A long time seemed to have had passed. Maybe it was a week, maybe it was only there days, but Roy couldn't know for sure because he couldn't really tell the time in this place. The scenery was the same desolate one it always was, and the sky didn't change at all, but that was not the worst.

"This damned place!" cursed Roy as he stared wide eyed at a 4m tall and 2m wide tree amidst the rubble. It's coarse bark was a neon green as if it was announcing it's presence to everyone around , it's branches were riddled with golden thorns, and it's leaves were made out of money, real money. It was like a dream and no such tree could exist in reality, but here it was before Roy , it's leaf's gently moving in the wind. After some tea a change happened.

'It's here....it's finally here!' muttered Roy as his eyes shined in a cold light, and a hazy human figure materialized not far from the tree. It first looked around as if it didn't know where it was , but when it saw the tree it entered some kind of trance. The figure took one step after another and on the last step it jumped with all it's strength before it begun to climb the trees with a maniacal laughter.

"HahaHahahahahaha..... MONEY!"

It laughed as it climbed to the top branches, completely ignoring the 4cm long golden thorns digging on it's body. With each movement the figure did the thorns took a piece of him, but compared to normal humans it didn't bleed a single drop of blood, but it begun to evaporate as if it was boiling water. That steam was then absorbed by the tree and everything went to the deafening quietness it always was.

".........

As Rey saw the hazy figure disappear, he slowly retreated back to his safehouse without a word.

...............

At an underground cellar of a destroyed home Roy was laying flat on his back. His eyes not focused on anything and his thoughts were wondering everywhere. Sometimes a smile unintentionally creeped out , but it quickly disappeared. As he didn't feel the need for sustenance, had no libido , and he couldn't sleep, he spent most of his time in this state.

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"Haaaaaaaaaa...aaaaaaaaaa..aaaaaaaaaa......"

Roy got up after releasing a very long breath and went up. He ascended the crumbling stairs and finally came out, only for a red sky to greet him, but Rey didn't really pay it any mind. He took a pointy stone he had on his hand and went to the only wall left. He stared for a moment before putting a small X below the crude drawing of a tree.

"This makes the fifth one I have seen disappearing because of the tree." muttered Roy " It definitely is more as I haven't observed the tree for a long time, but one thing is for certain, it's definitely the most popular of the bunch." said Roy as he tapped at the other pictures he had drawn on the wall. They were three others in total, a circle with spikes on the outside, a house that seemed to be drawn by a child, and grotesque muscular human was the last one. Each one of them had two X below them compared to the tree that had six of them.

"Each of these things is some kind of creature that roams this wasteland, and their purpose seems simple; to feed on the hazy human figures that appear on this place. They seem to attract their prey in an unknown way to me , but it seems I'm unable to be affected as far as I know. Does that mean I'm different?" though Roy as he looked at his hand. Compared to the hazy figures he was normal and could definitely be seen, but he wasn't a monster either.

"Whatever...

Roy gave up on thinking about this for the time being and decided to write something above the drawing of the tree.

' Attracted by light?'

It was Roy's assumption that the tree attracted it's pretty by the light it produced. It wasn't anything scientific, but seeing how the house attracted it's prey with the playful laughter of people, he didn't rule out the possibility. The wheel didn't seem to attract , but it actively sought it's prey before crushing them with it's spiky 3m wide body. The crudely drawn human figure on the wall was the monster Roy had seen as soon as he arrived, and the way it feed was the most cruel. It would grab it's pretty with both arms and bite of its head first, before quickly devouring the rest. It was such a shock the first time Roy had seen it feed that he almost screamed, but now he didn't seem to react much. It was surprising how fast he had changed.

"Well....shall I call it a day?" said Roy to no one , before he headed back to the underground cellar and lied back down once again, but that didn't last long. He was quickly bored and just started to gather some pieces of wood and started to carve them with a rusted knife he had found. It didn't matter if he made anything of worth, he just wanted to do something.