How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Fifty-five: Locating

Alaric

I followed Ilin down a hallway, orbs of light floating above our heads as he stopped besides a door, opening it to reveal a garden complete with full-grown trees. Their leaves swayed with an non-exisiting breeze as we walked on the dirt path, passing strange plants of all sizes and shapes, even some with eyes which turned to watch us pass. 

The trees separated to show a clearing with a massive tree with many smaller trees attached to it's canopy. Each tree was different; some were super thin, others wide, a few were straight as a board with others twisted tighter than a spring, the trunks and leaves were a verity of colors which made the whole area vibrant.

We walked forward towards the main tree with dark green leaves and slightly twisted truck when a tree catches my eye. I found myself walking forward to the tree, passing Ilin as a sense of familiarity came over me. 

I paused before the tree, staring hard at the tall graceful silver tree.

"So you found it." Ilin comes up from behind me, bringing me back to reality. "Celestia's tree."

"Tia...." I murmured, starting to reach out to touch the trunk.

"Wait." Ilin grabs my arm, stopping my fingers from brushing against the smooth trunk. "One an apprentice becomes a Witch, they plant a tree here in this grove that is filled with magical power. This makes the trees extremely dangerous to everyone, outside of the one who planted it and anyone they deem worthy to touch it."

I look over to Ilin, making direct eye contact since he was almost as tall as me.

"Are you confident that you are someone important to Celestia? If you touch the tree and you are not, you will disappear and become nourishment for these trees." Ilin warns before releasing me.

I turn back to the tree, my hand clenched as memories of Celestia filled my mind.

"Yes." I step closer to the tree and carefully placed my hand on the trunk. "I am."

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A strange sensation appears, like suddenly rising and falling when riding a large wave and I look down to see myself standing besides the tree, my eyes closed.

I look at my hand and saw that it was transparent then looked at Celestia's tree. Suddenly, I felt myself being sucked into the tree and found myself in darkness. 

I looked around for a few moments, when a dim light catches my eye and I immediately sped towards it, my sense telling me that Celestia was there.

The light grows bigger and I found myself floating in a dark cell. Celestia, Suli, and Jewel were there and I could see that they were heavily injured.

I grit my teeth and attempted to touch Celestia but my hand passed though her. I had no choice but to witness Radna suddenly appearing and dragging Celestia around on the ground before throwing her into a cell.

I had tried to attack Radna but passed though him each time. 

I wasn't able to do anything as he locked her up like an animal and left her there. I kneeled before Celestia, my heart breaking as I watched her cringe in pain as tears started to fall from her eyes as she slowly passed out while the chains glowed ominously.

Alaric... I froze as I heard her voice echo in my head, full of pain and sadness. 

Alaric....Alaric....Alaric..... My hands shook as I tried to touch her, wanting to ease her pain while my blood started to boil. I wanted to rip Radna to shreds for harming her.

My eyes focus on her left hand and I reached out to it, pausing right before touching her skin. The urge to hold her in my arms and take away all of her pain grew so strongly that I was trembling. 

I pulled out her ring, and focused hard, using all of my strength and willpower to make the transparence disappear from my hand. It started to flicker in and out, causing me to start feeling the cold air of the cell whenever my hand solidified. 

I grabbed her hand and started to place my ring on her finger, but it was not enough- I needed more power.

My back suddenly grew warm as power surged though me and caused the transparency to temporarily disappear from my hands. That allowed me to place the ring on her finger, it fitting perfectly and stayed solid.

The warm feeling formed into the shape of hands and grasped my shoulders, pulling me back. I wanted to fight back, but my body wouldn't move like I wanted to.

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I woke up on a couch, back in the library as Ilin sipped on a cup of tea and Quinn standing besides him, looking down at me.

"Ugh." I held my head in my hands as I got up, pain shooting around like a ricocheting arrow.

"Drink this." A cup floats over in front of me and I grab it, taking a swig and grimacing at the bitterness.

"That was dangerous." Ilin sets his cup down. "You almost got consumed."

"It was worth it." I cracked my neck after setting down the cup and standing up. "I was able to get a way to find Tia."

"You know where Master is?" Quinn asks.

"Yes." I bowed towards Ilin. "Thank you, I wouldn't of been able to do it without your help."

I knew that he had poured magic into me when I was struggling to put my ring on Celestia.

"Bring her back." Ilin stands and leads us back to the entrance of his home. "I expect a formal greeting when you get back."

"Of course." I bowed again, before nodding at Quinn who heads off to the exit.