Ren and Nicole as well as the other orphans in the village.

  Annie groaned and closed the distance to the tree. She patted her like Luka was and said, “I can’t believe we’re consoling a tree.” The ground directly below her foot parted and a thin root slapped her foot. “Hey! Dad, the tree just hit me!”

  Luka pulled his attention from Ressen’s trunk to where Annie was pointing—at her boots. “I didn’t see anything. Are you sure?”

  Annie stared incredulously at her father. “Yes! I am sure!”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  He gave her a comical smile. “Did you deserve it?”

  She held her hands out like she was going to strangle him. “That’s not the point!”

  Luka’s smile devolved into laughter. “Don’t be rude then! Ressen’s just a kid.”

  That gave Annie pause. She adjusted something in her head and reevaluated the massive tree. “Oh.”

  “Can you two be quiet for a moment?” Jear said through gritted teeth. “Tannin and I are trying to hold a private conversation with our daughter.”

  Luka put his fingers to his lips and acted like he was turning a lock. He then gave the consort a wink—receiving a brutish roll of the eyes in response—before taking his daughter by her arm, leading her away. “Let’s give them some space, eh?”

  Annie allowed herself to be ushered away, and together they crossed the perimeter of manicured grass. She did glance back a few times, gnawing on strange emotions.

  “Is Ressen going to be okay, you think?”

  Luka arched an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t she be?”

  “Because Jear doesn’t seem like the motherly type.”

  He softly smiled. “Well, you missed out on a fatherly type your whole life and look how you turned out.” He squeezed her into himself, hugging her and planting a kiss on the top of her head. “Give Jear a chance. She’s a new mother, just like you were with your kids.”

  Annie slowly nodded and looked at her father in a new light. “I didn’t think of it like that.”

  “This world is weird and very different from Earth,” he said as they passed through the tree line. “Magic, gods, alien races of all types… and yet, I often find parallels to Earth. You’ve just got to get past the surrealness of it all and see stuff for what it really is. That’s how I fell in love with this place.”

  ***

  “People, people! Be at ease!” a voice shouted.

  Emerging from the tree line into the park with his daughter, Luka instantly knew who was yelling. He gently sped up, his arm still holding Annie tight. Together they walked toward a crowd—likely everyone in the park, in fact. Guests and employees alike ventured toward the tree, pooling at the end of path and gathering in front of Mayor Tram.

  There were hundreds of them, all standing on their tippy toes to peer through the forest at the base of the new world tree. Some stood with their heads craned back, studying the canopy and the countless mysteries she may hold. Tram and Ben held everyone at bay, their arms out wide like herding goats.

  “Oh, thank the gods, he’s here,” Tram muttered under her breath when she spotted Luka and Annie.

  Despite the distance, Luka could hear her words perfectly. Or maybe he couldn’t, and instead simply knew what she was saying. Either way, he decided he had an opportunity.

  “Hey Tram, what’s going on?” he asked once close enough.

  The elderly orc recoiled from the question. She blinked incredulously a few times, attempting to read the World Walker’s expression. It was, unfortunately, blank. “What’s going on is the massive tree in our backyard!”

  Luka looked around. “Where?”

  Tram’s eyes slowly went wide before she clamped her hand onto his shoulder. “I do not have the patience for games right now.”

  “Me neither,” he replied smoothly. “So why don’t you tell me about this tree so we can deal with this crowd.” She was at a loss for words. Luka let the moment stretch before his blank face broke and he laughed. “Sorry! I had to!”

  “Ha ha,” Tram deadpanned. “You’re going to regret this.”

  Despite the threat, Luka laughed harder. “Sorry—truly! An opportunity like this won’t ever happen again. I had to—”

  Annie punched him hard in the arm. Since they were both reincarnated and far younger than they should be, her punch was actually painful. “Stop messing with your boss and do something about this crowd. They look ready to riot.”

  Still smiling, Luka rubbed his arm and pulled a metal rod the size of his pointer finger from his back pocket. After purposefully showing it to the women, he flared his World Walker magic and stepped onto the air. He could control materials and change them to his will—the air hardened under his feet, forming solid invisible platforms that hung in the air. He walked up these platforms like a grand staircase until he was above the crowd.

  He briefly looked through the crowd, spotting a number of his friends. Eve and Sol pushed their way to the front. Vale and Vladdy trudged around the periphery. Ren and Nicole stood enthralled in the back, the little dryad bouncing happily and pointing to the tree—much to Ren’s annoyance. And finally, Franky stood in the far back, holding a couple of pizza boxes in his arms and wondered how he was going to push his way through without dropping them.

  Luka took a deep breath and held up the metal rod to his lips. Magic reverberated from the enchanted device, waking up the surrounding grass. The device’s use was simple: it was a microphone that utilized the nearby grass as a massive speaker. Whatever he spoke into the rod would be echoed for all to hear. He had Sol to thank for it—and he did, especially after she upgraded it from the original brittle wooden stick after he accidentally sat on it.

  “Hello, World Walker Luka here!” he said into the rod. His words silenced the crowd and drew all eyes to him. “As you can see, I’ve taken up gardening!”

  While he meant it as a joke—and it did get a few nervous chuckles—most just openly stared at him, their mouths wide open.

  He scratched the back of his head and glanced back at Tram, Ben, and Annie. Tram had her arms crossed and was shaking her head. Ben had an eyebrow raised—he was supposed to be the gardener of the village. And finally, Ainne: she had her face in her palm, embarrassed by association.

  “Okay, that joke didn’t germinate like I wanted,” he said into the rod. This got more of a laugh, but again, not really. He could hear Annie’s disappointment as the silence stretched.

  With a sigh, Luka said, “Elven Consort Jear, the first of her name and World Tree Tannin, first of his name, decided World Walker Park is the perfect place to raise their daughter, World Tree Ressen!”

  There were a few more laughs at this.

  “Uhm, that wasn’t a joke,” he quickly said, the grass magnifying his words.

  The crowd, as a collective and all at once, asked, “Huh?”