Tree of Life

As Ray approached the Burial Grounds, the doors that served as its entrance began to look even larger.

To enter the burial grounds, one would have to open a massive set of metallic black doors, made up of some unknown but extremely hard material. They were at least 50 feet in height, and unlike the doors at the village entrances, were shaped like a rectangle and not an arc.

Taking a deep breath, Ray pushed on the doors, expecting them to give a lot of resistance due to their weight. However, contrary to his expectations, they opened right up at the slightest touch, revealing a massive opening surrounded by a perimeter of massive oak trees, each looking to be thousands of years old. In the center of the burial grounds was a particularly large tree, which reached up hundreds of meters in the air.

Unlike the rest of the forest, which didn't completely block out the sun or moon, letting in the occasional beam of light, the tree in the center served as a covering for the entirety of the burial grounds. This resulted in there being not a single ounce of light coming from any natural source.

Instead, the ground itself, which was covered by a cyan covered grass-like plant, emanated a bright glow of that same color illuminating the entire opening. Along with this, small light-blue specks of matter floated through the air aimlessly, occasionally popping open when they collided, making a chime-like sound.

Unlike a cemetery or normal burial grounds, which had graves to bury bodies in, the tree in the center served as one. When a Noble Sunbringer was brought here, their body would be condensed into a talisman, which would then be hung onto one of the lower-hanging branches of the tree.

Ray walked further into the burial grounds, mystified by these unfamiliar surroundings, for he had never been here before.

"Hello! Is anyone there?" He yelled out loud, turning in every direction to try and spot his grandfather, who he had been told would be waiting for him.

"Do not fret, young one." Resounded a deep female voice in a soothing tone. As soon as this voice spoke, the ground shook, as if it were resonating along with it.

"Who's there?" Called out Ray in an alarmed voice, having no knowledge of who the voice had come from.

"You will know if you follow my voice." Said the voice, which came from the direction of the massive tree.

With uneasiness in his step, Ray gradually approached the tree, which had hundreds, if not thousands, of talisman hanging from its branches.

As soon as Ray got close enough to the tree, a shimmering green light began to glow in the tree's side. The light was not bright enough to cause discomfort, so Ray looked onwards, his eyes beginning to widen as he saw a figure emerge from inside of the tree.

He felt an intense heat begin to come from the sword at his side as a tall female figure with chocolate brown skin and long, vine-like dark green hair appeared before him. Her oak-colored eyes had a mischievous gleam to them, and Ray began to feel a pressure being emanated not just by her, but by the entire burial grounds.

Ray readied his sword and began to take deep breaths while watching the figure before him carefully, not knowing what she would do.

However, he yelped in surprise when he felt the cold sensation of a vine wrap around his ankle, pulling him to the ground. He quickly slashed at it with his sword, which was now so hot that he almost couldn't bear the heat, but found that the blade merely bounced off of the vine, doing no damage whatsoever.

As Ray struggled to escape from the vines' iron grip, he heard the footsteps of the female figure approaching him. He looked up to see her bringing her outstretched hand towards his head, and could only watch in horror as she placed it upon him. As soon as she did so, Ray felt a surge of energy throughout his entire body, as well as a new form of energy circulating throughout his bloodstream.

In all Sunbringers chests, next to their hearts, is a core that allows them to cultivate light energy, also known as the light core. However, some Sunbringers can cultivate with other forms of energy, meaning they would have more than one core.

At this moment, unbeknownst to Ray, another core formed near his heart, right next to his light core. However, this new core was dormant, not to be awakened until the time was right.

After a minute or two, Ray felt the surge of energy subside as the figure removed her hand from his head. He felt a new sensation in his body, however, as if his already great aptitude with energy circulation had been greatly increased. In addition to this, he had a feeling of relaxation, similar as to when he had taken the green pill, but to an even greater degree. He looked to his hands in astonishment before directing his attention back to the female figure with uneasiness in his eyes.

"He really does want to go down, and I permit him to do so." Said the female figure loudly, most likely directed towards someone out of sight.

"You don't have to be so defensive, Ray." Said a familiar voice coming from beyond the tree.

A tall, elderly male figure of 6"6 in height with somewhat long white hair and a full white beard emerged from behind the tree. (Think Drayden from Pokemon) They had sapphire blue eyes, just like those of Ray and his mother, and below those eyes were three horizontal yellow slits.

It was Ray's grandfather, a man also known as the grand chief of the Sunbringers, Orion.

"Ray, this is Yggdrasil. She's the one who just proctored your trial a few moments ago." Began Orion in a tone full of seriousness. "Yggdrasil is the queen of a specific race of Dryads, or tree spirits, that have served as companions to Sunbringers for longer than even I have been alive."

"Why did I not know about this before? And why did I have to fight here?" Asked Ray in an interrogative tone.

"She needed to do multiple things that can only be done during battle, such as read your true desires and stimulate your bloodstream with an unfamiliar type of energy, due to the fact that they are unconsciously opened whenever one enters battle." Responded Orion. "Now, you don't have much time left, so you must leave soon."

"Are you not going to ask me whether I want to leave or stay?"

"Remember how I said she read your true desires? Think, Ray." Said Omni ma- I mean, Orion, as a hole began to appear in the ground below, revealing a dark blue portal built into the ground.

"This portal will take you to the nearest safe place in the world below. If you are ready, you may go." Said Orion, turning around to not show his face to Ray. "And if you see your father, please tell him to come back someday."

Ray tried to call out to Orion, but hesitated, looking at his grandfather's posture and judging that it would just make it worse. And so, without even saying goodbye to Orion, Ray walked over to the portal.

"Make sure to take care of my daughter!" Said Yggdrasil just as Ray was about to go through the portal.

"What do you mean by th-" Began Ray, but was cut off as he suddenly disappeared, leaving his former home for good.

Helios, Ursa, and Andromeda watched silently as Ray disappeared into the pitch-black entrance to the burial grounds. It wasn't an awkward silence, but a meaningful one, as each of the three Sunbringer warriors stood side by side, contemplating to themselves.

After a long while, the trio heard multiple pairs of footsteps coming from behind them.

They turned around to see a few familiar faces in Violet, Gamma, and Virgo. Violet and Gamma were panting due to having rushed over as fast as they could, trying to keep up with their mother, who was many levels higher than them in cultivation.

A smaller pair of footsteps could be heard approaching from behind them, and they parted to the sides of the path to reveal a young noble Sunbringer with tanned skin and short blonde hair that reached down to her shoulders. She looked to be around 7 years of age, and with every step she made, she took a deep breath in and out, in a very adorable way.

The young Sunbringer's legs collapsed and she began to fall to the ground, but Violet reacted quickly enough to catch her before she fell. Violet picked her up to reveal that she had fallen asleep out of exhaustion.

"Fleur overheard us talking about meeting up with you guys here, and no matter what she wouldn't let us talk her out of coming with us." Violet said apologetically, bringing Fleur's sleeping body over to Andromeda, who took her out of Violet's arms to hold her instead.

"It's fine, she's so adamant that even I can't talk her out of things sometimes." Said Andromeda jokingly to Violet, before her expression of laughter changed back to the sad smile it was before.

Virgo walked over to Helios and gave him a kiss on the lips, before walking over to Andromeda to give her an empathetic hug.

The group began to talk, and as the moon gradually approached the horizon, the sun's rays began to peek out from below, nurturing each of their bodies and healing any wounds they had gotten.

And as the sun rose, one of its rays descended down below.