Legacy Unbinding (book one of the Atlan Chronicles)

Prologue

How mighty the hydra was, and how mighty it had fallen... the fall so graceful that even it's hunter had taken note of its exquisite death. When it fell, the forest stood still for centuries-for the mighty beast was its guardian, and the fauna mourned the death of their sentinel, in their grief, a spell was consequently cast slowing the degradation of the corpse. As the corpse returned to the plane, a warping occurred around what was left. Out of the empty space came a figure, it's silhouette marked out a women, but any other features were non-discernible as the cloak she wore around her protected her from detection by the natives of the plane. Her control of the maelstrom made it so that even the corpse that engulfed her figure, warped to her will- the flesh that was left stitched and grew back together, its organs appearing from what was left of the cells. The maelstrom began to entrap her and the felled beast, the cells began to rapidly regenerate with each increase of the maelstrom's bubble around the two figures. In one incredible moment, the beast erupted with life- ashes burst from the hydra where the dead flesh once was. Only the forest heard the revelry of the shadowy figure as she reincarnated the hydra. When her spell had reached its zenith, all that had remained was a hatchling. To the trees, it marked a new era- no more would their forest be at the mercy of outsiders for their sentinel had returned.
To the shadow, her spell had failed, "it must have been deceased for much longer than anticipated- the amount of biological material that was left only amounted to what was contained in the skeletal behemoth prior to its revival." The shadow picked up the sentinel and conjured a spellshield around it and her, then prepared the incantation to blink through the realities. The forest, having an immense amount of intelligence thanks to its collective root systems and in consequence, it's hive mind, quickly realized what the shadow was about to do and moved to intervene. Without warning, the forest's current sentinel- an avatar embodying the soul of the forest- materialized underneath the shadow and sent the shadow hurling through the air. At least, that's what the avatar believed. In fact, the shadow vanished into an inky void moments before the avatar made contact with it...