The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Season 2+)

Omen

The tree was barren. Not a leaf left on its limbs. The massive roots had pulled themselves up and close to the twisted trunk, gnarled and curled like a spider's death pose. The bark had gone dark, peeling off the wood and falling around the base like shredded paper. The blossoms of the tree had rotted, leaving a putrid stench in the air. But what was more terrifying, was the dark purple energy that laced itself along the wood. No one dared step close and risk becoming contaminated. It stretched along the entire tree like webbing. It invaded every crack and crevice the tree had, pushing itself inside the tree.

"It's dead," Rian said in shock.

"Not yet," Maudra Argot responded. "She's still alive. But she is dying."

As if on cue the darkening surged, tearing the outer layers of the tree apart and sending the splinters flying in every direction. In the explosion there was what sounded like the entire forest screaming in agony as the core of the great tree was ravaged and desecrated by the darkening, reducing it to naught but dust. Olyeka-Staba, The Great Tree of the Endless Forest, Cradle Tree for Stonewood, was no more.

"Bad omen," Maudra Argot said. "Bad omen indeed."

"Omen?" Rian asked. "This is more than an omen. An omen would have warned us this was about to happen."

The Groton Maudra looked in Rian's direction with a graveness.

"Exactly," she said. "An omen of things to come."

"The forest is dying," Rian heard, murmuring through the crowd.

"We're doomed."

"Was this the work of the skekSis?"

"What now?"

The empty hollow now brimmed with darkening energy. It pooled and swirled in brilliant horror. It bubbled and spat like a cauldron ready to boil over.

"Back away!" Rian shouted. The other gelfling wasted no time in following his orders. All but Maudra Argot who stood in silent solace for the lost life. She wasn't really looking towards the darkening. She was looking beyond it. To the sky and horizon at the three setting suns. As they sank in the sky, twilight set in and the darkening's purple glow intensified. THe Maudra watched as the last brother sank below the horizon, and further adding to the ominous setting, as soon as the light disappeared, a sudden wind swept up from the suns' direction and whipped through all of them. The pit of darkening continued to broil and Argot took a few steps forward. She knelt next to the pool and Rian watched as she used her walking stick to stir the contents.

"What are you doing?" Rian called.

"What does it look like?" Argot snapped back. "To keep a soup from boiling over you have to stir the pot or get a lid. Considering no one's doing the latter..."

Rian turned to the gelfling soldiers.

"Go look for something we can use to cover that," he ordered.

"Yes sir," they called back.

"The rest of you return to the safety of Stone-in-the-Wood."

The other gelfling wasted no time in doing so. Well all but one, who made about helping the soldiers in their task.

"Brea, return to the fort," Rian said.

"No," she said. "I am helping as a soldier of the Resistance."

"You're not a soldier," he said. "You're the Crystal Keeper. You need to stay in the safety of the fort for now."

"No," she repeated, following the rest of the soldiers into the forest. Rian chased after, catching her soldier and turning her to him. She looked at him with a shocked expression. He looked back calmly.