The heart of the Bellgrave Jungle was a warped space. An illogical area where the natural laws were either skewed, or outright broken. This space was home to the jungle’s lord. A Leshen-Lord. A mighty spirit of the earthen green. Or at least, it was supposed to be. The Great Leshen was dead, and in its place, there was a tree. An immense tree. A tree wider than any mountain range and taller than the sky. A tree that felt like it alone was too vast to exist in the entire Shattered World.

The true identity of this tree was that of a World-Tree Mimic. A kind of deranged-spirit. A parasitic lifeform from beyond the stars that had burrowed its way out of the space between the worlds and used its tendrils to tap into the core of the 14th Pearl. If not stopped, this entity could potentially spread to all the other Pearls of the Shattered World, until it consumed the Shattered World itself and was able to swallow up the entire solar system, galaxy, and maybe even the universe itself.

At least...that “should” have been the case. Now the creature was currently being overrun by an army of humanoid shadow creatures. These “fadelings” were formed from the souls of the dead, and the yet unborn, that had been summoned to the living in exchange for their places in the circle of life, death, and rebirth being held for them, a little power or boon as payment, and a break in the interminable boredom that came with waiting to be born/reborn.

The fadeling-soldiers and fadeling-beasts swarmed the World-Tree Mimic. The World-Tree Mimic retaliated by calling the beasts of the Jungle to defend it, using the authority it usurped from the Leshen-Lord. The beasts came as called but were quickly outmatched by the fadelings. Especially as the one who summoned the fadelings continued to summon more fadelings.

The World-Tree Mimic was smart enough to know to target the source of its troubles and as the last of its animal servants were culled. It called down thunderstorms, and summoned literal, bladed mountains, made of stone, ice, and metal. Striking at the caster that was the source of its trouble. Using spells that twisted the laws of nature and could wipe out nations.

Unfortunately, for the world-tree mimic, the caster was ensconced in a literal fortress of shadows. Surrounded by yet more fadelings. Including several hundreds of fadeling-casters, who aided the caster in their retaliation. Bombarding the World-Tree Mimic with powerfully cast, albeit simple, spells. Summoning shields that reduced the effectiveness of the World-Tree Mimic’s attacks until they were almost completely negated.

While this was happening, an unseen fighter would strike at the weak spots with an axe. Each swing of the axe carried hurricane-force winds and countless bolts of lightning. Each time the axe had done sufficient damage the whole space would shake and tremble as the World-Tree Mimic’s body was damaged and its influence over the area was heavily weakened.

The World-Tree Mimic and the shadow-wielding magus clashed with one another while an unseen figure rapidly scaled the World-Tree Mimic’s body. Striking at every weakness and vulnerability in its form. Like the deranged-spirit was a boss monster in one of the older old-world games. The World-Tree Mimic was aware that something was off, but it was too busy dealing with the shadow-magus and the fadelings to properly respond.

Thus without any other recourse, a scourge that might have one day grown to threaten the entire Shattered World, and the universe beyond, met its end. All its weaknesses were torn open and were turned into grievous injuries. Until finally, the unseen figure was able to make their way into the World-Tree Mimic’s core and deliver a killing blow.

The shadow-magus would then emerge from her fortress of shadow. Her fadelings vanished into nothing as they were dismissed and the power that sustained their existence was withdrawn. The shadow-magus fed the core of the World-Tree Mimic to her grimoire. An ominous, black book, with a glowing blue-gray jewel on its cover. The secretive warrior then absorbed the rest of the Word-Tree Mimic. The massive corpse, larger than the entire Shattered World, collapsed, and compressed itself, as it was drawn within the warrior’s body.

The two World-eater Eaters weren’t done yet. The World-Tree Mimic’s lair was filled with all sorts of treasure and natural resources that would have to be looked through, catalogued, and then depending on their nature, either consumed, or collected. This task would take several weeks. Such was the wealth gathered within the World-Tree Mimic’s lair.

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A few weeks later, two figures rose high into the air and flew from the desolate pit that was once the World-Tree Mimic’s lair. They left behind the Bellgrave Jungle and flew north. Heading towards civilization after many years of roaming the wilderness on their own.