Page 94 of Ecliptic

Lost Light, you have returned.

I jumped as the sound echoed through my being. The ancient voice reverberated as if I were a harp and it was pulling the strings within me to communicate. The dissonance and lack of harmony was apparent, because this tree was in pain. It was dying.

“Who are you?” I asked gently.

My name is Indrasyl. I am the Sylvan Mother Tree of this earth. And you are the one written in the stars? The one who shall return light and life back to the dying lands?

Relief bloomed within me like a field of wildflowers. Indrasyl was alive! But the joy was fleeting. She was very sick.

“Yes. Though I’m not sure how,” I replied to the ancient tree. “How do I heal you? And Luneth?”

A sacrifice is required.I felt her hum through me.The blood and bone of The Marked.

“How much do you need?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

I think you know, Lightling.

A piece of me collapsed in on itself. Any hope lingering in my chest shattered like a stained-glass window. The broken shards lacerated my breath in my lungs.

“You need all of me?"

Asit’s written in the heavens.Yes. She pulsed around my astral body.I can tell you much of this earth, of its bounty and of its droughts. Of its fires and floods. But this darkness is unlike anything my roots have ever known.

Trees know sickness and death; such is the way of life. We nursewhere we must and retreat where we must. But an unnatural darkness has entered our roots, a rot we cannot escape, and it is spreading. The earth is dying. I am dying.

“I won’t let that happen,” I cried out. Her sorrow was my sorrow as I intertwined with her roots.

Through your blood and bone, we can become one to heal this earth.

Sorrow punched down my throat.

This saddens you. Why?

“I . . . I have people I love. One very much so, and the thought of leaving him?—”

Somewhere deep in the rings of time, you will always be together.

“That isn’t good enough!” I screamed, sorrow turning into rage. “We haven’t had enough time together. There’s always been something keeping us apart. This, right now, was supposed to be our time. There must be another way.”

I am afraid it is already too late. My time grows shorter yet. Even now it is taking what little strength I have to communicate with you. If you wish to save this earth and all who inhabit it, you must give everything. If you love this man, this is how you save him.

An unimaginable pain erupted in my chest. It was as if my ribs had splintered open and pierced my heart.

Rowen wouldn’t let me do it. If he knew, he would find another way or die trying. He would let the world burn before he’d let any more harm come to me. Or, and the thought tasted like rust in my mouth, he would follow me no matter where I went, in life and in death.

“War is at our doorstep. Even if I sacrifice myself, what’s to stop the darkness from spreading? I’ve seen the army headed our way. They will fell and uproot every tree to get what they want.”

You must seek help before we become one.

“Where?”

I do not know.

I wanted to scream and tear my hair out.

This was a lose-lose situation. No matter what I did, there was no scenario in which we prevailed. Erovos would win.

No one had come to our aid, and we were unable to locate Rayal and her people.