Chapter 1.7 It's About Respect
Elvira was trying to hold a meeting of the gods. Considering all the different personalities, domains, and ages involved, it was going about as well as one might expect. Which was to say, it was utter chaos.
She now understood what Father meant when He said something was "like herding cats."
"Put him down! Pay attention!" she snapped, slamming her hands on the table and resisting the urge to throttle the youngest; Aeriel, the wind goddess. She was currently using her powers to lift the god of earth into the air, the bulky, stone-skinned man giggling like a child as he was flown over the round marble table Elvira was trying, and failing, to hold the meeting at.
"Let them have their fun," her brother, Alexander, rumbled from where he lay curled up on the floor. Elvira's tails thrashed in agitation, her feathers ruffling as she watched the god of fire chase the goddess of water up to Alexander's form, his serpentine body towering over them. He regarded the young deities with a look of amusement as they clambered up onto him, laughing the whole way and leaving wet and burning handprints on his pristine white scales.
"Hey! Get down from there!" Elvira protested, to which Alexander just shook his head, seeming more amused than anything else.
"Leave them be, sister. It's not like we can control them anyways, and they're just having a bit of fun." Reika tittered, hiding her mouth behind one hand. She and Keilan were chatting over tea, unperturbed by the chaos happening around them. With deliberate slowness she lifted her teacup, narrowly avoiding the two wrestling spirits – not true gods, but powerful enough as it were to have been invited – that came crashing through the space between her and Keilan.
"It's not about control, it's about respect! Just look at the state of my palace!" Elvira cried, gesturing wildly to the palace she'd built for herself. It had been modelled after something she'd seen Father make for His own home, though right now it was in absolute tatters. The domed ceiling had holes in it, sunlight streaming down to the floor, and the tall white marble pillars that dotted the interior were cracked and crumbling. Scorch marks, patches of ice, and deep gouges marred the walls, glass from shattered windows strewn haphazardly across the floor.
And the floors…by Father, the floors…
It had been the only truly artistic thing in the entire palace, a beautiful mosaic that she'd made over the course of a few hundred centuries piece-by-piece. She wasn't the particularly creative type, so it had been a chore and a half to make, but it was still something she had been proud of. Now she hardly wanted to look at it, torn to shreds as it was. Sure, it would be fairly easy to remake with her power, but that was beside the point! There were only thirty gods in the entire Four Realms, and even fewer powerful spirits – Spirit Kings, they were coming to be called – so why couldn't they get along long enough to have a simple freaking meeting?! Or even focus on one thing for that long?!
"Why did you call us here?" Keilan asked, shooting an annoyed glance at the wrestling Spirit Kings. Unlike Reika he hadn't pulled his tea away in time, and now had the brownish liquid staining his dark robes. A simple wave of his hand wicked the moisture out of his clothes.
"I wanted to talk about the future of our Realms," Elvira groaned, clenching and unclenching her fists, tails thrashing in agitation. "Father is making waves with how much He's doing, and we need to be prepared for the changes. We can't just have thirty gods running around doing whatever they want, making an absolute mess of things!" she all but shouted, fighting back the urge to lash out.
"Easy, Elvira," Alexander rumbled, lifting his head. "We're not here to control others – we can't, such is the nature of free will."
"Shut it!" She snapped back, glaring at her brother. He blinked in surprise, then scowled. She knew she was being harsh right now, but some part of her didn't care. "I know we can't control them! That's not the Father-Damned point!"
"What is the point?" Reika asked softly, placing herself between Elvira and Alexander. The gesture was not lost on her, her little sister was trying to mediate. Elvira held her gaze for a moment, then looked up to meet Alexander's eyes. His rainbow-colored pupils bored into her own eyes, demanding she back down, but she had no give in her today.
"There is no such thing as action without consequence." She said simply. The words hung heavy in the air between the four of them, the weight of truth giving them power. Even the younger deities slowed in their chaos to shoot her a look. There was something burning in her chest as she stood there, daring anyone to challenge her, the words bubbling up from within her and invoking…something intangible. Keilan shifted in his seat, squaring his shoulders and staring at Elvira.
"Of course not." Alexander growled.
"Then why are you acting like there is." She ground out, stepping forward challengingly, finding a bit of satisfaction in the way Alexander pulled his head back a little. Reika laid a gentle hand on her chest, and she looked back at her sister. The green-haired girl had a pleading look in her eyes, and for a brief moment she considered pushing forward and picking this fight. But the moment passed, and she turned away with a click of her tongue.
"Elvira…" Reika started, but she didn't pay her much heed, instead turning to the assembled gods. They were watching her warily, the chaos and destruction they'd wreaked at a temporary pause. Absently she realized she was flexing her power, a harsh white mist radiating from her in waves, rolling out to pound against the world around her like the tide against sand. She did nothing to restrain herself, letting it flow.
"I am going on a flight. This mess had better be picked up by the time I get back." She said, unable to hide the anger in her tone as she gestured to her trashed palace. Again, she could fix it in a moment if she wished, but that wasn't the point. The deities flinched as she turned away, stalking toward the entrance. A niggling feeling tickled the back of her head and she glanced back, meeting Alexander's eyes once more.
"Is this about the state of your palace?" He asked, the message mental and inaudible to those assembled. And that was the only reason she did not whirl on him for the, frankly, stupid question.
"If that is truly what you think of me, then I need to revise my opinion of you brother." She sent back, stalking out of the front door. The massive archway that was the main entrance opened up to a large veranda, complete with a million steps leading up from the base of the Holy Mountain – a number that only continued to grow, as the Mountain and the Realms did. Before her lay her demesne, land as far as the eye could see; lakes the size of oceans, rivers wider than mountains, and valleys deeper than canyons the least of the grand features of the Heaven Realm.
"Sister," Keilan called, stepping out beside her. "I did not know you thought so deeply about this; I had expected this to be an ego thing, if I am honest. It is surprising."
"Now is not the time, Keilan," she snapped, not bothering to spare him a glance.
"You're right. I apologize. Sometimes what my mouth says does not reflect what my heart means," Keilan responded, and she paused, her anger stalled as she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. His dark skin and dark hair shone in the light of the Realm Sun, his black robes tight and immaculate. In many ways the siblings were very different…but in just as many ways they were incredibly similar. What he said reflected what she felt all too well. "I'm afraid I cannot stay. Another spirit has taken on the mantle of Karma, and I will need to instruct them in the laws of it to make use of them. With the incoming mortal races Mother keeps promising, I will need all the help I can get to manage things in the Karmic Realm. Reika will follow soon, too. She's been itching to get back to that secret project of hers."
"I see," Elvira said, looking away.
"You do not. Whatever anger you feel is blinding you. Do not take that the wrong way," he added hastily, clearly sensing the way she bristled at his statement. "In many ways, I think you and I have the same path ahead of us, as visually different as they may seem. We are the ones the Four Realms will look to for leadership, rather than guidance. 'There is no action without consequence.' It is a good line. Mind if I use it?"
"Feel free," she grumbled.
"…Sister, I don't have the words to help you with…whatever you're feeling right now, but I do understand. If you ever need someone to talk to, I am willing to listen." Keilan said softly. She snorted.
"Sure, if I need to talk out my feelings like a pansy you'll be the first I call," she said, shooting him a forced smile to show she was just teasing. He laughed and shoved her shoulder, darkness swirling up around him to take him back to the Karmic Realm.
"That's the Elvira I know," he said, and vanished with a small pop. Elvira frowned the moment he was gone, her anger swelling once more, wings spreading in response. With a single powerful leap she launched herself skyward, wings beating, each flap propelling her hundreds of miles. She didn't know where she was going, her rage bleeding from her with the exertion of flying at maximum speed, only that she had to go somewhere.
Clouds whipped by beneath her, forests, only a mere few thousand years old, giving way to desert, then tundra, then back to forest again and again. The Heaven Realm contained all terrains within it; it was no paradise, but it was an ideal. It would not be utopia for those living within, that she knew, but it would be good.
Elvira screamed out her rage, voice cracking as she vented. With gritted teeth she folded her wings and plummeted to the earth below. Just before impact her wings flared, the wind catching her feathers and yanking her up just enough that her landing was as light as a feather. As much as she wanted to crater the land beneath her, she couldn't. That she had stormed out of her own palace pissed her off enough, she didn't need to throw a destructive tantrum like a child.
With a self-derisive snort she shook her head, looking out over the plains she had landed in, golden grasses coming up to reach her shoulders and waving in a gentle wind. The sun was unusually harsh here, beating down upon the land so hard it was a miracle the grass didn't light on fire. Somewhere off to her left a horse whinnied, undoubtedly disturbed by her sudden appearance, and she took a deep breath. What was she even looking for? What was she even trying to do?
"You're scaring the horses. What's got you all riled up?" an all-too-familiar voice said from her left. Elvira suppressed the relief that flooded her as she turned to look upon Father, hating that she felt like she was dependent upon His wisdom in her hour of need. She wouldn't bring up her plight, though. He was currently having a bit of His own fun, sitting atop a dappled grey mare with a cowboy hat on His head, a soft smile on His face but a look in His eyes that showed His seriousness.
"Sorry, Father," she apologized. "I needed to go out for a walk. Seems my wings led me here."
"Want to talk about it?" He asked. "I was just riding old Bella here one last time. She's getting too old to carry me."
"No. I'm ok," she said automatically. Father continued to stare at her, His piercing green eyes that always made her feel like that little girl who made a mountain of white just because it was fun never leaving her face. "It's just…I don't know what to do. I was trying to be a leader, I think, and, well, all the new gods were being uncontrollable. I don't have the words to explain it. I shouldn't be as mad as I am."
"You don't have to explain it," Father said, His horse trotting up beside her. The grey mare nibbled at Elvira's wings, just her lips brushing her feathers, a feeling that made her crack a smile despite herself. "Hey, wanna see something cool?"
"What?" Elvira asked, confused by the abrupt change in topic. Father reached out, holding something, and she took it without even thinking. An ice-cube now sat in her hands, melting in the intense sunlight.
"That's cool." He said, face carefully blank. Elvira blinked, looked at the ice-cube, and snorted despite herself, tossing it aside.
"That was terrible." She said, and He cracked a goofy smile that told her everything she needed to know about what was coming.
"Like paper, it was tear-able," Father said, creating and ripping a sheet of paper just to prove a point.
"Stop."
"Can you jump higher than a mountain?"
"Yes. I can fly, Father,"
"Of course you can! Mountains don't jump."
"Dad,"
"Want my advice? Never trust stairs. When they're not up to something, they're bringing you down."
"Please."
"Wanna know what the best gift is? Broken drums! You can't beat them."
"Enough with the puns."
"Ok. This one isn't a pun, technically. What's red and bad for your teeth? A brick."
"I can literally eat bricks if I wanted. Why are you doing this to me?"
"I find it funny. Or, in this case, punny." Even though she hated every second of Father's proclaimed 'dad jokes,' Elvira still found herself laughing at the abruptness of it all. Especially the cheesy grin Father gave every time He spouted one, eyes shining in amusement and clearly enjoying telling the jokes over any sort of humor involved. She swore He told her those just because she hated them. "Want to ride horses with me?" He suddenly asked, patting the mare's flank. Elvira thought about it for all of a split second, and nodded with a smile. Even if she really should have been getting back…well, it was hard to say no to Father sometimes.
Even if she didn't fully understand why He liked riding horses so much.
With a simple wave of His hand the rest of the horse herd came galloping up, no longer nervous. Elvira picked the first horse she could see, jumping on the back of a reddish-brown stallion with a fiery temper that took off running after Father and His mare as they raced across the plains. The stallion was incredibly responsive, as well it should be all things considered, turning and following whatever path she wanted with but a thought.
They didn't ride long, an hour at most, racing across the plains at such slow speeds. She could traverse the entirety of the Heaven Realm in the course of a day, maybe less if she really tried. Riding a horse to cover a few miles made her bored out of her skull. Especially when the energy within the land started acting up, flaring here and there and making her remember that there were gods waiting for her back at the palace. Gods who had better have cleaned up their mess.
Children. They were overgrown children, with too much power at their fingertips. Was this what Father had to deal with raising her and her siblings?
"I think I'm going to head back," she announced, leaping off the stallion, flaring her wings to catch her midair. The harsh sun continued to beat down, and she winced at the bright light.
"Ok. Have fun." Father said, wheeling His mare around and flashing her a smile.
"Why is the sun so intense here?" she muttered under her breath, looking up at the Realm Sun. The god within hadn't been properly formed yet, but she'd been noticing a bit more activity from within, telling her it should happen soon.
"That's probably my fault." Father said, suddenly appearing next to her, hands clasped behind His back and a stern expression on His face. "He's not been very happy with me ever since I created suns in the physical realm. Been throwing a bit of a tantrum, but he's going to have to just deal with it. It's no slight against him, the physical realm just needed to be a bit more dynamic." Elvira nodded, understanding what he was getting at there. It had been necessary – even Reika agreed. They wouldn't even be immortal suns like the Realm Sun, they would die and be reborn in accordance to the nature of the Physical Realm.
"He'll come around," she assured, giving Father a quick hug before shooting off into the sky, back toward her palace. A small thought circled in the back of her mind as she flew, hanging off of what Father said. His intention had not been to give advice, and she hadn't been seeking it from Him. Call it stubborn pride on her part, but she didn't want to rely on Him for everything. But that didn't mean she couldn't take inspiration from what He said.
Not every decision will be liked. She realized, coming to a soft landing just outside the main palace doors. If I want to be an ideal leader, the Big Sister to all my little siblings, then I need to be ready to make some hard decisions. Ones that won't earn me any favors, but will be followed out of respect. The interior was mostly empty, most of the gods having left while she was gone, and was thankfully cleaned. The walls had been cleaned of scorch marks, the domed ceiling fixed, and floor re-levelled. In fact, the only thing still broken was a singular pillar, in front of which stood Aeriel, the wind goddess. She looked just about in tears, tugging at her long green hair and the sleeves of her new, green robes.
"Sorry we made such a mess. The others already left. They felt bad," she muttered, voice soft and melodious.
"It is quite alright. But when you come to someone else's house, don't trash it just for fun. It is rude," Elvira said, walking towards her. She looked down, scuffing one foot against the floor, while Elvira looked up at the cracked pillar with a complex expression.
"Sorry the pillar isn't fixed. I can't mend stone like the others." Aeriel muttered, wringing her hands. "I don't know how. Sorry. I just wanted to have fun." Elvira stopped before the young goddess, sighing mentally but plastering an understanding smile on her face regardless. Whatever anger had plagued her before felt so much lesser now, almost gone even. Was that why Father had taken her on that horse ride? To get her mind on something else?
"There's nothing wrong with that, you just have to be careful. And not everything needs to be fixed perfectly." Elvira said, laying a hand on the pillar and eyeing the cracks critically as her power filled the stone. Some part of her wanted to keep it cracked, as a reminder of today…but that was a silly thought. It did, however, stall her power just long enough to let gold fill the cracked marble, instead of mending the stone.
She paused before she could fix it. That…actually looked pretty good, like a spiderweb of gold crawling up the pillar.
"See?" She said, smiling genuinely at Aeriel's awed expression. "Even mistakes can make something beautiful." Even my mistake.
"That's so pretty!" She cried, floating up to get a better look at the gold lines. "Can you show me how to do that?!"
"I'll do my best. And hey, we might even find something new to do with your wind!" Elvira replied after a moment's hesitation. Aeriel clapped her hands together happily and started chattering away, sadness forgotten as she all but bounced around the interior of the palace. Elvira watched her with a small, tired smile.
She had no idea how to be an ideal, a leader for other gods to follow or try to be. That was what her Realm was, but it might not be her, and there was a difference. For now, though, she could start by being a teacher to the little ones. Their lessons could start with respect, and learning to control their powers. As if on cue Aeriel fired off a burst of wind from her hands, accidentally shattering another window. She winced, and rubbed her face in exasperation.
Definitely starting with control. Life was a fragile thing, after all, and even the gods had to be beholden to some rules.
Chapter 1.8 The First Mortal Race
My workshop was an absolute mess. Essences of various elements and energies, diagrams, and a thousand other materials lay scattered about the wood desks lining the walls or across the marble floor. Various examples of life, some half-finished and some as pristine empty shells preserved in time, were mixed in with the mess, more appearing as I used them for reference. Some even floated through the air for quicker access, so I could examine, then toss them away just as quickly. I just didn't have the presence of mind to clean it all, even if all it would take was a wave of my hand.
Creating a mortal race was kicking my ass.
I glared at the soulless body of a human floating in front of me, t-posing with eyes closed. Creating them wasn't hard – I knew humans inside and out – they just weren't enough. No, that wasn't right.
I heaved a sigh and closed my eyes, changing the way I was thinking. For what they were, for their universe, humans were more than good enough. Strong, hardy, adaptable, with plenty of room for physical, spiritual, and mental growth. And, most importantly, humans were the kind of catch-all vessel that a frankly astounding variety of souls wished to inhabit. Everything from great evil souls to great good souls were attracted to them for whatever reason. There was truly nothing wrong with the human template for my old universe. But not for the Four Realms.
Forgetting for the moment about souls and how reincarnation differed between universes, even the physical aspects of humanity weren't enough. Already the other lifeforms I had created were showing signs of magic and cultivation, spirit beasts, I called them, even the ones that weren't originally designed to do so. And these beasts wouldn't just challenge normal humans for supremacy, there was a high likelihood they'd utterly dominate them.
Humans just weren't designed for the Four Realms style of cultivation.
Yet, because of their adaptability, I had little doubt they would eventually find a way. I could already imagine it; them, not being given the tools to succeed rising up anyways, "defying the will of the heavens," maybe even picking up arms against their divine parents, seeking to supplant the heavenly Dao…I shuddered. I would like to avoid accidentally leaning into that, where possible.
I made a Xianxia universe, however accidentally, and there was no changing that. To try and go against it would be setting myself up for future failure – might as well accept it and plan for it.
"So, avoiding that, let's see what I can do here," I muttered to myself, leaning forward and eyeing the human body critically. I liked the basic design, having grown quite attached to it from my own lifetimes, so that would likely stay plus or minus a few modifications. Just as I reached out to begin, however, an all-too-familiar presence suddenly appeared behind me.
"Ma'am, are you still working?" Randus asked, the salt-and-pepper haired god blinking his dark eyes in mock surprise when I turned around to stare at him. "You are awake. I was afraid you had drifted off again."
"That happened one time, Randus, and you were born from it so I can hardly call that unproductive. And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Father or Mother?" I said with fond exasperation, shaking my head and trying my hardest not to get annoyed with the interruption. I was about to get on a roll, too, I could feel it…
Ah, who was I kidding? I'd been stuck, and could use a distraction.
"I am Your servant, Ma'am. I could never call You so familiarly." He said, bowing his head slightly, folding his arms about his middle formally. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose, practically hearing the way he capitalized the You's in that statement just to annoy me.
"You are my child, and will do as you are told." I said, crossing my arms.
"The effect of that statement is lessened when we are all Your children, Marm." He said, still bowed. I narrowed my eyes at him, and sighed in exaggerated frustration with the young man. He was definitely my child – inherited my sarcasm to a T, and then dialed it up to eleven.
"What do you want, Randus? As much as I love our talks, I cannot imagine you came here just to bug me. Especially considering what I'm in the middle of." I drawled. Randus' eyes predictably drifted to the human body the moment I said that, his eyes flashing with interest. As the deity of dreams he had a vested interest in the appearance of mortals. Their dreams were vastly different than the dreams of beasts and gods, after all.
"Lady Reika has come to visit, though I cannot imagine why." He said after a moment. I shot to my feet, excitement suddenly coursing through me.
"Oooh, is it about that secret project of hers?" I was practically vibrating at the thought – she'd been incredibly secretive about it and, being the responsible parent I was, I hadn't peeked. Much. It was really hard not to, ok?!
"I cannot say. But I could not stop her from entering, and you are a wimp about keeping your children out of your workspace, so I thought you would like a warning." He said. Instead of replying I flung myself forward at great speeds, timing it perfectly so that when Reika pushed open the doors to my workshop I was already there, flinging myself onto her in a great big hug.
"Reiiikaaaa! Randus is bullying me!" I wailed, lifting her off her feet in a bear hug, spinning her around. She laughed, green hair flying about her head as we spun. "I've been so lonely with only him around! You hardly visit anymore!" I set her down and she shook her head fondly, pulling out of my embrace and straightening her dress.
"That is because, unlike You, she's been busy managing her Realm. Life is very tricky like that." Randus drawled. I pointed an accusing finger at him.
"SEE?!" I cried. Reika laughed again, attempting a mock glare that was more cute than menacing, and waggled an admonishing finger at him.
"For one so young, you sure are cheeky, Randus," she said. "Although that is why we like you, do try to be a bit nicer to Mother. You know She is working hard to keep balance in the Four Realms." Randus and I silently stared at Reika, a soft smile still dancing on her lips, the elemental flowers in her hair sparkling along with her quiet joy.
"You are far too sweet," I decided finally, having half expected her to join Randus in ribbing me.
"We must protect her," Randus agreed, and I nodded along with him. Reika flushed, shifting from foot to foot and clearing her throat. "Though I must disagree with you on principle alone, Lady Reika. Were it not for me, the Grand Palace would still be unfinished." I shot Randus a halfhearted glare. True though that may be, it was only because I didn't care about the palace that it hadn't been finished. I cared about doing other stuff with my time. Only his incessant whining had convinced me to finish my own house. Does that make me a workaholic?
With a good-natured grumble I turned back to Reika, getting my first good look at her in…wow, had it truly been nearly a hundred years since I'd last seen her? Time goes by so fast as an Origin Deity.
She'd changed a little. Her hair was pulled up into a tasteful bun, tied with an ivy vine that grew down to hang below her waist. The flowers in her hair were more vibrant, the elements that comprised them now denser and more compact, the petals far more detailed. A few new ones had even popped up, flowers of metal and light glimmering amongst the reds, blues, and yellows.
"Sorry for the abrupt visit," she said. "I just wanted to show you something neat. This little snake right here, it's the only one of its kind that I've been able to find," With that Reika shook out her sleeves, a small rainbow-colored serpent with white wings slithering out to glance about the workshop. Its forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and I cooed at the little creature.
"You are always welcome, and he is beautiful, isn't he?" I mused, scratching its chin. My connection to the Four Realms told me that Reika was wrong, this wasn't the only one of its kind, but my mind was distracted by something else. The snake's scales held traces of seven different elements to it, not making it a spirit beast, but rather…I hummed, an idea forming as I took the little creature from Reika, turning back to the human. "I wonder…"
With one hand I made a grasping motion, five different elemental essences, captured in jars, flying up from the ground to hover around me. The human's body deconstructed itself cell-by-cell, rebuilding just as quickly with the essences I had chosen imbued in every fiber of its being. Metal and earth for the bones to be the foundation; earth and wood for the flesh, to stimulate growth; fire and water for the blood, to carry passion and nutrients both; and all five combining for the vital organs. Immediately I could tell the body was far stronger than it had been before, aligned with the elements albeit imperfectly.
That was by design. I had intentionally left room with the elements I had chosen for another to slip in if necessary. That way if, say, someone wanted to cultivate lightning they absolutely could. These five just provided a nice, rounded balance. And as physical elements were chaotic by nature, that would allow these people plenty of room for growth and change. They didn't need to be made eternal, like my own body was, but I could tell there was certainly the potential there. A potential I couldn't remove, even if I tried.
"Mother…?" Reika asked as I moved on to the cultivation pathways, fingers dancing in the air as if I was playing the piano.
"Leave Her be. You know how She gets when She is in the creative mood." Randus said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. You know I can hear you, right? I wondered, but didn't respond verbally.
Instead I opened my palm and willed the white energy of the Heaven Realm to come forth, gently pressing it into the physical form. I did not force it to merge with the body as I had attempted previously, instead I carved pathways which would allow energy to flow in and through the flesh and bones. The purity of the Heaven Realm's energy would both keep qi in – which was a blanket term for all the different kinds of energy – and let it naturally seep into the physical form to nourish it, without tainting the qi with elemental energy.
As the yang-aligned energy of the heaven realm could be intensely physical, I had been trying to forge the body out of it; but it would be better to let the energy nourish said body and bolster the other energies that comprise it, than have it be exclusively that.
With a frown I pulled out some Karmic Realm energy next, focusing it mostly on the head area to create the mind. The phrase "mind-body-soul" wasn't simply a phrase – in many ways, the mind was very much different from the soul and more than just the body. And considering the black energy of the Karmic Realm was rich in mental, psychic energy, it only made sense to form the mind out of the stuff. As soon as I finished crafting the basic template for the mind and placed it in the body it flooded through the entirety of it, black energy flowing down to craft a nervous system made out of the elements, but guided by the mind. I smiled. All that was left now was the soul.
"Randus! Bring the carriage around, would you?" I asked suddenly, getting the feeling that now, right now, was the time to introduce my first People into the Realms. For once he did so without lip or argument, vanishing entirely from view as he teleported toward where I kept the carriages.
"Are you going to create them now?" Reika asked softly, trying to hide her own excitement.
"Yes. No time like the present, and I think I've got it this time," I said with a grin. "And it's all thanks to you and this little one." I raised the rainbow-colored snake in the air, grinning at the little creature that had been my inspiration. Reika beamed as I handed it back to her, promptly turning on my heel and marching towards the veranda. The mortal body floated along behind me, still T-posing mostly because I found it funny. It wasn't just T-posing. It was aggressively t-posing.
My workshop was genuinely huge – mostly because of the scale of some of the things I had to work on – with massive glass double-doors on the far end that opened up to the veranda. Randus was already there, sitting at the helm of a large gold-and-black carriage pulled by four horses of lightning and cloud. Storm horses, and these ones were immortal. Mostly because I loved them to bits, ever since the first ones had managed to cultivate lightning into their mortal bodies in the Heaven Realm, so I had chosen a few to become the steeds to draw my carriage.
"To Cradle, Randus!" I cried, sitting beside him on the front seat. He stared at me blankly and I grumbled, reluctantly slipping around to get inside the carriage. It was almost nauseatingly luxurious, by his design. Red velvet cushions, tasteful silver and white decorations as a sharp contrast to the black exterior, and a chest full of ice and fine white wine.
Ok, that last one I was alright with. Even if I preferred reds, you couldn't call yourself Italian without appreciating some whites. Er, well, ex-Italian. And, white wines were for celebrating!
Reika was already waiting for me inside, and I positioned the mortal body to be sitting across from me while I sat next to her. She raised an eyebrow at me but I largely ignored her silent judgement, focusing on the finishing touches. The spiritual part of the body would need to wait until a soul was put in place, but that didn't mean I couldn't mess with the aesthetics. The carriage started forward with a jerk, the familiar sound of thunder echoing in my ears as the storm horses took off.
Rubbing my chin in thought, I tried various little changes to the body. Four arms? No, tacky. Purple skin? Not bad, but not what I was going for. How about lines of gold or silver on their skin – stripes! Ok, I actually kind of like that. Pointy ears? Only slightly. Not the massive elf ears, that wasn't ideal for me. Claws…? No, impeded dexterity too much. Six fingers! No, now I was thinking too much.
Shaking my head I banished all extraneous thoughts from my mind. Keep things simple – in truth, the simplest answer was usually the correct one.
As the Christians said in my old world; "God created Man in His own image." So I started with that.
Two arms, two legs. Eyes, a mouth, ears – though I kept them slightly pointed, because I liked that. And horns matching mine, curling things that swirled up over the top of the head for the men, and around the side of the head for the women. I was tempted to give them a feathered tail like Elvira's, or wings like Keilan's, or even flowers in their hair like Reika, but ultimately decided against it. They would want to create their own People, and would copy what I had done simply because that is who they were. They would make their People in their own image.
In the end, the only change I made to their form compared to my own was I kept the lines of gold or silver on the skin. It formed little designs, running down the arms and legs to end mid-palm and mid-sole, stretching across the chest and running up the back of the neck. Those were quite enjoyable, and I added a little something only those who were spiritually powerful would consciously notice. The lines, much like their physical appearance, would reflect karma. How bright they were, how dark they were, how beautiful or ugly – all would be a reflection of karma. And unless someone had an intricate understanding of karma, they wouldn't be able tell it from a glance.
Bright and beautiful did not equal good. Dark and ugly did not equal bad. To me, everything was clear-cut. To mortal beings, whose vision was intentionally limited as that was part of the nature of growth, it would be far more muddled.
"We are here, Ma'am," Randus drawled, the carriage pulling to a stop with hardly a rattle. I floated out of the carriage without a word, the mortal body floating after me, and looked down upon Cradle.
It was an Earth-sized planet with ten continents, orbiting one of the two lesser suns that, in turn, orbited the Life-Giving Tree and the landmass it resided on, Pangea. This would be the test. The Cradle of life. The "garden of eden," even if it wasn't truly a utopia. I smiled. I already had the perfect spot for them.
With a clap of my hands the body split into two; male and female. The male had hair as black as mine, the female a brilliant grey. Both were equally fit, neither too slender nor too fat, with leaves covering their naughty bits. Adam and Eve. I chuckled a bit at my little joke – as if all of a People could spawn from two individual beings. With another clap of my hands the people multiplied, thousands floating in space before me.
"They don't have souls, Ma'am," Randus said helpfully. I rolled my eyes, cupping my hands together and calling forth the souls that had been waiting for this chance. They were not spirits. They were not divine, though they certainly had the capability to be. They were…something else. Like my oldest children and myself, they were the kind of souls that created energy through their very existence; I did not want to create cultivators that drained the energy of the land, bleeding it dry for their own use. They would use said energy to fuel their own growth, and return it through their existence.
Cultivation that fueled their own growth, and the growth of the realms.
Ideally, a win-win.
Gently I pressed the soul into the first body, clicking it into place like a puzzle piece. Immediately a qualitative change flowed through it; the soul activated the heart, the mind activated the body, and the body fueled both, the essences of each twisting together to make one great, cohesive whole. I smiled, watching it grow…and promptly fed each of the other bodies souls of their own.
"They're beautiful," Randus breathed in a rare moment of awe. I looked back at him and couldn't help but smile. His eyes were glazed over as he watched the dreams of all these mortals, young as they were. And, in that moment, I realized my other children had come to join us, watching on silently as I created the First People.
"What are you going to call them?" Reika asked.
"Fae. They'll be called the Fae." I stated, tasting the name and finding it…adequate.
Creation!
You are the first of the twelve Origin Deities to create a truly sapient race, whom you have named the [Fae].
Instead of fearing the path towards Mortal Immortality you instead embraced it, creating a method for the [Fae] to achieve eternity through their cultivation passages. Although this race's growth may not be as fast as others, they will be tenacious and powerful, paragons of their chosen demesne, with naturally long lives beyond that granted to them by pursuing immortality. All will know that the Fae were the first to be created by their Origin Deity.
Growth of the Four Realms increases by 20% as a direct result of your actions.
As soon as the box popped up, thankfully without much sarcasm, the Four Realms shuddered, groaning as energy began to flow out of the thousands of Fae. It was miniscule compared to what I or my children produced, but still there. And a bit of it even flowed to me, feeding my own soul and gradually increasing the density of my power, through my connection to my People. It was an unexpected surprise, but a welcome one, and made sense in a way. As I had created them, they were my responsibility, and as such had formed a karmic connection with them.
This would, in way, boost my own power. Slowly, steadily, but never would it be as good as pursuing my own personal growth.
"Now then, let's get you situated," I said, waving one hand airily. The thousands of Fae descended to the world below, scattered into tribes across the ten continents of Cradle. I would watch them for a time, ensuring they'd survive, but soon enough I'd scatter them all across the physical realm and Pangaea.
Exhaustion swept over me and my shoulders sagged, though the smile on my face did not diminish even as my children crowded around. Alexander peered at them, Keilan was muttered to himself, and Elvira nodded sagely as she watched the Fae inspect their surroundings with the curiosity of a child. Who knew creating a sapient race would be so draining?
Ah, well. At least it was official now. The Four Realms had its first sapient beings.
Chapter 1.9 Enlightenment
I personally watched the Fae for three years, and to be honest, their progress in that time completely surprised me. Spears were made. Fire was discovered. Shelters were built. And, sure, I had a bit of a hand in helping them, but there were a lot of hands-off moments too. I ignited a fear response in hunters who strayed too close to dangerous animals, helped gatherers find edible plants, and even showed them the basics of cultivation – essentially just meditating to find the energy within themselves, and a bit of a hand in finding good spots to meditate in.
Not that any of them had truly stepped on the path of cultivation yet, despite this. It would probably take another generation or two for such things to really get going.
On the other hand, they'd started creating the written language, figured out how to knap flint, and started experimenting with clay to form pots, all without my guidance. One tribe even figured out how to make rafts and started to traverse river systems, all on their own! I was so proud to see them thriving, creativity and the need to survive fueling their advances.
For those moments I did help them, however, it usually wasn't as myself. As I still had trouble controlling my aura, it being a bit too much for most mortal souls to handle unrestrained, my omens were usually more subtle in nature. A gust of wind at a key time, tickling a bird to convince it to chirp, cracking a rock, sending little nuggets of emotion down on the tiniest slivers of my power, to manipulate a certain response. Things like that, easily ignored but, if they were willing to listen, was still a sign. Other times I let them make mistakes on their own; sometimes the best way to teach children not to play with fire, is to let them touch fire.
Eventually my personal supervision would have to be replaced with the guidance of other gods, powerful spirits, or angels, once a few of the latter appeared. I just wouldn't have the time to keep an eye on everybody all the time always once the Fae started to proliferate and the Realms expanded. Compared to mortals I might as well be omniscient and omnipresent, but I of all people knew my limits and there was only so much time in the day to get things done; and, bad as it may sound, my time was better spent solving big problems than little issues.
That didn't mean I couldn't help get everyone settled, however, and wouldn't take the time to listen.
"They're doing very well, don't you think?" I asked, smiling down at Cradle and nodding my head. When no one replied I glanced over my shoulder, blinking at the gods assembled behind me. Elvira and Keilan had their eyes closed, sitting cross-legged as they meditated. Reika was watching everything below, enraptured, while Randus did his best to meditate while standing and waiting for me to give him an order. Even the Realm Sun beamed down upon the planet curiously. Interestingly, though, Alexander was nowhere to be seen.
Most of the other gods were just looking curiously at my People rather than undergoing enlightenment like my first children, muttering to themselves the whole time. I nodded to them, and focused a little more intently upon Elvira, Keilan, and Reika, curiosity driving me to try and understand what they were going through.
I could practically feel Elvria and Keilan's understanding of their own divine domains deepening, the plasmatic aura that surrounded Elvira fluctuating as her control over her power tightened. Keilan was the same, karmic threads gently drifting about him, his fingers twitching as if he was weaving a tapestry with them. Reika, on the other hand, seemed to be getting something else entirely out of it, flowers blooming in her hair while others died and fell into the depths of space.
"I'll leave you to it, then," I said softly, so I didn't break them out of whatever "enlightenment trance" they found themselves in. Instead I turned toward the Life-Giving Tree and the landmass that it grew from, Pangea. It was time to spread the Fae.
I laid my palms flat, tens of thousands of mortal souls appearing upon them like grains of sand. Gently I blew them away, bodies forming midair as they rocketed toward Pangea, forming clusters and tribes all across the multi-planet sized landmass. They, too, I would watch carefully for a few years, especially since Pangea was more dangerous than Cradle.
"So this is why you rushed to create mortals," Alexander whispered from behind me. I jumped in surprise, whirling to meet his rainbow-colored eyes. He had shrunk his draconic body as to not disturb his siblings, though the god of fire and goddess of water still hung from his back like monkeys. They'd taken a shine to him, clearly. Gently he butted his snout against my chest, careful not to disturb the little gods that clung to him. I chuckled and scratched him behind his horns, where he liked it. "Their mere creation is helping us understand the nature of existence. Keilan has been struggling to touch that 'mental energy' of his for some time now, but now look at him. It's practically rolling off of him in waves."
I glanced at Keilan to see that Alexander was right. Mental energy, or psionic energy, as I preferred to call it, was condensing itself around his head like a shell. I'd been so focused on his playing with karma that I hadn't noticed.
"Yes, but also no. Though it is a pleasant surprise that you kids are getting as much out of this as you are, I can't say I expected it. Contrary to your belief, I'm not all-seeing, nor all-knowing." I said with a shake of my head.
"Only because you don't want to be," Alexander said, moving around behind me to rest his head atop my own so we could both look out over Cradle and Pangea.
"Only because freewill makes it too complicated to." I countered. Freewill was, in my opinion, the greatest blessing and greatest curse of a living soul; it was an inalienable right, and could not be forcefully taken. It could, however, be willingly surrendered. But the point was that no one could force another to do anything if they really didn't want to; for good or ill. "Seeing the future is all probability and statistics. Up to a point I can calculate how everything will turn out, but far enough into the future? The probabilities and things are just too much, even for me. No, one of the main reasons I created the Fae is…well, I lied, I did hope you kids would start to understand why I wanted to make them so bad, and the enlightenment is part of that, but also because the Four Realms have been at peace for too long."
"What?" Alexander asked, confusion evident in his tone. "Things have been fairly chaotic, Father, with the processes of creation."
"True." I allowed. "But I can feel something coming, Alexander. A tribulation, a storm, something. The creation of the Four Realms has stirred up some things, the dust is just now starting to settle, and we're about to see what a tribulation really is. The Void is getting restless." I muttered, looking up at the sky. Through the veil of the Realms, beyond the Realm Sun that circled them, and through the protective shell of primordial chaos that surrounded the universe was the Abyss, where chaos met nothingness. It was a rolling, roiling tide of destruction and creation, the Void eating into the chaos, returning it to nothing, while the chaos in turn created its own self through the chaotic process of destruction, seeking to expand ever-outward. And beyond that, lay the empty Void.
It was making me nervous. Something was stirring out there, and I didn't even know how it was possible for nothingness to be stirring. And on top of that, the Shadow –
"And you claim yourself not a seer," Alexander joked, pulling away from me. I snorted, turning my attention back toward the Fae.
"Someone of my power level can't help but see large events when they're in the future, because they are a culmination of past choices. It's the little things, the aftermath and the buildup, that are in flux. How bad will it be? What will it be? I don't know. Only that something is coming." I replied easily. It was just like the phrase "the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the second best time is now." When I plant that tree, I can see that it will grow there and can protect it so it does. To an extent I can predict its future. But what will it endure? What weather will strike it? Who will see it? That is the point, and the question. I could see the looming event, but what it was escaped me.
We were silent for a moment, and I fixated on Cradle once again.
Many tribes had already started to worship me – or at least the concept of me. They had even taken note of my name, reading it through our connection, or perhaps a particular deity of dreams whispered my name to them. That sounded like him. One of the priests started calling me Mother Statera and Father Luotian, worshipping the two halves of my name as two separate entities. What a ludicrous notion. As if I would do something as asinine as choosing a side by picking a gender. I am as I am, and I am Statera Luotian, Origin Deity of Balance. Still, it was kind of funny to see them already misinterpreting things. Ah, mortals, they never change. Still, the worship was…interesting.
I felt a bit of power flowing up to me from the Fae as the worship continued; they were giving me an extra bit of the power they themselves made, moreso than through our innate connection. It wasn't much, not even enough to call it a drop in an ocean, and wouldn't be for a while yet, but the fact it was happening at all was confusing.
Gods didn't really gain power through worship as far as I was aware, and it most certainly didn't fuel their immortality like had been common in stories on Earth. Was this because the nature of my universe was different than I was used to, or was I missing something?
I wracked my memory for something to help explain what was going on, but the best I could come up with was that I just hadn't been aware of it before, maybe? I'd never been close to the power of what could be called a god in my old universe, and yeah, taking responsibility for the actions of humans I'd been watching over helped fuel my personal growth, I'd never had anyone really worship me before. Even still, with the amount of power I was gaining from worship now? It was a surprise, maybe even a pleasant one, but personal growth would likely always trump anything I gained from worship.
Oh! And what's this? I focused a little harder on one tribe in particular, spotting the first two Fae I had created – my Adam and Eve – together in one tribe. Were they…courting one another? That's adorable! Maybe they'll make a red string of fate? That would be too cute, to see my first two Fae become my first two fated lovers. I sighed fondly. I could still be a sucker for romance, even after all these years.
"Well, I must apologize, Father, but I think I need to leave. The cycle of reincarnation needs attending to now that mortals are here – I get the feeling adjustments will have to be made." Alexander said, voice distant. I raised an eyebrow at him, noticing how he, too, was slowly succumbing to 'enlightenment,' and gently pushed him away, into the Spirit Realm. Watching him enter his realm was like watching him sink below the surface of crystal-clear water; if I looked with just my physical eyes then he appeared distorted and distant, separated by a water-thin boundary.
"Go. Have fun." I said, and he swam off to chase his own enlightenment. Cracking my neck I leaned back, creating a comfy armchair and a glass of white wine in one hand as I settled in to keep an eye on the Fae. I may not physically go down there to intervene, but for the next decade or two I would definitely be aiding a little bit. "Now, where were we –"
Suddenly a spike of pain shot through me, radiating from my chest. I shot bolt upright, power flaring as I sought the source of the pain, the cause – only to freeze when I found it. A young soul was entering the cycle of reincarnation. It wasn't the first, a few Fae had died over the past three years to accidents, but this was by far the youngest. I couldn't even go to it, as the sheer weight of my existence would crush the soul.
Down on Cradle, a boy had just died. He was young, maybe only two years old, among the first to be born rather than created, and he'd been killed by a falling rock. It was truly an accident; a mountain goat had knocked it loose as it walked along the top of a cliffside, sending it tumbling down to strike the kid in the head. The parents cried over his corpse, the father looking skyward and cursing my name.
"Damn you." He had said. "Damn you for stealing our son from us."
The words hurt. It hurt far more than I expected. I had expected to be cursed by them, hell, I'm surprised it took them this long, as mortals will be mortals, but this took me by surprise. No god would dare curse me. Most beasts were too simple minded to curse me for the nature of the universe, and I hadn't designed things to be cruel. But conflict and chaos was the nature of the physical, it was what inspired growth and change, for mortals to try and overcome limitations and challenges to become something more. I just…
With a heavy sigh I closed my eyes, allowing my mind to touch theirs, tapping into their emotions and memories from a distance. Not to influence them, just to…feel. I was the Mother, crying over her child. I was the Father, cursing my creator in sadness and in rage. And I was the child, running happy and free, playing with a bug at the bottom of the cliff, only for everything to go black in an instant. I experienced everything from their perspective in excruciating detail, from the torrent of emotions to the physical touch. It reminded me too much of some of my past lives. That it was an accident, a true accident, only made things worse.
"They know not what they say," I whispered to myself, opening my eyes and touching my face, surprised to find wetness there. I shook my head, wiping my face on my sleeve as I hardened my resolve. There was only so much I could do. Direct intervention on my part would do more harm than good, in far too many ways. Including for myself. Yet still, even as I turned away, resolving to send divine incarnations out to continue to guide and watch over things even as my main body continued to observe, I found myself turning back toward that one little, innocent soul.
And a single teardrop fell in the vastness of space.
Chapter 1.10 The Birth of Cultivation
The day I had been anticipating, the day I had been dreading, had finally arrived.
One of the Fae was about to truly discover cultivation.
I hovered above the tribe, unable to get too close and cursing my lack of skill for it. I had desperately wanted to be there in person for this, some incarnation of myself sitting beside them as they first began to cultivate in the xianxia sense of the word. Even if distance was a non-factor for me and this was a strange personal whining moment, I had wanted it, that close personal proximity. But it was not to be, and so I had to make do with a bit of distance.
Shifting slightly from my position in the sky, my perception making it seem like I was sitting right beside the cultivator in question, I forced myself to just observe. The woman herself was neither old nor young, beautiful nor ugly. In many ways she was unremarkable, at least to the mortal eye. To her fellow tribe members she was a mediocre hunter, a decent mother, and a passable clothes-maker. I, however, saw a soul with astoundingly good karma, especially for a race so young. Only three generations old now and she had racked up just enough good karma that spirits started to draw closer to her in the day to day, her presence and the energy her soul produced soothing to both positive and benign spirits.
Yet what truly set her apart was her affinity for the wind. Despite living a largely average life, travelling the plains with her tribe, raising a family, and so on, her spirit was as free as the wind. She lived the way she pleased, and to her, that did not mean roaming free as a strong gust, seeing all the world had to offer. It meant drifting along like a gentle spring breeze, comforting and kind, filled with pleasant scents and the promise of warmth. It meant taking a moment to enjoy the world as it was, and the company whom she spent that moment with. It was a moment meant to sit beneath a tree and listen to the rustling of grass in the wind, and the song of the earth.
And the wind spirits loved her for it.
Like little faeries the spirits danced about her as she sat on her bed of furs, her two little children slumbering peacefully beside her as she performed her nighttime ritual; a meditation exercise taught to her by her father. Cross-legged she sat, back straight and shoulders set, clearing her mind of all thoughts so her sleep was uninterrupted and peaceful. She breathed in, and the qi around her started to react.
"Gently," I whispered, eyes fixated on her soul and dantian and resisting the urge to aid her. I wanted her to accomplish this herself, without my aid. It was important she did. I had given her people all the help and hints they needed to start this path, but the choice to do so had to be theirs, and theirs alone.
Her soul churned, positive energy flowing out of it in gentle waves of white. The wind spirits caught what escaped with little giggles, riding the waves and taking the excess, sending it to the earth below to be absorbed. The woman breathed in again, absorbing her own energy and filling her dantian with it. And carefully, almost accidentally, she breathed in the qi of the world. The wind spirits laughed, feeding her more, filling her cultivation passageways with wind-flavored qi until, with a small burst of power that filled her little hut with the smell of flowers, she "evolved," breaking through to what I knew would eventually be called the next stage of cultivation.
The woman settled back down with a smile, opening her eyes and gazing at her children. She didn't even realize what she had done. All Fae grew stronger over time, by the nature of their existence. As they lived the energy their soul created pooled in their bodies and strengthened their core, cultivating passively. Like this they could live for hundreds of years. But by meditating and absorbing some of the energy of the world around her, she would grow stronger faster, maybe even gaining some "magical powers" if she played her cards right.
Her children would follow in her footsteps, learning her nighttime ritual as she had learned from her father, eventually her tribe would take notice of the increased power of her family, and the rest, as they say, would be history.
A warm feeling filled my chest as I watched the woman lay down in her bed, curling up with her children as she fell into a light, peaceful slumber. Was this pride I was feeling? Yes, I think it was. Strange. For how much I dreaded the idea of cultivators in the beginning, I never would have thought I would feel pride for them now.
I wondered how long it would take for the rest of the Fae to figure out the secrets of cultivation, and immediately the answer came to me. An indulgent smile spread across my face as I watched the information being spread before my very eyes. The wind was far too talkative.
Wind spirits giggled and darted about, spreading the news far and wide. They told it to the mountains and rivers, and to the very earth itself. Soon enough all spirits on the planet knew and they shouted it to the heavens, so the sun their planet circled knew. Light spirits carried the information even further and wider, chatty gossips they were, so the information reached Pangaea and the Life-Giving Tree. Soon enough even the Heaven Realm would know of the first cultivator, from the lowliest of spirits to the greatest of gods.
It had spread far too fast though, and I frowned, pulling my perception away from the woman. Only then did I smell the fresh scent of spring rain carried on a gentle breeze, my hair ruffling in a wind that should not exist in space. I glanced to my right and was greeted by a shock of green hair and a mischievously smiling face.
"Aeriel, you little troublemaker. You spread the information far and wide, didn't you?" I admonished good-naturedly, the goddess of wind giggling at me. "And what do you think of all this?" She lifted one finger to her lips in a shushing motion, winking as she drifted away, hair swirling as she shot down into the darkness of space, heading for the Karmic Realm. I shook my head at her. For a goddess of wind, she was awfully quiet, preferring to listen rather than speak.
"Still," I mused, standing and glancing at the Life-Giving Tree, where Reika was currently holed up. She had grown very interested in making new life, ever since she first figured it out. Her garden was bigger than mine now. "Maybe I should pay Reika a visit, tell her the good news." Even before I had finished talking to myself, I had decided that was exactly what I was going to do. Alexander probably already knew, and Elvira and Keilan would know by the time I finished telling Reika. My children probably wouldn't think much of it, but, well…I, for one, thought it to be monumental.
Could I really be blamed for being nervous? And excited? Nervously excited? Me above, no, Mr. Boxes above, please don't let there be too many xianxia clichés. Please, please, please.
Space warped around me as I took a single step, crossing light-years of distance in but a moment. The top of the Life-Giving Tree lay just below me, its wide, oak-like leaves, each as large as a continent and growing fast, rustling in an unseen wind. Eventually, maybe, there would be beasts and people that called the foliage of the Tree home. But not yet. None had quite reached that height, unable to bear the change in energy that came with climbing the tree. After all, the leaves alone produced enough life energy to fuel the growth of the entire physical realm, as it currently stood. Great elemental storms rolled along the canopy, dancing along the leaves and branches, devastating in their intensity yet doing little more than rustle the leaves of the Tree.
Reika's home sat at the very peak, taking up the entirety of the highest branch. A large wooden longhouse sat in the very center, with a garden that stretched for miles and miles extending from it. Trees and flowers of all kinds bloomed in intricate patterns, hedges and ferns creating mazes, all of which were protected from the elemental storms by Reika's presence. Plant spirits happily played in her garden, hundreds of thousands of them as they darted about, tending to their plants and enjoying the serenity.
Her garden was, honestly, smaller than I remembered. She must have downsized.
Humming to myself I descended, skipping through most of the garden to silently slip into the main longhouse. The interior was much as I remembered, the walls themselves growing up out of the branch the palace rested on, the floor smooth polished wood. A fire crackled in a log fireplace at the far end of the grand foyer, numerous paintings and full-bodied mounts of animals hanging from the walls. Reika wasn't a hunter, she didn't actively go out to kill beasts, but she did enjoy displaying examples of her favorites. Somewhere off to the left the god of earth appeared, yawning and scratching the back of his head.
He froze when he saw me, brown eyes going wide, dirt falling from his dark hair. I winked and made a shushing motion, silently padding through the winding hallways. Reika's presence was deeper in the longhouse, and I waved to the few spirits and things I passed by as I made my way there.
I found her in her workshop, as I had expected, muttering to herself as she played with a group of elements on one of the long wooden workbenches. It was reminiscent of my own workshop, albeit the walls were all unpainted wood, instead of the multi-colored stone and wood I preferred. Thousands of jars containing all different kinds of energies and combinations of energies lined the walls on shelves, various tools, beakers and such, scattered about the place. One piece in particular caught my eye, however – one of the very first flowers she ever made herself grew in a pot in the very middle of the room, its petals gleaming in the dim light of the chandelier. I smiled at it as I silently drifted inside, sneaking up on my daughter.
"Reika!" I cried happily.
"Yeep!" she yelped, losing control over whatever energy she'd been playing with and whirling, pale-faced and frantic. "Mother! You're here! What are you doing here?!"
"Guess what! The mortals finally discovered cultivation…what's that I smell?" I cut myself off, suddenly more interested in Reika's desperate attempts to cover up what she was working on. The energy she'd lost control of drifted through the air, and I reached out to snag a strand of it. "Is this an illusion? Have you been playing with illusions, Reika?" I asked curiously, putting the strand of energy in my mouth. As with all the different types of energy in the universe, illusion magic was just another flavor of pure energy, or true qi, as I called it. Illusions always had a different flavor each time I tried it, though.
This strand tasted like white chocolate and basil, with a hint of spice. Weird, but not bad.
"No – Yes! Yes I have! That's all! Nothing else!" she lied horribly, putting herself between me and what she was hiding behind her back. Her body puffed up a bit, growing to better hide her little project, and I grinned, unable to resist the urge to tease her a bit.
"Now, what do we have here?" I mused, stepping around her childish attempts at hiding things to peer at what was behind her. Eight clusters of elements and energies sat on the workbench. I could see space-time, that was a weird one; a combination of the five Chinese elements, water, fire, earth, metal, and wood; illusion; a swirling mixture of psionic and karmic energy; as well as –
"NO!" Reika shrieked, all but tackling me away. I cackled a bit as she shoved me back, a cackle that died in my throat when I saw the fury on her face. Her face was red, cheeks puffed up and brows furrowed in frustration as she set her hands on her hips, rising up to her full height to try and look intimidating. She only reached my shoulders, and despite her best effort her anger really only made her look cute.
Didn't change the fact that she was actually mad at me. I backed down, smiling nervously and holding up my hands in surrender.
"Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to share some exciting news." I muttered, refusing to meet her eyes. "But, I mean, c'mon. That 'yeep' was pretty cute." I joked.
"Out." She said, pointing to the door. I blinked at her, rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, and promptly marched out of the workshop. She slammed the door behind me, pausing just long enough to hang a wooden sign with the words "No Peeping! (That means you, Mother)" carved into it in rainbow letters. I stared at the door for a moment, scratching my cheek.
"Well, that'll tell me. Sheesh. Didn't mean to do that," I said, shaking my head. Oh well. I'm sure I'll find out what that was about sooner than later. Must've been her secret project I'd accidentally gotten a peek of, the one she'd been trying so hard to keep hidden.
And now I felt bad. With a small shake of my head at my own thoughtlessness I warped away, heading to the Karmic Realm to help Keilan with the memory archives.
Now that cultivation had been discovered, I figured memories of past lives would be more important. Maybe that should be a reward for immortality? To recall your past lives? Or perhaps they should be forced to march to the Karmic Realm themselves if they want to truly recall. Food for thought, at the very least.