As I sing, the little precious acorn starts sprouting. I continue singing and the little sprout grows…and grows…and grows. After a few minutes, the sprout is a sapling…then a small tree…then it is almost big enough to start climbing.

I sing for almost twenty minutes…sending up huge magic flares. I am surprised that none of the baddies have shown up, yet. Then I realize that, somehow, Mori is dampening the magical ‘flares’. I take a intermittent sips of water to cool my burning throat and continue singing…and singing…and singing…

Then, the tree is big enough to get into; Miri and Mori get in it and ride it upward as it continues to grow. Suddenly, Mori drops the flare dampening ward and strengthens the protective ward around me…and I make the mistake of looking up at the horizon…

A pack of the ugliest looking ‘wolves’ I have ever seen is fast approaching. Well, now I know what werewolves look like. I hope Mori can keep me protected… I stand my ground and continue singing…

The wolves come straight at me…and run into Mori’s protective ward surrounding me. They fight it for several minutes and then give up and turn towards the tree. It is now about half the size of the Tree of Life…

I look around again, never faltering with my singing—in spite of being on the verge of losing my voice—and see a band of vampires coming. So much for them being loners… That must mean that Drakyre himself is controlling them…

Then…I see the zombies…hundreds of them…coming in a huge wave… The only saving grace is that they are slow…

The tree is now almost as big as the Tree of Life. Mori is high up in the top-most branches. Miri is lower—shooting arrow after arrow—killing wolf after vampire after wolf…

Then the first zombies arrive. Miri keeps shooting—she has to be coming close to running out of arrows—even though we had prepared hundreds with dragon’s blood… There is a huge pile of dead wolves, vampires, and zombies at the base of the tree. Baddies are starting to both climb the tree and the pile of bodies…getting closer and closer to Miri—like blocks piling up in a Tetris game.

Then the tree stops growing up…and starts growing out; it has reached full maturity…

Mori drops my defensive ward and places an iron-clad defensive ward on Miri as I quit singing. I put up my own wards as Mori starts chanting… She has a pitch black aura developing on one half of her—almost like it is sucking up all of the light. She has a bright light surrounding the other half of her—almost like she is the sun itself…

The black aura descends on the Elven side of the tree. The light aura surrounds the Outer Realm side of the tree. Mori pours the remainder of the dragon’s blood onto the tree and it flows down the trunk…consuming the baddies on the light side…melting them and melding them into the tree itself…

There is a huge BANG and the tree stands there…strangely misshapen… Mori and Miri are still in the branches—there are no baddies to be seen. They were all consumed by the tree…

Mori and Miri climb down and Miri pushes me fully into the Elven Realm—followed closely by Miri.

I look at Mori and ask in a very hoarse voice, “What just happened? Where did all of Drakyre’s…minions go? What happened to my beautiful tree…it is…UGLY now… And, I didn’t think you would come into the Elven Realm…”

Mori is pale and shaking. She does not say a word until she has had a hand full of moon fruit. She gives me a couple of pieces, as well, and my voice is almost immediately restored. She washes down the dried fruit with some wine from a pouch and slumps against a tree.

After several minutes, she says, “I have created an abomination with your help. The tree that stands on the border of both Realms is like me now—a creature of equal Dark and Light. It can only survive on the border of both Realms…and feeds off of Dark energy from the ground and Light from above… By melding the Dark creatures into it as it finished maturing, I set its feeding pattern. Its roots run deep and strong, thanks to your miraculous singing, and reach deep down to the poisonous flow streaming below it. It will drink deeply of that flow and thrive…stemming the flow into the Elven Realm…and allowing the Tree of Life to recuperate.”

She takes another dried moon fruit and soaks it in wine. She continues, “I have nothing against coming to the Elven Realm… It is half mine—just the same as it is for you. We took the long journey we did to prepare you for what was…and IS…to come. You needed exposure to Darklings…to learn to sense them…to learn how to fight them. Did you practice sensing them while I had you protected?”

I roll my eyes and say, “Well, it is not like I wasn’t busy trying to grow a tree… But, yes, I could sense the shadow-aura. Similar to yours…but different.”

Mori nods and says, “Very good. Remember that… Now come, we have a several hour walk to get back to the Tree of Life. Your Mother will be waiting there for us…”

“Mother!” I run into her arms and hug her. I am still not completely used to being a girl, but these touchy-feely freedoms—the ability to engage in (and the social acceptance of) public displays of affection—feel really good.

Mother hugs me back and smiles at me…then at Mori and Miri. She says, “You have all done well! VERY well! The Tree is already reviving… It will take several weeks to fully recuperate, but it will make a full recovery—if it is not disturbed again.”

Mori says, “Not even Drakyre can destroy the Protective Tree. It is itself protected by divided magic, like my own… Drakyre cannot overcome that kind of magic since he only has Dark powers at his disposal. It takes blended Dark AND Light powers to overpower that kind of magic.”

Mother nods and says, “Good! Very good! We must rest… Tomorrow is a busy day. I must prepare you to take over the Queendom, Nelle. I have to go be with your Father to start mending relations from the Human side… You will do the same from here…as Queen… It is time for me to step down.”

Everything goes dark as I fall to the ground—exhausted…and totally shocked out of my mind…