I lean over the expanse of the hollow trunk, straining my eyes to see in the thick darkness within. There are a few holes along the length of the trunk, allowing sunlight to pierce through, yet strangely, the light seems to be swallowed up greedily by the dark, leaving the inside as an empty void. Looking into the abyss feels ominous, as if its looking back, searching for prey to consume. Probably just my imagination going crazy again! why am I so jittery today?

"Hmm" I hum while musing how to properly react to this discovery.

Certainly unexpected. The biggest mystery is how is this tree even alive while it's missing most of it's trunk?!! The only thing holding it together is the thick outer shell of blue bark! How can it even support the weight of it's branches? It makes no sense! This is giving me a headache.

Or, could it be that all trees are hollow like this one and I haven't noticed before? I should check when I'm back in the jungle. I twist around, planning to conclude my investigation of the branches and return to the island, taking that giant green nut with me. Maybe if I dropped it from high up it would crack open? Just thinking about the yummy insides is making my salivate!

Except... a shimmer of ghostly white catches the corner of my eye, appearing from the deepest depths of the hollow tree.

Instantly I swing back, hovering my neck over the edge of the trunk, readjusting my eyes back to the dark.

I can see something now.

The faintest trace of light sitting at the base of the endless black pit. Not sunlight, its too white, maybe it might be a collection of leaves? They do glow in the dark like my feathers. Yes, that must be it, just leaves, nothing else!

A gnawing doubt chews away in the back of my mind, filling me with a fearful curiosity. I have faith in my eyesight, even at a huge distance like this. If it really were leaves, why couldn't I see it before? Something is telling me that whatever that faint whiteness is, its not leaves.

If only I were closer...

Just a little bit won't hurt! I dart my eyes left and right and find a little ledge about 7 meters down, where a tiny ray of sunlight pokes through. There!

I swallow timidly, surprising myself at how dry my mouth is. Golly gosh! My nerves are a wreck! I'm not usually scared of dark places! why now? Just do it! There aren't any monster hiding in the darkness waiting to eat me! That's preposterous! Although, the darkness is making me feel really uneasy...

I flutter down to the ledge using Cinders to land safely and I notice the light of my flames be consumed by the darkness quicker than it was illuminated. But that must just be my imagination! Right?! See?! I'm still alive, completely fine! No monsters lurking in the dark!

I peer back into the depths from my new vantage point. The faint ethereal white below still no more visible than it was before. I guess several or so meters doesn't matter much. With a sigh, I look for another breach in the trunk, which proves to be a little more difficult. The holes are already sparse, even less common the further down they get. But, I find a nice hole in the bark roughly 18 meters down which I quickly flap to.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The temperature plummets unnaturally as I fall deeper, joining the encompassing lack of light in fighting to snuff out my glorious bright glow. My effort to reach the sunlit bastion beneath me grows more frantic with every passing second enveloped in black. My rampant fear picturing shadowy claws like the Misty Death's aimed at my exposed wings and neck, lashing from every direction as the ledge nears.

Maybe I should just burn this whole tree down? That'd put an end to this terrifying trunk!

I let out a breathe I didn't even know I was holding as my talons clutch around the split in the trunk, the several second flight through the dark too scary for my delicate mind. I poke my head out of the trunk to the world outside, just to grab some fresh air and calm myself, which helps immensely. The transition from the hollow trunk to the outside world is like the difference between night and day! Seeing the friendly sun radiating it's gentle heat brings me confidence and assurance, reminding me that the hollow trunk isn't filled with pure evil, just my imagination. I look below, at the tangle of over-sized roots covered in white and relief floods my tense muscles. Nice! I didn't set the whole island on fire! I feel kinda bad for not checking earlier, but I got distracted searching for treasure in the branches! Priorities!

Also! Bartlon is down there! I would feel terrible if I somehow ending up hurting him! That man is a kind-hearted saint, I wouldn't lay a feather on him! Thinking of Bartlon reminds me of his countless wrinkles. Oh gosh, I hope it hasn't been 2 hours yet, I totally forgot about the time limit. I need to finish exploring this trunk right now!

I slowly crane my head back into the world of dark within the tree to see if that sparkle at the bottom has gotten any easier to make out. It takes another few seconds for my eyes to adapt to the absence of light.

Yep. The white thing down there definitely isn't a pile of leaves, my hunch was correct! But what is it? A super leaf? I can only tell that its white, smooth and probably very big. I think I can also see more traces of white scattered in the pit of the trunk. I'm just too far away to know for sure! I need to get just a little bit closer, then I can fly back to the boat and wait for Bartlon with my curiosity satisfied.

The white thingy might even be treasure! A giant pillow perhaps?! I doubt anyone else has been able to make it inside the trunk before, I'd be the first to find it! The pillow will be mine!

I scout out another ledge to glide to, but the pickings are slim. There are only 3 safe-looking ledges to land on, the lowest being about 35 meters down with only the faintest wisp of natural light filtering through. Urgency and greed coax me into choosing this ledge to aim for. I don't want to spend precious minutes slowly hopping from perch to perch, that would take forever!

I dive from my current hole in the trunk, trucking my wings to my side to cut through the air with as much speed as possible, the cold air whipping over my face and body, sending shivers down my spine. Why is it so cold in here? I'm going to turn into a Popsicle! Several silent seconds tick by timelessly as I dive through the black void, my attention solely focused on the rapidly nearing wisp of sunlight.

Here we go!

I spread out my wings wide and flap heartily with Cinders in quick succession to stop my high-speed descent, relishing in the warmth of my fire pushing back at the cold. As my talons latch onto the tiny ledge, the darkness and cold air mercilessly rushes around me, cold-heatedly stealing my brief second of comfort in an instant. Such a bully! Grrrrrrrr. Maybe I really should burn this tree down? Or, just a little bit at least? I'm seriously considering this as payback for making me scared!

I push aside my destructive thoughts, thinking of a giant pillows to help keep me calm and happy and refocusing on the main task at hand, identifying the big mysterious white object which has gotten close enough to see clearly.

Or maybe its not a pillow?

What is it though?!

I kinda recognize it?

I've seen something similar to that before, but I can't quite place it.

"hmmmmmmmmmmmmm" I hum angrily while I try to identify the not-so-mysterious thing with my burning gaze.

How frustrating! I just know I've seen this thing before! Its oval shaped, with a pair of holes either side on top and a smaller pair of holes at the end of a protrusion in the front. At the bottom of the protrusion is a row of zig-zagging sharp points of different lengths, mirrored by a similar C-shaped row of zig-zags under it. Its large and intimidating, something I've never seen before, yet so similar to something I have seen before! So Infuriating that I can't put a feather on it. Its on the tip of my beak! I'm going to go crazy if I can't figure it out!

A minute passes with my irritated humming echoing up the length of the trunk.

+ 1 Intelligence

Ahh, that's it.

Almost exactly the same as the Rattling Worm's, only this one is humongous and has more teeth.

Its a skull.