The Tree Singers were singing until their final seconds—swords burst through chests as their final breaths came out in high, painful notes. Then the Ministry's forces came with fire, which engulfed the Forever Tree. It wasn't necessary—the tree would've died eventually anyway without the Singers' song to sustain it, but the Ministry wanted the tree to die as quickly as possible. Because as the tree started to burn, its Juggernaut, which was still fighting off the Ministry's forces as best it could, staggered. It fell to the ground, weakened, and the Ministry's cowardly forces overwhelmed it, hacking at it with their swords, even though it was already turning to ash with its Forever Tree. The glowing blue light in its chest gradually dimmed until finally it winked out. And then the fire grew out of control, and everyone ran—everyone but me. I stayed and watched as the Forever Tree, and the Juggernaut, and the Tree Singers all burned together, the way they'd lived, their life forces all bound together as one. It was a terrible thing. A terrible thing.