Dawn passed, and the lights disappeared. The Demonic Tree finally reached the sanctum of the memory terrain.
The sanctum is the core of the mind world. If harmed, the effect will be fatal.
Fog flickered over the Demonic Tree. The Dao of curiosity held no sway over him.
Memory now became a mere definer, and the Demonic Tree had finally reached its destiny.
He first had to pass through the fog and emerge from it in one piece to reach here.
Then what awaited him was a desert where the scorching heat engulfed him.
The dry air hitting his brown and white surface, and curiosity seemed like a tragedy—a stupidity.
As the dry heat hit him, the Demonic Tree sat in the desert, analyzing the terrain. But whatever he could analyze was nothing but a waste of time. He had started losing the purpose of why he came here.
He never thought that glimpsing a memory of someone could be this fatal.
As years passed inside the memory terrain, the Demonic Tree had become thin and could no longer get up on his own.
He was approached by his attendants, who he had created from his branches to remind him of his purpose.
Over the years, he had created more than a thousand, and none of them could survive the dread, even a day.
Not a surprise. It had become hard even for the Demonic Tree himself to bear the dread. So, it was given that for his attendants to survive in the dread inside the consciousness would be no less than a miracle.
Two attendants survived.
"Father, your health is weakening. If you stay here any longer, you won't survive," the first child said to the Demonic Tree.
"I know. But death has always been inevitable. And after I met him, my death became even more certain."
"But that doesn't mean we die meaninglessly. You have a purpose," the second child interjected, supporting the Demonic Tree physically so he could stand.
The Demonic Tree resisted at first but could not deny the children's persistent bickering—a bickering he had grown quite fond of.
"Okay, okay. I am getting up. Don't push your old man," the Demonic Tree laughed.
Both children's faces lit up.
This was the first time in their short span of life that they had seen their father get up.
"But both of you should focus more on the external forging of your bodies rather than troubling me. Your roots are still not forged."
Hearing this, the first child's lit-up mood dimmed.
"I hate you, old bark. Your leaves have turned pale yellow-red, and did you not also fail in your body crystallization? Why do you lecture us?"
The second one got angry, often having trouble managing his temper. He had already started to turn into a caricature of an angry young demonic tree.
"You and your temper, haha," the Demonic Tree laughed, and the crew hurried on their journey. The Demonic Tree had already wasted too much time here.
He made up his mind.
He would win this game round once again.
'There is no defeat unless death takes you apart.'
The Demonic Tree muttered silently.
So, he continued on his journey without stopping.
First, he came across mutated venomous snakes whose poison could destroy his bark. These snakes had camouflaged themselves in the desert.
The Demonic Tree and his two attendants continued walking, seemingly unaware of the danger they were heading into.
One snake, in particular, tried its luck, given its religious duty to kill the infidel intruder.
They were created in the mind world to protect from pests like the Demonic Tree, after all.
The snake, with its large body, did not need to breathe or eat and approached them silently. She first walked ahead of them, then waited, letting the Demonic Tree and his crew come close.
The Demonic Tree paid no heed to the mutated snakes and kept moving closer as if the only way to escape the scorching, painful heat was through this dangerous path.
Both attendants followed.
"What are you thinking, father?" the first attendant asked in anticipation, worried about his father's sudden serious mood.
The Demonic Tree used one of his branches to convince them he was thinking nothing, while secretly hardening his other branches to a new level to kill any danger.
They closed in, and the mutated snake lay low, waiting to prey on the father and kids, master and attendants—the Demonic Tree crew.
Now the only left was for the crew to be near enough to the Mutated Snake so as to allow it to get a firm grip.
Only half a mile of distance was left. The snake lay low.
Now even lesser. Even lesser.
They reached the attacking distance of Mutated Snake.
But unbeknownst to the Mutated snake the demonic tree had noticed the mutated snake long before.
The Demonic tree did not perceive to care about the ambush. He could tell that nothing here was real, but only mental imagery. He did not perceive it as a threat as long as he could fulfill his objective and on bonus, he had already satisfied his curiosity partially.
"I can see you. Get out of your hiding," The demonic tree said, and the snake came out of the hiding without delay.
The mutated snake took a stroll around them and now the reality had registered to both the attendants.
They had finally grasped the reality.
The mutated snake stood huge, large enough to swallow thousands like them in one gulp. It had either followed them or waited patiently for them to arrive. In either case, its stealth was impressive, managing to remain hidden despite its massive size.
Both the attendees contemplated. The second one asked the demonic tree in panic, "W-w-What would we do now?"
"I will kill it. You run straight without stopping until you enter into the sandstorm ahead," the demonic tree replied, pointing towards the sand mist with a wooden bow he had crafted.
"You seriou.." The second one tried to ask and was interrupted as the mutated snake simply slammed her heavy tail. the tail was more than a million folds heavier than all of them combined. The speed was enough to cruise the entire tributary of the void.
The demonic tree escaped and successfully protected his children.
But The Tree crew had still sustained the shockwave. After all the mutated snake was fast. The shock traveled towards all of them.
As a result, none of them were able to move. The demonic tree did not falter at this. He became a source of creation and created thousands of more tree clones of his.
None of his clones would be able to survive the agony in the terrain for more than a day but they were still sufficient to stall the Mutated snake. Not for running but to fight.
In an instant, the clones started jumping back and forth instinctively like an infant despite their larger build than a demonic tree.
The massacre had begun.