Luca spoke a tragic truth for the Wood Elf ruler, "After Felneserin fell, the former nation's lands were quickly corrupted, with most of its resources, the trees in particular, extracted and used for other purposes. Eventually, the only tree still standing when the heroes appeared was Haoma, but it had lost most of its vitality after years of erosion by demonic influence. Most of the Wood Elves with strong ties to Haoma were corrupted into a pseudo-Tainted form, where one had to struggle to control a demented alter ego from taking over. Those that failed became called Ash Elves, as they changed to become ash-grey with hollow-eyes, which were a variant, more powerful version of Tainted, coupled with their own ego."
Gethras clenched his fists as he imagined his people's sacred tree being corrupted to the point where his people became just like the horde of Tainted he witnessed from the memories. The thought of having to fight with a twisted inner demon to prevent becoming a cursed subordinate of demons also dug at his heart, as he knew that his inner demon would be the strongest of the bunch. "Was Haoma left alone after it was reclaimed?"
The boy shook his head, "Several Spiritual Druids spent weeks trying to purify the corruption to no avail. After trying for the twenty-sixth time and failing, one of the Druids received a revelation from Yggdrasil, who asked with grief to end the suffering of its child. The one who took on the duty was a Wood Elf that had been exiled after an unfortunate incident in the palace of Felneserin. Yggdrasil sent him strength, while he burned his life-force, which combined to sever Haoma cleanly. The World Tree grievingly thanked those that helped, while the exile quietly passed away standing before the stump, his last words being those of atonement for his youthful failures."
As the Wood Elf sovereign processed Luca's words with a combination of anguish and frustration, Nesine spoke up, "You said Yggdrasil gave him strength? We don't even know where the World Tree is. If not for the gods, we wouldn't know it existed at all. How can he receive strength from an unknown location?"
"Yggdrasil's location was left unrevealed for many centuries due to an agreement between it and the gods midway through the original Andorian War. The World Tree, like the core of the world, are two of the known keystones of Andor Plane. In order to protect its existence, the deities of Water and Earth, Sobek and Gaea, separated its location from the mainland and moved it to the other side of the world, where they and the Magic God Heka created a grand illusion to protect it. The Sea God and Goddess both assisted in the endeavour since it was critical to the survival of the plane as a whole. After some time, Aion and Caelus decided to amp up its defences by making its location hidden within a pocket dimension while still maintaining its connection to the plane. This made it so the World Tree could still interact with the world. When the demons returned, Yggdrasil felt it through its child, which it fed some of its power in an attempt to aid its resistance. When Haoma became too weak, and only its parent's energy kept it alive, Yggdrasil chose to have someone end its suffering."
Norani added her input to Luca's information, "The decision to hide Yggdrasil was made without alerting the Sages, who only learned of it after it had already been relocated by Sobek and Gaea. Therefore, not even the three remaining Sages, myself or my Dark Faction counterpart know its location. However, as we are tied to the world, we can sense its existence and status to some extent. Even the plane itself protects the World Tree from being found, so we only get vague information. I think the only earthbound being that knows its location would be Haoma due to its parentage."
"After Haoma was felled, Yggdrasil chose to get involved with mortal affairs for the first time since it was relocated. It chose its own hero from a Wood Elf of formidable talent who was on the verge of becoming an Ash Elf, imbuing her with enough power to change her physique and spiritual constitution into that of a natural Druid, which originally belonged only to High Elves. She proved to be even stronger than her fellows, capable of using the world around her to overpower and restore lands corrupted by the demonic powers, a feat attributed to Yggdrasil's power. As a homage to her people's fallen sacred tree, she had Yggdrasil help her purify and carve a portion of Haoma's core into a staff, which she said would witness the end of the war by her side." Luca finished recounting Yggdrasil's intervention swiftly once Norani became silent.
After some time to process Luca's words passed, the boy spoke up again, "The first wave only ended after six of the ten mortal nations fell. Cyelume and Yamelune managed to withstand the wave via their Pseudo-Sages, Kharnboldohr sealed themselves off and the Ugan Empire used the mountain range where their capital was built within to fend off the wave with a massive formation. Following the awakening of Mount Ashbringer, the Sovereign Teleportation Array within Atlas Pillar activated again, forcibly altering numerous arrays around the continent, changing their destinations to Skyhaven. We never came to a conclusion as to why or how, but, thanks to that, other survivors from the destroyed nations of both factions escaped to safety." Tapping his fingers on the table, Luca continued, "Most of the Dragon Clan died, with only a few escaping to a location we only discovered at a later date. Skyhaven also suffered an attack, but that was how we learned of a piece of its history. The mountain fortress had been built atop a major ley line, one of the largest continental ones, and was closely tied to Atlas Pillar. A powerful formation used the surrounding mountains to condense starlight into an immense barrier that fended off any demonic powers. Part of the mountains crumbled to reveal smaller facsimiles of Atlas Pillar within, from which the barrier received its energy. After experiencing the event, knowledgeable witnesses comprehended the details as to how and why. Skyhaven had been built by the Ancient Elven Empire in sync with the Atlas Pillar. Due to this, we came to a conclusion."
It was then that the Dragonborn lad laid down the key piece of information without hesitation, "The Ancient Elves had foreseen the return of the Demon Emperor, long before even the first invasion began."