The Great Goddess Tree Tale

III - Another encounter with the Tree

Kalima didn't realize Mat's arrival since he got upstairs as quickly as he went on the Inn. He was quiet during the evening and by the dinner, he broke the silence:

"It was something I had never seen before. The big and beautiful tree. The majestic fruit. And then the figure coming over me. I was seeing something like an Olympic deity's creation, and suddenly the fright. It was all so quick..."

The old Cook heard all his story and, in the end, put herself beside him.

"The thing you saw, young sir, was the Great Tree apparition. The Great Goddess Tree

that lives in this Isle since the very beginning. That was the Isle's specter that you found."

Kalima had already heard that story, but, as every city woman, she did not surrender to local legend. It was just disillusioning, or non-sense tales told in the campfire, she thought.

Mat was listening carefully to the cook's narration:

"Many years passed since she did arise here for the last time. But be careful, young sir. She is starving for beasts, but men aren't exempted either."

She withdrew giving the rest of the dinner a bad taste.

Mat remained quiet while Kalima went upstairs.

Some days passed and Mat had to look up for the Mystery of the Isle. He crossed over the waterfall, passed by the mountain. When into the woods, searching for a glimpse of the tree where it was before. He gave another tour around looking for it, assuring himself that there was the right place. Sometime later, he noticed an egg-shaped stone that was in the way to the Tree. The stone was still there, but the Tree wasn't.

Too weird to be true, he thought. Would all of that be just a huge hallucination?

"But I fell down!? I grabbed the branch!? What the hell..."

Stuff was indeed crooked.

He continued to walk around searching for a reasonable explanation when, at the beginning of the woods, among the other ones, the Tree came to the light. It looked like a building next to the little and normal ones.

Mat held his breath and then gasped with the mirage. How it was possible? It wasn't even there when I got here, he thought. He stood still and tried not to breathe.

The story of a specter of a Tree seemed to make sense now. He searched with his eyes the figure that threatened him before. Found nothing. Just an almighty and beautiful Tree.

A moment later his muscles surrendered to the unknown.

With a late pace in front of the other, Mat made his way to the Tree. His senses were out bursting to the point where he could hear all the woods' voices.

His eyes couldn't believe in what was following. It was truly a Dionysian picture that arose. From a large lateral branch, descended a woman. Better, a muse-worthy of Aphrodite. Maybe even prettier than the goddess herself, that being was like the stanzas sung to the most beautiful nymphs of Poseidon.

With a long black hair with silver strands, naked and strong body, this woman brought within her skin green veins like paths, making the picture as exotic as possible.

While she was descending, Mat stood stunned. What could be that being coming to him?

She held herself back at the base of the Tree. Then, sat and parted her legs, unfolding her womb in front of him. He had just noticed the shadowy aspect of that creature. From her back, a small and flexible branch emerged and was leading to the treetop. Then, she looked like a beautiful and odd magic puppet. Although, she wasn't. The branch was loose, just like a fuel hose. And it got all the way up until it loses sight.

For a few minutes, Mat was stunned by what he was seeing. The deep dark eyes of the Goddess were calling him. It was like the mermaid's myth but without the singing. She didn't even was making any sound. The wind was blowing and her hair flickering, giving her the aspect of a beautiful female human.

Within these freak woods, Mat was perceiving with his clinical mind that that being was an unknown animal. The whole Tree could be classified as a being that interchanges between animal and plant Kingdoms. Even some other kingdom still to be found out by the science.

The goddess was also lurking, waiting for a response coming from Mat. Both looked at each other as tiger and deer, one facing the other's cage. Some minutes passed and Mat realized that she couldn't walk away from the tree, given that she was attached to it.

He also realized that the goddess was just a bait used by the tree. Maybe it was a huge carnivorous plant attracting the fly to death. He understood that himself was the fly, in that case.

Mat didn't risk any sudden moves and the goddess seemed to become bored. When she seemed that was going to withdraw, he behaved so that he would regret for the rest of his life.

He came closer and touched her feet. Suddenly another three goddesses came from all parts of the tree, with that strong wind that frightened him on the first encounter. He fell on his back terrified. All of them seemed to come straight to him.

At that moment the lied down goddess came with a great clamor. It wasn't a voice, was much more like a strong wind that blows overall spherical directions. All the other one's quiet down. Mat understood that she was the She-Alpha from that mythic pack. She put down her eyes to Mat and extended her feet. He understood the command. Never had touched feet like that. They were like the Goddess herself, a perfect mix of flesh and cellulose.

He caressed that foot as she was the most worshipped woman, just like the deer that would have to look after the skin of the own executioner tiger. The goddess refrained herself with some delight for a moment, while the deer was smoothing and rubbing that divine foot. In his heart, Mat still couldn't believe in that disturbingly enchanted situation.

So, the goddess got tired and take her feet away. She stood up and withdrew to over the branches. A strong wind came from the principal trunk and repelled Mat to out of the bounds. When he realized, the Tree was gone.

Dread and Panic came in and possessed Mat's mind while he was running down to the waterfall. It was everything too real to be a hallucination. Gasping and puffing all the way to the Inn, he tried to remember everything that he had eaten the days before. Maybe a psilocybin mushroom was the answer. Maybe was a venomous bug bite that affected all his senses. Some plausible answer had to exist, he thought while trying to detach himself off the madness.

It was already late when he stepped into the Inn. He looked for Kalima. She wasn't there. He collected his personal belongings and started to pack. He ought to leave immediately. Mat held himself and wrote Kalima a letter, not explaining the early departure so clearly. He only stated that should get back to the Continent right now and as soon as possible would give her more explanations.

At the road, he found a wagon that led him to the harbor. Luckily, he was in time to the last ship to the Continent. Already on the sea, he looked up to the Isle, with hate and candor.