Across the country of Nahata, there were plenty of unusual civilizations. One of these consisted of Scalia, also known as the Underground City. Another one was the Forest City, situated on top of the Grandmaster Tree in the Winding Forest. It was known as the "Indestructible Tree," surviving multiple entity attacks and still standing strong for thousands of years, according to the geography books throughout time.
"There's unusual power levels coming straight towards us!" a man on top of the Grandmaster Tree screamed, rushing down to the nearest branch and screaming to the people in the village. "THERE'S A PRISTINE ENTITY ON THE BOTTOM OF THE TREE!" he exclaimed, catching everyone's attention and stirring up fear among the crowd that listened to him. "The Grandmaster Tree has held up for thousands of years!" a bystander acknowledged. "An ancient tree like this one can easily fall with just one more attack!"
They heard a loud rumble from the bottom of the tree, and the air temperature drastically changed to match the temperature of Pyron's attacks. "What the hell are we going to do!?" an old man screamed to the guard, repeatedly shaking him until he fell onto the ground.
"Do not worry… I will lead him away from us!" a loud but cheerful voice exclaimed. The crowd turned to look at the owner of the voice, which was a teenage rookie entity hunter who had just been licensed. "I am aware this is my first mission as an entity hunter, but I will not let that bring me down!"
The crowd stood in silence, besides a few small laughs from the citizens. "You should be a comedian instead of an entity hunter!" a voice from the crowd exclaimed. The rookie ignored the criticism, arching himself over the branch as everyone in the village watched him fall. "He's going to fall to his death!" another person joked.
The rookie continued through the branches until he finally reached the bottom of the Grandmaster Tree, and the first thing he saw was his target. "Verdant Branch!" he screamed, holding out the palm of his hand and watched as multiple roots shot straight out of his hand. The roots pierced Pyron's rock-solid skin, restraining it completely from moving its limbs. "He actually was able to restrain a pristine entity!" a voice in the crowd announced, followed by even more chatter from the citizens who watched his first official battle. The chief of the village, the older man who interrogated the guard, brushed away his white beard as he smiled at the rookie hunter. "Looks like you've finally learned how to control the power," he said to himself, memories they shared pouring in from the back of his mind.
A few seconds later, cheers erupted from everywhere across the Grandmaster Tree. The negative remarks became positive in an instant, and frowns of terror changed to smiles of hope.
That was, until, something had happened on the rookie's side.
After transplanting his manmade branches into the entity to restrain it, he couldn't help but feel another presence in his mind, as if there was a soul inside the pristine entity begging to be let out. Over the span of a few seconds, the voices in his mind continued to get louder and louder, and the whispers of "let me out" grew with each passing second until he stopped thinking and suffered a deep, bloody wound from Pyron.
Everyone on the Grandmaster Tree watched as the blood splattered on the grass, and they all gasped in horror after watching and hearing his body thud against the ground. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?" a voice in the crowd screamed, followed by multiple shouts of anger and emotions of fear regrowing within the citizens of the Forest City. The chief of the village's heart dropped along with his student's body hitting the ground, but he remembered something from multiple years ago that was similar to him - while engaging in a battle against a pristine entity, he also heard voices in his mind, causing him to lose his guard and suffer a massive wound not on his chest, but across his arm. "It just always seems to happen, doesn't it!?" he screamed in despair. "No matter what, someone's going to have to sacrifice something to try and battle a pristine entity!"
About a day later, the newspaper picked up the tragic story of the rookies' critical hit, reporting that it was a life-threatening injury and he most likely would not survive.