Chapter 526 - Elven Nobless

Ludwig was led ahead by the maid, and soon they reached the base of the world tree. Impressive as it may be, Ludwig felt that something was wrong with it. As if it wasn't there, though it felt physical, as he stood on one of its massive roots, it didn't feel… right. The bark under his boots gave the clean resistance of living wood, yet a thin numbness crept up through the soles, as if pressure passed into a surface that refused to answer back. He let his weight shift, testing the grain with the quiet attention a swordsman gives a floor before a duel. The scent was true to a tree of such age, resin and rain and cool shade braided together. The light on the trunk was true as well, dappled and soft. It was the feeling beneath all of it that made the hairs along his arms rise, that empty whisper of a space wrapped inside a skin of reality.