Tree of Life Book III

Part III - Chapter 02

TREE OF LIFE BOOK III – PART III

CHAPTER 02

It was a man. It was a tree. It was both.

And he was huge. His head alone was wider across than standing three elephants side to side.

Nicole took a step forward.

The giant tree-man didn't react. He remained where he was, submerged to his chest in the lava pit, with the shifting, boiling liquid lapping up against his bark for skin and brushing it with its fire. In places, on his chest, on his arms, the figure flamed up because of it and they burned a while, but it didn't seem to eat him up any, for though he glowed all over like embers in a fireplace, the flames did not singe him nor consume him, like they would have to any other tree or branch until it had withered away and turned to ash.

His head was lowered. Vines for hair veiled his face. You could not see into his eyes. Both of his arms had been chained back into the wall behind him with manacles and these were of a black, obsidian material, likely the same stuff of Dior and the floor and that was why it had not melted away into nothing long before now.

Nicole edged in closer. She squinted her eyes into the figure.

There was something about that face. It was…"Julian!"

She spun around to Ella. "It's Julian!"

Ella swallowed. She nodded at her.

She faced Julian again. "Julian! It's me!" Nicole braved the heat. She reached her hand out to him, toward the middle of the pit some forty feet away. The lava was hot beneath her arm, just beyond the lip. Her skin heated up and became inflamed.

Julian made no sound. His head remained bowed before them.

Nicole turned to Ella. "Help me! How do I wake him?"

Ella shook her head. "I don't know. I had thought…" She bit her lip. "…I had thought that once he knew you were here, my mother's hold on him would break and he would…"

Nicole spun back around. "Julian, wake up! They have Wendy. They have our daughter! We must save her!"

Footsteps in the distance.

From the hall. Beyond the exit.

Ella seized Nicole. She yanked her away and they vanished out of sight, slipping back into the crack in the wall from which they had come. They turned the first corner and stopped. They hugged the wall there and did their best to melt into it, making no sound at all even with all their hurried breathing. They stood still and listened.

~~~

Nicole bent her ear to it.

A single set of footfalls. Whoever it was, the person had come alone.

It was the Queen. "Joseph." She continued to walk. She must be stepping around to face him. "It has been some time since I last came. Did you miss me?"

No answer. Only the quiet in the room and the bubbling in the cauldron.

"I've come to bring news—I no longer need you!" She laughed a little. "At first I thought I would have no choice but to use you after all. Indeed, the only thing that'd been holding me back was that even if I had sacrificed you completely, you would not have been enough and it would not have sufficed. But now, I have found another way."

Her voice softened. "I have found your daughter."

Nicole dropped to her hands and knees. She crawled back toward the opening into the room, a few inches at a time, until she was just able to see out into it. She stayed down on her stomach and kept still.