3 The End and Beginning

  After being unconscious for an unknown amount of time, John wakes up to find all the energy he had stored gone. Groaning, he thinks, 'How could this happen. I'm done for! With no energy stores, there is no hope of gathering enough to grow now.' John sighs, lamenting his poor luck that has carried over from his previous life. Now he will only face a slow death as his body shrivels away.

  With his fate sealed, John decides to inspect his body. Although he feels that any struggle at this point is meaningless. It would be boring to just sit and wait for his own death. Inspecting his roots, John finds that they are still intact and in the ground. 'At least I can collect some energy to extend my life,' he weakly smiles.

  John quickly inspects his five small root strands. Now with his death guaranteed, John begins to wonder what he will reincarnate into after he fails to even be a plant. Perhaps he can be some small cute animal and be taken care of as a pet? 'I just want a fulfilling life. Why am I so bad at staying alive?' He laments. John wants to cry. Yet tears will not flow from a body that has no eyes!

  John then feels a cool breeze that is rather soothing. 'Ehh!' He can sense something other than the ground, his roots are in? Indeed, he hadn't noticed until now, but there is a small stem with one bud. 'Did my instincts kick in while I was passed out?' John is astonished he's gone from hell to heaven in an instant.

  Now it is essential for John to nurture this small bud into a leaf. With that, he can gain strength from the sun. To do this, he needs more energy. Too much had been wasted on the failed core attempt. He again focuses on his roots, now is the time to battle it out with those plants around him. Yet to his surprise, John finds no roots to compete with. 'Now isn't the time to contemplate my good luck,' he thinks while shaking his head mentally. John begins to suck up all the energy he can.

  After a week of scavenging with his roots, he is finally prepared. John begins focusing the gathered energy, to grow a leaf. As the bud slowly opens into the world, John has the sensation of opening his hand. The feeling is fantastic! When controlling his roots, it feels sluggish as they dig and grow in the ground. However, the leaf is free from the bounds of the earth. It is the first time he felt truly alive since he became a plant.

  The energy of the sun flows into John's stem for the first time. It feels like fire flowing through his plant veins. It is incredibly invigorating. 'I never felt anything like this in my previous life! What is this?' He lightly shakes his leaf. Without a core, he will never have full control like those plant masters. Yet, he can experience this surge of energy from the sun filling him with warmth and happiness. So John didn't lament his loss.

  From John's many years of gardening, he knew that he needs a robust root system to have a solid foundation for growth. It is a balancing act between growing upwards and downwards. His five strands had split off a few times into tendrils now forming a small web. 'This isn't enough,' John concludes.

  John begins to transfer the sun energy towards his roots, encouraging growth until he has twelve primary roots. This takes about a week, with another week to spread them out. He does all this to create a strong base for himself. 'Why are there no other roots? Why would I be the only one to survive?' The more John thinks about it and inspects the area around him, the more confused he became. If there was an attack so deadly that it killed everything around him... How did he survive?

  With his base set, John is now ready to grow more leaves. John still doesn't know what he is, but he'll gain those clues as he grows. John brings the energy from the earth drawn up by his roots, to mix with the energy he collected from the sun. Bang, the energy became violent as it clashes with each other! 'Eeee, What's going on?' John questions as he begins to panic. John fights to control the fight and split the two energies apart. John had stored the energy together for a while, with no issues. This, however, is the first time he had tried to force the two energies together. He never thought that such an extreme reaction would occur.

  John feels like he is being ripped apart all day, as the energy flares up in a seemingly eternal battle. He hasn't heard from his plant instincts since the explosion that knocked him unconscious. He wonders if a lowly plant like him only has access to this small amount of inheritance? 'I shouldn't expect too much. It's already more guidance then I got in my last life,' John decides while smiling he slightly nods internally. 'At least I confirmed this before I had more energy stored. If I made this mistake later, I would have surely exploded!' He would have been sweating like a pig from this mistake in his last life.

  John doesn't know what to do. He is fearful of the dangerous reaction, so he is forced to only send one energy at a time, to help him grow. Sun energy, then earth, slowly but surely another bud appears. He is glad that things have calmed down. However, it is exhausting to micromanage energy. 'Since I attempted to mix the two energies, it seems like they are at war with each other,' John complains in frustration. If he lets down his guard, he will find the energies confronting each other, like armies preparing to claim new territory. For now, John resigns himself to this fate. He doesn't have time to experiment more, and it could even be dangerous. He needs to grow while the weather is favorable!