Awakened: Evolving to Godhood

The place they reached had a pond in the center of it. Trees surrounded it from all sides, and their shadows draped all over it, making it appear eerie as if something with nefarious intention was inside of it. Pond of the twin-headed snake; that's the information that popped up in Elliot's mind when he looked at it with the intent of knowing what it was hiding inside of it.

The darkness here encroached on Elliot and the others. The silence felt haunting. Unless one was a creature of the night, the combination of the two would feel unpleasant to anyone.

"It feels like we're in a haunted place," Lucy said, her bright eyes twinkling more beautifully in the dark. She wasn't able to clearly see what was in front of her. She only managed to notice the pond and that trees were surrounding it.

"More like a horror circus," Arthur added, sounding a bit anxious. His hand was on the hilt of his sword, and he was ready to pull it out the moment someone or something with ill intent leaps out of the pond.

"Why are you so nervous? Do you think a demon would pop out of the pond?" Oliver jokingly remarked.

Yes, a demonic monster was inside of it; however, except for Elliot, no one was privy to such information.

Arthur remained indifferent to his remarks, shrugged his shoulders as he said, "Better safe than sorry."

"I'm a bit scared, honestly," Tia said in her meek voice. It was a question in itself how she managed to become a magician.

"Let's not talk about scary stuff," Julian added. She was a bit rotten and had a way with her words, but she was protective of her cousin, no doubt about it.

Elliot rolled his eyes at their words. Ghost or not, anything unfamiliar to humans like himself feels terrifying as long as they haven't seen or known its truth.

"Alright, but we should do something about the darkness," Lucy said, her eyes looking at the man who saved her life, her hopes to have him brighten this place vivid in them.

She didn't need to say something as Elliot's eyes were glowing in bright gold, and she noticed that he carried the intent to rip apart the darkness and see the truth of this place.

"Let there be light." As his words were no less than a heavenly edict that even nature couldn't defy, the beast's den started to change at his whims. By using his gift of creation, Elliot manifested many lamps and stuck them around the pond. The intense rays of light coming out of them swallowed the darkness and illuminated the place.

Now they were able to take it in all its glory.

The pond was clear of all blemishes, and the rays of golden light coming out of the lamps and hitting its surface caused it to appear off as a pond of gold in their eyes. The thing to notice was that each tree was ten or more than ten meters long and had a hollow in the center of their trunks, and there were houses on top of their thick branches, one big enough for two to three humans to enter at the same. Wooden bridges made out of planks and vines connected the trees. It was undoubtedly a picturesque scene. Who would have thought that a beast's den would look so magnificent? Who would have thought that in the depth of the darkness, they would come across something like that?

The golden light danced on the surface of the water and twinkling around the trees, creating a soul-soothing and eyes-warming scenery. Tia calmed down significantly. Julian felt her breath stuck in her throat, and the others marveled at the wonder presented before their eyes.

"Treehouses? Did the beasts create them?!"

The eyes of Lucy, Oliver, and others were widened like saucers as they found it hard to believe that beasts would be able to create homes by themselves. One couldn't blame them. They had never seen anything like this, after all.

Elliot was as calm as ever. He knew the truth about this place. Everything in the spirit world could gain a soul as long as they try hard enough, and they could also nurture their souls, meaning an increase in their intelligence and physical state. So, beasts creating home for themselves and human-like structure by themselves didn't come as a surprise to him.

"Yes, you're not wrong." the horrifying mandrake lectured the dumb mortals, "the nightmare panthers are vicious but also intelligent. Not only do they have to follow a judicial system or risk the chance of being kicked out of the pack, but they also cooperate with other predators of the next nightmare forests. Creating houses isn't hard for being like them and me. It's not like humans are the only intelligent creature in the universe."

Its words woke them up from their stupor, and they coughed in embarrassment.

It then turned to his master, who was gazing at the pool. He had a thoughtful look on his face as if he was complimenting something.

"Master, there's a high chance that the things they stole from others and collected from nature over the years are inside of the treehouses."

Elliot gave it a nod but didn't move.

"Halt."

The others moved ahead, but he stopped them.

"What's wrong?"

"Come on. The treasures are right in front of us."

"Let's get going?"

Oliver and the others wanted to go inside the trees and see what was in store for them, and their curiosity was getting the best out of them.

Elliot shook his head and only said, "If you want to die, then be my guest."

"Huh?" They were shocked by his remarks. Was he saying that he would kill them? Did he believe that they would keep the treasures for themselves? Well, they did think of hiding one or two things under their shirts or in their spatial treasures but did that warranty their death?