Phrocylan & The Tree of Life (The Spirit of the Tree Book 1)

Chapter Nineteen: Ochirus

Author's note.

Cue the music, cue the background blur, the misty dark scene. Cue the emotions, cue everything. This is the last chapter, prepare for the ending. It was fun writing this book, and I definitely did not think I would actually finish it. But here we are. I hope you've enjoyed, and yes, I am planning on writing more, just wait for them ;)

Start the music!

I blasted the tree's heart.

A huge blast emerged from my palms and got sucked into the tree, with a light so bright I went blind for a few minutes. The entire world shook, the tree moved as if it were alive. The trepents shouted "The Ochirus! It's waking!" but I couldn't feel anything.

I felt a godly burst of energy behind me and I got swooped into the air by some bird... The Vulture.

When I regained my sight, I was soaring above the room, circling the enormous trunk of the tree which was at least a hundred miles large. The Vulture flew at infinite speed, gaining more and more as we flew. He held me with its claws dug into my shoulders, but my shoulders didn't ache.

I twisted myself to make the Vulture as uncomfortable as possible. "VULTURE," I shouted, "YOU HAVE DOOMED YOURSELF, NOW FEAR THE WRATH OF LIFE!"

The Vulture snickered, "Yeah, right. Buckle up, soar girl. I need to drop you and be sure you die when I do. Shut up."

I had to do something quick. I watched the scene below me, and was amazed at what was going on. An army had erupted from the ground from a fissure, an army of earthlings, wild boars, juruviates, and more. At the same time, the camp army had been summoned with more troops than ever. They had picked up on armory, equipment, swords, shields, ballistas, crossbows, even magical items. The battle raged all around the ground. The trepents were incredible and fierce, destroying whatever came in their path.

Me, I had to take care of the Vulture. I was okay with getting to destroy the murderer of my love. I kicked myself up on pure air and landed atop him. "Whoa lady! Now I have to kill you without any fun. Your choice." He howled.

I jumped up as he sent poison vines at me, and he dropped me. I was expecting that, so I jumped up and made the air my ground. My eyes shone pure white, and I could see the world much clearer now, no doubt the work of the Queen spirit. The Vulture flew at me but I dodged and summoned my axe. I flew upwards as he soared below me, and I flipped myself back. My axe left my hands at perfect timing and impaled his claws.

He howled in frustration and dropped the axe. He dived into the army, and I followed. He dissolved into the army, but I could feel his presence as a big red spot on my radar. I became invisible and followed my gut.

The red spot was tingling crazy now, so I summoned a gust of wind and snatched up the vulture by his head. He bit my hands and pain spread in my arms. I staggered back as the Vulture flew up and dived at me. I moved just in time to dodge his sharp talons. I ran towards Echo, who was now fighting a horde of Juruviates. She was well rested now, and a thought process exchanged between us.

I raced towards her and the Vulture threw a dart straight in my path. Echo sliced it from thin air and became pure light.

I sent a shockwave of energy towards the horde and all of them disintegrated on the spot, mixing with the tree.

Many bodies lay dead at my fight, mostly monsters, but also some campers...

Echo flew at Vulture and somersaulted her way past him. The Vulture turned behind him, expecting to surprise Echo, but she was behind him now. I charged at him to distract him. He flew towards me at great speed and I jumped sideways, barely avoiding his poisonous breath.

Echo sliced her way through the wind and impaled him on the back, then disappeared into thin air.

I raced away, towards the trunk, I had one goal in mind: protect the Tree's heart. I had sent half of my energy towards the tree's midst to protect it, but it needed more. The army of earthlings was corrupting the place, and the Tree could not stand alone.

Vulture screamed in rage and coursed his way back.

Was he retreating? What was he...

The army saw their leader back off and immediately dissolved, some dropping dead due to distraction, some fleeing back to their maester.

I continued racing towards the tree, though the rest followed the army.

They shot at them, killing hundreds at once but more kept popping up all around.

Echo was a deadly arc of pure destruction, and she took out hordes of monsters in one swipe. For the first time, I felt hope. I saw all my fellows raging, screaming, and defending the tree with all their might. The tree was also helping them by giving out bursts of energy all around towards its friends. This kept us going far longer than we would have otherwise. I stopped in my tracks, the heart was right there, so I could protect it now... but, something felt wrong.

Why had the Vulture retreated like that? Unless...

I glanced closely at the tree. I saw it's bark and... No, oh no. A part of the essence in the heart was missing. It wasn't complete. I panicked, and I looked towards the retreating Vulture army, and saw a look-through jar with a brown muck inside it... which meant...

"NO!" I shouted, "He has the essence! Stop him! GO!" And I ran towards the Vulture. I told Chira and Krei to keep watch on the tree in case someone comes back, and I teleported away.

I used a lot of my energy, but I managed to teleport about half of my campers near the Vulture. He was surprised to see me, and startled, he threw the jar back.

I lunged for him, but instead of attacking him, I tackled him. He readied his shielded wings to block my attack, but wasn't expecting a tackle.

I grabbed his waist and we skidded across the floor. The campers interjected their retreat and the fight bega all over.

The Vulture tried to free himself from my grasp, but my hands were firm. I squeezed until he howled in pain. "You killed Phro. I loved him. You killed Nyacin. He was like a father to me. You killed my campers, you destroyed my home. Now you take my essence." My voice changed into a rich soothing sound, like a Queen's... "The power of The Tree is more than you can imagine, Vulture. You cannot escape with it, we have blocked your path. Your army will die. You will be forgotten and vaporised, on this spot. I, Queen of Tree, Frovine Yov, claim your spirit and dissolve your body into the essence of the tree!" and I squeezed with all my might.

His body glowed as he struggled to save himself, but he couldn't. He knew it was over, so he tried to shout to his army, "Vulture... Take... The... Essence..."

Wait... Vulture?

Then he exploded into white powder. In my hands, lay the dying body of a bird... but not the Vulture. It was the ancient monster Diakry, who can change shape and...

I realised something that filled my head with horror.

I ran towards the tree, and looked at the heart, and saw two figures lying down in front. I saw their faces, and they were Chira and Krei... Flying away from the spot was a huge shape of a vulture with wings the size of a truck, beak so sharp any sword would look blunt against it. His eyes were steaming brown, shining crazy in the mist. I realised it was all over... The Vulture had fooled us.

He had captured the essence of the tree as much as it could, and this was all an illusion.

I looked over at the army, and my knees buckled. All of them had dissolved, my campers stood up straight, confused as to why all their enemies had suddenly changed into packs of flour.

I fell down on my knees, tears flowing through my face.

The real Vulture disappeared, leaving the dead bodies, small essence of the tree and the failed campers behind.

The entire area shook with anger. The tree withered with a dangerous grey color. The leaves turned pale yellow. The light dimmed. The ground became dead.

I was standing in a wasteland now, the scene of my failure laid out in front of me...