Eiden woke up by the sound of the door opening and wondered how morning came this fast. But, when he saw who opened the door, he wanted to shout with joy. Nub flew herself to his opened arms and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Oh Eiden," her voice broke.

"Shh..it's okay," Eiden hugged her tight and kissed her hair. They stayed a little more time in embrace and Nub finally sat back.

"Did Evan let you come here?" Eiden wondered what Evan was thinking.

"Yes, said just a few minutes and told me, you will tell why," Nub also seemed puzzled by Evan's actions.

"Oh, it's because Evan is fighting with dark influence, he can't help it, but he's trying to. Listen, Evan took you to his custody, because another man was thinking to get you to himself," Eiden hurriedly explained. Nub's eyes widened with fear. Eiden took her hands in his.

"Shh..it's okay. Evan won't do anything. You won't be influenced by Evan's dark magic, remember, creature people have more immunity than others," he reassured Nub.

"Eiden, what can we do? I'm scared," Nub leaned against him.

"I'm scared too. Look, I think without Evan's help, we can't easily get out of this. Tell him that you're more immune to dark shadows than him. And remember we met a kind of water people. If we can send them a message, they might be able to help us.

I think an arrow or a dagger with a note attached will work. Tell Evan that you will write a note, and ask him if he can send it, by my name. Alright?" Eiden stopped to take a breath, he was whispering really fast, it was good that Nub got super hearing. Nub nodded.

"Good, since they only answer to Mother, I think I need to sign the note in blood if possible, ask Evan if he can get me to sign that before sending," he added.

"Yes, you didn't see them, did you?" Nub asked.

"No, what do they look like?" Eiden was really curious to know.

"She is so beautiful. I only saw the top part. Her hair was shining bluish-green. She had scales like Clade, along her back, and neck." They heard a knock on the door, a cue for Nub to leave. They hugged again.

“Everything will be alright,” Eiden whispered to her as he took her to the door.

Eiden went back to sleep with some hope, finally lighting up the darkness, like seeing the end of a long dark tunnel.

Eiden was called early in the morning, and he was given breakfast in the cabin. His heart jumped to see another apple, which he carefully bit and found a little note rolled neatly. It was written in Nub's handwriting.

Evan came to escort Eiden, and without asking anything, he opened his palm to reveal a crystal. Other hand, he was wearing a ring with a coiled snake. Evan touched the ring and the snake struck Eiden's finger, drawing the blood, which Eiden smeared into the crystal. Evan then fastened his handcuffs and took him to Uncle.

Eiden watched his mother draw the runic sequence to end the illusion on the magical barrier. The icebergs started to shift, creating a winding passage among them. They sailed through it for hours and Eiden felt like it's never ending. Finally, they encountered a thin white curtain of mist, which was shining in iridescent colors as the sunlight passed through it. When the ship broke through it, Eiden who was sitting on the deck gasped in surprise.

The sight of a lush green island greeted them from afar. The ocean around it was teeming with life as the crystal clear water allowed them to see the forests of algae and a lot of other colorful marine creatures swimming through them. According to Papa's knowledge of the island's geography, they circled the island until they spotted a large river mouth. After they got quite close to the island from that side, Uncle ordered the boats to be anchored.

"Evan, go, prepare the blood," Uncle told Evan.

For a moment, lost in the serenity and the beauty around him, Eiden had forgotten their actual threat. With shackled hands blocking magic, Eiden looked at his mother who was trying to plead with Uncle not to harm people.

"Quite, Cousin. I had been working hard for years to find the magical First tree, this ritual will revive it," Uncle turned to Mother, explaining.

"You know better than me, Enya, what initially made the tree grow. It's the magic of the first elements. What we need to do to revive the tree is to strengthen it with the magic it gave to its children. It won't kill you, perhaps weaken you, but it needs to be done." Uncle lectured Eiden's mother like she was a student.

The guards dragged Papa, Grandfather, and Father to Uncle. It was the first time Eiden saw his father after Uncle Elvin separated them at the beginning of the journey. Both Father and Grandfather looked healthy compared to how they were in the shadow dimension.

He could see Father was very angry and glowering, but he smiled lovingly at Eiden. They had more shackles with more magically concentrated chains, and Eiden guessed Uncle feared that Father might break the blocks.

"At first, I thought of using Hadrian for the ritual. But, now we have someone closer to the first generation. That would be better suited." Uncle ordered both the guards to take Father and Grandfather to the ship and drain their blood.

"I intended to use that for the inner circle," He casually stated that it was something you do every single day. Eiden was beyond horrified.

"Please, Uncle, don't kill them, please," he begged, falling to his knees and clinging to Uncle's robes.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"A few pints of blood doesn't kill a man of your father's size, Eiden. Stop your dramatics and get up," Uncle said sternly, slapping the top of his head. Eiden couldn't get up, he felt the fear weighing him down like his body was made of iron. Evan and the guards returned with securely stored ingredients for the ritual.

"Enya, try to understand I'm not trying to destroy the tree. Don't try any heroics," Uncle said before the guards were ordered to take Mother and Papa to prepare for the ritual.

Eiden was left alone on the deck with Uncle. Esme must be in her quarters and Eiden heard Uncle tell the master to discuss the ritual with Esme. Eiden looked far back into the sea, thinking when would the help arrive, if…yes if Evan sent the message.

"If only the first elements are needed to revive the tree, why does Uncle need me?" Eiden finally asked Uncle, who was reading an old leather-bound tome. He hadn't even reached magical maturity yet, and he was tainted.

"Mother and Papa are pure elementals. And I don't have the power to manipulate the whole spectrum of both elements, because my power is blended," Eiden looked at Uncle questioningly.

"Eiden, that's why I need you. Your power exists in harmony compared to many others, who have mixed lineages, even me. I don't have the manipulation power of water throughout the spectrum as much as you, though I might reach higher in the fire spectrum than you. Since you were a child, the elemental powers were well balanced in you," Uncle explained.

"Are you going to use me like a middleman," Eiden was baffled by this revelation. In his whole life, he thought even though he was versatile, he was less strong compared to pure elemental Nesol.

"That's one way to put the purpose of you in the ritual. But not just that," Uncle stopped the conversation as he stood up, pleased to see Mother and Papa were dressed in pure white, who had just arrived prepared for the ritual.

The guards took Eiden to the magical cleaning for the ritual. He wondered if they showed the same disrespect for his mother, as they were to him now, standing in the middle of the ritual room, nude while he was washed with citrus infused purified warm water. He had more important matters to worry about than the scars, yet, he still glared at the guards who applied fragrant washing cream all over him.

After the injury to his back which damaged his wings, Eiden only let his butler help him with dressing or bathing. He was ashamed of the scars left on his back, where his most precious magical power resided before.

His wing bases were split open diagonally and the wounds were contaminated with dark magic. There were now large two branched fractal scars along his wing bases, making his back abnormally ugly. The scars still contained discoloration from the dark residue, and Eiden hated seeing himself like that.

If his uncle was under the shadow influence what did he want with the First tree? Uncle, at any time, didn't say he wanted to destroy the first tree. Probably he wanted to absorb its power, was that even possible? One thing Eiden knew about his uncle was that he always took advantage of the resources. He was not one to destroy something valuable if he had a use of it. Eiden's silent evaluation ended as the guards dressed him in pure white clean tight shorts and a long white robe and escorted him to the deck.

“Excellent. Now let's go," Uncle took Eiden as his companion for teleporting, only Mother, Papa, master, Esme, and Uncle's most trusted guards accompanied them. Uncle ordered Evan to keep contact with the guards and secure the perimeter.

With Papa leading the way, they started the journey through a narrow path leading to the doorway. Around them was crowded with various magical trees and flowers. Papa said that they loved the diversity of plant and animal life on earth, so they conserved a lot of flowers and trees by planting them on the island. Eiden heard the sadness in Papa's voice, probably remembering his brother or the glorious days in the past.

The narrow path opened to a large glade, where only a light green single species of grass grew as a mat. Eiden recognized parts of the area as an illusion. His mother patiently wrote a long and complex runic sequence that unraveled the illusion to reveal a large slab of stone, intricately carved with the sequence to the doorway and the empty lock chamber

"Open it, Enya,"

Mother's hands shook as she entered the key. This door didn't need any runic circles to be written on as it had all the components carved. The key blended seamlessly with the opening. Runes started to glow, clockwise, one by one, and finally completed the whole rotation. A soft magical breeze began to blow. Eiden recognized the sign that the door was going to open, but he wasn't prepared for a sight like that.

First, it was large. The black doorway opened to the shadow dimension was about the size of an average human vertically and had little more space at either side when it comes to width. But this, right, Papa was taller. But the doorway was about 8 feet tall, and easily fit about 3 average size people side by side. And its colors were different, some were a mixture of light purple or pink, but most of them were unknown to Eiden, just beautiful beyond the words he could describe.

They spent a while marveling at the sight of the doorway. Uncle urged mother to enter, then followed, taking Esme's hand. Eiden had bad experiences with portals so far, taking him for wild rides, zapping his power and BAM, and throwing him to the ground with guaranteed thirty minutes of paralyzed legs. But his reluctance wasn't problem for his guards.

When Eiden entered the portal, he felt a calm floating sensation, colors around him swirled in slow motions, and it was like returning to the embrace of a loved one. Suddenly it ended, Eiden staggered a little, and when he straightened up he saw a city.

From far away, a sleeping city to be precise as it didn't move at all was visible like a magical painting. Everything was dead still, silent enough to hear his own heart.

"Where is the tree?" Uncle questioned Papa.

"This road leads to the city, the tree is in the middle of the city," Papa answered.

Eiden noticed a change in Papa, color had come to his eyes, and he stood tall and straight. Eiden for a while wondered if he would be able to break the shackles. Uncle probably had the same idea, as he didn't waste time when hurrying them along the road.

The road was paved with smooth gray stone, with occasional colorful moss growing among them. Everything around him was highly concentrated with magic.

"Papa, where's people?" Eiden couldn't help but ask.

"Further away from the main city, there's a hilltop. That is designed for long-term hibernation," Papa said.

The road entered the city, but Eiden was currently more concerned with how to escape and didn't notice the beauty around him. The walk to the tree was short, and Eiden was desperate. No help would arrive on time.

They stood in front of the most unusually branched tree that Eiden had ever seen. It was tall and covered a large area. The long and wide-spread boughs were distributed to form a step wise canopy. If it had been healthy, Eiden thought it could look like a king of trees, all majestic and magnificent.

Yet, the small leaves looked withered, and dry brown, also many had fallen, and the branches were shriveled and wrinkled, looking like an old man deprived of food. It didn't seem to belong in the middle of a beautiful magical city surrounded.

Uncle stepped forward, touched the tree, and took his hand away quickly. They were silent, none talked, waiting for Uncle's orders. For the first time, Eiden tried to break the shackles fighting with their resistance. Wrong move. Uncle certainly felt Eiden's struggle and it seemed to wake him up from his trance. He turned to the guards.

"Arrange the mats to start the ritual."