Where does a creature like this come from?

What is a creature this big eating down here!?

These questions puzzle me for quite a bit while I float in the surrounding magma.

Eventually my presence is noticed by a gigantic vertical slit eye that opens to observe my form.

I won’t be the first to blink!

…

….

…..

Because I don’t have eyes!

I circulate my body refining technique, I’ve decided that I am going to collect this creature!

Since I’ve switched to devouring delicately cooked souls from Wen, I no longer really desire to take in the blandness of an uncooked meal.

As such, the best place for this aberration is within my Leaf of Flame’s world!

The reason for this is simple, a Snake like this is clearly a Flame attuned creature. If it wasn’t, they would be nothing but ashes at this depth. Such a creature would do far better next to my portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire than it would ever do near a mere Worldheart!

The fact that I would gain a free ‘gate guardian’ for the leaf’s portal has no bearing on my calculations at all!

None!

I’m not just trying to collect an interesting specimen for my personal interests!

This is for safety!

I suppose I should try negotiation first…

“Excuse me, would you like to serve me for all eternity?" I say, forcing the liquid magma surrounding us both to carry my words.

The gigantic Snake pauses as if it understood, then lunges forward with fangs flashing to crush my Bubble of time.

Ah, it’s trying to eat me…

Oh well…

Negotiation failed!

On to the next tactic.

If the language of words doesn’t work, then I will attempt the more primitive form of communication.

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Violence.

Size as a concept that relates to danger, is something that works well up to a certain point.

When you reach the point where a single sword cut can destroy armies, or a single spear can obliterate suns, size doesn’t really matter that much.

While I’m not at that point, unless I unlock my soul seals…

I do have a more unique method of handling a disparity in size.

Time.

Things, usually, get larger as they get older.

To the same general effect, things, usually, get smaller as they get younger.

Time’s Shadow ripples out to surround the Snake in invisible, yet toasty, flames of Time.

I pause a moment, for dramatic effect. This is of course spoiled because, there’s no one else around down here.

Ah well, whatever.

“Fauna should learn to respect Flora.” I say through the vibration of liquid magma. With those words, Time’s Shadow begins to burn.

Space is the cauldron.

Time is the flame.

At first, it was hard to connect this theory together in my mind.

However, think about it.

When you burn something, you get ashes, the finer the fire, the finer the ashes.

When you disintegrate someone by aging them into dust due to pure Time…

See where I’m going here?

It all makes sense if you think about it long enough!

Reversing a creatures aging in order to make it weaker and more susceptible to my power, thus enabling me to pull it into the Leaf of Flame’s world isn’t easy.

It takes time to reverse the flow, time in which the creature I’m fighting is using to smash against my Bubble of time. At first I ignore the damage, until telltale cracks begin to appear in the spell’s structure.

It appears there is something to say about pure physical power after all. Something I shouldn’t have overlooked since one of my own, Mishra, follows this path.

Well, I guess dodging is fine.

While a normal mortal would have problems concentrating on multiple things at once, I simply use the additional power of my branches. Multi-tasking is easy with the extra processing power from my branches, wheeeeeee!

One branch continues to focus upon the Time Reversal spell, localizing it around the target, the Snake. Another focuses on repairing the cracks in the Bubble’s shield, which is made of Time. Last, I personally focus on dodging, which isn’t hard even as deep as we are. The pressure down here is nothing to my Chaos wood body, especially after the basic refining I’ve been doing.

I’m even more convinced that body refining is a necessary path forward. Physical benefits aside, just the increase in the soul’s own ‘container’ seems to be greatly useful.

As my spell ramps up, the Snake slowly begins to shrink as its age decreases.

Eventually there is one large Tree, and one small Snake staring at each other again.

After a few moment of staring each other down, the Snake moves to escape.

Hah! Do you think I’ll let you go after spending all this effort!

Reaching out with my power I grip the Snake and pull it directly into the Leaf of Flame’s world.

Collection….I mean….capture complete!

With that variable finished, the only thing left is to begin my meal!

My roots surround the Worldheart before stabbing forward like millions of sharp knives. As the power begins to drain into me, the full focus of my mind sharpens among my tens of branches, and hundreds of sub branches.

Power is set aside for body refining into more Chaos wood.

Power is set aside for the next attempt to break one of my shackles.

Power is set aside for reforging this world.

Finally, the last bit of power I drain out is set aside for a personal pet project!

Rising up to the surface of the world I am surrounded by four glowing orbs of various sizes. Each of these orbs contains an allocated piece of the Worldheart’s power, separated with Time to prevent any issues.

As I approach the Voidship, I notice below me a shimmering in the air before thousands of armored figures appear.

The soldiers below separate into compact squares each differentiated by colored armor. Rather than strike or attack immediately, I am highly interested in watching what they are here for. The fact that they are unable to be effected by the energy drain of the Voidship is of immense research value to me.

As a precaution though, I activate my personal Rune which I have carved upon my trunk. As the Rune is a white tree upon a white trunk it isn’t very noticeable at first. However, the rune itself has twelve branches, each with twelve more sub-branches. For every sub-branch that is used, the Rune will darken as the Soul Seals are released.

What had begun as a test when I first practiced sealing my soul, now had come full circle into a viable product that I can use effectively.

Without the Soul Seals to contain the power of my inner Tree, reality could become twisted. From my swims in the ocean of eternity, I am well aware there are things that exist beyond the Multi-Universe I am currently in.

Hungry things.

Best not to attract their attention by creating cracks in reality that they could slip through to feed. Not until I’m strong enough to eat them myself!

Once my body catches up with my soul, the issue will resolve itself, but for now I can only safely use two main branches, and twenty four sub-branches.

I created the Voidship to travel through the Void, and as such I’m not worried these soldiers can harm it.

I am interested in who they are though, so I float down towards them, making sure to land in between them and my ship.

How rude! Soldiers shouldn’t just open fire on innocent Trees without thinking!

I spare a small portion of the Worldheart energy to wipe out the soldiers using Time’s Shadow. Their armor, weapons, and bodies disintegrate as they are aged millennia in a fraction of a second.

Next, I rocket up above the sky moving until I’m positioned in space.

Sending a signal to the Voidship, it flies up to float beside me.

Now, it’s time to Forge!

This world will be reborn, in ice and fire!