Cultivating Plants

Long gone were the days when the thick clouds of darkness and death covered the skies. The heavens were now clear and showered the untamed undergrowth with the unrelenting light of the sun, not different at all from what they used to be.

The same couldn't be said for the earth.

If one looked upward, they wouldn't notice that Khaffat had changed. But if one looked downward, it was unrecognizable. The deserts – each and every one of them – had been completely eradicated and now life ruled the lands. Even the land itself now thrummed with life. Khaffat was no longer barren, but a living, beating organism.

Greenery was ever-present like her vitality.

The change had come through violence, blood, and death, but now Khaffat shone brighter than ever. The World Tree wasn't the exception any longer, but the norm. It didn't matter that the soil couldn't provide enough nutrients, that there wasn't enough water, that the undergrowth tens – or even hundreds – of meters under the canopies received little to no light at all, life was just guaranteed.

Of course, that only applied to those who could survive.

As violated as this world had been, it had been reborn virgin and untouched. Nature flourished, blossomed, and sang, much like its mother.

Yet a single sight defied all of that.

Across the clear summer skies, a massive silhouette moved across the heavens. It wasn't a roc – whose species now had a resurgence and grew even bigger than before – but something else. Not natural.

Man-made.

With a thought, Mother Nature found herself inside of the vessel. It was one of the many Ydazi airships that had existed prior to Khaffat's rebirth. Only two signatures of vitality inhabited the aircraft and both surprised her, but for completely opposite reasons.

One she could scold later, so she focused on the unknown one and walked to the head of the ship. The head of the airship was characterized by a massive frontal glass panel that acted as an oriel for the passengers to observe the faraway ground and horizon. A single man stood in front of the glass, if he could be called that.

"I would say that I am surprised, but alas, the birth of Incarnations and especially Primordials, is always bought and wrought with untold destruction," the man spoke without removing his gaze from the glass. "Technically speaking, this was not even the worst one. But close, nonetheless."

"In any case," Mother Nature approached the man, yet she too looked through the glass to observe her evergreen world. "I am the one that should be surprised, not you. Not only has an airship survived the massive shift of Khaffat, but it is also airborne and being driven by one of my daughters. How have you managed to convince her?"

"Oh, she was already flying it. It is her passion and endeavor; I had no influence on it. Well, beyond what our existence may entail. If anything, I am nothing more but a stowaway."

"I do not buy that you are a mere stowaway," the Alraune turned her head to face the man. The iris of his eyes flowed like molten gold. "We have met each other too long ago for you to be human even. So tell me, who are you?"

The creature chuckled with amusement, and he finally turned his head to face her.

Even if he were to be a man, he couldn't be called handsome, but he wasn't ugly either. Just average. Though that mundanity was what made his flowing eyes of gold highlight even more, whereas it was true one had to be close to him to notice the shifting irises. His skin was fair but kissed by the sun. His hair was auburn but with blond streaks of golden, especially at the ends. He boasted a beard of a man who hadn't shaved in a handful of days, but nothing egregious. But most importantly, even more so than those eyes, was that attire. It was mostly leather and linen, a coat, and many satchels, but if there was one term to define it beyond a traveling outfit, it was atemporal. Such clothes wouldn't have been out of place here or two hundred years ago in the palace of Asina or a year ago in the streets of the spiraling and towering Sadina.

"I believe that you have a clue about what I am," the ageless traveler responded with a smile. "I am like you."

Mother Nature frowned, not because she was unaware of what the being in front of her was implying, but because he was immune to her charms. Perhaps immune was not the word, more like unfazed, but it still was unsettling to her, nonetheless. None had been able to fight the glamour internal stance that she was currently donning – fight was what he was doing, she could still feel him being affected – and her sight was not one that could be ignored. Her daughters had managed to salvage her lovely green dress through all the recent events and she was wearing it for the occasion. And if something she had learned about people, it was that clothes could be as – if not more – arousing than nakedness. Especially a dress as gorgeous as hers.

"I am… aware of my changed, ascended state," the Alraune started, "but I cannot say I am completely sure of what entails. I am… Life."

"That you are," the man nodded. "Life Incarnate, the Mother of Nature. You represent everything that is alive, and partially, control it."

"I… yes," she nodded herself. "It is like donning acuity, but far greater. It is not only the many heartbeats of Khaffat that I hear but far beyond that. I feel the existence of just not heartbeats, but thoughts on the furthest reaches of anything that has the right to exist, not just the outermost reaches of my range."

"I would say interesting, but my power is alike. Yes, we are limited in our omnipotence to our own Creations, but as Primordials, our senses limited to our Aspect expand to all of Existence."

"You can sense life too?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"No," the golden-eyed creature chuckled and waved his hand in negation. "I am Space Incarnate, what I feel is the dimensions and the existence of that ephemeral and intangible thing we call space. Continual or otherwise. Linear or otherwise. Constant yet invisible as gravity, that I am. Though I am mostly known as The Traveler, Mother Nature." He added with a bow.

"…Like the alignments of the plants," she whispered.

"You are Life and I am Space," he reiterated, yet her thoughts still lingered on the previous tidbit of information he shared.

The Traveler.

"You… that is why you were in Asina all those centuries ago." The revelation was so… moronic that the Alraune almost burst out laughing. "You were traveling."

"Indeed I was," The Traveler added with a smile.

"But why did you help then? You… I have the feeling that you should not be able to. Your… domain should not interfere with my mine?" It was hard speaking from memory when there were none. Yet, nonetheless, Life found herself knowing everything she needed to know.

Only if she asked the question.

Is this the Greater Understanding, she inquired. Or something else?

"Well, yes. As a Primordial, we have restrictions when we interact with other Creations. But traveling is part of my own being. Much like when you ascended the non-existent concept of living nature extended through all of Existence by the name of Mother Nature, the concept of tourism was born along my own ascension. The sense of wanderlust is nothing other than a consequence of my very existence."

Now it made sense to Mother Nature why the man mentioned he had influenced her daughter to fly. Like her, he was a non-intrusive idea. A concept so tightly knit into reality itself that it was impossible to think it hadn't existed prior to his existence.

She was the cruel Life.

He was the free Space.

"This… is very hard to grasp my head around," the Alraune clutched her viny hair and head.

"I understand your confusion; you are the first Primordial to work around with such little information of your own powers and duties. That is why I showed up."

"You have been talking about Primordials. Are there more of us?"

"Only one more at the moment," Mother Nature squinted at The Traveler's words. "What? Life is quite new as a whole, only but a newborn from the stellar cradle, and your world was one of the most technologically advanced ones that I traveled to. Most planets that host life do not even have sentient life at this moment, and those that do, most still haven't formed societies."

"Life is… young." That sentence felt unnaturally strange to her. Perhaps because she was Life. The Alraune looked at her hands in confusion, unable to still identify the magnitude of her current existence.

"The other Primordial is Time, but I doubt you will meet him any time soon. Father Time is, quite ironically, elusive. As for the other Primordials… as I have said, we are still too early. It is hard to believe, but we are the pioneers. So we will have still to wait a bit longer to see the rest of our brethren."

"I see…" Life twirled her hands around as she became intimately closer to her domain. She couldn't just feel the heartbeats of life, but also the pulses of cognition of thinking minds, and the dreams of sentient beings. She was the goodness of existence, but also her cruel mistress. It was far too much information, but at the same time, her existence was now infinite.

No.

Limitless.

Very important distinction.

"I have answered your questions, but as someone whose ascension was quite different, I have a question of my own," Space said.

"Ask away," Mother Nature nodded. "If not for your help here, then you deserve answers for your help at that horrible palace."

"I doubt I did much back then, my constraints certainly did not protest against my interaction, but sure, let me ask you, Life Incarnate. Do you regret the destruction you have caused?"

"No." The answer was instantaneous.

"Who would have thought that Life cared so little about life?" The Traveler chuckled.

"No, I care far more about it than you," she stated as a matter of fact. "This world flourishes with more life and potent than before."

"Yet countless children perished for you to do so."

"Countless will grow stronger now. But more importantly, better."

"That was just revenge, do not try to justify yourself."

"Why do you even care? You are not even human."

"Says the plant."

For the first time since that day, Mother Nature found herself laughing. "You got me there. Yes, I am not a human. Not anymore. Not for a long time already. And truth be told, I forgot to care about them even when I was still one. Now that I am a plant though, I cannot say I care more about plants than I do for humans. The inevitable truth is that I do not care for any form of life. All are completely meaningless to me."

"What a lovely woman to be the one that became Life."

"I did not turn into Life, they turned me into Life."

"I see," The Traveler scratched his chin deep in thought. "I knew that Existence always made Incarnations that were broken, but this is a new high for it. Or low, I should say."

"Why does that statement not surprise me?" Life sighed.

"Can I make you an offer?" He said after a short silence.

"You might."

"I do not want such a broken person to be the one that holds the title of Life. It will be a danger for the very Existence if you continue to be like you are. You should be a Creator, not a Destroyer."

"And what do you intend to do? Fight me?"

"No," Space shook his head. "I doubt I can win against you, and from my limited understanding of our limited brethren, we are immortal. Truly immortal. We are concepts, and we cannot be destroyed or killed any longer. In every sense of the word, we have been immortalized. That means there will not be another Life beyond Mother Nature."

Life's visage twisted into a hint of a scowl upon hearing that. She knew that death may avoid her, but having been outright deprived of it hurt impossibly. There just were no words to describe the pain.

"So what do you intend to do?" The Alraune crossed her arms underneath her bosom.

"I want you to travel with me," he offered his open hand. "I want you to show how life can not only be cruel but also beautiful."

"I am quite aware of that," she replied with skepticism.

"No, you are not," Space's eyes flowed as he spoke. "You might be 'aware' of that, but you do not understand it. And I want to change that. I have to change that."

"I…" Mother Nature found herself doubting.

For if she took that hand, she would no longer be the victim, but also an aggressor. And that scared her. She was scared of acknowledging her sins. But at the same time… she wanted to believe in the beauty of the world.

She took that inhuman hand that somehow preached more humanity than her.

"Good," and was met by the sincerest of smiles she had ever seen.

Was that what Naila felt when Aya stood by her side during that battle? The Alraune found herself thinking. But she was painfully aware that what she felt wasn't a romantic connection. Too many people had died and too much she had lost to feel that type of love ever again. What she felt was shallower but not less warm.

Compassion.

They undid their handshake a moment later yet now smiles lingered in both visages. It was Mother Nature who spoke first.

"So what no-"

Cyan.

From the horizon, a gaze of cyan lingered unto the two Primordials. Both of them reflexively looked at the source as they felt a type of power that didn't match vitality as it was known, only to find nothing at all. It had existed only in a single instant of existence, the very definition of infinitesimal.

"What was that?" Life frowned to hide her unsettlement, for she was unable to recognize what type of vital art had caused such a potent impression.

"That, Life, is the change I was talking about," spoke Space itself.

End of Cultivating Plants.

Mother Nature and Khaffat's story may continue elsewhere.