Unfortunately, Jake had to shelve his dark plans into a corner of his mind shortly after. He was now very close to what he believed was the location of the Heaven Cascade, as the ensuing events acutely made him aware.
The Life Enchantments and the relentless bombardment of increasingly compact and fierce vital energy, which had initially only tickled him, finally began to take their toll. When the tributary he was swimming in abruptly widened, merging with a vast expanse of tumultuous dark blue water like an ocean in a storm, Jake experienced a sharp pain for the first time.
The sudden pain, combined with the absurd influx of vital energy trying to force its way into his cells, made him shudder momentarily, then black out for half a second before he managed to regain control. When he refocused after coming to, his heart skipped a beat upon discovering that enormous chitinous protuberances, like tumors, had been expelled from his body.
