Kigen felt overwhelmed by the order of events. Everything that had happened to him, even his transformations, brought untold shock in his heart. At some point, he wondered if his heart could take all this. Better yet, did he have a heart?
As his mind was reeling, he noticed that just above him, in the branch that was above the place he had found himself, there was a strange looking flower. looking closer, it did not look right. It was as though there had been a flower, but it had fallen off, leaving behind a stalk.
He felt strangely drawn to this stalk, and as he drew closer to it, he came to a sudden and horrifying realization. His feet, or whatever it was that he had, seemed to fit perfectly on the two spots on the stalk. Could this be his origin?
Curiously, he extended his root-like feet towards the stalk, wondering if the footprint would match up. That's when everything went super creepy.
Miraculously, the underside of his foot grew some weird-looking tendrils. Stranger still, the stalk also grew the same weird-looking tendrils, and the two merged. As they did, Kigen felt his body start contorting, and he found himself rolled up like the fiddlehead in a fern plant.
Kigen suddenly found himself in a large throne room, where a powerful looking humanoid was sitting.
Much like him, this humanoid has a green face, similar to the shade on Kigen's arms. They also had the same strange filament protrusions coming off their body and covering everything except the face, the hands and the lower legs. He could tell that the humanoid in question was humanoid, and she held immense bearing.
Strangely though, this figure seemed to merge with the throne they were seated on, which also extended to the entire room. She had a golden crown on her head. Unfortunately, she w
Instinctively, Kigen seemed to understand everything. All this was happening in the mind. His body was still rolled up on the branch. Perhaps this was how he could get in touch with mother, because that was who this humanoid was.
The mother tree.
Kigen understood that he had been born from this tree. He was not sure of the specifics, but he knew that the tree was his parent, and the humanoid before him was his mother, her consciousness.
Her consciousness did not seem to be awakened, or even fully formed. He wondered how he had come into this life, and a lot of questions ensued. None he could find an answer for, at least, not now.
All he knew was that this was mother. Perhaps out of need to come into contact with someone, Kigen reached out and grabbed her. Suddenly, some power flowed from his being and into the mother, sucking him quite dry.
He began to feel tired and found that he had to fall asleep. Matter of fact, he did not seem to have a say in the matter, instantly passing out.
***
As she watched her kids crying over the loss of their brother, Mistress Kering was extremely sorrowful. She had had to do a terrible thing, and she wondered if her gamble had worked.
Several people came and comforted her, congratulating her for having raised such a capable boy. Kigen was praised as a hero to the people and someone to follow.
Surprisingly, even the village belle, Nina, had also come for his wake. Many of his brothers knew Kigen's obsession with the girl, but they never expected her to know him, much less attend his memorial.
After several months of terror, the village had just about had it with the beast. Several people who tried to hunt the beast ended up disappearing, with only a few recovered. None came back alive.
However, young man, Kigen, had charged valiantly into this monster's lair and taken on this threat with intelligence and cunning. He had won in the end, but his injuries were too much. He had eventually succumbed to these injuries.
No one found the needle-mark from the dart. Well, no one was looking. There were no medical examiners or autopsies, and no one suspected foul play, especially when the suspect was lying right next to the corpse.
For all intents and purposes, it seemed a perfect crime. However, the perpetrator was still heavily laden with guilt.
As the night grew on, Mistress Kering found herself crying bitterly. She loved all her children, and she wanted the best for them. Unlike many who neglected, she instilled in them a sense of discipline, respect and honor. She raised them to be powerful figures in the society.
However, she did not forget her obligation. She had been sent with a mission, and she had to see it through. This involved sacrifices that wounded her heart so, but it had to be done.
"Son, forgive me," she mumbled amid sobs.
***
Hours later, Kigen gradually woke up. He could the feel the sun's brilliant rays blanketing the earth and expelling darkness. As this happened, his body felt renewed, and he quickly unfolded from his rolled-up position.
Looking around, he wondered what to do. He had to survey his parent. He wondered if he had any siblings hanging off mother. If he had, he could meet them and communicate, maybe even learn a few things.
He also intended to explore and find out everything about where he was, what he was, and most importantly, what he could do.
However, all this had to wait, first things first, he had to find something to eat. He was famished. This presented an entirely new problem, what to eat?
What a conundrum, Kigen did not know what his body consumed for food. Did he eat the same thing humans eat? Could he eat bark or other plants? Was he supposed to hunt for food?
Kigen did not know the answers to any of these questions. He thought of trying to eat bark, but the only bark around belonged to mother. Even he knew eating his mother was in poor taste.
Therefore, he was going to do something he had not done before, he was going to fly away from the mother tree's comfort and shade.
As the terror of the action descended on him, Kigen also felt a sudden rush of excitement. He was never one to remain cooped up somewhere. he desired to run about, explore, and hunt. Even now, he was wondering, could he eat meat?
Looking around, Kigen identified a potential food source. Not far from where he was, he identified a wild peach tree. The peaches on it looked extremely enticing, and he could see some birds running about.
Unfortunately, there was one problem. The distance from where he was and where the peaches were was quite long.
Kigen had come to understand and appreciate that there was something special about mother. There were no living plants around. No animals dared come close either. While this was a good thing, in that he was safe in the cover of mother, it also meant that potential food sources were quite far.
He had also noticed that mother was extraordinarily tall, towering over every other plant. This meant that he would have to fly over a wide area while completely exposed and without any cover.
What was worse was that, while he had managed to fly about in the tree, he did not seem to be able to acquire speed. He seemed to leisurely levitate from place to place.
However, hunger was building within him, and he had to do something about it. Gritting his teeth, he flew clear of mother's branches, where he levitated for a moment. He then let out a sigh and angled his body forward.
This next part, his body seemed to respond to his need, not his direct command. His arms and legs became stiff, and his upper wings stopped beating.
Just as he was about to fall, his hind wings suddenly activated. The moment they did, Kigen was suddenly catapulted forward, moving at a blitzing speed.
Before even realizing it, Kigen found that he had overshot by a long distance the peach tree. Looking back, he was quite aways from the peach tree. The mother tree was also further back.
That was when Kigen got a full view of the mother tree, and it was impressive. Looking at it, he felt it take his breath away.