I was dead. Yet here I was, very much so the opposite of dead. Alive, one might say. Alive, and yet dead at the same time. 

"How?" I asked.

How could someone be dead, yet continue to live? It was a contradiction by the very definition of the word!

My mind rattled with answers to the question, but none of them were the one I seeked.

Shakingly, I touched my hand to my chest. The steady, yet rapid pace of my pulse served to confirm that fact that I was indeed, living. I held my hand there and felt the pace of my heartbeat gradually slow, letting out a breath I did not know I was holding. 

I was alive. And that was all that mattered right now. 

My attention snapped back to the stream of light that had just invaded my mind.

I didn't know exactly what had just occured, but the once vibrant stream of light occupying the room had faded to but particles floating around. Studying my surroudings, I realized that the room was visibly dimmer than it had once been before. The glow from the feeble embers of light barely allowed enough light to see. The dim wisps danced around in my vision, coloring the dark room with lights.

They looked like fireflies. Or, at least I think they did. My regained memories were still a bit hazy.

Although the light had grown weaker, I had noticed that I no longer felt as weak as I did when I transferred my energy into the sapling. I seemed to have had absorbed the light's energy and made it into my own. The only question on my mind now was what exactly that energy was.

It certainly wasn't any form of energy I had seen on Earth, and without a doubt didn't look like anything I had ever seen before. So, if it wasn't any identifiable form of energy, then what was it?

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"Mana," I said to myself. The name seemed appropriate, given the otherworldly appearance it held. It was something straight out of a fantasy world. Their enchanting glow looked like magic.

I had an idea.

I sat on the ground and closed my eyes. Once again, I fell back into a state in which my mind was cut off from the outside world, and began to search inwardly for a trace of mana. Surely, all of that energy I had absorbed had been stored somewhere.

And so I searched. 

Then, after much time had passed, I found it. Deep within myself was a large pool of glowing purple energy. It held a much darker shade than the particles outside. If one was to look closely, they one find it was in fact, growing. It grew in size very slowly, but that growth would surely accumulate over time.

I guided a mote of light out from the pool, and into my body. From there, I directed it to my arm. Then, to my fingertips.

I opened my eyes once again.

A small, luminous ball of my mana emanated from my fingertips. It let out a soft glow of magenta light. I stared at it for quite some time, enchanted by it's appearance. Then, after deciding it was time to release the energy back into my body, I repeated the steps I took earlier in reverse. 

I gasped in realization that I had finally done it. I smirked, knowing that my efforts had finally come to fruition. Although the process itself was simple in retrospect, it was my first real accomplisment in terms of using my abilities. I felt proud of myself.

I then stood back up and straightened my legs, warming them back up. They had become stiff from sitting for so long. Making my way back though the same passage I had originally come from, I soon made it back outside the tree.

After being so accustomed to the darkness within the tree, the completely average amount of light outside was blinding. I squinted for a bit as it became difficult to see.

"Now then, what next?" I thought to myself. I looked out towards the still empty horizon. Other than this small paradise, this world was empty. Vast, but empty. As far as I knew, the only things on this planet other than dust were myself, this patch of grass, and this titan of a tree. 

A new goal then rooted itself into my mind. I wanted to fill this empty world. With what, I didn't yet know, but I felt a sense of responsibility to shape and mold this world. To fill it with life, and populate it.

And with that, I now had a purpose. A desire to fulfill. No longer was I merely a wandering spirit roaming the world.

"Time for some terraforming," I said. I had quite a bit of work to do.