Final Chapter
The Holy Tree's star-tracked passageway officially opened at dawn, and golden ribbons of light spread like vines from the roots of the tree to the central square of the human royal city.Silverleaf stood side by side with Lin Xing at the entrance to the passageway, a scaled-down model of the World Tree suspended at the top of his staff, each leaf flickering with the shimmering light of a different race-the luminescence of the elves, the warm yellow of the humans, and even the ghostly blue of the pupils of the magical beasts.
"According to human etiquette, this is called 'cutting the ribbon'?"Lin Xing held the golden spike woven from blue scale grass, remembering the royal etiquette her father had taught her last night.Silverleaf's ears reddened at the tips, but she nodded seriously, "But in the Elves, we would use the symbiotic oath instead."He took her hand and dripped their shared blood in the center of the band of light, and the Starleaf Seal instantly spread into a transparent bridge connecting the waiting communities on either side.
For the first time, the bronze gates of the human royal city opened for the elves.The guards wearing griffin gauntlets removed their armor, revealing a lining embroidered with a dark pattern of star leaves underneath; the elven elders held crystal vials containing blue scale grass, in which the curious smiles of human children were reflected.When the first human child reached out and touched the elf maiden's luminescent tresses, the Blue Scale Grass of the Lake of Moon Tears suddenly grew several inches taller, and the dewdrops condensing on the leaves actually took on the silhouette of the Twin Cities.
"This is ... symbiotic dewdrops."The Elder marveled, "The Sacred Tree is recording every moment of reconciliation."Lin Xing saw the king standing at the back of the crowd, and was righting Yue Li's portrait - the fingertips of the young girl in the painting were currently touching Leon's virtual shadow, as if three hundred years had finally found the tenderness of reunion in this painting.
At noon, the representatives of the clans made a symbiotic contract in front of the altar of the sacred tree.Silverleaf used his staff to carve the star-leaf pattern on the stone slab, while Lin Xing used human ink to fill in the intertwined lines of gears and vines.The moment the two imprints overlapped, the root system of the World Tree lit up on the continental map, the snow foxes of the snow plains in the far north sent ice-core flowers, the caravans of the desert tribes brought grains of sand that would glow, and even the giant wolf, which had once been eaten by the black mist, came with ears of wheat from the human villages - on its collar, at some point, it had tied the healing bells of the elves.
"It's time to go see father."Lin Xing led Silverleaf through the star track passage, and the dungeon of the human royal city had been transformed into a symbiosis museum.Father was in the process of repairing the remnant pages of the initial contract, and when his palm touched Lin Xing's imprint on the remnant pages, the unfinished vow of Aisha and Leon from back then suddenly surfaced, "If the light of the Star Leaf is to be eternal, it must make every heart its root."
"So they knew," Silverleaf said softly, "that the true covenant is not bondage, it is to give every being the freedom to choose symbiosis."He looked out the window, where human craftsmen were making furniture from the dead branches of the Sacred Tree, and elven healers were teaching human children to recognize herbs - exchanges that had once been considered taboo, but now seemed so natural under the star-leafed glow.
The Moon Tear Lake at dusk was exceptionally tranquil.Silverleaf suddenly knelt down on one knee, holding a bracelet woven from human gold jewelry and elven moonlight vines, "In the elven race, when a guardian decides to share the star trails with someone, she will give her the 'Symbiosis Ring'."When he looked up, his amber eyes held the starlight of the entire lake, "There's a human saying, 'I want to see forever with you', and my forever, I want to see your smile on every new star leaf that grows."
Lin Xing's tears dripped down onto the bracelet, and the gold and silver lights lit up simultaneously.As she put the bracelet on, the blue scale grass at the bottom of the lake suddenly grew into a form that had never been seen before - with stars embedded in the center of the blades and a cogwheel-like halo flowing around the edges, it was the symbiotic seal that they had created together."I do."She whispered, "Not just to see forever, but to have different heartbeats resonate the melody of peace in every forever."
Late at night, the twin stars at the top of the Sacred Tree merged completely into a new constellation, Star Leaf.Silverleaf lay in his vine hammock with Foreststar, watching his mark twinkle in the starry sky.He suddenly pointed to the newly growing branches in the canopy, "Tomorrow we should plant the twin Star Leaf trees, human soil mixed with elven dew will surely grow the most special seedlings."
"And also bury the roots of the tree with Moonlite's Starlight Maple Leaf, and Leon's Bronze Wristguard."Lin Xing added, "Let all the regrets of the past become nutrients for a symbiotic future."When she turned around, she found Silverleaf staring into her eyes, the tips of his ears redder than the maple leaves - this time, he didn't avert his eyes, but gently kissed the starlight in her hair.
The World Tree's wheel of the year sounded a long chime at this moment, as if it was accompanying this love song across races.In the distance, the clock tower of the human royal city for the first time rang the same frequency with the sacred tree's wheel of the year, the clacking sound of gears turning and the sound of the natural wind, finally in the same beat, composed a new chapter called "symbiosis".
As the first dewdrop rolled down from the symbiosis ring, the last message of the blue scale grass appeared on the surface of the lake: "The story of the star and the leaf never ends - it blooms and grows forever in every touch of trust, in every resonance of courage, in every life that is willing to listen to a different heartbeat."
Silverleaf and Lin Xing looked at each other and smiled, intertwining their fingers.They knew that there might be new mists and gears ahead, but as long as the imprints in their palms were still resonating, as long as the roots of the World Tree were still extending, any darkness would eventually be transformed into the shape of light, and any barriers would eventually grow into symbiotic branches.
After all, a true love song is never a unidirectional guardianship, but two souls who, after misunderstandings and wounds, are still willing to hold hands, so that the starlight and green leaves belonging to each other, under the same sky, can weave a chapter of - symbiosis - that is more radiant than eternity.