With the pleasantries finished the group of close to a thousand began to follow the small man to his camp.
* 2 days later*
When the group had finally arrived at their destined location they were left in shock. This was the first construction they had seen since they had entered the second plane.
The building in front of them was an enormous grecian temple, many had noticed it almost looked exactly the same as the parthenon in Greece. The most astute even noticed that the building resembled it so closely that it was almost a carbon copy, with the biggest difference being that it was recreated to its prime.
The one thing that everyone did notice about the temple was its sheer size as nobody in this group had ever seen the parthenon; they were all astonished by this. Along with its size many had noticed a key detail that it was covered in so much nature and foliage that it didn't even make sense.
The nature made the already grand temple feel even bigger with its enormous tree growing from the top absolutely towering over the group. Once the rest of the group had caught up they made a collective gasp at this building's aura of power it exuded.
After letting them take in the sight of the temple the man beckons them,“Please please enter the temple, my entire group is waiting for you guys. It's been over a week since I've been gone.”
Before entering a small group began to suspect this as it all seemed a bit too suspicious such a large temple taking over one of the weak human tribes seemed unlikely. Along with this the whole situation had begun to feel like a trap with the man egging them on to enter
Before they were able to make their opinion known they had noticed a large majority of the group enter the temple. Among the group opposed was Tom who just shook his head and said, “We can't survive alone in this world so we may as well all die together.”
As all of them are entering and taking in the grand scene of the temple that seems to be even larger inside, they notice an important detail. Nobody else is in the temple; there is no campsite, just a large open area.
Henry, as one of the last to enter, begins to shout, “Everyone run!” But as he was running for the door, it quickly closed behind him.
Behind the door that just closes he could hear the old man laughing to himself, “haha, we lost so many in there before, now we can thin the competition in this area.”
Tom just sighs at this whole situation, thinking to himself this feels like a tv show trap, that nobody should get caught in.
While everyone is picnicking in fear hearing the old man say he lost many people in this temple Henry begins to think. Based on what creation said, this entire world is ran by Desire, in theory every issue is able to solved with Desire.
Henry’s thinking is cut off when he hears a man yell, “My map was updated! This place is called the nature gods temple.”
Almost on cue they hear a very calm and kind, “Welcome kids, I see you all would like to return to nature too, that's great. I'm here to help you. My name is Chivthar but you can call me Nature, I understand not all of you have the desire to return to Nature but since you have stepped in here, I'm assuming you would like me to help you in the process of converting.”
Everyone including Henry carried a stunned look on there faces, with the assumption creation is a god this is the second god they are meeting.
“Okay since none of you have anything to say I guess we can begin, but I will warn you the last group wasn't able to survive my trial.”
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Very quickly the once white ground was covered in small patches of moss, all over it spreading until the once grand marble floor was slew of different mosses. As the moss began to approach the people they slowly felt it creep up on them as if it was climbing their bodies.
Henry noticed a glint in the corner of his eyes, but to his surprise the glint was Tom holding a fireball the size of his head while also looking extremely pale.
To Henries and everyone else's dismay when the fireball landed on Nature it burnt a part of his but was quickly regrown.
Nature was visibly displeased not expecting 5th grade magic from newcomers to the second plane. “Good job kids, you've upped the difficulty of your trial, let the moss hinder your movements and grow exponentially,” Nature chanted.
When Nature notices nobody seems to be making any progress in becoming one with nature, he gives them a hint, “You must absorb nature to prove your desire to see it grow.”He then smirked, “Rather than letting it absorb you.”
***
Henry raises his head, his vision having gone blurry over the past few minutes. He could already see at least 400 of the people he entered with had already fallen to the ground, and got covered in moss. He and everyone else came to the silent agreement that getting covered in moss was akin to death as they felt the moss’s drain on their energy increasing exponentially.
He begins to wonder if his Desire would be effective here, but trying to think of ways to conquer nature was of course easier said than done. Especially when you don't know how to activate your powers in the first place.
When all hope seems lost for everyone he sees someone begin to absorb the nature power as Nature had told them to do.
He could remember this man as one of the few who had shared their desire with the group. His desire was that of wealth and he even bragged about his rights. The one in particular Henry could remember was: the right of a merchant to take what he wants.
Besides just him he could see few others beginning to do the same one of them was somebody with the desire to live. Henry could see these peoples bodies actively changing as if adapting to the nature
This was a true demonstration for Henry and everyone else of the power that desires held in this world.
As these people are finishing the processes of adapting to nature's desire he could hear Nature’s kind and gentle voice begin to speak up, “My little sapling rings you have returned to nature and I have accepted you with open arms.”
“Now while we wait for your brethren to complete there transformations I shall explain to you what you're new found power will do and the benefits of accepting nature's warmth”
“First of all the power of nature can be used at the cost of your life force along with or the power of nature around you.”
“And secondly my little saplings stay away from areas with little nature, your life force will be eaten away here, and we don't want that.” Nature seemed very proud of his speech and began to hug himself and moan the words, “no we really don't want that.”
While paying attention to Natures speech he didn't notice his life force quickly depleting until his vision began to go red. He began to realize he was really dying, his life of dull living was truly coming to an end.
This revelation didn't light a passion within Henry nor did it spark his desire, but it made him move forward; and decide he truly didn't want to die.
He wasn't sure what he was going to do once he got to Nature, he saw many attempt to stab him already and all of it came to no avail, not even Tom's fireball.
After deciding to kill Nature himself Henry's journey to get to him was not any easier with the moss hindering movement and his vision going increasingly dark red. He was beginning to lose himself to the plants, a fate everyone had feared.
Putting all of his strength to keep his one eye open, knowing that passing out meant death. Henry began to bleed from lips due to his excessive biting on his cheeks to stay awake.
Putting one foot in front of the other and staring at Nature he began to feel an almost warm feeling in his chest, a feeling that made him question if he was on death's door, or a comic book style awakening.
After the long journey for Henry, nature had not moved a single step. As the arrogance of a god flowed through his veins keeping him rooted in place.
As Henry took his final step, his vision went truly red even with his single eye open, but he heard a faint noise come from a shrill voice beside him, “I claim you.”