The banyan tree had no known beginning.
No one could say how many years it had been growing here—perhaps centuries. Its body was grotesquely swollen and vast, towering upward as though it could pierce the sky itself.
By the dim orange glow of the candle, looking up was futile. The hollow interior of the tree seemed endless, its top swallowed by darkness. Only the faintest trace of daylight filtered down from far above, barely visible through the canopy.
That such a tree could reach this scale was almost certainly connected to the "energy" buried beneath the ground.
Albert thought that long before the giant serpent ever arrived, this banyan had already taken root in the rainforest. Whatever radiation or influence that subterranean force exerted, the tree must have absorbed it more deeply than anything else.
He withdrew his gaze and refocused on the "steps" beneath his feet.
