“My name is Jonas”

 

Eridel`s voice billowed out like a pleasurable mist that coursed through the bodies of those that heard.

 

The 2 Humans shivered from the feeling as elation and peace grew in their hearts. They were still looking at the ground, not daring to look up. But they were extremely comfortable and felt utterly satisfied. So long as they heard this voice, they yearned for nothing.

 

*Thud*

 

Another undead collapsed.

 

Footsteps were heard before the end of cloth entered their vision, not that they knew what it was. In fact they were thinking that it must have been part of his actual body, like fur to a wolf.

 

They had seen many strange creatures and it could be said that their minds were broad.

 

“Come, let me show you something.”

 

A hand on their shoulders and everything in sight disappeared before a different scenery appeared.

 

A small cloud beneath their feet and boundless lands just below. They had been… teleported?

 

Shock flashed on their faces as they looked at each other. They were seriously out of their element now and things were appearing like a dream. How had they appeared up in the clouds?

 

Back on Eridel’s home planet, any Human in this position would have asked the additional question: ‘How were they standing on clouds?’ But here in the Eridius World there was no science that said that clouds were condensed water vapour and therefore intangible, so of course, why should they question its solidity? Why should clouds fail to serve as a platform?

 

The boy looked in awe at the other bigger clouds slightly higher up in the sky whilst the girl looked below, marvelling at the vastness of the World.

 

“Look closer, look at what has become of your continent.”

 

It was the ethereal voice of ‘Jonas’ that broke them out of their amazement, remembering that there was another being with them that was many times more interesting. It couldn’t be helped, their body and soul simply refused anything to do with something so dangerous and kept trying to delete the memory.

 

But the words were spoken and they were impossible to disobey, not that they had the intention.

 

Both of them looked more closely at the grand expanse of land below them as they briefly mulled over the word ‘continent’ when a surprising definition from the system resounded in their heads.

 

<A continent is a continuous expanse of land that contain many kinds of life forms just like the one below you. In this World there are currently 5 continents.>

 

The girl could never get quite used to the system’s strange voice that was only ever heard in her head but she appreciated its help.

 

It was then that they noticed something odd.

 

“What… what is that?” the girl muttered as horror began to creep in her heart. The boy also stumbled with fear as his eyes discovered the source of his friend`s distress.

 

Eridel watched them patiently as he mentally patted himself on the back.

 

‘They’re actually a lot calmer than I thought they would be despite the series of events of the past 10 minutes. Mmh, it must be because of my divine presence~ Indeed, indeed, I am just simply too- ah… They have forgotten me again.’

 

Eridel wasn’t actually surprised, everything apart from his lack of control and the increasing effects of his voice had been within his expectations. So much so that he was beginning to feel bored and decided to entertain himself with hubris. But what a blow to his heart it was each time they treated him like air.

 

He turned his golden eyes to the ravaged continent below.

 

Unlike other continents, what used to be green was now mostly grey. Tormented by the reign of the Abomination, the continent had fallen to a state where the essence of undeath had soaked deep and that… was not quite healthy. For any kind of life.

 

This was most noticeably shown by the effect on the trees. The status of trees went something like 70% dead and wasted, 20% barely living and 10%... Undead.

 

Indeed, when the essence of undeath had infiltrated the trees, there were a few special ones that had actually managed to adapt to the essence and even use it to evolve. These special Trees had actually broken through to the Spirit Tree stage and developed souls, something that should have taken 873 more years.

 

On top of that, their souls were actually stronger than what a normal Spirit Tree’s soul should have been, and that was even after taking the special soul-flavoured Magical Energy of this World into consideration.

 

Unfortunately, these trees had developed a new craving for the taste of life and would attack anything containing it. The residents in the surroundings had learnt that lesson quite firmly and they would never forget it.

 

The wood of these trees were black in colour whilst the leaves were grey. The branches of these trees were viciously crooked and finally, the total height of the trees ranged from 70-110 metres tall.

 

These were the Undead Trees, or as the few remaining residents on the continent liked to call them: Trees of Death.

 

However, there was something much more special at the center of these trees and even Eridel was impressed. But the 2 Humans were… not so welcoming.

 

In the west was where the Trees of Death were mainly concentrated and when you saw the 300 metre tall Tree of Death at the very heart of it, it didn’t take much to guess why.

 

This tree was obviously much different to the other Trees of Death and it was more than just height. The wood was grey in colour, the exact same shade as the essence of undeath and the leaves were actually a pure white. They even had a slight glow to them and would surely look lovely in the night.

 

But there were 1, no 2 things that kept it from becoming a tourist spot or even an idol of worship.

 

First, was the revolting aura of malevolence that radiated out of the tree. Not only did this tree have a high Quality of Being, but its cultivation that was surprisingly a 20th of the way to becoming a Fate Tree (which by the way should have taken a few thousand years) was not helping the tree stay lowkey. Clearly, the Tree has soaked up a lot of essence. 

 

Second… Well, second was the fact that it was a TREE OF DEATH! There would be no researchers holding hands and circling the trunk of the tree each year.

 

How unfortunate.