Chapter 193: The Black Tree
Annalise opened her eyes when she felt something or someone poking her cheek. She was expecting to be blinded by the morning sunlight, instead, she found herself staring at the ceiling visible to her enhanced eyesight even though there was not even a single lantern lighting up the area that looked so unfamiliar to her even though she knew that she was still inside the castle.
She moved to a sitting position, as her body and mind realized that something was not right with her situation, before standing up completely and looking around her to see exactly what was going on.
She could feel that there was a weird sort of lightness in her body but she also knew that her current situation was not a mere dream. There was undoubtedly something weird going on.
She tried to link to her husbands through the soulmate bonds that they shared but realized immediately that she couldn’t reach even one of the dark lords. The realization only made her more anxious as she tried to remain calm and think through the situation.
It was right then that she felt the familiar pull that was calling her in a particular direction. Before she could have got a proper grasp on the unexpected situation, she was already heading in that direction.
Her feet moved across the hard floor and brought her to huge wooden double doors that were covered in vines from top to bottom as the vines spread all across the walls and the ceiling. Her hands moved to push the doors open and she found herself stepping into a huge room that was completely empty except for a tree that was standing in the very center of the room.
Her gaze was fixed on the tree as she stepped further inside the room. The tree was huge, to begin with. With a massive trunk of the color of charcoal, the branches were spread across a large area, and big black leaves were covering the branches with the faintest touch of gold in them.
She recognized the powerful energy surrounding the tree, it was the same one that had been calling her all this while. She stepped, even more, closer to the tree as it was almost impossible for her to stop herself at that point, not like she was doing any better initially.
What really surprised her was the fact that despite the peculiarity of the situation she was suddenly pulled into, there were no warning bells ringing in her head, no inner voice was telling her to stay away from the weird but extremely alluring tree, and not even her instincts were warning her against the mystery of the situation.
She came to stand right in front of the tree. Her eyes took in every single detail of the tree and she felt her hands itching to touch it but she hesitated to actually touch it, but then she again felt the strong urge to touch the tree and this time, she did exactly that.