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Their destination was in the middle of an enormous plain, where land depressed ever so slightly around the base of a lone tree.

But what a tree it was.

It rivaled even the largest ones that Hector had seen in the Imara Forest, which included the Riverton, P.J. and all the gargantuan building-supporters that had been there. This one here looked like it was about ten or more stories tall, and its canopy of yellow-green leaves could probably shade half a city block by itself.

Still, though, it seemed like a pretty normal tree. Not supernatural.

Hanton's clarification arrived on its own. 'The tree isn't what's peculiar. There's something in its trunk. Or rather, a lack of something. The aura is distinctly empty. Missing.'

Hector didn't quite understand. The others were still catching up, so he asked in a low voice, "So the trunk is hollow?"

'No,' said Hanton. 'The absence of aura means more than just empty air. Or even a vacuum, potentially. Everything has an aura. The aura of the planet itself should fill any and all "gaps" like this. So the fact that it's still there means that there must be something quite strange inside this tree.'

Hector's gaze went up the length of the trunk as he stepped over one of the roots that was jutting partway out of the ground. Something inside it, huh? Well, it was wide enough to conceal a small house--or several, perhaps, stacked on top of each other.

'Hmm,' hummed Garovel privately. 'Now that we're this close to it, I can sense something a little odd inside there, too.'

He and Garovel circled around the base of the tree together, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He never really considered himself a nature lover, exactly, but this was a pretty magnificent specimen, he felt. And he would hate to have to tear into its trunk.