Orchid City Forest,
"S…uch… A… DEnse… liFE… aurA…" rasped an almost out of breath voice that sounded like it was at the brink of death with every syllable uttered.
The owner of the voice was a blackened twig, about thirty centimeters in length, its body riddled with cracks and so thoroughly charred it looked more like coal than wood. In fact, given its severe state, even a lump of charcoal might have taken offense at being compared to it.
Part of the twig's body was buried in the earth, though it leaned at an angle, with some of its roots hanging above the soil, which shared the same look of ruin as its main body.
It lay twenty thousand meters below where Yang Qing and the others had camped, tucked within a cramped alcove in the ground, no larger than a rabbit's burrow.
"Mmmh…" the twig rasped again, with the sound this time sounding like a last labored gasp before it met its other deceased charcoal brethren that turned to ash.
