443 The Space Inside the Spirit Tree, A Grave Discovery on the Other Side (1/2)

Day 85 - 11:52 PM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

Mark stood by the window of the room together with Iola and Miracle. Not only the three, but almost everyone in the base was alarmed by the sudden event. Who would not be? The bright red light emanated by the Night Everred Spirit Tree enveloped the whole flatlands between the mountains. It was bright enough to wake up those that were sleeping.

Furthermore, being seen from far away, it looked like the sun started to rise between the mountains. Even the people of New Infanta Settlement that was about twenty kilometers away northwest witnessed the light. It was although a few mountains separated the two places.

The others might not know. But as the master of the Spirit Tree, Mark knew that it was finally gaining its sentience. Just as how sudden it had fully grown, the birth of its consciousness was the same.

Mark could feel this connection to the tree was growing stronger. There was even a faint light being emanated by his body as it was happening.

”Is this the aura the Duendes spoke of?”

He murmured as he examined his arms enveloped with a faint film of light.

While he watched the Spirit Tree, he could feel its consciousness growing like a balloon slowly inflating with air.

Mark did not realize his eyes were also glowing.

He wanted to approach the tree. However, he could not leave Mei and Abbygale amidst the transformation of their bodies. Moreover, their state was different from Iola. They were directly turning into his kin because of the Spirit Tree. It was quite faster and a bit more painful. Unlike Iola, whose body slowly changed, before the blood Mark gave her awakened.

SWOOOOOMMM!!!

An invisible shockwave echoed across the mountains. It caused the air to be disturbed. The leaves of the trees rustled violently, while the shockwave almost pushed back everyone watching.

Then, Mark felt a call inside his mind.

There was no doubt that the call came from the Spirit Tree.

Sure enough, the young sentience of the Spirit Tree was fully born.

The feeling of this connection was the same as his link to Ignis, although the manner was closer to the bond he had with the [Blood Children].

It could be said that the construction of the consciousness was similar to Ignis, who was a sword that gained sentience. And like the [Blood Children], the Spirit Tree had sentience comparable to a human infant.

Mark wanted to continue watching over Mei and Abbygale. However, the Spirit Tree repeatedly tried to call him. The more times it called him, he could feel that it was getting sad.

He sighed.

”Iola, Miracle. Watch over your Mama and Gale for a bit.”

Mark patted the heads of the two. Iola had a mature mentality, and Miracle was smart. The two girls nodded as they knew that their Papa needed to do something.

Feeling that he was coming, the Spirit Tree's consciousness became livelier. Fortunately, it seemed like it could not move its body as it was still a tree. If it was able to, it would probably be waving its branches now.

Everyone saw Mark flew towards the tree because of the light it was emanating. There, they saw him land by the roots of the tree and touched the base of its trunk.

Then, they all covered their eyes as a brighter flash of light appeared.

The moment they recovered, Mark was nowhere to be found anymore.

***

”So, this is the space inside a Spirit Tree.”

Mark murmured while looking around.

Feeling the call of the Night Everred Spirit Tree, he did what it instructed and touched the trunk with his right palm.

He felt something prick his hand, and a drop of blood was smeared onto its bark before a door opened. He did not need to enter the door on his own. It was more like he was swallowed by the door.

Around him was a vast open space. A vast grassland with red-colored grass under the starry night sky. There was even a red-colored moon illuminating everything.

Mark bent down to touch the ground and snap a few grass leaves. He was making sure whether everything he was seeing was real and not just an illusion.

To his surprise, everything felt real.

Being inside this space, he had the feeling that everything was surreal. Nevertheless, he could touch everything and affirm that the things he could see exist in reality.

'Was this the feeling of people who were transported to another world had after they were transported?'

Mark thought.

While his thoughts were wandering deep, trying to comprehend the unbelievable things around him, a ball of red light fell from the sky and floated in front of him.

”You are the consciousness of the Spirit Tree, aren't you?”

Mark immediately recognized the ball of light.

In response to his words, the ball of light bobbed around, flying around him. It was like a kid that saw its father for the first time.

Unfortunately, like the [Blood Children], the consciousness of the Spirit Tree could not talk yet. It was still too young and could only send its thoughts to Mark to respond.

With the ball of light flying around him, Mark wandered around the space. It was not an endless one. It seemed to be a flat-shaped world. Once Mark reached the edge of the world, the only thing he could see was darkness. It was the void as it looked like.

He tried entering it as the Spirit Tree told him that it was not dangerous. Entering the void, it was as if... Everything had vanished. No sight, no noise, there was nothing. He tried to continue a few more steps forward. That was when he realized that he returned to where he entered. He stepped out of the void and saw the ball of light waiting for him.

It was really not dangerous. Once one tried to pass through the void, they would just return to where they entered despite walking straight. The feeling was kind of strange. Nevertheless, understandable.

The space that the Spirit Tree could support was only small. Still, the expanse inside it was comparable to the whole of Mount Malabito. Where his base was just a tiny part of it. With how wide it was, Mark could probably build more than a hundred bases of the same size, and there was still some space to spare.

Unfortunately, Mark noticed one thing.

The moon and the stars were not moving.

It meant that it was very likely that this space was under an eternal night. This was rather understandable since the name of the Spirit Tree said it. Amihan also told him before that the space inside the tree would depend on the individual that planted the tree and the kind of tree that had grown.

And this was the space created by him and the Spirit Tree. He could not blame anyone for it.