366 Views 2 Favorites 8 Chapters 0 Chapters/Week 10 Readers 0 Reviews 8.5k Words May 14, 2026 AkitoLuceniel On a quiet mountain just beyond the city stands an ancient tree — one that has never shed a leaf, never aged, never died. Beneath its vast shade, two children once played, laughed, and dreamed together. Every weekend, the boy would sit beneath its branches and read stories to his best friend… and to the tree that silently listened.
... more>>
But the tree was not ordinary.
Within its roots and bark dwelled an ancient ascetic, a being who had prayed to the God of Preservation for trillions of years. His body had long become one with the tree, his soul bound to its endless stillness. No force in heaven or hell could break his meditation — until the laughter of two children reached him. Their stories and innocence stirred something divine within him, something even time could not silence.
As years passed, the girl moved away, and the boy grew older, visiting the tree alone to read his final story before leaving for his own journey. Moved by the boy’s farewell, the tree broke a single branch — the first in eternity — and gifted it to him, a silent blessing from the ascetic’s soul.
Years later, when he returns at twenty-two, he finds her again beneath that same tree. The city lights shimmer below the mountain, the dusk is golden, and the air feels alive. The tree stands quiet, but within it, the ascetic smiles — for his endless prayer has found its answer in the purity of love that even time could not erase.
<<less