In a hunt for the enthusiast

As soon as the shard touched the gnarled surface of the tree, a wave of energy rippled outward and sent me stumbling backward. The scream of the Wraithwood rose to a deafening crescendo, a sound so piercing that it felt like it was tearing apart the air itself.

The tree writhed, its blackened bark splitting open to reveal a glowing core pulsing with dark energy. Shadows spilled from the cracks, coalescing into twisted forms that lashed out at us with fury.

"Hold the line!" Lira shouted, raising her sword.

The soldiers formed a protective ring around me, their weapons gleaming faintly in the shard's light. The shadow-forms surged forward, their movements erratic, their screams blending with the forest's cries.

"Keep them back!" Rykard bellowed, swinging his blade in wide arcs.

I threw myself to my feet, the shard's light blazing as it fought against the encroaching darkness. The tree's core pulsed faster, its energy growing unstable. Whatever was contained within, it was desperate to escape.

"Lira!" I shouted. "We have to finish this now!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" she snapped, cutting down one of the shadow-forms.

The shard shook in my palm, its light flashing. The power inside it was dwindling, but I couldn't stop now. If the core of the tree wasn't broken, everything we had fought for would be lost.

I thrust myself closer to the tree, the shard growing hotter in my hand. The shadow-forms hissed and recoiled as I moved past them, the shard's light cutting through them like a blade.

The heart of the tree stood before me, a swirling vortex of darkness and light. Beautiful and terrifying at once, it was a raw manifestation of the power of the Wraithwood.

"Do it!" Lira shouted, holding off a pair of shadow-forms that had slipped past the line.

I raised the shard, the air around me sparking with energy. The core seemed to sense the threat, its pulsing slowing as if bracing itself for impact.

With one final surge of determination, I plunged the shard into the core.

The explosion of light was blinding.

The shadows screamed as they were devoured, their forms dissolving into nothingness. The tree shuddered violently, its branches collapsing in on themselves as the energy within it erupted outward.

I was thrown to the ground, the force of the blast knocking the air from my lungs. For a moment, everything was still, the world reduced to a blinding whiteness.

When the light faded, I opened my eyes to find the tree reduced to a smoldering husk. The oppressive darkness of the Wraithwood had lifted, the whispers silenced.

But something was wrong.

The shard lay in the center of the clearing, its light utterly extinguished. The air around it shimmered with a faint, otherworldly glow.

Lira cautiously approached, her sword still drawn. "Is it over?" she asked, her voice wary.

"I… I think so," I said, though I wasn't sure.

Rykard stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the shard. "What's happening to it?"

Before I could answer, ground beneath the shard started breaking apart, thin tendrils of darkness seeping forth.

"No," Lira whispered.

The tendrils coiled together to rise into the air like a shape—a figure. It was humanoid but obscures its features. Body was made entirely of shifting shadows.

"You have severed the anchor," it said, voice echoing unnaturally. "But you have unleashed the Wraithwood's heart as well."

"What are you?" I demanded, stepping back.

"I am the Wraithwood," the figure said, taking on form. "The power you sought to destroy has merely been set free. And now, it is mine to command."

The soldiers raised their weapons, but the figure laughed, the sound freezing. "You think your blades can harm me? You think your light can banish me? I am beyond your reach."

Lira stepped forward, her expression defiant. "Then we'll find a way to stop you."

The figure tilted its head, as though amused. "You may try. But know this: the Wraithwood is no longer bound to this place. Its roots will spread, its shadows will grow, and it will consume everything in its path."

With that, the figure dissolved into a cloud of darkness, vanishing into the night.

We stood in the clearing, the silence oppressive. Wraithwood around us had ceased to move, yet there was an emptiness to this silence that somehow weighed heavier than that we had unleashed.

"What do we do now?" Rykard asked his voice shaking.

Lira turned her eyes to me, they hard and set. "We locate it," she said, "And we end this once and for all."

I nodded, though my heart felt heavy. The battle was over but the war had just started. And Wraithwood's shadow was longer than we had ever imagined.