Eleanor lowered his gaze to Kei. His fingers remained rigid around that tiny frame, though he instinctively adjusted his hold to support the boy’s head with greater care.
"My Lord, I shall engrave it upon my soul."
"You need not make promises to me," Julius smiled faintly. "Live a broader existence. Do it for your own sake, not for mine."
He cast one final look at Kei. Fatigue blanketed his features entirely, yet his tone remained gentle.
"Bring Kei to the nearest human city. Track down the members of the Magic Tower and entrust the boy to their care. They will know how to look after him properly."
Eleanor lifted his head, as though wanting to press for further details. Julius gave a faint shake of his head, cutting him off before he could speak.
"Do not let him stay within this forest."
This time, Eleanor raised no objections. He merely tightened his embrace around Kei, his gaze sinking into a profound, sorrowful quiet.
Julius seemed to have expended the absolute limit of his remaining strength to utter those instructions. He closed his eyes, his physical form swaying backward.
"Creator God!"
Eleanor scrambled forward urgently, but before his fingertips could brush against Julius, a tiny silhouette materialized right beside him.
*Swish!*
Emerald light surged upward like a silken ribbon, catching Julius before he could collapse onto the earth. The young girl materialized amidst those dancing beams of light, her hair and eyes both glowing a brilliant emerald green, resembling leaves freshly unspooled beneath the morning sun.
Eleanor froze. A look of sheer astonishment flashed across his features before he instantly dipped his head low.
"You are... the Tree of Life?"
The girl didn’t reply immediately. Her green locks swayed gently amidst the thin ribbons of light, and her tiny form glided right up to Julius. Pressing her hand flat against his chest, she closed her eyes to sense the nearly depleted life force roiling deep within him.
A moment later, she exhaled a quiet breath of relief.
"Thank goodness. He’s merely fallen into a deep slumber." Withdrawing her hand, her tone softened just a fraction. "He isn’t dead, nor is he vanishing away. With me around, he can at least sleep on for another few thousand years."
Eleanor looked as though a crushing boulder had just been hoisted off his chest. Before he could even utter a word, the girl whipped around, fixing him with a gaze that made her utter disdain crystal clear.
"You truly possess not an ounce of generosity. You don’t even measure up to the previous Elf King."
Eleanor scratched his head, flushing crimson as he dipped his chin in deep mortification. This time around, he couldn’t find a single argument to refute her.
The Tree of Life couldn’t be bothered waiting for him to respond anyway. She shifted her attention to Kael, who was still slumped against the pile of rubble, his complexion ashen from sheer exhaustion.
"Boy, come over here."
Kael hesitated for a fleeting beat before propping himself up to stand. He had barely taken a single step when the Tree of Life flicked her finger casually.
Kei slipped free from Eleanor’s arms, floating smoothly across the open air. An emerald halo caught his tiny form, depositing him gently right before Kael.
Kael hurriedly threw his arms out to cradle Kei. The moment he felt that fragile warmth returning to his chest, he exhaled a breath of relief, tightening his embrace with absolute care as though terrified that applying an ounce of extra force might cause the boy pain.
*The child of the Creator God, to Kael, this was an existence of supreme, towering nobility.*
The Tree of Life burst into a bright, cheerful laugh, gliding right up to Kei’s side and channeling her power to soothe the newly sprouted vitality throbbing deep within the boy’s organs.
"Thanks to Julius’s efforts and my own, this child has been reborn, which means he is essentially half a son of mine, as well!"
She giggled with pure, innocent delight.
Standing nearby, Eleanor didn’t dare voice a single objection; to the Elven race, the Tree of Life was nothing short of a divine entity, a parent, an ancestor, and the ultimate source of their entire lineage.
Who on earth would ever dare talk back to their own ancestral progenitor?
"My Lord... what on earth are we supposed to do with this child?"
Eleanor ventured nervously.
The Tree of Life replied casually, fixing Eleanor with a look that clearly communicated she thought he was an idiot:
"Did Julius not already state it plainly? This child must be conveyed to the Magic Tower to be raised; human mages will undoubtedly treat this child well. He is destined to become a legendary mage in the future, after all!"
Julius was the Creator God; though stripped of his divine rank, he remained an entity the Tree of Life couldn’t possibly hope to rival, for she was merely a young child when compared against Julius.
Julius had undoubtedly mapped out everything Kei required to embark upon a brand-new life long in advance.
"Kael, take Kei to the Magic Tower."
The Tree of Life delivered her verdict swiftly, deciding within her heart that it was high time Kael was exposed to the outside world just a little bit, lest he end up turning into an absolute fool like Eleanor.
Kael awkwardly held Kei tightly in his arms.
The warm vitality throbbing against his chest felt deeply unfamiliar to Kael, yet the sensation wasn’t bad at all, unexpectedly causing him to feel that taking the time to understand a human wasn’t such a terrible idea after all.
Having arranged everything, the Tree of Life didn’t linger any further. Still, she gazed down at Kei for a long, quiet moment before clicking her tongue lightly. Her tiny hand swept forward, brushing against Kei’s heart as a surge of pure, concentrated natural energy flooded into the boy’s chest, weaving together a sturdy protective barrier capable of shielding Kei effortlessly whenever his heart suffered harm.
This child was Julius’s son, and also half a son of her own; granting him a bit of extra protection was only right.
Having completed all her tasks, the Tree of Life departed alongside Julius’s slumbering form, both silhouettes gradually vanishing behind the colossal, magnificent trunk of the Tree of Life.