Me: Started writing about Lucid like 6 months ago and forgot about it

Also me: Anyways here's the world tree Alicia :)))))

Nexon: I've come to sue some people

Me: *running away*

That other chapter will come soon I swear. Just gotta finagle some things. Maybe.

My eyes flew open at the sound of 4 consecutive dull thuds hitting the ground somewhere beside me, and I yawned widely, having been rudely awakened from my beauty nap on a carefully gathered pile of leaves. Said eyes grew much rounder as I realized what the thuds meant, and I shuffled closer to the spot where the noises had occurred.

As I snuck my way over, I could hear the sounds of loud arguing and the name Neinheart being cursed repeatedly about not warning them properly where they stood in a loose circle with fresh bruises and smears of dirt lining their faces and equipment, with bunches of twigs and leaves sticking out in their hair, but didn't seem too bothered by it. A voice even declared that was the last time they were going to listen to Neinheart about anything.

Apparently, the green haired boy with the animal ears had ended up at the bottom of the heap, hat fallen to the side and wasn't too happy about it as he jabbed a finger in accusation at the purple haired girl with her hair wound up into a braided bun. The warrior girl with brown hair draped across her shoulders in two loose pigtails was trying to placate the duo, and the blond-haired nonchalant boy was casually sweeping dust off of his outfit.

"Uhm, is now a bad time? I can come back later? Is everyone all right? You all seemed to have hit the ground pretty hard." I tried hesitantly, and everyone startled at the same time due to my random voice appearing out of the blue.

"Hey, whaddya know, Neinheart may have been on to something after all." "Well duh, he's the informant for Ereve, the Maple Alliance, and Lady Cygnus after all. It'd be weird if he had given us misinformation about this. Just a little more warning about the hole would've been very nice..."

"H-hello? Nice to meet you all? My name's Alicia, and I'm supposed to be the World Tree otherwise known as the Transcendent of Life I think...?" I cut in further before they could start arguing again and bobbed into a little curtsey, sweeping my green skirt off of the ground.

"Ah! Pleasure to make your acquaintance! I'm Sugar, this is Olivia, Rondo, and Tess!" The warrior girl piped up cheerily, having been shaken out of her shock. As she addressed each individual, they waved in response.

"Can you please get me out of here? I don't know how long I've been trapped here already! I'm going to lose my mind it's been so dull here." I pleaded with the group.

"Yeah sure, there seems to be exits on either side of this place...? Tess, go check it out." Olivia shooed the blond to make a move, and he reluctantly dragged his feet to the right side.

"So Miss Alicia, what made you decide to end up in such a desolate and ominous place to begin with?" Rondo picked up the conversation before the silence grew too awkward.

"I'm not too sure? I think I may have been running from something and ended up here...?" Scrunching my eyes up in thought as fuzzy memories evaded my grasp no matter how hard I scrounged to remember.

"Ah, I see, hmmm, that does sound rather concerning."

"Do you think it could've been the Black Mage that wound up trapping her here?" Olivia pondered in a low whisper.

"HEY! Don't say such worrying things in front of her." Rondo nudged her harshly to get her to stop spouting what he felt was utter nonsense.

"You never know honestly." She shrugged as the Black Mage's presence had pervaded the entirety of Maple World, and it wouldn't be much of a stretch to imagine he had something to do with it, not after what his underlings had done to threaten Maple Island after all.

A low thud was heard as Tess jumped back down through the hole on the upper level and landed beside them. "Yep, the exit's working fine. Just ended up back where we fell from."

A frown adorned my face as I had definitely thoroughly searched the entire area and found no clear exit. Something wasn't right here...

Rummaging through my pockets, I managed to dig out a ratty old scroll with a triumphant cheer. "Then could anyone of you check if this still works?" Doubtful expressions were exchanged amongst the group, and Sugar decided to take the lead this time, accepting the scroll and ripping it up to activate it. She vanished in a cloud of smoke as worried expressions replaced the doubt.

"Oh, she actually disappeared! I tried before and nothing happened, I was so sure the vendor had cheated me of my mesos and given me faulty scrolls." Musing aloud, their worried expressions changed to ones full of a mixture between concern and disbelief instead.

"I'm okay! The scroll worked! I did end up back at Sleepywood right in front of Sabitrama!" Sugar bounced back into view after a few quiet minutes of contemplation had passed.

Suddenly, a wide glowing magic circle enveloped them where they stood and before they had any time to react, all of them vanished. Taken aback by this unexpected change in development, I rushed over to the place they had just been in mere moments before and inspected the ground. That had never happened before... I hoped with all my might that they would emerge unscathed.

Just as I thought that, they were abruptly thrown out in the same magic circle, looking much more battered than before.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Olivia spluttered in utter disbelief, as everyone looked vaguely traumatized.

"That dragon called himself Vellum, and warned us not to interfere with you any further otherwise it would end with our graves." Tess let out a shudder. "Also said he was a subordinate of someone called the great and mighty Damien? Do you know him?" Shaking my head in the negative, though there was something niggling in the back of my head.

"I know just the person to deal with a pest like that! Just lemme contact Neinheart to see if she's available at the moment." Sugar whipped out a communicator-like device and pressed a couple of buttons.

After a brief conversation, she turned around and beamed brightly. "She said she's on her way!"

One crackling campfire and pitched tent later, I was trying my best to persuade them to just forget about me and leave everything behind. I didn't want any casualties happening for my sake. They just laughed it off, proclaiming it would be wrong to leave someone behind just because their lives were at stake, continuing to regale me with tales of the outside world.

That just filled me further with anxiety. Another thud, followed by a pained groan jolted me out of my fussing.

"That darned Neinheart..." "I KNOW RIGHT?!" Everyone chorused in response.

"Hey there! The name's Lyris!" The new girl recovered quickly and stuck her hand out for a shake.

"Alicia." I shook the offered appendage with a heavy heart.

"Lyris! It's been forever since we last saw you! How's it been?" Friendly back slaps were exchanged all around as the quartet gathered around for greetings.

"I heard you were looking for some help?" She peered at me with sympathy. I could only manage a helpless shrug before she smiled and turned over to discuss some battle plans.

"Please do be careful!" I worried even more once they had scouted the area further and found iron wrought gates that led to four different locations, each with a different insignia carved onto them. They waved off my fretting with confident assurances, now that the team had become a quintet, trooping off to tackle the first gate.

((Insert epic fight scene montage here))

Dropping the spoils of their successful fights in front of me, a clown hat, queen's tiara, broken horn, and a bunch of red feathers, my eyebrows had raised as far as they could go, mouth already fallen open in surprise that no one had been too gravely wounded. In a bright burst of light, I could suddenly see the exits that they had previously been talking about.

Then everything hit me all at once, I had been a wandering lost soul drifting through the world and when the world tree had been forced to split between physical body and spirit, I had been sucked into the gaping hole to puppeteer the soul less vessel. It was really weird.

As I was trooped off to Ereve by some blue fuzzy bird-like creatures, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next. The group that had saved me were chattering in excitement at how awesome the battles with those creatures had been, praising Lyris the whole time for being the MVP of those fights.

I'd gladly take each day as it came then.

End

Did I know where the plot was going? Naw. Was it fun anyway? Heck ye. Hope you enjoyed! *scurries around to write more*

Thanks for reading! Stay safe and sane in these uncertain times!