The leap through the portal was not merely a transition across space; it was a total dissolution of the senses. At the moment Mushi breached the barrier of light, he felt his body unravel and then reassemble with entirely new atoms. When he finally opened his eyes, he did not find the rotting wooden ceiling of his cabin, nor did he smell the stagnant humidity he had grown accustomed to for years. Instead, he found himself standing in the midst of an endless meadow of emerald grass that pulsed with a faint glow beneath his feet.
Mushi raised his gaze toward the sky, and his very soul trembled. It was not the blue sky he knew, but a living canvas where auroras of violet and gold danced, despite it being broad daylight. Transparent celestial bodies drifted on the horizon, and the gravity of the place felt lighter, as if the world itself breathed pure magic and sought to lift him off the earth. The trees around him were not mere plants; they were living entities whispering in a strange tongue, their leaves resembling liquid crystal that emitted a musical chime whenever the breeze brushed them.
A lump formed in Mushi's throat; the beauty of this world was "painful" to a soul so used to ugliness and misery. He turned to Raima, who appeared more radiant and majestic in this realm. She spoke with a tone that mixed pride with solemnity:
"Welcome to our reality, Mushi. This is the realm of the 'Balanced Aether.' Here, we are not ruled by matter, but by essence. This world stands upon four solid pillars—four kingdoms, each ruled by a Sovereign possessing power that can shake mountains and bend the elements."
Raima began to walk across the still water of a nearby stream, beckoning Mushi to follow as she explained in deeper detail:
"Beyond those glowing clouds lies the Kingdom of Humans and Demi-humans. There, glory is built through intellect, ambition, and magical engineering. The humans there are not like the ones from your world; they strive for perfection in all things. Behind the Great Peaks, which appear as shadows on the horizon, lies the Beast Kingdom. It is a land of raw power and sacred instincts, where there is no place for the weak, and where the Sovereign is the fiercest creature to have tamed the volcano."
Raima suddenly stopped and pointed toward a distant spot in the north—a place shrouded in a heavy darkness that would not break, as if light itself refused to enter:
"And there... where horror dwells and nightmares are born, lies the Demon Kingdom. They are the beings rejected by the Balance, living on corruption and ruin. Their military might is terrifying, and their sole ambition is to devour the other realms and turn the 'Aether' into ash. If not for the Great Sovereigns who guard the borders with their energy, the beauty you see now would be nothing but a memory."
Mushi asked, struggling to grasp the scale of grandeur and danger around him: "How does everyone possess such power? How can a delicate spirit like you open a gateway between worlds?"
Raima looked at him with eyes glowing like emerald forests:
"Everything in this existence, from the smallest light-bird to the greatest Sovereign, depends on 'Life Force.' It is the fuel that moves the Aether, it is the magic you see, and it is the soul that inhabits the body. Every creature here is saturated with it from birth, and your status and power are determined by the magnitude of this energy."
They walked for hours through fantastical landscapes until they reached the heart of the forest, where the "Sacred Tree" stood. It was not just a tree; it was a towering spire of blinding white light that touched the clouds, its veins pulsing with a golden glow that flowed like blood in a giant's body. A sense of awe overwhelmed Mushi; he felt his insignificance before this entity that represented the very essence of existence.
Raima spoke with an anticipation tinged with deep curiosity:
"Now, Mushi, we shall see what brought you here. The Sacred Tree is the balance that never errs. Place your hand upon its trunk, and let it read the magnitude of the Life Force that dwells within your depths. Perhaps your misery in your world was merely a veil for a great power waiting to awaken."
Mushi hesitated. He looked at his pale hand—a hand that had touched nothing in his life but pain and loneliness. He took a deep breath, then placed his palm on the warm trunk. He waited to feel that magical heat, waited for his body to radiate a light that would prove he finally "belonged" somewhere.
But silence was the only response.
Suddenly, something happened that Raima had not expected in her worst nightmares. The blinding light emanating from the tree died out completely at the point where Mushi's hand touched it. Darkness began to leak from beneath his palm, spreading like ink in clear water, as if his body were absorbing life rather than giving it. The colors around them faded, and a deathly stillness took hold, as if nature itself had stopped breathing.
Raima stepped back several paces, stumbling and falling to the ground as she looked at Mushi in genuine terror. She cried out in a choked voice:
"Impossible... this cannot be! The Tree rejects you... it even goes dark at your touch! Your energy isn't weak, Mushi... it is entirely nonexistent! You do not possess a single spark of Life Force... you are a 'Nothingness' walking on two feet! How did the laws allow you to cross?"
At that moment, the earth shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck the heart of the forest. The celestial bodies ceased their rotation, and the crystal tree leaves fell, shattering upon the ground. From the depths of the forest, from a place unseen, a thunderous voice erupted—a voice that did not resemble the voices of humans or spirits. It was deep, as if emerging from the very throat of existence, filled with authority and menace:
"Guardians of the Forest... bring him to me!"
The blood froze in Mushi's veins, while Raima fell to her knees, covering her face with trembling hands, realizing that the Great Sovereign had sensed the presence of this strange "threat," and that Mushi's small misery in the world of humans had transformed here into a grand crime against existence.