Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Chapter 72

Chapter 72

The feeling of paradise was alive, but the view was dead. The ground was so dried that it had cracked and spread into the distance. I did not remember it being this... lonely.

"Something’s changed, One Tree," I said as I walked up to its roots. Before, it had been soaked deep into wet earth where grasses bloomed and nature glowed in all shades of exquisite colour. However, it was a ghastly opposite now.

"What have you come for, Alex?"

I shifted my gaze back to the tall tree. Its whispers settled behind my earlobe, and the familiarity of its voice so near nudged me into answering sharply.

"I need answers. I want to understand this power, and by connecting with you, I can connect with my heritage... my lineage," I said, then quickly added, "The last time you channeled through me, I felt everything. I felt whole, and not lost, for the first time in my life."

A moment of silence slithered in. The whirling wind was the only sound in the space. Then the One Tree spoke again.

"Do you have what it takes?"

I swallowed a lump that was not there.

"Yes." I needed to be courageous, even though my heart hammered wildly. And of course, the One Tree could easily see through me, yet I stood unshaken. "What do you need me to do?"

A figure was carried by the wind. My eyes narrowed as I tried to make it out in the distance. I somehow knew it was a man, but his features remained a mystery.

It did not look entirely real, as though it did not fully belong to the space.

The figure was in a phasing state, its body seemingly untouchable, dressed in what looked like a completely black outfit, its face blurred by rapid movement, making it impossible to discern its appearance.

The One Tree’s voice loomed over me again.

"Do you have what it takes, Alex?"

Following that question, the figure slammed into me.

I was yanked into the air and hurled across the distance. My body struck the ground with a loud thud, and I expected bones to dislocate, teeth to break, my lips scraping across the cracked earth.

Except I remained intact.

Then it became clearer. I was immune to wounds here, yet there was no escaping the pain. I could not bleed, but every agony from where injury should have been manifested fully, as though the body remembered what it was denied.

Forcing myself to stand, I combed my hair back, twisting it once before bundling it.

"What is this, One Tree?"

It only repeated again.

"Do you have what it takes?"

The figure appeared before me once more, closer this time. Still, I could not see its face, nor determine its form. It kept phasing.

"Fine. You want me to defeat an untouchable enemy, yes? Fine."

I ran toward it, only to pass straight through its form.

"How do..." My breath was cut short as the figure side struck me, sending me tumbling across the vast land.

Pain fractured through my arm, but I forced myself up. My energy refilled almost unnaturally. This was going to be a long day. Here, my pregnancy did not exist. I was only Alex.

The figure continued to phase in and out, and I charged again. I did not know how to defeat it, but I refused to give up. I would not leave without answers, without the One Tree at my side.

Out of nowhere, thunder struck the ground before me. I halted abruptly, my hands thrown forward as my breath caught in my throat. My stance collapsed and I slid across the fragmented terrain, landing face first against a rock.

"What the fuck..." I trailed off.

I now existed beneath a crimson sky, where thunder split the heavens in violent waves. Flat rocks stretched endlessly into the distance, too many for my sight to fully capture.

I had imagined the water beneath them would mirror the sky, but it remained an ordinary blue, unsettling in its calmness against the chaos above.

On one of the rocks ahead, the phasing figure reappeared. This time, fear crept in deeper, because I was not a swimmer, and if I were thrown into the storming ocean, I would not be able to save myself.

So I resorted to retaliation. I closed my eyes briefly, drawing upon my understanding of the Adamic rune language, readying myself to cast spells.

I was not giving up any sooner.

The figure seemed more alert, as though it now understood I was no easy prey.

I struck the surface of the rock as I crouched. "You!" I shouted into the air, letting the wind carry my voice toward it. "Whatever you are, come at me!"

Without delay, the figure struck, aiming for me.

"I take the storm’s breath and turn its wrath back upon its path."

The word slipped from me, drawn from the deepest part of my breath. The spell emerged longer this time, more potent, more refined, as I stole fragments of the storm’s energy itself, catching the thunder it released and hurling it back toward the figure.

Yet the phasing entity simply passed through it, though it destabilized it... slightly.

That was enough.

"Rise, ocean born of void and depth, and swallow this passing form."

The ocean roared as water rose into the air, engulfing the figure like a collapsing tide. I could almost swear its movement weakened, just enough for me to glimpse something resembling a face, before it struck again without warning.

I was flung upward, the air slapping against my skin like shards of ice. I crashed into yet another rock.

This time, it burned.

Recovering, I stumbled forward, only to find molten rock beneath me. My muscles tightened instinctively as I grasped for anything to steady myself, my spine nearly locking in pain as I pressed against the heat.

"What the fuck... lava?" My voice carried irritation, though it trembled under strain. I raised my gaze to a sky now nearly impossible to see, swallowed by thick black smoke. The air was suffocating, heavy, filled with particles that burned my throat, while my eyes stung as I searched desperately for escape.

"I mean, I am sorry. I did not know that tyrant, Nathan, would steal part of our powers. But you do not really want to kill me, do you?" I shouted toward whatever was listening.

I truly wished I had never opened the doorway. This simulation was hellish, and nothing could have prepared me for it.

I froze as the lava began to bubble violently, rising. With it, the heat intensified. Oxygen was slipping away. Any moment now, I would choke.

My vision blurred, but through the tears gathering in my eyes, I caught sight of the phasing figure in the distance. Though I could not see clearly, I sensed it was in a similar state, struggling, suffocating.

Then my father’s words returned to me.

"The One Tree is yours to wield. It is not an entity of its own. It is you. You cannot separate from yourself. It is not a body, but simply the power that resides within you."

It clicked.

The One Tree was not separate from me. That meant I could control it. I could tame it.

Clearing my throat through a harsh cough that left a metallic taste at the back of my mouth, I hardened my resolve and cast yet another drawn out spell, pouring my entire will into it.

"Let smoke forget fire and become frost; bind this shape within still silence."

I forced the thick smoke into freezing air, locking the phasing figure in place. The disruption of its movement slowed its phasing further, and I shaped the smoke into a globe that sealed it within.

"Come forth, and be drawn unto me against thy will."

Then I pulled it closer.

As it hovered before me, my body screaming from within, I dropped to my knees. Using magic without replenishing my energy was draining me rapidly. This was precisely why I needed the One Tree, not just my abilities, but the full connection of Aetherblood.

"Reveal thyself, and cease thy hiding." I croaked, strengthening the ice further and slowing its phasing even more.

My grip weakened as I leaned back against the rock, the lava dangerously close. The pain was unbearable now, yet I refused to scream. I would burn, but I would not die. And as certain as that truth was, I would not grant the One Tree the satisfaction it sought from this madness.

The figure stopped phasing.

It stood before me.

Forcing my head upward, I met its gaze.

And behold, it was me.