This time, the destruction was slow. The amount of hostility, of black essence, was monstrously greater.
The book took a full three minutes to consume everything. Three minutes during which the tree continued its destructive frenzy, but with increasingly less vigor, like a body having its nerves cut one by one.
The mental screams diminished from a roar to a whimper, then to an empty spiritual silence.
Finally, the last black particle was absorbed. The book closed with a single sonorous sound that echoed in the sudden quiet.
Then, like a paper bird returning to its nest, the book shot back at a speed that defied Kyrian's eyes and merged with his forehead and then disappeared into his mind.
The silence that followed was absolute. The black mist had dissipated. The air seemed heavy with the smell of death and raised dust, but it no longer carried that oppressive static of hatred.
All that remained was a gigantic tree.
