Riez was honestly amazed by the view. She had no idea how they had teleported through the tree. One moment, she had been dragged along, and the next, she had appeared halfway up the largest mountain she had ever seen.

  The air didn't seem thin, but the wind made it incredibly chilly, enough that she was already shivering.

  "Welcome to Azken Kanpe, the world tree," The elf said, solemn and quiet from the song they had to sing to go through the tree.

  "World tree?" Riez asked, only to look up, and at the top of the mountain, a massive tree was stretching into the air, as if it was holding up the heavens themselves. The roots of the tree were wearing into the mountain, and if the goddess wasn't mistaken, the tree they had stepped out of was actually an offshoot from one of those roots. She thought that she had heard her old scout leader call it root suckering... or maybe root sprouting? One of those.

  The guard was already slowly making their way down the mountain, clearly expecting Riez to follow along, though the trickster wasn't planning on going anywhere.

  As they wandered down the mountain, Riez couldn't help but wonder if they had really teleported. Maybe the tree had transferred them in some way, though how was unclear. She made a ticket on the theory, if nothing else, then to have it documented.

  The trip down the mountain was fairly uneventful. Even when Riez tried to trip the guard, the elf seemingly just ignored her attempts at hijinks, their patience seemingly endless.

  As they reached the foot of the mountain, the vegetation grew rapidly. The shift from fairly young trees to fully grown and probably century-old trees happened in less than fifteen meters. If that wasn't enough to tell Riez that something unnatural was going on, the trees were of widely different species. She saw maple, oak, yew, pine, aspen, and birch in less than two minutes of walking. While she was walking fast, she knew that this mix of trees wasn't natural. Ash, hickory, walnut, cherry, redwood, and cedar could be spotted through the forest if she just tilted her head in the right way.

  "So this forest... It is kind of weird... no?" Riez couldn't help but ask.

  The guard got a slight smile on their face, as if he was reminded of better times, and Riez was honestly considering investing in something to cheer up this gloomy long-eared party pooper.

  "Yes. It was once the wonder of the known world. But alas, it is not anymore. It has degraded and become little more than a bureaucratic nightmare." The elf said with that long, drawn-out sigh that people got when they were trying to underline how much a neighbourhood had gone downhill.

  "It still looks pretty magical to me." Riez tried, honestly considering if the elf was in need of professional help.

  "You would think so, wouldn't you. But mortals... your lives are but a speck in the infinite churning world. You see, we elves... we remember. We know. And once, before the traitorous Ewen, we were a proud and noble people, poised to take over Kalish."

  They weren't far into the forest when they reached another pair of elves, these ones looking just as androgynous and bored as the one that had found Riez. The new elves were definitely guards as well, not only based on their formation, but their gear matched Riez's involuntary guide.

  "Solskin, who is this, and why have you brought them to the most sacred of places?" One of the guards asked Riez's guard, who apparently was named Solskin.

  "Honoured, Kremehjerte. This is a prisoner of war. She claims that she is here to conquer Mek. The bylaws clearly state that any prisoner of war needs to be seen by the council as soon as possible." Solskin said.

  The other guards gave a groan and sighed. Though they still stepped to each side. They both started to sing, seemingly the same song as Solskin had used to bring Riez and themselves to Azken Kanpe.

  The tree behind them slowly started to morph, revealing a set of stairs through the trunk. It didn't look like they had been carved, but rather that the tree had suddenly decided to grow into a set of stairs.

  Solskin pushed Riez forward, making the intern stumble ever so slightly, and she was about to complain loudly, but something caught her attention. Something was happening up at the end of the stairs.

  The goddess of trickery could smell in the air. She could taste it on the wind. There was no mistaking this intense aura that was streaming from the top of these stairs. She practically ran up them, just to have what she already knew to be true confirmed. Upstairs, there was nothing but chaos.

  The various trees were actually a city, the branches tying together and flattened out at the top, allowing for easy walkways, while the upper trunks had houses of various sorts.

  The space that Riez had stepped into was some sort of city square, four massive branches intersecting at a single point, and a dense network of smaller twigs and leaves had been woven into a solid surface, making for a spring, yet solid, perfect for the longer limbs the elves had.

  In front of her was a giant redwood. Riez was tempted to mark its size as a bug. She had seen old redwoods in the real world, and this beast was something else. It could, without a problem, contain a small stadium. The fact that none of the Danes had even considered marking this as something to look into was... concerning.

  The tree was probably not common, though. It appeared to be the high seat for the council of Mek, though that was only based on circumstantial evidence. It was the fact that more elves than Riez had ever seen in her life were streaming in and out of the building as if their lives depended on it. They were screaming, waving papers in each other's faces. None of them knew what to do, and they were all looking for something to blame.

  She caught the words "Archdemon" and "Daikia" from the crowd, though it didn't really say Riez anything. She decided that this masquerade had gone on for long enough. A quick look at her stats told her that she was more than ready for this.

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  She poured Divine Energy into two powers that she hadn't picked, wanting them to truly resonate with the people. They were actually fairly closely aligned. Both were greater powers. One was Thrall-Making Shout.

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  Thrall-Making Shout

  Commit Energy for the day and give a command. If directed at a group, all lesser foes up to a Vast Mob in number instantly obey anything short of a suicidal order or a command not to defend themselves from obvious peril, provided they are not already engaged in combat against the God. Obedience to this single order lasts for the loading screen. If directed at a single target not already fighting the God, anything can be demanded of them until the God releases them. Worthy foes get a save to resist the control.

  It was an interesting power that was solely focused on obedience. It would even cost her two Energy for the day. It was from her Loyalty Domain, but she could see why it would be powerful. She could basically turn an entire army against its leaders.

  However, she hoped that the game would allow her to combine it with the power from her Deception Domain: Conviction of Error.

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  Conviction of Error

  Commit Energy. All chosen targets present become convinced that one of their beliefs of your choice is actually a terrible lie that has been imposed upon them, whether it is the existence of a god or the fidelity of their spouse. Worthy foes get a save. They may reconsider this conviction of error once Energy is reclaimed, but will do so only under great pressure of emotions or obvious facts.

  This one, too, would cost her two Energy, though one of those she could pull back.

  Four Divine Energy poured into Reiz's voice as she bellowed loud and clear, her voice magically enhanced to the point where it seemed to roll not only through the town but through the entire country.

  "You will all be okay"

  It was a command as much as it was pushing the worries of an entire nation away.

  Riez knew that a nation in chaos was not the time to make pranks. Pranks were for those who thought themselves above their peers. It was to establish camaraderie and bonding. The elves didn't need pranking. She had known that from her little walk with Solskin. The elf was convinced that everything was doom and gloom, and with the chaos in the city that was edging on a full-blown panic outbreak, she needed everyone to calm down so she could properly prank them.

  Her voice, her command, her powers to convince everyone that their panic was actually just a terrible lie that they had come to believe, it all worked together, and people stopped in their tracks. They looked around, confused, yet relieved.

  Riez watched in real time as the people around her stood a little taller, and their bodies relaxed from a weight they didn't know they had been carrying.

  "Hey, no casting spells in the courtyard," Solskin said, though the guard was no longer sighing with every breath. "I need to see what is going on, if there is something I can do to help. I will need to take you to the prison for the time being."

  Riez blinked a little, surprised at how well that had worked. Solskin wasn't panicking, but they weren't forced into inaction either. Things were going to be okay, but that didn't mean that someone on duty could just sit this one out.

  However, this wasn't really what Riez had hoped, but she couldn't help but wonder what kind of prison the elves would have.

  The short answer was: A bad one.

  It was located in an oak, though she didn't recognise the type of oak. It seemed almost metallic in nature. If she had to guess, the tree probably had a name like Iron Oak or something equally fantasy-inspired.

  A small staircase, so narrow that only one person could walk on it at a time. It was the same style of stairs, not carved, but rather it looked like the tree had simply chosen to grow in that way.

  The staircase spiraled up on the inside of the trunk, leading into the crown of the tree. They must have stepped through some kind of magical barrier because screaming and moaning could suddenly be heard coming from what was no doubt the cells of the prison.

  Making it up to the top of the stairs, the same woven floor as down below was present, but a large cage had been fletched from the branches of the tree. It did have a roof, but it was still just branches of a tree. It didn't look very secure, and Riez was confident in calling this place a bad prison, mostly thanks to the entire prison area being exposed to the heavens. Anyone with access to flight could practically come and go as they pleased.

  To Riez's surprise, the ones moaning and screaming weren't any prisoners, but rather the dedicated guard who seemed on the verge of tears.

  Relief flooded the jailor's face when they spotted Solskin. "Thank the old gods! You have to relieve me of my duty. These prisoners... nobody should be exposed to this kind of punishment."

  Solskin seemed concerned but shook their head. "I cannot take over your duty, but today, of all days, we might have bigger problems than some prisoners. Brother, come with me, and leave these prisoners. They can handle themselves for the day. Your attention is needed elsewhere."

  It was interesting to learn that the jailor was male, though his features did not seem to betray this fact. Even as they lit up with joy, Riez couldn't really see it. It wasn't helped when he spotted the prison Solskin had brought, and those features plunged him into deep despair once more.

  "Sister, you cannot allow this prisoner to join the others. It would be akin to torture. It would be a mercy to just kill the mortal." The jailor said, and Riez tried to look for recognisable features between Solskin and the Jailor, but the only thing that she could see was that Solskin's ears were a tiny bit longer than the Jailor's.

  "Worry not, brother. Things will be okay. We just can't have a prisoner running around." Solskin said with confidence. A level of confidence that wasn't mirrored in the jailor. His voice hoarse from crying and groaning, he had apparently been unaffected by Riez's divine command to try and relax a little.

  Solskin continued. "Besides, I do not think that this creature is quite as mortal as it pretends to be."

  With nothing else to say, the Jailor walked over to the cage, singing a couple of notes from that song all the elves seemed to use to manipulate the trees, and the branches of the cage slipped to the side, opening up.

  Riez was quickly pushed inside, and the bars were closed. She looked around, but she didn't need to. A voice quickly called out to her as she was dumped practically in front of the hardened criminals.

  "Hi! Me be Spaf and dis be Spif" A rapy voice said.

  "NO I BE SPIF!" Another said.

  "That what I saying dum dum!"

  "YOU BE DUM DUM! THEN ME BE BOTH SPAF AND SPIF!"

  Riez knew that she had found her people.