Forever

Staring at the sky, Salim was frozen as he watched purple tendrils envelope the tree, wrapping tightly around the base and obscuring it. Not wanting to miss a second of whatever was happening, Salim stayed enraptured as the light covered the last few branches that stretched the farthest from the base. As the tree was enveloped, he slowly opened his eyes, the bright light fading as the tree was smothered by the moon.

Not reacting, Salim stared vacantly at the tree as the tendrils slowly spread out, using the trunk as a focal point to move across the clearing. They were large, reaching his chest in height and round without any obvious definition than glowing a deep purple. While not too threatening on their own, the way they wriggled like worms as they moved along the ground, feeling around for anything they could get their tendrils on, made him deeply uncomfortable.

A crack reverberated through the clearing, like wood splitting under pressure as the tendrils froze, some wrapped around the trees on the outskirts of the clearing. Slowly, uncurling, they left dried husks, even more drained of their earthy brown glow, leaving behind a twisted withering mass that used to be a tree. Another crack, followed by a squelch, broke the night's silence as something writhed underneath the obscured light.

Still unsure on what to do, Salim decided to play it safe and stay far away from whatever was making the noise, attempting to check his surroundings by turning his skill on and off, but found nothing, the ominous profile of the tree seemed to grow bigger as the noises continued. It sounded like someone trying to make air bubbles in mud, popping and gurgling as they died a horrific death via suffocation.

The process continued far into the night, bouts of activity followed by short periods of silence as the tree was held under the watchful eye of the moon. Salim didn’t interfere, didn’t even think about it, especially since Fallon was doing it for one reason or another.

Now he sat, both attempting to resist his exhaustion, while also unable to fall asleep from the paranoia and the horrific noises that filled the air. Trapped in consciousness, Salim stayed in a fugue state all night, stomach growling as he tried to keep the exhaustion at bay. It didn’t work, since his hunger continued biting his insides, keeping his focus on the bottomless pit in his stomach.

Trying to focus on his magic was a wash as well, the physical discomfort combined with the less than relaxing sounds meant that anytime he tried to form a shape or work on a new spell he would get distracted. After the fifth time his spell failed, he gave up on trying to do anything that required focus and waited for sunrise while watching the stars. Staring at the cosmos, it spread out into patterns he didn’t recognize, although he didn’t know any constellations on Earth either.

Eventually, the sun peaked over the horizon and covered the trees in its bright, vibrant hues. The sounds of the tree had gone quiet for a while, which had disturbed Salim at first but eventually let him relax and almost fall asleep before the light disturbed him, shining through his eyelids. Groaning as he tried to pierce through the grogginess, Salim sat up and had to wait a few seconds as his brain remembered where he was.

Standing up, he looked over to the clearing before feeling an immediate wave of regret. Where the white tree had previously stood, it now was an amalgamation of flesh, blood, and keratin which bled onto the surrounding grass. Hair, nails, eyes all strewn across the general shape of the tree with no rhyme or reason, the entire structure shivering under the morning sunlight.

The smell caused Salim to bend over hacking, his body dry heaving against his will as he attempted to purge the sight from his memory. An iron tang filled the air as he propped himself up against a tree, his exhaustion exacerbating the reaction as he attempted to wrestle for control of his body to stop throwing up. Blood was pooled in heavy clumps around the base of the tree, a deep crimson that slowly absorbed into the soil as its branches waved, flinging droplets onto the surrounding grass.

You have witnessed an intense act of arcane might.

Event has been Logged.

You have gained a Level!

It was little solace to his current pathetic state as he was finally able to stop the dry heaving, his body slowly getting used to the smell. The sickly feeling persistent, but he was able to concentrate on the message in front of him. Throwing open his stat page, Salim quickly assigned the points into stats he thought would help him not throw up whatever he was going to eat next, because just the memories of the ‘tree’ had him feeling queasy.

Lvl. 11

Stats

Confirm

Might: 20 (25)

-/+

Finesse: 21

-/+

Resilience: 20 (25)

-/+

Acuity: 25

-/+

Resolve: 25

-/+

Depth: 20

-/+

The pain from his stats was a welcome one, distracting him from the nauseous smell wafting from the clearing, his skin solidified and muscles tightened as he slowly began to dissociate. When the sensations had lessened and slowly rescinded to the back of his mind, Salim was feeling better, he still felt like throwing up, but was able to keep himself from doing so with some effort. Lifting his head, he stared at the tree to see if he could spot Fallon at the base, but had no luck.

Walking slowly around the side of the clearing, Salim carefully watched the tree with [Arcane Eyes] alongside his normal vision for any signs of change. The tree's energy was dimmer than the piercing light that had blinded him previously, as a muffled magenta light pulsated inside the flesh mass. The tree itself seemed to be twitching with each pulse of the light, a beating heartbeat that, for all he knew, was probably the case.

Reaching the other side of the clearing without anything strange happening, Salim peaked through the brush to check again for Fallon. Not seeing anything, he backed away and considered walking back to the stream, stomach grumbling as a belch came from the clearing. Quickly moving back to peer into the clearing, he watched as the tree vomited blood onto the ground through multiple holes it had along its fleshy branches.

As the blood fell onto the ground, the smell of iron grew more noxious, mixing with the dirt and turning it into a viscous mud. Transfixed by the horrific sight, Salim watched the tree spasm, speeding up as the morning light seemed to reach further down its trunk. It was like a morbid combination of watching paint dry and a car crash, as the amalgamation danced in pain as the sun rose unceasingly, inch by inch.

After what felt like hours, the sun reached the bottom of the trunk, despite its obvious protests, it thrashed, whipping its branches, and made weird gurgling noises as it struggled in futility against the sun. With one final crack, the tree froze, completely still against the slight breeze that moved the wispy clouds overhead, before splitting vertically and collapsing to the ground with a loud smash. In the center of the mass of gore a figure stood, what looked like the twisted remains of a wolf, bone easily visible from its jaw and side, far larger than anything he had seen since getting abducted.

Salim’s back begin to sweat at the sight of the creature, familiar horror causing his hands shake. Without thought, he turned and ran, his heart accelerating as he smashed through the underbrush, his feet paying the consequences as the spurs dug into his feet. Stumbling from the pain, he recovered as adrenaline flooded his system, pushing him to run faster.

After a few minutes, he stopped to catch his breath, having never ran that fast in his life before, he was wholly unprepared. Looking around with labored breaths, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, although that was a concern rather than a relief to him. Trying to calm his breath, Salim simply stood, listening for any noise that stood out in the forest.

He had no idea what Fallon was doing creating that creature, but he wasn’t going to stay around and find out, his eyes darting to the left as he heard something snap. Not finding what made the noise, he turned tail and started running again, less frantic as he tried to keep a steady pace but as fast as he could manage without feeling like he was actively dying. He tried to reference the sun, but with his panic it was hard to navigate even with slightly pointing towards the east.

Lost and more exhausted than before, Salim kept running, only taking the occasional break to rest and attempt to dose up on tree sap to keep himself from passing out. Feeling clever when he first came up with the idea, he was beginning to think it was a mistake as the sap began mixing strangely with his mana, turning it slightly green as it diluted into his core after his fourth time drinking it. The tailwind the sap provided was helping less and less as time went on, as the color of mana in his core slowly changing into a sickly green.

Along the way, he had been continuously expending his magic, trying to make room for all the sap flowing into his core while flinging branches out of his way as he sprinted through the bush. As his mana drained more and more while the sap slowly pooled at the sides of his core, make it more difficult to cast as the energy didn’t want to obey. It was like an argument was happening inside his very soul, as the sap refused to do more than shoot out of his body in a mist of pale light.

Hands streaming with pale green light, Salim’s vision began to blur, he felt light-headed. Something felt off as he kept stumbling forward, aware enough to not run straight into a tree or rock, but not enough to avoid the branches that reached out and cut lines into his arms. He wasn’t bleeding bad, but he could feel his arms heating up from the injuries, causing him to sweat even more.

He didn’t know how long he had been running; eventually the sun began to set, which took him a while to figure out as he was still thinking of it as east. Feeling the need to keep running, he kept his eyes straight and pumped his arms, his speed having slowed down to the pace of an aggressive speed walk.

One more step, one more step and I’ll be done, he repeated to himself, attempting to push through the pain with his mantra. It was working until his foot snagged on the increasingly uneven rocky ground, and he ended up face down although thankfully conscious, his dizziness catching up to his empty stomach in painful fashion.

Yeu Uaef Anrfhymed Vo Acc To Ppasihac Rndenloer.

Ehdet Gno Bavn Eslgee.

Yuo Have Daegee A Lnvil!

The message was illegible under Salim’s eyes, but he knew what it meant. Trying his hardest to regain function of his body, he attempted to distribute points with the hope it would speed up his recovery.

Lvl. 12

Stats

Confirm

Might: 25 (26)

-/+

Finesse: 21 (23)

-/+

Resilience: 25 (29)

-/+

Acuity: 25 (27)

-/+

Resolve: 25 (26)

-/+

Depth: 20

-/+

His body burned as the sap was consumed at a visible rate, flowing through his body by the whims of some unknown force, it began to undergo changes in his severe condition. Feeling like he was made of paper, Salim watched his body rapidly molt as new, tougher skin began to emerge from underneath the dead skin that now littered his body. Only letting out a groan as the changes occurred, he felt better in some ways, his lungs taking in more air than ever as his head stopped spinning and turned into a small headache.

As his senses slowly returned to normal, his breath was once again stolen. All around him were rocks, with only a few small trees sparsely populating the area, with the actual forest beginning a couple yards away. In the other direction, the ground dropped straight down, being the end of what appeared to be a cliff that extended as far as he could see in both directions. Below him was a giant lake that was surrounded by an idyllic looking forest with trees similar to the ones behind him.

There were other plateaus, spread out across the skyline, with rivers and waterfalls falling off them, splashing down their rocks walls to reach the lake below. It all looked like a temperate Grand Canyon, shimmering under the evening light.

Suddenly, a crunch sounded behind him, something scraping against gravel.

Whipping around, Salim saw the wolf standing a few feet behind him, stock still, as the ground gradually darkened from clouds above. He froze, not moving an inch as he studied the creature, eyes drifting over the rotted pelt that stuck to its yellow chipped bones. Its skull was hollow, though the empty eye sockets seemed to convey a deep hunger with how deep they were.

Salim shifted his weight, shifting the rocks near his feet and causing him to almost trip over his own feet. Quickly glancing down, he quickly regained his balance before darting his head back up.

It was already lunging at him.