Under The Oak Tree -- Read Novels & Stories

But I just shrug it off. “Daddy, what’s that huge tree?” Andre voice draws Carlton’s Attention from me. All eyes trails where he’s pointing at and there’s gigantic tree at a far end of the forest. Even as we are standing up on a wooden bridge it’s still so tall and has its branch sprouting out everywhere. The tree is so magnificent and would really get anyone bedazzled. The oak tree. “That’s the oak tree.” Carlton says and someone squeals beside Andre. Griffin. Then with his eyes widen in amazement he exclaims, “The royal tree of the forest!”

If the hedge wants payment for entry, it can have fabric. I have paid worse. When I reach the old boundary tree, I stop. It’s not remarkable to look at, which is why it works. A thick oak with bark like layered scars. The kind of tree people pass a thousand times without remembering. The kind of tree that survives because it’s uninteresting. I press my palm to its trunk. The wood is cold. Alive. I close my eyes and listen. Not with ears. With the part of me that learned early that silence has texture.

The forest deepened as they moved, the air thick with age and memory. Kael could feel it even before he saw it — that hum, that pulse beneath the soil, like something old and sentient breathing in slow rhythm. The witches followed close behind him, their steps quiet, cautious, reverent. Then, at the heart of the grove, it appeared. The Ancient Oak Tree.

The morning air should have been sweet. It should have tasted like the promise of a new life. But as the sun rose over the First Den, the sky took on a dull, metallic sheen. The golden wheat fields were no longer dancing. They stood still, as if they were afraid to move. In the center of the valley, the Great Oak Tree stood tall. Its leaves were a deep, vibrant violet, pulsing with the soft rhythm of Kaima’s heartbeat. She was the wind. She was the soil. Every breath the wolves took was a gift from her.

Mountains and a city. I sat against a huge oak tree in this small clearing, a bottle of water lying on my lap. A withered book sat in my hands. I wasn't sure what the title was, nor did I really care. I read the words greedily, a desperate attempt to escape the world I lived in. The sound of snapping branches ripped me from my thoughts.

Rowan said, pointing through the trees. Kael rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. "We stay together." Nobody argued. We followed the sound. The forest changed as we walked. The pines gave way to older trees. Their branches spread so wide that the sunlight barely reached the ground. The air smelled of wildflowers. Then... I saw it. An oak tree. Its trunk split into two before reaching the branches. The same tree from my mother's drawing. "The orchard," Elias whispered. No one moved.

Rose was reciting Yi Shu’s prose poem, ‘To Oak Tree’. “If I ever love you, “I’ll never be like the scrambling trumpet creepers, showing off by your branch high up in the sky; “I must be a ceiba near you, standing beside you as a tree. “Our roots, holding the earth tightly; our leaves touching each other in the clouds. With each passing wind, we send our regards to each other, but nobody can understand our language. You have your tough branches made of copper and iron, like falchions, like swords, and also like halberds.

[So as I was saying, those oak trees were capable of predicting the future. Nero gave his master a side glance to check if she had any plans to interrupt him again. It was only when he confirmed that Audrey was already behaving like a good child, did he went on telling his story again. By that time, only the sound of Nero' soft meowing, as well as the sound made by the turning of the pages of the book, could be heard in the library. "MEOW... MEOW... MEOW... MEOW.." [One day, one of the talking oak trees saw that one from my race, the antediluvian cats, will going to bring utter distraction to the world by releasing all the creatures of the dark from their restriction.]

" Serina firmly said while Paul nodded at her, promising that this must happen, at whatever cost that hinders on the way. Then both of them walk out together from the shade of the oak tree. "It was a promise witnessed by this century-old tree." "I doubt that tree is that old." "K-Town had lots of history and myths!" "Yeah, I know...kinda weird on how non-sense some of the myths are." "The tree witnesses us, so you better do it, unless you want to be buried." Thus, the promise at the first of September started at the grass field, below the oak tree were two people that had bonded deeper than tree roots, made a promise unto one another...