I wake up in a cold sweat, chest heaving.
"Fuck! What the hell was that?" I say trying to calm myself down. After a few deep breaths I warily look around. The first thing that hits my mind is, Where the hell am I? A forest fills my vision as the sound of birds assault my ears.
"Damn it!" I sigh in annoyance," My head is killing me." God am I thirsty.
In the distance I can hear a trickle of water. Well, that works. As I try to get up, I fall on my face. Damn I am really out of it. Reaching up to massage away the pain that comes with falling flat on your face, I notice a irregularity with my skin. Why the hell am I covered in white hair? I lift my face to look at the rest of my body.
The first half of my body looks normal, except for the white hair covering me. My eyes travel further down. When I reach where my legs were supposed to be I notice that they have changed. They looked like something off a fucking animal. Strong thigh muscles and knees that bend backwards. and where my feet are supposed to be there were two hooves. A quick look behind me revealed a long tail reminiscent of a cat or monkey.
I close my eyes trying to believe that what I am seeing isn't real. This has to be some sort of dream. But to my horror when I open my eyes, they are still there. Holy shit….Holy Shit. No this can't be happening, this cannot be happening. What am I.
I crawl over to the small stream I heard a few moments earlier and look down at it. What I see back is something that isn't supposed to be possible. What am I? Staring down at the stream, I see the creatu…my head. My gaze was drawn to the black nose, as it stood out like a sore thumb. Two long ears extend out of the right side of my head, while only one on the left, with a scar running down from where that ear would be through my eye and down to my chest. It looked like I had been slashed by a sword and been stitched back together. I also noted that I was outputting some sort of bluish white glow around my body.
"Wow, it seems the toll of war can't even be lost with a new body" I said, watching as the creature's face mimicked my words. This is too surreal.
A sharp pain lanced through my head. Can't escape those either it seems. I reached one of my glowing white arms to try and rub the pain away. When that didn't work I cupped the water into my hands and splashed some of it on my face. God that is cold.
Eventually the pain simmered down into a throbbing headache and then into a uncomfortable twinge in my left ear. Finally.
Alright, I need to find out where I am. It is time to test out these new feet/hooves. Pushing my body up from where I was sitting, I put my two hooves under me and…fell right on my ass. Sighing in frustration I tried again. Actually balancing on my two legs, I took a step. Baby steps.
Did you know that animals with legs like these are fit for bursts of speed not capable by humans? I do now! Running through the forest with the wind flowing around me. I felt better than I have in a long time. Damn these trees are tall. It would be a bad idea to climb one, wouldn't it. I jumped up to the first branch and started swinging up to the top. I felt like I was at the beginning of the war.
The war…
I reached a hole in the trunk and stopped in my tracks.
What is happening to me?
Panic started setting in.
Can I not go back. What about the people that were with me? Where did they Go?!
As his panic increased, so too did his glow. Glowing brighter and Brighter with every thought.
Will I never see them again?! They took such good care of me. How could I ever repay them?!
The glow rapidly growing brighter finally met its apex. With one final thought the energy that had been building up inside of him finally exploded outward. Its energy washing over the nearby trees. After such a massive channeling of energy, the person wielding it fell unconscious. The giant glowing tree was the last thing I saw.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Spirit Tree, Naru was busy taking care of her child. She was a creature of darkness. An oddity when considering she was taking care of a child of light. She had a full coat of black fur and a round white face. If someone could describe her in one word it would be motherly.
She picked off a fruit completing the pile. Looking back at her son, as he comes running with a cry of happiness. As she bit into one of the fruits, she looked back. Reminiscing on how far she has come raising the young spirit.
She did not name him, that was up to the Spirit Tree. It has been a long tradition going back many of her people's generations. Once, she thought of naming him, and she almost did. Though none of them ever seemed just right. When she looks at her child, all she can feel is happiness and love. She does not care that she kept him away from the Spirit Tree. She feared losing another family member.
"Mom! Come look at what I found!" Her child exclaims as he runs back toward their den.
Bundling up the remaining fruit, she yells back with amusement, "Alright! I'm coming!". During her walk back to the den, she looks across the many trees toward the Spirit Tree. I'll take good care of him. I promise you that.
Just as she arrives at the den she notices a bright glow, almost as bright as the Spirit Tree himself, atop one of the biggest trees in the Misty Woods. She wonders if a spirit has learned a new power.
The light explodes and shimmers into nothingness.
"Mom!"
"I'm coming. I'm coming."
Pulling that soul out of oblivion cost them much of their energy. They need rest before helping the spirit tree again. That soul felt awfully familiar though. It felt powerful yet broken. That soul had been in the void a long time, a few thousand years at least. Older than themselves in fact. How the soul survived that long without fading is a wonder in its own right.
Perhaps it is time for a rest. They need time to recharge and the Spirit Tree had things 'Under Wraps' as their parents would say.
They let the Spirit Tree know that they are going to recharge, and so Sein went to sleep. Right after, a massive explosion of Spirit Light erupted a few kilometers away.