Time passed in a blink.
To be honest, Aelon didn't know how much time he spent on the tree. But the time there was quite... fruitful.
Get it? Cause fruit-
I'll just shut up.
Slowly but surely, the wounds that agonized his life priorly, receded, and healed on their own.
His ribs were still broken, and he still had a few flesh wounds, like the one he got from the spider, but they were healing quite steadily.
Life on the tree was uneventful.
Positively uneventful one might say. The constant worry about Nightmare Creatures faded with time, as he found himself to be safe on the branches.
Aelon did see something that appeared to be a buffed up Carapace Scavenger on the ground of the Island the Tree sat on, and a few other Nightmare Creatures, but it was nothing he fretted about.
After all, he wouldn't leave anyways.
He loved the tree, and the tree loved him, in a pure, natural, and symbiotic way.
After all his poo was it's dung.
Or at least he thought so.
The tree didn't seem mad, so he was content as well.
How could a tree be mad?
Sunlight peeked through the shuffling leaves of the branch above Aelon's head. The sight of the horizon, and vast forest that stretched on a little further from the island agitated him.
'I'm never going there again.'
But when he turned, gaze sweeping west, he saw a crater. A deep crater that stretched on for hundreds on kilometers, seemingly unending, just like the crimson forest.
'If I were to bet on the chance that this shit formed naturally, I'd first make sure I have nothing left to offer.'
A slight tremor ran through Aelon's body, when he thought of the options that could've caused something this big to form. It couldn't be a meteor, after all they were in the dream realm.
'Wait... does the dream realm act like a planet, or is it flat? ...Does it even have space, like on earth where we are in the solar system?'
A multitude of questions arose in Aelon's mind.
Where did the stars in the night sky come from? Where did the sun come from?
'It could be possible that a meteor fell here... but if it did that wouldn't make sense in the slightest. There are no recorded instances of meteorites falling onto the surface of the dream realm.'
It would make sense though, especially since there was night and day. Without a rotating planet, it wouldn't switch.
'Maybe I'm on to something... but we need to consider that the dream realm is vastly bigger than earth.'
If it wasn't a meteor that caused the crater though— if it was something else.
How much power did one need for that? What possibly could've happened here?
'I'm not looking forward to going over there- wait. Why would I leave? The tree has everything I need to live, and it's peaceful and it's perfect and it's pure and it's...'
Aelon's thoughts didn't stop acting reverent of the tree.
The next few days he spent doing nothing but eating fruit, and resting. It was what the tree wanted after all.
But peace was never eternal.
An unknown number of days later, he heard the screeches of the bigger Carapace Scavenger. When he black haired boy cast his gaze downwards, he found it to be slain.
'What killed it?'
Curiosity struck Aelon. What could have possibly slain that abomination? Something stronger than it seemed quite scary.
'Maybe I should check.'
No.
The tree wouldn't like that.
Curiosity kills the cat after all, and he was the trees beloved cat.
'I'm a cat? What the heck. I'm no- what is happening to me?!'
Cleared from his daze, Aelon struck a realization.
He needed to go, he needed to leave for the human settlements.
No.
The tree wouldn't like that.
It wanted him to stay.
So he stayed.
...
They won.
In front of the giant body, Nephis had dismissed her helmet. Behind it, her face was pale and tired, her hair sticking to it in a sweaty mess. The afterglow of the white radiance was already extinguished, leaving her eyes grey once again.
Changing Star kneeled, then lay down on her back, too exhausted to move.
The whole fight lasted less than a minute, but it took everything out of both of them.
Sunny followed Neph's example and lay on the ground, trying to catch his breath.
They actually won. He couldn't quite believe it.
'I want to sleep for a week.'
Remembering that Cassie was still waiting in the branches of the great tree, not knowing who lived and who died, Sunny sighed. A few moments later, he deeply inhaled.
Then, straining his vocal cords, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
In the silence of the morning, in the center of the tall hill covered with ashen sand, under the branches of a beautiful, giant tree, a strange shout could be heard:
"One demon steak, coming right up!"
...
Soon, the three of them were sitting in a circle, passing around the glass bottle full of cold, refreshing water. Sunny was in the middle of describing their fight with the Carapace Demon:
"... so he got distracted for a few moments. That's when Neph attacked. She used her Aspect Ability to ignite her sword and struck at the weakened patch of armor on the demon's chest, the one you told us about. It really was not as strong as the rest of his carapace, so the sword went through and pierced the bastard's heart."
Sunny noted that Cassie did not seem surprised at the mention of Changing Star's new trick. Either she knew all along because Nephis had told her, or she saw something in one of her visions. Regardless, he decided not to press the topic.
"The demon was already severely wounded from his fight with the… the thing from the sea, so it was enough to finish him off. A few seconds later, he was dead."
Cassie shook her head in astonishment.
"That is… incredible. Two Sleepers killing an awakened demon! I thought that stuff like that only happens in webtoons."
Nephis corrected her:
"Three Sleepers. Without your vision and advice, we wouldn't have been able to do anything."
The blind girl lowered her face, a little embarrassed.
"Still. Two or three, it doesn't really change a lot, does it?"
Sunny looked from one girl to another, then finally turned to Cassie.
"You're right, it's not something one would expect to happen. But, anyway… I promised to cook demon meat for you after this is over, didn't I? Are you ready to witness my incredible culinary talent?"
He smiled, already tasting the juicy, tender meat in his mouth. However, Cassie suddenly frowned, a hesitant expression appearing on her face.
"I… I don't know about that."
He raised his eyebrows.
"What? Why?"
She lingered before answering.
"Well, it just seems weird to eat the meat of an intelligent creature. Even if it was evil. I didn't think about it before, but now… uh. It just doesn't seem right, I guess."
...
Fire was cackling on the tree.
Aelon could feel it. He could sense it.
'Who dares?!'
Most of Aelon's wounds were properly healed, although quite a few ragged scars were to be seen on his torso, arms and legs now. These past few days it seemed as if he got a chill, and due to that he constantly stayed in his Mussel Bed.
The smell of smoke wasn't one he was pleased to notice.
It was humans.
Three humans.
Eating some sort of meat, but nonetheless they were humans.
'Yes finally humans!'
No.
The tree didn't like that.
He had to remove the humans that were starting a fire on the tree.
He had to kill them.