Without being able to see and hear, I felt like being stuck in a loop for an eternity. The ride seemed to drag on and on, swirling left and right, sometimes smooth and sometimes shaking.

I was nervous, and slightly scared. The trip had been taking more than too long, and I was lacking any information which could assure me we’re actually heading somewhere. 

How long has it been? How much further must we go? Are the people inside this vehicle still there, and are they even real? Such questions began to pop up inside my head, and I was beginning to become paranoid.

Thankfully, when I was about to fall off the edge of sanity, the vehicle slowed down to a stop. I felt it lifting up and up, as the weights inside it were exiting one by one. Then my earplugs were removed, followed by the blindfold. In front of me was one of the special force soldiers, covered from head to toe in black, not leaving a single millimeter of skin exposed. 

He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me out of the vehicle. That was when I saw the outside for the first time in months. And it was…disappointing. It was night time, under a starless sky, so everything was black. The only light illuminated us was the dimmed headlights from the vehicle. It was no different than being blindfolded.

*Sniff* - I took in the surrounding air. At least it smelled like nature, and not the suffocating scene of chlorine that the facility was filled with. As I enjoyed the small fraction of the outside world, I saw the other soldiers appeared from the cover of night - it was so dark that they seemed to teleport out of nowhere.

“All clear.” They reported. The soldier next to me nodded, and they moved out with me being led by him, still tied up. It was difficult to move when my arms were restrained and I tripped a few times on tree roots. But then the man would simply pull me back up and continue to drag me along.

After about 10 minutes, we stopped. The soldier released me and I flopped to the ground, dizzy from exhaustion. As I sat breathing heavily, he untied the belts on my chest and arms. He then showed me a laptop, on its screen the outlines of a facility enclosed within fences.

“Up ahead is a research facility that keeps the formula of a drug we wish to take. It belongs to the government, so security is tight and advanced. In order to infiltrate and take the price, we’ll need a diversion. Your job is to get in there, cause as much chaos as possible and drive their attention away from the main lab here.” He said, pointing at a rectangle in the far back of the enclosure.

“Basically, just kill anyone that isn’t us while staying far from there. When we’re done, there will be a smoke signal and you can leave. Then run back here and we’ll pick you up. And one more thing.” 

The soldier pulled out a large red gem enclosed in several engraved metal rings - the size of an egg, and wiggled it in front of me. “This magic tool can cause the circuits in your brain to fry in seconds. So, disobeying our command, and you die. Running away, and you die. Try to kill us, and you die. Painfully. Understood?” Only then did he finally remove the bandages covering the rose on my back.

×

Sighing, I walked toward the dim light with my legs wrapped in vines. A flash of thought passed by me. Hey, why don’t I just pretend to run away so they’ll kill me right now?

I laughed dryly and kicked the thought aside - I was scared of the pain that might precede it. I wanted to die, but was afraid of dying. Laughable, wasn’t it?

And furthermore, I hadn't killed that man yet. I will not die until his blood flows in my vines, I thought as I pressed on.

Some distance ahead - beyond the dense trees, was an opening where a tall concrete fence shielded an assortment of buildings. On top of the fence were barbed wires and security cameras. Guards were patrolling around the fence, armed with rifles. They and the cameras operated without light. The only sources of illumination were those from the tinted windows of the buildings inside.

Hidden by the trees, I began to grow out my vines. What can I use that will cause the most noise and destruction? Right, let's use that. Simple and effective.

Pointing the vines above my head, I started to guide mana along their length, mixing them with the blood stored in the rose. There isn’t much blood left, so I guess I should restock with the people here. They’re from the same world as the people who tortured me, so they all deserve to die. 

Once the vines were brimming with energy, I chanted. [White Sun]

The tips of the vines were focused at one singular point, where light began to emerge and grow. From a tiny particle, it rapidly expanded like a snowball rolling down a snowy hill. The blue-white light soon became blinding, illuminating the entire forest as it became as big as a wrecking ball.

The air around me warped and I felt all the moisture vaporising. The trees began to sizzle, and one by one they abruptly combusted - even without touching the ball of raging flame. I heard voices coming from the facility as a floodlight was turned on and pointed at me.

I threw the miniature sun. It passed right through the fence like a hot knife on butter, completely melting the one meter thick concrete. It flew on, eventually crashing into the closest building.

There was an explosion, followed by dust and the rumbling of the earth. The building, losing the entire first floor, crumbled to the ground like a tower of cards.