Legolas, the famous warrior elf, had a lean, tall frame—his height above six feet. His eyes were a vibrant green, and his shoulder-length hair shimmered in silver-golden hues, neatly tucked behind his pointed ears. His features were refined, with prominent jawline.
He was the only one among the elves without the wood element; instead, he possessed only the power of air.
As he opened his eyes to the sunlight filtering through the green canopy of trees, thoughts swirled in his mind:
Where am I? What happened to me? Did I sleep?
Then, fragments of memory returned—growling like a beast, no coherent thoughts, obeying someone else's orders, spreading corruption to the Mother Tree.
As the flashes overwhelmed him, tears slid from his eyes. Through the haze, a face appeared above him—ethereal, almost divine.
A trembling voice called,
"Legolas, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
Legolas tried to rise and bow, but pain seared through his body.
Thud.
He collapsed to the ground again.
The trembling voice came once more,
"It's okay, you don't have to stand up."
"Talk to me, can you understand me?" Princess Aersith said with a hopeful tone.
Legolas responded in a hoarse, respectful voice,
"Yes, Your Highness, I can understand you. Forgive me—I'm not able to bow."
Princess Aersith replied with a warm smile,
"It's okay. Do you remember anything?"
Legolas furrowed his brow. Guilt edged his voice.
"I don't remember much—just broken memories. But I remember trying to corrupt the Mother Tree. I must atone."
When Alex opened his eyes, blood trickled from his nose. A sharp, tearing headache pulsed through his skull.
Princess Aersith ran toward him and bowed deeply.
"Mr. Alexander, I'm truly thankful for bringing back Legolas. I apologize for my past behavior—I'll make it up to you."
Alex, eyes red with pain, wiped his nose with his arm.
"I'll need some time to recover," he said in a strained voice.
Closing his eyes, Alex began speaking in his thoughts.
"Hello, Mother Tree, are you there? Was that the hidden power you mentioned?"
After a pause, the Mother Tree responded,
"I don't know what power defeated the corruption, but I believe you're too weak to fully awaken it. Your high mental energy, due to your second-stage Mind Awakening, allowed you to withstand a mere glimpse of it. But you can grow stronger—slowly absorbing the corruption from my children.
We don't have much time. What took that vile creature five years to corrupt—forty percent of my material body—has reached seventy percent in just one week. If this continues, the entire dimension will be destroyed, and all life within it will perish."
Alex sighed.
"You speak as though you're not here?"
The Mother Tree replied,
"Of course I'm not. I don't have a body. I'm a Deity. That material body you see is my anchor to this dimension and to my children. When you grow stronger, you'll understand more. I've already revealed more than I should."
"Okay… thanks, I think." Alex nodded.
He opened his eyes and spoke with urgency to Princess Aersith,
"Princess, we don't have much time. The corruption is spreading quickly. Let's capture the corrupted elves and purify them to strengthen our forces."
Princess Aersith nodded seriously and returned to the village.
When she came back, the other elves rushed toward Legolas, now sitting up. After speaking with him, none of them approached Alex. Together with the Princess, they left toward the Mother Tree, leaving Alex and Legolas behind.
From that day forward, Alex began absorbing the corruption from the corrupted elves, growing little by little.
The shadowy creature—a terrifying blend of snake and dragon—began to change. Its form, once vague, now showed detail. Red, with purple scales across its back, and wings of red and violet unfurled from its back. Horns curled over its head, eyes glowing a deep purple, and its dragon-like mouth snarled with silent fury. Though still cloaked in mystery, its colors now appeared every time it emerged from Alex's dark elemental rings. Yet Alex still knew nothing about the creature.
With the corruption came excruciating pain—but afterward, power followed. He gained five dark elemental rings and three wood elemental rings.
The situation worsened. Ninety-five percent of the Mother Tree's body was now corrupted. The corruption breached the protective barrier and began spreading throughout the forest.
Beneath the gnarled, ancient bulk of the Mother Tree, its roots stretched like a vast, tangled spiderweb, crawling through the entire dimension. At the core of this dark lattice were seven colossal roots—the sacred cores of the Mother Tree.
The largest root lay in the center, surrounded by six slightly smaller roots in a circular formation.
Inside each root coiled a serpent-like abomination—green-scaled monstrosities with elongated, snake-like bodies and dragon heads crowned in jagged spikes, ending in serrated jaws. Their scales shimmered with a sickly luster—too dark to be emerald, too alive to be stone.
Each of their necks connected to the massive central body, the true horror.
At the heart—buried in the central root—was the head joined to a colossal form. Its immense limbs clawed outward from the trunk of a mountain-like structure it had fused with. Spines jutted from its back like serrated green daggers, and its reptilian tail writhed in the suffocating darkness, as if sensing things beyond mortal comprehension.
Then, from its gaping, fanged maw, a voice rumbled—words broken and vile:
"EAT... IT'S TIME."
A wave of bone-chilling laughter followed, echoing through the dimension like the whispers of a forgotten god—