The village of New Endernia, locating deep inside a maze of valleys, was once again abandoned due to its harsh nature and location. For decades the humans left, allowing vegetations to reclaim the lands they had lost. They tore through the rotten corpse of their ancestors, and sprout in the closed areas of little sunlight. The walls protect them from the harsh, moody wind and ferocious animals, allowing the trees to flourish with little to no difficulties.

The old library in which a pale, skinny tree grew was always silent – save for the occasional chuckles and chirps of curious squirrels and birds. Old papers and dust-covered furniture littered the floor among fallen leaves, while the thousand books lining the walls went numbed from years of disuse.

Since the time it was a seedling, the tree had look down upon the reincarnations of its kin. The books, the walls, and the chairs and tables had all lost their glorious forms; turned into tools by humans’ filthy hands. It, however, still remain in its natural form, of growing branches and ever changing leaves.

Its current form - of cream and reddish colored bark; adorned by perfect, golden leaves – even the humans, who had torn down thousands of trees without mercy, would not dare harm a leave on its body. For it was beautiful.
All the years it had lived, the tree stood proud under the warm sunlight that poured in from the giant hole of the roof. For years it had thought itself to be superior to its kin, especially those turned into mindless objects; but that was before the humans returned.

There were three of them, a female and two males. After breaking down the vine-covered door, they stood still – mesmerized by the sight and smell of an untouched world.

When one of the humans gulped and step forward, the tree’s leaves shook fiercely. It had thought that was it. It was about to be tainted by humans’ hand - about to be turn into a dusty, old book or worse, a floor to be step on for the rest of eternity… but that was not the case. The young adult raced past him without even a glance, smiling widely as he picked out one of the books. The dust made him sneezed violently, but did not dull the sparks in his eyes as they glided over the words.

When the remaining humans rejoined their friend to listen to his excited voice, the tree could not help but feel, for the first time, bitterness.