Aria's New Powers: Guardian Tree and the Chosen Form

Aria's New Powers: Into the Guardian Tree

After Kolyaban's defeat, Aria keeps searching for a way to change her body. Nothing she has tried has worked. Now she brings the Hero to the Guardian Tree to meet someone who understands uncontrolled transformations: Fae. The shapeshifter has learned much since their earlier adventure. She believes Aria's own connection to Nature may be strong enough to undo what the Plane of Monsters did to her, if Aria can learn to use it.

The portal leads into the Plane of Nature, where the Orb of Nature can help awaken that power. Champions, avatars, dragons and orbs belong to the same elemental order, different expressions of an element's presence. That does not make them interchangeable people. Aria is Nature's Champion, seeking the strength and understanding to act for herself.

Fae begins with living things. The Hero gathers treeant cuttings and plants them so Aria can practice helping them grow. Sick creatures are brought to her for healing. Her connection to Nature becomes something she can exercise with care, rather than the destructive strength Kolyaban encouraged her to display.

Other creatures are too corrupted to heal in the same way. Fae explains that, here in the Plane of Nature, they can be returned to the Growth for reconstruction. The Hero subdues corrupted zards so Aria can send them back. It is a different answer to damage, taught within this realm, while the healthier creatures respond to her direct care.

A perfect seed gives Aria the means to grow a tall vine toward the next level. The companions climb it and find the Orb resting in a flower. Drawn by its power, Aria reaches for it, but it vanishes before she can take it. A guardian calling herself Tera appears and refuses to let her claim it yet.

Aria protests that she is the Champion of Nature and is tired of being treated like a helpless child. Tera does not deny her power. She questions whether Aria knows how to use it, pointing to the anger in her response. Aria must hone her talents and strengthen her bond with the realm before she can have the Orb. Tera disappears in pollen, leaving a challenge in place of the prize.

Aria's New Powers: The Form She Chooses

Fae's allergies leave her unable to guide Aria through the pollen. Aria instead asks the Hero for haleflowers and uses them for protection. The companions cross the affected area, destroying the large pollen clouds in their way. Another obstacle has become an opportunity for Aria to solve a problem with her own abilities.

Beyond it, they must escape a dead seed pod. The Hero gathers life energy, and Aria's growing skill provides a way upward. Farther along, she uses fungal spores to grow bridges between branches, with the Hero directing where they are needed. By the time they reach Tera again, Aria has brought them through more than one kind of barrier.

She demands to know whether that is enough to be believed. Tera asks when she ever said she did not believe her, then reveals her true form: Terrane, the Avatar of Nature. Aria's awakening has been difficult, and the tests were guidance. The Hero objects to the games, but Aria accepts Terrane's help and asks what comes next.

Terrane asks her to prove herself in battle and takes the form of a giant bird. The companions overcome the challenge. After the defeat, Terrane returns to her usual shape and offers the Nature Orb. She is impressed and believes Aria can now handle its power.

Holding the Orb, Aria feels her own abilities come into focus. She transforms into a more human shape and says she feels like herself again. When the Hero points out that some details remain different, she answers that she likes them. This is how she feels she should have been, now that she has the ability to choose. The change is hers, rather than another form imposed on her.

Terrane invites her to stay and learn more. Aria thanks her but wants to go home to her shop, her town and her friends. A portal to the Pet Shoppe opens, and Terrane leaves the path available for whenever she is ready to return. Further training remains possible without keeping her from the life she wants now.

The work in the Plane of Nature continues. Terrane offers the Hero a task helping purify the remaining corrupted zards with nectar and spores. It is an opportunity to aid the realm after Aria's trial, not another condition for earning her chosen form. Her journey has brought control and a way home, while leaving room to learn.