Chapter 29: 30-Mother Tree

“Benefactor? I thought all the elves except for you were killed?” Rowan tilted his in confusion and asked.

“Yes, I am the last elf here. “ Almar confirmed, which only added to Rowan’s confusion. He then began to lead the way. “Tell me, what do you know about the gods?”

“ I know whatever they teach at the church. The six gods are… Solaris, Umbra, Udine, Salamander, Sylph, and Terra,” Rowan recounted off the top of his head. If his fingers were still working, he would be using them to help list the gods. “What does that have to do with my benefactor?”

“There are other gods besides the six main ones you listed. Gods also have other gods that help them. For the elves, Gaia is our creator and one of the gods we pray to.”

“Gaia?”

“Perhaps you’re more familiar with the name Terra. I forget how names differ between species. While we pray to Gaia, or for humans, Terra, there is also another god we pray to. The second god is the one you can be grateful for keeping you alive.,” They stopped in the middle of the encampment and pointed at the ground. “Here it is.”

Rowan stared at where Almar pointed. The ground was no different than the rest of the soil around them, save for being a bit darker than the rest.

“...where?” If Rowan didn’t know better, he would have thought Almar was playing a trick on him. However one thing that Rowan learned about the Almar was that the elf was as serious as they come.

“You are standing right in front of her. There are many gods in existence, but we elves pray to only two gods in particular. One is Gaia. The second one has many names, but we call it the Mother Tree. It is our god, guardian, and parent.”

Rowan stared hard at the spot that Almar pointed, trying to spot what the elf was talking about. All he could tell was that maybe something was buried in this patch of earth as the ground looked like it was overturned.

“Are you…just talking about this lump of dirt over here?”

Almar did not take offense and nodded his head. “Yes, or rather there is a seed of the mother tree planted here.”

This only confused Rowan even more. He understood that plants came from seeds, but he had a few questions. “How did a seed help me? You say the Mother Tree helped heal my body, but I don't see anything that looks strong enough to have helped me.”

“You humans think everything must be viewed through your perception of power. Not all powerful things remain in plain sight. Even as a seed, the Mother Tree is still powerful god. However, you are not wrong. It seems a more in depth explanation is needed.”

Almar pointed in a particular direction where a large ashen structure remained. “The original Mother Tree once stood over there. It once towered hundreds of feet, a height that matched the mountains. The Mother tree has guided and protected the elves since their creation. You humans receive blessings from the gods, but it is the Mother Tree that endows the elves. While your gods stand high in the heavens, ours have manifested themselves physically onto the earth.”

“How come no one ever noticed such a large tree hiding in the forest? If it was so tall, I’m sure someone would have spotted it already. I never heard of such a god or tree before.” Rowan asked skeptically.

“The Mother Tree cast a barrier that encapsulated itself and the village. You have no idea how many creatures would love to consume it. Just one branch of the Mother tree can help an organism break past its limits. We thought that was the reason for the dragon attack.” Almar explained in somber tone while looking at the sky in melancholy.

“When the dragon attacked, the whole village rallied forth to fend off the dragon. Ultimately as you can see, we failed. Only a small portion of its trunk remained. It used the last of its energy to do three things. One, leave an offspring in the case of its impending death. Two, create a barrier that would protect both the village and itself. Three, was to cleanse and heal your body.”

“How did it heal me exactly? It's a tree. Why couldn’t it heal my arms normally?” Rowan exclaimed.

“A god is a god no matter what. You may not be able to see it, but you should still be grateful. It used the majority of its remaining energy to purify the foreign energy from your body. Otherwise there was a chance it did not need to resort to the seedling and recover over time. If it hadn’t, i would need to cut your arms off for you to have a chance of survival..”

That sounded a lot scarier. Rowan prefer to have wooden arms then no arms, especially when he discovered that he may control them in the future. He remained skeptical about what Almar said. He may still be a child, but the tree being a god still sounded kind of farfetched. Still, he wasn’t raised without manners. “Umm ..thank you Mother tree?” HIs gratitude sounded awkward but it was stranger to Rowan saying thank you to a tree. Especially when he couldn’t really see where the seedling was.

Almar took in stride and merely said “Come now, feel the earth.”

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“What am I looking for?”

When silence followed,Rowan shrugged and looked down at the earth. Trying to see if senses caught anything in the ground.

At first, nothing.

Just plain dried soil.

The boy closed his eyes this time and concentrated to see if senses could catch something else.

This time, he was successful. He felt the faint presence of …life? Rowan didn’t know what he felt as it was his first time. Was this the seed of the mother tree Almar was talking about? Was that what Almar wanted him to feel?

As Rowan tried to see if he could feel anything else, something sucked him in. Completely caught unaware, the boy felt like he was caught in the raging current of the ocean. He felt as if his mind was being dragged in and heading it deeper into the current.

Just as the sense of disappearance was about to catch up to Rowan, something shook his shoulder, waking him up. It turned out it was Almar who had grabbed his shoulder when he noticed Rowan strange behavior.To Almar, it

“What did you see?”

“I-I don't know. I felt life and then….” There were no words to describe the experience. Rowan felt his mind would have been devoured if Almar had been any slower. Moreover, this spooked him. While the dragon will cause him nightmares for life, Rowan was sure what just happened would either tie or come to a close second on things that he would never forget.

It was just that terrifying for the boy. He was sure that his life was dangerously close to ending even if he did not understand at all what just happened. Now, he believed Almar about this being the offshoot of a god because it was the only explanation for what he just felt. No normal plant could have instilled such terror.

“So you felt the seed of the Mother Tree?” Almar asked in interest.

“Wasn’t that what you wanted? For me to feel something? I felt like I was going to disappear!”

“It was more of a test to see if you could feel anything at all. The fact that you could is a good sign. Most humans are incapable of doing so.” Almar said calmly.

Rowan thought about it and then thought of a possibility. He thought twice carefully before speaking out loud. “My blessing is <Plant Growth>. Could that be why?”

Normally Rowan would have kept it to himself as years of terrifying stories and parents instructions have been drilled into him about keeping your own blessing a secret However there was no one else around and he trusted Almar. The elf had saved his life after all and he was a person of a few words. It did not look as if the elf would go around and babble his blessing elsewhere.

“<Plant growth>? That may be the reason why. How adept are you with your mana?”

“Not very good. I only just felt my mana today.”

“Then your next focus will be to meditate even more. Better mana control will mean that you will be able to utilize your blessing more skillfully. Once you have a better control of your own mana, then we can proceed onto the next step.”

Rowan turned back afterwards and missed the inaudible voice that left the elfs lips.

“There was a reason he was chosen after all. There may be hope yet.”

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