The tree had seen a lot in its life. It had once been a tiny seed in the hands of a small boy. The tree remembered the boy’s voice, its naivete and innocence radiating from his mouth as he sang. The boy sang about another boy, one Johnny Appleseed, who traversed the continent and planted apple trees across the nation. The boy wanted to be like Johnny, so he took a seed from an apple he was eating and planted it. From the seed, the tree grew.

While the boy grew older and more cynical, the tree climbed into the sky. While animals came and went, were born and died, the tree climbed into the sky. Soon enough, men marched through its woods. Some wore coats of blue while others wore coats of grey. Either way, while they fought and died, bled and healed, won and lost, the tree climbed into the sky. Soon enough the men in blue and grey coats left for the horizon, and while the forest was quiet, the tree climbed into the sky.

After moons came and went, rain and snow fell, and suns beat down on the earth, there was noise in the woods once more. Giants of metal like none the tree had ever seen before rolled through the forest. They left a path of scorched earth behind, scorched earth that never healed, and while the earth never healed, the tree climbed into the sky. Before long, monsters of metal roamed the scorched earth. And while they crawled along the earth, never coming back, the tree climbed into the sky. The scorched earth was given metal fences. The monsters became bigger, quieter, and more or less colorful. Structures of wood or metal cropped up, which swayed in the wind. Soon, men returned. They roved the forest, thin as a sapling. They killed the animals they found and ate them. They took from bushes and vines and trees, burning them or eating their fruits. And while they starved, wailed, and lived, the tree climbed into the sky. Eventually, the men left, leaving their structures of wood and metal behind. What they took from the forest was quickly replenished. Animals born, trees regrown, and fruits grown. It took less than 10 moons for normality to return, and for the forest to be mostly silent once more -save for the occasional metal monster. And while the forest grew silent, the tree climbed into the sky.

Then, more men came. They sat around fires, ate food, sang songs, tasted burning leaves, and left. And while the men went about their business, the tree climbed into the sky. They returned every so often, hunting, fishing, or wandering. And while they wandered and hunted, the tree climbed into the sky. Eventually, the weather became hotter or colder, and fog reigned across the forest. And while the sun became hotter, the snow became colder, and the animals became erratic, the tree climbed into the sky. One fateful day, however, it began to rain. It began as a normal drizzle that blanketed the forest with wet air. The tree drank the water, breathed the air, and ate the waning sun. It had never been more alive. Soon, the rain came down harder. It soaked the creatures of the forest, drowning them in water. It eventually became all-encompassing. It beat down like nothing ever before. It beat the trees, the soil, the rocks, the vines, the bushes, the grass, and the very air with its awful might. Then, it stopped. It simply stopped. The creatures of the forest peered out into the formless grey abyss of clouds that hung over the forest. Then, a few hours after the sun had set, arcs of blue ripped across the sky. It pulled and pulled, grabbing leaves and sticks and rocks and even some small animals. The blue lightning tore open the sky, and from beyond came something the tree had never seen. And while the world was bathed in things unknown, the tree did not climb into the sky.

And once the things unknown to the tree seeped into everything, from the birds to bugs, the leaves to the soil, it changed everything. Every creature shook and shuddered. Some were dyed red or blue or green or purple or yellow or any other color, while others’ bones were twisted and mangled and flesh was torn and grown, and others still looked no different. Once the clouds had passed, and the sun came close to its zenith, the forest erupted. Cries of every animal and beast imaginable rang out. The thing unknown surged through them, and the tree. The tree’s fruit turned from rose red to sky blue, the bark turned hard and indestructible, and the roots writhed with strength. Despite the cries and the blue and the growth and the power, things continued on.

The things unknown nurtured the ground and the air, turning it to paradise for the plants. The plants’ prosperity was spread to the beasts that ate plants, and soon to the beasts that ate beasts. Soon, before even the first day had ended, some of the beasts ventured from the forest. They never returned. And so, suns and moons climbed and fell from the sky as per usual. The forest was once again silent, but silence never lasted long in the forest.

One day, a group of men wandered into the forest. They were draped in makeshift cloaks that were stained in blood and covered their heads, and they marched on with determination. They scoured the forest, seemingly looking for something. As they continued, they marched closer and closer to the tree that had seen many things. They found it soon enough and stopped, looking at it in awe.

The leading figure, with a higher pitched voice and slimmer figure addressed the group. “I told you it was real! We can really do this! Come on, nothing is stopping us now!” the figure cried.

Before she moved a step, another figure clasped her shoulder. The figure possessed thick muscles and a deep voice, along with slightly darker skin than the woman, who herself had gold-like skin. “Are you sure you’re right?” they demanded. “We trudged through one of the worst hot zones around to find some magic tree you say will make us more powerful, so this had better be worth it.” they finished.

The leading figure snorted, lowering her hood, revealing her toned face and long, pointy ears. “I know that we’re trying to avoid stereotypes, but we’re elves! We’ve got to figure out what that means, and if that means that we have to trudge through hot zones, then so be it! Besides, we’ve already managed to reach the tree! I can feel it, it’s perfect! Who knows how looooong been out here? It looks too big to be a normal apple tree, even after The Awakening. It’s special, I know it!” they babbled, obviously excited.

One of the figures behind her, with a similarly deep voice as the second figure but with much lighter skin butted in. “Be quiet!” the third figure hissed. “You don’t know what in the godforsaken hell lives around here! Hell, maybe there’s some giant wolf or turtle that’s about to eat us!” they cried manically.

The second figure, with similar skin to the first, lightly knocked the third on the back of the head with their fist. “Calm down, man. I may not be entirely on board with sis’ idea, but we’ve made it this far, so we can’t just run off. Besides, we haven’t seen any monsters for the last half a day. We should be fine. And, even if this whole tree worship equals power thing is a bust, which I think it is, we can just set up a camp here. This is the eye of the storm, so to say.” he concluded. The third figure took a deep breath and nodded to the first.

The first reciprocated, and walked up to the apple tree, placing a hand on the bark. The tree felt something strange at that moment. It actually felt. It thought that it was weird. Because it had actually thought. As the tree felt and thought, blue lines snaked out from the first figure’s hand and into the tree. It wormed its way through the bark and the wood, but it could not be stopped. It wrapped and coiled and sunk into the tree, leaving nothing untouched. Soon enough, the second cloaked figure joined the first, extending even more blue tendrils from their hand. Before long the rest joined, letting blue roots connect bark and skin. There were 32 in all, all worming their blue veins into the tree. The tree began to glow more and more blue as more and more threads took hold.

Suddenly, though, every line and tendril and root and vein and thread glowed a new color: blood red. As the red veins of things unknown to even the cloaked figures took hold of the tree the tree began to creak and warp, as the wood and bark took on new shapes and new forms fit for new functions. And while the bark and wood warped, while the figures held the tree, while the forest was silent with no noise but soft and shaky breaths of cloaked figures, the tree climbed into the sky.

*=====*

Serene fell backwards after who knew how long, as did the gaggle of elves she had led. None of them had the strength to open their eyes, and they all laid on the ground panting. She was the first to groggily open her eyes. Her eyes glimpsed at the impossibly tall tree that loomed over them and she laughed hysterically. “I knew it!! I knew it would work!!” she cried to the air, to the forest, to the other elves, and to the world. “We did it!! We did it!!”

Before she could continue on with her tirade, Clamor talked over her. “Calm down, for god’s sake. Sis, what the hell did we just do?” he asked, befuddled. He had opened his eyes during her jubilation and stared, awestruck, at the giant tree that could dwarf many office buildings and was wider than a parking lot. They had all gathered on one side of the tree, and it was somehow considerate enough to only grow away from them.

Despite his questioning, Serene was too excited to answer Clamor, so the third man, Jamis, answered instead. “ I… think we just grew a world tree.” he muttered. In response to the host of stares he received from the other elves, who had gotten up at that point, he elaborated. “Well, in a lot of popular media, elves protect special trees that provide them with benefits. The word they usually use to describe it is, almost always, yggdrasil, the world tree.” he explained.

Clamor sighed. “This isn’t some sort of game, this is real. And somehow, we really just grew a giant tree by touching it. Also, Serene, please calm down.”

She whipped around with a speed that would put a cheetah to shame. “Why should I!? We are the first elves to figure this out! How can you not be excited!?” she demanded. Jumping up, she ran to the base of the tree. “Come on, we’ve gotta figure out what the deal with this thing is!” she yelled. Sighing, the rest of the group followed her to the bottom of the giant tree.

*=====*

Yeah, I never thought that I would actually flesh out the Earth storyline as much as I did. I wasn’t even going to touch it after Uncle Trunk’s check in, but here we are. Anyway, as always, thanks for all of the support, and I hope you enjoyed!