Under The Oak Tree Chapter 19 Novels & Stories

But every year, at the same time, one of her comrades delivered a pack of shortbread cookies. At 60, I taught my final class. Before the bell rang, I looked out toward the hillside. A flourishing willow tree stood there. My son lay beneath it. "Cyrus, Dad misses you." —The End

Elara felt a prickle of awe, a sense of being in the presence of something truly extraordinary. They emerged into a small clearing, bathed in the ethereal glow of the moon. In the center, a gnarled oak tree stood sentinel, its branches reaching towards the heavens like skeletal fingers. Beneath its ancient boughs, the ground was carpeted with soft, dewy moss. Kael nudged her gently towards it, a clear invitation to rest.

She was smiling at him from the surface of the water. *“Don't just stand there, Rowan,”* her voice whispered in the wind. *“The world is waiting.”* Rowan looked up. A hundred miles away, in the center of the new world, a single, massive oak tree stood. It wasn't made of marble or silver. It was made of wood and leaf. And carved into the trunk, high enough for everyone to see, was a single word. **[START]** But as Rowan turned to join the others, he felt something cold in his pocket.

“It’s no problem. I’d like for you to come. I feel like you’re owed something from New Glade, anyway, for getting hurt in my territory.” “Oh, I don’t blame anyone for that. I’m clumsy.” I rise so quickly, I almost knock him in the chin with my forehead, which shows me just how close we were to each other. It was much closer than I realized, and now I’m too warm. Much, much too warm. Damn near tingling. He rises, too, and before I can step past him, his hand is resting on my upper arm. “Oakley,” he says, and my name is like sugar when he says it. “Did something…. You asked if you were alone in the forest that night. I don’t think you were. Do you remember anything from before you ended up in

he shouts. We run through the dense trees, heading back toward the campfire. Alaric slashes through the bushes blocking our path with his claymore, clearing the way for us. I struggle to keep up with his long strides, ignoring the pain all over my body. But as we pass through an area where massive oak trees grow tightly packed, I feel something that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The stench is very close… right above our heads. I glance up while running. Among the branches of the giant trees, I see unnatural movement. Dark figures crawling along the branches, moving at terrifying speed, following our path.

Rowan’s POV I sat with my back against the same oak tree I’d leaned on for four days straight, one knee drawn up, forearm resting across it. The bark had worn a permanent groove in my cloak. My stomach had long since stopped growling. Now, it just ached in quiet protest. The dead-end clearing looked exactly the same as it had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. It was made of thick pines, fallen needles, no tracks, and no scent beyond this point. I had circled this spot so many times I could walk it blindfolded. I had clawed at roots, sniffed every inch of bark, shifted, and shifted again until my muscles trembled. Nothing.

Colton looks like he wants to walk into a tree. I shake my head, unable to stop the small smile tugging at my lips. “You two are terrible at lying.” Oakley beams. “Thank you.” “That wasn’t a compliment,” I say. “It felt like one,” he replies. Colton exhales slowly. “Let’s just… move on. The orchard is this way.” Oakley nods quickly. “Yes. Orchard. Trees. Fruit. No mysterious healer prophecies there.” Colton mutters, “Hopefully.”

CHAPTER 3 He led me across the lawn towards a large oak tree. My toes sunk into the soft loam of the yard, feeling the lush grass caressing my toes as I walked naked towards the tree. The boughs of the aged giant swayed across the sky as though trying to sweep the clouds away so that it could be reunited with the sun once again. “Hug the tree, slut. Your body needs to be tightly pressed against it, and your legs need to be spread.”

Cat's last email replayed over and over in my mind like a sinister song, highlighting the shadows in Lachlan's past that seemed to loom over me. Then, I saw it: a grand oak tree, its gnarled branches stretching skyward, beckoning me closer. I didn't understand what it was doing here on a desert island. And more than that, how did Cat tell me to meet her at an oak tree just yesterday and here was an oak tree. What the fuck was this?

Oak never thought, he would become this much weak to a point where he started crying embarrassingly. He cried until he felt a little relieved. Then he closed his book and stood up from the chair. He went to his bed and lied down. Again he was thinking about the memories he shared with Phet. Phet told him, he would wait for him but he moved on so fast. Oak couldn't help but shed more tears and wipe them away furiously.