《Teaching Heroes of Might and Magic》Chapter 22: Sentience is a weird thing, and so are emotions in critical moments.
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My journey towards Sasha was a relatively quick one, seeing as how it was merely a long walk up a small hill, through a relatively foggy area, which was eerily empty, containing nothing whatsoever.
Thinking about it, this place was quite creepy when you connected a few dots with some of the horror movies I watched back on Earth. Perhaps this was some silent hill like area, but considering that fact that Sasha enjoyed staying in this creepy environment, it can't be that bad, right?
So I mustered up my minuscule courage, and walked through the immensely thick fog, and after several dozen minutes, of what I'm sure is me walking around in a circle, both my injuries and my slow walk came to an end. My injuries were more internal than external, so I managed to get over them quickly. I mean dealing with a powerful headache isn't that hard, since if I had some panadol, that pain would be gone almost instantly. Nonetheless, this world didn't have any headache medicine, so I just had to stop thinking for awhile, which isn't that hard either.
Nonetheless, I walked out of the fog, into a beautiful clearing, full of pretty flowers, ranging from roses, to tulips, to weird cherry blossoms that were on the ground, to lotuses, to lilies and poppies.
In the middle of this clearing full of flowers was a beautiful tree, which was ridiculously tall, but what made it beautiful wasn't its immense height, but its rainbow coloured leaves. It was shockingly beautiful.
A mesmerising sight, which made me inhale deeply in shock. I can't believe I didn't realise such a beautiful place was this close to my humble abode.
I looked at the base of the rainbow tree, and there she was, my little disciple. She lay against the tree with a her eyes closed and a look of pure peace upon her as she rested lightly.
All of this coupled together was incredible. It was surreal in its beauty. As if a godly artist poured his soul into a painting. I simply stood on the edge of the clearing as I stared in a dumb and creepy manner, but which father didn't at such times.
I quickly collected myself and slowly walked towards Sasha, doing my best to walk as quietly as possible. I didn't want to disturb her, but I still walked towards her. Such a contradictory act.
Nonetheless, I made my way towards her as I gently moved through the field of flowers as they brushed against me ever so slightly. The rainbow tree itself looked as if it twisted itself to stare at me, but that was impossible. I mean, a sentient tree? Actually, thinking about it properly, a sentient tree was easily possible in this fucked up world.
I mean, I was brought to this alternate reality, but a barbarian of a god, whose power I couldn't even fathom.
So, I did what any weakling putting up a fake act of strength did, I put my guard up against this rainbow tree, just in case it was a man eating tree that lulled its prey towards itself with its surreal beauty and hallucinations.
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I quickly scoured my surrounding to see if I was stuck in a hallucination, but my ability turned up with nothing, which meant I was being paranoid for no reason.
I sighed as I stared at this majestic tree. I stopped a couple of metres away from this rainbow tree and attempted to use scour on it. If scour came up with information, it meant the rainbow tree wasn't sentient and I was becoming paranoid. This was both a good and bad outcome. It was good because it meant I could let my guard down, but it was bad because I was starting to become suspicious of everything in this world, including a fucking a tree.
If scour came up with nothing, it meant the rainbow tree was in fact sentient, and that my paranoia was justified, but just like the previous outcome, this was both good and bad. It was good, because if it is sentient, it meant I was still a paranoid bastard, but I was right to be paranoid, but it was bad because the tree was actually fucking sentient.
I sighed deeply and I scoured the tree, and then I almost shat myself. No info came up. The tree was fucking sentient. Oh my fucking god! What do I do now?!
Fuck! Sasha was sleeping against it. Oh my god... What do I do?!
Standing several metres away from the tree, I slowly began to walk around it. It wasn't a fast walk, it wasn't even a normal walk. It was a super slow, old school western cowboy movie level slow walk.
I walked around the rainbow tree ever so slowly, as it turned ever so slowly to follow me. At this point in time, I was almost certain that this tree was as scared of me as I was scared of it.
In the time it took for me to walk around the rainbow tree, which was a very long time because of my slow walk, I saw the tree visibly shake... I saw a tree shake in fear. How many people can claim to have been able to see such a thing? I doubt that number would exceed more than a hundred.
I'm not even sure what the tree was afraid of either. Was it afraid of the robe, or something else that Zoras had given to me without my knowledge? Was this robe so badass that it could make something as incredible as this rainbow tree shake in fear? Was this robe so badass that it would let me walk through a location known as the 'Forest of Silence' without so much as a single interruption?
I had no fucking clue, and I doubt I would find out anytime soon.
I stopped my rotation of the tree once I was back in my original position. I stood there and stared at the tree for a couple more minutes before I slowly walked towards it. I was immensely cautious as I neared the tree, and I'm not even sure how cautious the tree itself was.
I prepared my courage by dipping my balls in steel and made my way towards the rainbow tree till I was just barely a metre away from it.
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Sasha was half a metre to my right, but she was deeply asleep. As if what was happening right now had nothing to do with her whatsoever.
This girl... I swear, all she had done in the couple of years we've been together is bring endless trouble my way. From making me doubt my morality, to forcing me into positions in which I could easily have died if the opposition figured out my bullshit, and now she brought me to this 'tree'.
Standing in front of the tree, I breathed in deeply before I began to speak to the rainbow tree.
“It is a pleasure to meet you” I started off the conversation with positive small talk, just to show I was polite “Also, do allow me to thank you for taking care of the little one” I continued on a positive note with the tree, so that it would have a better opinion of me “I know you didn't have to look after the brat, but because you did, you have my thanks” I said as I gave the tree a smile, which even I didn't know if it was genuine or not. If the smile was genuine, it meant I was adapting to this world, where you can even have a conversation with a tree. If my smile was fake, it meant I was still adapting to this world, but I didn't like or comprehend the things that were happening to me, like conversing with a tree.
Nonetheless, whether I was going insane or not didn't matter any more, so I simply waited for the tree to reply somehow.
The rainbow tree went completely still. I think it was similar to when a human went stiff in shock. I watched the rainbow tree stop moving completely, even its leaves didn't sway in the light wind. If my words were this effective, there was no reason to stop now, was there? So I quickly attempted to rectify the situation.
“You've helped soothe the turmoil within the little ones heart, and for that reason, I would like to thank you, personally if you do not mind” I asked. My question shocked me as well. I can't believe I managed to man up so much and ask such a thing? Rectify my ass, I made the situation worse. I was having a panic attack now that I was thinking things through.
What if its personal form was horrifying? No one said a beautiful trees other form was going to be pretty. What if I lost my cool when it showed its real form? What if I screamed out loud in fear?
Oh my god. No, fuck god, he won't help. Oh myself. Shit. What do I do?
The tree itself began to shake, and I'm not sure if it was out of anger or another emotion. What if asking to see it personally was something really offensive to sentient trees? What if I step on a major taboo for this rainbow trees race?
My god damned heart had to act up now didn't it? And my brain as well? Why did the two most important organs in regards to personal interactions have to go full retard during such a critical moment?
I attempted to force myself to calm down, but it wasn't working. The more I tried to calm myself down, the more my heart and brain began to act up.
So this is how I die, huh? Well, I guess dying in such a beautiful place isn't exactly the worse way to go.
What...? I calmed down. So finally accepting I was going to die calmed me down? Shouldn't that make me panic even more?
Nonetheless, that didn't really matter. Now that I had managed to calm down, it was time to focus on this tree and see what it did.
I still don't understand how if I'm panicking on the inside, I manage to stay absolutely calm on the outside. It made no sense, and I had no way of making sense of it, but I guess I should thank Zoras for this ability, because I doubt anyone else would give me such a thing.
Staring at the tree, I hoped that it didn't react violently, but what happens, happens.
I looked at the tree, and I was positive it was staring back at me. It was most definitely studying me, and after several minutes of awkward silence, a voice suddenly penetrated the awkward atmosphere.
A beautiful, ethereal voice entered my ears. As if an angel began to whisper in my ear, this voice entered my very being as it spoke. It was so beautiful I almost began to cry just from hearing this voice.
I was shocked to my very core, but thanks to my bullshit ability of somehow keeping calm on the outside, I didn't react visibly at all.
I felt like crying on the inside, because the voice brought up my purest emotions, it was the gentlest thing I ever heard. Like I could just open up and spill all of my troubles and they would somehow be handled thanks to this voice.
“Please do not thank me great one” this ethereal feminine voice replied to me, as it was the greatest honour it had ever had. I, a 'great one'? Me being great was as big a lie as Zoras being a proper god. “I have done nothing worth one such as yourself to thank for” and I swear the tree began to bend slightly, as it was bowing towards me “Please allow this one to grace you with its true form” and like that, a light so bright, I'm certain I just became blind, flashed.
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Hey guys, Old Man here!
My bad for the late chapter, I had many a bullshit reasons so I couldn't post any sooner, but I promise to try and pick up the pace soon. Please believe and pray for my success, and enjoy everyone!
Peace and Love,
-Old Man with excuses
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