The fight for the Primordial Tree

Dear diary,
Our journey is like one of those stories Nixie used to say near the fire. I always liked her stories, but I never expected a happy ending. Still, for some reasons, I always wanted to hear them until the very end. Sometimes I was right, and the story ended badly but sometimes, I was wrong and the characters lived happily ever after. And then there were the stories that never told us what happened in the end, those which were meant to leave you curious. Those stories were the only ones I hated the most because I always wanted to know what future holds for the characters. I feel now it is the same. This is probably the final chapter of our story in Vaneolin, but not by far our last adventure. But what happens next? I feel like now more than any time before, I want to know. I need something to tell me what to do and which way to go.
 
A few days ago, we left Faen. We had a long road ahead full of rain, bloody cold nights spent sleeping on the ground and hours spent on trying to move the caravan. We were all dirty, exhausted and done with the situation. Still, none complained, not one of us stopped. Even when I pushed Nixie in the mud, she didn’t say a word. On contrary, at the end of the day, everyone found the energy to prepare to fight. Hmmm, who would have guessed I would live the day when Nixie won’t complain about mud? Still, we had a lot of time to talk with each other. We got to know our interdimensional new friends better and find out about their world. Apparently, they have something like an orb you can see other people through and they call it a TV. I am curious about their world, but the more I find out the weirder it becomes. I like Lullaby a lot now, she is such a nice person. She keeps apologizing for everything which i find extremely polite and nice. And she gives fishes to Xixi. Anyone who is Xixi's friend is also my friend
 
Kelly never talks much about other dimensions. I assume she was not in the right mood recently. I was afraid that it may have been our fault. The first night of this road, Nixie asked me to come so we can talk with Kelly. She wanted to help Kelly find a way to fix her face. To be honest I do not understand. Kelly is pretty as she is now, but if that is what Kelly wants then I am happy to help. But it seems that Kelly did not really want to be helped. She said that we cannot help her and that she is feeling uncomfortable with our feelings. I know Nixie and me are a bit extra at times, but I promise you, we only do it because we want to help. Still, I can understand that if must be difficult for Kelly to accept this. After all, until now she lived a life based on leverage, she didn’t really have friends. And now, some strangers from another world come to her and tell her that they will help and ask nothing in return. I would find it difficult myself to believe it if I was her. Nonetheless Nixie and me are hard to push aside. But I appreciated it. The fact that she was so uncomfortable with our feelings, was a sign she was thinking about them.
 
Apart from that, the rest of the journey was rather peaceful. I kept asking everyone if they are doing fine, but nobody seemed to have a problem. Bart was a bit suspicious but he didn't seem to want to talk about it. Eve is there for him. I think they are very cute together. And we barely met any undead people on the way. I really didn’t want some undead army to take us by surprise so I decided to stay on guard when I could. I like it but I think I said it before, I like when there is a bit of silence around. Recently however, I sometimes find it too quiet almost lonely. From time to time, Drenizek would join me. He started drinking for a while again. Maybe it is because of what happened. I mean all his dreams of going back to Alomir and being with all his large family are gone, aren’t they? I remember we talked about it. He told me that he has nothing left to lose and that now, he is working hard to protect us. I mean I think I understand. He doesn’t have anything left to fight for, but he believes in us and loves us so if he can’t have anything anymore, at least he wants to help us to be able to have something. That’s why he always goes straight on in a fight because he doesn’t have anything left to lose but what’s behind him.
 
Now that I think about it, I do the same. It is sad yet I never had anything to lose but what is behind me. I look around and most of us have something that they wish to fight for: Nixie has the Continent, Tallion and Eve have their legacy of ionolians even the youngest of us, Isbel has her name of Lofkia to continue fighting for. I have nothing but the people who are here and fight. Every day, those people die, and everyday we lose one more. I want to keep fighting until the last breath but with each death my weapons feel heavier, and my arms feel weaker. I am just a bit afraid that one day, me wanting to fight will not be enough to make me lift my weapon. I couldn’t explain why but that’s how it feels. I think it is the pain I am trying to get used to, it drains some of my energy away. But I will be fine, I have to be. The others lost much more than I did and more recently. Now, more than anytime before I have to be there for them to help them with what I can.
 
After a week or so, we finally arrived close to Legondol. The landscape was nothing like how I remembered it. Legondol used to be a beautiful place, surrounded by trees everywhere. Now, everything was burned to the ground, destroyed. The outside city was completely gone, but the fortress that was guarding the Primordial Tree was still standing for now. We had to get there as fast as we could to help with protecting what is left. But to do that, we needed to pass the lake that was surrounding the fortress and climb the walls while fighting with the undead people. Not very easy to do.
 
I overheard a conversation about flying between Tallion and Nixie earlier. We may not be able to climb the walls, so we need to fly over them just like…TREBUCHET STONES. We needed to become a trebuchet stone. I suggested the idea, but the others said it would be impossible. Not for Bajid though, who seemed quite excited about the idea. I never talked with him, but that guy seemed to be a lot of fun. So, we went ahead and beat the undead near the trebuchet. Then we all jumped in there and Bajid did some of his interdimensional tricks and in a second we were flying in some kind a bubble all above the fight. Quite fun. The landing was a bit tremendous, but we all got inside the fortress in one piece.
 
Not soon after we stood up, the Great Sylph came to us. She only had one eye now. Just what kind of monster would do such think to her? We didn’t have time to ask because we needed to go and fight. Even the Great Sylph seemed surprised by what just happened. I guess not even the strongest elves can hide their emotion when one of the Wise Elves of Enneth flies like a trebuchet stone inside your fortress together with some other elves, a fire elemental, some humans, a strygian, and some interdimensionals out of which one is Ghighi. I really want to know if Aosthen had fun flying or if he was cursing the fate, that brought him with us. But I hope the old man had fun at least now.
 
Well anyways, after a few minutes, we each headed to fight each where we were most needed. And so the long battle of Legondol began. Nixie, the crew and Anevys of course went with The wise elf Aosthen to the Primordial Tree while Talion, Zuzu, Eve and Bart went south to help the armies there and meet Damaschini. Xixi left to the water before we could tell her anything, and Lullaby, Gilders and Bajid followed her. Only the Almighty knows what happened with Ghighi or where he went. So that left me and Kelly to go on the west side.
 
I think Kelly and me make a great team in the fight. She asked me to throw her in the middle of the undead people and then I followed with no problem. We helped some of the elves to retreat from the walls and then we kept holding the lines as good as we can. Kelly and me both led the armies pretty well so our resistance was not defeated easily. At some point however, I saw Kelly fell on the ground. It was those annoying headaches again. She kept having severe attacks lately. She had one before, during the road here, now she had one during the fight. Luckily, I was there to help her until she put herself back on her feet. While we were blocking the undead people coming down from the wall, we heard the retreating horns for the south and soon from that direction, a regiment of undead swordsmen came to fight us. We were now being outnumbered and would have lost the fight if not for Nathalinos, the Great King of Elves who came from the north with his troops.
 
After some time, some kind of huge metal creature attacked the undead swordsmen regiment as well and destroyed most of them. I wondered what it was, but you know I was a bit too busy killing undead people to ask. Then, from behind the creature, appeared another creature, some kind of mini black dragon who I gathered to be Damaschini. Well, it’s not nice not to say hi to your allies even in a fight so I waved at both Nathalinos and Damaschini, but I don’t think they saw. Anyways, after a long fight, we managed to finally retreat. Kelly and me climbed the walls to see if there was anyone who needed help, and we noticed that there was a big magic men fight between our party and the necromancer guys going on.
 
We hurried to get there and what we saw was Drenizek as a stone statue, holding the mask of one of the necromancers guy. I asked what happened and Anevys quickly told me. Drenizek did it, that guy finally did it. I saw him train for this since he was still on the ship and it seemed that it finally worked. I talked with him and Tallion about this training a few days ago. I really hope it helped. But Drenizek used this power to hit a fucking demon to the death. He managed to do what he wanted, he managed to protect us. I don’t know what the others felt but I was so so proud of him. For a second, I looked at him again and some of that happiness slowly started to fade away. “Ah yes, he managed to do what he wanted…but now he is also gone” I thought. But then, someone said he is not dead, just stuck in that stone, and the energy came back twice as strong. If Drenizek can beat a demon with just a sword, we can bring him back. And that’s what we all did. Tallion did some kind of magic, Nixie as well, and the rest of us, did what Drenizek taught us best. We sang to bring him back. Lullaby was also gently manipulating some planes to help Drenizek. All these efforts worked, and in the end the stone disappeared and Drenizek fell down on his knees.
 
And like that we just thought the fight was over. We have lost Aosthen and the rest of the elves from Enneth, except from Elyra and many other elves that fought at our side. But before we got to prepare for the funerals, we heard that from the south 20,000 four eyes cats were making their way to fight us. Seeing that we had no chance to win, the Great Sylph ordered all of us to enter the castle and go behind the Primordial Tree.
 
And what happened next, dear diary, will remain in history as the Rise of the Primordial Tree. Everyone but Lullaby, The Great Sylph and King Nathalinos was now staying behind the tree, ready to fight. Not long after, five white four eyes cats made their appearance from behind the castle gates, followed by a small army. We were ordered to not attack anyone who is not attacking the tree or one of us. The great Sylph was now surrounded by a dark aura that was almost scary. In the beginning, the whitest of the four eyes cats wanted to attack the Great Sylph but to no avail. The Great Sylph deflected the attack with just one hand movement. And that was the last thing we have seen. At the same time, from one side one of the stupider four eye cat wanted to attack the tree and the whole ground shook so hard that we almost fell. Between us and the ones that were in front a great wall became to form from the branches and roots of the tree. The Primordial Tree was moving and fighting. I was shocked. The Primordial Tree which I thought to be just a symbol of the original world, was in fact, a very strong essence bearer. Needless to say, that we didn’t stay and waited for the fight to be over. Here and there, the four eyes cats started to make small holes in the wall. Perfect for us to hit them. After some time of fighting, the Primordial Tree turned back to its initial position and revealed Lullaby, The Great Sylph and King Nathalinos (who now lost one hand). The five white four eyes cats were laying dead on the ground, and the ones who were left alive immediately left Legondol.
 
I did not see one person who was not shocked or amazed. The whole scene was not something I would have ever believed it is true. I was looking at the tree which now was back to normal and I was wondering if it was not a dream or something. I was feeling safe. Maybe a bit too safe because when the Great Sylph asked us to join her to search for something outside the city, I agreed without thinking. It didn’t even cross my mind that the four eyes cats could be there or that could be a trap. I let my guard down. I was so happy for the victory to even think that we can still lose. A big mistake.
We went to investigate and soon after we found a weird round rune. Yet again magic men things I do not understand. The others got very into investigating the rune and to be honest I was tired, so I was kinda spacing out. That is until, the rune moved underneath us. In the same second, the army of four eyes cats surrounded us and from a red dragon, Xantinya made her entrance. I must say, we should have expected something like this.
 
As the friendly demon she is, Xantinya did not forget to say hi to her old friends Damaschini and Tallion. She didn’t even bother looking at us. Then, she turned and started talking with the one she was really interested in, Lullaby. It was like seeing the two queens of a chess game finally meeting each other. And us, we were the pawns that needed to fight the black pawns. Xantinya was not alone this time. Behind her, there were three men and a girl that seemed to be Miyun. You could sense that the situation was not going great because not even Ghighi was smiling anymore.
 
Lullaby and Xantinya talked for a bit and then attacked each other. The first time they clashed swords the whole ground started shaking. It was an unimaginable fight we got to see. Lullaby’s sword was glowing stronger that I saw before, and she looked very serious. Ghighi and some black moon guy jumped at each other and in a slight of a second they disappeared. As for Bajid, him and Gilders began fighting the interdimensional that came after Lullaby long before. That left us fighting with someone called The Quill. He is some kind of magic man that writes the rules of reality. Well there we were again. Needless to say we were exhausted and going against someone that manipulates planes was not going to be easy at all. Probably something else that Xantinya planned. But we couldn’t give up now, could we?
 
In a helpless effort to fight this guy, Nixie and me tried to understand the magic that I was created from. At the same time, Tallion sat down in the middle of the fight, waiting for Miyun. He called for Damachini to help get their friend back, but he didn’t reply. I was a bit surprised. I saw Damaschini save us in the fight in Legondol and I thought he is a nice guy but he didn’t go after his own daughter. I am really curious what kind of person he really is. I heard many things from Tallion and other people, but I don’t know what to believe and what I shouldn’t. Nonetheless, he seems to be an ally for now and a good one in a fight. While we were fighting the Quill, this writing magic men made us bond together so hard, that if one of us moved, the other would die. Eve suggested that we should try to separate ourselves by imagining one of our bonded neighbours as an individual person. For some of us worked, the others were still stuck. I managed to individualize Nixie in my head I guess I know her good enough, I still got stuck by Eve. I mean I know it is not the moment but I was amused seeing Nixie and Dillen stuck together. What were the odds? Anyways, the Quill was about to attack us when Damaschini started telling us some kind of story. Again, not the moment, but the way we were fighting was rather hilarious than useful. While Damaschini was telling the story, we each tried to use the different perspectives we saw the story to destuck ourselves. I don’t really know dear diary, some fights are just confusing for me. Or rather, the ways we fight are unexpected all the time I just try to do whatever I can and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Even Tallion is confusing. In the middle of this fight, he teleported only the Almighty knows where.
 
Damaschini went ahead and attacked the writing magic guy. I saw Kelly that was staying a bit behind, looking a bit confused. Probably she didn’t know what to do. There were some SAI men near the four eyes cats. I mean seeing them, Kelly was probably thinking which side to take, if she should fight with us or go the other way. I did not have doubts in her though. We have stayed together for not a long time but it was enough for me to know. I may not always understand her, but she is a good person. That I know for sure. And despite all our differences, she is a person I would easily trust my life with in any situation. And I was right. The next moment, Kelly stepped in front of us ready to fight the writing magic man. I joined her on the right and we headed straight to attack him as well. Our swords went through the magic man, but it was the effort that mattered there. I don’t know for her but for me, this attack represented our bonded friendship.
 
The other people seemed to do better than us. After a lot of full force attacks from Bajid, the interdimensional guy he was fighting became ashes which fell like snow on the ground. I am not going to lie, but to be an interdimensional seems very very hard. They don’t only have cool powers but they have to know to use them right without destroying a whole world. From time to time, the ground would shake again when Xantinya and Lullaby attacked each other. Between the attacks, the queens were having small word exchanges as well. From what I could hear, Xantinya was trying to make Lullaby angry and full of bad feelings by reminding her of her father. But our Lullaby was smarter than that. She knew better. Their powers were so strong that we couldn’t get close to any of them even if we wanted. Lullaby seemed to have in her a power of many more other people. She even started talking with many voices at the time, some that were not hers. It was almost like Lullaby was representing all of us, all the people and allies that are fighting for this world. I felt she was not alone there, that she had help. And that gave me so much hope. That is until…
 
Until we heard a gunshot. Of course, the only one who was carrying a gun here was Gilders. We all turned around for some reasons. I mean we expected him to fight so it wasn’t nothing unexpected. But still, we all turned around. What we saw, was absolutely horrifying. It wasn’t an enemy Gilders shot, but his OWN brother. Gilders shot his own brother from behind. Bajid, who was not expecting anything, fell to the ground, dead. Lullaby, who also heard the shot, went straight to Bajid, screaming in pain. She gently sat on her knees near him, crying and hugging the breathless body of Bajid. Of course, such demon used this moment and took all the bad feelings Lullaby felt and used them to hurt her even more. Xantinya cursed the very last thing Lullaby had, her baby boy. How could any on this earth make something like this? It was such a monstrous way to hurt someone. Just how much pain and hate can someone cause until they have had enough. Just how much will Xantinya take from us until she had enough? She didn’t leave it at that. Xantinya send one of her lightings in the direction of the Primordial Tree laughing in history. She was laughing. All this time she couldn’t stop laughing. It was so horrid. Before she left with Gilders and Zarkuz, Xantinya gave Lullaby a choice: she was supposed to open the XY dimension to save her kid or let him die.
It couldn’t be right. I didn’t really happen. No, it is just another one of Xantinya’s tricks. How I wanted to believe that. But it was all true. One of us, one that we trusted, mercilessly shot his own brother from behind. I remembered the day in Legondol when I looked at their family of interdimensionals. How could that have been a lie? In all of this, family was supposed to be our safe place, the place we come when we need love, and hope or anything else. In all of this, I always thought that one of our strength is the trust of each other. None of us ever expected that. None of us, ever thought that Gilders would betray us. I almost dropped my swords from the hand.
 
But I had no time to think about it because I saw a strong lighting come straight to Kelly. I jumped to push her aside, but instead, I think both of us got hit by the lightning. The last think I heard was Xantinya’s voice saying, “That’s what traitors deserve”.
When I woke up, the situation was the same. Lullaby was still staying near Bajid, but instead of crying she was just laying there, numb. The others were just moving around. Everyone was still in shock, myself included. I didn’t even want to think about what we need to do now. I was completely out of energy. The bullet one way or another passed through all of us, not just Bajid. But I didn’t feel anger, not towards Gilders or Zarcuz- the four eyes rat. I didn’t want to make Xanitinya’s game anymore. It would be better to feel nothing at all now, than hate them. Because that is what she wants. She wants us to become monsters. She wants us to become everything we fight against. I saw Gilders look at Xantinya after, but I do not know what he though. One thing is for sure, I will not forget Gilders’s face in a long time. The face of a fallen friend. If we ever cross paths again, I will remember today, I will not let it happen again and I will fight him if needed. I will not become the monster Xantinya wants us to be, I will not take revenge.
 
As for Zarkuz, I had done my duty to listen to him. I was indeed curious but now, any chance of being friends is done. I consider him a coward. He hid behind the Primorial Tree when his race, which he said he had such a “special bond” were dying. He stood there laughing smiling when we were in danger. He did nothing, but use Lullaby’s kindness to fool her. He is a coward, who would rather save his own skin than fight for what he believes in. His beliefs are just fantasies of a crazy rat and nothing more. I am sure we will meet again. He does deserve a fair fight like all our enemies. Not even the Great Coward Rat can ran for a fair fight, can he?
 
But for now, I have to be there for Lullaby. I just cannot imagine the grief she is going through. But how can I do that when I can barely find my own strengths? I can’t even lift my weapons to fight. How could I help someone if I cannot fight? At some point, Talion came back, holding a small branch from the Primordial Tree. That lighting Xantinya used, destroyed even that strong Essence Bearer. Poor elves and Nixie, after all of this, to lose the Tree. They must have been devastated. I have to stand up for Nixie, I have to be there for her. Why cannot I fight the strenght? Why now out of all times??? But luckily, Tallion was there to save a branch. Have you ever thought how much impact can a small act of kindness have in times like these? It is not the branch, it is also what Kelly did as well, she fought for us. It is Bajid who believed in our idea to fly with a trebuchet. It is the crew who stayed with us even if we hid the truth. It is Aosthen who believed a bunch of rascals can save the Elves. The more things I thought of, the stronger I felt my arms. Slowly, I finally stood up.
 
Xantinya can do many things, she can take everything we have, but she cannot take us our spirit, our love. We cannot give in now, we cannot despair. If we gave her that, she would have won. Each one of us won a battle today but none of us won the war yet. She expects us to be weak. She wants to prove us that love is a weakness. But it is not. It is what holds this world together. Love, faith and hope. That’s what we are and we need to be. We cannot let Xantinya take that away from us. It wasn’t Lullaby’s love that hurt us today, it was Gilder’s hate. We were fooled, yes. But Lullaby’s is right, we have to try to understand other and to make them understand us. People make their choices on which side to be, but it is us who must try to give them the option to choose. Gilders and Zarkuz chose the other side, but Kelly didn’t, neither did the crew. This is our war.
I have to go dear diary, the fight is far from being over.
 
May the Almighty keep loving us like He does.
 
Thank you dear Aosthen for your trust. Thank you, dear elves, for once again, fighting besides us. And thank you, dear Bajid. I did not know you well, but I will try to protect Lullaby for you. Oh and thank you for joining me in the trbuchet idea.
P.S.: Thank you Gilders, you gave me a very valuable lesson.
P.S. 2: Thank you to you too Mr. Coward Rat, you didn’t do much, but you told me about the fire inside. I guess that counts as well,right?