1 Going for the top

Wilfords eyes were filled with awe, what he was currently looking at was something he had never seen before. What he was looking at was something straight out of the stories of old, the stories that told about a tree, a tree that had given life to every living being. Be it the elves, dwarves, humans or even the murderous monsters that roamed the planet, it was said that this very tree had created everything. Wilford had been searching for this tree for many years, many of those years had led him to travel all over the world and meet many new things and people. Some of which had accompanied him on this journey but they had all eventually been led astray by whatever had distracted them at that moment. Wilford scoffed at the memory of all his past companions, yes they did keep him company but ultimately, it was only him who had the convictions to keep searching for this tree.

He had this saying, every story told, whether old or new, had some form of truth to it. Yes, he knew that there were many stories that led one astray but with this one story being the story that every mother told their child, he knew something was up. So one day, when he was done with his simple life of tilling the earth and planting seeds to sow them only a few months later, he decided he had enough. He sold his cottage and field for enough money to last him a long time, this field was in his family for many generations and he was sure his ancestors wouldn't mind, and had set out searching for every clue he could get on the tree's location.

But what had Wilford searching this devoutly was simple, it was the very same reason many before him had tried but failed. It was said that atop of the tree lay a lake, a lake so beautiful that when you drank from it it would grant you eternal life. Like many of his fellow humans, and other races he had greed in his heart, not enough to cloud his judgement but enough to matter.

There weren't many stories about this lake nor was there any concrete information he could work with, but it didn't matter. Even if it wasn't true, Wilford was convinced that there should be something worthwhile up there. And thus, with happy thoughts and new vigour he started climbing the impossibly tall tree.

…

A hand reached over the edge of a large branch, a few seconds later Wilford had pulled himself over the edge and managed to land him a nice seating spot. Wildford had spent a good few hours of continuous climbing and when he spotted the very first branch of his climb he had immediately made his way over to it. The branch was thick enough for Wilford to comfortably sit on and he wouldn't fall off if he slept, the branch was too thick anyway for him to tie a rope around it and his waste, he could of course hammer in a nail to tie a rope to, but seeing as he wasn't even close to the reaching his goal he had decided to go about using his equipment sparingly.

WIlford had planned ahead for this moment, he had climbed up the tree on the north side of the tree, this way he could see the Sun set in the West and rise up in the East. The tree would be too big of an obstacle to see where the sun was at when he would climb from either the East or West side. Wilford was happy for this forethought and closed his eyes, exhausted.

…

Wilfords eyes fluttered open, a loud screeching noise surrounded him from all sides. He wasn't prepared in the slightest and almost fell off his branch out of surprise. The screech had managed to wake him up completely, and he was immediately alert of his surroundings. He had a sword hanging from his right hip, of course he had, in this day and age people couldn't travel safely without some sort of protection, so he was luckily prepared. He grabbed his sword out from its holster and held it in a blocking position, he was climbing the world tree, and he was awoken by screeching and that meant only one thing, danger.

During his travels he had encountered his fair share of danger, but he knew that this would be dangerous. He was climbing something that was considered to be the most ancient being out of all of them, he knew he would face danger at some point but not this soon. Just sitting in a normal tree could be dangerous let alone the world tree. He was lucky he didn't fall off the branch, he had experience with being rudely awoken when he slept in a tree only to wake up hanging upside down tied by his rope. But this time he considered him lucky for not tying himself to the branch, if he had done so he would've been more of a sitting target than he already was.

Wilford felt danger from his left side and adjusted his sword to the left, just in time to block the six incoming talons of the flying creature that had attacked him, his body buckling under the sheer weight of this creature. It might have been a flying creature but that didn't mean it had to be light, its wingspan a quick glance from Wilford told him was easily over twenty meters long, his sense of size was thrown off because of the size of the world tree but he could still estimate.

There were only a few flying creatures that had such great wingspans, and the few that had were worrying Wilford. Nothing had told him that there would be flying creatures this low on the tree, the thought had crossed his mind but only for a moment, he hadn't prepared well enough for this.

Danger, this time directly from the front though not that he needed it as a loud screech reached his ears, still the same six sharp talons were aimed for his head, but instead of blocking them like he'd done previously he dived to the ground landing flat on his belly on the branch. A Howler, Wilford concluded from his quick observation, it wasn't hard to see what kind of creature it was when it attacked from the front. A Howler is considered to be one of the more dangerous kinds of flying creatures. The name Howler comes from the common Owl as they resemble them pretty much perfectly, besides for their size and eyes. The eyes of an Howler could easily spot its prey from more than ten kilometers away, and that was without them consciously enhancing them through their inner energy, with that they would be able to see through objects for more than a hundred kilometers away.

Areas known to inhabit one of these creatures would always be told to be left alone, to go around it for more than one hundred kilometers. You could never be sure when they would be actively searching for prey, luckily or in Wilfords case these creatures were nocturnal predators.

Though even if it was recommended that you stay away from these creatures Wilford wasn't afraid, he had faced more powerful foes than what looked to be a young Howler. He had faced foes of the draconic variety, and even a draconic version of a goblin would be able to thwart any attacks that a Howler would send their way, only this time Wilford was standing on a tiny ledge kilometers up in the sky, one single misstep would mean Wilfords end.

Hurrying to stand up straight but controlled enough not to accidentally fall off, Wilford readied his sword for his next attack. He was prepared this time, knowing what his foe was he was ready to strike back, and his now prey didn't make him wait too long as a minute later it came swooping down once more. It's six sharp talons ready to take Wilfords head were ready, but what it was ready for was its 'prey' to retaliate.

A pained shriek rang through Wilfords ears, and a thud was heard as two talons fell onto the branch and slid down either side of it falling to the ground. A satisfied smirk worked its way on Wilfords face, it was always a known fact to everyone that sapient races could harness their inner energy better than anything else, though there were cases where such rules didn't apply. For example, the demon known as O'rakl, a sentient monster could use its inner energy to such a point where it became tangible. This was the sole reason why it was one that was remembered, it had led an army of demons to invade the Islands of Myris and succeeded, of course it simple mind unable to form any thought had led it to attack more and move its way over to the mainland where it was promptly defeated by the council nine but it had still led to millions of deaths and even the death of one of the council.

This case wasn't for this Howler as when it came back more enraged than before it was promptly cut in pieces by Wilford, Wilford also making sure he captured some of the meat from the Howler for later use. If he could reserve his rations for long enough by killing wildlife it would be great, and such creatures were known to be beneficial for the body because of their raw inner energy.

Wilford grew up poor, but he still had a roof above his head his entire life, but that didn't mean he had to be raised to be wasteful, he was taught from young to never waste anything given to him. And this being a world where every part of the body of a monster could be used no matter how diluted he scooped the small waterfall of blood that was sliding down the sides of the branch he drank. Blood of a monster contains more raw inner energy as it wasn't as refined as the inner energy of sapient races, this caused its beneficial effect. The blood of the Howler has multiple effects and some side effects, it causes you to be feather light and energized but it would also enhance your eyesight, something you couldn't turn off. and too much of it causes death, as too much raw inner energy causes chaos which would end in a gruesome death where your insides are literally twisted and shredded from the inside.

Wilford had no problem with having the side effects, though it was annoying that he could now see every single crack and minuscule bug crawling inside the bark he used as climbing leverage. With his feather lightness setting in he crouched a little and jumped as high as he could grabbing onto the bark when he felt that he reached the highest point of his jump. This development meant that Wilford could now easily climb more than he had before, the future climb wasn't as tough as he expected, or so he thought…

Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. - Susan Ertz