The air in the room immediately thickened, all parties remained silent as Yggros recited that she knew what the solution to the dilemma was.

They all stared at her in anticipation.

"Speak, woman! We do not have time to sit around." Lucien spoke, an Angel descended from the heavens, he had a full head of gold, fluffy hair. A color so bright it made Rhaenys’ blonde hair look dull.

"The heart of the World Tree is fading." She paused, taking a deep breath.

"The only way to save it is by pouring our essence into it." She said again, her gaze fixed downwards as she spoke clairvoyantly.

"That seems easy enough, doesn’t it," Banqui said while looking at Alaric.

The old man just shrugged and kept listening.

"All the races, our essence, this was given to us as a gift from the World Tree. Now we must give back. In order to preserve the way of the world, we must sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" The Phoenix spoke out now, it was the only being in the room with a look more similar to an animal, a large bird with a beak of molten gold. It had scarlet feathers and fiery eyes that seemed to hold an ancient intelligence. Her name was Seraphina.

"Explain to us what this ’sacrifice’ entails Yggros." Seraphina said, beckoning on Yggros to speak further.

The ancient tree spirit looked around the room slowly, keeping her gaze down again. Tree spirits were shy and soft spoken creatures by heart, so nobody blamed her for her behavior.

"Giving part of our essence to the Tree will not come without consequences." Yggros declared.

The room fell silent again.

"What kind of consequences Yggros? you are being too vague." A man spoke out, slamming on the table, his hair was slicked back and two long fangs bared themselves at both sides of his mouth. He was the Vampire Armand.

"Restraint, Armand!" Lucien immediately reprimanded, forcing a low growl out of him. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Each race’s spiritual essence is extracted from its most sacred source. Banqui—the Dragonborn have their Ancestral Blood. Seraphina—the Phoenixes have their Nirvana Flame. We, the Treants, we possess our World Sap. The Humans have their Fate Crystal..." She started, but halfway she caught a glimpse of everyone’s expressions and decided not to waste any more time.

"To restore the World Tree, each representative must sacrifice a portion of their Lifespan, Cultivation and Dao Comprehension."

"What?!" More than five members at the table chorused in unison, a full on protest began.

"How dare you demand that I be reduced to a commoner?" Thorin roared.

"It doesn’t make any sense, we have spent years acquiring these things." Rhaenys held her head in her hands, her face awash with disappointment.

The others remained silent.

Alaric cleared his throat, the bickering members brought their arguments to a close.

"Now, I know nobody here wants to give away their precious years of cultivation, power, and all that to some tree that most of us haven’t even seen.

But I want to trust Yggros on this, what happens if we don’t act? If this tree dies, then all that power will be of no use, because, quite frankly, it won’t exist any longer."

He sat down after speaking, looking at Esty, who nodded at him in agreement.

The rest of the Elders began to murmur to each other, slowly reaching a conclusion.

Sylvanor finally stood up on his seat and cleared his throat.

"I agree with Alaric, if we do not take action, then in no distant time there will be no need for the Elder Covenant, as the world will be plunged into powerlessness." He said, then sat back down.

Banqui stroked his chin slowly, and after listening to both men, he voiced out; "I also agree, we each represent the strength of our races, but let’s be honest. There is none among us that does not have a worthy successor, so I believe we should do what’s best for the fate of the world."

There was a chorus of agreement amongst them and within minutes it was settled, they would all travel to the World Tree to imbue it with their spiritual essence.

The meeting was soon adjourned, and Alaric sat at the end of the table, even after everyone had somewhat scattered to different corners of the room; he remained silent, his fingers interlocked just above his nose.

He felt a slight touch on his back, one that brought him an unprecedented sense of comfort. He turned his head around to meet a most familiar sight.

It was Esty, she began to rub his back slowly, her smile unfading.

"Look at you, worrying yourself to death. If you worry yourself this much, I don’t know if much of you will remain after giving out essence to the Tree." Esty said, running her hand down his spine.

"Don’t worry, dear wifey, I may look old, but I know that you know that I’m still a spry young buck!" He responded, laughing heartily at his own words.

The other Elders talked in small groups.

"Yggros can I talk to you for a moment," Armand called out to the Ancient tree spirit, a sly tone in his voice.

"Yes, Armand, what is it?" She asked.

"Well, I wondered, if all we have to do is something as simple as giving part of our essence to this tree. Why not get the other Treants to do it? I mean, you are more connected to the tree, like you said, it’s your source of life." He inquired.

"I will admit I thought of that, but most of the Treants are not nearly as powerful, and I can’t risk my people’s lives for a fruitless endeavor."

"But you can risk our lives..." Armand muttered under his breath.

"What was that, Armand?" Yggros asked him.

"Oh, nothing, nothing."

"You see, with the Elder Covenant, I can guarantee that if we all pull together, we will be able to save the tree, and nobody will have to die, I’m sure of it."

"I see, I hope you’re right Yggros." Armand said, scoffing silently as he walked away.