Elsewhere: Alfheim

Chapter 3: The Source

My eyes fly open as I jerk my head off the tree.

"Did you fall asleep there?" Domet chuckles.

"No, I...talked to the tree." I beam excitedly.

Domets face grows concerned. "What do you mean?"

"I talked to the tree. It showed me what it is truly, and I came to understand the truth."

Domet looks at the ground. It looks like a grimace flashes across their features, but it's so quick I doubt the sight. After a few seconds, they turn their back to me and say, "I'll be right back. I need to go get someone."

They're gone in a flash, and I'm stuck here waiting while also feeling a little confused. Was what happened to me not what they were talking about?

They return after a while in a tornado of leaves with a shorter elf who seems to be an elder. They have a wooden staff with multiple carvings on it.

"Tell me, is what Domet said true? Did you...experience the tree?"

"Was I not supposed to? I just asked it if it what should me what it was like to be it."

"And it responded?"

"Yes."

"You'll have to forgive Domet. What you've done isn't something that happens often. We have our sayings and proverbs, but the true meaning behind them isn't always experienced.

It would seem King Joel was right about you. Do you know who you are?"

"I thought it was important that I carried the spirit of Odin. I thought it was important that I'm a hybrid werewolf, but I've seen that those are secondary to the Truth."

I look The Elder in the eyes, feeling mine glow a soft gold. Bright silver lightning crackles around me.

"There are three answers to the question. I am, I am free, I am you." I stand up and laugh lightly.

"Somewhere, there's someone who said this, but the question that follows will be answered here." I point with the left hand toward the ground and the right hand toward the sky.

"Throughout heaven and the earth, I alone am the honored one." The words leave the lips as they curl into a playful smile.

Laughter erupts from me as a strong breeze blows around me. Silver, white, and gold lightning starts to crackle. Water droplets flow up from the grass and out from the trees. A light glows from within me, and Domet grits his teeth.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

I tilt the head with curiosity at them. "That question has already been answered. It is not thought. It just is. I am you." Laughter erupts again, but all of the spirits around join in this time.

"I see. It is such a simple answer that it almost sounds stupid. Such is the nature of existence. Do you understand what it means that you have answered that question?"

The lightning, wind, water, and light stop.

"No, it's not as if the answer is hard to find. Anyone can know that." I respond in the voice of the body.

"That is true. But usually, it takes much practice and preparation to even begin the journey that you just took. You touched The Source and by your statement and answer probably even more. I doubt you even see a separation now between you and it." The elder replies.

I blink. "But there isn't a difference. It is within us, and we are within it. If it wasn't so nothing could exist. Though I suppose it does."

The Elder shakes their head. "You are past mortal understanding now. Your explanation doesn't make sense in this world. Though I'm sure it makes sense to the spirits and you. You are not a Magician, nor are you a werewolf. You never were. Those must have been manifested by your own understanding.

There's something different that beings like you are called. We call them Spirit Walkers. In Aesir, the name used to be Shaman, though now I believe they are known as Weavers. Those terms are still inaccurate for you, interestingly enough.

Both of those types receive power from the spirits. But you had power before you became aware of spirits, and you were also able to shift into a werewolf. Are you...changing the shape of your soul? I'm at a loss for how this is possible."

"Hmmm...there are many names that have been used to describe it. The issue is that when a name is used, there are limits attached to that name. A Magician or Wizard will only be a Magician or Wizard. A werewolf will always be a werewolf. A Shaman will always be a Shaman.

It doesn't mean that can't be anything else. That's just what they identify as, and so they do things that they think what they identify as would do. There is no name, and there never was. I am what I will be as are you. We are only what we choose to be, though sometimes we forget that there is always a choice." I answer.

"Is that the Truth?" The Elder asks, their eyes widening.

I smile. "The Truth is that we are free. I am free. The Truth is me."

The elder runs their hand through their silver hair. "How were you not annihilated? We have come to fear interactions with The Source as typically one ends up traumatized and sometimes in a vegetative state after an encounter. One's magic is also diminished quite a bit."

"Doesn't that just mean that you have come to fear the Truth? Where I come from, we call The Source God. Not everyone is afraid of God, and some even try to live by Its will. It's common to refer to God as He or She. But God clearly transcends any mortal gender.

At first, I thought the light was God, then I thought the voice was God. It's funny how long it took to realize that God predates both. Before there was light, life, and sound, there was God. Are you sure you aren't seeing The Source in a limited way? It is The Source of everything. Nothing can exist outside of it because existence is within it.

My God is your Source. The Soul of souls, The Spirit of spirits, the All that everything comes from and everything will return to. It is inevitable and unchanging because change and fate come from it."

Domet's jaw drops. "Are you saying that back in your world, people TRY to reach The Source?"

"Reach? There are plenty that try to straight up control it."

"But that's sorcery of the darkest degree. No good could ever come from that."

"They don't see it that way. In fact, they see sorcery as being anything that has to do with magic, and most spiritual practices are considered evil."

"But control and suppression are good?" Anger seeps into Domets voice.

"I know it doesn't make sense. It's just how things are there." I respond flatly.

The Elder pats his back gently. "Stop looking for something to be angry at. That isn't here. It's elsewhere.

I crack a smile that vanishes so quickly it's undetected.

"That's very true, it certainly is."