The Primeval Era-Chapter 150: Garden II

He had literally transformed over twenty miles of dead earth into a living garden filled with wonders that belonged in legends.

Land Trees stretching toward the heavens. Springs flowing with healing water. Groves that glowed in the darkness. Crystals that regenerated after being harvested.

This was, frankly, ridiculous!

Damian opened his eyes and shook his head at the absurdity of what his Second Doctrine had accomplished in a single night.

"We should let the people within the tribe out."

His voice emerged calm despite the storm of thoughts raging in his mind.

"In this place, there is now a lot to harvest. With this, many things can be possible."

Uncle Adam looked at him with an expression suggesting he understood only a fraction of what had actually occurred. But he nodded, trusting his Young Lugal as he always had.

Serala rose from her meditation, white-gold Mana fading from around her form. She came to stand beside them, her wing-shaped pupils sweeping across the landscape with shining eyes.

The three of them looked from the midpoint of the mountain to their surroundings that were entirely different than they had been the day before.

Crimson-leafed trees stretched in every direction, their foliage catching morning light and scattering it into prismatic fragments. Golden Baobabs rose among them, their swollen trunks gleaming like monuments to abundance. Blue grass carpeted the spaces between, swaying in breezes that carried the scent of growing things and clean water.

And in the distance, those Ancient Pillars dominated the horizon.

Seven massive trees piercing the sky, some so high that their canopies were lost in the clouds Damian had created. They were visible from any point in the domain, landmarks declaring that something fundamental had changed in this corner of the Lands of Stone. Birds circled their heights in flocks so large they looked like moving shadows.

Animals moved through the transformed landscape below, creatures that had been ordinary beasts yesterday and were now Primal Beasts today. They explored their new environment with the same wonder that Damian felt, sniffing at vegetation that shouldn’t exist and drinking from streams that hadn’t been there hours ago.

A few small Primal Beasts noticed the figures on the mountain and looked up with something approaching recognition. They didn’t flee. They didn’t attack. They simply watched, as if understanding that the being responsible for their transformation stood before them.

Serala finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What...have you done, Tokoloshe?"

Damian looked at the garden he had created, at the Land Trees and the luminous groves and the fields of enhanced crops waiting to be harvested.

He did not have an answer.

He had done something ridiculous. The true effects of all this...had yet to truly be seen.

---

Grandmother Essun had lived a long life filled with strange things.

But she had never seen anything like this!

The massive gates of the Purple Stone Tribe groaned open before her, crimson-blue barriers parting to reveal what lay beyond. Behind her stood thousands of tribesmen, all of them now Flesh Awakening Warriors thanks to the rain that had fallen throughout the night. The pathways between huts were filled with vibrant vegetation that had sprouted from stone and packed earth, flowers blooming in colors she didn’t have names for.

Even though most of the Mana had been absorbed into the tribesmen, enough remained to transform the tribe itself into something out of the old stories.

And what lay beyond the gates was infinitely grander.

A garden stretched before her eyes in every direction, crimson-leafed trees rising among golden-trunked giants and blue grass swaying in morning breezes. The air smelled of growing things and clean water and something else she couldn’t identify, something that made her old bones feel younger with every breath. Fruit hung from branches in abundance that would have seemed obscene yesterday. Streams ran through the landscape where dry stone had been hours ago.

In the distance, massive trees pierced the heavens themselves, their canopies lost in clouds that glowed with faint blue light.

Essun’s sharp yellow eyes went wide.

Her mouth fell open.

And then she threw her head back and cackled.

"We must have died and gone to the Lands of the Ancestors!"

Her voice carried across the assembled thousands, causing heads to turn and expressions to shift. The Chieftain rushed forward with several elders, their hands reaching to cover her mouth before she could say anything else that might offend whatever powers had created this miracle.

But Essun’s body was much stronger than theirs now.

The rain had transformed her too, had flooded her old flesh with Mana that made her feel like she was sixty summers younger. She slipped away from their grasping hands with ease that surprised even herself, dancing past them and moving further into the garden with steps that should have been impossible for someone her age.

She looked toward the mountain far in this paradise, the peak where she could see the massive leonine form of Damian resting amid golden fur and blue flames. The Crown of Kingship still blazed above his head, visible even from this distance.

"Tokoloshe!"

Her shout echoed across the transformed landscape.

"How did you bring the Land of the Ancestors here?!"

She kept moving, her feet finding purchase on fertile soil that welcomed her steps.

"Let this old lady come and pay respects to you!"

She cackled again, the sound carrying the joy of someone who had just discovered that the world was far more wonderful than she had ever imagined.

"Hey, which Ancestor are you actually? You can tell me!"

The tribesmen behind her were astonished, thousands of newly awakened Warriors standing at the threshold of paradise. They looked around at vegetation that shouldn’t exist, at fruit hanging within arm’s reach, at streams flowing with water that sparkled with inner light.

Some of them fell to their knees.

Some of them wept.

Some simply stood and stared, unable to process what their eyes insisted was real.

BOOM!

The figure of Uncle Adam landed on the fertile ground in front of everyone.

His descent had carried him from the mountain in a single leap, Mana-enhanced muscles propelling him across distance that should have required minutes of walking. He stood before the assembled thousands with power radiating from his form, his cultivation having broken through to the Fourth Circle during the night.

Marrow Crystallization.

The old warrior looked at the tribesmen with eyes that held no patience for gawking.

"There will be time for wonder later."

His voice cut through the shock like a blade.

"Right now, there is work to be done. This garden won’t harvest itself."

He began pointing at groups, his commands crisp and clear.

"You fifty, head toward the fruit trees to the east. Gather what you can carry and bring it back to the tribe. You hundred, follow the stream to the northeast and map where the spring emerges. We need to know our water sources."

More directions followed, dividing the thousands into working parties with efficiency that spoke of military training.

"You two hundred, begin clearing paths through the vegetation. We need routes connecting the tribe to the major features of this place. And you..."

He pointed at a group of younger men who had been staring at a luminous grove in the distance.

"Stop gawking and start moving. Those glowing trees aren’t going anywhere, but the morning light won’t last forever."

The tribesmen began to move, shock giving way to purpose as Uncle Adam’s commands cut through their paralysis.

And Grandmother Essun continued toward the mountain, still cackling, still shouting questions that the Tokoloshe would probably never answer.

She didn’t care.

She was walking through paradise, and she intended to enjoy every step!