Melania felt the darkness around her begin to move, engulfing more and more of her senses. The first portal she stepped through led her into an incredibly fluid world. The sky here had no color, and everything around her shifted seamlessly from one state to another. The landscape changed with every step she took — right after her foot touched the ground, it transformed, or simply dissolved, leaving emptiness behind.
Before her, like a body stretching in the wind, appeared a giant tree, its roots merging with the ground, which itself resembled a kaleidoscope, constantly shifting shape. Light fell from the branches of the tree, emanating from no apparent source, and from this light, shadows danced on the ground in a strange, incomprehensible rhythm.
“You’ve come to the heart of change,” a voice echoed, and Melania shuddered, feeling how its sound reverberated through every cell of her body. “You stand on the edge of what might be, and what will be.”
Melania looked around, not knowing where the voice came from. Only the light pouring from the tree seemed to answer her unspoken questions, like its roots reaching toward the center of this world.
“I am ready,” she said, feeling both calm and filled with an invisible energy.
She took a step forward, and everything around her began to move with incredible speed. The roots of the tree transformed into massive fabrics winding around the ground, and the branches turned into living hands reaching out toward her, as if inviting her.
“To change the world, you must change yourself,” the voice resounded in her mind. “You cannot build a new world unless you destroy what holds you back.”
Melania felt that this trial demanded more from her than just physical or magical effort. She had to allow herself to change. All the walls she had built over the years, all her beliefs, her worldview — all of this had to become a part of her very being. She had to let go of the old self in order to not only destroy but also create anew.
She took a deep breath, realizing that every move she made now was a choice with consequences. Her body tightened, and then came the feeling that she herself was becoming a part of this incomprehensible world.
The branches of the tree began to intertwine into knots, wrapping around her arms, and then, as if alive, they whispered:
“Take this. Take what you destroy. And become part of the new world.”
Melania felt her heart beat faster, her inner essence blending with new forces that were overwhelming her. She had to choose: to shatter all that was created, or to become part of what was yet to be. Every action, every thought now was decisive.
She extended her hand forward and touched the branch. In that moment, everything around her merged into a single entity. Her body became part of the tree, the roots became part of her own soul. All of this — the pain and the light, the shadows and the brightness — fused together in a single surge. And Melania realized that change does not necessarily mean destruction. It means merging and transformation.
The silence that followed, after she reached this point, was incredible. The whole world seemed to stand still, waiting to see what would happen next. And Melania understood — she would have to become not just a part of this world, but its new beginning. Only through the destruction of the old could she create the new.
And again, the winds of this world began to blow around her, filling the space with the feeling that change was inevitable, that this was only the beginning of her new essence.