Cocoons of the Sacred Tree

Passing through the Soulbell Sea of Trees brought them formally into the domain of the Sacred Tree of the Elves. Rising hundreds of meters into the sky, the colossal tree possessed an expansive root system and gnarled, powerful boughs. Its tangled roots stretched more than ten kilometers outward, drawing upon every trace of energy throughout the Forest of the Elves to sustain the ecological cycle of the entire realm. Every silver moon elf was laid to rest beside the roots of the Sacred Tree upon death, returning their mortal flesh to nature and becoming part of the forest's endless circle of life. Walking at the head of the vanguard, Rhea gazed into the distance and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the Sacred Tree Barrier lies just ahead." A translucent membrane of light shimmered before the coalition army, radiating powerful ripples of magic. The Sacred Tree Barrier radiated for miles with the Sacred Tree at its heart. It was a magical aegis designed to repel foreign foes, capable of distorting space and turning away unauthorized intruders. Trespassers would become trapped in an endless loop of illusions; only those carrying elven blood could pass through unharmed. "Let us proceed." Catherine nodded and extended her scepter. A silver radiance swept outward, instantly parting the curtain of light before them. The dense roots covering the ground receded to either side at a pace visible to the naked eye, opening a broad thoroughfare as if welcoming the queen's return. Yet at that very moment, accompanied by a violent tremor beneath their feet, roots burst through the soil and whipped toward Catherine like massive lashes. "Your Majesty, look out!" Rhea stepped forward in a flash, raising her silver sword to shield Catherine. A few blinding flashes of light flared, and the thrashing roots were severed in an instant. Crimson blood welled from the clean cuts, pumping as though from the limbs of living creatures. The lopped-off branches writhed and convulsed relentlessly upon the earth, thrashing like a giant serpent cleaved in two, spraying dark blood in all directions. "Are those... the roots of the Sacred Tree?" "Mother Goddess above..." "H-how is this possible? The Sacred Tree is the purest, kindest life in the world! Why would it attack us of its own accord?!" The silver moon elves paled in horror, breaking into frantic whispers. The Sacred Tree of the Elves was the cradle of Therenia, an inviolable holy ground in their hearts. How could such a grotesque aberration emerge from it? Catherine's expression, however, remained remarkably composed. Ignoring the protests of her guards, she stepped forward to inspect the severed roots closely, murmuring, "These roots have been contaminated by some chaotic, wicked force. To think... they wouldn't even spare the Sacred Tree." Rhea's brow furrowed tightly, her demeanor grim. "If even the outer perimeter of the root system has turned into this, I fear the corruption at the Leyline Core will be far worse." She looked at Catherine and said earnestly, "Your Majesty, the path ahead is far too perilous. Please remain here for now. I will lead an elite vanguard to scout ahead and clear the thorns for you. Once we have secured the area..." "No, Rhea." Catherine shook her head and refused, her tone unwavering. "I will go with you. No matter what dangers lie ahead, I will not cower. "I was born beneath the Canopy of the Heavens, and I was baptized in the Spirit Pool of the Sacred Tree. The blood of Therenia's monarchs flows within me. Protecting the Sacred Tree is the duty of my life, and for that... I am prepared to give it." "Queen Catherine..." "I will follow you to the royal court to save the Sacred Tree!" Tears glistened in the eyes of the silver moon elves. Titus, the ancient gold dragon, stepped forward at the opportune moment. Halting beside the elven queen, he declared in a resonant voice, "Queen Catherine, you have far more than silver moon elves standing at your back. "Humans, dwarves, angels, metallic dragons—all who champion goodness and justice stand with you, united into an invincible, mighty host!" The gold dragon threw his head high, the barbels at the corners of his maw swaying gently in the breeze. His broad wings snapped open, gleaming with a metallic luster in the brilliant sunlight. "Long live justice!" In an instant, soldiers of every race were moved to fervor, pumping their fists and shouting in unison, their morale surging higher than ever. "Thank you once again, Lord Titus." Looking at the cheering, emboldened coalition army, Catherine nodded slightly, the resolve in her heart growing firmer. The corners of the ancient gold dragon's mouth curved into a warm, wise smile. "General Rhea told me long ago that you were an ambitious, benevolent, and righteous sovereign. It seems her words rang true. You have not disappointed me. "I shall lend you my full strength and support until Therenia banishes the darkness and returns once more to the light." Not far away, the half-elf paladin bowed deeply toward the ancient gold dragon, gratitude written across her breathtaking face. Even Rhea had not anticipated that this ancient gold dragon would go to such lengths, bringing a vast host of reinforcements with him. Gold dragons and angels soared through the sky, while the diverse army of elves, dwarves, and humans marched across the land, advancing steadily toward the heart of the Sacred Tree along the path Catherine had opened for them. In the distance, the Sacred Tree appeared slightly blurred, its surface shrouded in a hazy, mottled luminescence. Just then, an elven scout at the head of the formation cried out in alarm, "Look! What's hanging from the Sacred Tree?!" Everyone turned their gaze toward the distant tree, only to see indistinct black shapes suspended beneath the great canopy, dangling upside down from the boughs by thick, silken threads. "What on earth is that?" Catherine's brow knitted, an uneasy premonition creeping into her chest. "This scent..." Rhea harbored far darker suspicions. She caught a faint coppery stench of blood drifting on the wind, and its source was none other than the Sacred Tree ahead. The wizards from the City of Myriad Laws raised their staves and incanted in unison, conjuring a crystal-clear magical projection before the army. They were cocoons. Every dark silhouette was a colossal cocoon swathed in spider silk, hanging upside down in sickening numbers—thousands of them packed together. Worse still, those giant cocoons were split open and drenched in blood. Inside each ruptured husk lay the corpse of an elf. Their deaths had been horrific beyond description. Their contorted expressions spoke of agonizing torment, their mouths and noses forcefully torn open, with tiny, blood-slicked spiders crawling out from within their remains. A collective gasp caught in the throats of the host. Even the battle-hardened Rhea paled, her pupils shrinking in horror. "By the gods!" "Sehanine above..." "What kind of monsters could do such a thing?! To commit such a butchery in this holy sanctuary!" "I... I know him! That's my friend! They murdered him so brutally!" Confronted by this gruesome spectacle, the silver moon elves were consumed by grief and fury; several doubled over and dry-heaved on the spot. In their hearts, the Sacred Tree was a sacred cradle of life, the most revered place in all of Therenia. They could never have imagined reconciling their holy sanctuary with this sickening, blood-drenched abomination. Even the ancient gold dragon lowered his head, observing a moment of silence for the slaughtered elves. He let out a heavy sigh. "Utterly devoid of conscience... Even an evil deity as vile as Tiamat would never commit such atrocities against the metallic dragons. "Queen Catherine, your foes are far more deranged and depraved than I ever anticipated." Catherine was visibly shaken, clutching her chest as grief tore through her over the cruel slaughter of her people. Yet her vision quickly sharpened, her gaze turning cold and lethal. "Unforgivable wretches... I will make them pay dearly for their atrocities!" "Wait—look at the trunk of the Sacred Tree!" a sharp-eyed human hunter suddenly shouted. Something seemed to be rippling across the surface of the trunk like churning waves. Straining their eyes, the soldiers recoiled in terror—it was a dense, seething tide of spiders! Their numbers were staggering, nearly blanketing the entire bark of the colossal tree. Countless pairs of scarlet compound eyes gleamed with a sinister, baleful light, sending a chill through everyone's bones. "Spiders!" "Gods above... what disgusting vermin!" Cries of revulsion echoed through the ranks. Setting the elves aside, even the boldest, most fearless dwarf warriors furrowed their brows in disgust, a flicker of dread surfacing in their expressions. "They were sacrifices," Catherine said in a frigid voice. "The elders offered our kin as sacrifices to an abyssal evil deity to summon this swarming plague of abominations." Right then, her acute senses tingling, Rhea felt an odd disturbance. "Your Majesty, the ground is shaking." In the distance, between the fissures of the tangled, sprawling roots, a black tide began to pour forth. Accompanied by a low rumbling from deep underground, that "tide" spread outward at terrifying speed, blotting out the light of the sun and carpeting the exposed roots across the earth. It was no wave of water, but an endless sea of spiders. Beneath countless shocked, horrified gazes, the innumerable arachnids formed a towering surge, sweeping across the forest toward the coalition army like an apocalyptic deluge ready to drown and devour them all. Catherine raised her scepter and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Full attack! Do not fear them—they are nothing more than fragile vermin!" Countless beams of silver radiance erupted from the queen's scepter, descending like divine punishment into the spider horde and instantly vaporizing vast swathes of them into billowing black smoke. "Attack!" The silver moon elves drew their longbows. Arrows dipped in pitch rained down, piercing through the skittering arachnids and setting them ablaze where they stood. The wizards of the Arcane Hermitage raised their staves, the crystals atop their foci flaring with blinding brilliance as they unleashed a thick pillar of blazing flame. "Sunburst!" The torrent of radiance swept across the earth, reducing every spider in its path to ash and cinder. Other wizards summoned churning storm clouds, calling down jagged arcs of lightning. Thunder cracked and roared, leaving behind dancing sparks of electricity and charred remains. "Filthy abominations, witness the wrath of justice!" The ancient gold dragon roared toward the heavens. Sweeping his wings, he took flight amid howling gale-force winds, entering a steep dive as incandescent fire surged from deep within his throat. *Boom—!* Accompanied by the concussive crack of detonating air, a raging sea of flames washed across the ground, incinerating thousands of spiders into dust. Flames leapt into the sky, reflecting in the eyes of every soldier. Murmurs of awe rippled through the ranks. "As expected of the Wings of Dawn! What unmatched power from an ancient gold dragon! Those vile bugs are like dry kindling before him!" Rhea, however, remained steadfastly beside Catherine, holding her blade ready as her vigilant gaze locked onto the Sacred Tree. "Your Majesty, though these spiders are innumerable, they are easily dispatched. They are likely just a diversion to draw our attention and cloud our sight." In the next instant, countless animated roots erupted from beneath the earth, surging violently toward Catherine. "Quick!" "Protect Her Majesty!" Several Silvermoon Followers stepped forward, planting their heavy shields like an impenetrable wall in front of Catherine. Rhea swept her silver sword, sending a crescent blade of light tens of meters long flying forth. The animated roots were once again sheared in half with surgical precision. "Watch out!" Melisandre shouted a warning. With shrill shrieks piercing the air, a volley of venomous barbs whistled through the smoke, hurtling straight toward the half-elf paladin's vitals. Rhea's eyes snapped wide. Whirling around, she unleashed a flurry of sword strikes. Amid a sharp flurry of metallic clangs, the poisoned needles were chopped from the air before they could hit. She looked toward where the needles had come from. A monstrosity half-elf and half-spider crawled out from the receding sea of arachnids, its long, sharp legs covered in dense bristles. The drider cocked its head, a grotesque, unsettling grin plastered across its cracked visage as baleful light flickered in its eyes. "That's..." Staring at the hauntingly familiar face, Rhea's pupils contracted violently. She murmured in disbelief, "The former third squad captain of the Blades of the Sacred Court, Orpheon Hayes?!" "He was transformed into a monster as well!" The drider bounded into the air, pouncing toward the elves with lethal speed. Its spearlike limbs pierced through several silver moon elves from crown to heel in an instant. Corrosive venom sprayed from its maw, eating clean through a dwarf warrior's plate armor and liquefying his head into putrid sludge in seconds. "Vile creature!" Rhea kicked off the ground and shot forward like an arrow, charging headlong at the drider. The drider gave a savage grin, thrusting the stinger at its rear forward like a lance. But Rhea twisted nimbly in midair, evading the lethal thrust by a hair's breadth. The drider struck repeatedly with its forelegs in a tempestuous assault, every strike aimed at her vitals with fluid precision, bearing the undeniable grace of a master swordsman. Yet Rhea remained unruffled. Her silver sword danced in intricate flourishes, easily deflecting the piercing legs and even shearing through several of them. An instant later, she swung her silver blade through the empty air, unleashing a crescent of twilight radiance as the boundless holy power of a legendary paladin erupted. *Divine Smite!* *Slash—!* The half-spider monstrosity was severed clean through the waist. The elven torso separated from the spider abdomen, and the grotesque grin froze rigidly on its face. "Rh... ea..." The drider parted its lips, a raspy, guttural rasp escaping its throat. Orpheon Hayes had once been Rhea's mentor; much of her swordsmanship had been learned from this captain of the Blades of the Sacred Court. Yet now, this once-revered captain had been reduced to a wretched drider, brutally slaughtering his former kin without mercy. For a fleeting heartbeat, Rhea thought she saw agonizing pain, struggle, and fury within those black, sunken eyes. "Rest in peace. You should never have been made to live on... in this shape," Rhea said softly. The half-elf paladin swept her blade in a clean, decisive stroke, severing the drider's neck. The head rolled to the ground, eyes staring blankly into the distance, with what looked like the trace of a tear lingering at the corner of his eye.