The forest had fallen into an unnatural silence for a few moments.
No wind was heard, no movement of animals, not even the quiet whisper of the roots that had been crawling under the soil and breathing like living creatures just minutes before.
The only thing still present in that dark and heavy space was the light of the tree’s massive fruit, pulsing like a half-awake heart in the darkness, spreading a deep golden aura over the forest.
Elisira stepped forward a few steps and finally pulled the book out from under her cloak.
Her breathing was slightly irregular, as if she had come here without stopping, but despite her fatigue, a small smile settled on her lips when her gaze fell on Daniel.
"Here you are... I finally brought what you wanted."
But Daniel almost didn’t hear her. His eyes were fixed on the book.
For the first time since Elisira had returned, his gaze was neither on the princess nor on the tree.
But on that old, silent object in the girl’s hands.
"...Ancient." The book radiated antiquity, and with just one look, one could tell it was something very old.
Something so old that even he couldn’t precisely guess how long ago it might belong.
But if he had to guess? This book was over several thousand years old.
Daniel’s quiet voice made Elisira pause briefly.
"It was almost impossible to find." She brought the book forward and said softly.
Her gaze darkened for a moment.
"It was in the sealed section of the imperial library... a place where even ordinary nobles are not allowed to enter."
"I even had to use my name and status as princess to be allowed to touch it." She was silent for a few seconds and then continued.
She wasn’t lying, but she also didn’t tell the whole truth. Getting this book was very difficult because she wasn’t allowed to borrow it.
According to the librarian, only the Holy Emperor had access to this book, and that made her sure this was exactly what she was looking for.
But what had stayed in her mind more than anything was the reaction of the old librarian.
An old man who had turned pale upon hearing the tree’s name, naturally from fear.
Real and deep fear, as if just hearing the name of that tree was enough to awaken an old nightmare.
Getting the book wasn’t easy. She had to steal it in the middle of the night when the librarian closed the library and left the place.
The library is under the strictest security measures, and the only reason she had been able to enter was because of the royal blood flowing in her veins.
Stealing the book itself was even harder because she had to bypass even stricter measures, but in the end, she got caught.
The librarian caught her and was going to report her to her father, but that old man, because of the friendly relationship they had since the princess’s childhood, let her go.
And allowed her to borrow the book for a maximum of one day.
Daniel silently reached out and took the book.
The surface of the cover was cold.
The book’s cover was blackish-gray, and its texture seemed more like the dried skin of something unknown than leather or paper.
No title was written on it, no name, and no explanation.
The only thing visible on the cover was a strange symbol: a silver tree in the middle of a broken sun.
And just as Daniel saw that symbol, something stirred in his mind.
Before he could focus on it further, suddenly the tree trembled.
The massive roots of the tree moved for a moment, and the tree began to emit light again, as if it was saying something or naturally reacting to something.
Elisira instinctively stepped back and stared at the tree in disbelief.
"...That’s the first time it’s reacted." This was the first time she had seen this tree move.
"My god... this tree is alive!" The princess whispered in amazement.
But Daniel noticed a more important point: the tree had not reacted to him, nor to Elisira, but to the book itself.
He thought for a moment and touched the tree with one hand, then touched the book’s cover with the other.
"They both give the same feeling. Could they be made of the same material? ...No, this book is made from the tree’s bark." His gaze deepened, and then he opened the book.
The initial pages were almost destroyed, the words erased.
Some sections were completely rotten and crumbled, as if time itself had tried to erase this information from the world.
But some parts still remained, and those few lines were enough to make the surrounding space heavier.
Daniel’s eyes fixed on a sentence that seemed to reveal the tree’s true name.
"The Tree of the Beginning of the End."
Not "The Cursed Tree" or any other sinister name, but a title more like the name of something sacred and ancient.
"...So that’s its real name?" Elisira whispered quietly.
Daniel didn’t answer and turned more pages.
The texts were old, in a language that even Elisira could barely read, but Daniel, with the help of his divine sense and his understanding of conceptual structures, pieced together their meanings.
The tree was older than the current civilizations, existing even before the Holy Empire was founded.
Before the time the sky was split, and naturally before corruption.
And then a sentence that made Daniel’s gaze remain fixed for a few seconds:
"Until the fruit is complete, the gate will not be closed."
"This tree grew by the blessing of the gods’ divine power, and its fruit carries a portion of divinity." It was written a few lines below.
His eyes gleamed. So one of his initial guesses had been correct.
This fruit was indeed that divine fruit that gods could consume to evolve their divinity.
"Gate...?" Elisira asked quietly.
But even she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know the answer to that question. The more they read, the more this book seemed less like a history book.
Rather, like a very ancient prophecy, as if the author had seen something, something that had not yet happened.
On one of the following pages, an old image could be seen.
That same bull-headed creature, but this time clearer: a massive, muscular body with dark skin like compressed corruption.
Branching, twisted horns like those of ancient deer.
And eyes that were far too human.
But what took Elisira’s breath away was the creature’s posture.
He was kneeling before the tree. Not attacking, not destroying the tree, but in fear...
And behind him, a split sky could be seen.
Daniel said nothing for a few moments, just stared at the image.
"The creature that destroyed two continents... is afraid of this tree." Then he whispered quietly.
This image drawn in this book was, to a great extent – one could say exactly – what the tree had shown him.
His gaze fell on the fruit.
"And this book says completing the fruit... closes a gate."
"So perhaps... this world misunderstood everything from the beginning." His eyes narrowed slowly.
He now had almost a general picture of the whole matter and understood what was happening.
This tree was the last hope of this world for salvation.
Elisira said nothing. She couldn’t. She had heard from the Divine Prophet, the speaker of the gods, that this tree was the source of disaster.
The source of corruption, the source of the fall. But now, both the book and the corruption creature’s reaction and Daniel’s behavior were all showing another truth.
’This really can’t be, right?’ She had fallen into a great doubt.
Was this book telling the truth, or the Divine Prophet? What was the truth?
She couldn’t understand.
Daniel turned the last pages, and at that moment, his gaze turned cold. Several complete pages had been torn out.
Not rotted or destroyed by time like the first pages, but deliberately torn. Someone hadn’t wanted the complete information to remain.
But part of a sentence was still visible on the edge of the page:
"If the fruit is destroyed before it ripens..."
And the rest was missing.
For the first time since he had started reading the book, Daniel’s face became completely serious, because he felt this sentence was the most important part of the entire book.
But before he had a chance to pay attention to it, right at that moment, something changed in the forest.
The wind stopped. The leaves remained motionless.
Daniel slowly raised his head, and Elisira turned pale at that very moment because of the extremely savage and powerful presence that filled the entire space.
Something was approaching, but this presence was unlike any of the previous ones.
Heavier, more massive, and older. The pressure radiating from a distance even bent the air.
"...So my son’s killer is here." Then a heavy, harsh voice echoed in the sky.