1 Chapter 1: The Miasma

*Swish*

A chilling breeze blew by, making Insig feel cool and comfortable. It brought about a feeling of freshness, and it also has a hint of floral scent.

Insig thought that it was his electric fan blowing, when the wind stopped blowing out of nowhere.

Annoyed, Insig opened his eyes to inspect the fan.

'Huh? Where is this place?'

Insig opened his eye, only to see himself in a rainforest full of life. Lush and thriving greenery, and ankle-high grasses can be spotted all around him. The surrounding was full of colorful flowers, fresh fruits and even graceful butterflies, buzzing bees, lively raccoons and other animals can be spotted around him!

...

...

...

After a second of processing, Insig finnaly reacted.

'Hahaha, I must be dreaming! Right?'

Insig tries to laugh it off and he pinched himself to wake up. Although pinching was cliché, it was undoubtedly effective... or is it?

"Ouch!"

'It.... It hurts...?'

Insig took a second to fully process that.

'Wha— What?? It hurts?? Does that mean that this is real?'

Insig asked himself in disbelief.

He imagined himself being stranded in the middle of the forest. No signal, WiFi, human contact, food, water, house, clothe, anything. He was just in the middle of nowhere. Alone.

Insig's breathing slightly hastened as he grew nervous. There's no way a townspeople like him can never survive in the wild. He was too domesticated for that.

'No, no, no, no, no! It must be a dream. It IS a dream! And to get out of this dream, I must do something first... right...'

Insig thinks to himself as a form of escapism and to calm himself. But deep down, his eyes are already getting moist.

After all, if he got lost even further... What will happen to him?

He stored this thought at the back of his mind and focused on the present.

'Okay, okay. What do I do now?'

Insig observed his surroundings. Everything was what was commonly seen in movies— green.

What was the most noticeable, however, was that, there were energetic animals here and there. This is quite common as well, but what was perplexing is, they were all running away from one direction, as if something scary was following them.

Curiously, Insig tried to identify what could had have scared them so much.

"W— What's that?"

Insig found that blurting out such simple words was actually quite diffucult.

As Insig looks around, he was shocked to see a black fog covering the horizon!

They blocked the light from prying, and accompanying the eerie fog, was hundreds of animal's skeletons walking around.

He discovered that every life that has made contact with the miasma, has withered. All the trees died and wrinkled like they haven't had water and sunlight for years!

Dangerous! Scary!

The ground was barren and there were cracks here and there. The skeleton animals crawling around were chasing and killing the animals they sees.

'Wha- What is this? Is this the end of the world?'

Seeing this scene, Insig felt shocked and scared. He hadn't seen such events in real life, except for movies, which were surely fake.

Oddly enough, running away was not the first thing he thought of. Instead, there was an unfamiliar, weird feeling crawling inside him.

As he sees all the animals and life dying, it was also like seeing a part of him being killed. He feels like his heart was bleeding.

He feels scared. But mostly, angry. Insig felt that he should protect them, but he doesn't know what to do.

As Insig was thinking, he saw a rabbit running towards him. The rabbit was running for its life as it was being chased by a skeleton monster, but, alas, the monster was just too fast.

*Creak*³

Every time the monster gallops, it's bones would make a creaking sound, and as the monster caught up to the rabbit, it jumped and pinned the rabbit down so it won't escape. After leaving it no chances of escape, it then proceeded to bite the neck of the rabbit.

Seeing this scene, Insig suddenly feels that he should save the rabbit. It was as if the rabbit was his own pet, and he should save it.

"W— wait!"

He stretched out his hand as he tried to reach out for the rabbit, but it was for naught, for he was still meters away from the rabbit.

When Insig was feeling helpless, he saw an amazing scene. Like a tentacle, a root of a tree suddenly stopped the skeleton and snared it, giving the rabbit a chance to live!

As Insig saws this scene, he felt an unexplainable connection to the root of the tree. It was like it was a servant, listening to his every wishes. It was as if he knew the tree all along.

A sense of familiarity.

'This... what is this?'

Insig had an idea, although it can be said that it was a weird one.

He tested out if this 'feeling' was true. He looked around and saw another animal being chased around.

Seeing this, Insig tries to control the wood to bind the monster. He closed his eyes and focused his thoughts.

'Move there and attack.'

Insig opened his eyes to see the result, only to see that the root of a nearby tree followed his order and twisted around the monster! The wood was surprisingly flexible, like it was made of thread.

'Curl around it.'

Insig manipulated the root to squeeze the monster. The monster flailed around as an attempt to escape; biting and scratching the root.

Nonetheless, it was futile. Because as the wood was damaged, the wound would quickly heal.

The more pressure was used, the more the skeleton cracked. After a minute of one-sided fight, the monster finally died.

After the monster died, the root pierced the monster and absorbed its body, just like a fertilizer.

'I can really control the tree! I have this awesome powers! But... why can I control the tree? I didn't have such powers, did I?.... Well... I guess since I'm the dreamer, I can control my dream.... Still, with this, I can be safe now.'

Insig felt elated at seeing this. However, this feeling didn't last long as he heard the animal cries all around him.

Hearing this, Insig decided to help all animals and manipulated the trees to kill and absorb all the monsters.

Seiki saw that the monster were being squeezed by the roots of the trees and were absorbed. Seiki saw some of the trees were growing new leaves and flowers.

This made the clearing more easier.

As more and more monsters die, they immediately sensed danger, so they ran away towards the fog. Some of the trees tried to reach out for the monsters inside the black fog, but as soon as they touched the miasma, they would slowly wither.

The trees desperately tries to regrow their withered branches as they back off from the fog, only to find out that it was not possibl.

While the trees wither, the black fog seems to increase in size. Helpless, they can only avoid getting in contact with the miasma.

After saving the animals, Insig realized that they were in a stalemate and can't enter each other's area. Even if some of them entered the enemy's territory, they will just end up as nutrient for each other.

'This.... Should I just leave it like this?'

After realizing his thoughts, Insig shook his head to shake off the thought.

'No! What am I thinking! I should hurry and wake up! This dream is too surreal and scary!'

While Insig was feeling indecisive, at the edge of his view, came a black figure moving in the fog.

It was moving at a slow pace towards him. But what differentiated this monster from the rest, was that, the black fog around him was making way for him. It was like the fog met their god and was trying to please him!

Insig can finally see its appearance as the figure surfaced from the fog. The figure was a black skeleton with a dense black fog covering him like skin.

Death comes step by step.

And every steps came with death.

As Death comes step by step,

his death comes step by step.

Every land he steps at turns barren and devoid of life. Insig felt an unprecedented danger from him, it was like he met the final boss. He knew he can't beat him.

'This.... Is he the one who controlled all those monsters?"

As he was surveiling what the enemy might be planning to do, he hears a spooky voice. It was like the sound of nails scratching at a smooth surface, producing an ear-splitting sound that makes your hair stand on its very ends.

"How come there is still a soul in this body? I made sure that there is no one here."