It had been six long days since Benjamin was kidnapped back by the Amazons, and since the moment he suddenly fell unconscious from his evolution.

The warrior women had moved with urgent efficiency, carrying his limp, glowing body through the winding paths of Verdant Spire.

Their strong arms supported him carefully as they climbed the spiraling vine stairs and rope bridges until they reached a special treehouse they had prepared for him during his long absence.

The structure nestled high among the thick, ancient branches of a towering oak.

Its walls woven seamlessly from living vines and sturdy wooden planks smoothed by years of patient craftsmanship.

Inside the cozy yet spacious room, they had tucked him gently into a wide wooden bed layered with thick cotton padding and fragrant flower petals that formed a soft, inviting mattress.

The petals released a faint, calming scent of night jasmine and fresh moss every time the women shifted even slightly while arranging Benjamin in his unconscious state.

The Amazons had panicked greatly when it first happened.

One moment Benjamin had been standing among them, smiling warmly after his return.

But the next his entire body erupted with a brilliant golden light that pulsed like a living flame around him.

Before anyone could react, he had collapsed to the ground like a dead man, completely motionless.

Shouts of alarm had echoed through the canopy as strong hands lifted him and rushed him to safety.

Their faces pale with worry and confusion while their hearts pounded with fear for their man which they had fought so hard to bring back.

Lotus had appeared shortly afterward, gliding into the area with her usual serene grace.

Her golden eyes remained calm as she explained the situation to the gathered women who crowded the space, their weapons still clutched tightly in nervous hands.

"He is evolving into an Arch human," she had told them in her soft, steady voice, placing a gentle hand on his glowing forehead.

Lotus did not actually know that Benjamin had already become an Arch human some time ago.

It was Ragna who boldly broke the truth to them immediately, her deep, resonant voice cutting through the hushed conversations like a sharpened blade.

"The god-touched had already revealed himself to be an Arch human," the red-haired ogress had stated firmly, standing tall despite the bandages now wrapped around her powerful frame.

Little Grey Ivy only looked around the village with wide, innocent eyes, tilting her head curiously at the tense atmosphere.

Ragna continued; "If he is evolving again, then it means..."

Lotus’s golden eyes widened from the heavy implication, her breath catching visibly for a moment as realization dawned. "He is becoming a demigod..."

It quickly turned into a thing of quiet, hopeful celebration among the Amazons.

Only a rare few people ever reached demigod status during their mortal days.

It meant shedding the last heavy restraints of mortality and becoming far closer to a true spirit in nature — stronger and freer, and far more powerful than any ordinary being.

Warrior women like the Amazons loved the concept deeply, for they already lived their lives dancing on the very edge of demigodhood through their relentless training, unbreakable will, and fierce devotion to strength and freedom.

Currently, six full days had passed, and Benjamin was still glowing with that steady, warm golden light while remaining perfectly still like a corpse in his treehouse room.

Grey Ivy sat silently beside the bed the entire time, her small grey-skinned body perched on a low wooden stool.

She did not respond to any of the women who spoke to her, offering only quiet, unblinking stares.

It was unsettling to watch such a small girl refuse even a single meal for days on end.

Yet from her grey skin and dark sclera, any fool could tell she was far from a normal child.

But where could Benjamin have picked her up from?

Ragna, naturally, had been thrown into a holding place — a sort of dungeon deep in the depths of an unnaturally huge oak tree.

The space inside was vast, so enormous that a small village could easily fit within its hollowed-out interior.

This, of course, was suggesting that reality and space itself bent differently in that place.

Other prisoners from various races sat behind thick bamboo bars or in cells covered from above by woven bamboo lattices.

Annoyed at her treatment, Ragna had refused to give the Amazons any further information about what Benjamin had been doing or who Grey Ivy truly was.

Simply because Benjamin had desperately protected her during the chaos, she had been placed in a far more comfortable cell than the rest.

Hers offered significantly more space, a nicely made bed of soft furs and woven blankets.

With gentle magical lights that floated near the ceiling, giving it a low-key sense of luxury compared to the harsher conditions of the other prisoners.

Still, Ragna felt it was poor treatment for someone who had arrived as a visitor.

Not to mention... they had nearly killed her before Benjamin intervened.

Elara and her daughters had come to see Benjamin consistently over the six days, their faces etched with deep worry each time they climbed the winding vine stairs to the treehouse.

But Lotus had gently insisted they allow him to finish evolving before disturbing him too much.

Despite that advice, Lotus herself snuck in every night to press a soft, lingering kiss to his glowing forehead when she thought no one was watching.

All the other Amazons secretly did the same whenever they could, sneaking into the room one by one under the cover of darkness and gesturing urgently at the ever-watching Grey Ivy to "shhhh" with a finger pressed to their lips.

***

Back to now — six days had passed since Benjamin returned to the Spire.

The news had successfully traveled across the nations it concerned, spreading like wildfire through urgent whispers, messenger birds, and rapid magical communions between leaders.

"For the manhandling of the first male Amazon, we shall retaliate like the savages you think us to be!"

This eerie public declaration from a very enraged Elara had forced a high-level meeting to be conducted, urgently called by Renard Valois.

He stood as something remarkably close to the vital glue that held everything together, the quiet yet indispensable link that silently connected the seven great kingdoms;

Those powerful nations whose decisions, more often than not, shapes and decides the fate of nearly the entire rest of the world.

And now, on this particular sixtieth day since Benjamin’s remarkable evolution had first begun its long process, the distinguished leaders of those very same kingdoms had once again come together for yet another important interracial summit.

This time around, the gathering was taking place deep inside the majestic and living heart of Verdant Spire.

This was because Renard was positively convinced that Elara would never agree to show up at the Neutral Glades no matter how much he might beg or try to reason with her.

***

"Uhm..." The blonde-haired man with those strikingly bright blue eyes slowly clasped his hands together in front of him, resting his elbows lightly and carefully upon the surface of the exotic table that had been masterfully carved from rare and ancient ironwood.