(Unusual digression this time: traditionally published author Django Wexler is trying out Royal Road. I've enjoyed his books in the past and his first fiction here is a fun one, so consider checking it out:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/147205/the-thirteenth-god
It's a snarky Mad Max styled adventure that's been fast-paced so far. I don't know that it's very similar to DH, but it's fascinating to see a trad author experimenting in the other direction, so I'd encourage you to give it a try.)
It looked as though there had been a great cost to create the small clearing, both in the form of raw fire burning a circle, and the tattered fragments of armor hanging from some of the branches. Kai had been skeptical about the threat of the trees, but he saw some of the branches were razor sharp and moved against the wind, as if they sought to strike anyone who got too close.
Kai was fairly certain that none of this was a threat to him, but given that the entire forest was related to an Insanity, he didn't want to take it lightly. He had left most of the others behind to their serious politics, so he just needed to find a caretaker at the last bastion outside the wild forests.
Soon enough he spotted him: a man about his age wearing battered wooden armor. He had scars across his face that looked as though they had been torn by branches and one of his arms was missing from the elbow, replaced with a hook. Though he only had a few hundred Power, the fact that caretakers here had that much spoke to how dangerous the forests could be.
"My name is Jaminob," the man told him. "You're trying to get all the way to the Glorious Tree?"
"That's right." Kai stepped closer to the edge of the forest, trying to peer within. "I just need enough of a cue that I can find it quickly instead of wasting time searching the forest."
"It won't be that easy. I know you're strong under that shroud, but these forests are like nothing you've ever faced before. The trees themselves are filled with malice, and that's the normal ones. There are chakra-bearing trees that move, even hunt people. If we want to make the journey safely, it will take us at least three days to reach the Glorious Tree."
"Rosemount doesn't have that much time. Excuse me." Kai grasped the man's armor and then leapt into the air until he was high over the forest. "Can you point out the Glorious Tree's rough location to me?"
"It... the trees will try to fight anyone who flies."
"That's my problem. Can you give me the general location?"
After some more anxious hesitation, Jaminob identified a small hollow near the center of the valley, or at least Kai thought that was what he was pointing out. When he dropped the caretaker back in the clearing, the man seemed grateful not to venture into the forests again. As for Kai, he simply built up his monstrous armor and then plunged straight in.
As he had been warned, the trees rose to try to stop him, hundreds of razor-sharp branches forming a wall to catch him. Kai tore directly through them, feeling nothing but the wood scraping over his armor. He hit the forest floor hard, shattering one of the trees, and then sought his goal.
His leap hadn't been precise enough to land directly in front of the Glorious Tree, but he could sense it: for the first time he remembered, he felt monstrous hunger for a plant. Some of the trees had enough chakra that they were more like sacred beasts, but though he'd have been happy to eat them, none of those were strong enough to produce meaningful essence.
Following the scent, Kai began searching for the central hollow where the Insanity had been planted. He was operating almost entirely by instinct, so he didn't notice when an enormous tree shifted nearby until it melted through the ground, shifting into his path and raising claw-like branches.
Kai held nothing back, exhaling a cloud of Baleful Breath before the tree could touch him. If this thing was produced by the Insanity, there was a chance that it could punch above its weight... but the living tree burned immediately, crumbling down into the dark cloud and dissolving away.
As he looked past it, Kai finally saw a hint of his goal: a pale tree amid all of the dark branches. It was hidden a moment later as two more living trees shifted into his path as if to block him.
An explosion from Thunderbird's Wings sent a shockwave through all the trees and Kai tore directly through the trees to reach his destination. He was surprised to land in another clearing, one that was invisible from the air: the claw-like trees arched into a canopy overhead, but their trunks stayed far away from the center, where he stood in front of what could only be the Glorious Tree.
It was only about his height, tiny compared to the giants all around him. Unlike the rest of the forest, the Glorious Tree had slender branches and thin silvery bark. There was no question that it had a power more intense than the rest of the forest, however, immediately sending a shiver of hunger through him.
The tree itself wasn't so glorious, but three curved pieces of fruit hung from its branches, almost moon-shaped. Each glistened with a rainbow sheen and they were even more extraordinary on a spiritual level, absolutely packed with chakra at a density he'd never seen before. He'd been impressed by the All-Tongue Fruit, but this was on another level, and now he thought he understood: the fruit itself was phased, compressed over time by the tree.
For the most part, the clearing was a peaceful place, almost holy. But the space around the tree was so clear that it had to be unnatural, and Kai couldn't help but look at the surrounding trees. He noticed that several of them had disturbingly human shapes, and one had a skeleton pierced by its trunk, as if the tree had grown up from within the skeleton... or corpse.
Kai extended his hand carefully, alert for some final attack or trap. Nothing stopped him from grasping one of the fruits, and it felt only cool in his claws. Of course, no one had said the tree itself was dangerous: the threat came from eating the fruit.
All he needed was one... but Kai plucked the other two fruit anyway and placed them in his spatial ring. It might be premature for them now, but maybe one day Omilaena and Zae Zin Nim could try them as well. There was a fourth bud, still being saturated with chakra, and he left that one alone for the future.
Now that he had what he needed, he burst out of the forest through the canopy. Kai arced back to the first clearing, waving to Jaminob.
"Got it, thanks!"
The man stared at him in shock, but there was no more time for that, not when Omilaena was buying time outside. He had spent some time just on the search and didn't know how long the absorption would take, if it was even possible for him to pull it off. As confident as Kai was in his strength and stamina, this fruit really was on a different level than anything he'd tried before.
When he arrived at the meeting point, he was surprised to see that only Ceryyn was waiting for him. She was sitting with her head on her hands, but perked up when he arrived.
"Oh, Kai! Did you get it?"
"I did, but I figured it was better to test at a safe location." He glanced around the clearing. "Everyone else is gone?"
"Omilaena took everyone for her plan, even Yonto." Ceryyn sighed, but then patted his shoulder. "I'm happy to help you, though, since you have a lot of work ahead of you. You want to go back to the Elven Expanse?"
They ended up in a desolate expanse of desert, with nothing but dunes on every side. Given their level of strength, the best defense was distance, and he didn't know what the secondary effects might be, so that was probably for the best.
Kai glanced at Ceryyn, who made encouraging gestures, then brought out the largest of the fruit. Part of him wanted to form jaws and swallow it whole, but he wasn't that crazy. Instead he formed a razor claw and cut out a small piece of its flesh. Unlike other phased materials, it cut effortlessly, as if it wanted to be eaten. He couldn't help but think back to the trees and corpses around the Glorious Tree - not only had they been overwhelmed by the power, the tree might have used them as fodder to grow.
He carefully placed the fragment in his mouth and it was shockingly sweet, delicious unlike anything he'd tasted before. It was definitely filled with chakra, which he felt resonating through him, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Well, the Insanities did range significantly in strength...
"I'm not feeling anyth-" Kai cut off with a pained choke as the power surged within him.
The armor covering one of his arms exploded in both directions: it hardened and formed a new spike extending from his elbow, but the interior of the armor became spiked as well, piercing into his flesh. It was his own power harming him, so he was unprepared to defend against it.
For a while his head spun and he realized that he had staggered a step, clutching his arm. Kai forced his breathing to slow, getting the rushing new chakra under control. His Savage Heart had tried to absorb it and, though the ability had grown more powerful, it hadn't been able to keep up, leading to the wild growth. That could be fatal for anyone, but given his abilities, it could be especially dangerous for him.
"Kai... are you alright?" Ceryyn hovered some distance away, caution preventing her from following her instincts to get closer.
"I'll live." Kai shook his arm as he finished forcing the armor back to normal. "It would probably be best to absorb the power in one rush, but that's going to be brutal on me. Can I count on you while I go through it?"
"You might try to stab me, but..." Ceryyn gave him a cheerful salute. "If anyone shows up, I'll try to fight them off, and if I can't, I'll teleport you to another location. That's some crazy chakra, though, so I think that's the limit of what I can do."
"That's enough. Glad to have you at my back."
Preparing his mind for an ordeal, Kai sat down cross-legged and made sure that his Savage Heart form was completely stable before he took any further actions. Once he was completely ready, he opened his jaws and swallowed the fruit whole.
It tasted sweet at first, then he tasted only pain.