This... this is stunning.

A long thin path of white dirt was cutting through a magnificent flowerbed composed of thousands of different variety. You could see bees flying from on to another, and the smell could send you to another place already.

Further ahead, in the centre of a micro-forest was a gigantic tree, touching the peak of the greenhouse, and which roots propagated to the edge of the dome. Between the leaves you could distinctly see pale blue fruit glowing, reminding me of stars in the sky.

Hundreds of birds were flying between and above the trees, some were enormous, and all had a unique colourful plumage.

It took me a bit of time to remark the heat and humidity of the surrounding air. It reminded me of the jungle. Aaah… nostalgia. I'm looking anxiously at the bees now though.

“How do you find the place?”

Lilith was joyfully walking ahead of me, showing me her beautiful garden.

“Is this heaven?”

“Haha, not yet sweety.”

“You mean there is a better view than here?”

“You’re so cute...”

I am not that dense, but I don’t want to enter her game. I already have a girlfriend.

Well, now that I think about it, I am not sure. We had kind of a fightback on Earth, and it was not long before being transported here… so I guess we broke up?

What am I thinking? it doesn’t matter, I am a faithful guy! And I’ll meet again with her soon enough anyway.

Image of the 4th struggle flashed in my mind. Damn, I wanted to forget about that… And technicality I also went out with Nathaly on the 5th.

Holy shit! Am I a player? Faithful my ass!

I hope it’s all because of the quest. Yeah, that must be it, I am a victim here! But I won’t let lust consume me. At least not until I’ve sorted out my relationship with Nami.

We arrived at the edge of the forest. Well, it wasn’t really a forest, but a dozen tree with one immensely larger than the other.

“I want you to get the fruit on top of the Mother Tree.”

“You mean the gigantic one? I have to climb all the way up there?”

“Exactly. And don’t make me wait.”

I climbed a lot of trees before, but none was that big. Meh, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be harder. And I have flux to back me up now, it will be a piece of cake.

Or at least it should. No matter how much I try, but I can barely control my flux. Enhancing my senses is working just fine, but that’s about it. The most plausible explanation would be that the plants are disrupting flux usage.

That would actually be plausible. The flux is really a cheating power, it’s quite logical that a countermeasure against it exists.

Too bad that I have to climb this with my natural strength though.

“Is there anything I should be worried about?”

“Be careful to not anger the monkeys, they are friendly but also shy and really sensitive.”

“Okay… well, I’m off then.”

The bark is thick and there are a lot of cracks. It’s pretty easy to climb.

After a few meters, I started to feel that the heat was actually taking a toll on me. And the air is so… heavy. I can already feel my shoulder.

Finally at the first high branch. They are huge, enough to let me take a rest. I looked up, and saw one of the fruit, just at the next branch above.

I took a 5 minutes break and swiftly went to the fruit. There, I found myself head to head with a monkey.

He had his oddly large hand already gripping the fruit. Up close, the glowing fruit looked like a watermelon.

The monkey was completely frozen, looking at me, a bit startled.

Needless to say, I was the same. So we stayed like that, looking at each other.

I looked at him.

He looked at me.

Then, his attention was suddenly diverted by something above.

What? I didn’t sense anything! I followed his line of sight through the leaves. Nothing.

I looked back at him. He was gone.

Wait… did I get played by a monkey? Oh my god… I was tricked like a beginner.

I guess I’ll put the fault on my post climbing exhaustion.

So… I have to find another fruit now. Fortunately, there was one just above me. Once again. Actually, there are fruits everywhere.

I went to get a monkey-free one – they are hiding but I can still spot them. In a minute, I acquired it. It does look like a blue watermelon, but the skin is really tough, I can’t seem to pierce it barehanded. I guess I’ll have to bring it back to Lilith.

Now is the tricky part, the way down. Even with flux, I don’t think jumping would be a good idea, so I guess I’ll have to climb down, that’s boring…

And hard! I forgot how much more tiresome it was than going up, and this time I have the fruit so I can only use one hand. It took me double the time to get down.

Finally on the ground, I looked around, but Lilith was nowhere to be seen. I called out to her, and heard the sound of a door opening. She then appeared from the other side of the mother tree.

“Oh my! Sweety is all sweaty.”

“Ha Ha, really funny.”

“I’m impressed, you were pretty fast.”

“I used to climb trees a lot. Where were you just now? I heard a door.”

“You don’t think I would have a tree this big without using it don’t you? I’ve built my house in it.”

That is so cool! I kinda want to see it now.

“Anyway, where is the fruit?”

“Here!”

“Oh… I thought you knew what you were looking for…”

“Wait… do you mean this is not the right fruit.”

“Yes.”

Fuck! I have to go back up again?!