Conquering the Elements

So this is what the afterlife is like. To be honest, this is not how I imagined it. Strangely, my memory remained with me, only somehow one-sided: all the information was depersonalized, neither my name nor my loved ones seemed to exist.

 I remember that I was a middle-aged man when I came here for some unknown reason. My whole life flashed before my eyes, but they no longer evoked the same emotions. I was in kindergarten, blowing bubbles with my nose... In the memories of school, only knowledge of subjects and abandoned sports sections remained. The anime I've watched and the books I've read are also well preserved. The days of university life gave even less: the bare theory of core subjects in four years, relationships with girls and a lot of exams. Then work and daily hustle. It all seemed to pass in a matter of seconds. Maybe it's for the best. I don't believe I could think straight now if I had all my memory laced with emotions.

 After examining myself, I saw only a transparent spherical shape with pulsating white lines inside the contours of the body. Now I'm definitely not a human anymore, I look more like an incomprehensible spirit from various anime I've watched. Although I can see everything as well as if I had eyes. Now it became clear why thoughts flow so steadily and there is no need for human needs. I feel unusual, but I don't notice any discomfort yet.

 The area, where I found myself was not much different from the ordinary world: the same trees, grass, earth, there is even a faint breeze that gently tosses the discarded leaves. It doesn't really look like heaven or hell...

 Thoughts of entering another world come to mind, the colors are too bright and contrasting compared to the memories I received – an analogy with colors from cartoons comes to mind. I think it's worth finding the locals, if there are any here at all.

 Choosing a direction at random, I went or already swam towards the forest. After a few hours offhand, I didn't meet anyone. It was already creeping up on the idea that I was alone here, when I heard a rustle ahead.

 A creature appeared from behind the tree, as if made of clods of earth. The leaves on the head of the unknown creature were twirling amusingly, as if performing a kind of dance. If I had remained human, I would definitely have been shocked, but the emotions were not so strong. I only had time to be surprised when this creature began to run around me and jump, making some incomprehensible sounds at the same time.

 – Pru-pryu-pryu,– he sang, continuing to jump and exude joy around.

 I didn't know how, but I understood what he wanted. It was like transmitting a thought through emotion. The harmless-looking creature wanted me to play with him, and his thoughts were somehow simple, I would even say impulsive, just like a child who is not fully aware of himself yet.

 I had the idea to try to communicate in his "language" - I have accumulated a lot of questions about the world around me. And it even seemed to work out, at least he stopped, tilted his head to one side and began to drill into me with an uncomprehending look. It was as if the question marks above his head could already be touched. He probably didn't even ask himselfsuch questions, or they're not interesting to him. After standing like that for a minute, he started running back and forth again.

 I wanted to sigh heavily. One thing is clear–I won't learn anything from this guy. There is a glimmer of hope that not everyone here is like him. So I continued my journey further, now with a new traveling companion, who does not want to go about his business yet. At least it wasn't so lonely...

 Going further, the forest seemed darker and more unfriendly, it even became somehow uncomfortable, as if something was physically pressing on me. My companion, who had recently been cheerful, began to pull me back and plaintively wail that it was absolutely impossible to go there.

 I was curious what was bothering him so much. Nevertheless, I decided to move on – I wanted to look at the source of the concern. Pushing the new acquaintance back, I began to convey to him my message that I would go on alone. Seeing that I had already made up my mind, he began to walk back, turning around every few steps, as if asking: "Are you sure you haven't changed your mind?". After saying last goodbye, I began to go deeper and deeper into the dark and sinister part of the forest.

 A few hundred meters later, I began to feel the trembling of the earth – it was like a collapse of stones. A little later it became clear why the earth was shaking... In the clearing, two creatures came together in a fierce battle, changing the landscape of the forest just by passing. One of them looked like a cluster of anthropomorphic tree roots, and the other looked like a big man from a pile of stones.

Being at a fairly decent distance from the battle, I still clearly felt their power. They'll definitely crush me without even noticing. The thirst for battle and rage poured out all around them. But it became clear that the world is inhabited not only by friendly creatures – that would be too good for the truth.

 It was worth listening to a new friend with leaves on his head, because the battle began to shift from where I came from. I'll have to bypass them and move on. It is becoming more and more incomprehensible to find someone who could explain and tell everything.

 Having already walked some distance from the battle, I felt a cry of pain in space full of fear and despair. Its source was a tree-like giant, much like the ent from the Lord of the Rings. It seems that the winner and the loser have already been decided, what means I need to get out of here faster. After all, while they were fighting, they didn't pay much attention to me, but on the border of feelings I knew that I had already been noticed by them, and as soon as the opportunity arose, they would certainly follow me.

 At that moment, the ent began to disintegrate into multicolored particles, which quickly melted right into the air, but some of them managed to "enter" the stone giant. It was immediately apparent how the giant had gained in height, and the pressure radiated by his body had noticeably increased. Great, I think everything is the same here as according to the memories of human life, the strong devours the weak, but here it's all in the literal sense.

Without hesitating for a second, I began to swim as fast as I could. And after flying some distance, I began to feel that I could no longer move so fast. As if the reserve of endurance, which I had not felt before, began to make itself felt in the "high-speed" mode. Most likely, I have some reserve of strength, at the end of which I will feel very tired. Having stopped, I noticed only now that I began to look dimmer. Before I could really get scared, I realized that the energy was being replenished a little by little.

 Having used up my energy, I began to feel something similar in the background itself. Apparently, I am absorbing energy from the outside, thereby replenishing my "fuel". After analyzing that fight, it became clear that the same energy was felt from those creatures, but with impurities. And no matter how strange it may sound, the stone man "smelled" of earth and stone, and the second man smelled of wood, water and earth.

 It seems that my old friend is too weak, since I didn't feel anything from him. Well, either that or I'm too bad at this sensor...

 It should be attributed to the advantages of the neutrality of my energy, the reserve of strength was replenished faster and faster. But I think it's worth waiting somewhere until I fully recover. And with renewed strength, I can safely continue on my way.

 After wandering around for a while, I saw a big tree. I decided to hide in its roots, I think, try to get some sleep. Maybe this way I'll recover even faster. After some time, I couldn't sleep, tossed and turned, thinking. Only when a few hours later, I calmed down and stopped moving, the body itself began to lose consciousness. The last thought was the desire not to be killed during my first sleep in this world.