Intro -

Rising from the ashes of death, a warrior unworthy to exist was born.

He was born to lead, to be superior above others and ascend to a height beyond the reach of the world.

...

How was a child who laid in the wilderness, wounded, hungry, thirsty with his life slowly seeping out of him, supposed to achieve that?

He couldn't think about living past the next second, he was hopeless not knowing what hope even meant.

Life had been unfair and he'd curse it if he had a known language to use, he couldn't speak, unaware of the fact that his lips were supposed to be used.

He knew nothing, and even though amnesia did leave something behind, his left a blank sheet, void of most basic among basic knowledge.

Unable to think about anything, a certain feeling moved all over him, being dense around his heart, and this emotion caused a certain transparent liquid to snake down his cheeks.

The emotion got stronger and he could tell that it was the right one, this was what he had to feel - deep sorrow for his existence was a miserable one.

Slowly, his dark skin turned as pale as it could, with the last of his blood dripping into the red river he laid afloat.

His eyes lost their life as the second flew by, soon he was at the bridge between the living and the other side, ready to cross over, when a sudden energy erupted in his heart.

Chapter One - Alone on the Battlefield

Swinging his spear he hacked and hacked, slaying multitudes of knights, taking down about 20 knights at once nonetheless, they kept on swarming up on him.

They were weak yet their numbers overwhelmed him greatly, he looked to the left and to the right, only to see no one else standing with him - for they had fallen.

...

ALLIANCE

•Rovan Whitewood( Title: , Rank: )

•Kula Yew-wood (Title: , Rank: )

...

Reviewing his system alliance tab, the two allies of his had their names grayed out, all their titles and ranks had nothing there - proof of their demise.

Even though he could barely believe it, his battle tab confirmed that.

...

BATTLE

•ARMY(Clan)

•Dijo (Title: , Rank: )

•Gawu (Title: , Rank: )

•Das (Title: , Rank: )

•Yukan (Title: , Rank: )

•Huja (Title: , Rank: )

•Taui (Title: , Rank: )...

...

He scrolled down as much as he could yet, to his surprise there was no name on the large list which wasn't grayed out.

He had lost everything and everyone, from his loyal allies and silver generals to his weakest knight.

Loghark stood alone, but he was not dying yet till everyone on that battlefield had no life in them.

"Photonic Blast!"

A burst of energy exploded from his body destroying everything 30 yards around him.

...

(-200 photons)

•Photons: 1000/7808425

...

A system pop-up appeared.

Ignoring it, he stood upright and scanned the entire area - a valley full of enemies with him at the center.

He clutched his large black ax which had a razor sharp edge, made entirely from the hardest wood - blackwood.

He held onto his people in his hands and as a Chief, his people were his strength.

The BLACKWOOD Clan was the strongest and it would forever be and he Loghark would prove that, even if he were to die with his people being found and wiped out. The name Blackwood, would be engraved into their plank skulls for eternity.

Charging forward, he swung his ax releasing a bolt of black energy from it which sent about 40 knights flying.

Taking a look at Loghark, his eyes had turned pitch black with a malevolent aura lingering around them and if one stared into them, they would be drawn into its inky blackness.

Engulfing him slowly as if it was eating him up was a certain black substance, it built up on him a type of covering which seemed to shield his dark skin.

Soon every part of his body was covered with the black substance, giving him the appearance of his own shadow wielding an ax.

...

•Absolute Surrender Fully Activated...

Perks: Infinite System Usage...

Debuffs: Life Points(-5 per min)...

Penalty: Death

...

He could feel the surge in power, he had never felt as powerful as he did now, but even though the cost was great, he never aimed to live after this anyway.

"Total Bind!"

"Windstorm!"

"Ice Rain!"

"Granular Impact!"

Loghark used his skills simultaneously, causing chaos and carnage all over, his enemies were either having their lives swept away by the winds, trying to outrun incoming projectiles of solid ice, being swallowed up by the earth or bounded by strong blackwood branches awaiting a piece of his ax.

The smell of death filled the air darkening the clouds and soon the rains were unleashed to pacify the battlefield.

Bodies piled up all over, however Loghark was in no way satisfied with the large numbers he had just taken down.

Simultaneously using all elements to deal with ranged attackers while engaged in battle spoke of his unmatched skills and ability.

Using the back of the ax's handle, he bashed in the skull of a knight ending his life in an instant, grinding forward something caught his attention altering his attack path.

Drawing closer he had confirmed his thoughts as before him was an old friend, one he had considered as a brother back in U.O.T.

Yet now he was just a life which had to be wiped, the past was something to remember, but now his death would quench his thirst for revenge.

Eyrik Redwood, who kept on using skill after skill to negate those of Loghark could be seen at the center of a thick shield wall.

A few knights had died not by shedding blood, but rather by the destruction of their source of life -The Life Root.

And their death, which was their transformation into a stiff, immobile tree full of branches and leaves - something which usually occurred to old aged trees - could be seen all over the battlefield and among the knights in the shield formation.

Loghark had killed Urk and Mapai on the battlefield, not with his own hands but rather his random skill attack had done the job.

Urk the Chief Of The Ashwood Clan, a distant relative of Loghark had joined in alliance not for any piece of land or a few Leafs, but because he wanted the Blackwood name out of the Darkwood Kingdom.

However, Mapai was Chief of the Malowood Clan, a clan which probably was from a Kingdom unheard of to Loghark.

In all, their death had not just caused their men on the battlefield to end up in such a state but every tree in their clan to face the same fate wherever they were.

Grinding his way towards the shield wall, the knights became much more difficult to deal with, as the time limit for his skill drew closer - so did his end.

Drawing closer, he leaped into the air with all his might giving the ranged knights a chance to attack as waves of powerful arrows flew at him.

"Photonic Blast"

A burst of energy exploded from him snapping the closest incoming arrows 30 yards away, giving him enough time to do what he planned.

Descending towards the shield wall, a dark energy formed before him and from the ground one would see a dark spear head descending.

"Elemental Spear"

Few meters above colorful bolts of energy merged with the dark spear before landing an earth shattering strike on the battlefield.

The impact and shockwaves from the strike not only destroyed the shield wall sending the knights flying and dead, but took away life from everything on the battlefield and beyond.

The forest of immobile trees had become a wasteland, the trees uprooted and branches deprived of its beautiful leaves.

Beyond and far away from the battlefield, the impact was felt by a group of knights and warriors traveling south, the youngest among them being a nursing child.

The child was held closely by the leader of the group as she valued this child, more than the very life she had, as the child was not only her life but the life of the entire Clan.

Even though the earth quaked wildly under their feet, it didn't cause them to blink nor stop in their tracks, for they had a goal ahead with something to protect and to do that, they had to get as far as possible.

Chapter Two -System Evolution

Back on the battlefield, the entire fog created by the dust began to settle down slowly making the area quite visible.

The scent of death had grown stronger than ever, and it was much more evident now, as trees once mobile and immobile had all fallen.

On the battlefield where the shield wall of high ranking knights once stood in formation, the silhouette of two figures could be seen through the fog.

Both figures stood close in the middle of a warm embrace with each other, even though under the fog, told a different story altogether.

Embracing Loghark was no one other than the very person he once called a brother, but had ended up as a murderer of not only his wife and daughter, but also a great chunk of his clansmen - Eyrik Redwood.

His attack was never aimed to kill him, but to isolate them while having every possible interruption, well taken care of.

Loghark had lots of questions for his old friend as he knew Eyrik more than anyone could, for he had been through thick and thin with him, even to the extent of Eyrik sacrificing much for him just to get through many bottlenecks in the past.

Their conversation was brief however, in the end Loghark had accepted to receive the honor of dying in the arms of someone he could call the only brother he had ever had.

Their embrace was heartfelt, even though Loghark had a dagger being pierced into his heart, he had a smile up his face, watching the time limit of his skill go off.

"It was an honor Eyrik, it indeed was." Those were the last words he managed to whisper into his ears before he fell, just like the mighty tree he was.

The entire battlefield had become clearer than before, one could now see quite further and better as it was before the fog engulfed it.

Heading North, in a well beaten up armor which from a single look, could tell of its high quality, was none other than Eyrik.

He had done whatever he had to do and was busy looking for the few knights and allies whose names weren't gray out on his system.

Among the allies was a certain Chief he had barely heard about, for he had left the recruitment among other army related issues, to his trusted golden generals.

Being a Chief himself, he knew how important the lives of anyone in that position, determined the fate of thousands.

So his next goal was to find Ramold, Chief of the Yomerwood Clan however, he had no idea of where he could be and so decided to go in any direction - heading north.

Either his luck was good or Ramold's own was, as after covering a reasonable distance, he could feel the resonance which one felt when drawing closer to another Life Root.

It was a brief feeling barely noticeable but with his absolute silence, which caused him to even notice a pin drop, he could tell it out.

Standing still at the very spot he scanned the area, trying to spot at least something or anything that would give away Ramold's position.

Not getting anything, Eyrik kept on walking forward passing by chunks of fallen knights, his eyes darting around hoping that he would just get a hint of any form.

Feeling pain all over with a heavy weight on him, he slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with the horror of having the face of a dead being before him, his lifeless eyes staring down at him.

Quickly he tried to move his right hand only for him to feel an excruciating pain causing him to scream louder, than a lady seeing a common bug.

Hearing a fierce scream, Eyrik automatically turned towards the direction of the sound, being so loud, as if it was directed straight into his earlobes.

Before him was a pile of fallen knights which he stood by, and that was where the scream had come from.

Pushing away the weighty bodies as it seemed that they were of the shield class of knights, popularly known as "Meat Shields".

It was quite impressive how Loghark's attack had sent shield knights all the way here, not only being one but a dozen of those tanks.

Finally getting the weight off him, a miserable sight of Chief Ramold Yomerwood lay before him, he was injured all over having deep wounds which still bled out.

His face was priceless being sliced and diced with shallow cuts on every part of, it as if tiny blades were used to torture him.

As though that wasn't enough, his right arm was ripped off to the extent that only his bones could be seen barely holding both ends together.

Baring through all the pain he felt, he slowly opened his eyes which still hurt, only to see a thin layer of green energy with a red tint, covering his entire being.

Miraculously, he felt the pain going down bit by bit , after a few hours he was more than half better than before.

Eyrik was spent and had to get some rest one way or the other, after using lots of photons to heal up Ramold, even having to halt his own recovery process.

Ramold, who wondered why Eyrik would spend time and photons to heal him up,a no name chief from a backwater clan which had next to know future in this world, yet such a great and strong entity had saved him.

He didn't deserve to live neither he nor his entire clan, but Chief Eyrik gave him another chance to have another go at life's race.

From now on he and the clan he stood for, would live and die with Eyrik and the Redwood Clan.

Standing up, he walked and stood before Eyrik who now rested his back on the hard earth with his eyes closed.

Clapping his hands together, fingers facing the skies, he raised both hands up his head before going down on his knees bringing his forehead and hands held together to touch the earth - completing the Ritual of Total Allegiance.

...

•The Yomerwood Clan wishes to merge with your Clan...

Accept / Decline

...

"Accept." Eyrik said after pondering on it for minutes, and at that moment he felt a surge in his power as another message popped up.

...

Redwood System Evolution Initiating...

...

"Find and bring back the survivors." He ordered not having enough time before it began.

...

Redwood System Evolution Countdown..

...

"Yes Chief!" Ramold exclaimed, unaware of Eyriks' current situation.

And so running in any direction with a new goal, and a life to live he couldn't help but smile at such a fact.

...

1

2

3

...

Eyrik smiled, knowing what would follow behind after the countdown, yet what brought up his smile, was him now climbing a step higher to the top.

...

6

7

...

Being at the top was his greatest wish, and he was willing to turn whoever or whatever stumbling block he faced into a stepping stone.

...

8

9

10...

Redwood System Evolution Initiated...

All systems down...

Chapter Three - A Tempered Future

Far from the eyes of humanity existed other races unknown to them.

Even though there were rare encounters with them, they were known to be myths as those who saw, couldn't get others to believe them.

However these unknown races knew each other, being at peace with some and at war with others.

Among these races was a race known as the Tree Race, and it was one in which you'd think a million times before defying their supremacy.

Humanity and their silly myths told of them to be trees running around and being large and monstrous, however those lies were ridiculous in the ears of the Tree Race.

In actual fact, the tree race was no different from the average human, as they had exact features compared to humans.

They had well shaped heads with varieties of faces carved out on them.

However the difference which wasn't quite noticeable was their inability to speak with their lips, something they had later achieved through a brutal approach.

The dark skin was common throughout the lands signifying their descent being from immobile trees, their ancestral form.

Although those in the snowy lands bore different skin colors, they were all united under a Supreme Existence - The Life Root.

The source of life of every animate tree was from the Life Root and though it was a mystery on itself, none dared to find its origins.

The tree race was ever grateful to it and would serve it for eternity, the Life Root never demanded anything in return for what it did.

The Life Root as it was a Supreme and Principled being, bore its own rules and those rules were made known to the entire race.

From History, it was known that the first animated trees were the original and primal holders of the Life Root which chose them.

As these originals grew, so did the entire race and after centuries it had become what it was now.

The Tree race had risen from being mere families to Clans, Kingdoms and now having 10 strong empires, over a hundred Kingdoms, thousands of Clans and millions of families.

The Tree Race had built a world yet in that world peace was scarce as wars between Clans were non ending. These clans battled against one another for either the throne of a kingdom or to prove their strength - a valuable factor among the race -, though others aimed to wipe out others.

In all, the empires worked together to suppress the damage caused by these wars, being able to prevent the shedding of innocent blood.

Aside from infighting and wars, the entire race battled against other races as one people and tribe putting their differences aside.

Among their enemies were the strongest of them all, The Mer Race - a race which ruled the Rivers, Stormy Seas and Mighty oceans.

Facing off against the Mer Race as long as they could ever recall, they had been on the winning side till the declaration of war by the Sand Race.

The Sand Race had been eventually beaten down, having to spend a century or two in order to retrieve half of their lost glory.

However, days after their victory, another war was declared not to convert their possessions but being one of pure vengeance.

Unknown to them, the Sand Race had been wiped out with them being accused for it, in the end the culprit got away fairly easily.

The wars continued through centuries and centuries, as generations after generations battled each other ,with the cause of it forgotten in the first place.

The Life Root of every Clan dwelled in its Chief and descendants alone, for even the Kings were chief's of Clans at some point in time.

These Chiefs had risen up the ladders, becoming kings and from these kings, came the imperial thrones of Emperors.

However, as mysterious as the existence of the life root was, so were the decisions it made at a point in time.

The bearing of the life root and chieftaincy would switch from one family to another within the clan, dwelling in the tree worthy of it.

Strength was of great value and so was one's title as it gave that tree many privileges however a General couldn't enjoy the same benefits as a Chief neither could the chief's title compare to that of a King or Emperor.

A system of trade had been developed by the World Leaders, bringing the birth of the Leaf Currency which ranged from the highest value to the lowest as Gold, Platinum, Sliver, Diamond, Crimson and Bronze Leafs.

Each of the 10 Empires stood out one way or the other, the Golden Leaf Empire known as the wealthiest among the others had the most trade networks, extending far beyond to lands of foreign races.

Their emblem was recognized in more than 7 races, being a wholesale trader in anything and everything that could have a price on it.

Axe Head Empire was one ruled by a muscled headed Emperor who believed in strength, his elite army had never seen defeat with his imperial knights bringing carnage to those who defied them.

Therefore, his empire alone defended the eastern lands and borders, battling the armies of the stone race.

Empire Halo was a peaceful empire ruled solely by the smartest clan to exist, the Halowood Clan.

Their wisdom, and understanding in the world of academia was unparalleled all over the lands.

Being founders of U.O.T(University Of Trees) among other schools and colleges all over the lands, they had developed an effective educational system.

They had the best war strategists, architects, engineers, scholars, etc. Making the empire much more advanced, although its advancement couldn't compare to that of Empire Hamer.

Hamer, an empire full of inventors, leafsmiths, woodsmiths, forgers and the rare stonesmiths, had the most advanced city with the second best defenses.

Leading Hamer in terms of defenses, was an Empire which didn't have their defensive power in walls and battle techs, rather it was an Empire of the strongest Shield Knights - The Diamond Empire.

The Mage Tower inhabited mostly by Sorcery Knights(Mages) was recognized as a strong empire, though isolated from the world and rarely engaging in battles, they were well respected with their school's being sought after by most pages.

DarkCloak Empire, the smallest among all empires as Warrior Knights of the Sword Union were a rare find, Stealth Knights had a possibility of one out of ten thousands trees.

Despite their vast difference and speciality in different areas all empires cooperated together in unity, under the banner of the tree race led by the Imperial Union and Life Temple.

The Imperial Union and Life Temple, unlike other Empires, had no kingdom under them as their leaders were chosen personally by the Life Root.

These two Empires were the leaders of the rest of the empires, both being direct servants of the Life Root.

The Imperial Knights of The Imperial Union and Paladins of The Life Temple wielded immense power comparable to 2 Emperors though few in numbers.

The Supremacy of The Tree Race was heavenly, and the only race able to contend with it was the Mer Race, their origins and existence being a mystery itself.

In the Temple of Roots, the High Priest bearing the highest authority below the Life Root stood, surrounded by tree roots. These roots were alive as they moved all over the temple covering up every inch of it, blocking away the daylight and filling the room with darkness.

The High Priest whose robes were now drenched in sweat, prayed in his own understanding continuously declaring the power, might and goodness of the Supreme being.

He bore no fear for his life, however the fear in him emanated from being in the presence of the Life Root alone.

The roots which deterred from where he stood all this while, began to snake towards his direction, as the tip of one made contact with his skin - his eyes lit up.

"Shu ka jina mouehilpo gerus banjovix..." He began to utter words in a strange tongue which got louder and louder as the roots latched onto his entire being.

Suddenly, his gray hair obtained from old age stood up as a certain familiar aura - that of the Life Root - flowed into him.

At that moment he could see numerous scenes flashing before his eyes, yet he was able to tell every single detail despite it being fast paced.

Hours later, the High Priest could be seen on a white marble floor, having robed figures surrounding him.

He lay on the ground being spent, yet he didn't have enough time to rest, and so he gestured for the robed men to help him up.

The Prophecy this time was no joke as no Prophecy from the Life Root ever was, however he couldn't understand much of what he saw.

But he did get something and that was, the future had been altered and someone who didn't deserve to be in it, had found a way in.