By the time the sun had begun to set, we had already traversed a distance that would normally have taken us weeks, if not even more.

The stars were shining in their usual slightly red splendour in my mana vision, and I felt as relaxed as possible when being carried at extremely high speeds, which was surprisingly much.

If it weren’t for the cold wind forcing me to use my dwindling mana reserves to keep my body warm I might have truly enjoyed this trip, mostly due to the strange feeling of safety that I felt at Teacher’s side.

Teacher didn’t show any signs of stopping, so I guessed that we would continue travelling like this for quite a while. Ignoring the growing stiffness in my body, I did my best to meditate.

Unfortunately, the road was far too bumpy and Teacher wasn’t exactly travelling stably, causing my concentration to be broken more times than I could count.

In the end, I simply ended up in a half comatose state where I just continued meditating regardless of what happened in my surroundings – something that I would normally avoid at all costs due to the risks involved with something like that becoming a habit.

Strangely enough, I felt myself slowly becoming one with nature. It was as if I had fused my surroundings.

There was no ‘me’ anymore. Just ‘us’.

--------------------------------------------------

A slight breeze brushed past me, bringing a sweet fragrance with it.

I gently sniffed at the air around me, fully enjoying the inner peace I was feeling.

Animals of all sizes played around me, including some truly gargantuan beasts that would have thrown massive shadows if not for the unnatural dimness surrounding us.

Any other day they would have scared the shit out of me. Now, however, I didn’t feel anything but an overwhelming closeness with them. They seemed to feel the same as a lion that was a head taller than me strutted over and laid down in front of me.

Seeing that it didn’t have any malicious intentions, I couldn’t restrain my urges and reached my hand out to ruffle its incredibly soft mane.

This is definitely not normal, but at the same time it feels too natural to be completely fabricated.

Why did I suddenly appear in this space anyway? I remember being carried by Teacher whilst meditating, so the possibility of this being a dream is close to zero since I’ve never heard of anyone falling asleep during meditation.

Have I fallen victim to some kind of exotic poison? The only thing that could have done that to me was the strange liquid that fell onto me while I fought the ants, but I seriously doubt that their poison would be strong enough to cause such heavy hallucinations.

If it were, then they would have used it to simply immobilize me. I wouldn’t be able to even think this anymore as I would have died anyway, so that isn’t an option either.

The fluffy feedback that came from my hands further denied that possibility. Wild hallucinations would probably feel completely different. Probably more snippets of my past life.

“Are you enjoying your stay in my little paradise?” Said a voice that could have belonged to either gender from behind me.

I turned around as fast as I could, only to see a wooden wall in front of me.

When I looked closer, I realized that this wasn’t a wooden wall. No, this was the trunk of a fucking gigantic tree! Gigantic enough for the trunk alone to take up the entirety of my frontal vision from a metre away.

As my vision wandered up, I happened to se some of its low hanging branches which were extending close to where I was standing, each greenly glowing leaf seeming big enough to nearly wrap around me.

Its branches, if I could even call something that was most likely thicker than I was tall that, covered the entire sky above me, only occasionally letting a few glimpses of light through the dense green canopy.

By now my neck wasn’t capable of bending any further, yet I wasn’t able to see this tree in its entirety.

Judging by the staggering heights the trunk reached to, this tree was at least as tall as the city walls of Frumentum, if not even higher.

If there was anything that ever fit the description of World Tree, then it would probably be this. Compared to it, I would probably not even amount to an freaking ant!

“Snap out of it, little monkey.” The voice interrupted my train of thought.

I slowly turned my head around, searching my surroundings for the owner of that voice. The only things that I saw, however, were the animals and that massive tree in front of me.

There isn’t anything that could possibly speak the human language here, so where the hell is the person that called me little monkey?

Suddenly one of its massive branches appeared in front of me, gently nudging me.

Flabbergasted, I fell on the surprisingly hard ground butt first. No, this can’t be, right? There is no fucking way that a tree this massive could be sentient.

“Surprised? You ‘sentient’ races are always so ignorant when it comes to the true forces of nature, foolishly believing yourself to be unique and special.” The branch in front of me wrapped a cold, smooth leaf around me, elevating me to dizzying heights at a speed faster than even that of Teacher.

When I glimpsed at the ground below, I felt like I was back in the carriage on top of that bird again, the only difference being that I could fall down anytime now.

What surprised me, however, was that this space stretched out for as far as I could see, with thousands of extremely tiny looking animals and some beasts that I could clearly see from here wandering about.

A few lakes were randomly strewn about in the otherwise green landscape and in the distance mountains were faintly visible. In a way, this reminded me of the view I had from the plains, even though I never saw any indications of lakes being present there.

I slowly came to a stop near the place where the trunk ended and hundreds of branches started to extent into the sky.

Now that I was closer to it, the canopy was even more impressive than it was below. Every single movement my head made shifted the fascinating play between light and leaves, creating a completely different breath-taking sight to stare at.

It was like looking into a natural kaleidoscope.

A soft sigh echoed from everywhere around me. “You are still a child, so I won’t take your rude actions as an offence. Be happy that I’m so lenient with you little monkey. Most of my comrades would have ripped you into pieces after noticing you staring at them like that.” The tree stated, making the gravity of the situation I was in painfully clear to me.

How the hell does it know human tongue anyway? It couldn’t possibly have come into contact with humans before, right?

I’m sure it didn’t, since they would have started worshipping it. In fact, if I weren’t a person who came from another world I would have done the same.

The other world…I wonder how much has changed since I came here? I’m about thirteen years old now, so almost ten years have passed since my death.

I’m sure the rebels of New Pandora have lost the war, but I’d still like to know how my home planet fared. Well, considering some the massacres committed by that damned artefact I’m not sure if I want to know now that I think about it.

“I’d pay attention to my surroundings if I were you!” The tree shouted, causing my entire vision to wildly shake around as it moved the branch that held me up and down.

Uh oh focus on the present John! Angering a titanic tree probably isn’t a good idea.

“Uh, yes, of course.” I replied, trying to sound as obedient as possible.

The leaf tightened painfully around me, preventing me from making even the smallest movement.

“I don’t like unnecessary words, so let’s get to the point: Who are you and why do you have a trace of that wretched monster on your soul?” The tree yelled, causing massive vibrations to pass through my entire body.

“TELL ME!” It yelled again, but this time my eardrums felt like they were going to rupture any second.

What the fuck is he talking about? Traces on my soul? Monsters?

Gritting my teeth, I managed to yell, “I DON’T FUCKING KNOW!” with all my strength. Despite that, however, my voice was still drowned out in the endless cacophony that was produces by hundreds of oversized branches rustling at the same time.

Everything abruptly returned to silence. The whole world around me seemed to dim considerably, reducing the previously impressive sight into a scary one.

“You don’t know?” The tree mumbled barely loud enough for me to understand.

*Gulp*

Whatever the hell this tree is thinking about, I hope it doesn’t involve killing or maiming me in any way.

“Of course you don’t know. It certainly wouldn’t find this interesting.” The world returned to its previous colour, and I finally began to relax a little after not hearing any words declaring my imminent death.

“Well, since you have no further use for me you shall leave this place.” The branch holding me loosened, sending me into a free fall towards the ground.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAH” I screamed, trying to grab onto some of the leaves.

My hand missed them by mere centimetres, causing me to spiral whilst falling.

My vision began to uncontrollably blur, veiling everything around me in a bright white. Taking over more and more of my vision, I was soon unable to see anything other than it.

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Something slapped my cheek. Hard. “John, are you alright?” Frank’s voice came from the front.

Wait, what? Just what the fuck is going on today? First Teacher and his wife coming knocking at our door with the intent of picking us up and now Frank is slapping my freaking cheek after a strange encounter with an oversized tree!

“Let me try.” Teacher said, causing an uneasy feeling to appear in me.

He couldn’t possibly do something dangerous, right?

Before I could move or indicate in any way that I was awake, a strong stream of water splashed onto my face.

The water invaded every part of my mouth and nose, parts of it even getting into my lungs before I managed to roll away.

“See? I knew he was still alive.”

I hesitantly opened my eyes, discovering the familiar cloudless sea of stars above me. I was in quite a large clearing with no trees being visible.

I didn’t spend my time marvelling at the impressive sight though as I coughed and spat all the remaining water out.

“John, could you tell us just what happened to you.” The old woman gently said, but the dangerous glint in her icy eyes didn’t do anything to reassure me.