CHAPTER 7: THE TREE OF LIFE

It was a day just like the one before; the sun shone bright upon the mountains and made sure that the three travellers would not walk in fear of needing enough warm clothes. Jack was as he used to be, talking freely to the two female listeners. But Jaileen walked on in deep thought without listening or saying a word, and Melody did not hear him in her hopes to see just a glimpse of her goal. That was when they had to stop at midday. In front of them the road was split in two, leading in two opposite directions. Jack moaned and sat down on a dusty rock while Jaileen looked along the identical paths. Then she turned towards Melody.

"Which way would you recommend this time?" It was the first thing she had said all morning.

Melody looked around for a moment before she found it - that special feeling, floating through the air, like a whisper for her alone. The one that showed her the way so far. It was growing stronger and easier to find with every passing day. "That way," she said and pointed at the left path.

"You sure?" Jaileen asked.

Melody looked up at her. "Yes?"

Jack rose from the stone as if he wanted to interrupt, but then stopped and scratched his neck hesitantly. "Melody," Jaileen started. "I think that it perhaps is time for you to tell us where we're going."

Melody stepped back in surprise and looked at Jack, waiting for him to save her once again. But he was silent and seemed to have found something interesting to look at in the horizon. Then she looked back at Jaileen. "Leading you?" she asked.

"Its not because I'm mad at you, Melody. Its just that... I think we ought to know. These last few days you have seemed very confident when showing us the way. You are leading us towards something, right?"

The Iifa Tree, she thought. But... I cannot tell them. she will not understand. She will just... and Jack... No word came out of her mouth and her tail started wagging nervously from side to side. She felt like running away, travelling the rest of the way alone. What do I need them for anyway? They will never understand. They can not help. They will get hurt.

"Maybe you should tell us." This time it was Jack who talked. He had a serious look in his face, one that she had only seen very few times before. "Maybe you have heard of the tree of power?"

"Tree of Power?" she said in surprise. "The Iifa Tree..." she whispered, looking down. They know?

Jaileen bowed down with her hands on her knees, bringing her to the same height as Melody. "We just want to know if that is where you're bringing us. It is very important, Melody."

"You do not want me to bring you there," Melody replied, as she remembered the conversation that she had heard that morning. "You fear it."

"So I'm right?"

Melody closed her eyes. "I am going to the Iifa Tree. You can follow me or not, but you cannot stop me."

Jaileen and Jack looked at each other. "You knew all this time?" Jack asked. "But you never said anything. Why?"

Jack sounded so dissapointed. They will only get hurt, she repeated in her mind. She squeezed her fists in anger. They are already hurt. Because I followed them - and because I helped them. I was one of the... heroes... "I... did not want you to know because... you would stop me. Like Mikoto."

"Yes," Jaileen said. "We will stop you. That place isn't something for you or... anyone else." Jack tried to catch her attention, but she ignored it. "I don't know what you would ever seek there! Back in Alexandria it is known as the source of the cursed Mist. As a gathering point of evil, unreal fantasies and... incredible power."

"No! You do not know what it is, it is all a lie! It is the tree of Life, the only way for me to..." She stopped, her ears burning. She found herself unable to look at the surprised faces of her friends and turned away from Jaileen, setting into a run. And she chose the left path, the one that lead to the Iifa Tree - the direction in which she could feel the tempting call.

Jaileen stared after her in surprise. "Melody!"

"Look what you did!" Jack yelled. "Don't stand there, we have to get her back."

"What do you mean?"

He looked into her eyes. "Forget your stupid fear - remember that Gav and his gang is going in the exact same direction. And I don't think they will welcome her with open arms after what she did at Conte Petie."

She still hesitated as Jack gave up the pursuit. Then she looked back in the direction from which they had come, and decided. She made sure that her sword was secured by her side and followed them towards the Tree of Life.

Soon Melody slowed down and stared at the incredible sight that had appeared before her. A large silhouette in the form of a gigantic tree shot out of the horizon with the sunlight streaming out from behind it. The Iifa Tree. It was not completely visible yet, but there was no doubt. She came to a complete stop, and stared in amazement. This was it! Soon... soon she would reach her final destination. She started to run again in excitement. Finally she would return home... but what if they were right? What if Terra was truly destroyed? For a moment she hesitated, afraid of what would happen when she reached the tree. But then she sped up the pace. She had to go there - she had to see it with her own eyes.

It took her two days to finally reach the stony landscape near the tree itself - and still it was only a silhouette on the sky. Before she began to climb the rocks she looked at the tree one more time, trying to recall what she had felt these last days. It was a message, and it had grown stronger the closer she came to the Iifa Tree. Something was calling her. But still, she could not make something out of it, and now there was nothing left of the call at all.

She jumped up on the first rock, quickly climbing through the tough terrain. She felt her heart beating faster as she came closer, and soon she climbed up upon a large cliff. And then the ground stopped to exist. She was staring into an endless deep, covered in darkness. Slowly she looked up and had to shield her eyes from the sun. Large roots were lying across the deep as bridges, securing the way to the tree itself - an incredible structure made of hundreds of these roots, tangled into each-other. The top was without leaves, also made of strange roots with layers of vines and other unknown plants, nothing like any other tree in this world. But what Melody had prepared as a yell of happiness, became a gasp of surprise - her hand dropped, and she just stared without noticing the sharp light of the sun.

"No," she whispered. There was no longer a tree of life, all colour had left the vines and roots. Only the black and brownish colour of dead vegetation was left, and there was nothing that indicated that Mist had once been produced here. Everything was dead. She dropped down on her knees, staring into the endless deep. The energy that had kept her going the last days was gone, and so was her hope. A last a bitter whisper escaped her lips: "I hate you."

"This is impossible!" Jack moaned and dropped to the desert ground. "She's damn fast!"

Jaileen still stood up, watching the horizon. "I wonder what she wants there," she said in deep thought, watching the silhouette of the cursed tree. "Didn't you get the impression that she had never heard about the power inside that shell?"

Jack was lying flat on the ground now, staring at the sky. "I know! I know that I'll never say the word 'desert' when I finally get back to my beloved Alexandria!" He moved his head and looked at Jaileen. "Didn't she call it 'Eef', or something like that?"

"Iifa, the Tree of Life," she corrected without looking at him. "The only way to... what!? The only way to something."

"Rest! That must be it. She chased through this continent just to rest underneath the pleasant shadow of the tree."

"Please!"

"Sorry." He got up and walked over to her side. "What do you suggest, then?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. I can't leave her, Jack! But she was right. I fear going to that cursed place. Still.." She turned towards him with determination shining in her eyes. "If Gav and his gang is headed that way too, we have no choice. If they should ever find what power is said to hide inside the tree... and Melody cannot fight them alone."

"Right!" Jack laughed. "And I never got to end that sword-fighting challenge."

She gave him an accusing look as always, but this time it changed into pure worry. "Jack... be careful."

He smiled. "Of course. I know what I'm doing."

They were silent for a moment before Jaileen patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, its not far. We have to get there before our old friends do."

Melody.

Melody opened her eyes in surprise, staring into the dark night. There was something out there, a weak blue light. "Terra?" she whispered.

... ...heee...p...

It made as much sense at it had done the day before. She slowly rose from her spot on the cliff where her journey had stopped not too long ago, leaning on her arms. Then she discovered the source of the light, somewhere far below. "Where? Terra?"

...

"What has happened?"

Ddd... ...

She sighed in disappointment. "Yes. Life has left this place."

...yee...

"But what is left?"

...

She rose on her feet, looking into the deep. She felt no anger, no reason to yell at what she could not understand. What if the message was never translated? What use was it then? "What?" she still asked. "He?"

"Over here!"

The high and growling voice made Melody jump, realising that it was early morning and that the sun had gone up. The voice was quiet again, as it had been the day before.

A dream, she realised. There was nothing down there. This place is dead, it was only a dream. She looked into the darkness below her and shivered at the thought of falling. What if there was no end, and you would fall in all eternity?

"Look, there's someone there!"

She turned and found the source of the yelling. Three men were climbing up the rocks further away, and one of them had seen her. She recognised him immediately as the leader of the gang in Conte Petie, but did not move. The rest of the gang looked up and saw her standing on the cliff.

"Hey," one of them yelled. "It's that cursed girl from the dwarf-village! If she came here..." he looked at his comrades.

"... Then Jack and the broad will be here somewhere too," the leader finished. "Take her." The crossbow-man readied his crossbow, but the leader screamed at him. "Alive you fool! How can she show us where that coward is, if she's dead?"

The two men finally got the message and started climbing the cliffs while huffing and puffing. Melody stared down at them for a couple of moments before she ran of. She jumped down unto the firm ground and looked for a place to hide. Alone she could not take them all on, she knew that. Then she eyed a plain passageway between two cliffs and ran along it. Maybe she could find a place to hide somewhere... the men were looking for Jack, but why? Who were they? How did they know Jack? The path took a turn and suddenly she was staring into the dark deep of the Iifa Tree. She stopped in time, pushing some rubble over the edge. A blind end! She spun around and heard the three men coming closer. They would reach her in no time, and then she would be caught between them and the endless gap.

She closed her fist around the handle of her dagger, her eyes narrowing. But they will not get me without a fight, she thought. I will show them the power of a true weapon! The rage build inside her and she felt her power increasing. All this way, only to see her hope shattered... someone had to pay!

"Melody!"

The surprised and worried voice wiped away all the power that had gathered inside her. Confused she looked up and saw the face of the female knight looking down upon her. Jaileen was lying on her knees at the cliffs edge and reached a hand down towards Melody.

"Melody, come on! I can help you!"

Melody hesitated. The sudden disturbance had made her insecure. She looked along the path and saw the three men coming. The archer stopped and aimed at her, while the other two continued forward to take her.

"Melody, no!" Jaileen called.

Suddenly a dark shape jumped down in front of the attacking men, sword slashing out towards them. The leader grinned. "So you finally came, Jack!"

Melody gasped. No! He would die if he fought them alone! She jumped forward to help him, but the crossbow-man saw it, and shot at her in surprise. She felt pain bursting through her shoulder as the bolt strafed her, and was struck backwards by its force. She reached out to stop herself from falling, but realised that there was nothing to take hold of. Soon she was falling into the dark deep of nothingness, with only one thing in her mind before she passed out:

I failed. I was not able to help them... when they finally needed me.

END OF CHAPTER 7