Realisation

It all began one of the first days of stage three of the tutorial, when both Kai and Noelle were nearly killed by Creepy and Beefcake. After realising he had been lead into a trap, Kai had got lost in Creepy's weird smoke, then ended up nearly getting incinerated by the moon.

But he didn't, the tree tops moved to protect him, something had commanded them to protect him. Whatever it was that saved his life, Kai was incredibly grateful for it

Then, the same thing that commanded the tree tops to move to protect Kai commanded the tree tops to subject the abomination that chased him to the same torture he just went through, allowing Kai to keep slashing it with his dagger until he was eventually able to kill it.

That was when Kai first realised the forest was alive and just how dangerous the environment really was.

His journey after that had been much eerier, scarier and Kai just didn't feel safe when surrounded by trees that could potentially end his life just my moving their tree tops a few inches.

But he survived and made it to the Dome, where he was properly introduced to Failure.

Failure was... a man. Kai did not really have a proper way to describe him. Failure was anything that people wanted to see him as, he could shift his personality to whatever people needed him to be. That was not a bad thing though, it's what Kai needed at the time.

Failure revealed that the forest was grown from a long deceased Princess Ethania's will to protect the beasts from the Eye of the Moon's wicked revenge for her rejecting his perverted advances.

Of course, it was the same Eye of the Moon that created the abominations to exterminate the beasts that Ethania was protecting.

Honestly, that God seemed to have an ego that was way too big for his own good.

The story was heartbreaking, and believable, up until Kai found Ethania's diary, that is.

And inside, was Ethania's Will.

How could a forest born out of Ethania's will be born if her will was stored in a bead inside a diary hidden inside a tree in the first place?

Of course, there's the argument that the bead was what formed the forest, but Failure made it abundantly clear that the Mother Tree was the source and origin of the vast forest.

That meant Failure lied about the origin of the forest.

As for why, Kai had yet to put the pieces together, that was what he was doing right now.

There's also the fact that Failure knows quite a lot about the history of the forest and the kingdom that Ethania was the princess of, meaning that Failure had to be alive at the time or at least alive around that time period.

But how could he have survived?

The curse laid upon the moon was one that was placed by a God, a being with indescribable power, how could Failure just casually survive that?

It could have to do with the fact that Failure had some sort of split personality, but did he really?

There were times where Failure was the energetic, charismatic man that dutifully lead the army, invigorating them with hope and the idea of victory.

But there were also the times where Failure looked like a living corpse. Sullen face, tired eyes, unkempt hair, he looked like he was on the verge of death while dangling two legs over the gap.

How could he switch so drastically in such a short span of time, to keep switching between life and death so casually and randomly?

Kai would get to that.

Then, there was that time in the tunnel.

Countless beasts went to go stop the abominations invading, willingly laying down their lives for the sake of their kin, yet Failure did not bat an eye.

But now? Now, Failure was doing his utmost to keep every single beast present from dying, showing extreme levels of care for all of them.

Why care now if he did not care back then?

What was so different about the beasts that sacrificed themselves in the tunnel compared to the beasts present today?

Kai only just realised the reason.

When he fought the gorilla and Depth Dweller with Wa'rak, the pitch black wolf got injured. His blood was spilled on the ground, but he still continued to fight.

Wa'rak's blood was red.

But the beasts who fought in the tunnel, the beasts that were slaughtered by the invisible wendigo abomination that Kai and Wa'rak ended up killing...

Their blood was blue.

Currently, all around Kai, beasts were fighting abominations. Tooth, nail, tail, hide, anything that could be used as a weapon, was used as a weapon.

Blood was spilled on both sides, but there was two colours that were painting the grass.

Blue and red.

Why would some of the beasts blood be blue while other beasts blood was red?

Of course, mystical forest and that, what's so strange about different colours of blood?

While that is a valid statement that could just end Kai's train of thought, it was the fact that Kai had seen that blue blood somewhere before going into the tunnel.

When the abominations first blew up the entrance to The Dome.

It wasn't that any of the beasts that sadly passed away during the attack had blue blood. No, Kai saw the blue blood when Failure appeared to confront Rashik.

And Failure's clothes were covered in that same blue blood.

There was also wood chippings on him when he emerged, what had he been doing that required him to get covered in blue blood and wood chippings in the process?

Sculpting, maybe.

Or maybe just artificially creating beasts to fight for you.

That would explain the large influx of beasts earlier today, why there had been so many gather around Failure's cabin before they started marching.

Majority of the beasts were fake, puppets created by Failure to serve as meat- well, wood shields.

That was why he was so lax sending those beasts into the tunnel, none of them bar Aldred were real in the first place. They were disposable, so to speak.

And there was still that other puppet Failure created, the one of himself Kai caught a glimpse of that one day where he paid Failure a visit.

That puppet was, quite frankly, an exact replica of Failure. There was no way to tell the difference, it was kind of creepy. What materials had he used to make a wooden doll so lifelike?

It's not like the materials that Failure used to create his puppet actually mattered, Kai was just curious.

Kai was curious, because it turned out that same puppet had been the one marching and fighting with them all along.

When had the real Failure switched places with the puppet? Was it when his big speech happened? Or was it before that, how long had the Failure they'd known been a puppet?

Had he even met the real Failure, or had the first Failure he met been a puppet as well?

Was the real Failure even alive?

Of course he was, but there had to a reason why he had to create puppets in the first place.

But what would that reason be? What could possibly prevent a man who had to be at least thousands of years old from actually moving around in his own body?

There was one thing Kai could think of, and it would even explain that while the Failure he had known was a puppet, it still felt the pain.

That was because even a puppet could not resist the Corroding.

Failure had gotten affected by the corroding at some point, hence the reason why he had to use a puppet to represent him.

But where could Failure be for his body to be affected by the corroding? What could possibly survive the pull of the Corroding to such an extent that Failure was still alive in the first place.

There was one place, one place that could offer protection and even explain the mood swings and changes in appearance that Failure constantly went through.

Before Failure gave him the ring that made him immune to the Corrodings attacks, Kai's soul would feel fine sometimes, yet feel the fear pushed upon him by the Corroding other times. At one point, his soul even started stinging with how dreadful the effects of the Corroding was.

And what was deep enough in the Corrodings embrace to constantly be affected by it yet still have enough distance to allow moments of respite?

There was one extremely obvious hint that Kai had overlooked the whole time due to him just not paying enough heed to it.

Honestly, it made himself feel like an idiot that he overlooked the fact that...

Any time he had seen Failure use magic or his Mana, it was to do with wood or manipulating the wood around him. Even the puppets he created were made out of wood.

With every single piece of the puzzle put together, Kai couldn't help but feel as if a massive weight was lifted off his chest.

He now truly understood what the hell was going on.

Kai glanced towards the far side of the battlefield, at a certain thing that he had paid no heed to since he arrived.

Grunting, Kai kicked off and started sprinting to the Mother Tree.