Where am I?
The sound of water rushing could be heard in the distance. Water from falling, gushing and impacting on a surface from elevation. That was what it sounded like, a collection of waterfalls that flowed freely.
Opening my eyes and pushing against the strangely pulsing ground, a peculiar sight entered my vision.
A huge Goblet that appeared to touch the sky itself. It was golden and ornate, the rim overflowing with a red liquid that spilled over it's confines. The overflow dripped, rather cascaded rapidly to the floor. Creating an ocean of crimson liquid that I now found myself stood atop. The sheer scale of this goblet was ridiculous. To even have a chance of filling it, would you need millions of me, or perhaps billions? I was but a droplet in this expanse. I couldn't even fathom it.
That was besides the point, what's going on? The last thing I remember was being crushed, in fact it still felt as if I was being crushed right now. But my body is still moving here. What an unfathomable sensation, it felt real and not at the same time.
Suddenly the ornate visage of the large goblet begun to crack and wane, small chunks of the whole split and fell to the ocean below, sending waves out in all directions. I ran as quickly as my body would allow to the base of the large goblet. Hoping for stable ground to escape the rushing crimson tsunamis forming all around.
As I neared the large golden construct, a voice echoed.
A black apparition appeared before me, dark as the night. It peered into my being and whispered beside my ear.
"Do you wish to survive this ordeal?"
"Then take my hand."
"Understand the true nature of this world."
"To live is to survive, to eat is to thrive. Only the strong have that privilege. Bury your feelings and make yourself a demon. What else is there to do but that; when you find yourself in hell, standing atop everything else?"
"How?" I asked the shadowy figure, an abyss in the form of man.
"Simple. This is blood, your blood. Do not allow this chalice to break, blood only flows when you will it. Thrust your entire being into preventing the useless escape of even a single droplet. Place you hands on the base of this goblet, stop the flow. Ignore the breaks in this vessel, it means nothing."
I didn't understand his words... all the same I placed my hands onto the ridiculously oversized goblet.
"Hrrnnnggghh!" I placed both my hands on the base, trying to imagine the stoppage of blood. But that was impossible, who can imagine an object that doesn't spill a single drop despite the gaping holes in the vessel's exterior?
"Too soon, huh... This once. Just once, I shall help you. However, keep in mind that this world is not kind to the weak. To be weak is pitiful and deserving of any punishment. The way you are, you will become feed for the next strongest."
"Huh?"
The world warped around me, suddenly I was crushed beneath the foot of the enemy again. Or had I been here this entire time? Where was that place? What happened to the goblet?
Blood erected all around me, a platform forming above my body as the crimson water created some distance between me and the titan.
Okay, silhouette. You've done this for me, but this is barely enough. What do you expect me to do in this situation? I still can't imagine beating this gargantuan enemy. It's impossible. That's what you're asking of me, an impossibility...
...
Visions of a possible future played in my mind.
Blood formed and coagulated, sharpened and pierced. The next movements and words seemed to flow from my mouth thoughtlessly. Blood that scattered the arena, even though I couldn't see it, thanks to this incredibly large foot looming overhead... I knew; the scattered nature of the red liquid, it was gathering in this location, directly where I was being crushed.
"DIE!" The booming voice of the titan resounded throughout not just this arena, but the entire world. That was how it felt.
My body ignored that immediate request.
"Blood art: Tree of Life."
The scattered scarlet water rushed from the base of the ground and surrounded the large figure, the blood thinned and reached between muscle fibers, immediately hardening and stretching ever further upwards. Projections continued to grow and incapacitate the enemy. The stump grew and extended around the waist of the giant and constrained him inside.
Sharp branches grew out of his musculature and skin, penetrating wherever flesh was, to prevent any movements. The blood was formless, liquid when necessary. Solid when it was required. Even as the tree was forming it became a hazy apparition that moved at the slightest whim.
Until the very last of the tree gained shape.
There it stood, eclipsing the size of the muscular titan. Red projections like the branches of a long dead tree were interlocking, piercing through the flesh of the affected and binding it in place, rooted to the ground. Blood that spilled from the enemy joined the branches and formed new ones. The tree was visibly growing before my eyes as the enemy weakened.
In the beginning the enemy struggled and the tree visibly shook, second after second this became less and less substantial. Until the crucified figure of my enemy was in sight.
"Wha- What is this?!" The confused rumbling of the titan erupted through the earth. The tree did not waver or break. It just continued to grow with the nourishment of the captured prey endlessly feeding that growth.
More and more muscle fibers extended from his joints as he attempted to break through the constraints, it was futile. The branches intercepted them, pierced the flesh and muscular tissue at every opportunity. The greater his size the more surface area for the tree to descend upon, he was just making it easier for the tree to target his body and shed more blood. Thereby growing the tree even further.
Seeing this, I was in awe. This was the result of true understanding of the element. Even if I wanted to recreate this technique myself, I likely couldn't. This was the result of countless hours, years, decades of understanding to create a technique so set on defeating someone that I couldn't even think of a countermeasure, shy of just not getting caught by it at the start.
That thought made me worry. What if others had abilities that reached the same level. That figure, he said this was a one-time deal. If I continue on the pathway I'm on, it's only a matter of time before another challenge is issued to me. At that time... if the enemy is on the same level as this titanic creature, or stronger... It wouldn't even be a fight.
"Let me out of this! I cannot be contained! Do you know who I am?!" The titan continued his useless screaming.
I couldn't waste the opportunity given to me. This was a message, I couldn't fathom any other explanation for it. This would buy valuable time as the onlookers became more fearful, realizing what was lying on the other side of challenging me. Even when weak, I was above the strongest at the table.
As such there was only one response to his question, a response fitting the world we inhabited.
"Your name? I've never heard of something more irrelevant."
"W-Wait!" The blood continued to form ring after ring of the tree's trunk, growing at a noticeable rate. Extensions formed and wrapped around the giant's face, sinking further and further into the core of the tree, until the screams, his body and finally his face were no longer visible. The visage of a crimson tree that grew to the very limits of this arena and stood in the centre of the stage peered down at all onlookers.
Tree of life; that's what you call it? All I could see was immeasurable despair.
I left the arena to fanfare, as the audience cheered in a raucous fashion. The only reminder that a life had been taken was the tree that persisted in the centre, almost as if to remind me of that shadowy figure's words.
To live is to survive, to eat is to thrive.