Ellen moved closer to the tree and placed her hand on it. She immersed herself within her soul together with the dying tree’s soul and proceeded to pour the appropriate amount of her life force from her soul into the tree’s soul. This was one of her unique ability to give a part of her life force to another. 

In correspondence to Ellen’s soul, in Ellen’s sub-consciousness, the Tree’s soul began to warp around her which caused Ellen slightly panic. The receiving soul normally would simply receive the life force without reacting to it. With the feeling of unease engulfing Ellen, she could not retaliate as the tree’s soul kept on warping her. Her heart beats faster and faster until a moment later the tree began emitting a radiant light.

Ellen immediately realized that the tree before her was not a normal tree. It was an ancient tree with sentience! Due to its weak constitution, it has been asleep for a long time, waiting for its life to run out. Now, that it had received Ellen’s life force, the tree once again woke up from its long slumber. 

Without any warning, the tree’s memories flowed into Ellen’s mind, all the time that the tree had spent guarding the family’s household and all the events that transpired within it that the tree recorded in its memories. Ellen felt nothing but shock at the truths that had been revealed to her (which will slowly be revealed later in the story along the timeline).

Once all the memories had flowed into her, the tree finally set Ellen free from its grasp and Ellen regained her consciousness in the real world. Upon opening her eyes, she could see Vier holding her with a hidden worried look.

“Lady Ellen, you have finally come to your senses,” Vier sighed.

“…” Ellen could only looked at him in silence. She could not form any words after what happened.

“You suddenly collapsed, did you give too much life force?” Vier asked. Ellen shook her head. Vier sighed again as if relieved.

“The tree…,” Ellen finally said as she stared at the tree before her. The tree looked majestic. Though its wood were still black due to old age, it now bloomed with pink flowers showering the area as the wind blew off its' petals.

“It’s beautiful…,” said Ellen, her lips curved into a sweet smile.

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“Yes, it is,” said Vier, who also formed a smile as he stared at his old friend. Ellen and Vier sat at the terrace near the tree enjoying the view as the tree slowly began to die out exhausting the last of its life. By twilight, the tree fell its last petal which landed on Ellen’s small hand. With a smile, Ellen closed her eyes and kissed the petal in her hands.

“Farewell,” said Ellen.

“Thank you, Lady Ellen. I was able to see my old friend gleamed with life again,” said Vier still staring at the now lifeless tree.

“I will escort you to your chambers now. You must have felt exhausted for what you did. It would be best if you do not collapse again after overexerting yourself,” said Vier. Ellen shook her head.

“I did not overexert myself, Lord Vier. Normally, I wouldn’t collapse even after I gave quite an amount of life force for my once father, grandfather and great grandfather,” Ellen denied albeit feeling a bit bitter.

“It was for a different reason,” Ellen revealed. She noticed that Vier winced a bit in grimace before he asked.

“A different reason?” 

“Yes. Your old friend was special. It developed its sentience and stored quite a lot of memories of this household. It had tried its best in protecting this precious place,” Ellen replied. Vier was bewildered and could only stare at her in disbelief. Seeing this, Ellen looked at him knowingly with a bright smile. The peaceful atmosphere seemed to turn warmer as Vier returned her smile with his own.

Meanwhile, Shiroki had his punitive investigation team to scout for traces of the attackers in his attempt to rescue Ellen. Eventually, the day of the meeting between the two great powers drew near and nearer.

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Note: in the spirit realm, there are only 6 Diem (months) a cycle (year) with 60 days a Diem divided by the first half and the second half. The six Diems are Riad, Emir, Sen, Taluk, Geas, and Myar.