Enlightenment

Jake traveled through the portal to a different plane, and the portal behind him closed. Jake, realizing that he had come very close to dying, was emotionally stressed and tired from the trek to the sigil through the woods, before Talsia died. Jake still couldn't believe her gruesome death and he was distraught thinking of the many times she had been the deciding factor in their survival in the wilderness.

Jake had only made it this far because of Talisa. That tailed minx had wormed her way into his heart, and now she was gone. Jake always considered himself mentally tough, but a part of him broke as he watched her gruesome death.

A tear rolled down Jakes face followed by another and a heart-wrenching screech filled with raw pain. Jake hated that Monster that had killed; he hated himself for being unable to do anything else to save her. Jake had run for the portal the second the creature had killed Talsia because he knew he could not fight him as he was now. Talsia wouldn't want him to seek his death pointlessly, she would want him to do everything in his power to survive and if possible avenge her.

The previous bland plane changed and bushes sprouted and began to tower over Jake surrounding him on three sides and leaving a path open in front of him. Jake heard a familar voice. Calvis's voice rang.

"It is only through loss that we can gain something new. Jake, I give you an opportunity for enlightenment, to have anything you want, the ability to create anything and a life that never ends. I have allowed you to become better than the stardust that made you. Now all you have to do is reach out and grab it. Whether you want revenge, power, or respect, anything can be yours anything you can imagine."

Jake hearing this made his hand into a fist using so much force he drew blood and a dangerous light shone in his eye similar to the one Calvis had when he had destroyed a planet filled with sentient life.

A voice rang out again, "the trial that lays ahead is one you have to figure out for yourself but be quick about it as there is a time limit."

Jake, hearing this decided that he better get started. The path in front of him divided. He could go left, or he could go right.

Jake mentally flipped a coin and decided to go right. As soon as he turned right the path quickly turned dark. Mist suddenly blocked the light and roots of the bushes began to close in on Jake.

Jake ran past the branches as they reached out towards him, hoping to pull him into their deadly embrace. He changed his step into an all-out sprint seeing that the next turn was not far ahead of him. He heard a distant roar but didn't allow himself to get distracted.

Jake barely managed to make it to the other side in time, escaping the twisting arms of the bushes.

Jake chose a direction and survived these random choices several times - surviving flames that came out in patterns, darts that came out the bushes, and even an illusion; but the maze never seemed to end. Jake felt the floor heating up as time passed a sign there wasn't much time left.

Jake, sick of always playing by the rules of some insane God, decided to take out a familar multipurpose tool he used when surviving in the jungle.

The multipurpose tool began to cut through the hedge, which to Jake's surprise was cut through without any resistance.

While berating himself for not using the tool sooner and just as he had finished cutting the hole, he heard the roar from before. Jake suddenly realized, he creature that had killed Talsia was coming for him now.