Chapter 10: The Great Tree Aperion

Advancing in years and rapidly losing her powers, Kaon Deladriss traveled with the Senerai to The Great Tree of Eyos, to fulfill the prophecy. In anguish, she extracted its Heartwood, a perfectly brilliant prismatic seed the size of a small fist. Immediately, The Great Tree shrank and withered. Its starry leaves turned crimson red. Stricken with grief, Kaon gave the Heartwood to the Senerai so they could fulfill the rest of the prophecy. She remained with The Great Tree, mourning, until her dying days.

For many years, the Senerai journeyed across the vast world of Mythron seeking the perfect sanctuary for the Heartwood. Amid the lush beauty of Xenkai they befriended the Four Winds and tasted the rejuvenating waters of the Twilight Spring. Among the Islands of Pyrae, they rediscovered the lost arts of fireweaving. Hidden in the Sea of Fog, they found the exotic islands of Y'Kir, where master inventors and artificers worked in solitude crafting the first magical devices that their descendants would prize as ancient artifacts. They landed on the desolate surface of Styxus, naming it the Blighted Lands.

They were the first Aestari invited to Magaari, the Magmar homeland, to behold the Golden Chrysalis containing the remains of the last Queen Mother. They travelled along the Yquem River, allying themselves with the Silverbeaks near Raithline Lake against a horde of Mirkblood Devourers. They witnessed Azurite Lions hunting across the Alluvial Plains. And after many years of encountering strange creatures, discovering countless locales, and witnessing mysterious cultures, the Senerai finally arrived at Halcyar: the Northern-most realm — far past the frost-carved Whyte Mountains, and more importantly, far beyond the prying reach of Aestaria.

They found a distant peak enveloped by the magical Northern Aurora, hidden and shielded on all sides by hundreds of identical mountains. They named it Deladriss Peake, in honor of Kaon, and there they planted the Heartwood. A sapling immediately sprouted from the ground, its young leaves drawing in the crisp starlight. They named the new tree Aperion. At that exact moment, Kaon dematerialized from the living world. All Aestaria was plunged into mourning. The once great tree, now withered and weak, released red droplets of crimson sap, the Tears of Eyos, and forever after was known as The Weeping Tree.