[Master Brightflame continues to clap and send streams of fire towards the harvest tree while he withers away. When he finally realizes that he is on the brink of death, he bemoans his fate, before turning his ire on you. You feel your body freeze in place and burst into flame.]

“I should have never trusted-”

His simulated self was in no position to make observations, but Lem heard the martial elder’s voice being cut off.

Was Master Brightflame dead?

Lem felt that the shackles that were keeping his body frozen had suddenly come undone.

“AHHHHHH!”

Acting from sheer instinct, Lem’s simulated self uttered a piercing scream as he leapt to the forest floor and began rolling wildly.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

He continuously smashed into trees, but he never stopped rolling. Every part of his body felt like it was melting away. Most of the flames were quickly extinguished, but the pain continued.

A hard object poked into his back but he kept on rolling.

His bag broke apart, and he continued to roll over its contents. Everything within his sight was on fire.

“AHHHHH!”

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In the midst of the chaotic sensations, Lem caught a glimpse of his spear. It lay a few meters away, with parts of the shaft burning. At some point in time, the clasp keeping it on his back had broken off.

His simulated self continued to roll wildly, until he came face up and finally realized that he was no longer on fire.

The parts of his skin that were in sight were all burnt and black, and his body was still in unbearable pain.

However, he did not have time to think about his physical condition.

He froze, staring at the blue-gray trunk that was within ten meters of him. After seeing its branches ensnare the martial elder, the sight was enough to terrify him.

In his wild panic, he had rolled over close to the harvest tree.

Was he about to be skewered?

Would the roots shoot up from the ground?

Or would the branches descend on him?

Lem watched in fascination. Somehow he was still alive, after nearly being burned alive. But it seemed that he had only moved from one threat to another.

[You are paralyzed and burning in place, to impaired to comprehend your situation. Then, you regain the ability to move, and you lunge to the ground, rolling madly to put out the fire while you scream.

When you realize that you are no longer on fire, you stop and see that you have accidentally rolled all the way to the harvest tree. You recoil in horror, expecting to be killed, but the finishing blow does not come.]

Out of the corner of his eye, Lem’s simulated self saw the body of Master Brightflame being held aloft by branches, a charred skeleton clad in tattered robes.

It was no longer human.

Lem’s simulated self felt horror.

Master Brightflame had been laughing and waging war against the harvest tree a moment ago. Now, he had left the world.

The imposing presence had vanished into the wind, leaving nothing but a few bones behind.

It should have given him relief, but it only frightened him further.