Alaric and Esty had finally arrived at the Treant Clan village, Yiggor, after a few days.

They were greeted by no one at the gate, which was odd, and the second they stepped in, they were met with the sight of pure destruction, carnage that spanned a couple miles.

Treant corpses piled on the ground, houses burnt to the ground, trees cut down; the whole place was a mess.

"Oh my! What could’ve happened here?" Esty exclaimed, holding her hands over her mouth as the horse carried her across.

"Someone extremely powerful must’ve done this to them, the Treants are not a violent race. They would never provoke outsiders." Alaric responded as he looked at the bodies, half expecting to find Yggros laying amongst them.

When he didn’t find her, he wondered where she was.

Where was the elder of the Treants when they needed her the most? Why would she allow such a thing to happen to her people.

These thoughts crossed his mind as they moved through the rubble, did she connive with whoever did this? No, Yggros wasn’t that type, she was too shy to even conjure up any bad thoughts, let alone act on them.

Whoever had done something like this must’ve taken them by surprise.

The atmosphere fell silent as they eventually reached the gate that led to the garden where the World Tree resided, a large brown gate covered in all kinds, and colors of flowers. It was finally time to save the tree so they can go back to attending to their duties.

"Are you ready to do this?" Alaric asked, turning his head to look at Esty, who nodded in response.

They both walked through the gate and onto an evergreen land with tall grasses, blossoms and colorful buds.

They weren’t surprised to find that most of the elders had already reached the tree. They were all dressed in the dark cloaks and hoods, signifying that they were part of an organization.

They stood in a group, they appeared to be looking at something at the base of the enormous tree.

"You all still wore your uniforms—" Alaric started, attempting a joke when he noticed a faint trail of blood that stretched beyond the feet of the elders.

He paused, dropping down from us horse and moving closer slowly.

"W—What is that? What happened here?" He inquired, none of the elders even responded or acknowledged his presence.

"I said WHAT IS—!" His eyes glowed a bright white with flickers of light appearing on the corner of his eyelids, he was finally close enough to see what had happened now.

The sight brought an unsettling ache in his chest, now his questions from earlier had been answered.

He saw Yggros laying on the floor, completely lifeless, there was a trail of dead vines beside her.

"There is a great evil at play here." Rhaenys spoke out, Alaric could see their faces now that he was close enough.

Among the elders were Rhaenys Von Bastian, Banqui Dragonborn, Sylvanor The Great, Seraphina, and Armand. The rest were absent at the time.

"I told her how much of a risk this was, these tree spirits, they never listen!" Armand complained, his facial expression highlighting his annoyance.

"Quiet Armand! This is not the time or the place, we need to think. What, or who could’ve done this?" Banqui said, crouching down and touching the corpse of Yggros.

"Yggros was such a sweet soul, she loved everyone and everyone loved her. Why do bad things always happen to good people?" Sylvanor questioned, a single tear running down his cheek but he managed to maintain his composure.

"We need to give her a proper send off," said Alaric, who had not even looked up once from the corpse.

_ _ _

*Flashback*

As Morbius held Yggros’ neck against the tree, squeezing the life out of her, he was unaware of a single thing, he focused too much on the fact that he had a job to do.

He neglected the fact that Yggros was a tree spirit, she closed her eyes and said a short incantation in her mind.

Right before she died, she had been able to successfully transfer her consciousness to the tree, a power that only tree spirits possessed.

So while Morbius thought that the Treant elder was dead, she had only just moved her soul into the tree, something she believed was her purpose since she was a little child,

Yggros had always been the runt of the litter. When she was born, her clan had no idea that tree spirits could be that small.

But whatever she lacked in size, she more than made up for with knowledge, she sought knowledge all her life, her connection with the trees made her stand out even amongst the tree spirits, earning her the name, Mother Nature.

Most Treants saw her as crazy because she would often go out into the garden and speak to the World Tree, she even spoke to random trees , wherever she would find them.

She had the ability to form plants out of nothing, even if the land was infertile, Yggros would find a way to grow something on it.

_ _ _

"Fear not, my friends, for I am not dead." A voice emerged out of the tree, forcing them to react differently.

Armand instantly turned into a bat and flew backwards, the rest just took a step back.

"Although my physical body has been murdered by a usurper, I was able to transfer my soul into this tree, who’s been a great host." The voice said.

"What happened here, Yggros." Alaric asked.

"There is no other way to say it, other than you all are in danger. I was waiting eagerly for you all, when the usurper attacked."

"A usurper? Who is this usurper you speak of?" Rhaenys inquired.

"It is none other than he who does the bidding of the mad demon king..." Yggros’ voice started, their expressions had changed now, because they knew for sure who she was talking about.

"Don’t tell me..." said Banqui.

"Morbius."