Tree of Life

Book II Chapter 10

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“Just about there.” Willibald called out as he pointed straight ahead.

Nicole dipped her head in Willibald’s direction. “What’s his story?” She knew the old man was far enough ahead he wouldn't overhear.

Julian shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. After what happened with my father, the Tree healed him from his cancer and helped him recover. Willibald was appreciative beyond words. Ever since then, he has dedicated his life, his service to the Tree and his purposes, no matter how big or small they might be. He’s really happy.”

Nicole smirked. She regarded the old man in the lead of the group. In her memory, Willibald had always been the thin, shrivelled old man who had shot her and nearly killed her those many years ago. He was nothing like that now. At the head of the group was a taller man than she remembered. He was more relaxed, confident and had more strength and vitality coursing through his every stride. While nowhere near as superpowered as Julian or Nicole, Willibald was, nonetheless, more healthy than any seventy-year-old man could ever have a right to be.

Julian noticed Nicole still staring at the old man up ahead. He frowned. "Hey, you all right?"

Nicole turned to him and smiled. "Yeah." She shrugged. "I was just thinking..."

"About what happened before?" Julian indicated Willibald.

She nodded. She shrugged again. "I don't know...I mean, just seeing him, brings back a lot of memories..." She gave a dry chuckle.

“Hey.” He reached out and touched her arm. “I know what you're saying. And I feel the same way. It’s not likely we’ll ever forget about what happened before…everything he did. To you, to me. To Brian, even. It's just that the Tree looked me in the eye and told me that I should give him a second chance...”

"He said that? The Tree said that?"

"Yeah, and..."

“We’re here,” Willibald announced over his shoulder, interrupting their conversation.

It caught Nicole by surprise as the forest around them broke and vanished in an instant. Before she had realized it, she was standing on a tree line with her back to the jungle. They stopped.

Nicole took a few steps forward. “Wow…” She placed her hands on her hips. She gazed out over the scene that had opened up in front of her.

What was presented before her now was a grassy clearing about a hundred yards across, with a river running through the middle of it, splitting the area in half. The clearing was in the shape of a wedge, much like a theatre or a music hall. If then, for a moment, this area could be compared to a real theatre, then where Nicole stood now would be where the last row of seats would normally go. She had just come in through one of the rear entrances. The far end of the theatre that was the back of the stage was bounded by a cliff. The walls of the rest of the theatre, were made up of trees, nearly four or five stories high, if you had to compare it to an average building in the city. Together, the trees formed a networked village, with ladders and walkways linking one tree to the next, and multiple platforms built at different levels around the trunks, starting about halfway up their heights all the way to the canopy. Wound around the trunks were stairways that led up to the platforms from the ground and also between them, while on them, in varying spots, stood individual dwellings where the people of the village were housed.

Nicole began making her way over.

Up toward the stage, the ground rose gently, until it came to the stage itself and the only occupant on this raised area, the most gigantic, grandest tree that Nicole had ever seen in her life. It was a magnificent edifice, reaching far higher than all the other trees, fully seven or eight stories tall. It was at least thirty feet across at its base. Its trunk was corded and thick and dark and blended into the hard granite upon which it abutted. It was more red than brown, like it was bleeding somehow. There were no ladders or walkways here. No platforms. No dwelling units. This tree stood alone. Alone in its grandeur, its splendour. Its power. Its majesty.