Jay woke up with rough skin under him. Striaster was still flying towards the Forest of Souls. "You okay?," Jay asked, looking down at Striaster.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. Besides, I'll touch down soon then sleep."

  Jay nodded. The first trees had just started passing under them, and soon they would be at the edge of the actual forest. Amon, I put this here, right?

  Yup!

  Jay sighed. "We'll be safe in the forest."

  Actually, you won't. There's a blood monster after you. I heard it from Nire. It's the Zarlan you fought before. He didn't die.

  Jay mentally shrugged. If it's after me, it's not after him. With the forest, that's the best chance I have.

  True.

  Soon, they set down at the forest, landing amongst the trees. "Go to sleep," Jay immediately told Striaster, stepping to the side to stand watch. Striaster turned back into a Zarlan, and right before he crashed onto a fluffy tail he'd made, Jay spoke again. "Just asking-are you susceptible to sleep inducers in your Zarlan form, or most of your forms, really?"

  "Why do you ask?," Striaster queried, obviously wanting nothing more than to fall asleep.

  "I thought of something I may be able to do in a later battle. If I set up flowers taht send people to sleep everywhere, and you're susceptible to them, that's not good. I want to work on it as I stand watch."

  Striaster, not suspecting anything, answered immediately. "I'm susceptible in most of my forms, but some aren't. For example, most of my golem forms." he grimaced. "Earth golem cores taste like dirt, wind tastes like nothing, water tastes like a cool drink, and fire... Fire is the spiciest thing you've ever had. I'm not even going to speak about the rest of em. Lightning is the worst, though."

  Jay nodded, assuming an alert position to stand watch. Eventually, he heard Striaster's breathing change, turning deeper. He was asleep. Jay activated his Flowering Domain, creating the flowers he'd detailed earlier, right next to Striaster. The sleep-inducing pollen deepened his sleep, and would hopefully keep him under longer. Amon. If you see the blood beast, or get a warning from Erin, tell me.

  You figured out that Night is Nightingale, then.

  Yeah. I also remember that I always called her Erin, and you called her Nire. I don't really know what happened for you to reverse her name, but I feel like it was a joke you played on me, and never really stopped playing, in fact.

  We both expected that you'd never realized we were playing a joke on you. No reaction.

  Jay sent her a smile before starting to run along the edge of the Forest. As he did, he was certain.

  He'd been the one to put this forest here. My forest, Jay mused for a brief moment, not even registering the thought.

  Trees flashed by, each a person he'd killed. The outer ring was the people he'd killed. As he went closer to the center, one would slowly find stronger foes, great evils he'd killed, and then eventually the people who'd influenced him the most. His friends. For now, he had to get as far from Striaster as possible, to make sure nothing happened to him. The creature'd come after him, and if he was near Striaster, it'd kill him in his sleep.

  He currently heard nothing, but kept running until he received a warning from Amon. Nire says it's close. In the forest, actually. She's surprised you haven't activated the trees or pulled out some last minute 'screw you' card.

  Jay shook his head. I'm not strong enough to activate those, though they are hidden away in my Forest.

  Wait. When had he started calling it 'my' forest?

  Jay shook it off, continuing his run, speeding through the forest as if he knew the position of every single tree. As if he'd placed every one there himself, his subconscious mind carefully deciding their positions after he killed each and every person.

  Eventually he stopped, a roar coming from not too far away. It knew exactly where he was now, and this was far enough away. With a flex of his mind, the trees cleared a space where they could fight. simply shifting out of the way, their roots moving as if the ground was liquid. They left no furrows, the ground closing back in behind the roots.

  The blood creature reached the clearing, charging in. None of the trees behind it were broken or even damaged in any way, a testament to their strength. It carved furrows into the ground as it skidded in to the clearing, stopping in front of Jay. As of the moment, it was a massive creature, a blood tiger. Jay couldn't see the Zarlan's body inside, even though the entire thing was clear enough to see through, though very murkily. Without his All-Seeing Eye, stat, he wouldn't have been able to look through. He frowned. Did the Zarlan summon this and send it after him? Amon? Do you know where the Zarlan is?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  He's right there. He gave himself to Domination and became one with Blood.

  Jay settled into a fighting stance. Well, that's not good, is it?

  Yeah, doesn't seem like it. As for it's strength, Nire said it could withstand a Single Strike to End the World. Be careful. The forest is your only advantage.

  Yeah, yeah. I've been fighting for millennia. And even though I don't have the same personality as myself back then, I have their memories.

  Amon shrugged inside of him. And I've been advising you for millennia. I'm still surprised by how stupid you can be, at times.

  Jay inspected the blood beast. It had ruby gems for eyes, covered in facets of condensed blood. It stared at him, not willing to make the first move. Neither was he. "It seems we're at a standoff, aren't we."

  The creature tilted its head. "We've found you. You get to die now, in the name of Blood."

  Jay suddenly had a spike of fear. The gods had found him. He'd gone to another world, and they'd still found him.

  That moment seemed to be what the creature was waiting for, so it jumped at him without any warning. Just barely, with the help of a Hook of Thought, Jay managed to dodge the pounce, but off balance, he wasn't in any shape to dodge the next one.

  The creature was suddenly biting at him, clawing all over him. His only protection was Amon's Shardstorm. He tried to hold it away from him, push it off, but he never managed to. It was too strong. He saw victory shine in its eyes just as it managed to bat one of his hands away, clearing a space in the Shardstorm at the same time. Then his hand struck a root, and without thinking, he absorbed a bit of power from the tree.

  Jay used the tree's power to pull a spike of metal out of the ground, piercing through the beast's torso. It fell off without its back legs' leverage, and Jay got up, numerous cuts covering him. The beast slowly paced around him, the blood he'd torn off flowing back into the beast, restoring it to its complete size, with extra from his own body. Jay activated Mastermind, looking for a solution. After a couple seconds of watching the blood beast stalk him, he nodded and abruptly started to run.

  It easily followed him, waiting for his guard to go down. It thought he was running to preserve his life. He was not. His path took him directly towards the center of the forest. The trees didn't get any bigger as he went, though their sizes and shapes started to vary far more, the more influential people getting trees with more thought put into them.

  Soon, carvings started to appear on the trees, some laden with fruits while others had branches reaching towards the sky. Then Jay reached his destination.

  The center of the forest.

  A massive tree stood directly at the center. It had no fruits. Just broken branches poking up at the sky, as if they were spears set against the world. Carvings of nonsense, of power, wove across the tree with no end or beginning. The tree had pieces of it dedicated to different elements, with a part of it rippling across dimensions, another appearing to flow like water, and not flow at the same time, and another burning with the greatest flame the world had seen. It was supposed to be his tree.

  The blood tiger stopped with him, morphing into a panther, as he stared at the tree. This is not my tree.

  Amon agreed with him. This was your past self's tree. You are not him anymore.

  The panther pounced at him, apparently not waiting anymore. Jay stepped aside, focused on the tree, ignoring the bloody furrows carved along his side.

  The tree abruptly broke in half, the top half landing on the ground and falling through it, as if the land did not exist. The bottom half soon followed, though some of the carvings stayed floating in midair, made of lines of golden light. I, however, will remember those who came before.

  Amon sent him silent approval as a new tree sprouted, a tiny sapling. It grew until it was about his height. The carvings that had been held in midair flew onto the tree, blazing themselves on. This place isn't really the Forest of Souls, is it?

  No. No, it isn't. Your past self created it, but failed to understand why he had done it. He thought it was a collection of souls.

  Jay nodded. I cannot name it at this time. The word I want to use is something I cannot use right now.

  Amon gave him a mental nod. I know what you're going to name it.

  Some of the tree's branches extended out as spears. But on this one, others grew fruit. A black, abyssal fruit, which almost looked like Onyx, but fruit nonetheless. Very few people would appreciate this fruit, but those that were openminded and did would be welcomed.

  Silver liquid formed a tree of itself next to his, the two intertwining. He'd given Amon permission to alter the forest just as much as he could. Power suddenly radiated from the two trees, even more than had poured out before, simply because these trees resonated with their owners. Jay tapped the glyphs on his tree. "Did you know my predecessor created something called A Single Strike to End the World?"

  The panther tilted its head, obviously confused. "He named his second strike Two Strikes to Defend One's Conviction. So on and so forth. The first one's name is fitting enough. The second one..." Jay shrugged. "I'd like to recreate it, with a new name."

  Amon forged a blade for him. Without even looking, Jay knew it wasn't normal, but a True Soulblade, rainbow colors flashing down its length. "Two Strikes of Perfect Harmony."

  He struck once, sending the panther flying back. Jay's left arm sprayed out blood, most of the arteries there suddenly breaking a hole through his skin. It shattered into specks of blood that slowly reformed, until Jay unleashed his second attack. It was perfectly timed, almost as if it was choreographed, the panther pulling its blood into a tight ball directly in front of the wave of energy he'd sent out. The blood stayed in place for a second, hanging in midair, before falling to the ground, as if it was a puppet with all its strings cut.

  Jay felt Amon's sword flow back up his hand and started running. He'd have to get to Striaster before he woke up, or there was a tongue-lashing out for him.

  Jay was too late. Striaster was very awake, and very angry. "Where did you go, and why are you covered with blood? Why is your left arm gone, and why do you have several chunks missing?"

  Jay looked at his left arm. It was indeed gone, apparently. Looking down at his side, he noticed that the 'furrows' the blood beast had carved weren't really furrows, but more like... holes. "I... ran into a tree?"

  Striaster's frown grew deeper and darker. It continued growing darker and darker and darker and... darker... and... and...