In the blink of an eye, Derrick's senses unraveled.
The icy floor beneath his knees vanished. The walls of his family's home, the faint crackling of the hearth, and even the rasping breaths of his dying parents were torn away like paper in a gale.
He found himself standing alone in an endless expanse of darkness. There was no ground, no ceiling, no sky—only an abyss so complete it pressed against his senses like a blindfold soaked in ink. The void held no warmth and no cold, only an eerie stillness that felt older than time itself.
He floated, weightless, as though suspended in a vast, unseen ocean.
Then Derrick's curious gaze drew his eyes towards a crimson light that had begun to spread outwards. It was an otherworldly tree that held beauty and majesty incomparable to anything in the entire world.
Its trunk was thick and gnarled, composed of a deep crimson wood that looked more like petrified flesh than bark.
They were roots of a tree that extended like serpents slipping through silk. They did not burrow into soil—there was no ground here—but instead unfurled into the void itself, weaving through the nothingness as if space were a tangible fabric they could pierce, tear, and claim.
Each root shimmered with a wet, living sheen—dark red at their base, fading into a bruised violet as they stretched farther. They looked like the very veins beneath human skin.
Deep and slow, it thrummed through the void like the beat of an ancient heart. With each pulse, a faint crimson hue bled into the dark—like wine spilling across black velvet.
Then, he saw it. A towering tree rooted in nothing, that held beauty and majesty unlike any other thing in the world.
Its trunk was thick and gnarled, composed of a deep crimson wood that looked more like petrified flesh than bark.
The tree's bark shimmered a deep, oily red, veined with glowing lines that pulsed with unnatural life. Each leaf, shaped like a serrated flame, flickered with a carnal, and seductive luminescence.
Its surface was adorned with enticing crystalline fruits, glistening alluring flowers, various metallic emblems, black hearts, bare tumors, and coins from different civilizations.
At the tree's upper reaches were two heads. The lower head was male, eyes closed, exuding bizarre desires. The upper head was female, with green hair and a face of extraordinary beauty, possessing a charm that spoke directly to affection.
Both faces did not move in the slightest, not even to breathe. At closer inspection, one could make the guess that they were both deceased. But the rotting and paleness of the flesh that came with death did not affect them.
Scarlet fruits—plump, glistening, and faintly pulsating—hung from its branches like celestial offerings.
Some were shaped like human hearts. Others like crying faces. From one of them, a crimson flower slowly opened, exhaling a visible breath of colorful fragrant mist into the space around it.
This tree made Derrick feel as if he were looking at an accumulation of man's desires given the form of one plant.
Derrick's mind was a jumble of thoughts as he stood there bewildered. All sorts of questions popped into his head like the current location he was in, why there was a bewitching tree in front of him, and if this whole experience was even real in the first place.
Before he could ruminate further, a low, charming, and seductive voice came from the tree. "I have heard your prayers mortal." The voice belonged to that of a woman, seemingly the one that was nothing but a beautiful head.
Just listening to her voice was enough to make his pubescent mind fall in love.
When he had awoken from his obscene thoughts and realized what the tree had said, a look of shock had immediately appeared on his face.
'So the powers of that crystal ball were real. It indeed is a powerful artifact from ancient times used to communicate with God. But...this entity doesn't seem to be the creator.'
Derrick adjusted himself, and put on his most respectful performance possible. He even went as far as to bowing on one knee with an arm in front of his chest.
He said in a pious tone, "Thank you for listening to my prayers, great and powerful one. What I ask of you is to just heal my father and mother. If I need to, I will gladly give my life in their place."
Honestly, Derrick wasn't ready to die yet. He had barely got to experience life in the first place, and he had not at least even gone on one adventure with the exploration team. But this was just how far he was willing to for his parents.
"There is no need for you to give your life in exchange for your parents'. I am not the kind of existence that demands such things." The tree hummed in amusement.
Each time the extraordinary being spoke, Derrick had to constantly snap himself out of a mental stupor. Combining all of these facts with the initial response the being gave him, calling him a mortal, Derrick assumed that the mysterious existence in front of him was very well a God.
He slowly stood up, and gripped his hands together in tight fists, as a way to keep himself lucid - turning his knuckles deathly white.
"You are a very merciful and compassionate deity. How may I repay the kindness you are about to bestow then without giving my life?"
Listening to the naivety of the boy, the tree began to beguilingly laugh, vibrating the dark void they both stood in.
"If your wish is to repay me. Become my believer, and that shall suffice."
Derrick immediately became confused - wondering why this great existence would want him as a follower. But the more he thought about it, the more he began to realize nobody had mentioned a Tree Deity in the City Of Silver. Unless her followers were sworn to secrecy.
No more than a second later, Derrick eagerly accepted the offer considering 'she' had been kind enough to make his parents better. He was prepared to sacrifice the rest of his life anyways.
"I accept the offer to become your follower." Derrick said once again, getting back down on one knee and bowing with an arm over his chest.
As he said these words, Derrick silently lamented at the fact he might have to give up his dream of being on the exploration team since worship of any entity outside of the Creator was highly forbidden.
He might even be executed if they were to find out!
After a few seconds with his head down, he slightly looked up and remembered to ask an important question of identity. "Great Existence, how should I address you going forward?"
The tree went silent to seemingly build up suspense for the great reveal of 'her' name. As 'she' began to speak, a powerful aura began to envelope the space, causing a suffocating and oppressive force to push Derrick down even shaking the entire dimension.
Derrick's forehead dripped with beads of sweat, and he quickly inhaled a shaky breath to steady himself.
"You may address me as 'The Mother Tree Of Desire'." After 'she' had completed her sentence, the insurmountable pressure dissipated and the void ceased its low-vibrations.
The 'Mother Tree Of Desire' then started to speak some more. "However, in the material realm, do not dare to speak of my existence out loud or else dangerous entities shall target and corrupt your mind."
With the tree's ethereal warning, Derrick put a mental note in his head to not say the name of his new God out loud. But he made an assumption that these entities must be 'her' enemies who want to take her down.
He might have unknowingly got put in the middle of a war between deities!
The 'Mother Tree Of Desire' then began to speak once more in her alluring voice.
"This meeting ends for today, For you shall be called back here over the course of time. Return to the physical world, and let your desires in this world run rampant."
Then, with a soundless explosion, the entire space began to fracture.
Thin cracks of light snaked through the darkness, like golden veins racing across a pane of obsidian glass. Each fracture spread further, splitting reality itself into pieces. The very air shattered, and the infinite nightscape broke apart like a mirror dropped from heaven, its shards reflecting distorted glimpses of faces, places, and memories that Derrick could not name.
Before he could scream, or even think, the world collapsed into itself—and he fell.
When Derrick opened his eyes, he found himself exactly where he had been before the crystal ball had consumed him.
His hands were still clasped in silent prayer, resting on the surface of the aged wooden table. The faint scent of home helping to ground himself.
Everything appeared unchanged. And yet, Derrick felt as though he had returned from a lifetime spent at the edge of something divine and monstrous.
He turned his head slowly toward the clock that hung on the far wall—an old brass instrument whose ticking was the only sound in the room. The second hand moved with calm precision, and the time read exactly five minutes later than when he had begun his prayer.
Only five minutes.
And yet, the weight in his chest told him that something eternal had shifted within him.
As he got up to go check on his parents, he had realized there was a small and wet stain on his pants.