Welcome to the TREE OF LIFE: Branching Out collaborative writing challenge, where creative minds meet epic movie music. To read the collective story in its entirety as it unfolds and for more details on this groundbreaking collaboration with Audiomachine click HERE.
Today’s featured guest writer is Elise Fallson, which is french for fabulous photographer and fantastically funny!
* Listen to the inspiring track from Audiomachine’s Tree of Life album featured in the sidebar music player
Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – Equinox – Tree of Life
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Zoe reached out, but hesitation gripped her soul. Something felt wrong.
“Go on,” tempted the serpent, darkness dripping from its forked tongue.
“Don’t listen my love, it speaks only lies,” Adam said, as he and the unicorn rounded the tree to join her. But their words fell into obscurity as Zoe’s mind recalled the day she met Adam, when the power of life burst through her fingertips for the first time. She remembered the thin man, the old woman, the fire-haired child, and the Tree of Life. That day she had been given a gift and this she had not forsaken.
Instead of the fruit, she took the serpent.
It wrangled in her grasp, hissing in protest but Zoe was stronger. Her fingertips ignited with the power and brilliance of a newborn star, and drove the darkness from the reptile’s heart. The serpent pulled away in a sphere of light that expanded ten fold until a dragon emerged in its place. The animal towered over them, completely covered in scintillating jade-colored armored scales that sent reflected light in every direction. Golden-colored spines sprung from the back of its head to the tip of its tail and glorious wings unfurled across the land.
Looking down at Zoe the dragon said, “Thank you. You broke the curse and brought harmony and equilibrium back to my heart. The Elders chose you well. Climb on, both of you. I have something to show you.”
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© 2013 Elise Fallson
ATTENTION FANS: You can WIN an autographed TREE OF LIFE Audiomachine album by LEAVING COMMENTS! On August 17th, two lucky readers will be chosen at random from the comments section of the story excerpts. The more you comment–the better your chances are of winning a piece of cinematic history! We want to hear from YOU!
TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:
Purchase a CD from CD Baby
Download it from iTunes
Stream it on Spotify Download it from Amazon Purchase a CD from Amazon
WriterlySam 
too thrilling for speech!
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I have a huge weakness for dragons – and this promises to be an exciting ride.
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Oh, Elise! I LOVE what you did here! Taking the redemptive power of the life-giver to free a foul thing from the evil surrounding it. Seriously, I’m a little teary-eyed. 🙂
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Hi Elise,
There you go, Penny and myself just knew you would create a superbly crafted segment. Words that entice, bring forth added dimensions. Your love of writing and the continuance that will go from this, bodes well. Very well done, Elise. Thank you for your contribution to this collaboration.
Penny and Gary 🙂
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Oh wow, what a TERRIFIC twist, yet so fitting with what’s come before! Absolutely loved it!
Tina @ Life is Good
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YAY!!!! I love dragons! And you’ve written this so beautifully. Huzzah!
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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awesome! dragon! *happy dance* what a fantastic turn of events.
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This is such a delightfully unexpected twist! Impressive continuity! Such beautiful meaning you’ve pulled from the notes, my dear:)
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This is perfect. Ha! What a great twist… 🙂
I love the descriptive writing. You’ve painted a clear and vivid picture – I can see the dragon’s scintillating scales, golden spines and glorious wings…
Great job Elise!
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Awesome!! Good to read that dragon appears!
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Great work of weaving in earlier elements from the story. Loved this, Elise!
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Oooh, rewriting creation! I love it. There be dragons here! Doesn’t everyone love a dragon? Great job, Elise!
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Tres bien, mon ami. Or is that Amy? I really enjoyed this, Elise, and love the whole concept of this story idea.
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I just basked in the beauty of what you created, Elise! Such a fabulous turn to the story. Love it!
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I am honored to be a part of this collaboration with such amazing writers and incredible music. Thank you Sam for making it happen. (:
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A thrilling and fantastic story. I love Elise’s imagery. She is so talented.
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Brilliant, loved the direction you took, and I’m so partial to dragons!
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Ok, I have a new favorite entry. Seriously- this absolutely blew me away. I LOVED that you brought in the elements that seemed to have been previously forgotten and I LOVE that you gave Zoe the ability to weild her power wisely. And, this is sort-of silly, but- DRAGONS?!?! Yeeeesssss!
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Oh, applause!!! Yay for turning the serpent into a dragon, and for her making that choice. I also enjoyed your descriptions. Your wording was quite scrumptious.
Shannon at The Warrior Muse
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I’m a HUGE fan of Audiomachine (I have almost all of their stuff and actually reviewed Two Steps From Hell on my blog many moons ago) AND Elise (I’m a dedicated follower of her blog), so I can’t tell you how much win this was for me. 🙂
Why I’m just now learning about the Tree of Life project, I’ve no clue, but I’m definitely now a massive fan.
Loved the story snippet, Elise. This is going to be some kind of awesome fantasy-adventure! We need more… like now. 😀
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