Journey to the Trinity Tree

A fire. Gluttony's red eyes glinted as she grinned, listening intently to what they were suggesting. They wanted to light a fire, to burn the other tree to the ground. It was secretive and cruel, not at all fair. The black and white she-cat didn't care for ethics, however. If there was an army of death coming to fight, then she was more than willing to burn the tree that spawned them down to the ground. As for the use of fire, that thought simply excited Gluttony as she paced, waiting for them to get to go. She had always been teetering on the edge of sanity, much more than the other cats living in the Depths, and perhaps this was just further proof of that. She didn't care if it was.

Finally, it was time. Gluttony crept alongside the rest of the group, silent. She'd mastered silence a long time ago, her old group having drilled it into her as they made her the monster they wanted. Some part of her wondered what she would be doing in this situation if things back then had been different, but if they had been, there was no guarantee Gluttony would even be here now. No, to question that was pointless and silly. All that mattered was reaching the tree and taking it down as quickly as possible so they could end this war before things got any worse.

If she was lucky, maybe they would manage it quickly enough that Gluttony wouldn't miss all the fun on the battlefield.

---

"They're planning to burn the tree of decay," Galilee said as she approached Cole under the agreed upon tree to meet at, not too far from the field Cole said they'd fought at the other day. "They're sending a second group, a stealth group, to go and burn it, hopefully before the rain starts up to stop it."

Before the gray lion could respond, Grimm approached, for once in his life actually looking concerned. "They're planning to send a second group to burn the tree of decay?" He asked, and the half snow leopard nodded her head in confirmation. "They're not the only ones planning that sort of plot. The undead army has the exact same plan for the tree of life."

Cole looked like he was trying desperately not to bash his head against the trunk of the tree they were under, and Galilee couldn't blame him. "This is a disaster," he groaned, pawing at the ground. "I don't know what consequences burning either god's tree will have, but we can't allow them to do that...especially if they plan to burn both." His tail flicked behind him as he glanced to the sky, a frown in place. "And in secret? That's not even ethical."

It surprised Galilee, how much Cole was talking. From what Grimm had told her, he was fairly quiet, generally keeping to himself and bundling his thoughts up. She was told to be prepared for him to be grumpy and awkward, but Cole didn't seem to fit any of the things she'd heard. He seemed like a leader, and an intelligent one at that, someone who knew what he was doing and who wanted to do what was right. Perhaps that was simply a result of this whole experience. Whether it'd be a permanent change in Cole's character, or simply a circumstantial one as he was forced to try and fix a situation that seemed to have no solution, was yet to be seen; it was quite possible that, if it were not for this crisis going on around them, Cole would be exactly as Grimm had said when he was telling her about him. Right now, however, she was impressed.

"All is fair in love and war," Grimm responded, shaking some of his black hair from his face as he took a seat, face looking grim (ironically) as he stared out at the field.

"It shouldn't be," Cole responded sharply, only to cringe as he ducked his head and mumbled, "Sorry."

Galilee noted the change in attitude with a frown. Obviously his previous tendencies weren't completely curbed, even now. The lion definitely needed more confidence. However, this wasn't the time to dwell on that, and based on the look on Grimm's face, Galilee was pretty sure her friend was going to. She needed to steer this conversation away from that before they got completely side-tracked and found that, as the battle approached, they had no plan to stop the plans each side had from unfolding.

"What can we do?" She asked impatiently, tail thrashing back and forth behind her. "Do we know which side is justified in their attack?"

Cole shook his head. "Supposedly the goddess brought us here, and she represents life. However, she is cold and distant, offering us nothing in terms of explanation. We were constantly instructed on what to do when I was in the city, like the champions had to constantly be occupied so they wouldn't snoop around too much. There were no answers to be found."

"Wouldn't that suggest she has something to hide, meaning the guy in the withered tree is the one to believe?" Grimm asked.

Once again, the Sky Oasis' Archivist shook his head. "If only it were that easy. The god of decay claims that he is attacking because the goddess is trying to upset the balance, stopping death from happening at all."

Grimm's expression was unreadable as he listened to what his pridemate had to say before asking another question. "Is that so wrong?"

"We can have a discussion about the ethics of stopping death some other time," Galilee said before Cole could respond. The bigger lion was obviously perturbed by what Grimm had said, and Galilee was not in the mood to moderate that discussion. Once again, they needed to stay focused. "What makes you suspect the god of lying?"

"He lured us away with some strange call, and despite being very forthcoming, he didn't seem completely honest. And his army, Grimm, you had to have seen them. They're more than unsettling. He's definitely not telling the whole story, even when he does answer questions asked."