Tommy stands silently in front of the mirrors. He watches his reflection stare back at him. He is wearing a black jacket with black pants. There is a white shirt underneath and silver swirls sewn into the edges of his clothes, near the folds and cuffs. He notices blankly how vague his eyes are. He feels like he's dreaming, but the warm and damp cloth being pressed against the skin underneath his eyes brings him back to the present moment. He moves his eyes, finding Niki's back facing the mirror. As his vision continues, he ends up looking at her instead of the mirror. She is standing in front of him, slightly to the side, holding a navy blue rag in one hand. Her other hand ghosts over his cheek, keeping his face in place. She squeezes the rag ever so often, and Tommy knows what she's doing only because the cloth has not lost any of its warmth despite the slow chill spreading across his bedroom.

He stares up at Niki's face. She is wearing a conflicted expression. Her eyebrows are knitted together, and her lips are held in a tight line. He has known Niki for a few months now, and he understands her expressions. At least, he hopes he does, even as the shock of Niki being worried for him eases away some of the pain inside of his chest. He looks away from her, not wishing for the reminder of why she's wiping the skin underneath his eyes. His vision is blurry enough with the puffiness; he does not need to start crying again.

"Your attendance is not required," Niki says softly. She is meant to tell Tommy this. It is her duty to, in fact. But the way she says it tells Tommy everything he needs to know. She is pleading with him not to go because she knows as well as Tommy does that this funeral is going to break him. He is very fragile right now, considering one of his brother's is dead and he's had a falling out with the other one. The funeral will be filled with nobles, and Niki does not want Tommy's misery to become a show.

"I know," Tommy responds, his voice unintentionally somber. It sounds indistinct to his own ears, but there is nothing he can do about it. "But I wish to say farewell to my brother and my friend."

Wilbur and Shelby were both very important people to him. While he knows they would understand his reservations regarding going to their funeral, Tommy would never be able to forgive himself if he wasn't there to see their spirits off. He knows they are gone. They will be gone no matter where he is or how many people are around him. But there is something special about funerals- a sense of closure that Tommy desperately craves right now. He won't be able to forget either of them, but maybe this will help him forgive himself for not being there for them.

Niki sighs, her eyes shining with understanding and yet filled to the brim with a sort of empathy Tommy is unfamiliar with. Niki had to say goodbye to her family, too. She had to say goodbye to her people and homeland. She knows the grief that is running through Tommy's veins. She understands him, probably why she doesn't seem dissatisfied with Tommy in the way she was upset with Theseus. Tommy feels awful about using his own pain to further his relationship with Niki, but he can't control what she sees in him. He can't control the tether that now stretches between them.

"As you wish, your highness. This humble servant will excuse themselves. This servant will wait for you for as long as is required." Niki takes a step away. She takes the rag with her, clutching it along with the skirt of her dress as she curtsies. She does not lift her head as she exits the room. Tommy follows her through the mirror, watching the door inside the silver close a fraction of second before he hears it.

Tommy breathes out shallowly as soon as she is gone. He nearly crumples to the ground without the weight of someone else's presence keeping him upright. He wraps his arms around himself as a poor substitute for a hug. Niki's reminder rushes into his ears. He doesn't have to go to this. People will talk, yes, and his parents might be disappointed, but no one would blame him for being unable to face his grief. He doesn't know how famous his relationship with Wilbur and Shelby are, but he knows that they have never been secretive about how much they care about each other. People will understand. His parents will understand. Wilbur and Shelby would understand.

Tommy won't be able to. He steps away from the mirror. He reaches for a cloak hanging inside his wardrobe. It is black like his outfit with an entire garden of intricate flowers on the back made from glossy silver. Tommy wraps it around his shoulders. He feels the tufts of black fur rub against his neck. It tickles him, but the giggle that would usually escape his lips remains heavy in his stomach. He is unable to make it rise to the surface, so he lets it linger in the depths of his being.

Tommy walks over to the door. He crosses into his reception room. He has not had another person's company in this room since his argument with Techno. He has not been short of people wishing to speak with him, of course. There are many nobles who are eager to give their condolences and curry favor with him. Other than the vicious aristocrats, Tommy's friends and teachers have asked on multiple occasions for a chance to see with their own eyes how he is faring. The assurances he passes along to them through Niki and Jack are no longer satisfying them. Tommy doesn't blame them. In their shoes, he would want to meet with his grieving companion just as much. Unfortunately, as the grieving companion in question, Tommy makes this impossible. He suspects he will for a good while longer.

"Take care of the prince." Tommy hears Niki hiss this to Jack. Her voice is as rough as a sudden riptide, and Tommy considers Theseus to be a very strong person not to flinch at someone using that tone with them.

"I was already going to do that," Jack snaps back at her. Despite this moment, Niki and Jack are quite close. They were in the book as well. They weren't friends, exactly, but they were the closest thing they had to a companion to each other. They were bonded through their mutual regrets regarding their families, desire to bring back their homes, and hatred for Theseus. Niki used Jack to further her own revenge in the end, and that probably severed their relationship in The Ender Prince, letting them both die alone.

Right now, they have their regrets and desires to bound them together, but they no longer have hatred for Tommy. He doesn't want to put a name to how they feel about him for fear of jinxing it, but he feels as if he can safely conclude that they care about him to some degree. Niki went out of her way to make it look like he hasn't only been sobbing and sleeping these past few weeks. They are both arguing about keeping Tommy protected, and he knows that Niki isn't telling Jack to keep Tommy's physical body safe. As he said, Jack will already do that. No, Niki is warning Jack not to let anyone damage Tommy's spirits any further. Jack is in the same boat as they are about losing family.

Tommy opens the door. Niki and Jack stop talking about the prince they've sworn allegiance to. Jack snaps his fist to his chest in the way of the knights. Niki falls back into a curtsey. They both seem a little upset that Tommy came out of the room. He knows they would rather him lock himself away from the gazes of the nobility. They should, however, know that avoiding the world is not good for Tommy's mental health, either. He will be fine; they need to stop worrying so much.

"Your highness," Niki speaks quietly. It is against customs for her to start a conversation with a member of the imperial family, but today is not the day to enforce such rules. Not as if Tommy would, anyway, not with Niki. "I will be with the other servants should you have any need for me at the funeral."

Tommy nods, taking that information with him. He doesn't think anything will happen that will require him to get the attention of his maid- or an assassin if she's willing to share that secret with him tonight- but it is nice to know that she will be there nonetheless.

Tommy turns to walk down the hallway. Niki remains behind, stuck in a curtsey, but Jack follows behind Tommy as his personal guard. They turn through the halls of the imperial family's wing. Tommy hears yelling. He slows down, looking around for the source. He finds it easily. His father and brother have left the door ajar. Tommy stands at the entranceway, peering into the crack to watch the two of them argue both with their words and their body language. The exact wording of their argument filters through Tommy's mind, leaving him before he can process it. A defense mechanism, perhaps.

"Your highness," Jack calls, quiet enough that the arguing figures cannot hear him. Niki told Jack not to let Tommy get hurt, and he's trying to uphold his duties. Tommy does not move even as Jack's warning reaches his mind.

"Fine!" Philza snaps. Techno turns away. Philza marches away from his son, his wings flaring behind him. The wind rushes all around him. The door flings open with more force than necessary. Philza's angry expression melts the second he meets Tommy's eyes. Tommy returns his father's eyes. He has not seen Philza since moments before Tommy's own argument with Techno.

"Theseus..." Philza murmurs, saying the prince's name like someone mutters the title of something they have forgotten. Tommy tears his eyes away from his father's face. He looks down, hiding his scowl. He hears his father sigh, and the man's wings droop onto the ground. "Follow me, Theseus."

Philza starts walking down the hallway. Tommy lifts his face up to watch his father's retreating form. Tommy rolls his shoulder, steeling himself as he does as the tsar commands. Jack falls into step behind Tommy. The blonde knows that he is tense right now. Jack doesn't hate Philza in the way he hated Theseus, but there certainly isn't respect or indifference in his opinion of the ruler of the lands. He is not disloyal, exactly, not in the way Niki is, but part of Jack does find it easy to blame the tsar for letting the Manifold bloodline fall into depravity. The tsar delivered justice to Theseus, but he did not lift a hand against the sins of the house that raised Jack.

"Your majesty, your highness," A voice adds, joining Jack. Tommy looks over his shoulder to see Imperial Guard Captain Jordan Sparklez walking alongside his subordinate. He is wearing the black version of his uniform, same as Jack, though Captain Sparklez has more patches on his shoulders and medals across his chest. The red sparkles that float around his body are as subdued as they can be, and his expression is solemn. His eyes cut towards Tommy. He does not make eye contact for longer than a second out of a sense of propriety, but that second is long enough for Tommy to know that Jordan feels awful about all of this. He watched Wilbur, Techno, and Tommy grow up. He was there for a lot of their childhood memories. He has been protecting them for just as long. Wilbur died in a distant land a few days after traitors attacked the tsaritsa and third prince in their home, and Techno is leaving yet again. Jordan feels more than grief over the people he lost; he feels guilt for failing them. Tommy decides to take care of it later... probably with the help of Kara, another person he needs to visit soon.

The four of them leave the palace together. They walk down the steps all the way to an already prepared carriage. Jordan rushes forward, taking the place of a servant to help the tsar and third prince enter into the carriage with his hand. Philza goes in easily. Tommy lingers for a second. He looks over his shoulder. Jack has gone to sit in the front with the coachman, but Tommy can feel a pair of eyes on him. His attention rises upward until he meets the chilling red eyes of Techno standing in a window. Tommy frowns. He waits for a beat, wondering if Techno will change his mind to come with him. He does not, and Tommy hears Jordan subtly coughing. It isn't to tell Tommy that it's time to go. It is to kindly tell Tommy that he shouldn't hold out hope.

Tommy sighs, turning around swiftly. He takes Jordan's hand, letting the guard help him into the carriage. Tommy sits across from his father. Philza's wings are gone at the moment, hidden away by Origin magic. His expression has not faded for a single second, mixed with more emotions that Tommy will ever be able to parse through.

The carriage begins moving. Tommy frowns, meeting his father's stormy eyes. "Where is Mother?"

"She is already at the Argent Sylva," Philza tells him in a low, gruff voice tinged with pain and emotion. Tommy nods, though he suspects his father is no longer paying attention.

The Silver Tree, as it is translated to, is a grafted part of the World Tree. Although the trees were known in the first few arcs, Ranboo did not see one until the Kinoko arc. Tommy remembers one of these trees being very important in the Las Nevadas arc. Tommy does not remember much from the book, but he recalls that Sylva trees are the symbol of a nation. If the tree dies, the nation will fall. It is simple like that. Although there is proof all throughout history, the most recent one is Niki's Drylands. Cyano Sylva perished, heralding the invasion by the empire. Tommy doubts Niki is going to be okay at this funeral.

Frankly, he doesn't think he's going to be, either.

Tommy and Philza spend the entire carriage ride in silence. Philza is lost in his thoughts. Tommy stares out the window, as far away from his thoughts as he can be. He notices a large mountain in the distance, and he knows they are close. The Antarctic Empire is known for its tundras, but they have their fair share of mountains in every corner of the vast landscape. This mountain in particular is famous for it is the largest in all of the continent and also the home of the Argent Sylva.

The carriage stops at the base of the mountain. The coachman hops into the snow, rushing to open the carriage door. Jack is waiting for Tommy on the other side. Tommy places his hand in Jack's palm, taking a step out of the carriage. His boots crunch against the snow. A sharp, nasty wind slams right into his side. He shivers uncontrollably, hissing through his teeth. All of a sudden, the wind stops. Tommy looks up. Jack frowns, staring down at his hands. Tommy turns around. Sneeg sits on the roof of the carriage. He shrugs his shoulders, looking away from Tommy towards the mighty mountain beside them. Tommy is grateful, a diminutive smile spreading across his face. The day is going to be hard enough without the wind trying to tear them down.

Tommy and Jack shuffle away from the carriage. Jordan takes their place, lifting his hand up. The three of them, along with Sneeg and the coachman, wait patiently for the tsar. After several minutes tick by, Tommy glances up at Sneeg. The Air Elemental King is frowning. Jordan looks up as well. Sneeg shakes his head at the captain. Jordan's face tenses, his eyes growing solid and warm. He looks at Jack, issuing a command. "Take his highness, Prince Theseus, on ahead. I shall stay with the tsar."

"Captain-" Jack begins. Tommy does not need another line. He turns away from the carriage. He starts walking towards the mountain. He hears Jack sputter behind him. The snow crumbles under the soles of his boots as he rushes to catch up with the prince. Tommy folds his arms behind his back, lifting his chin up high. He will not let this affect him.

Tommy walks up a cleared away path on a low incline. Instead of going to the top of the mountain, it curves to an area shrouded in evergreen trees. Their shadows pass over Tommy's body as he walks to a wide crack in the mountain's exterior. He steps into the darkness. He takes a few more steps, and his path is lit by crystals in the wall. Tommy follows these crystals down a wide hallway-like structure that opens up into a cavern so large it is clear that the mountain was hollowed out for this purpose. There are hundreds more crystals inside the cavern, lighting the entire space up with enough light that it feels like daytime. At the center, a very large tree blooms from the ground, nearly reaching the top of the cavern as if reaching for the stars it cannot see. Despite the winter outside, the bark is thick and a healthy brown color. As the name implies, the leaves are unilaterally silver, bright and shining like the metal itself. There is a rolled out velvet carpet from the entrance to the tree. Two distinct crowds form at the base of the tree on either side of the carpet, and imperial guards are stationed intermittently from here to there.

Tommy walks down the carpet path. Jack follows right behind him. The guards do not look away from their sacred mission, but the crowds notice Tommy immediately. As Tommy walks, he can hear them start to whisper about him. While he cannot catch every word, he catches enough of them that he knows they are wondering if he will be the next Tsesarevich. That must be the question lingering in everyone's mind. It is one they will not directly ask any member of the imperial family as Wilbur's death is still too fresh, but they are fine whispering it among themselves.

Kristin is kneeling at the roots of the tree. She is wearing a thick black dress that pools around her. A dark veil covers her entire face and neck, hiding away her expression. With her hands clasped in front of her, it isn't necessary to see her face to know how reverently she is praying.

Kara stands at Kristin's side. She does not kneel or pray. She stares with open eyes at the people. She has her hands folded behind her back like a shoulder, her wings revealing her defensive mindset. Tommy can infer she is trying to protect the tsaritsa's fragile form. With all the guards, it seems unnecessary, but Tommy cannot deny that the witch's determination makes him feel better.

Tommy joins his mother and teacher at the roots of the tree. Jack steps away, joining the lined up guards. He gives Tommy a reassuring smile. Tommy tries to return it as he looks at his mother. She does not look up from her praying.

Kara steps towards Tommy. He expects her to speak to him, but she says nothing as she places her arm over Tommy's shoulder. She draws him in closer, tucking him away underneath her shoulder. Her wing comes up as well to hide him away. It reminds him so painfully of his father that Tommy instantly relaxes.

A woman steps towards the trio at the roots. Tommy meets her eyes, and she does not look away from him. She is a short woman who stands tall, her chin lifted and her composure shrouding her face in a chilliness. Her eyes are muddy red, a little more brown than true red like Techno or the saint. Her hair, however, is truly red. It starts off as pink in the roots, but it becomes the color of blood and fire at the tips. This allusion to fire is double downed by the curliness of her hair, each ringlet spooling like smoke in the wind. She wears a white robe with additions of red, including the symbol of the Blood Church- the main religion of the empire. This woman is Rosie, the head of the entire church. She also possesses a sheep Origin if the curling horn in her hair are anything to go off of.

"Are we ready to begin the ceremony?" She asks with a firm voice. She is asking a member of the imperial family, as they are the only ones authorized to start such a ceremony. Kristin is still praying, not looking up at all. Philza is still in the carriage, and Tommy suspects he isn't coming out anytime soon. Techno decided not to come today. Wilbur is dead. Kara is only speculation, and even if she is Philza's half-sister, she isn't a recognized member of the family. Everyone- the nobles, the servants, Niki, Jack, Kara, Rosie- they are looking to Tommy for a decision. He is their prince. He might even be their future tsar.

"Proceed," Tommy tells her, stepping away from Kara. He attempts to mimic Rosie's tone. His voice sounds more apathetic than firm, but Rosie nods at him with a slight bow hidden in her body language.

"People of the Antarctic Empire, we gather here today to honor the lives and legacy of the first prince, Wilbur 'Soot' Craft, and the daughter of the duke of the west, Shelby Grace, in accordance to the mourning rituals told to us by the god of war, the Blood God, and the goddess of death, Misstrixten," Rosie begins, addressing the crowd like a renowned public speaker. As the head of the church, she has had years of practice performing rituals like this one.

As sacrilegious as it is, Tommy tunes Rosie out. He instead stares back at the Argent Sylva. Despite being underground, the branches are swaying in a whistling breeze. Tommy closes his eyes. As strange as it is, he feels closer to the center of the world like this. Instinctively, Tommy presses his fingers against the bark. A rush of energy fills his entire body, and his eyes startle open.

He is no longer standing in the cavern. Tommy's breath picks up as he looks around. There is a sky above his head as bright as the day despite being blanketed by darkness and dotted with glowing stars. He is standing in the inner courtyard of a large palace made from white stones that glisten. The ground underneath his feet is made from the same white stone as the rest of the palace, all except for a squared off section with light brown soil. A tree grows out of the soil. The bark is dark brown, but the leaves are a dozens of colors, including sterling silver.

"So, you're the Fatebreaker," A voice calls out behind him. Tommy whirls around, away from the tree, to see a brown-haired man standing a few feet away from him. Oddly enough, the man is wearing clothes from the other world- the one Tommy is originally from. He is wearing a pair of purple converse shoes and black skinny jeans. He is wearing a purple-and-green hoodie with a rectangular spiral across it. There is a pair of goggles sitting on his hair, revealing his shimmering, eternal eyes.

Tommy looks down. He is wearing modern clothes, too. He is wearing his favorite outfit from his teenage years- a red hoodie and slightly torn up jeans with tennis shoes. The clothes are of questionable quality, but the wear of the clothes makes them comfortable to Tommy. This hoodie in particular was one of his comfort items. He would wear it whenever he felt down, which became a lot throughout his high school years. As he examines his outfit, he notes that his hands are larger than they were a moment ago. He is older, back to nineteen years old, the age he died.

Tommy opens his mouth to speak, to question, but he is unable to pry his lips open. He cannot make any noise, not even a hum.

"Interventions such as this one proves that the title is not a lie," The man murmurs, more to himself than to Tommy, but he said it out loud so it must also be for Tommy. The man takes a couple of steps forward, not daring to look away from Tommy. The blonde is unable to move away, so he narrows his eyes, waiting for the man in front of him to strike while he's defenseless.

"Fate," The man starts. Tommy blinks in surprise, but the man continues without pausing to let the gravity of that word settle. "Fate, as you know it, is an extrapolation. It is an estimation using all the world's history as input data. It is the reading of fate-lines, concluding which one is most probable based on many rational principles and laws."

Tommy shudders. He has absolutely no reason to trust this man. He doesn't, not really, but he knows- instinctively- that the man is not lying. Everything he is saying is true. It feels the man is only reminding Tommy, not teaching him new information. It is an odd feeling, similar to the one he gets when he thinks about the strange dreams that he sometimes still has.

"But there are some factors unaccounted for. There are some places hidden from the insight of the goddess," The man continues. The saint mentioned a goddess, as well. Tommy racks his brain, but he doesn't know if there was a goddess of fate in The Ender Prince. He can't remember. "If you can find these oversights, as few as there are, you can live up to your name."

The saint gave him that name, and this man is giving him advice on how to live up to the name. Tommy knows why he wants to break fate; he doesn't know why these people want him to break fate.

"There is a fate coming for the entire continent that will destroy us all," The man speaks somberly as if he knows what Tommy was thinking. "You have a chance of subverting this fate. You need only learn how to do it."

Tommy's eyes widen. He vaguely recalls Ranboo being put in a similar position of saving the whole continent, but Tommy doesn't remember what the problem was or how Ranboo solved it. Tommy doesn't even know if the problem Ranboo faces is the one Tommy will have to face. He can't even remember the ending of The Ender Prince. What if it ended in tragedy? How will Tommy be able to do what Ranboo could not? Tommy closes his eyes, pushing away the pain. He doesn't want this responsibility thrust upon him.

Tommy stumbles back, suddenly aware that he's in control of his body. Before his eyes can open, he makes contact with a rough surface, most likely the bark of the tree in the center of the courtyard. When his eyes open, Niki is standing right beside him. She is leaning close, a concerned expression on her face. When she realizes that his eyes are open, she bows her head immediately. "Are you ready to return to the palace, your highness?"

Tommy looks at his maid, then turns his attention to the hand that touched the Argent Sylva. There is a leaf inside his palm with the same swirling purple-and-green pattern as that man from earlier. In the center of the spiral, there is a tiny seed. Tommy closes his fingers around the leaf and the seed. He looks at Niki with the largest smile he can muster, which isn't very large but does seem to satisfy Niki. "Yes, I wish to return home."

Niki nods, stepping away. He notices that Kara is leaning down to comfort his mother, and Philza and Sneeg are among the noble crowd, speaking with them. Tommy ignores all of this as he starts walking down the carpet back towards the entrance. Niki and Jack fall into line behind him. As he moves toward the end, he feels a pair of eyes on him. He looks around, and he catches the eyes of the person right as he passes through the entrance. Rosie.

—

"Whoa," Ranboo says softly, staring up at the large tree.

"Quit gawking. That isn't the real Chloro Sylva," Olive tells him, breezing right past the ancient tree.

"But does it look like this in the waking world?" Ranboo asks as he rushes to follow them.

"Not exactly. We're in your simulation right now, so this is just how you imagine the tree to look. The real one isn't dissimilar, but you have more than a few details wrong," Olive explains, stepping into a side street. Ranboo glances around at the poorly sculpted city they are walking through. This side street has almost no details, a consequence of Ranboo never actually having traveled through this part of the city.

"I thought you said your mind would influence the simulation," Ranboo reminds Olive.

"I did, and I can, but I'm not wasting my time creating an accurate depiction of Chloro Sylva. That tree is far too sacred for our minds to comprehend. That's why it's never shown up in a simulation before," Olive explains with a shrug. Ranboo notices the hint of annoyance in their tone. Olive doesn't like having to explain the simulation to him.

"I want to see it one day," Ranboo admits.

Olive sighs, turning around to face him with determination in their eyes. "I swear to you, I will get you out of this simulation and show you the actual Chloro Sylva."

Ranboo believes them. Despite everything he's faced before, he believes them with his entire heart.

Theseus, Dream, George... they were all right. His weakness is his heart.