[972 Years Remaining]

When I regained consciousness, the first thing I thought to do was panic. The forest was gone, and grassy plains extended for as far as I could see, illuminated by the afternoon sun. I’d known that there existed places in the world where trees were not quite as dense as they were in our forest, if they were present at all. But seeing it with my own eyes was a completely different feeling. My mouth hung agape… except for some reason, it actually didn’t. With the scenery change, I hadn’t even noticed that I couldn’t move my body, or even feel it. Somehow, though, my eyes still blinked, even if I was willing them to do so. For that matter, I tried to keep my eyelids from closing at all, but I didn’t have any power over them. All I could do was see and hear.

My vision lowered, looking mostly at the ground, and I realized that I was walking, but my body was covered in blood and wounds, most of which looked to be deep cuts. Moreover, I noticed something quite strange: my figure was clearly feminine. Of the men in my village, I wasn’t the most brawny or masculine, but I definitely didn’t have… boobs. Alright, so this definitely wasn’t my body, and the fact that I couldn’t move it supported that idea. But if that was the case, then what was happening?

Before I could even come up with a theory, my vision faded once more. But this time, I didn’t lose consciousness. I couldn’t feel my body, but that wasn’t anything new by now. In any case, sight came back to me only a short moment later. This time, I was in a rather strange location. My… her head moved from side to side, revealing that she was in a cage made of wood, located somewhere in a forest, but definitely not Mother Tree’s. It was large enough to stand upright in, at least for her, but it was only a few feet wide in both directions. She punched one of the bars, apparently trying to break it, but this woman was either weak, or the wood was too tough, because the cage didn’t show signs of even a single crack. Regardless, she tried a few more times, but gave up after a while of making no progress.

My sight shifted to the side as whoever’s body I was in turned her head. Standing right outside the cage was an elf I didn’t recognize. He had the same white hair, dark purple eyes (though they didn’t glow, just like Chief Edex’s hadn’t), and pointed ears that elves of the forest always had. He spoke, but his words were complete gibberish. Regardless, my vision turned cloudy as the girl began tearing up. She responded to the elf outside the cage, though I had no clue what she was saying either. The man outside simply turned around, and the girl whose body I was in was trying to once again break the wooden bars of the cage, her movements erratic and desperate.

Once again, I lost and regained the ability to see. This time, the woman was bound by ropes, and forced to stand in a line behind elves, each with white hair and pointed ears. I couldn’t see anyone’s eyes, since they were all facing forward, but I assumed they were purple as well. What was most concerning was the fact that there were more elves not in the line, but managing it. I wondered why elves would possibly be doing this to each other, but no good reason came to mind. I’d heard about human wars, and how they just loved to kill each other, but the worst I’d ever seen was my mother yell at my father for accidentally burning our dinner. Elves didn’t – shouldn’t have been treating each other like this.

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The line moved forward at a steady rate, but there were sobs and screams each time it did. Eventually, I saw the same man that had been standing outside the cage earlier. I stood and watched impassively as something I couldn’t see was happening. After more waiting, the sobs and screams began to make a lot more sense. The elf at the front of the line was unbound, and I watched as he attempted to run away. Unfortunately for him, there was no escape. Two other men stood on either side, and said something unintelligible. Whatever it was that they said, he no longer struggled.

There was a third person, this one an old woman, who held a wooden bowl of soil. In the middle, there was a sapling that was barely a few inches tall. The captive elf walked forward, and reached his hand out toward it. I expected him to just touch it, but surprising me, as well as the others, he pulled his hand back, and then tried to punch the sapling. No one reacted until it was too late. His punch connected, but… the sapling didn’t snap, nor did the bowl fall from the old lady’s hands. Instead, his body just dissolved. That was it. He just fell apart into specs of dust.

The line continued, horror after horror, until it was eventually the woman’s turn. Her bindings were undone, and someone behind pushed her forward. I heard her breathing get heavier as her hand came closer and closer to sapling. If I could breathe, I would have been holding my breath. Even if I couldn’t feel it, I didn’t want to see this horrible death happen first hand. Except death never came. When the woman’s finger touched the plant, both it and her began to glow a bright green, very similar to when Mother Tree had given me the blessing.

Moments later, the glowing stopped, and the man who had just been watching from the side stepped closer. He clearly seemed pleased, and moved to grab the woman by her collar. The girl tried to swat his hand away, but ended up breaking his hand in the process. He screamed, falling to the ground. I heard what was clearly a laugh, before she drove her hand through his chest, obliterating his heart with a single attack.

Again, my vision faded and returned. This time, she stood in the middle of the forest, surrounded by carnage. All those who hadn’t been tied up by the ropes were dead, some more mangled up than others. Whoever she was, the woman whose body I was in had apparently gone on a killing spree. Even if the dead had deserved to be killed, it still didn’t make the sight any less revolting. I likely would have vomited if I had a body of my own, but I was still only able to see and hear things.

The girl picked the bowl with the sapling off the ground, and turned around to the captives, who had now been set free. She spoke a few words, eliciting varying cries of relief, triumph, and regret from the others. Next, she showed them all the saplings in the bowl, and this time spoke much longer. Even without understanding, I could hear her voice breaking, and see tears forming in her eyes. It annoyed me that I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying, but I got the feeling that she was reassuring them, or perhaps mourning those that they lost.

By the end of what I assumed to be a speech, many of the elves’ looks had turned to those of resolve. One of them got on a single knee, and shouted out a single word. Then another, and another, until all were kneeling.

This time, when my ability to see left me, my consciousness did too.