Although the Great Tree had fallen into some kind of rest to allow its exhausted mind to recover, this state was not like the sleeping which it had observed amongst some of the inhabitants of its domain. Rather, this was almost exactly alike the state which the tree was all so used to. Its mind observed and recorded, but there was no thought present, no true consciousness. This familiarity was pleasant, so far as the Great Tree could feel pleasure at the time, however this state did not last long.

After a short while the Great Tree ‘woke up’. Put simply, thoughts once again sprouted within its mind, as if it were always capable but did not bother to do so. Unlike its previous awakening though, this time the Great Tree had no impending crisis which demanded its immediate attention, so the confused mind was left to wander within its own thoughts.

What has happened to me?

Lost and without answers, the Great Tree quickly decided it needed to investigate this new state. The first thing it tried was to thoroughly inspect its body, but this time without the franticness which was present when it was looking for a way to deal with the Plain One. Instead, a great deal of time was used, utilizing a naturally present patience to take note of every leaf, branch and root. But very quickly, the Great Tree encountered a problem: it wasn’t totally sure what its body was like before the transformation.

Of course it had a rough idea; it had observed all things in its domain before its awakening, including itself. However it had never taken a great interest in anything either, which also included itself, and so was lacking more precise details. Other than the most obvious feeling of its aura, and the general size and shape of its body, the Great Tree was unable to compare its findings to anything.

Still, I can find nothing which seems an obvious cause for my new… condition.

The investigation was not without fruit though. The Great Tree also experimented far more thoroughly with its aura, and was able to swiftly progress in its ability to control the energies, to the point where already it was many times more effective than previously. This was simply due to becoming used to moving the energies, and simultaneously the energies seemed to become more elastic, like previously they were asleep but now were becoming more used to being manipulated. Strangely, despite this newfound elasticity, the energies did not lose any of their feelings of immovability, or rather they could instantly switch between the two, flowing freely one moment, then solidify, giving off their usual mountainous, metal like feeling the next. This somewhat paradoxical property was strange at first, but did not at all feel unnatural.

The Great Tree also found that, by controlling the flow of aura in a given branch alongside trying to move the physical body of the branch itself, the branches moved far more easily, reaching far greater speeds than previously, whilst also becoming even tougher so long as the aura was present. This also extended to the thread like roots beneath the earth, now if faced with another Plain One the roots could likely directly cut the skin whilst also being far harder to sever themselves.

If only I was capable of this earlier, I probably could have completely bound that Plain One, and with far less effort… sigh.

In the end though, these new talents were irrelevant for the moment. What the Great Tree had set out to do was find the reason for its change, but was still no closer to an answer, so it decided to direct its senses outward. Immediately its attention was caught by the crater atop its hill and the dismembered branch within, the sight of which gave the Great Tree a huge shock.

Before, the branch’s appearance was exactly akin to the rest of its body; a vibrant red, bursting with life and giving a feeling of indomitable will, but now the branch was hardly a shadow of its former self. The bark may have been fractured and the wood splintered, but this was not what shocked the Great Tree.

Its aura is so… weak.

Indeed, beyond the damaged physical body of the branch, what were far more shocking were the other aspects. The branches aura, which was exactly one with the Great Trees own aura not long ago, was now almost non-existent.

No, that’s not right.

The aura was dead. Inanimate and motionless, although much energy was still imbued in the branch, the will of life and strength which was previously present could no longer be felt. Instead, it now felt like little more than a particularly tough rock. Even the red colour of the Great Tree, usually vibrant, had lost much of its sheen, becoming dimmer and darker.

Is this because I severed it myself? But to think that something which was a part of me…

Being so old, yet full of life and without threat, it’s not surprising that the Great Tree had little concept of mortality. It had observed the life and death of countless beings, yet had never given any consideration to its own end, a thought which had now been roused for the first time by the withered remains of its branch. Of course it never really had an opportunity for any such thought in the past, but that did not change the situation.

This new perspective gave the Great Tree a hitherto unfelt respect for the various beings it shared the land with, all of which lived so much closer to death than itself. It also reminded it of the Green One child it had saved, who herself was in a life and death situation very recently.

How is she?

When the child had been taken by the other Green Ones, she had been silent and immobile from terror, and after being taken away she had left the Great Trees more detailed area of observation; only her auras position could be sensed. Even now he could still feel the small aura within the village. Currently she was in the presence of a three larger Green One auras, one of which was the strangely bright aura belonging to the Green One which had interacted with the Great Tree before the village was set up. There was also another small aura present within another room of the building, only somewhat larger than the girl’s own.

Her family perhaps?

The Great Tree wished to investigate further, but was sure that was impossible. However, when it focused its attention upon the girl’s aura, strangely the surroundings seemed to become clearer, as if the scene was previously on the periphery of its vision but was now being focused on. The girls own aura, as well as the three auras nearby, became more defined, and the energies in their surroundings also became somewhat more detailed in their shifts and flows.

Curious, the Great Tree tried focusing all of its attention on the area. Quickly, the entire building became visible in just the same way that the area on and around the hill was also visible. Once this was done, it seemed almost obvious to the Great Tree that it could do this. It was as if its domain was everything within its line of sight, and the clearer areas were simply where it was looking at any given moment. After the pleasant surprise of this new ability, the tree returned its attention to the girl and her fellow Green Ones.

The scene within the room held a depressing aura. The girl was curled up into a corner, still obviously shaken from the day’s events, whilst the Green One with the bright aura and one of the remaining two, a female, were trying to comfort her, but it was obvious from their expressions that they too were hurting in some way. The final of the room’s inhabitants was slumped on a desk with his hands on his head.

It was only at this point that the Great Tree thought about how much time had passed. It had felt like a huge time had passed, so it expected that the girl would have recovered, perhaps even grown up, but in truth not even a day had passed.

The Great Trees sleep had only lasted for only a short 4 hours, then after spending the rest of the night investigating its body throughout the night, sunlight could just now start to be felt upon its leaves. The reason for this discrepancy is of course that the Great Tree was still unused to its new state of mind; in the past often the entire lives of smaller beings would pass without even being noticed, yet now such a great time seemed to have passed but in reality not even a day had gone by. The Great Tree was actually hesitant to accept this, for a moment even confirming this was the same girl and not a descendant or something, but was forced to accept that indeed only a single night had passed.

Returning its attention back to the frail girl, the Great Tree felt resigned; it had done all that it could, yet she was still obviously far from a good condition. The mental scars were not something it could fix, it was possible that they would remain for her entire lifespan.

Now all that can be done is to wait and see I suppose.