Beware the pretty little flowers, their petals soft and sweet. Do not inhale their scent, my dear, or you will be off your feet. Do not touch the flower, or your fingers, they will burn. And do not eat the berries, or for a grave you will swiftly yearn. -- Anon Guest
[AN: Could be the cashew pear, but there's also the Manchineel and the Gympie Gympie to contend with. I'm going to make something up for Alfarell]
Nanogh is known for many dangers. Many perils. Yet there is one thing in all the Plane of Magic that those who live there are united in keeping restrained.
They call it Haitrii, and there is only one.
Nobody wants it to reproduce. That is why it sits on a floating island and is surrounded by a shield. Well. That's one of the reasons. There's many, many more.
It's the most beautiful thing in all the planes. And like many truly beautiful things, its attractiveness is deadly. Mortals who have seen it have used it as the basis for the all-reaching Tree of Life. Mortals should be glad they only saw it, for it is truly the Tree of Death.
Just the scent of the flower can send any living creature into a dreamless slumber. The perfume derived from the petals - obtained with great care and preventative measures - is used in the potion of Endless Sleep. A single thorn from its branches can rot a living being from the inside, should it scratch the skin. To touch a leaf with bare flesh is to bear a rotting sore for the rest of one's shortened life.
The fruit look delicious, but beware. They may also taste delicious, but none have lived long enough to report the flavour. One drop of its juice is enough to poison a middling-sized creature. A poison that very few have survived.
The bark, the wood, the roots... all contain the same deadliness. Some say that the bark of the Haitrii has a flavour to die for, and they are correct. It is indeed a flavour that can kill anything.
It takes very special measures to harvest something from the Haitrii. It took even more special measures to utterly destroy all but the single remaining one. As for the last of them, it had its uses.
A heavily diluted version of the potion of Eternal Sleep is the potion of Dreamless Sleep. Which, for some, is priceless.
The other means of death are priceless, too. Some will even risk their lives to obtain it. Which is why the Guardians of Death monitor the Haitrii at all times.
Guard something thoroughly enough, and myths will evolve around it.
Something that Deathguard Dappleglade had to battle with, this particular shift. The team of adventurers had been through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered just to get here. As well as putting up with the usual trials of Nanogh. They had had enough of the Plane of Magic and its tricks.
"We need the apple," said the leader. "It's not for us, but for a beloved ruler. He needs to be deathless for the greater good, so we seek the fruit of the Tree of Life."
Oh what a muddle of a muckle these mortals had made in the chain of whispers. "Wrong tree," sighed Dappleglade. "The apples here only invite that which comes to all."
"We were told that is a lie," said the adventurer.
There was only one way to deal with idiots this determined. "If you believe, I cannot forswear it," Dappleglade said. "You must find the correct apple. I shall pluck it for you. You may test the apple by eating of it, so your king will like not be fooled."
There was a trick to finding the right fruit of the tree. It was not picking fruit that grew on the tree at all.
Dappleglade made sure to report the fools, whose bodies would be sent back to their loved ones.
[Photo by José Ignacio González Pansiera on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [96 remaining prompts!]
