"Why not? In what way I can help Graven?" Elva asked.

"Teach me how to make an effective elixir out of the Oakenblossom Tree! This is the only way Terros can help his friend Graven and his men cut their ties with the cursed King," Veronica said. ​​

"Okay, no problem. You need two more ingredients for that. You wait here and I'll get them for you," Elva said. She rose to her feet about to leave.

"Wait... can you please take me with you? I want to see the thousand-year-old tree with my own eyes? Please?" she begged.

"Sure!" Elva replied. "Give me your hand and close your eyes! I'll take you to the Oakenblossom Tree," she said.

Veronica does as she was told. She closed her eyes and extended her hand to the deity.

Elva holds Veronica's hands and began chanting the spell that would take her to the cave where the thousand-year-old tree was hidden from the rest of the world.

Veronica was trying to hear and remember the deity's chanting, too bad she can't understand the language that Elva was using. It's all foreign words to her ears and the deity was chanting too fast!

She feels the wind caressing her skin for a few minutes and suddenly the atmosphere turned a bit cold. Where are they?

"We finally arrived in the cave!" Elva announced. "You may open your eyes now!"

Veronica opened her eyes right away.

WOW!

She was blown away by the view that greeted her eyes.

In front of her were beautiful flowers and plants of rare varieties, they're breathtaking to behold! Their branches and leaves were moving! As if they're alive!

They don't have feet, but they can move, sway and extend their branches, leaves, and trunks!

Fantastic! Such a mind-blowing phenomenon!

She heard chirping sounds similar to that of the birds. She tried to find them, but she can't see any bird inside the chamber.

She looked at the deity. "Did I hear birds chirping? But I can't see any?" she asked.

Elva smiled. "That's not the birds making chirping sounds. They are the flowers and plants talking to each other," she corrected her.

"Oh, I see... the flowers and plants can communicate with each other? Amazing!" Veronica gushes.

"Let's go to the next chamber where the Oakenblossom Tree was located. Follow me!" Elva said.

Veronica followed her deity friend to the next chamber.

What she saw there makes her eyes ten times bigger.

OMG!

Inside the chamber... was even more magical!

She saw about ten young trees jumping up and down using their roots in every corner and some of them are climbing the biggest tree of them all.

In the center was the most beautiful and biggest that tree she had ever seen in her entire life.

"Wowww! The flowers are shimmering in gold and purple, such a striking combination, and the leaves are dark green and shiny! Is this a golden tree?" Veronica asked.

"No. It's the Oakenblossom Tree, the thousand-year-old tree," Elva replied.

"I see... it's beautiful!" Veronica raved. "And looked at the young trees...they are so cute!"

Elva smiled. "Indeed!"

Veronica's brows knitted together. "But why they seem not surprised that we're watching them?" she asked in puzzlement.

"They're used to seeing my presence here because I am their guardian. Right now, in their eyes you are not a stranger because I transformed yourself into my image so that the inhabitants of this cave won't get alarmed seeing a stranger in their midst," Elva explained.

"I see... now I finally understood why," Veronica murmured.

"These are the only ones that existed in this world. This is a secret place that no one knows except me... and now you know," Elva said, looking intensely at her companion, wondering if she can be trusted with this thousand-year-old secret she kept to herself.

Veronica saw the goddess's burning look directed at her. "Elva, is there something wrong?" she inquired.

Elva smiled and shook her head. "Nothing..."

Veronica looked at the tree. "So... can we gather the roots now for the elixir?" she asked.

"Yeah...sure! Go ahead!" Elva replied.

"Are you sure the tree won't kick me out if I start cutting her roots? She might get hurt?" Veronica asked, getting worried that she might upset or hurt the thousand-year-old tree. She looks at the branches and leaves of the Oakenblossom Tree swaying and moving even with the absence of any wind.

"Ah, just stay here, I'll get the roots for you," Elva said and walked towards the tree. She lowered herself on the ground and picked up the roots that were sticking up on the surface of the ground. Then she gently removed them one by one. She already had a handful and transferred them into Veronica's hands. "Are these enough? Or do you still want more?"

"I think it's enough for now," Veronica replied. "How about the two ingredients?" she asked.

"Let's go to the next chamber, the two ingredients can be found there," Elva responded.

Veronica just remembered something. "Hmm... can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"You told me before that you grow up alone and a tree raised you. C-could it be that this thousand-year-old tree was the one who raised you?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah...this is the tree indeed," Elva admitted. "Thousand years ago, there was this middle-aged woman who found a strange seed in the middle of the forest. She buried the seed in the ground and it grew into a young tree. She visited the tree and talked to it every time she comes into the forest to gather some firewood. She was the one who told me about my origin.

She told me that she found a baby in the trunk of that tree in one of her visits. The tree was at the same height as her during that time, then it grows bigger and bigger with each passing day.

The woman tries to get the baby away from the tree to bring it home but every time she attempted to get the baby from the tree an invisible barrier pushed her away, it's not hurting her though, just gently pushing her away. The woman was worried because the baby might die without receiving adequate nutrition. Every day she will go to the forest and try to find a way to get the baby, but she failed each time.

The baby becomes a toddler, a child, a teen, and then becomes the woman that I am now. I am the baby left by my unknown parents under the care of the magical tree. I become closer to the woman and I was finally able to leave the tree from time to time but I always come back to it because it's my home ever since."

Elva paused for a few seconds.

"Do you want to know where I live inside the tree? Do you want to see my home?" Elva asked her companion.

"Yes, please! Take me to that place, I wanna see it!" Veronica responded in glee.

"Alright, just fixed your eyes on the trunk of the tree. Don't blink or close your eyes," Elva ordered.

"Ok, got it!" Veronica replied and glued her eyes on the trunk of the tree.

Elva waved her hand and voila! A wooden door appeared on the trunk of the tree!

"OMG! A door appeared from nowhere!" Veronica exclaimed.

"Follow me inside!" Elva told her.

Veronica does what she's told and followed the deity inside her former home.

Elva pushed opened the door and they stepped inside.

Nothing much to see inside except a wooden floor, wall, and ceiling inside a wooden room. It's just an empty room, no furniture of any kind.

"Is this the place where you sleep? You sleep on the floor?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah. I grow up here raised and sheltered by the magical tree. I also discovered that I have innate powers in me. I suspected that my parents were some kind of witch, mage, or someone powerful entity, and I inherited my power from them. I longed to know who my parents are. Until now my origin is still one big mystery to me. I have no recollection of my parents because they abandoned me in front of the tree when I'm still a baby..." Elva said sadly.

"Sorry to hear that..." Veronica said. The goddess doesn't talk much about her origin but now she confessed everything to her, and she felt deeply honored by the trust she bestowed on her.

Elva waved her hand in the corner and a wooden bed suddenly materialized out of nowhere.

"Wow! There's a bed!" Veronica said and walked towards the bed.

The women went to the bed and sat on the edge.

"This is a lonely place to grow up all alone by yourself," Veronica commented.

Elva shook her head. "Not really... way back... I'm not craving companionship since I grow alone. I thought it was normal to grow alone without siblings or friends. The woman is the only one whom I was able to talk to, when she died in the forest, I buried her beside the tree and cried for so many days.

Then the village people came into the forest and starts burning everything, they thought that the woman was kidnapped by a bad fairy or a witch. The next time I opened my eyes, the tree and I are were already inside this cave inhabited by exotic plants and flowers. This cave proves to be a much safer place for me and the tree than in the middle of the forest. This magical cave became our home through the centuries..." she narrated.

Then suddenly, Veronica started yawning. "Dang! Why I'm feeling so sleepy right now?" she asked in bewilderment.

"If you feel sleepy you can lay down on the bed and rest for a while, I'll wait until you wake up," Elva suggested.

"Alright," Veronica replied. She settled herself comfortably on the wooden bed and closed her eyes.

A few minutes later, Veronica had fallen asleep on the bed.

Elva stared at the sleeping woman.

She looked at her right hand, out of nowhere, a sharp knife appeared in her palm.