Chapter Sixty

The Tree of Ages

There was a little bit of traffic on our way to the fork in the road. Mostly wood elves, though there were some humans and a couple of gnomes that we passed. Most of them seemed to be ordinary folk, and we paid each other no mind, though we did get some odd looks.

I kept my hood up, I still didn't want to draw attention to myself. Sephra had used her ring to change her skin tone to that of a high elf so she would be able to travel without raising alarm among other travelers.

Terone agreed to come with us to the Tree. It was the opposite direction of where he needed to go, but he was glad for the company after what he'd been through. I couldn't say that I blamed him, I remembered how I felt after nearly being killed in the forest by myself.

After a couple hours, we finally reached the point where the road diverged. There was a signpost with signs pointing down each part of the road. There was writing in both Common and Elvish, indicating what was down each path. Dolanaar was down the road we'd just come from, Felspring was to our right, to the northeast, and the White Tree was to our left, to the northwest.

We took the left fork, towards the Tree. I figured since we were just about there anyway, we'd go there first. The traffic immediately stopped, we met no one else on this road. It was maintained, but wasn't well-traveled.

After a few more hours, the foliage began to change. There were reds and oranges, like fall. I worried that the whole area was dying. After another twenty minutes, the leaves changed color again. They were now rich purples and blues, though the bark was still a normal brown. Melima assured us that this was normal, she remembered it from when she'd been to the Tree previously.

Soon I could see the white top of the Eternity Tree. It had a glow about it. We came around a bend, and we could see the entire Tree in all of its glory. The bark was beautiful and white, glowing with almost an iridescence. It sat on a little bit of a hill, with the roots coming out before it reached the ground, encompassing the hill as they buried into the ground.

The trunk of the Tree reached at least nine storeys into the sky, at least three times as tall as the trees around it. One of them could have laid at the base of the Tree and barely reached both ends. It was interesting that it didn't seem that tall when I had flown above the trees before.

At the base of the Tree was a group of elves, both wood elves and high elves, scattered around the base of the hill. They were all wearing different types of armor and wielding different weapons, or no weapons, but they all had a white band with an Elvish script embroidered in it around one of their arms.

Several of them saw us as we approached. One of them let out a quick whistle, and all the elves on our side of the Tree looked at us. Anyone who had a weapon drew it. Bows, swords, hand crossbows. All were made very intricately.

There were no other elves around, there wasn't a camp right next to it like I had expected. There was a path going northeast, which looked fairly well used, and a path continuing west, which looked less used. Did they go to two different camps? One for the wood elves and one for the high elves?

There was also a small creek running through the area. It came from the east, ran next to the Tree, then continued into the west.

The elf who whistled, a high elf, stepped forward with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Who goes there, who are you? Identify yourselves or be shot."

I glanced over at Melima. She usually handled these situations, but I was ready to speak in order to avoid getting attacked by those we came to help. Melima stepped forward and bowed in her regal manner. "I am Melima Moonfeather of the High Elven Royal Family. We come in peace."

All of the high elves I could see gave her a bow. Sometimes I'd forget how important she was among the high elves. At this point, she was just another one of my friends. The guard addressing us gave a short nod. "This is good to know. Who are the rest of your companions?"

"I will allow them to introduce themselves, for we have all been traveling a long time."

I stepped forward. I was going to be the leader Bahamut wanted me to be. Though it made me nervous, I let my hood fall onto my shoulders. "I am Tawariell Nosgartha. Our group is called Vox Imperium. We are here to see what we can do to help with the things going on, to see if there is any information we can get to help with the White Tree. We are seeking to speak with some of the high elves."

When I said my last name, the guard showed signs of recognition and started scanning me. I should have been used to it by then, but it still made me nervous. As soon as I finished speaking he held up his hand and looked behind himself to his left. "Kalos, come."

Another high elf walked around towards us. His equipment was definitely that of a ranger. He had his arrows in a quiver on his side, and held a longbow, which looked surprisingly a lot like mine— the one Shadow helped me make. Maybe it was a common way for rangers to make their bows.

His skin was dark bronze, and his clothing was very fine. He looked so much like my father, probably a brother or a cousin. I was finally meeting some of my family! My nervousness evaporated in an instant and was replaced with excitement.

The guard who addressed us pointed at Kalos, then to me. "This is..." He looked at me again. "You said Nosgartha?"

"I did."

"Kalos, do you know this elf?"

His eyes flashed with a little bit of recognition. "There is some family resemblance here, but I cannot place it. Who is your family?"

"My father is Thorontur."

All the guards snapped their heads towards me and looked at me with wide eyes, several stepping back. Kalos shook his head in amazement. "You're the daughter of— I am Kalos Nosgartha. I'm your father's nephew. Where have..."

He stammered for a few seconds, not able to get any words out. He looked to the other guards, then back to me. "We thought he was dead. Where... Where?"

I shook my head with a joyful smile. "No. He moved to Lystran, to the middle of the continent."

"To Lystran? It has been many, many a year. I did not think we would ever hear his name again. We thought he was lost."

The guards all looked at each other, then the first guard looked back to us. "I'm sorry— Please, who are the rest of your party?"

He almost shouted the last phrase, as if he were trying to regain control of the situation. "Then we can come back and discuss this. Please introduce yourself, so we can know who you are."

He stood more at attention again. "Oh, I am Nieven Rothe. I am the captain of the guard here at the Eternity Tree, at the Tree of Ages. I, for the most part, command and lead the White Guard here. Please introduce yourselves, so we may know you better."

Melima motioned to Sephra, and she stepped forward. "I'm Sephra Locklear, and I'm an adventurer."

Ari'yasa was next. "I'm Ari'yasa Galestrom. I'm a druid who has been traveling for some weeks with this party."

The guard cocked his head. "You are not Elven. You are genasi, yes? We do not get your kind much in these parts, but welcome."

Next was Keothi. "I am Keothi of the tribe Kalagiano, a fearsome tribe."

"Interesting, welcome to our shores. I know goliaths do not roam the Elven shores, so welcome."

"I am honored to be here," Keothi said.

Naidaroe stepped forward. "I'm Naidaroe, I'm with them."

"You're not entirely elf yourself..." the captain said.

"I'm an aquatic half-elf."

"You must hail from the southern islands. Very interesting garb you have on."

"Thank you!" Naidaroe said.

Jörgen bowed as he stepped forward. His ears were pointed like an elf's, but much longer, and his fingers were longer as well. "I'm Jörgen, and I don't really know who I am."

"Interesting," Nieven said.

I motioned towards the elf we picked up on our way. "This is Terone, he was on guard at Dolanaar and was captured. We rescued him on our way, but we were going in the opposite direction."

He stepped forward. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't often get out to the Tree. I need to be making my way to Dolanaar." He turned to us and thanked us. Then looked at Naidaroe and gestured to the crossbow she had loaned him. "Do you want this back, or can I keep it?"

"This is a gift from me to you."

"Oh, well thank you very much. Enjoy your journey, I hope you can help. If you are ever in Dolanaar, look me up. Just ask around to the other guards, I'm sure they can find me."

"Travel safely!" Naidaroe said.

"As well for you, travel safely." He walked towards the western trail, looking nervously at the other guards. As soon as he reached the other treeline he broke into a sprint down the path.

Nieven watched Terone go down the path, then returned his attention to us. "Welcome to the Eternity Tree. Now, what can we, the White Guard, help you with?"

"Is Muirios here?" Melima asked.

"Muirios? Ah, yes. He is actually at our camp, nearby." He reached his hand to his mouth and gave a loud whistle, louder than I'd thought possible.

"Give it a moment, he'll be here," the captain said.

Melima looked back at us. "That's my brother."

Within a minute he came running from the northern path. He was tall, taller than Melima, yet well built. His hair was dark, but still had the fairer skin of a high elf. He ran up to Nieven, "Yes? Yes?"

The captain pointed towards us. He did a quick scan of our group, then saw Melima and bounded towards her, giving her a bear hug. They laughed, and Muirios just held her for a moment. "It has been too long, sister. It has been too long! Where have you been? There was no announcement, there was no— What have you been doing?"

Melima giggled. "Long story Muirios. Longer than we have time to tell."

"There will be time. Yes." As he let go of her, sparks emanated from around Jörgen. His eyes looked glazed over, but he shook his head and focused back on what was going on.

Melima continued, "Muirios, yes, we have traveled long and far, and we are here to help. We have got Tawariell, who is our champion and our seer of sorts, and has been experiencing some interesting and impressive things that have led us here. So, we are hoping to get more help or to get more information or more aid in our endeavors to heal, protect and defend our Tree. Or defend our traditions and our history and our powers."

Nieven took charge again. "Excellent, well, we can start with this." He led us over to the north side of the Tree, over a little footbridge going over the small creek. As we came around some of the roots, we saw something that caused my heart to ache. A purple mark on the Tree, it looked like a scar. It ran up from the roots as a sickly, veiny growth. It didn't glow like the rest of the Tree.

The captain stopped in front of the scar. "This has been growing steadily for the last few months. We're not sure what is going on, we've had many, many scholars, many mages, many other entities of knowledge out here, trying to figure out what this is, and we do not know. What have you discovered in your journeys, along the way? Anything about this that you have discovered that we might be able to understand with each other?"

"We have bits and pieces," Melima said. "But I'll defer to Tawariell, she knows a lot. She knows probably the most out of all of us."

I hopped in almost without missing a beat. "Ah, during our travels we ran into a couple of groups of servants of Loltha, and one of them indicated that she is trying to escape her bonds, and destroy the elves."

Nieven closed his eyes for a moment. "Indeed, the Spider Queen has long been enemies with the elves. With the drow at her disposal, they are a considerable threat if rallied together. What else have you discovered?"

"Um, that somehow division is a part of it, the division between our peoples, between the wood elves and the high elves."

"What do you mean, division? Can you be a little more specific?"

"The way we don't get along."

"I'm sorry I had to specify. We as the White Guard, wood elves and high elves, we tend to get along better than most, because of our station here."

"I would imagine so."

"But you are indeed correct, our cultures have not gotten along." He was giving me a strange look as we were talking, trying to figure me out. I was getting used to it by now, and it almost made me laugh each time it happened.

Almost all the other guards were looking in our direction as well, more with curiosity and wonder than caution it seemed. I caught a glimpse of a wood elf on the other side of the Tree, glancing over her shoulder. She was holding a staff that hooked over itself, holding a purple gem. On my first glance of her face, I could have sworn it was my mother.

I caught a glimpse of her face again, it wasn't my mother, but it was definitely a relative. She looked to be a little bit older than me, and the style of her multicolored robes indicated she was probably a druid. I'd have to see if I could talk to her later. More family for me to talk to, my heart was nearly exploding with excitement!

"This growth, or whatever this is, this damage to the Tree started several months ago. Small, near the roots in the ground, just as small dark spots, and it began to grow almost like vines or like an old human's veins would do, where it just started to spread like a blight almost, on the Tree."

It was already pretty big, it went up the Tree almost as tall as Keothi. Looking at it closer, it seemed to distort the light from the Tree, like it was blocking it. I couldn't tell if it was from within, or closer to the surface.

"Is this the only symptom, the only strange thing that has been going on with the White Tree?" I asked.

"As far as we can tell, yes. The only other odd going on is that the normal change that happens to the leaves around the Tree, those color changes have receded back towards the Tree. They do not extend as far as they used to, as if the amount of energy that the Tree is putting off has diminished, which, we gather having been here, and everyone now in the last few weeks not being able to trance anymore."

"Has it only been the past few weeks for some of you?"

"For some of us, yes. The younger ones were the ones affected least by it. But it's been about the last three weeks that it has been all of us that have not been able to trance.

"We received word several months ago when this first started that the elves in other places, beyond the forest, were not able to trance, and slowly it has come in, towards the Tree, as if, almost as if dying. And I think that is what we're most afraid of."

"Yes." I think all the elves had the same fear. What would happen if it were to actually die? We were already feeling effects, and it was still alive, and this thing was only on a tiny portion of the Tree.

"So, what do you hope to help with? What can we do as the Guard to help, in any way we can?"

"Is E'ran Del'tonn still one of the guards?"

"He is. Actually, E'ran." Nieven called him, and he came from the west side of the Tree. He wore full plate armor, but what caught my eye most was the symbol of Bahamut emblazoned on the breastplate. Everything he wore was blue and silver, even his morningstar was silver with a blue jeweled inlay.

"Yes?" E'ran said. "I was summoned. What do you need?"

"My father spoke highly of you," I said, "and that you might be able to help me learn some things about my family, and more about him as a White Guard." I considered telling him the phrase my father had told me, but decided that might be better in private, not knowing exactly what it was used for.

He looked me over as he spoke. "Indeed, I knew your father well. He was a good man... He was a good man." A sadness set in his eyes. "We were very good friends. It was a shame when he was gone, but it's good to hear that he's not... dead."

"Yes, I don't know— He never really talked about his time at the White Tree, but at some point— I mean, if you're on duty right now that's fine, but I would just like to chat sometime." Why was I more nervous to meet this man I knew was a friend of my father than my own family members?

"Yes, we can definitely do that." He turned to the captain, "With your permission of course, Nieven, we could go over to the camp and discuss anything she would like to discuss?"

Nieven looked our group over. "No, if that is all, you can make your way over there." He looked at Muirios, "I'm guessing you're going to want some time too?"

"Well, of course. It's my sister! I need to find out what she's been doing. I mean, look at her!" He stopped suddenly as he finally seemed to notice the scales on her arms. "This is new."

Nieven asked if there was anything else we needed at the Tree. Melima took a soil sample, and I cast a new spell I'd learned in my vision and through meditation that morning. "Evnek arcaniss."

The Tree immediately started glowing brighter. All the magical items we were carrying were glowing as well, as were any magical items the guards had. There was a lot of it around.

I focused in on the Tree. The scar was also glowing, but it was different from the Tree itself. The Tree had qualities of the school of divination and necromancy. It had traces of all the schools of magic, but those were the prominent ones. The necromantic aura startled me at first, having usually associated it with death, but one of the things I'd learned during my vision was it also had to do with life.

The scar had the auras of the school of evocation, dealing with elemental and chaotic energies. I knew some of the most damaging and dangerous spells came from that school. What were we dealing with?