Greater Life Herald

As we silently walked in a large semi-circle around the massive encampment of the Wood Spirits and other Life Elementals, munching on the precious fruit that had been given to us, I absently wondered what kind of fruit this was. It certainly wasn't like any I had seen before and tasted completely different from any other food I had had… not that I had been exposed to a large variety of food. Back on Earth or in the illusions, everything I had eaten was just to keep me going.

Forcefully, I wrenched my mind back to the problem at hand. Was there something making me more emotionally sensitive or was it just because I was changing due to the extreme situations and circumstances I had experienced? It was quite hard to tell, and as time went on I suspected it would only get harder.

As such, it was of critical importance that I determined the truth before long. On one hand, it was true that I was very emotionally vulnerable during the third illusion, unusually so. However, I had noted personally that I was somewhat starved of people to connect with aside from my foster siblings and excuses for parents. I never really had any opportunity to socialize, especially after I was eight. 

Nevertheless, it was starting to become clearer to me that something - or someone - was manipulating my emotions. I did have a sense of pride, but it was something that showed up rarely, if at all, in my memories. All I could really remember was at most, standing up for someone close to me. 

I rarely cared when someone tried to insult or put me down, letting their words sink into the emptiness that was my pride. As such, it was ridiculous that I had been enraged enough to want to murder someone for my damaged ego. I had no true sense of personal pride after all - I simply swallowed insults like they were stones sinking into a lake. 

However, this realization did little to aid my current situation. I had no way of dealing with the heightening of my emotional state anyway, since it was likely part of the illusions. Small wonder that this was called the Trial of Endurance if I had to endure becoming increasingly sensitive to the smallest of insults or actions as I passed through one illusion after another.

Suddenly, someone yelled, "Look! It's a Greater Life Herald!"

I snapped out of my reverie and instantly started chanting an incantation for a shielding spell. A thin membrane rose to cover us, thickening by the second, but it abruptly stopped and shattered as the words halted on my tongue.

Before us was a massive tree. The word massive didn't really do it justice, but I doubted any other would have sufficed. It might not have been the tallest, but it was ludicrously big. It stood hundreds of feet tall and its girth was so great that it might have taken more than ten people to link arms around it.

As I watched on in shock, the 'tree' seemed to stretch out, its branches noticeably shaking as the entire trunk shook. After a luxurious stretch, the Greater Life Herald seemed to stare at us, a gaze containing the wisdom that comes with exceptional age.

For a moment, I could understand why everyone treated Life Elementals with such great respect and treated them with awe. The wisdom and compassion that I saw in its eyes was breathtaking….

Then it flicked a leaf at us with the force of a hurricane.