---
"Please, Kai! Please, never forget who you are!"
"Mother!" Kai muttered quietly, his eyes fluttering open slowly. Arghh! Why does my head hurt so much?! he thought, raising a weak arm and placing it on his forehead.
He slowly pushed himself off the ground. This... Where am I? he questioned, glancing around in confusion. He could see the roots and sap of the World Tree, meaning he was still beneath it.
The last thing he remembered was falling into the roots of the World Tree—and meeting that strange entity.
'That entity! Just what was it? I remember it flying into my body! What actually happened?'
He tried to stand but found it difficult. 'Why does my body feel so heavy? And why is this tunic hugging my body so tightly?'
He stretched out his arm, his eyes widening with each passing second. 'What is this? Why is my hand so big?'
Turning, he saw a small pool of sap just a few meters away. He hurriedly crawled toward it, his breathing growing heavier as he drew closer.
His eyes instantly darkened as he saw his reflection in the dull golden hue of the sap. 'W-What have I become?!'
His hair had grown longer and rougher, reaching his shoulders, with silver streaks flowing down from the base to the tips. Two little horns protruded protruded from his forehead which his hair covered
His eyes glowed with a golden hue, with long, thin slits inside them. His once-lean body now looked slightly athletic. In fact, he could swear he'd grown taller Faint, dark markings crawled across his skin from his neck to his arms. They were almost unnoticeable unless one looked closely. It felt like they were trying to hide themselves.
Shock etched across his face as he stumbled backward while trying to stand. 'Just what did that entity do to me?'
'Am I still human?' he questioned, staring at his palm. A glowing sigil shaped like a beast's eye was etched into it.
The whole thing troubled him greatly. Was it a mistake to accept power from that entity?
His mother's last words kept echoing in his head: "Kai! Please never lose yourself to hatred!"
He sighed softly. He had to bury those thoughts deep within. At the end of the day, he needed power—any power—to get his revenge.
"I need to get out of here," he said, looking up at the light shining from the hole he had fallen through. He sighed before jumping onto one of the roots.
T-This… this feels too easy! he thought with a smile, climbing up the twisted roots with relative ease. His slightly muscular arms pulled on a root, hoisting him upward again.
Before long, he reached the edge of the hole and pushed himself up. Surprisingly, I'm not tired after that!
He looked around in confusion, dusting himself off. 'The forest... it looks different. Just how long was I out?'
He walked through the forest slowly. The plants that had burned during the attack had already started growing back.
'I—I can see the temple from here! It's like my senses are heightened!' he thought, eyes scanning every movement. He could hear a bird's wing flutter from what felt like miles away. Even the wind brushing against his skin felt sharper.'Is this all an effect of the entity's power?'
As he drew closer to the temple, his skin began to crawl. Something had changed. He saw moss growing over the collapsed walls, but more concerning—the dead bodies that had littered the temple grounds… were gone.
His heart pounded louder. 'Maybe beasts got in and ate the bodies… but still, the place looks too neat!', he thought, narrowing his eyes. There was no blood, no remains. It was clean. Too clean.
He began walking around, checking every corner of the temple with suspicion. Something felt incredibly off. But he just couldn't place his finger on it.
He made a sharp turn and headed toward the spot where he had buried his mother. As he drew closer, he heard multiple voices. 'People!'
Kai could hear their conversation as clearly as if they were whispering beside him. He hurriedly ducked behind a rock.
"Boss! We found the body—it's buried under here!" one of the voices said.
"Good. Dig it up," another voice replied, cold and deep.
Kai turned slightly to get a glimpse of them. They wore white armor with a large sigil—a shield and sword etched on their chest plates. The sigil glowed a golden colour.
There were about five of them. Four were digging, while the last stood above them, a maniacal grin stretched across his face. "Her body still radiates of divine energy!" He licked his lips, his grin growing wider "Our God shall feed on something wonderful tonight!"
Kai's face twisted with rage. He clenched his fists so hard that blood began dripping from his palms. His eyes glowed with fury.That was his mother's grave.
First they killed her—now they wanted to desecrate her body and offer it to their bastard god.
"Why won't these people just leave us alone?!" he whispered, his voice trembling with rage and disgust.
Then—a sharp pain exploded in his head as a voice responded within his mind.
"Why do you hesitate, boy? You want them to leave you? Then kill them."
"Damn it! Shut up!" Kai suddenly screamed, his voice cracking as the pressure finally boiled over—
A cold, chaotic aura erupted violently from his body.
---