'Woah, woah. Watch out your narcissism.'
But then he thought for a while.
Was the clan whose group he was with a cult? Devoted to a senile old tree which prided in being called "Ancient"?
'But then, they are also the easiest to appease.' He thought inwardly as he glanced at the tree. Then in a thoughtful tone he smiled as he said, "Yes, please. But I assume you wouldn't just do it for free?"
The tree paused as suddenly a laughter boomed inside David's ear. "The simpletons are finally learning some basic sense? Oh, how delightful."
The laughter died down. And after a little while, it said. "Well you just need to help me with a little task. Don't worry about it..."
"What shall this task be about? I don't want to make a deal and later regret it."
"Do you believe in ghosts?"
What a strange question, David thought inwardly before he replied, "You mean as in spirits of the dead?"
"Yes."
David thought for a while. Glancing down he was mildy surprised to see the wolf hanging on the aerial branches. Somehow it seems it had jumped up and caught onto it while David was distracted.
Now, the alpha direwolf was trying to swing both sides in an attempt to jump on David.
Realising he didn't have much time left, he quickly formulated an answer.
"They aren't real. Generally, when we say we see ghosts most likely it is us who are either hallucinating or our mind is convincing us to believe it. So, no I don't believe in them."
"How convenient for me then." The laughter came back again. "Then, it should be an easy task for you. Just chase them away...I mean chase away the ghosts."
Then suddenly the branches of the tree swayed violently. David quickly clung onto one, fearing he would fall down.
The direwolf on the other hand jumped down and moved few feet back the moment the tree began moving.
The next moment, a root from the swamp streaked outwards and in one single strike, passed through the alpha's chest as it raised the animal in the air.
The alpha direwolf looked shocked, a whining sound resonating from its throat. David was stunned as well.
'How can a tree have this level of power? And it's moving as well.' He changed his perspective of the tree. Since instead of the direwolf, there might have been a chance he would have gotten pinned by it.
Curiously he asked, "With that power, what's stopping you from chasing away those ghosts?"
"Ohh...you shall find that soon enough." The branch on which David was sitting shook roughly as if fully intended to shake off whatever was on it.
Caught off guard, David slipped from the branch as with a dull thud, he fell into the swamp, splattering mud in all directions.
"That wasn't funny." He muttered in a muffled tone.
The protruding roots in the swamps suddenly extended forwards as many of them poked at David from all the sides. He tried moving only to realise he was being held into place by these roots.
"Alright kiddo. Say hi on my behalf to the dark side."
The tips of the roots started glowing with a bright radiance as they engulfed David.
But David couldn't care any less for he was seeing something more bizzare.
[Flow of mana around the body detected.]
[Processing...]
[Congratulations, nameless. Your Mana Veins have been unlocked.]
Instantly David felt a searing heat inside him, right at his core. But strangely, he didn't feel any discomfort or any pain. Something which he had expected.
Instead, a calming presence sweeped through him as if a gentle breeze had graced his soul.
The heat inside him started flowing upwards as he felt his breath getting hotter and hotter every passing second. His eyes felt like they were burning as heat pooled inside them.
Then, something erupted inside him. Atleast that's what he felt. A torrent of energy started flowing inside him abruptly and hapazardly.
[Skill 'Vision' Acquired.]
The world blurred around him as he felt something pulling him towards it.
***
The spot where David had vanished was now empty, the roots still extended as if about to pierce something.
Complete silence covered the place. But not for long, as the old voice of the tree returned. This time, the voice was almost fragile as if wary of something unknown.
"Did he unlock mana veins just by absorbing my mana...?"
***
David felt the suction force that was pulling him stop. The bright light faded away as well.
He opened his eyes and looked around him.
"A cave?" He asked, still reeling from the impact of the teleportation.
Indeed, he found himself in a cave. The rock walls looked scarred by time and geological forces as water droplets trickled down those damp walls. A cool wind accompanied the empty space inside the cave causing David to shiver.
At a little distance, David found himself looking at an underground river. The water flowed in a parallel manner, making gurgling sounds along the way.
"Let's see what the skill does. Vision."
The skill activated instantly. David's eyesight suddenly became even stronger than what it was before as the world around him appeared more distinguished than before.
However a second later, his surroundings changed. No longer was the cave present around him...no, on a closer look David found that the cave was still there. But on the rock walls, where the rocks had been visible before now they were covered with shadows.
Calling them shadows wasn't even right. No shadow was as dark as the unnaturally moving darkness slithering on these walls. Each of them released a dark miasma, giving off a stench foul that mixed itself with the dampness in the air.
And beside these creatures, a text appeared. Each letter of it was glowing in the flaming colours of fiery magma.
[Wraiths]
David didn't need to be told twice as he understood what he was surrounded with.
Wraiths...creatures of myth.
[Suppressed memories reloading...]
[Vision temporarily shutting down...]
At that moment, an intense pain surged in David's mind. He felt his head throbbing violently as if about to burst out. His enhanced vision dimmed as well and he was forced to clutch his head within his hands.
"Ugh!" He groaned in the face of extreme migrane, unable to even think properly.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind. One that wasn't his...
In it, a little boy was roaming through what looked like a village. In his hand, there was a piece of raw meat that had been burned in the fire. He chewed on it unsavourily as his eyes roamed through the camp of semi naked people, each one of them muscular than the other.
As the memory stopped playing inside his mind, multiple more memories rushed in as if a dam had suddenly been opened.
The pain increased as well as David felt himself getting trapped inside his own mind, being forced to play all the memories one after the other.
In one of them, the younger version of this body was standing in front of a glowing orb. He placed his hands on it. A few seconds later when nothing happened, the people in the room sneered. "Another useless one!" One of them said in mockery.
"Wasn't that obvious? His hair color is light brown afterall. A filthy child with no potential."
Few of them immediately clasped their hands as they chorused in a devoted tone. "By the grace of the Ancient Tree, let our Hermann clan be blessed with more red haired children."
David watched and watched several hundreds more of these shattered memories. His mind overworked as it started connecting all the events in the right chronological order.