Just a kilometer or so above the Arcfiran jungle, a lone giant of a man streaked through the air at such speeds that the crack of a sonic boom could be heard even at ground level. As this man flew, his rage caused him to fire off blasts of magic in nearly every direction, not caring an inch as these destructive forces rained down like a meteor storm on those who tried to run and hide. Kain was a man on a mission, with barely a hint of his higher thought functions giving him a sense of direction.

Whatever fuckers had taken his kids would pay dearly for their actions, and if so much as a hair on their heads had been put out of place he would personally see to it that all in this damned realm would suffer as no one had ever suffered before. As he flew deeper into the jungle (while still being high above it) his eyes settled on what he figured was responsible for the whole situation. It was a massive tree that easily reached the bottom of the lowest clouds, and just looking at it pissed him off.

Although what angered him was the knowledge that this sentient shrub was responsible for his kids being taken, he could not help but be impressed by the thing before him. It was as though he was looking not at an actual tree, but more at some impossible work of art, as there was no way that such a massive plant could exist as it was based on the normal laws of existence. Hell, the Square-Cube Law alone made such a massive plant utterly impossible, but then again, this was a world with magic.

Regardless of how the giant tree looked and the number of ways it defied the laws of physics, it had taken Kain’s children and therefore was an enemy that needed to be eliminated at all cost. As Kain drew closer, massive roots shot up from the dense jungle below like the tentacles of some massive cephalopod. Each one was easily dodged, but they would just keep coming at him. After this went on for far too long, Kain snapped and with a forceful wave of his entire arm, he unleashed a wave of pure entropic power.

The magic swept over the pursuing roots, causing them to instantly wither and then to turn to dust. What remained of them stopped coming after him, retreating back into the ground and leaving Kain to continue on his not-so-merry way. Eventually, he reached the tree itself and poured power into his lungs, throat, and vocal cords. He took in a deep breath and let out a roar that would have put a thermobaric bomb to shame, utterly obliterating any living thing within a certain radius of himself and even causing fractures to form in the bark of the massive tree.

“GIVE ME BACK MY KIDS, YOU OVERGROWN SHRUB!”

There was silence after Kain had issued his demand, and Kain wasn’t having any of that. He rose even higher into the air and held out one of his hands, forcing as much of his own power as he could muster into an increasingly tighter space. After a few seconds of this, he had built up enough power that, if he simply let the ball drop, it would equal the explosive force of an atomic bomb.

While he would certainly be injured by this if he released it, the tree would likely be horrifically damaged. He was counting on the tree falling for his bluff, as he knew that his kids would be unable to endure such an attack unless they were deep inside the overgrown bush. As the power contained within such a small sphere grew, Kain hoped that he wouldn’t have to drop this act, and his hopes paid off as the tree fell for his deception.

A voice that was just as annoying as the one that had caused all of this found its way into Kain’s head, causing Kain to narrow his eyes as he guarded his mind against any potential mental manipulation.

“Hold on! I didn’t actually take your kids!”

Kain twitched as his anger grew ever fiercer.

“I swear! Those who I sent to abduct them were, instead, beaten by them! They used some sort of trick on us both! Please, be reasonable! Go back to your corrupted lands and leave the rest of the world alone! It doesn’t belong to you!”

Kain was half inclined to simply unleash his power then and there, but he contacted Alexis via telepathy simply because he hoped that the tree wasn’t bluffing. If it was, then he would have no choice but to hope that his kids could endure the collateral damage caused by their father’s wrathful rampage.

“Yes, my dear?”

Kain paused, collected himself, and asked if she knew where their kids were. He could practically hear Alexis’ mouth twist into a smile, and he actually did hear her laugh a bit over the connection.

“Oh, were they not out and about in the town?”

Kain closed his eyes and sent a message back.

“Alexis, I am about to unleash a blast that could very easily result in the death of our children if they are here and in bondage. Likewise, if I do this, it will almost certainly start a war, and our people are getting sick of that. Tell me, truthfully, if they are safe and not taken as hostages, because I am really, really close to simply turning this entire continent into another barren wasteland. And, if I come home from that and find our kids to be safe and secure, I will be even more pissed than I am now.”

Kain then used a whisper-like telepathic voice to drive the point home.

“And you do not want to see me when I am like that.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line before Alexis told him the truth. Kain sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose as he dismissed the orb of death from his other hand. He was still royally pissed, now both at the tree and at his wife and kids, but at least he hadn’t reduced the entire jungle to a hellscape. That said, he still had a grievance to settle. The damn tree had tried to abduct his children. It had failed, but the fact remained that it had tried to abduct them, and Kain needed to make sure that such a thing would never happen again.

And so, since he was here, he would make sure that this oversized shrub would understand that it and its people should by no means fuck with him and his. And, if it couldn’t be made to fuck off by words alone, he would make it understand that there would be consequences if it did decide to mess with anything related to Darksol.