But it hadn't died; new branches had already sprouted from its main trunk, a milky white tinged with beige.
This was a blackwood tree, known as Zalanta back in Gaven's old home of Thacel, famous for its black timber and bark.
The blackwood tree had a single main trunk and would then send out eight or more roots branching into the ground, spreading like an open palm.
This meant that the trunk of the blackwood tree was very tall and very straight, like a sword thrusting straight into the sky, generally exceeding twenty meters in height, and the oldest of them could even surpass forty meters.
The blackwood tree before them was old enough, its roots thick enough for two people to embrace, and under normal circumstances, it should have reached a height of forty meters.
But the Carrier Bug's impact had greatly diminished it; now it was just over twenty meters tall, less than thirty meters.
