Waiting and waiting, waiting for what? Death.
This was a simple verse I wrote sometime during my life inside a hospital.
***
My eyes closed, and when they opened, what came into view wasn't the familiar ceiling of the hospital room, but a dark cave filled with plants that stood as tall as me. There were glowing stones embedded in the ground at some places and plants of various species.
Did I die? Is this the afterlife? I can't move, so maybe I am dead. But something feels missing, as if there's a fog inside me.
It looks like I'm a plant now.Do we all become plants after death? But how can we exist inside a cave with so little light? So many questions and thoughts drifted through my mind.
Then a voice suddenly spoke.
"God's dungeon, 17th floor treasure chamber, 'the garden of mana'. Travelers, please rest for some time here from the fatigues you've gathered along the way. This place is lush with mana, magical plants that have gathered and processed the mana inside themselves, and precious mana stones. You can leave anytime you wish to."
Wait, this voice? Isn't it like one of those transmigration stories? Am I actually alive and kicking inside the body of a plant from a fantasy world? No way, am I gonna sit here forever for some dungeon explorer to come and harvest me?!
"But remember, in 7 days the door to the 17th floor will open and monsters will begin attacking."
A chill ran down my back. Chances are, those monsters wouldn't leave the plants here alone.
Maybe if I absorb enough mana, I'll be able to protect myself?
But that wasn't the case either. Without understanding what it meant to have more mana and whether I could use it, it was impossible to know.
Despite the doubts, though, I should at least try something.
The roots and leaves of my body became clearer in my mind, and small particles of energy could be felt coursing through my veins. The same energy particles were also floating around in the air and soil. They began being pulled, inch by inch, and would go into my body. Slowly, the act of pulling them in became faster and easier the more I got used to it.
There were concentrated chunks of mana in some places. Those were the glowing rocks, and one was a bit below my root system.
The energy particles were probably the mana. But they weren't idle in the air, they were being absorbed by some of the other plants. The weed and the rose were one of them.
I seemed to be a normal plant without flowers.
Suddenly, a flash of light appeared by my side.
When the light subsided, what appeared in its place was the weed that had changed shape and grown a bit. Although the change wasn't a bit it had gotten above-ground roots that stretched in some places.
Just then, another plant also evolved and changed shape. It was the rose, the rose had grown more thorns and vines that extended around it like a protective film.
A thought passed through my mind.
Evolution!
Then, the moment I absorbed another mana particle, the voice spoke again. "Requirement for evolution for young fig tree satisfied. Will now evolve into the next form. ******'s authority and ability are guiding. The evolution path determined to be the best possible path will be chosen." A light spread around me just as the voice finished speaking.
When it subsided, my root system had grown and become big. It could move freely. It was still too weak to walk and run with it but that was okay.
This way, I'll be able to walk and run away if something happens.
More flashes of light appeared amongst the plants. This sudden reaction of evolution wasn't the only thing that happened, though. The idle plants that hadn't been absorbing at all had begun absorbing the mana.
It wouldn't be far-fetched to believe every plant here has a consciousness and was reincarnated like me.
Was that a good thing or not? It could be a good thing if some of these plants can grow to be able to do damage. Then the 7-day deadline will be less dangerous. But it also meant that with more competition, absorbing mana would get harder. In fact, I was already fighting with the rose and the weed for the mana particles in our surrounding.
But there was something else I needed to focus on, with my roots longer if I just move it a bit between the soils, my root can touch the stone emitting mana. I wonder what will happen?
Slowly, my roots inched towards the huge chunk of mana and touched it. The mana it emitted stopped being emitted, and instead it began flowing through my roots to me. The mana I absorbed instantly multiplied several times.
And then I realized something else.
The plants around me were watching.
Grass, shrubs, weeds, even the farthest plant inside the cave all turned toward me in a single, collective awareness.
They all began rushing suddenly, they began inching their leaf and roots towards the stones.
A passing thought flitted through my mind that they did have consciousness all before I began wrapping my roots around the stone to protect it from the plants around me and absorbing as much mana from my surroundings to extend my root. Several other plants in the room had already reached the mana stones next to themselves, and their absorption speed increased, and they would evolve faster like me. For the time being, though, no one will endanger my stone. My roots were the longest in my near vicinity.
Everyone began absorbing intensely. There were too many plants, it was clear we had gone into a battle for resources where we fight to pull in every mana particle. The only recourse that was absolute in such a situation was the stones and touching them meant monopolising them.
It was hard to tell how much time passed when another evolution occurred. My roots grew longer and became easier to move. Some shorter ones even began growing on the ground. I could move them slowly.
The other plants in contact with the stones also evolved shortly after. Among them, there was one with very long roots. If my roots were 10x before this evolution and the weeds' were 5x, this one's roots were easily 30x before the evolution. But it couldn't move its roots like me. Instead, it grew fast and directed its roots towards the stones. With the evolution added, it has gotten closer to 3 stones and would probably reach it in a while.
The other plants, however, were similar to me and could move their roots, but neither did they have such a long one, nor could they grow as fast. Yet, some of them were already closing in on their second ones.
Meanwhile, there wasn't any close to me.
No, that's okay. 7 days, not much time had passed since the voice spoke, but if we consider the speed of my evolution, then we can assume I'll be able to almost walk and run with my root by then.
A plant running looks funny, though.
After thinking along those lines for a while, I returned to actively absorbing the mana and fighting the rose and weed for them on top of the mana I was already getting from the stone.
***
In the darkness, small and dense roots ran above the stretches of the ground, reaching. A blinding light sprang, and its aerial roots extended, finally long enough to latch onto the plant right next to it.