Book 2: Chapter 47: Ancient Memories

Book 2: Chapter 47: Ancient Memories

Despite the events of the day, I thought it was going to be a relaxing afternoon.

The sun filtered down through the canopy above, its light shifting and swaying with the wind blowing through the leaves. Maria put her hand in mine, and I held her tight. Corporal Claws, the apparent druid of this grove, had one half of her body draped over each of our knees. I had the toothy end, and she gazed up at me with her trademark cheeky grin, made all the more mischievous by the dagger-like points of her teeth.

All the church members milled around the clearing, gathering in small groups as they walked from tree to tree. They wandered, gazing up at insects and smelling flowers. The scene reminded me of visitors in an art exhibition, moving from exhibit to exhibit with excitement and childlike-wonder on their faces. Maria squeezed my hand, and when I turned toward her, she was as awestruck as everyone else, but there was a hint of hesitancy coloring her disposition, hidden in the creases around her eyes usually caused by smiles.

I thought to ask what it was, but then the world started to glow.

It was a subtle thing at first, as if someone had slid up the saturation on an image. Colors grew more distinct from one another: the lemons became the color of a yellow highlighter; Corporal Claws’s pearly teeth turned almost opalescent; the grass and leaves surrounding us looked like something from a cartoon; and, most noticeable, the blue in Maria’s eyes glowed like everfrost beneath the midday sun. Everyone stopped moving, their eyebrows lowering and faces growing concerned.

Then, the light truly bloomed.

Lines of the purest white shot from every visible part of the lemon trees. Some bloomed from behind me, and I whirled, seeing them coming from the tree I leaned on. Last, they beamed up from the ground, tracing the patterns of roots that connected the trees before shooting outward in tangled webs of indescribable complexity. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and would have been over before it began to a regular human. With my enhanced vision, however, I saw each microsecond in exacting detail.

When lines shone from every part of the spirit’s tree, they expanded.

The pure white light diffused, stretching and connecting until they touched one another, then, with a note of finality, a boom like 1,000 drums being struck at once tore into existence. The sound went through me, pounding against every fiber of my being. When it hit my core, that nexus of power within that seemed to contain my chi, it reverberated, absorbing the sound and sending it back out.

My body jolted, my limbs splaying outward and back arching. My diaphragm spasm’d, and as I tried to breathe in, my body froze. Swift as it had come, the light bled from the world. My inner muscles relaxed, and with my back still arched, I took a shaky breath.

“Fischer!” Maria was in front of me, holding my face with her hands. “Fischer! Are you okay?”

“Y... yeah...” My voice was raspy as I spoke, and I cleared my throat. “I think so...”

Everyone had gone still, their eyes locked on me. I stared back, not understanding the concern on their faces.

“What’s up...?”

“What’s up?” Barry repeated, his voice shrill. “You just exploded with light—what the frack’s up with you, mate?”

“Me?” I laughed, shaking my head. “Nah, it was from the tree.”

“Aye...” Fergus said, clenching and unclenching his fists. “The tree first, but then you.”

“Not just light, either,” Theo added. “It struck me—like it had a physical force.”

Ellis flew into action. He sprinted at me, his notepad in hand as he leaped. He came to a skidding stop before me, his eyes pinning me down.

“Tell me everything.” He swallowed, lowering pencil to paper. “Spare. No. Detail.”

This only made the cultivators more brazen.

They sought her out, all the while blathering about her brothers and sisters they’d already extinguished. More was her elation when she absorbed the chi of each and every one. Despite the dwindling chi, she had grown powerful, and with each cultivator’s passing, the distance between herself and the attackers widened.

Then, something changed. Power returned to the world, and those cultivators she did sense rarely bothered her. They fled from or pursued one another, and those that came for her chi were already pushed to their limit, seeking her out in desperation. This time lasted for the mere blink of an eye compared to the centuries she had seen.

One day, it was over. Like a flashfire, the excess chi burned bright and disappeared, and the world was returned to its dwindling state. More cultivators came, some of which sat beneath her canopy rather than attack. She merely watched and listened to these travelers, as was her way; she would not seek the destruction of life unless it sought the end of hers. These humans knew not what she was, so merely used her vast canopy for the shade it provided. Despite their lack of aggression, she had no doubt they’d try to rip out her nexus of power if they knew what she was—not that they’d have succeeded.

Slowly, even these peaceful cultivators stopped visiting, and lacking the chi she absorbed of those foolish enough to attack her, she knew it was time to rest. She withdrew from her network of trees, leaving them there to be claimed by any spirit with the power and inclination.

With one last breath of her beloved forest’s sweet air, she went to sleep.

***

My eyes flew open and I took a deep breath; the air was sweet, just as the spirit remembered so long ago

Tears welled in my eyes, tickling my cheeks as they ran down my face. Maria stared at me, her eyes wide and red.

“Fischer... where did you go?”

She wiped the tears away as I sat up, focusing on my breath to calm my emotions.

“The tree... she showed me her memories.”

Ellis was still sitting before me, his face filled with desire and hands trembling.

I held up a hand, stalling the question no-doubt burning the back of his throat.

“I need a moment, mate...”

He sat back.

“Right.” His hand still shook, but he put his pencil away. “Sorry, Fischer, I didn’t intend...”

Something filled my vision, not at all caring that I had willed the System’s notifications to halt. I swallowed, my mouth going dry as I read the line printed before me.

New Domain established!