The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 343: The Tree of Elements (Part Two)

Chapter 343: The Tree of Elements (Part Two)

"Are we getting closer, Annalise?" Esmeray asked for the fifth time ever since they appeared in the Primordial Realm an hour or so ago.

Not being able to hold herself back, Annalise just stopped walking and stood there on the sloppy path down the mountain with a very disapproving look on her face.

It was like Esmeray felt her stopping as he immediately turned to face her. He stood there watching her for a moment before he just shook his head and headed back in her direction. "What is it?" he asked once he was back to her side.

"Why do you keep asking me if we are yet there or not? You are the one who took me here, you are the one most familiar with this place and the Tree of Elements, you should know where it is." Annalise let out the frustration that she had been holding back.

When she asked her husbands the previous night about when she would need to set out to look for the Tree of Elements, she would have never guessed that it would be in the very early morning. No one gave her the time and space to think things through and prepare herself before she was brought to a realm that appeared like the true definition of ’abandoned’.

There was nothing in the Primordial Realm, no light, no darkness, no dark energy, and barely any magic. It was totally abandoned and that feeling of complete emptiness wasn’t sitting right with her at all. Not because she felt any sort of danger but because her magic wasn’t liking how empty everything felt in there.

"I did tell you that the Tree of Elements keeps moving all the time and it’s almost impossible to locate it. After trying my best, I can only find out that it’s currently here somewhere in these mountains, but since you are the one with the power of all elements, only you can feel its presence." For once, Esmeray tried to reason with her with as much patience as he could probably muster. If Annalise had learned powerful magical spells from him, then he too had learned a very powerful lesson from her - patience.

"Besides, if I don’t ask you, how will I know if we are heading in the right direction or not?"

Now, it was not only hard but almost impossible for her to say anything in response. In the end, she just decided to try and be patient and not give the man a hard time when he was clearly helping her.

Taking in a deep breath, she spoke - "It’s still pretty far away. But I think we are heading in the right direction."

A small smile appeared on Esmeray’s lips as he nodded his head in approval and turned around to start walking again. "Let’s get going. Since we are still pretty far from it, we need to hurry up and find it before it gets dark."

Annalise hurriedly followed behind him while her eyes scanned the surroundings. "This place looks too abandoned. Will there be any sort of danger once it gets dark?"

Esmeray didn’t answer immediately but once he did after a moment or two, his words didn’t provide the least bit of comfort to Annalise - "This is the Primordial Realm. You should never believe what you are seeing. Just because it looks harmless right now doesn’t mean that there are no unknown dangers lurking behind illusions, waiting patiently for the right time."

A chill ran down Annalise’s back as dread took over her. She would never want to encounter the dangers of the Primordial Realm, which meant she needed to hurry up with her quest to find the Tree of Elements.

She could feel the Tree of Elements’ presence, it was out there somewhere and seemed to be waiting for her to find it.

The two of them walked up rocks and slopes and across a creek and then wandered through a meadow of flowers at the top of a ridge. By this time, Annalise was so exhausted that Esmeray actually offered to carry her which she obviously refused, because she kept feeling like she had to make it to the tree on her own two feet.

The odd thing about the meadow was that it was so clear. All the trees grew up to the edge and just stopped. The meadow wound through the forest like a wide path. It was full of wildflowers that came up just past their knees, in yellow and white. The air was sweet with the honey scent of them. It almost felt like they were not quite in the same world they started in.

"Is this an illusion?" Annalise asked as her eyes took in the beauty of the meadow that looked too surreal to be true.

"No, it’s not," Esmeray replied as he followed her through the path leading to the other side of the meadow.

Annalise was surprised to know that in a place looking so abandoned and colorless, there was still a meadow this pretty.

At the end of the path they finally saw a bright blue and golden tree. When Annalise first saw it from a distance, she thought the afternoon light was just hitting it oddly, but no—the bark was smooth and a natural, mottled blue color sort of like lichens. The leaves were a bright light golden, a heavy contrast to the blue but still somehow looking perfect when put together.

As they approached the tree, she suddenly slammed into an invisible wall. Hard. She staggered back, almost seeing stars. "What was that?"

"A protective field," Esmeray said from behind her. "You probably have to fight your way through it."

"What are you talking about? Why me?" She turned around to question him.

Instead of answering her, Esmeray just stared at her with his eyebrows arched high - a look that Annalise knew pretty well from all her time spent with him the past several months.

"Did you purposely let me walk ahead?" She asked while looking at him with her suspicion-filled eyes.

"Stop accusing me for things I haven’t done. You better focus on the task at hand." Esmeray diverted her attention back to the tree. "Do you want help?"