Home... it’s something I’ve thought about ever since the encounter with the huntress, as the day fell towards the night, I stayed. Staring into the stars, I do not require sleep nor sustenance, I’m unsure of how to label my emotions. Are they even emotions? Do I have the same emotions as other creatures?

I wonder if I age, I wonder if I reproduce, I wonder if there’s even another sentient creature like me out there.

Many questions, but sadly with very few answers. But I do know one thing for sure, I want... a home. A place to call mine, a place to live in. I have no memories of before I opened my eyes in this swamp, as far as I’m aware I was ’born’ here, I take a look at my surroundings. The background noise of insects clearly heard, the scenery in the moonlight is gentle and beautiful.

And, in this place, I sense something else. Different from simple nature but so close and intertwined with it at the same time, I wish to get closer to it, I wish not to simply use it, but become one with it. I reach out my hand, the moonlight shinning on my skin, and for the first time I feel ‘it’. In a flash water gathered at my hand, not from the lakes around me, but from myself.

I created water out of thin air, in the shape of a perfect sphere. I instinctively knew, I had just utilized mana. I’ve decided, this place, the place of my birth, the place of my first experience of life and the place of my first ever experience harnessing mana, this swamp, would be my home.

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A few days after my entry to the world, and the claiming of my new home, nothing particularly interesting happened. I observed, the same as I’ve always done, however. Now I have something new to observe and experiment, my power to control mana, I figured out fairly early on that the swamp has a large supply of natural mana. The air itself is filled to the brim with it, I don’t know how I didn’t sense it earlier, my first test was to once again form a sphere of water.

I then attempted to mould it into a new shape, with better results the more I practiced, simple shapes like a square I can produce with ease. But more complex shapes like a blade or an arrow take considerably more effort and costs more mana, I can move said shape around without too much hassle however the further away I move it the more control and concentration it requires. I can circumvent this somewhat, for example if I form a blade out of water rather than swinging it myself I could use my mana to propel it forwards as a means of attack, essentially turning it into a projectile. Although it doesn't remain in the correct shape for long.

The wildlife of the swamp ignore me for the most part, perhaps it’s because to them I’m simply a tree. I seem to have an odd connection to them, it isn’t too surprising considering I’m the closest thing to a walking tree in this swamp. If I simply walk up to a tree and place my hand upon it an experience just like the one with the huntress happens, I can see a portion of its life, starting from a little sapling growing up to a full fledged force of nature.

I almost feel a kinship between us, a familiarity of some sort, we understand each other. Over the last few days I feel my connection to the trees and the swamp itself to a lesser extent strengthen, I feel what the trees feel. And that’s how I noticed a problem, some of the trees a distance away, were burning. I felt fear, I had no clue why but it felt primal, like something that shouldn't exist, raw and untamed. And then, rage. A completely new emotion took hold of me, one which I had never experienced until this point.

I reluctantly rushed toward the burning trees and I laid my eyes on the ones destroying the swamp and every living thing in sight.

The undead.

The ones burning down the swamp were skeletons, creatures of bone and death, creatures that I automatically knew to despise, they were burning down the swamp, no, my swamp. My home and birthplace, I felt unending amounts of rage swell inside me.

‘Unclean, unclean.’

I repeated those words in my mind like a mantra.

Unclean, unclean, filthy, REVOLTING.

I could no longer hold back my rage, there were six moving cadavers in total, five of them were wearing nothing and simply holding crude rusted swords, however one of them was wearing a dark cloak with the hood down. He looked like a magus and that assumption was correct, the moment I ran in he charged up another fireball and aimed it at me, the very same fireball spell that he used to ravage the swamp. I wasn’t in a clear enough state of mind to dodge, I took the scorching blast head on and watched as my body became a beacon of flame. I ignored it and pushed on regardless, running directly towards the magus, perhaps realizing what I was doing or maybe acting on instinct the other skeletons stood in my way.

I had never tested my strength up until this point so I had no reference as to how much raw power I was wielding or if I was even powerful enough to beat these corpses in combat, but in this moment of rage anything resembling caution was thrown out the window. With me being two meters tall I had the appearance of a charging bonfire, I bulldozed through the first one, using my fist to flatten his skull, and soon the rest followed.

Ramming the next two that couldn’t even raise their swords before falling I then turned to the remaining three skeletons, two sword wielders and a magus. I rushed in before the spell caster could throw anything at me, still flaming from that earlier fireball he launched at me. One of the swordsman was moving to meet me head on and landed a futile diagonal slash across my chest, before being promptly flattened.

The magus once again started charging an attack, the other skeleton was sent in to buy as much time as possible, I couldn’t let him finish. I grabbed the skeleton by the skull and launched him at the magus that was almost done with the spell, I put all my power behind it. The moving remains of the dead smashed together, the feeble aged bones broke and the magus was swept off his feet, he was knocked to the ground and this unexpected situation caused the magus‘ spell to backfire and a small explosion of fire engulfed the undead.

The fight now being over, I regained some rationality, realizing I was still on fire I did my utmost to summon water using mana, I made the sphere larger than ever before and dropped it on myself, instantly extinguishing the crackling flames attached to my body. I looked down at skin, black and charred, I couldn’t feel any pain likely due to my unique existence but I was not one to complain, I had attained victory, I had won.