Training in the Natural World

The sun overhead was beaming down. The rays were incredibly direct as they hit the leaves of the trees and caused them to almost unnaturally shine. The forest was peaceful at the moment despite the rumors that surrounded it. The only sound was the rustling of the grass and leaves as the gentle breeze rolled through them. Under this large canopy, Dagomis was walking. The sun shone quite brightly to him, as he had not been in the reach of the sun for some time. He was still readjusting to this natural world and it seemed as if training in this world was the best thing. He walked to a tree, a sturdy looking oak, whose leaves had been painted by the blood that had most likely painted the bark at one point. The red was beautiful among all of the trees that he had passed. The crimson color cast down from the trees reflected on his skin and reminded of the blood from which he had abstained for so long. For an instant, he gave into his instincts and licked his hand where the light was shining. His tongue traveled a strange, but significant, path before shooting back into his mouth and he back to his senses. His hand returned to his side as it began to glow and crackle surrounded by a black lightning, just like its twin.

His first motion was a gentle movement of his hands to the bark. The lightning hit the bark, but did no damage. The bark was licked by the lightning and seemed to become a little darker before the colored returned to normal. This did nothing to deter or invite him, but after he made a picture of the bark and the tree in his mind the air around him switched. The air gained an appeal that was neither alive nor dead. He delivered a quick punch to the wood, surging the chill a bit, before delivering another to tree. With each punch and kick, Dagomis' aura seemed to surge in a wild but not out of control manner. The wood responded with sharp thuds but nothing showed other than a brief period of what seemed like death before springing back to normal, and at some points radiance.

Hours passed...

Dagomis was still standing at the tree, furiously attacking it. The signs of his attack, once disappearing almost immediately, were now staying for longer spans of time. The black that showed in the spot he had been hitting only relented back to the natural color when he relented in his assault. He showed no signs of tiring as he continually drained life from the tree, but it was obviously causing him to withdraw more and more from the tree. It was not far from becoming permanently black and he knew this. His desire to continue training was overshadowed by his wish to not kill the tree for his own selfish reasons. It wasn't emotion that drove this thought but rather the rational, and pessimistic, view of everything that would die as a result of the death of this tree: birds living in it, creatures feeding off of it blood-red leaves, and everything that happened to come by the spot and died spiritually at the sight of a dead tree. The further this thought came into his mind, the farther Dagomis stepped back from the tree. The farther he stepped back, the more life seemed to become present in the portion that he had so ruthlessly been striking moments ago. At a point Dagomis could no longer step back, blocked by another tree, and the tree he had previously dealt with was fully recovered. At this sight he moved back toward it and took a seat with his back to the base of the tree. The crackling aura had long since left his hands and now they rested upon his knees as he closed his eyes and watched the aether flow through the air. It was a calming experience for him, and helped him maintain his Void state, a state he had worked months to master and perfect. He monitored the flow at equilibrium as it left his body and fresh aether entered.