Within the Soul

Chapter 2: Welcome.

As time passed life on earth continued. Tony and his friends were marked as heroes for fighting those things despite clearly being outmatched. They were buried in their hometowns, their families griefing their deaths.

Tony's family has gained a bit of support from others due to his acts, being the last man of his friends standing and still facing the 4 monsters. His mother refuses to leave far from his burial grounds though, so they compromise and get a nice house closer to it, getting out of the terrible environment they were in. His father found a better job and his kid brother has taken up boxing for him, as he always looked up to Tony, and was even the one to give him the nickname "Tenkai".

A year, has passed. And a new life has just begun.

Tony lays in what seems to be grass, in an open field. He opens his eyes and looks around sleepily, that is until he panics and reaches for his chest feeling for the giant hole that was put into it, the one that killed him. He sees it's nothing there and has a bit of confusion. He stands up and sees a small red head, a child, sitting in front of him.

"Hey kid, what're you doin' here?" he asks as he approaches the small girl, only for her to stand up and run away. Confused, Tony runs after her calling out to her. As he runs he sees a forest-like area coming upon them and follows as the girl runs on in. 

Tony keeps following, dodging plants and shrubs to keep up with the child, worried about her as she just ran off. Once he catches up to her, he sees her standing with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face. Behind her, is a giant tree with black bark and weird leaves, and for some odd reason Tony feels drawn to it and feels like he MUST touch it, but contains himself for the time being.

"You made it!" Shouts the little girl happily as she giggles. Tony just approaches her, confused and still looking at the tree.

"Made it where....?"
"Made it here! To the tree of beasts!"

He looks down at the child.
"The tree of what??"
"Beasts!"

"You ain't givin' much context kid, the hell is the tree of beasts??"
"Drink the sap, and all you're questions will be answered by someone much greater than I, Tenkai." Says the girl, calling him by his boxer name.

"How do--"
"Drink!" she shouts as she points to the tree. Tony just looks at her and as he approaches, the branches of the tree come down to him, one of which looking like a straw. He grabs this branch and drinks the terribly bitter sap from the tree, but not gagging or having any reflex to its taste for some reason. It's just disgusting, that's all. He wipes his mouth and the young girl jumps around a bit excitedly.

"This is the part Rori told me about!!" she shouts as Tony turns to her.

As soon as Tony turned around his eyes spread as the world around him changed. The air was sweet and smooth, the landscape he stood on became totally different, the grass turning a pitch black color and all the other trees that made up the forest disappear, reforming into trees much smaller than the one he drank from yet being very similar besides their leaves, and off colored balls of what looked like aura, float around the area. In the distance he saw other people, exciting him despite not knowing what was even happening. As he looks he sees that they're on....an entirely different land, and it's not connected to the one he's on. He takes another look, spinning around and sees that there's several landmasses that aren't connected, making them floating islands, water running off one with a big tree with bright leaves.

"Is there anything different?" asks the little girl who just watched him fawn over the new world he was in.

"Y-yea...this place....is amazing...where am I? And what is your name?" asks Tony