Roots

I have lived for so long there is hardly any one word or term that can be used to describe the long years. Aeon perhaps but then again that word means something close to eternity. I'm not that old, not yet. Only the Ancient Elementals can claim that right. But among the giants, the few of us that still remain; I am ancient in my own ways.

I have seen the founding of kingdoms, their rise to power and then their total dissolution. I have seen the birth of mountains and their decay into the dust they had at one time risen from. Rivers and lakes have grown before my eyes then dried and turned to desert. The forest has rolled forward and shirked back from development in waves almost like the motion of the ocean. I have witnessed the birth of new skylands and the ruination of others. I have seen the cycle of life played out in countless ways through every part of Skylands from the land itself on through the smallest life forms and the largest machinations. I know more than most that the skylands themselves are alive and have countless stories to tell about history as it happened, not how it is remembered.

I am Tree Rex, born of magic and infused with the element of life. I think that perhaps I was created in part from the ancient Tree Spirit's desire to save the life that was being so viciously destroyed. The spirit herself was immobile until it came time for the ancient volcano in Cloudbreak to erupt. But that didn't mean her awareness was limited to just where her own roots grew. I understood this later of course. My belief in this theory only grew when I made the voyage to see the eruption. I have seen it only twice, once when I was still naught but a sapling and again after my long banishment.

Before I helped defeat the Arkeyan King and halted the rolling dominion of their iron rule I was just a tree. I stood tall with roots that reached deep into the soil and branches that spread wide against the heavens. I provided food and shelter to countless smaller life forms. I was unaware, a silent sentinel that saw everything and nothing. I was the heart of the forest and the strongest of her trees. When the rest of the forest died around me due to the toxic magic mingled with elements of arkeyan technology I endured and changed. My awareness came first, an understanding of what I was and what I did followed by the realization that something was wrong.

Centuries passed, the poison that slowly stole from me the forest I called home and the friends in it failed to take me. I changed more and more, growing stronger in a way that was paradoxical for what should have been a poison. One day I felt the urge to do something I had never done before and move; move on my own accord without obeying the gentle command of the wind. I pulled my roots up, an action that would have saddened me to see happen to a tree I called friend but one that seemed natural for me. I bent my branches downward. Long ago they had lost their leaves but I had never thought to lower them before then. The sun had always warmed them, the rain caressed them. Now I looked upon them in wonder. They were branches no longer but I didn't know what they were, certainly not the same things as the smaller creatures I remembered possessed. They looked like arms but not at the same time. I turned my head for the first time and laid my eyes on a horror I'll never forget. I could remember the trees that used to surround me, the life that permeated the air and made everything tranquil. I found nothing around me for miles but barren land, hardy even remains of the life I used to be surrounded by.

I was nothing but a babe newly born, I understood nothing. But I learned loss and rage quickly. I threw my head back and bellowed to the heavens my deep emptiness. I couldn't explain it but I knew what had caused everything. On the horizon, in the direction the corruption had stemmed from I saw an enormous structure. It wasn't the same as my forest, it was foreign and alien. I could see that immediately. My brow pinched into a scowl, an expression that at the time I didn't know was universally linked to how I felt. Using my newfound will and locomotion I stomped off towards the unnatural structure, the plague that had taken everything from me and yet given me such strange wonders.

The metal walls couldn't withstand my rage or fathomless sorrow. I crushed the unnatural structure as sure as it had destroyed my home. I found no life within, only empty machines that toiled about tirelessly and paid me no mind as I laid ruin to everything cold and metallic. With the smoldering ruins behind me I began to wander aimlessly in search for who had built the death factory. My wanderings took me far and wide and I found much of the same; death and cold metal standing in the middle of it. I destroyed every factory I found and eventually drew the attention of the architects. I stood against the Arkeyan Empire alone for ages beyond ages, where their metal killed the forests I was there to tear it down and sow the seeds of new life. I had fought the Empire for perhaps three hundred years before the Skylanders were created and the few of us that had the will and determination to stand up against the Empire found one another and set out to destroy it.

As you know we eventually succeeded but at a high price. The Empire screeched to a halt in one moment and before the Skylanders could celebrate our victory the Arkeyan King struck his final blow and banished us from the home we had just saved. Anger surged to the surface again and I found myself impotent, locked in a prison made of my own body.

Taken from home and sent to a strange new world I watched it grow and evolve. I saw many of the same conflicts befall it that had raged across Skylands throughout history but I was powerless to do anything in this time. So I watched, observed and learned. Magic didn't exist on Earth, it had been classified as something vile and unholy and everyone that practiced it had been dubbed evil. The persecution of those that could wield magic was so severe that the people began to actively suppress their talents until they faded from disuse. Hope that I would ever be returned home faded along with the hope of at least being allowed to make this new world my home. Again I found myself alone; the new friends that I had made had been taken from me as was my home for the second time. My awareness remained with me, I had so hoped at times it would fade and lead me to a peaceful oblivion. It never happened and after ten thousand years I was finally returned to Skylands when a Portal Master found me. Magic wasn't dead; it was just weak.

But fear lies deep in my heart, fear of losing my ties to Skylands and fear of losing my Portal Master. She is kind and understanding but she is mortal and nothing makes that point clearer than her battles with her health. If she loses the battles who will bring us back to Skylands? It took ten thousand years to find her and I do not think I could bear another eternity of imprisonment as I await the next person strong enough to tap into their innate magical abilities. But I digress, for now my heart is glad and my feet pleased to tread on familiar soil. So much has changed in Skylands but the earth remembers it all and has so many stories if one knows how to listen.

No matter what happens I will endure, it is what I do and what I will always do. This is my task and one I intend to uphold. I am proud of who I am. I am proud of what I am.

I am a Skylander.