You have 24 hours left to choose a job. If no job is chosen, one will be chosen for you.

Anaya, in her wait, checked her notifications. The golden yellow notification sat pinned to the top of the list of notifications. She intuitively focused on it as it expanded.

Please note that the jobs offered are considered under three factors: titles and accomplishments, affinities and host personality.

Titles and accomplishment: Great feats and acts that have defined your life.

Affinity: The depth of connection with the elements

Personality: The nature of your existence

Ding!

Affinity gem discovered in inventory

Absorption imminent

A small green cube set itself in front of Anaya. Green light pulsated throughout the cube as it started to rise up to her eye level. Shadows of leaf veins shining inside the gem. It was the affinity gem she had seen. The air carried a hint of a spring’s first drizzle. The smell grew stronger as the gem shone brighter. Soon the gentle smell gave way to the heavy scent of deep forest, a smell she knew quite well.

The gem, with a gentle shatter, broke into small pieces that floated into the air. The process fascinated Anaya, as she had never seen anything like it. She was growing past the point of simple magic and slights of hands. What she had been experiencing the last day was too elaborate to be based on simple magic.

The pieces continued to break into smaller pieces until they resemble a green haze floating in front of her.

Without warning, the haze flew towards her face and went into her nose and mouth. By the time Anaya reacted, the gem was gone.

Caught off guard, the fear crept up as the reality of what had just happened hit her. Instantly, a sharp pain tore through Anaya, eliciting an ear-splitting scream that tore through her throat, her voice growing hoarse. She barely lasted a second before the pain overwhelmed her and she blacked out.

Augustine woke up to the scream of terror and pain. He had only heard such screams in the midst of war, men and women torn apart. His shell shock almost kicked in, but he closed off that door immediately. He found that it was getting harder and harder to close that door recently.

“The torture maybe?” He thought.

He found himself looking at the ceiling and the events of what transpired pushed through to the top as he stood up. He stood, half expecting the creature to still be around, but it wasn’t at the door. Before a sigh of relief could escape his mouth, he heard sounds of scratches outside the door.

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Taking a look, she saw the creature writhing on the floor, bloody tracks on the floor following along her hands as her fingers tried digging into the floor and failed. He knew pain, and the pain he saw in the creature confused him. Wasn’t this supposed to be his torturer? Why was his captor writhing on the floor?.

The blood trails were growing as the creature continued to squirm more and more. The ground was starting to be torn as the fingers dug in. The creature lost blood but it kept on healing. Its fingers getting torn with how much force they were digging into the hard ground with. The horrendous cycle of fingers torn and healing continued until she dug into the desert soil, wind sand showing in the bloody hole.

Transfixed by what he was seeing, a gasp escaped his lips as short green grass started growing in the soil, spreading across the ground at a visible rate. It started to grow taller and soon a blanket of grass was around the creature. The grass enveloped the creature and soon a cocoon of grass was set where the creature was. Small black and white flowers soon grew around and atop the cocoon.

As time passed more and more tiny flowers started growing on the cocoon, varieties common and rare varieties he had only seen in books. Their true colors were lost as they only took on the back and white color. It was amazing to look at.

By the time the whole cocoon was covered by flowers, the green grass was barely visible. A pulse of green light shone through and the next moment roots grew from beneath the cocoon, enveloping it and adding another layer.

The roots started growing in every direction, slowly making their way towards. The wall he had fought tooth and nails against, banging day in and day out, barely put up any resistance. The cell he was in destroyed and as the roots continued growing.

With fear and panic, he stepped back and soon his back was against the back wall he was chained to. The writhing roots pushing towards him, but with nowhere else to escape to, his chained hands, he closed his eyes and awaited his doom.

The expected pain never came and he opened his eyes. He saw that the roots had made a circle around him, avoiding him as they made their way through his cell. Light bled in as the back wall fell down. He turned and came face to face with a lieutenant, the creature surprised by him but immediately attacking.

The attack that was supposed to end him never came. The creature’s claws failed to cut the roots as it continued to slash. The roots stopped moving and slowly turned red, a metallic sheen at the tip of the roots.

The roots pierced through the skull of the creature, a loud howl following. He saw a creature that had torn apart his men in seconds and walked away barely harmed, dying in a second. The howl echoed in the hallway.

Behind the dead lieutenant, Augustine saw the army that filled the hall. Creatures he had fought against in chaotic battle as they were fighting amongst themselves. The creatures stopped fighting as the mindless horrors saw him and all stopped whatever they were doing and came running to kill him.

The first way crashed into the roots, and like a wall of mountain dwarfs, the creatures barely moved the roots. Root tips shot through the wave, piercing and tearing apart at the hoard. With each kill, the roots slowly turn purple. The mindless horde of creatures did not care as they pushed into the killzone.

Augustine watched in still horror as more and more swarmed to him, the killzone growing as creatures died. The hall was deserted by officer level horrors as they redirected the swarm towards him. The desert in full view as the battle destroyed everything around him. The setting moon and rising suns set the scene as ichor filled the air, a hope he had long lost slowly lit as the invaders were being decimated.

He looked behind him and the cocoon was gone. A hole left where the cocoon once was.