Tree of Life

Two in One

Monty stumbled backward into Kered. They collapsed to the tunnel floor together. After a long silence, Kered spoke softly. “Have we found it and lost it all at once?”

“I’ve smelled this foul scent before, after father’s murder. You were there. You know what happened, don’t you?” Monty wrestled with a strange nausea. A distant weeping reached his ears. He tensed.

“It’s the girl.” Kered held his brother back. “We should not interfere.”

Monty held his peace as Ebru flowed toward the motionless body of Sergeant Edwards as if it were clearly illuminated beneath a noon day sun. He trembled at the wordless sounds of her grief—sobs mixed with strangled anger. For the first time during their ordeal, he felt grateful for the pitch black.

Finally, she formed her emotions into an incantation of her old world Armenian tongue. “I pray your heart be flooded with light, that you experience the incredible power for those who believe, the same power which has defeated the grave.”

A blinding pulse of light banished the darkness.

Blinking through the brilliance, Monty used the cracks between his fingers to gaze upon the silhouette of the girl. The edges of her form glowed as she shielded him from the epicenter of the star, which appeared to originate from the expired Sergeant. Slowly, Monty rose to his feet.

Kered attempted to hold him back.

Curiosity drove Monty forward. The light seared his eyes, but he couldn’t look away. From over the girl’s shoulder, he watched hairy roots spew from the Sergeant’s mouth. The skin graft covering much of his face radiated with an arterial pattern. His chest swam with liquid fire. The motion of the flames mesmerized Monty until he lost balance and dropped to his knees.

“Amen!” Ebru spoke the word like a gunshot as she raised the hairy mass of roots above her head and whipped them into a single, long strand. “Amen!” Obedient to her commands, the root wound itself into a tight ball in the palm of her hand. It pulsed once and became a miniature glowing tree like the bonsai Monty had seen in the Orient.

Quickly, Ebru lifted the tree to her lips. What had appeared solid one moment, transformed into green, luminescent smoke. With a single breath, the girl inhaled the tree, and the tunnel returned to pitch black. Ebru returned to tears.

Monty, for the first time in his life, felt regret. He had sought forces he didn’t understand. He’d nearly been possessed by the same evil that had claimed his father. All this time, he’d never been qualified to possess the tree. He reached a hand toward the weeping Ebru. “You’re a guardian.”

“You’re a monster.” Ebru snapped.

Monty recoiled. He fumbled for words. “I did what duty required.”

“Don’t talk to me about duty. You don’t even understand your own nature.”

Monty huffed. “And what is that supposed to—”

“Brother, don’t.” Kered put a hand on Monty’s shoulder, then spoke to Ebru. “Leave him out of this. I’m the monster.”

“I was talking to you.” Ebru’s voice took on a sharper intensity. “James could sense it too. He was learning how to channel the tree. He could have become a guardian in time.”

Kered trembled with passion. “He came upon it by accident, not like you and me. We were made to possess it.”

“I’m nothing like you. You’re an abomination!” Ebru collapsed into tears. “And I’m alone.”

Kered raised his fist against the girl, but Monty knocked him back. “We’re not brothers, are we?” Monty lifted Kered to his feet. “When the demon mentioned I had no soul, he was correct, wasn’t he? But how could such a thing be true?”

“It was the only way to protect myself from father’s fate.” Kered sputtered. “In the end, the demon overpowered him and the tree was lost. I had to create you.”

“So I am an abomination.” Monty sagged.

“No. You’re me. I’m you. One person in two vessels.”

Monty scooped Ebru from the tunnel floor. “You can fix this, can’t you?”

“No.” Kered objected. “We’re not broken. I need you.”

Monty thrust Kered against the tunnel wall with his mechanical arm. “I shouldn’t exist. After this night, I no longer wish to. But you’re right as usual, brother. You need me. You need to become me once again.” He turned to Ebru. “Do it quickly.”

“No!” Kered struggled helplessly against Monty’s iron grip.

Ebru approached soundlessly in the pitch black and placed a hand on each man’s shoulder. “Amen.”

The tunnel sparked with a blue electricity. The light coursed through the brothers until only the physical body of Kered McLeavittson remained—once again fused with all the internal strength of Monty Ryman.