Acacia and Coseria both have the same race and were born from the same colossal tree in the world where they came from. Presently, inside the confines of an orphanage, Acacia who wears the appearance of a human is sitting on the wooden chair with his back resting against it.
The elderly woman whom he's talking to, places a cup of water on the coffee table between them.
She clears her throat and looks at him. "You're confusing me, sir. Are you sure you want to adopt 10 kids?"
Without any hint of hesitation, Acacia nods. "What do you think I come here for, sister?"
The woman is impressed, as seen by the smile on her lips. "Interesting. You seem to be a man who lives all alone, and wants to have his own family, huh?"
"You can take that as the truth behind my intention," Acacia sipped water from the cup, "rest assured that I will not abandon them like what their parents did."
Acacia glances at the picture frames hanging on the wall, and he looks back at the woman sitting across from him. "I don't mean to snoop around but I saw a picture of a boy with a taller boy standing beside him. May I know the name of the little boy, the one who is frowning in the picture?"
The woman chuckles as she places her cup of tea back on the coffee table while Acacia looks at it.
"The boy who frowns? He's Nicholas Dela Verde," The woman smiled at the cup of tea, "he's very lazy you know? Not doing any household chores but he's a good kid."
"Then why is he not here?" Acacia saw the memories of Nicholas throwing a boulder at him, "He looks like a strong man."
The woman chuckles again and pats the armrest of her chair. "He isn't a strong man but his anger issue is strong. Oh, I forgot, he wasn't here because we sent him to Manila with his best buddy, Juan who also stood like an older brother to him."
Acacia gets interested when his ears move slightly. "What does that Nicholas have, and what does he do?"
The woman blinks in surprise. "I never knew that Nicholas would get you interested. I can tell you what I know about him."
Acacia gestures for her to continue with his hand movement, and she begins telling him. "Nicholas loves to explore things like planting. Actually, the tree beside the orphanage is the same tree that he planted during his time of staying here."
She grabs her cup and sees her reflection in the tea. "He might be a kid who doesn't like to clean but when he likes a thing or gets interested in it, he'll do anything to learn about it, in other words, he's a determined kid."
After a few minutes of listening, an enlightenment seemed to manifest in Acacia. He excuses himself and walks out of the house only to stare at the tall tree beside the orphanage.
"This tree looks strong, speaking of how many years since that kid planted this." Acacia stepped closer to the tree.
The tree stands tall with large roots scattered around it, and its leaves are numerous that they cover the entire yard of the orphanage. Acacia places his hand on the body of the tree. Dim green lines are manifesting from his fingers, crawling up to his entire body.
"This tree speaks that Nicholas didn't harm it or treat it unfairly," Acacia inhaled deeply, "hearing this tree in my mind is amazing."
He opens his eyes, and he's now facing a taller brown humanoid, who is bald and fat. Acacia looks at the manifestation of the tree as a humanoid.
"I won't see you in this good form if you're not treated properly." Acacia felt his heart beating faster at the sight of the tree.
"The boy who planted me has never given up on me," The humanoid spoke while placing his hand on his chest, "even if my leaves are falling, it didn't waver his strong will to pull me away from death."
"But I can't leave my duty behind," Acacia told the humanoid, "and you are aware of that."
The humanoid does a thing that causes Acacia's eyes to grow wide, he looks at his shoulders and sees the humanoid resting his hands on them.
"I beg you, the kids here love me." The humanoid sniffed, his eyes full of tears.
Seeing the sight of the humanoid in tears, Acacia couldn't believe it. His eyes narrow, and he shakes his head. "My comrade, don't show any sadness in front of me! Those kids will grow up, and like the other human beings, they will cut you for their own selfish needs."
The humanoid falls on his knees, and Acacia clenches his teeth. He kneels and shakes the shoulders of the humanoid.
"Listen to me!"
"No! You listen to me, high seed."
Acacia's anger disappears as the humanoid tells him. "I saw those kids stumble against rocks, play with each other, and hear them sing while resting under my leaves. I beg you, don't include them in your mission, they're precious beings!"
"Comrade..." Acacia is out of words.
The humanoid's eyes fall as tears flow from them. "Please, make them an exception. They're the only humans that I see as true kind beings."
Acacia lets his hands fall from the shoulders of the humanoid. He slowly nods and smiles. "For you, I will."
The sun departs from the sky, leaving an orange hue all over the land it shines upon, as that occurs, Acacia is walking away from the orphanage. He speaks in his mind. "I underestimated the human race, not all of them are evil beings but some are loving beings.
"They might have no powers but those kids are stronger than I expected, especially, Nicholas. They show a true love for my comrade. I don't know if I should be grateful for that but what I can truly see is that they might've been abandoned at birth but there is one tree that will not leave them, and will beg even if he has to just to protect them."
Wooden wings with leaves sprout from his back, and he flies toward the sky as a few leaves fall onto the ground.
"I need to do more analysis but I need to move faster," Acacia admitted to himself.
A boy is standing behind a window. His eyes widen at what just witnessed, and he whispers, "Wow, he can fly."