You approach the majestic willow tree, marveling at the massive moss-covered trunk and the mighty limbs reaching high into the sky. By its sheer size alone, you can tell that it must be ancient. Then it hits you - this is the Mother, before you, under you, above you. She is the tree. A single spore slowly floats toward Guide. She reaches out to it and lets it land on her open palm. Through the Knock, she tells you, "Mother welcomes you. Not much time. She fights the Deepwood. Her children are twisted. She has answers we seek. Show you?" You nod. With your consent, Mother releases a thin stream of spores that flow through the air and settle softly on your exposed skin. With sharp inhalation, the spores enter your mind. Feelings and emotions not your own swirl around you as the world spins.

Humans from an age long past, hacking at trees centuries old, making them fall in the blink of an eye. Treekillers. You feel a great sadness, emptiness and lost potential. Humans with sharp metal weapons on a vast battlefield. Treekillers. You see great bioforms and A'Dendri rise up to resist the Treekillers. They meet in battle, and life water feeds the soil. It is not enough though. As both armies are turned to mulch, shadows begin to rise from the ground - dark, hateful things, and beyond them a larger shadow looms over all. You see the Great Father rise to defend the land, but he too is consumed by the shadow. Hope turns to desperation and the shadow advances. As it gets closer, you see the dark shape come into focus - as the blighted trunks of the Deepwood trees.

At last, a final intense picture comes to you. A cave. A cave that swallows up all light. It is the Heart of Darkness and as you stare into its depth, you feel yourself drawn into its inky blackness, deeper and deeper.

Then the light leaves you, and with it your consciousness.