The Magic Tree

[aldersprig]

Written to @InspectorCaracal's prompt, also the title of this piece. 

🌳

The tree stood in the middle of a blasted wasteland, and the one thing that everyone agreed on was that it was magic.

Whether it had been put up by one of the last mages in the great wars as a way to heal the wasteland, or whether its creation had formed the wasteland, nobody could agree.  Whether it was a blessing or a menace, no two people concurred on.  And thus there were two paths through the wasteland, one that ran right next to the tree, and the other which wandered almost a mile away to avoid it.

The tree itself loomed over its own oasis, a small circle of greenery in the middle of an otherwise lifeless expanse.  It was easily over thirty feet wide at the base, and it loomed two hundred feet in the air.  And yet its lowest branches were easily reachable from the ground. 

read on…

Comments

[kelkyag]

That is one hell of an annual pilgrimage to sign up for.

[aldersprig]

I know, right?

[sauergeek]

This reminds me a lot of the Sahara Forest Project or the Great Green Wall either as originally conceived or as it's transformed.

The time scope involved is immense, but it at least sounds doable. Pilgrimages for real-world benefit!

[aldersprig]

oh neat new things!

I’m glad the story told me about the pilgrimages.