Chapter 34: Since the Day a Tree Took Root
In the pages of the Codex, a new chapter etched itself into existence. The title wrote itself across the fine pages, its ink seeping deep. Its name was simply:
The Day a Tree Took Root.
It's said that since the day the tree took root, the world has only known misfortune. Legend has it that on that day so long ago, a stump of a tree appeared on the lands of the giants.back in those times, before Stello and Stella ever had a chance to erect what is now known as the True Lands of the Giants. They once lived on a single large continent known as Brooks Caven, the home of the large.
It is said that over 90% of the giants' species was wiped out when the tree mysteriously took root. A devastating, sad day for the giants.
But that was only the beginning of a curse that spread over countless years.
Yet this tale starts years after that unfortunate day when the giants almost lost it all.
This tale is about the eradication of the royal family.
All kingdoms, great and small, are led by some degree of control. There is always a higher hierarchy. This is simply fact.and the giants were no exception.
The custom that the giants chose was a royal lineage, led by a founder giant who was said to have been the strongest the world had ever known. His name has been lost with time, but it was said that only he and his bloodline had the might needed to rule. And rule they did... until that day.
In the Year of the Passing, a ritual was held to elect the new king. Good was to be chosen. Ideally, this would have gone smoothly,if it hadn't all gone so horribly wrong.
"Mother, I want to be a fair king."
"And that you will be, my son," his mother said.
"Mother, I want to be a kind king."
"And that you shall be, my lovely boy," she said.
"And Mother… I want to be a strong king."
"And that you are, my strong, brave son."
Good's eyes glinted with youth as his mother read him a tale from his favorite book of fairy tales.
Good always wanted to be the brave knights and wise kings his mom had read to him about. And it was apparent to him every day,not just in books. All he needed to do was look at his father, Maximus, to see what a great king was.
Maximus was the name passed down to every firstborn heir of the king and would be carried as the name of the king.
The royal family didn't have names at birth. This was intentional, for on the 18th birthday of the heir, they would choose their own name.
"Mother, what happened to our lands? Father told me it's my job as king to protect the lands below with all my might, to ensure that what happened to Brooks Caven never happens again. But what happened that makes even Father so afraid?"
His mother smiled,a sad smile. One a mother gives to mask any pain or evil this world may hold.
"We've had many misfortunes we couldn't have predicted. And for that, we almost lost it all. Even now, we don't know what led to such events. But fear not, my child,you will be stronger than us all when you need to be."
Then she smiled,a genuine one,and tickled her little one. The sweet laughs of one not yet burned by this world.
In the main chamber, Eva and Maximus Noble lay together.
"He asked about it again tonight. He is very inquisitive, that rascal," she said, that same sad smile forming.
Noble paid little attention to her this evening. He had a lot on his mind again.
"It happened again, didn't it?" Eva asked, placing her soft hand on his rough, golden beard and tilting his head to face her.
The ash sickness, as it was called,since the day the tree took root, a white ash had flooded the land. At the time, Eva and the King had no way of knowing what it truly was. They'd mixed up and pieced together the information wrong. But it was believed the ash had caused the misfortunes now plaguing the land.
"Another has gone mad, Eva. He was found hung in the town square… like the rest. He muttered some ridiculous tale of despair and purpose, how he was too weak to carry out the vision. And then,like the rest,he killed himself.
Eva… what has our world come to? What is this terrible fate that's taken hold of my people? We've already lost over 90% of our kind, and now this sickness will take more…"
His rough voice cracked, ever so slightly.
Eva smiled. Her golden hair shimmered. Her freckles popped. And Noble was at peace. She was beautiful.
"We are in our darkest years, Noble. But we will pull through. We always have."
He smiled.
"And we always will," he finished.
The Sky Island was erected five years after this day.
The effects of the ash bringing the sickness were now being questioned, as it also brought with it… special abilities. In those years, the ash sickness continued to claim the lives of many. So it was deemed necessary to erect a castle far in the clouds that would protect the royal family.
They had to live,but not down here, where plague ran rampant.
It was made so that only with the Ring could any of the royals come down from the castle freely.
This… would be the greatest mistake ever made.
This part of the tale is unknown,even by the giants,of what happened in the Sky Island in those next ten years.
Year One: The Erection of the Domains
In the first year, the giants managed to build most of the zones in the Sky Island. The giants worked hard and fast, and before long, everything was in working order.
The land was beautiful. If I had to describe it, I'd simply say,it was Heaven.
The air? Light, clean, filled with the scent of rain,that pleasant smell just before a storm. It was never cold or hot,always the perfect temperature.
The clouds below were golden-white and soft, woven like silk or wool. Every step released glowing pollen that shimmered gently.
Great towers rose,spiral structures of ivory quartz carved with runes that pulsed like breath. These towers hadn't been built… they had bloomed. They looked alive, like the bones of the sky itself.
Lightning didn't strike. It danced.
Thunder didn't boom. It sang.
Temples of cloud-crystal and diamond glass stretched toward the sun, shining bright on the horizon.
The giants went all out to make this land a paradise.
A healing spa suspended in the clouds,tranquil basins of glowing blue water and singing steam. Every so often, fountains of golden mist would burst upward, warm and gentle.
Just one of the many wonderful domains.
The Celestial Cloud Crown-the floating land of the one and only Noble King.
Year Two: The Erection of the Crown
The King's crown, a huge sacred relic used in the Passing, was finally erected again. It burned bright, surrounded by a deadly barrier. As long as it burned, the King was alive.
High above floated the Divine Ring-
A crown of glowing firelight suspended like a perfect halo. It shimmered with energy, but it did not destroy.
It healed.
Those who entered its glow were lifted. Their burdens, erased.
Only those with unclouded hearts could pass.
Even a dove flew near. It passed through,and its dirty feathers came out clean.
Year Three: When All Went Wrong
The King locked himself in the library chambers. It was believed he did so to find the cause of the ash sickness. His life's goal, after all.
Days became weeks. Weeks, months. Then, a year later, the doors opened.
But what had gone in… was not what came out.
His eyes, once brown and bright, were now dark and lifeless.
This could not be the same king.
His tone changed. Once rough and wise, it became cold, empty.
King Noble had caught the ash sickness.
Year Four: The Plunge Into Insanity
"Look at me, Noble! This is not you! What are you doing?"
They were dead. All of them. The knights that once protected the King,slain.
By Noble's own hands.
He didn't bat an eye.
He walked from the castle and stood on the clouds. With each step, blackness followed. A plague.
He stood on the edge of the dome and muttered the same words as the rest:
"I am not worthy to fulfill the vision."
Then he plunged into the dome.
Eva screamed. Her pain echoed through the land.
As Noble burst into flames, a black soot shot out and tainted the skies.
The white lands were overcome by shadows.
For years it worsened. Eva's tears ran dry. Her only hope laid in her child.
Still, day by day, one more would fall to the ash sickness.
Until, on his 17th birthday, Maximus watched his mother take her own life.
She, too, said she was unfit to fulfill the vision.
Despair in a cage,he could not leave. Only the King could open the gates. And he was no king.
Day after day, he watched… until he was all that was left.
The End of a Reign…?
The sickness had taken everything. The Sky Island had fallen.
He finally saw it: the ash sickness,just a white bulb of fog.
It approached.
He made his peace.
It entered his soul.
His body shook violently as he fell.
Was the reign of the kings over?
No. Not yet.
The land died. Everything once built turned black and corrupted.
As if in final defiance, the land rejected him. He fell through the skies.
It's said that the people of Brooks Caven watched a giant fall from the sky… into a volcano.
He burned. He screamed.
The clock struck twelve,his birthday.
As the ash consumed him, he remembered:
"Mother, I want to be a fair king."
"And that you will be, my son."
"Mother, I want to be a kind king."
"And that you shall be, my lovely boy."
"Mother… I want to be a strong king."
"And that you are, my strong, brave son."
"But mostly… Mother, I want to be a good king."
"In all my years… I've never seen anyone, not one, as good as you, my sweet, sweet boy."
As he sank, he screamed for the world to hear the name he'd chosen:
Maximus Good.
The story is hazy. But they say, for a hundred years, he could be heard screaming in agony.
Folk say only God could punish like that. And that Good deserved it.
Until one day… he walked.
No,he clawed. Crawled out of the volcano.
Skin charred.
"I am worthy to fulfill the vision."
They say, in those hundred years, Good felt the despair of a billion.
That all his morals were stripped and burned.
That the fair, kind, strong King was dead,replaced.
Made into the perfect vessel for the vision.
The crown flickered to life,not bright, not pure. Dark. Dying.
It's said that when the crown atop the Skylands dies, the royal line ends.
But the day he crawled out...It sparked to life once more.