Lonelinessby
bmartuchComment by K3Master: It had barely begun to grow, but already it was the hope of the forest. When it had begun from seed, showing such promise, green and strong, the rest of the wood had held a hope that they almost dared not hold.
For centuries now there had been a slow but steady decline. A decay if you will. The old ones were no longer producing, and the saplings would grow stunted, withered, and died long before they reached maturity. There was a darkness here that they could not explain. A disease and sickness in the water, the air, the soil.
Then he had come, that little seed that started green. That little seed that grew faster, stronger, and healthier than any had for hundreds of seasons. Then, when the first living leaves began to sprout, they did begin to hope. They began to believe. He was to be the beginning of the renewal.
Then one chill morning, a fresh layer of snow on the ground, they woke to a sight that destroyed all hope for good. For there, in the clearing of the Prince of Hope stood a blackened and devastated husk. Leaves strewn, as black as the plant that had spawned them.
As a stiff breeze blew, the wailing of the wood sounded as they understood that all was lost, the symbol of their rebirth had succumbed to the blackness.
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