The Shapeshifter

After a moment of dizziness, his closed eyes that was accustomed to darkness was assaulted by a slight pain caused by sunlight.

Slowly opening his heavy eyelids, he sat down clutching the side of his head. He gazed at the sight around him.

He was surrounded by countless flowers that sprouted from the sand? Eh? He touched the ground he was sitting and found that it was really sand.

Then his eyes were attracted by many lush and verdant trees and the pond from where he scooped water from 'a few days' ago was now almost as big as a lake.

He was astonished at the fact that this once an oasis, turned into something akin to a paradise in the middle of the desert.

'But what happened here? How can there be so many trees in the span of a few years that I'm out?'

As if knowing what he was thinking, a deep voice bellowed behind him, its voice made him cringe momentarily. "What do we got here? The human has finally awakened."

He quickly moved forward to distance himself away from the creature behind him. It might have been act to protect himself or he just wanted to get a better look. He was able to see the creature behind him.

It was the White Rhino! The guardian of this oasis. It still emanated its holy aura; moreover, it seems to have grown far stronger than before and it looked more m.a.t.u.r.e than before.

Seeing that it was an acquaintance, Alex asked the White Rhino and looked at it eagerly, "Hmmm. What exactly happened here? How can the oasis have turned into something like this? And you? How did you become so strong in a few years?"

It was normal for Alex to ask something that made the White Rhino strong in only a few years. Who wouldn't want to be strong extremely fast?

"Hoh, slow down kid. I will naturally explain everything to you." it shooked its head when he saw Alex looking at him with intense gaze. It then thought that it would be bothersome explain things to this human.

"First of all, the oasis became like this, is because of you. Look around you, you're surrounded by flowers, and flowers are able to grow around you, not in any other part of this oasis."

"Was it because of the fruit?" The fruit was the only thing he had or 'ate', that might be able to stimulate the growth of this oasis.

"You're not dumb, aren't you? Indeed, it was because of the fruit. Once you ate Gaia's Gem and was sent to future, your body that was left here was secreting buckets of sweat and served as a nourishment to the oasis."

The White Rhino took a deep breath and was about to proceed explaining when Alex beat him to it, "Uhmm, then how did the pond gain a huge amount of water?"

He furrowed his brows and thought that it was illogical for rain to fill up the tiny pond. The intense sunlight in this desert will evaporate the water quickly. Or maybe something is protecting this land!

"It seems you have guessed something regarding this oasis. Don't even thinking about digging the thing up or I will personally kick you out of here." the White Rhino threatened him jokingly. It knew that Alex wouldn't do such a thing and that was the main reason why he let Alex ate the fruit, he wasn't greedy.

Unlike those humans that he met, Alex was more of an innocent and naive kid.

"This paradise shall prosper for a few decades before turning back into the oasis that it had always been. Then the sacred tree shall bore fruit once more and this cycle shall continue for eternity." the White Rhino smiled and it gazed into the distance as if peeking into the future.

"I shall continue then. As for how I became this strong- no, actually I was always this strong since a few decades ago. What you saw two years ago, was me, from the past that came to the future by eating the fruit."

"Anyway, what took you so long? You only need to stay there for one and a half day, any more would become detrimental to your body. Look at you! You're only left with bones. Didn't she picked you up after a day's time?"

"Ahhh, who is 'she'?"

"Y'know, the Goddess that presides in the white room."

"I met no Goddess, only an old man. And I didn't went inside the white room, I entered the dark one."

"Whaaaat? How could you enter that dark and vile place?" the White Rhino shouted. 'Did I judge him wrong? No no no no, I can never be wrong. Then why did he enter that place? Did he deliberately acted good to trick me into eating the fruit?' after murmurring he stole a glance at Alex that was looking at him worryingly.

"Hey kid. Why did you enter that room?" its deep and cold voice send shivers down his spine. He could feel a murderous intent coming from the White Rhino.

Before anything happens to him, Alex quickly explained about the strange dream that he had before eating the fruit. Still, the White Rhino looked at him strangely.

It somewhat believed what he said because it also happened to him before eating the fruit. It thought that it was the only one with the dream. Maybe the Scorpion 'King' didn't divulge its own encounter.

"Ah, sorry 'bout that. Can you tell me what you received? Hehe." it stared at him intensely.

"Why would I tell you?" Alex smiled at it playfully. He picked up quite a few things from the old man, and it doesn't seem to hurt anyone.

"Come on. Pleeeeaaassssee. I'm really curious at what you've got in the dark room."

"No." he flatly refused the White Rhino. He considered Madness as a forbidden trump card that he would only use when needed. As a trump card, he naturally cannot say anything about it.

Looking at the White Rhino that acted like a kid, grumbling about something.

'It's kind of cute. Haha.' he chuckled. "Okay okay. I cannot tell you what it is, but it can be used offensively. That's all I can say."

"Hmph."

After a long silence has elapsed, the White Rhino asked "What are you going to do now?"

"Hmmm. I need to fill my body with meat! I am too thin right now and out of shape. Do you mind if I hunt a few edible animals around here?"

Even though it was a bit strange of him to ask a beast for permission about killing animals, he still did.

"Suit yourself. Just clean after you're done." then the White Rhino walked back to depths of the oasis.