Chapter Thirty-Five.

After Titania left, Cameron began to focus inward on his magic as he entered his meditative state once more. He could feel his magic growing stronger every minute he spent familiarizing himself with it, even if by a small amount.

He especially wanted to master those three roots and branches. Combined, they were his way out. The voices to guide him, the other two spells to ensure no one stopped him until he was exhausted. Since he couldn't practice, this was the only way he could increase his ability with them.

The only thing that frustrated him was that it was slow. This was not as effective as straight-up training them. It did increase his control and power, he was sure of it, but not by much. He needed something else, he felt. He was missing something, he was sure of it.

Whatever it was that provided the boost everyone spoke of.

Focused on the tree, Cameron frowned. There was something odd about it, and about what everyone had told him about the trees. Why did it have so few branches on it, for a tree? Each bough representing a branch kind of made sense to him, but there was still much that confused him.

Like it being a part of the Tree of Magic. The true Tree of Magic. How could that be, if he saw its roots?

Tilting his head to the side, he imagined the tree sideways, looked at the roots. What if they weren't just roots, but connections? As he thought on this, another image began to form, a phantom tree of such gargantuan size, his own looked positively small.

And that it was just another branch on the bigger tree, not a tree by itself.

He turned his head upright, looking at the phantom tree beneath his own tree, feeling an even stronger connection to his tree than he had for the last week, and watched as his roots thickened and grew, stretching further into the great tree as his own swelled in size, quickly become ten times its original height and thickness.

Every person's inner tree was simply an extension of the Tree of Magic, one of its many, many branches. The stronger their roots, the stronger their connection to the Tree of Magic.

"Ambrosius," a light, feminine voice echoed in Cameron's mind as he regained awareness of the voices. None of them had female voices. "Ambrosious."

"Who are you?" Cameron murmured.

"I have many names," she responded. "You know me as the Tree of Magic. It is rare for anyone to find the connection, Ambrosius. So very rare. It's woken me from my slumber, to which I will soon return. You are in danger."

"No shit," he murmured as sarcastically as he could. "And here I thought this was a vacation."

"When you escape, flee to the lake," she told him. "Swim to its bottom, where you'll find the portal. I'm giving you the knowledge of how you may open it. Come to me, and you'll find safety, Ambrosius. I'm slipping back into my slumber. Come to me, Ambrosius."

Her voice faded away, leaving Cameron with just the knowledge of how to open the portal. He could still sense her body, though it had become more transparent, more phantom-like.

Releasing his reflection on the tree, he became aware of everything around him, and that he could still sense the voices.

It was time.

Cameron looked up as a fairy unlocked his cell to give him more food.

"Daaaaaamn! If she wasn't a fae, I'd probably tap that."

"No room under that dress for pencils."

"You know, there's a perfect escape opportunity, if you use the right spell."

"Ha! With his connection to his inner tree, and the connection to the Great One herself forged, I bet he'd take her on a thousand times!"

"Oh, I've missed you guys," Cameron breathed out a sigh of relief as the fairy looked confused. Then, he grinned at her. "Just talking to the voices in my head."

The fae frowned, before her eyes widened. A moment later, she dropped to the ground, and Cameron bolted out of the cell, drawing the attention of the fae at the other ends of the hall.

"Fuck you!" He thrust his hands outwards, a wave of violet energy manifesting, crossing the distance in under a second and knocking them unconscious. "Fuck yeah, that's awesome!"

Cameron whooped, then ran off down the hall, ignoring the other prisoners. He had to focus on himself above all others.

Anytime he passed up fairies, he sent out another violet blast. It was a mixture of force magic and mind magic, and the most powerful spell in his arsenal. It bypassed all physical barriers and assaulted the mind of anyone it came into contact with. Mental resistances – and only mental resistances – could prevent a one-touch knockout.

It was the same spell he'd used at the warehouse, back when the fae attacked. A mind blast that could take out even Adam in seconds. When he reached the end of the prisons, Cameron leaped onto one of the fae after knocking him out with a blast.

"Voices!" He said. "How do I read memories? This is a labyrinth, I'm sure of it! They've got to know the way out!"

Listening as all but one voice went silent, Cameron began pushing his mind into the fae's, digging through the man's memories for the way through the maze. Lucking out, he learned that while not many knew the way, the female fae nearby did, so he jumped over to her and began rummaging through her mind until he had the way in his mind.

Cameron took off again, running as hard as he could as he used the stolen mental map. A few times, he came across fae, but his mind wave, as he called the spell, took out every fairy. Most of the ones in the tunnels didn't even have the rings that blocked his mind magic.

When Cameron burst out into the sunlight, he stumbled, sending out mental blasts at the minds he sensed, rapidly striking until the dozen fairies had fallen unconscious.

It took him several moments to stop stumbling and regain his ability to look around without covering his eyes. It was extremely sunny, and he still had bright spots in his vision.

Taking off again, Cameron headed towards the forest. It creeped him out, especially knowing what it really was, but the voices told him to listen to the Great One, as they called the Tree of Magic.

As he ran through the trees, he caught the sounds of fighting here and there, and ignored it. Nothing was drawing near him. At least, not too often, and when something did, it wasn't a fairy, just an animal or two.

At least, not until he was near the lake, when a trio of fairies saw him. They looked just as surprised as he felt, though he threw his hands up, slamming his mind wave into them, and they dropped to the ground.

Tripping over a root, Cameron slammed into the ground, rolling. Pain shot through his right arm, and he looked at it, then squeezed his eyes shut. He'd broken it, and part of the bone was sticking out.

Tears began to stream down his cheeks. He was so close. He couldn't swim without his arm, which meant he couldn't get away, and he knew there were angels there, fighting. If one of them got him… he didn't want to even think about that.

"Setting a bone isn't that hard," a voice said. "With your current, even if temporary, connection to the Great One, learning a new school will be easy, though it'll weaken the connection, so you can only do it this one time. Then, you'll have to work off your own power, unless you want to lose the ability to open the portal."

Cameron nodded, listening as the voice walked him through pushing the bone back in. He felt himself growing faint, nearly passing out, but grit his teeth and forced his way through the pain without screaming. No need to draw more attention to himself.

After setting the bone, he listened as a different voice taught him how to mend the flesh. It took him what felt like an hour to succeed, but once he did, his skin healed rapidly. The previous voice then taught him how to mend the bone, which went by much faster.

Though he was still in pain, he could use his arm again. After rotating it a few times and punching the air twice, Cameron took a step forward, then stopped.

Turning, he saw a wave of ice moving towards him. The forest was freezing. It was in the distance, and moving slowly, but it was freezing. Not just the ground, but the trees, the leaves, the animals – everything.

He had plenty of time to move, based on his speed, but he really needed to get to the bottom of the lake before that froze over, too.

Turning, Cameron ran to the lake, removing his boots, belt, pants, and hoodie, leaving him in just the tee and underwear he was wearing. Something Eden had told him, for if he ever got dropped into water while clothed and was in an emergency. Lose as much clothes as possible, because it'd help him swim faster. Or something like that.

He couldn't quite remember everything, so just lost all the heavy stuff. Touching his father's gift, he grabbed it and lifted it to his lips, kissing it and asking for luck as he jumped into the lake.

Cameron began swimming, making his way towards the center of the massive lake. By the time he reached it, his arms and legs were screaming in agony, his adrenaline long since faded.

Taking a few moments to rest as he tread water, Cameron took several deep breaths, before sucking in as much as he could and holding it, allowing himself to drop straight down.

He twisted underwater and began swimming, doing his best to keep his eyes open. He wanted to teleport, to make the trip faster, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to hold his breath that long.

Or if it was a good idea to teleport into water. Eden and Adam both refused to comment on what would happen if he did, and when one of them didn't comment on something, there was usually a strong reason for him not knowing.

It took him less than a minute to reach the bottom, and he looked at the massive stone mural of a tree surrounded by large, black rocks. Standing on the center of the mural, Cameron began to push his magic into it through his feet, weaving it into the proper patterns within, ignoring the false ones.

He felt his tree begin to strengthen, the connection to the full Tree of Magic increasing as the portal drew on said link. Then, the water began to suck down, draining through the portal. It was still physical to him, the spell not quite complete, though he no longer needed to work his magic through it.

The portal had been activated, and there was no stopping it from its job.

As the water drained, Cameron lost his breath and sucked in, getting a massive lungful of water. He began to flail, his body fighting to bring him up as the current forced him down. Just as he felt ready to die, his head broke the surface and he began coughing out the water in his lungs.

Looking up, he saw more than a hundred figures flying towards him. Fairies, angels, nephilim, even mages using magic to augment their flight. Titania was there, as well as his cousin Callum, Greyson, Alex, and a bunch more.

"Hah!"

"Take that, bitches!"

"They won't make it before the portal closes!"

"Losers!"

Cameron gave the eager Fairy Queen a victorious grin just before the mural beneath him turned into emptiness, and he fell, his breath sucking out of him.

Titania came into view, soaring down and nearly reaching the portal. Before she entered, however, Cameron lost sight of her, the portal having closed. It was only open for eighteen seconds, due to the method of opening. Her own ritual would leave it open for eighteen hours.

Excited that he'd ruined her plans, Cameron gave in to the fall and his exhaustion, blacking out. For five minutes and twenty-four seconds, he fell at a steady rate, then began to slow down for another five minutes and twenty-four seconds. After that, he gently floated eighteen inches above the massive branch for five minutes and twenty-four seconds, before his body gently touched down.