Chapter 8: The Tree Is Your First Antagonist

Two weeks had passed since the ’Incident,’ and their cabin had been painstakingly rebuilt.

May the trees rest in peace.

Aden sat opposite his master, his expression attentive as he shuffled his feet lightly.

“After our training sessions over the past weeks, I’ve come to some sort of understanding about your resonance state.”

Funnily enough, it was Aden who suggested the training continue despite what happened.

His reasons were simple: If he didn’t understand the power he held, it would consume him before he knew it.

That, and he wanted to beat his master on his own terms.

Not that he was going to tell anyone that.

So, after a little persuasion, his master gave in and decided to continue the training sessions.

But with a twist.

This time, he wasn’t going to fight against him directly, but he’d go through some ’trials’ first.

For his first test, he was instructed to carry trunks of trees from deep in the jungle to the location of the cabin on his back.

That was equivalent to walking fifteen miles with close to twenty tons on your back.

Aden couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the first test.

Obviously, his master would never go back on his words.

His reason?

“Your body has to be strong enough to handle the consequences of losing control.”

Aden didn’t refute.

Seeing that Aden understood where he was coming from, he decided to explain further.

“This will also help you consciously use and improve your resonance state. Not just react to it.”

Aden’s eyes brightened considerably at the second reason.

Due to the laziness of the former owner of this body, Aden had little to no understanding of Resonance apart from the awakening that gets triggered under high amounts of stress, so this was a welcomed surprise.

Aden watched expectantly at his master, expecting his continuation, but his searching eyes gave him all the answers he needed.

He’d have to figure it out himself.

With a sigh, Aden ventured into the jungle he’d grown quite accustomed to after a few tent – making expeditions.

Following a clear path, Aden consciously tried to activate his resonance energy.

’The book I found in master’s shelf said something about Resonance energy being semi–sentient and a manifestation of will, emotion and existence, so I just have to…live?’

“Argh this is hard!”

Ruffling his hair, Aden jumped over an exposed root and made his way deeper into the denser part of the jungle.

As he walked, a thought struck him like a lightning bolt.

’How the hell am I supposed to pull out a tree?!’

Extreme confusion filled his mind, but his steps didn’t falter.

“I should’ve at least asked master before I left, but then again, I doubt he would’ve given me a definite answer,” Aden mumbled, his expression weary.

The howls and distant roars of beasts interrupted his monologue, causing his feet to move a tad faster.

“Don’t wanna have a run-in with any creatures.”

Pushing through the dense vegetation and nearly stumbling over the large roots half of the time, Aden finally spotted a tree large enough to produce enough wood to lay the foundation of the cabin.

“Damn, it’s big,” he mumbled.

Despite his words, Aden instinctively knew this wasn’t the largest tree in the jungle. Heck, it was just above the size of an apple tree on Earth.

Stretching nervously, Aden carefully walked towards the tree, almost in the same way you’d approach a wild animal.

His hands touched the hard bark and traced the little humps and ridges.

Taking a deep breath, Aden placed his two hands on either side and pushed with all the strength he could muster.

The veins on his head popped, his strained voice came through, his feet buried into the soil, sweat droplets formed on his creased forehead—

But nothing happened.

The tree didn’t even shake, let alone budging from it’s rooted spot. The growls grew clearer as if to remind him of his location.

Sighing heavily, Aden walked around the tree, his expression thoughtful.

The roots of this tree were fully underground unlike the others, and it’s bark was comparably thicker than the ones he had touched on his way here.

’How can I push this out with physicality alone?’ he wondered.

Trying once again from the bottom, Aden pushed upwards. His muscles tensed considerably, his spine compressed, his back muscles nearly cramped, but he didn’t stop.

But the tree didn’t care for his persistence, as it remained rooted to it’s spot.

His hands bit into the thick bark, causing a fracture along it’s edges.

Aden’s eyes widened slightly and he let go.

With heavy breaths, he crouched at the base of the tree and clenched his fists to get his blood flowing.

“I need to think. This isn’t Earth, it’s a fantasy world. What does a fantasy world—!”

“Yes! How could I have possibly forgotten?!”

He’d felt resonance before—twice now. Once in desperation. Once in grief. Both times, it had swallowed him whole, but the sensations were etched into his mind.

The boundless strength, the infinite possibilities and the danger that came with it.

“I have to try…”

Standing up once more, he took a deep breath and slowly placed his hands on the tree.

The tree shifted.

He tried again. Slower this time. He visualized the state, the pressure, the strange clarity that had accompanied it.

Nothing.

The tree remained unmoved.

Minutes bled into hours, his mind painstakingly recalling each pang of pain, each flow of energy, every erratic beat of his heart during those powerful moments.

Then something changed.

The roots snapped against the soil, the quiet rustle of the leaves a sign of it’s acknowledgement.

Sweat drenched his clothes, the thoughts becoming more and more vivid, the flow of the resonant energy grew clearer as he dug into the deepest parts of his mind.

The snapping sounds increased, but his eyes remained clenched shut, his expression blank, his heart steady.

He shifted his feet, feeling the ground beneath him—solid, unmoving. He straightened his spine, not rigid, not loose.

Just aligned.

He didn’t think about power.

He thought about weight.

About how the mass of the tree flowed downward. About how his body had to accept it before it could move it. About how resistance wasn’t strength—it was noise.

The tree conceded and was removed from the soil.

A thin film of white energy coated him as he took two steps forward, each step earning a full thud from the earth.

The weight of the tree didn’t dissapear but the gradual enlargement of his muscles accounted for that.

Two more steps forward.

The white glow flickered and the tree fell backwards with a thud.

His eyes opened, calm, steady, almost the same as his master’s.

’Be water. Now I understand, don’t fight against nature— simply attune to it’s frequency.’

The key to controlling resonance was rather simple: Clear your mind, focus on one thing, and never break concentration.

Aden exhaled once more, picked up the tree with steady arms, placed it on his shoulder and walked forward.

For hours, he walked one step at a time. Sure, he dropped the tree a few more times, but with each failure, his understanding grew sharper, his tolerance stronger and his mind firmer.

When he finally reached the cabin grounds, his master was digging a hole with his colossal hammer, a dull blue hue surrounding it.

He didn’t look up.

“You’re late,” the old man said. “The rest of the trials will have to continue tomorrow.”

Aden dropped the tree calmly, the shimmer of leaves shooing nearby birds away.

“I think I finally understand it,” he mumbled, his eyes studying his hands like he just noticed them.

“Do not mistake insight as understanding,” his master responded as he walked towards the trunk. “This is what understanding looks like.”

With a slow wave of his palm, the tree immediately dissected into four clean halves, down to the very leaves.

Aden’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“How did you do that?!”

Picking up the pieces of wood and walking back to the site, the old man replied:

“Resonance is your friend and your greatest enemy.”

’That doesn’t answer my question though…’ Aden thought, his steps following his master’s.

As they began laying the foundation for their new cabin, the gears in his mind turned as he recalled the sensation he experienced moments ago.

’I want to experience that again…the control I had over my body was unreal..’

A smack on his head brought him back to reality.

“Ow!” He protested.

“The wood is finished. Go get some more.”

Aden’s eyes brightened and he sprung to his feet.

“You read my mind!” He exclaimed.

Nearly flying over his master, Aden rushed towards the jungle he once dreaded, but was stopped just in time by a statement.

“They should be much larger than the one you brought.”

His legs felt wobbly all of a sudden, with an awry smile, Aden walked into the jungle, not daring to look back at his master.

Unbeknownst to him that his master had the most incredulous expression he’d ever seen.

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