Both legs, were bleeding now from all the bites that were left from these stupid leeches. I also somehow just now realize that I’m completely naked, and thankfully none of my manhood had been seen as dinner to those leeches. Maybe only the first pool of liquid I was moving through had the leeches and this last one didn’t. Am I going to test that theory…, yeah, no, I'm good. Anyways, I need to get out of this cave before I have to deal with any more leeches. The light from the flame torch reveals a slight crevice opening in the wall. This is most likely where the light from outside was coming from earlier. There is only one way out and that is forward.

Creeping through the crevice reveals another pool of sludge to wade through, but on the other side is what looks like a faint veil-like forcefield. Peering through the veil, a vast desert with sand dunes obscuring the otherwise bland landscape is all that awaits. A little bit of fear creeps into my soul. If I'm able to get out of here, then I might just die from starvation or dehydration if this desert continues for more than a few days. The only things that even resemble food and water are these burnt leeches and this sludge, but I think ingesting any of that would just kill me faster, and personally I would rather not shit myself to death. I don’t think I can really stay in this cave either. There was that scream that sounded like it came from a monster earlier, a bunch of leeches that wanted to eat me, and no food or drink to top it off. Worse comes to worse, I leave the cave, I see there is nothing else out there, and I come back to the entrance to reevaluate my pitiful situation. Okay, decision made. Time to move forward.

Approaching the larger pool I can see the light bouncing off the surface of the liquid revealing an unsightly greenish purple color on the surface. This can’t possibly be drinkable in any state or form. I just have to get past this last pool, I just have to get past this last pool. I’ll keep Flame torch on while I trudge through here, just to be sure no leeches choose to make a snack out of me. I turn flame torch on and proceed to take my first step into the pool. The bottom feels slimier than before, and the sludge feels thicker and harder to move through. I take a few more steps till I am once again waist deep in the muck, and I put my left hand in the water to keep the pests away. I’m able to submerge it nearly to the elbow, but that should be good to heat the liquid enough to kill any more of those small leeches that are here. Suddenly, I notice a change in the liquid. The light bouncing off the surface reveals what looks like a bit of movement in the muck, although it is across the other side of the pool. It just keeps swaying back and forth slowly moving closer, but it should still take it quite some time before it gets over here. It’s probably a large catfish or something, but I really have no idea what can live in this type of muck.

The path in the water starts to turn just towards me, still slowly lurching forward. It’s at least 30 meters out though, but still I prepare myself for an incoming threat. I raise my left hand out of the water to attack whatever comes near. As soon as my hand leaves the water, the presence darts out. Sludge spewing everywhere from the area where it emerged. All I see for a split second is a long, jet black blur speed at me from across the pool. I feel immeasurably woozy, as if I just had a concussion. My left arm that was ablaze is no longer in front of me. It is no longer part of me. Pain runs through my body all the way to my left shoulder where I see my arm is no longer attached. Blood is gushing out. God, I feel so woozy. I turn around, holding the bleeding stump of my left shoulder, to see a giant black leech, at least 2 meters in length, wriggling around on the floor of the cave with my left arm, which is no longer on fire. The leech repeatedly bites the arm until it finds where the gem is and then it clamps on.

As I'm looking at the leech, two more dart out of the water to dig into the meal that their friend is enjoying. I can’t move. I don’t know what to do. I’m probably gonna die. The tingling is back on my legs. I don’t even want to see it again. Flame torch is gone. I’m bleeding out of my legs and shoulder. My heart is pounding as adrenaline fills my veins, but I’m still feeling this overwhelming tiredness. I turn back around to see the veil-like force field that reveals the barren hopeless desert. Finally, another leech darts out of the water at my right arm, and rips it clean off. The lights are out.

My consciousness drifts back to the warmth that I felt after being sacrificed. Am I dead? Where am I? Was any of that real? Before I could ponder any of these questions, I drift back to the warmth. After some time, I plop out of the walls in another dismal cave. The surroundings look similar, but different. There again is light pouring in through parts of the cave, this time it is much brighter, as if it was currently mid-day.

Okay, I have no idea what is even going on. Was that a dream? If so, how is this still so similar? Before I could finish my self interrogation, I’m interrupted by movements in the light and what sounds like the grunts and scuffles of someone else in the nearby chamber. I slowly, and quietly stalk over to get a view of who, or what, is making these noises. Didn’t I just die, where is my previous fear? Where did this confidence to venture forward come from? I silently ask myself these questions, as I slowly get closer and closer to the source of the commotion. Before I am able to peer around the corner into the next chamber I hear the familiar sound of something wriggling on the floor, flopping about. The image of the black leech darting at me reappears in my mind. There it is. I found my fear again. As I am reminded of my previous trauma, the sound of what I imagine is a leech flopping on the cave floor slowly starts to diminish.

“Flop flop”

“Flop.. flop…”

“Flop……. Flop……….”

“Flop”

I lean over the corner to see a happy sight. That leech has flipped its last flop. A few seconds later it is followed by the sound of a man triumphantly announcing, “I’m really getting the hang of these lil’ bastards”. I lean a little further around the corner, still concealing most of my body, to get a look at who it was who had killed the leech.

I am greeted with the sight of a muscular man who looked like he would be no younger than 28 years old. He was shorter than I was by at least a head. Was he really short or was I really tall? He also had an extremely receded hairline that went back to where his ears nearly lined up with it vertically. Although his hairline was beyond saving, the rest of his hair extended down to his shoulders. Noticing now, my hair as well extended down to my shoulders. Hurriedly, I raise my right hand to my forehead to check if my hairline is alright. I feel the start of my hairline right where it should be, and I am overcome with relief. “You don’t have to be so rude about it…” sighs the man, whose happiness just transformed into self-consciousness. Purely out of instinct, I stop peeking, wondering if he was talking to me. I mean who else would he be talking to? I don't think there is anyone else here who is stuck in a weird cave such as this.

“Stop hiding, come on out, it’s fine, I don’t bite.”, he said, returning to his normal calm state. I peek my head out again to see if he is looking at me, or at least my direction. Our eyes meet. He is looking right at me. “Hello?”, I say, still concealing most of my body. Replying with a warm smile, “My god, it has been forever since the last time I met someone in a spawning pool”.

“Why, when was the last time you found someone here?”.

“Around a century or so ago, but that was back when I was stuck spawning for a year or so. I just couldn’t figure out how to beat these damn leeches, and I was too stubborn to take the easy way.”, he candidly responds.

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“How’d you get here though?”

“I was in Navalem, fighting an Alpha Sporeback. At the time, I had a gem I liked to call "Lava Touch". As I was going for the finishing blow to melt its underbelly, it rolled on its side and I accidentally hit one of the shrooms on its back, and lava touch on a poisonous shroom is a bad combo. Long story short, I touched a shroom and it exploded filling the air with poisonous spores. Not a great way to go out. What about you, how did you get here?”

“I’m not even sure where I am, in all honesty. I was in a cave like this before, there were these black leeches that had attacked me, and this weird forcefield-like thing with a huge desert on the other side. The leeches took off both of my arms before I could get to the outside of the cave, and then I just passed out, or died, I don’t really know.”

“Both?”, he quizzically responds.

“Yeah, they took my Flame Torch arm first and then took the head gem arm. I don’t remember anything past the head gem arm being attacked, but I’m pretty sure they took that one. They seemed to like the gem from the first arm a lot, so it would make sense why they would want the second one.”

He grabbed both of my arms to make sure the light illuminated them both. A flabbergasted look appears as he examines both of the gems. I notice a change in both of them as well.

“Where did my flame torch gem go? The head gem changed too.”, I say hoping for some answers.

“You don’t know that they change every time you respawn? The even bigger question is how do you have two gems!”, he loudly exclaims.

After examining both of my arms for a brief amount of time he asks, “How long have you been in the tree for?”

“I’m not sure my last memories are those of my village sacrificing me to the tree, and the last death with the leeches, and feeling warmth while I think I’m unconscious or something.”, I earnestly replied.

“Oh shit! You’re new, new.”, he paused “Do you really not have any other memories after being sacrificed to the tree?”

“Nope, I don’t think so.”

“This is awesome! You’re the first new eternal I’ve met in 500 years, I have to ask you-....”, he stops mid sentence, turning back to the pool. Turning myself as well revealed the appearance of another swaying motion in the muck. Shit, I don’t want to die again. I take a few steps back and try my best to hide behind the person I just met. I don’t even know his name, that’s inconvenient. “By the way, what’s your name?”, I ask, still behind him as cover. “Shut up for a moment, I need to focus… and my name is Gustavo”, he replies, establishing a stance towards the oncoming threat. This stance has his right foot and hand forward pointing towards the threat. He keeps his right hand flat with the palm towards the ceiling prepared for action.

Both of us just wait, watching the slowly advancing threat wade left and right in the liquid. In a flash, it shoots out of the water like a bullet aimed at Gustavo’s right arm. Before the next moment passed, a flash of dark blue energy materialized in the air and instantaneously swung downward. Just as quickly as it materialized it disappears with the leeches head and tail fly past both of us making a loud, but wet thud as it hits the cave wall behind us. I turn around to confirm the kill, and yep, the leeches head is cleanly separated from its body. The tail is still wriggling, but very quickly it slows to a stop. I turn back around to see that Gustavo's stance had slightly changed. Everything was the same, except his right hand had turned with its palm facing the ground and it was no longer flat, instead his fingers were pointing straight towards the ground. As I'm inspecting his stance I can see a light dark blue glow in his right forearm that was quickly dimming out.

What was that, how did he do that? Is that from his gem? Whatever it was, it was awesome. He killed that leech in one shot. I could barely even see the leech let alone kill it, but his attack was even faster than the leech.

“That was awesome, what did you do, how did you kill that leech?”, I exhilaratedly blurted out.

“Come on man, you know gem’s are supposed to be kept secret.”, but he sees my confused face in response and sighs. “You don’t know, do you?”

I shake my head no.

“Well I already know a secret of yours since you have two gems, I guess I can show you mine, and most experienced people would know my gem already after seeing that attack.”

He raises his right forearm up to show me his gem. It looks nearly identical to the flame and head gems I had previously, but inside is an etching of what looks like an axe. “Is it supposed to be an axe…?”, I say, sounding kind of let down.

“Yeah, didn’t you see the axe get formed and then cut off its head?” he responds, impressed that I couldn’t notice something that existed for a fraction of a second.

“How could I? It was gone before I even knew what I was looking at!” I yelled at him. The yell reverberated off the cave walls shaking and breaking off a few the stalactites hanging from the top of the cave's ceiling. How did I yell so loud, I didn’t mean to do that. I look down and see my left gem having a pure white glow, but quickly dimming out just as before. “Why’d you do that kid? We’re gonna need to get out of here quick.”, he says in an angered tone. “I didn’t mean to…” I apologize.

A fear inducing cacophony echoes through the caves, “WRRRRREEEGGHHHH, WRRRRREEEGGHHHH, WRRRRREEEEEEGGGGGGGHHHH!”. “Shit…” he says as he, hurriedly, starts to move over to the first leech he killed, and grabbing it by the head and body, he twists till the head is removed in a satisfying fashion. “Quit just standing there, and grab the other head. We got to get the fuck out of here.” I grab the other head, which is still dripping a large amount of slime and leech blood, and ask, “Why, what’s happening?”. “Just shut up and follow me”, he orders. With leech heads in tow, we start running from chamber to chamber avoiding any and all of the pools of muck that we could. “WRRRRREEEGGHHHH, WRRRRREEEGGHHHH!”, can be heard once more, this time sounding not as far away. Finally, after running through roughly ten chambers we see the same veil like forcefield, but the other side is not the same as before. The opening appears to lead to a lush lightly forested area with a heavy downward slope. Gustavo, catching his breath, takes one look at the forcefield, and breathes a sigh of relief, “Thank god it’s not Rahsara.” Whatever is chasing us is getting close as we hear, “WRRRRREEEEEEGGGGGGGHHHH!” from maybe 2-3 chambers behind us. A look of fear returns to his face, while I’m still trying to catch my breath. “We are leaving!” Gustavo says, as he drags me across the last chamber and through the forcefield. Passing through the forcefield had felt as if I had just walked through a cool cloud of mist. As if there was something there, but not really.

Once we pass through, Gustavo leans back on the forcefield, and surprisingly, he doesn’t fall back through it. I touch it with one of my hands and it feels solid, as if there was a semi-transparent, but buoyant barrier here. Both of us sit down on the hard stony floor trying to catch our breaths, and let the adrenaline drain from our systems. I look over at Gustavo, as he is still breathing hard. He looks back and cracks a smile at me, and I crack one back. We both laugh from happiness and exhaustion. Gustavo starts off, “By the way, I slightly introduced myself, but let’s do it again. I’m Gustavo, but you can call me Gus. I’ve been in the tree for roughly 1,000 years, so I kind of know my way around. What about you? What’s your name?” Oh, is this his bashful side? He’s kind of nice when he isn’t angry. “I’m Kite. I don’t really have a nickname, and I was just recently sent into the tree. I don’t really know much of what’s going on, but I hope you can help me around.” He started to laugh again, and I just sat there too tired to engage, slightly embarrassed by the introduction. “Nice to meet you Kite! It’s gonna get dark soon. Let's find the nearby trader so we can get some clothes and food to make it to the closest town.”