Radiating Darkness

Tree of the Ancients

The search for me had mostly died down. I was forced to kill a light person or two on the way to the palace, which although delicious, was not really optimal for the kind of stealth mission I was going for.

The Castle gates now stood before me, and I began to crawl up and over them after making no one was following me. I dropped in, and instantly a new world formed around me.

"What the hell?" I hissed. It was like the fields outside the town, expect a thousand times brighter (if that was even possible at this point). Pure white grass lined the floor of the garden, though it was really like a small forest. Vines crept up the walls like snakes, and from their glowing iridescent green bodies sprouted blue flowers dripping golden nectar. Other flowers lined the ground, though there was an extensive amount of roses in all colors, though primarily white, encased in a kind of clear and glowing pink rock. In the center of the garden, standing between me and the castle door was a tree. It was about ten feet tall, but its twisting roots, hundreds of shiny and thick branches with solid green leaves suggested it was ancient, perhaps even as old as the Light Goddess herself. From it hung several shining golden apples. They were perfectly round and a radiating gold, producing light comparable to the goddess herself.

Even though it was made of the light I so hated, I was compelled to grab it. I stalked towards it, the light blinding everything else until there was only the golden apple. I reached out and snatched it off a tree. I pulled it close and gazed at it in fascination.

It shined for only a moment, it's perfect golden surface reflecting and scattering light before it began to lose its sheen. The golden surface turned yellow, then brown. It began to shrivel and deflated. Within an instant, it was nothing but a rotting core. I turned back towards the tree in surprise. It hadn't moved, but the castle was now a mile away.

"What the hell," I hissed at the tree. "You had something to do with this!" I tried to lunge at its ancient roots, but with a short hiss and a blast of light, it sent me flying backward. I growled at it, regaining my posture, but I took another good look at the castle in the distance, and the forest that stood between us. The ground was blanketed in the pearly grass.

Fifty-foot trees towered over everything with their glowing intertwined branches sprouting crystal like green leaves and hanging golden apples. Moss like a thousand interwoven strings of shiny green glass coated their trunks, and it all produced a light much stronger than the Light Goddess, almost enough to rival the Blazing.

"She destroyed all of this a long time ago," the tree whispered. I repressed my shock as it's roots parted to reveal a crying face engraved in its exposed bark. "I'm the only one left. All my brothers and sisters fell long ago."

"Why would she do this?" I asked the tree, curious tone from both the crypt words and the tree being alive was coated by an attempt at a hateful growl. "Why would she kill her own kind."

"She was a young creature. Birthed at the same time as your king and the dreaded beast you think she wants to raise. She was not power hungry, not at first. She only wanted to be the hero, to envelope the world in light, and to protect her world."

"Why do you think the light is good?" I hissed at it. "All it brings is misery." The tree sighed, sadly.

"So caught up in yourself and your perseverance to not feel, you blind yourself to the truth. You think the darkness is good? Darkness without light is nothing. But the light is not good either. Light without darkness is blinding. She failed to see this crucial balance, as are you."

"Since when do I believe your lies tree?" I hissed. How dare she compare me to the Goddess. Her face didn't move on the bark, but it was like she was shaking her head, though she ignored the comment.