The Ascension

Aila sorted through her bundles of treasures, found the knives, and pulled one out. She sat on the floor, used a stone to sharpen and clean the knife of any rust, but looked at the dust on the knife. The stone had oxidation dust left behind by the knife, and the knife had stone debris.

"I either pressed too hard, or this is normal. That means I need to rinse this." She looked around, found the stew pot, and picked it up. "I need water. Not just to drink, but also to wash my dishes." Aila thought for a moment.

"I also need a bit of wood for a fire. Looks like I need my ax too."

* * *

Aila was still unaware of how good her eyesight was now. It was late evening, the sun was going down, and the forest had darkened considerably, but to Aila, it looked as bright as the middle of the day.

With her stew pot in one hand, and her ax in the other, she walked out of the manor and the courtyard, and again took a deep breath.

"That's odd. Does water have a scent?" Aila whispered. She followed a clean scent that was in the air, and walked for several minutes until she found a small pond that fed a brook. The odd thing was that the pond was only a dozen feet in diameter, yet fed a small brook easily.

"Oh, there is a spring near the stone! I should be able to wash my stuff here as it's a spring, not a stagnant pond!" Aila looked at the water eagerly, and on a whim, she dipped in her hand and tasted it.

"Oh wow. Sweet, and smooth." She said softly, and in awe. She had never tasted such amazing water before. In order not to pollute the small pool, she took her pot to the brook and filled it there.

"What the hell. Was it only dirty?" Aila said as the rust washed away easily. What she didn't know was that the water was ancient spring water, rich in water elements, and incredibly pure. Its effect on iron was to wash away the oxidization, and restore the pristine surface. The rust would become a insignificant source of iron in the water downstream.

"Better wash my knife, fill my pot with water and take it back." She moved faster this time, and with more excitement. When she filled the pot from the pond, she couldn't help herself and drank the water.

"Wow, I feel so much better now." The temper she had felt building up had now cooled considerably. This was due to her elemental essence now being in balance. Pure flame essence would cause her to be more irritable, and volatile. Water elements would soothe and calm her down, as well as cleanse out her body.

Water essence was relentless in nature, and flowed swiftly. Water would also have more influence on purification, and calming, as well as adding stability to her body.

Flame essence would make one temperamental, add more offensive power to her strikes, and make her merciless in her offensive nature. Earth essence, which she only absorbed a small amount of, would make her sturdier, and enhance her physical durability and strength. It focused on physical body improvement.

Before she was able to sate her thirst, she drank three pots of water, and all without bloating her belly, or body. Most of the elemental water was absorbed through her elementary channels, and so didn't collect in her body.

Now that all distractions were taken care of, her mind naturally noticed something that she failed to appreciate.

"That tree has moved three times." She said softly. She blinked, and watched. "How odd. Why does it look like a person, but isn't a person? It has two arms, two legs, but is made of wood. It doesn't have a head."

Aila approached the tree that moved, and it swiped at her with its arm.

"You bastard!" She said angrily. She dodged out of the way, picked up her ax, and growled. "I was in a great mood that you've ruined!" She dashed forward. She heard an alarmed cry as her eyes turned red due to the flame essence within her body, but she didn't stop.

Out of all the cultivation novels she had read over the years, before her eyes failed her, the hero always waited for the enemy to get ready to fight. The villain never waited, and as a result, the hero had to fight harder, or took damage during the fight.

She was a firm believer that if something wanted to kill you, then you had to be willing to kill it first. If you let it go, it could come back and hurt you later.

Her ax sliced down and split the tree-man's upper body open, which killed it without making it suffer.

"No blood. Sap though. What is that little green thing?" She picked out a small emerald from the middle of the chest. "It's not a heart, but looks like a green berry. How strange. Why does it glow light green?" She said.

Her eyes wouldn't leave the 'berry' in her hand. Her mind kept repeating the same words.

'It looks delicious.' Over and over, she heard her own voice say that it looked delicious, like a soft whisper at her ear. It was her own voice, because she didn't realize her lips parted and she spoke as though in a trance.

As her mouth watered, she slowly put the 'berry' in her mouth and swallowed it.

"Eh? Why did I just do that?" She said in alarm. She had been mesmerized by the small gem, and now she felt a surge of power flood her abdomen.

"Oh no!" She looked down at herself and saw the same green energy that the 'berry' seemed to radiate. It looked like a vortex of swirling force.

"Uh!" She cried out as her flat belly swelled outward, and she grew fearful.

"No no no no, what do I do?!" She cried out until the incredible pressure started to ease off.

"Oh, that feels nice." Her eyes narrowed in pleasure as the green energy was sucked away by her elementary channels. After her belly flattened again, she lifted her eyes and her mouth fell open.

"Wow. The entire forest glows green. It's so beautiful." She whispered. She looked at the body of the tree-man she just killed, and noticed that the life energy within it started to weaken, but not dissipate. She looked at the forest floor, and nodded.

"I see. Just like on Earth, there is life within the dead parts of trees." She put her hand on the tree-man's body, and suddenly felt a suction near her wrists and palms.

"The energy is being drawn into my hand?" She was shocked that this happened, but remembered the hand print in the storage room. "Why did it disintegrate, and become just a small pile of dust?" She thought for a moment.

"Wait, doesn't it say 'From dust you were taken,'? Does that have a deeper meaning, like all things are just the basic elements?" After a minute or so of deep thought, she rolled her eyes.

"Why am I trying to have a conversation about science and religion with myself in the forest?!" She groaned. "Grab the pot filled with water, get some wood for a fire, and go back to my new house!" She growled a little and shook herself.

"I'll have plenty of time to figure things out later. For now, I have too much to do."