"Daa-dah-duh-dudu-doo~" Tanaka hummed as he skipped through the bushes.
He's eyes darted around, scanning the dark in search of anything that might even remotely resemble food. He then entered a clearing where the ground was covered in moss. In the centre of the clearing was a tree that had...fruits?
'Are those actually edible, and why are they glowing like that?' Tanaka shook his head. He felt a deep sense of déjà vu. It was just like when he'd come across the goblins earlier. 'It's like I'm being set up or something. When I go through something traumatic, I'm given something to soothe my soul; when I hunger, I'm given food. Tch! I'm a man dying of thirst, surrounded by poisoned chalices!'
Tanaka sighed. 'I should probably just keep going until I find something more normal-looking to eat.'
His stomach growled very loudly. Tanaka then squinted his eyes at the tree and thought. 'Maybe I'll take a nibble of one. Hmm?' Tanaka placed his hand on his chin as he thought.
Tanaka then shook his head. 'Gah, fine. I won't eat them. But, I can take a few of them with me for...for emergencies. Yes, that's right, emergencies. I wouldn't want to starve to death, right?' He then nodded along, satisfied with his reasoning.
He then strolled towards the tree. As he got closer, he realised that the tree wasn't even that tall. This surprised him, as he wasn't even that tall. He had yet to have a growth spurt, so he thought he might have to take measures to reach his goal.
'It's a good thing these fruits glow like this. I can use them as a little portable light source for myself.' He thought as he picked a few of them. The fruits grew on thin branches, like those of grapes. The fruits themselves were spherical. Each fruit ranged from being about the size of his fingernail to a quarter of the size of his palm. They all had a hard outer shell, not unlike the texture one might on a hard candy. They also had an amazing fragrance to them, not too dissimilar to an apricot.
Tanaka grabbed a few of them and realised that these things were absolutely packed with mana. Each one had more than triple the mana of a single goblin. After finding that out, Tanaka stuffed them into his pockets gleefully, and once he'd completely filled them, he turned around to leave.
"Huh?" Tanaka was shocked to find that he was now surrounded by a wall of wood. 'Seriously?! I knew I should have just left this tree alone. Now, how am I going to get out of here?' Tanaka then facepalmed.
He looked around every nook and cranny of the wooden wall, trying to find a way out. Tanaka then crumpled to the ground after spending an hour searching in vain.
Tanaka then clutched his head in his hands as he groaned. 'Gosh! I am such an idiot.' He then looked around at the situation he was in and could only sit there and wait.
After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Tanaka felt something grab onto his leg. He tried to pull his leg back, but it didn't budge. His leg had a thick branch now wrapping around it tightly. 'Uh... What the heck is going on?' He then tried to pull it off, but to his surprise, that only caused it to grow more. His eyes grew in shock as the branch spread up his arm. He tried to jump back but was now firmly held in place.
"Wha-Get off me!" Tanaka's panicked shout didn't do anything for him, though. The branches now started spreading all over his body, enveloping everything from head to toe. Tanaka's muffled screams got quieter, and as more and more wood encompassed his whole form, until his body went limp.
He couldn't see anything, and his body seemed to stop listening to him. He struggled to get himself to stand up, to scream, to do anything, but his body stood as still as a statue. 'Is this what death feels like?' Tanaka thought to himself.
"No." A strange voice responded to Tanaka's thought. "But I can give you death."
'Wait! Surely there's something I can do? Anything!'
The voice was silent for a few moments. To Tanaka, the silence was agonising. Every second that ticked by made him feel the gravity of the situation drag on more and more.
"There is something you can do for me."
'What!'
"You must take my last seed out of this godforsaken mountain. And when you do, find the elves and tell them the final Treant Guardian of Morwyn-"
'Wait! Wait. Slow down. You're not making any sense?' Tanaka was shocked for a moment. Was that really all it would take for him to survive? 'You want me to take some seed out of these caves? Why can't you just do it?'
"I could, but I'd have to kill you to do it."
'Huh? ...Fine, I'll do it.' Tanaka wondered why it needed to kill him to do something so simple, but he decided he would rather not know.
"Good. I will leave you with this armour made of the last of my essence. I will also permit you to eat the fruit you stole from me."
'In my defence, I didn't know those fruits belonged to anyone.'
"That's beside the point. Once you make it out, you must find some elves. Any will do. Just find them and tell them that the final Treant Guardian of Morwyn has sent you. Tell them..."
'Tell them? What do you want me to tell them?'
"Tell them that I and my fellow guardians have fallen and that Morwyn will soon awaken from her slumber."
'Ok, I'll do that. Can you let me go now?'
"This is of utmost importance, human! If you don't do this, then your life shall surely be forfeit."
'But you just said you'd let me live?!'
"Sigh. How clueless can you be? Once Morwyn awakens, everything from the Ice Walls of the Nerian ocean to Phoenix Mountain will die. So please, make haste in escaping from these mountains. Time is not on our side."
Tanaka didn't speak for several minutes. He'd been struggling to just barely survive, and now he had to deal with this? He thought for a while, but in the end, he knew that this wasn't really much of a choice.
'How do I get out of here, without dying? I'm sure you can tell I'm not that strong.'
"Be that as it may, there is still hope for you yet. The fruits you grabbed can help you gain an immense amount of power. The only warning I give to you is to only eat one. Stick to a smaller one. Any more will be dangerous.
"You may only eat more once you get out of here, and can properly tell how much time has truly passed. After that, you may eat one fruit every 10 days.
"There's also this armour. It should help keep you safe from harm. Don't worry about it getting in the way. It responds to your heart.
"Now, you must get going. I will place the seed in your soul so that you don't lose it. Goodbye."
"Wait!" Tanaka shouted. He remembered what had happened the last time someone had messed with his soul. But it was too late, as Tanaka could feel something deep inside him change. He braced himself for the pain he'd felt before.
"Huh, I'm fine." Tanaka stood up. He still couldn't see anything, so he tried to remove the wood encasing his head. To his surprise, the wood unravelled on its own, freeing his head from its entrapment.
Tanaka then looked at himself, seeing that the wood that was all around him was now shaped like plate mail armour. It had leaves growing in some spots of the armour. They seemed to grow in spots where the armour was thickest, almost like a visual aid meant to stop enemies from immediately attacking his weakpoints. He could even see that it had a utility belt with little wooden cases on it.
Click.
He opened one of the cases, and he saw that it had some of the fruits he'd grabbed earlier in it. Tanaka took one of the smaller ones out and held it in his hand.
"Can I really eat this?" No response. Tanaka wondered where it had gone. He looked back at the tree. What he found saddened him.
The tree was now withered. Its bark had gone from a vibrant brown to a pale, dark grey. It was surrounded by a ring of dust, probably the remnants of its once lively, green leaves.
Tanaka then bowed his head solemnly. He did a quick prayer for the Treant. 'Don't worry. I'll get your seed out of here.' Tanaka then raised his hand, the fruit glistening like a gem. He sized it up, before he brought his hand to his mouth, eating the glowing fruit.