Day 9: Rumors of my Death have been Greatly Exaggerated

Summary: Erik searches for something at the World Tree. And for once, he finds what he’s looking for.

Word count: 892

Erik didn’t know why he felt so nervous. There wasn’t going to be anything in the tree anyway. There was just going to be the heart and a bunch of vines and some leaves. No big deal. Certainly no explosions or cataclysmic events, which, given that they no longer had a Luminary to protect them, would usuallyspell out some real danger and concern for them if Moedegon hadn’t already been defeated.

Erik did the whole trek in silence, Björn hanging at his hip as a sort of silent comfort.

When Erik finally made it up to the tree and began to walk its branches, he was more careful than usual, angling himself on the large, wide branches as his heart thudded in his chest and threatened to make his foot slip, to miss his mark once and spiral into the ground below him.

He never used to be afraid of heights, but here, all alone…

Fears have a way of amplifying themselves when you’re alone. Of consuming you and making something that was once so small feel like the largest thing in the universe.

Erik pretended his fear was the ball of nerves in his throat and he swallowed, willing it to melt in his stomach.

The tree started to brighten the closer he approached the heart. He could see it — about the size of a small shed. Wrapped in vines, with light glistening through.

He sucked in his breath and stepped forward.

There was something in the heart, and it wasn’t a sword. The shadow shifted and Erik flinched violently, almost dropping the knife he held onto it so tightly.

The heart pulsed and the thing inside moved, like an embryo.

It was oval-shaped, like a lotus flower, maybe?

“Yggdrasil?” Erik asked.

A breeze wafted though, cold, making goosebumps rise on his skin.

He approached the heart and pressed his hand on it. He felt it thrum beneath him, shifting underneath his fingers. He leaned in closer, but the film was too thick to see details— just a silhouette. A silhouette of a human.

Erik briefly closed his eyes then pulled out his knife and slid it across the surface of the heart. The vines and leaves parted instantly and the person who was inside fell to the floor with a soft thump.

He was laying in a bath of greenery when Erik knelt in front of him and brushed his brown hair away from his face.

It was El, sleeping with hands tucked under his chin and a soft look on his face that remained even when Erik reached out and gently shook his shoulder.

El shifted away, breathed in deeply, and opened his bright blue eyes. He registered Erik staring at him and smiled.

“El! El,” Erik gasped.

He scooped El up in his arms, and El laughed, returning the hug quickly. He squeezed Erik, and Erik laughed so hard he cried. His nose bent uncomfortably against El’s shoulder as El pulled him close, and Erik smelled him. Love, warmth, life.

I knew he wasn’t dead. I knewit!

Erik missed him. He missed him so much, but he was here. He was back.

Erik and El fell into the earth together, hugging tightly.

When Erik parted, he looked at El beneath him and grinned. “Where'y’ve been? I’ve been looking all over for you!”

El leaned forward, sitting up. He shrugged. “I don’t know. I last remember shattering the Sphere of Time but now I’m here! I guess the travel back didn’t work.”

The way he had such a large smile on his lips, like it was fine that he was here and not back in time like he wanted…

Erik sighed, dropping his shoulders, and reached for El’s hand, squeezing it in his. “Good. I knew it! The whole time, I knew it. I knew you were still here, somewhere, in Erdrea.” With me.

“It would seem so!” El said. “I hope my absence didn’t worry you or the others too much,” he said. He looked around, registering where he was seemingly for the first time. “I’m a little drowsy. How long was I out?”

Erik shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is you’re here now.”

Erik rose to his feet and lowered his hand to El, offering up a gentle smile.

El’s hand hesitated. Erik tilted his head and El gestured down to his body, which Erik registered for the first time as being naked. El’s other hand was placed conveniently so, with his knees bent and his cheeks a gentle pink.

“Oh, let me help you,” Erik said.

He untied the sash around his waist and pulled off his green tunic. He extended it to El, who took it quickly, smiling.

“Thanks,” El whispered, securing the tunic around his body. Erik turned around as El stood, then he returned again to staring and smiling at El’s body.

El cleared his throat. “Where to?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Erik hummed. “Good question. Well, the others will want to know you’re back, of course. Let’s go back to Cobblestone, then. They’ll be waiting for you there,” he said, extending his hand to El.

El glanced down at it for only a brief second then grinned and grabbed it, smiling the widest smile Erik had seen since they first met.