The Soul Devouring Tree, also known as the Soul Tree, was a particularly threatening Awakened Terror that Sunny, Cassie, and Nephis had a near-fatal encounter with. It crowned the Ashen Barrow.
The Soul Devouring Tree evolved into a Fallen Terror after an indeterminate period of time following the Crimson Terror's defeat.
Appearance
This tree rose into the sky like a tower, its branches wide enough to cover the whole island in their shade. The bark of the giant tree was as black as the water of the Dark Sea, while its leaves were as red as blood.
Contrasted against the grey sky, the crimson crown of the majestic tree looked vibrant and magnificent.
The ground beneath the Soul Devouring Tree was littered with fallen leaves. There were several round, appetizing fruits hanging between the scarlet leaves.
The Tree's roots stretched beneath the entire region of the Sea of Ash, forming knolls where a portion of the giant roots rose slightly above ground[2].
After evolution, the Soul Devouring Tree had grown taller, reaching into the black sky with its obsidian branches. It towered over the Sea of Ash like a majestic mountain. It was much richer and expansive than before. It used to only cover the Ashen Barrow in its shade but now it reached far into the crater where the Dark Sea emerged from[3].
Abilities
Mental Hex
The Soul Tree was capable of ensnaring its victims in a powerful enthrallment. It made creatures want to stay and attend the tree. It erased complex thought and clouded the mind. Those under its hex found it hard to grasp the concept of time[4]. A primary thought it instilled in its victims was the need to serve the Tree and help spread its seeds[5]. It also inspired a benevolent and generous image of itself in the victims' minds, which was supported by the fruits it bestowed upon them.
Enthralled humans gained an attribute - [Enthralled].
"You've been mesmerized by the ancient fiend, Soul Devouring Tree, and are being turned into its thrall. Once the process is complete, there will be no escape."
— Description of the [Enthralled] attribute, Chapter 86 [6]
The Tree's ability to absorb was extraordinarily high. Its roots were capable of sapping the life out of a considerably large patch of the Crimson Labyrinth, giving rise to the Sea of Ash.
The fruits of the Soul Tree were large, round, and glistening. Their skin was smooth and as black as onyx, while the succulent insides were red as ruby. They exuded an alluring, sweet aroma. Upon eating, the fruit filled a person's mouth with delightful, cool sweetness. It was both nourishing and refreshing, with rich texture and soft, lingering aftertaste. The ruby flesh of the fruit practically melted into one's tongue, causing their body to tingle.
The fruits could miraculously act as a substitute for soul shards, giving a point of soul essence (or shadow essence).
History
Birth
Through Cassie's vision, the origin of the Soul Tree was revealed. The insidious fiend grew from a tiny black seed that floated on a pool of blood atop a blood-soaked hill formed of countless corpses[7]. Its roots grew to extend underneath a huge part of the Crimson Labyrinth. The roots sapped the life out of that patch, leaving behind a wasteland of ashen dust[2].
First Encounter (Volume 1, Child of Shadows)
When Sunny, Nephis and Cassie chanced upon the Soul Tree, it had only one thrall - the Carapace Demon. The Demon would command Carapace Centurions to bring soul shards to nourish the Soul Tree. Sunny witnessed the Carapace Demon receive a Transcendent soul shard from a Centurion. It then dropped the shard into the sand near the Tree in exchange for a fruit[2].
The trio faced the Carapace Demon armed with information from Cassie's vision. They set the Demon aflame with oil taken from the corpses of centipede-like creatures. They then rested and hid upon a branch of the great Tree while waiting for nightfall. Come morning, Sunny and Nephis vanquished the Carapace Demon after it had been weakened in battle against the unknown foe of the Dark Sea[8]. Carrion birds circled the skies for a few days after the Demon's death but were too afraid of the Tree to approach.
Following the battle, Sunny fell into a trance-like state. His memory was evanescent and he found it difficult to focus on certain topics. He immediately forgot the frantic warning he received from Cassie, asking him to remember the number five[9]. While the three Sleepers had agreed not to consume the strange Tree's fruits, they ended up forgetting the consensus and eating them. That day, Sunny went to sleep with a horrifying, foreign thought instilled in his mind.
'With the Carapace Demon gone, there's no one to protect this magnificent tree anymore. When we continue our journey, it will be completely defenseless. What a shame…'
"What a shame that no one will be here to serve it.... and feed it... and help it spread its seeds…"
The three companions then spent the next few days idling by, treating their current life as a vacation. They played games and engaged in other forms of entertainment. Sometimes they kept to themselves, caught in a blissful reverie. However, as time passed, Nephis grew despondent and gloomy. She began to spend her time sitting at the western edge of the island, staring into the distance. Sunny, in his peculiar state, decided to cheer her up by bringing her an especially juicy fruit[4].
Thus, Sunny climbed the Soul Devouring Tree in pursuit of a suitable fruit, reaching higher than he had ever been before. He noticed an anomaly - a branch was twisted downward, as if weighed down by something. It was an elaborate bird's nest[10]. There was a single egg that was still alive inside the nest. Sunny pierced and killed the unborn creature within the egg - a Great Devil, Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn - using the Midnight Shard. He received a Drop of Ichor as a Memory which he consumed. It granted him the attribute Blood Weave and evolved his Ember of Divinity into a Spark. The latter allowed him to see an improved version of the Spell interface, glancing at the enchantments of Memories. He noticed the number five on the tier of the Puppeteer's Shroud and that he had five attributes. Unnervingly, he could not see the fifth. This allowed him to recall Cassie's warning[11].
Conversing with Cassie, Sunny discovered the existence of the Enthralled attribute and broke free of the Soul Tree's mental hex. However, its hold had not disappeared, so he had to use pain to keep from forgetting and stay focused. After a discussion with Nephis, which she forgot, he enlisted the girls to build a boat out of the Carapace Demon's bones. He said its purpose was pleasure to prevent the vile Tree's power from distracting them[12]. In the end, Sunny managed to convince Nephis using three names she had confided in him - Aster, Song, and Vale[13]. Nephis then persuaded a mesmerised Cassie to get on the boat. After a certain distance away from the Soul Tree, the trio was completely free of the enthrallment. Sunny left a burning candle near a pile of fallen leaves, hoping to at least harm the Tree. He swore to one day become powerful enough to destroy the Soul Devouring Tree[14].
Evolution (Volume 8, Lord of Shadows)
The tenacious Terror survived the annihilating rays of the sun. With the Crimson Terror, the Dark Sea, and other powerful abominations gone, the Soul Tree was left with no competition, allowing it to thrive. After an indeterminate period, the tree had evolved from an Awakened Terror to a Fallen one. During that time, it had been diligent—luring numerous Nightmare Creatures that had survived the sun into its vile influence[3].
Death (Volume 8, Lord of Shadows)
Sunny returned to the Forgotten Shore as a powerful Transcendent. He had arrived at the Ashen Barrow to fulfill a promise he had made to the Soul Tree during the end of their last encounter. Sunny found the Tree weak and insignificant, sharply contrasted by the terror the Tree had once instilled in him. The Tree's attempts to defend itself against Sunny were pitiful. Its mental hex was shrugged off, and the thralls it sent against Sunny were massacred in a moment. Sunny poured his essence into the eerie torch he took from the ruined cathedral and set the Tree aflame.
The magnificent Soul Devouring Tree came to a slow, torturous end. The roaring of the flame, the hiss of the burning leaves, the crack of dying wood all fused, sounding as if ten thousand souls were shrieking in agony in a terrible cacophony of noise. The Tree screamed for a long time. In the end, it was nothing but a scorched, broken, hollow husk[3].
Trivia
Eating the fruits made it appear as though one were feasting on blood. Sunny claimed it was the most delicious thing he had tasted, referring to it as pure joy in the form of a fruit[5].
According to Cassie's vision, a lightning bolt had struck the ground, igniting the fallen leaves. This attracted a threatening creature of the Dark Sea, which left a weakness on the Carapace Demon's armour[15].
Nephis' burning desire to reach her goal was strong enough to resist the wicked Soul Tree's enthrallment.
Incredible luck was involved in defying the Soul Tree - an oracle (Cassie) had to be in the group that saw the future, that oracle had to formulate a plan in a frighteningly short time, someone in the group had to have an Awakened armour of the fifth tier with a mind protection trait, that person then had to kill a Great Devil, and he had to receive a Lineage Memory for it.
