Grove of Fourteen

The Grove of Fourteen

The Grove of Fourteen was a specialized, unstructured sanctuary of trees located at the far eastern edge of the food gardens of Tarwa Matso, within the Eldrim village of Sylrantheas. Personally planted and tended to by the Cultivation Mentor Nuala, the grove originally consisted of entirely ordinary trees. However, it possessed a profound, hidden destiny, eventually becoming the foundation of the new Prime Forest that would save the world.

The Fourteen Trees

Unlike the rest of Sylrantheas—which was carefully integrated into the towering redwood ecosystem of Muir Woods—the grove contained fourteen distinct species of trees that were not naturally native to the immediate region. Nuala had them brought in years prior, allowing them to grow naturally without any particular order or structured placement.

The fourteen trees represent the fourteen types of primewood, which govern the entirety of the magic system on both Earth and Valaralda. They are divided into seven distinct woodpairs (one deciduous and one coniferous tree per pair), each dictating a specific Aspect of the soul and its corresponding lightprime and darkprime powers.

The fourteen tree species in the Grove were:

Birch and Spruce: Powers the lightprime Protector Way (soulsoothing, cultivation, preservation) and darkprime transmuting.
Ash and Hemlock: Powers the lightprime Scholar Way (stormwarding) and darkprime forcefinding.
Elm and Fir: Powers the lightprime Movement Way (leafrunning) and darkprime shockstriking.
Poplar and Yew: Powers the lightprime Destroyer Way (bladedancing) and darkprime mindmaster magic.
Maple and Pine: Powers the lightprime Builder Way (mistweaving) and darkprime fallfoiling.
Oak and Cedar: Powers the lightprime Governor Way (strengthshaping) and darkprime mergemelding.
Willow and Cypress: Powers the highly restricted Primal Way (the Seventh Aspect), enabling lightprime soulsundering and darkprime gatesending.

Key Events

Nuala's Divine Vision

Long before the events of the series, Nuala heard the whispers of the ancient deities known as the Twins. They instructed her to gather and grow one of each of the fourteen trees, and to keep them safe and strong. Although Nuala did not know the true purpose behind this command, she obeyed faithfully, believing that one day the trees would be needed.

Surviving the Cothellon Inferno

When the Cothellon forces descended upon Sylrantheas with bombs and fire, the vast majority of the ancient redwood village and the gardens of Tarwa Matso were utterly obliterated. However, by what seemed to be a miraculous stroke of fate, the fire inexplicably stopped at the edge of the gardens, leaving Nuala's Grove of Fourteen completely untouched by the flames.

The Sacrifice and Rebirth

Following the destruction of the Prime Trees during the aborted Soulsundering ritual, magic was on the brink of extinction. Seeking to fight back against the Cothellon's apocalyptic sky city device, the elven leader Silanar and the Cothellon defector Orym realized they needed a new source of power. Because Prime Trees can only be created through a willing sacrifice, fourteen volunteers lined up before the ordinary trees in Nuala's grove.

The fourteen brave souls included five named elven Mentors: the Instruction Mentor Belstram, the Movement Mentor Nuvian, the Sculpture Mentor Ryllae, the Conflagration Mentor Paeris, and Arra's mother, the Artisan Mentor Melenora, who bravely stepped forward to claim the final spot. They were joined by four unnamed elves and five unnamed humans from the Splinter. The volunteers willingly gave their lives, their blood soaking into the roots as they died. The magic absorbed their souls, violently ripping the ordinary trees upward and transforming them into fourteen towering, majestic Prime Trees.

The Ascension of the Forest

Immediately after the new Prime Trees were born, the young underkid mage Rylan utilized the Book of Amplification and an immense reserve of darkprime maple to lift the entire Grove of Fourteen into the sky. Pulling the massive tree roots and a thick layer of soil right out of the earth, Rylan elevated the newly birthed Prime Forest thousands of feet into the air to directly combat the Cothellon sky cities and the unleashed Twins.