[Valerianne Yul]

I was dreaming. I knew that I was dreaming because I was a teenager again. I had sidestepped five years into the past and I was once again on my parents farm. I was seventeen years old. I looked down upon myself and saw my dress weaved of ferns and smiled. I was home.

My bedroom was a mossy sphere decorated with glass balls filled with glowing fungus of all sorts of colors. I checked the fungus lamps and found them healthy enough and went down a rope ladder into the living room. The interior of the living room was a large dome made of roots that smelled of drying grasses and ferns. Numerous plants were hanging from the ceiling, flowers blooming all over.

My mom, Oleciya Yul, a famed Horticulturemancer, was busy tending to her plants. I waved at her and she had failed to acknowledge me as usual, too busy with her flower breeding work.

My dad, Yuri Yul, an Agromancer, gave me a thumbs up from his seat. “Off to be the greatest fungumancer around, sweetie?”

“Dad, I’m not going to be a mushroom wizard.” I said with a resignation.

“And why not? All six of your brothers are talented White-Green mages.” Dad grinned. “The old hedgewitch Mokkra that aided with your birth told us that you were destined for great and terrible things! Mushrooms are quite great and dangerous, you know. They can alleviate pain, stop death and also poison, end a life. It makes the most sense, I reckon!”

I sighed. Wild hedge-witches from Bree were all hermit weirdos. Some say that they can glimpse the future, but personally I didn't believe in such nonsense. My future was mine to make and no one else's. I wanted to be an Adventurer!

I was seventeen and my talent still hasn’t emerged. My parents weren’t disappointed, they believed that I was a late bloomer, destined to tend to mushrooms and nothing would convince them otherwise. They never considered a future for me outside of the farm. If I don’t get my Green talent by twenty two, I am totally moving out, I told myself.

I passed by numerous rounded doorways which led to my brothers’ rooms, heading up a wooden spiral stairwell out of the living room. The stairwell ended with a wooden doorway that I opened up, emerging outside onto an observation platform.

The southern wind from the Edge mountains picked up my long, red hair, throwing it about, playing with my fern-woven dress. Hundreds of meters beneath me was the forest of Bree. Far in the distance, where the forest ended was the town of Amarillia.

I could see the White Tower of Virtue rise above its stone walls. The beacon of the Light shone above the great Tower. I made a sign of the triskelion spiral at the Tower, knowing that the church of Virtue kept us all safe from evil and sin. The enormous Triumvirate cathedral sat in the shadow of the distant Tower, looking like an adorable toy house from my current point of view.

I had never seen the Tower in action, but my parents had told me of a time when Sextants had tried to probe the defence network and the tower had struck their ship right down from the sky with a ray of Judgement. The Judgement dome protected all of Europa's mainland from the horrible heretic Sextants and other sky pirates that would murder and enslave us all if only given a chance.

Far behind the White Tower I could see the Edge mountains - distant, incredibly tall, glacier covered peaks. Hundreds of vine ropes creaked around me, as our farmhouse swayed in the wind ever so slightly. I looked up. Our farmhouse was hanging beneath the belly of our tamed, bowine-type Life-Citadel named Moosy.

Moosy was a 3178 years-old Bosstaurus. How big was our Bosstaurus? Very! Big enough to tower high above the forest of Bree, big enough that she didn’t notice or get bothered by our farmhouse hanging from her belly. With every year she got a little bigger too. My brothers had the job of climbing vine-rope ladders up to Moosy’s back or feet to tunnel through her hard skin to get to the tasty meats underneath. Moosy didn’t give a single damn about us cutting little bits out of her at a time. She was a rather dumb beast with an incredible ability to heal herself.

Moosy moved incredibly slowly across the forest of Bree, completely circling it once a year like clockwork. She moved so slowly and cautiously that her giant hoofs could never hurt anyone. Wherever she stepped in the forest, the trees and bushes were slowly crushed, but when the mossy hoof departed the bushes and trees would spring right back up, ten times as healthy and green, blessed and infused with her Green magic.

Our home was a series of interconnected, green, fern- and moss-covered wooden spheres hanging from Moosy. Her enormous body kept rain and snow from bothering our farmhouse. Each of my brothers had their own sphere-room that they had grown themselves. I was a late, unexpected seventh child and pretty much claimed the nursery room permanently as I haven't been able to grow my own.

The observation platform that I stood on now was also a docking area for Aeromancers. About once a week an air mage flew over from Amarylla upon his sky-whale, picked up orders of meat, flowers, wines and vegetables that our farm produced and delivered anything that we had ordered. Occasionally my entire family boarded the sky-whale to sell our goods in Amarylla ourselves in a market stall, but it wasn’t too often as my mom hated crowds and flying.

According to the info flags flapping in the wind, four of my brothers went to the forest below to gather some ingredients and two of them were out carving meat chunks from Moosy's rightmost leg. Moosy moved pretty slowly, so leaving the farm and coming back via one of her enormous hooves wasn’t too hard. Rope ladders were our life! Moosy never wandered out of the forest of Bree and could be seen from afar so it wasn’t a problem for them to find her to get back home.

Unlike my brothers, I had a very special job. I climbed up the ladder, slowly ascending to the top of Moosy. Upon the back of our Bosstaurus, there was an entire, large magical forest - the sacred grove of Dryad Aloenna.

I had met Aloenna when I was only three, when my mother carried me in a backpack via a ladder to the sacred grove for Aloenna’s blessing. The Dryad liked me right away. My mom was very surprised. For some reason Aloenna was extremely happy to see me for the first time. I was a bit scared of the tall ladder back then, but eventually I got over my fears and climbed all over Moosy by myself when I had grown up a bit more. There were no limits for me - Aloenna allowed me to go anywhere on her!

The ferns had parted for me as I entered into the sacred grove, pondering about my childhood here.

The sacred grove of Aloenna was covered in blessed, rare flowers fed upon by butterflies as big as my head. Spooked by me, the blue, glittering butterflies fluttered up from the flowers.

“Evening, Aloenna!” I bowed.

“Evening, my little human child."

“I’m not that little anymore.” I said.

“You’ll always be my little human child.” Aloenna smiled. “I’m 3,002 years old! You’ll never catch up to me, youngling.”

“Just you wait.” I smiled. “How are you doing?”

“Not bad. There are 2'013'974 bugs on Moosy today.”

Aloenna had taught me all sorts of neat stuff. She taught me complex math, numbers like million and billion, told me about the number of stars and continents in the sky. Aloenna knew the exact amount of bugs, trees, leaves, shrubs, flowers, butterflies and mushrooms on Moosy’s back. The numbers changed from day to day and her favourite thing was to update me with a new number or fact about Moosy. Aloenna didn’t allow my brothers or parents to enter the center of her grove. She had tolerated the presence of our farm underneath Moosy’s body. She taught me everything about magical herbs, fungi, berries and what sorts of effects they’ve had.

“Over two million? A bit more than the usual amount?” I asked.

“It’s midsummer, the longest day of the year, but even it draws to an end. Come. I have something of great importance to share with you.”

“You’re always so nice to me.” I said. “Why is that?”

“You are my child. The purest flower, purer than thy parents or their parents.”

“Purer?”

“You respect me, answer to me, obey me, yes?”

“Of course I respect you and obey you Aloenna! You taught me everything I know!” I bowed again. I didn’t understand what she was implying.

“For fourteen years now, I have permitted you to access my entire grove, to collect rare, magical ingredients for the needs of your farm. I have taught you all I know, because I want something from you in return.”

“Anything.” I said.

Aloenna sat next to me, swinging her legs from a great tree root. I sat down on the root too, staring out at the deep forests below in front of us. From this higher vantage point, I could see the Tower and distant rooftops of Amarillia, now painted in orange tones of the setting corona light.

“I have lived a very long life. Three thousand years.” The Dryad began, white flowers on her crown of antlers slowly turning orange. “But the White Towers are far older than I am. They are part of a bygone era, an Empire that no longer exists.”

“Were the Towers not built by the church of Virtue?” I asked.

“No. The Towers are a remnant of an ancient civilization. The Virtuous are merely temporary residents, vile bugs that have taken residence in an abandoned house. Generations after generations that have forgotten the past, repeating a pattern set in motion by their forefathers. They are but roaches within its walls who think too highly of themselves.”

“But if the Tower is older than you, then how…?”

“I was too young to know this, yes, but Gaia remembers! The mother of forests of Europa had awakened five thousand years ago and whispered to me a tale of a time when the world was whole. She told me the story of the All-mother.

“The All-mother?”

“Yes. All-mother gave birth to Gaia and the other great Nature spirits. She was perfect, beautiful and almighty, but also arrogant and foolish.”

“How so?”

“She wanted to pull every star down from the sky, wanted to be more, so she drank the light of day. Alas, the light had been too much for her and so she burst and the world shattered.”

“That’s a pretty story. Is it a moral about greed?"

“Not just a moral story, child.” Aloenna turned to me. “Once the All-mother was gone, the youngest of her children fought over her house. But the All-mother did not die. Like her Empire, she simply shattered.

Here in Europa, the foolish children of the All-mother locked up, hid, buried her core remnant, terrified that she would return. Centuries, millenia passed and little short-lived humans have forgotten all about the All-mother. But, we - the Dryads did not. We want to fix what was broken, because our purpose is to grow and we cannot grow as long as there is great discord brewing in the heavens. The remnants of the ancient world are slowly falling into the voidstar and the end of all life nears."

“We… are falling into the voidstar?" I asked, trembling.

“Always have been, since the world broke. Without the power of the All-mother we are doomed. The roaches who call themselves Virtuous still foolishly purge all that reminds them of the All-mother. Thousands of years ago, they took over the White Towers and found a way to operate them. To power the Towers they built the Convent of the Light and filled its well with dungeon cores gathered over centuries by Adventurers. The Triumvirate of Virtue must be destroyed for the sake of the forest." Aloenna pointed at the cathedral of Amarillia.

I shuddered. "But if they fall… who will watch the sky and protect us?"

“Do not fret, Gaia has a plan for us all. To begin - we will guide you to find the forgotten shard of the all-mother."

“Me? Why me?!"

“Yes. You. Your Green mage parents think that they are changing, using this great beast for their needs. This is not the case. I am Moosy and this small Dryad body is just an avatar of my power. I’m the one that’s been changing and using your kin. Generation after generation I’ve bred, altered the Green mages that lived on me just to produce you - the seventh child of a seventy-seventh generation.”

“What?!” I nearly fell from the root.

“You are my child as much as your parents. I’m a human-genomancer. You are the epitome of my work - a genetically engineered human. A human with zero affinity and White aura so clear and pure that even the System won't be able to assign you a talent! You are my perfect, white crystal lily, a magical breeding project 1500 years in the making!" Aloenna smiled with pride.

“Zero affinity?” My lip started to tremble. “I won’t be able to use the System?! Breeding? How could you?! I thought that you were my friend, my teacher!"

I started to cry.

"It's your fault that I haven't shown a talent?!" I wept.

“You do not need a System-assigned talent, my child. The Council of the Dryads has determined, planned out your future two millennia before you were born."

"No." I choked.

"Your talent is being the All-mother's host. You merely need to consume the all-mother, wield her for us... without shattering and carry her into the Convent of the Light. Once she is inside, her power will destroy it for us. The Virtuous need only to try to heal you next to their well."

“Why me? Why can’t you or another Dryad wield the remnant of the All-mother?”

“Dryads are bound to their forest. Trust me, my child. We have tried and failed many times over thousands of years to bring peace and unity to the broken world. This is how it has to be.”

“But if you’re Moosy and the church of Virtue is so bad, then why can’t you just walk to the Convent and take it by force?!”

“I do not walk very fast and the Towers and the Triumvirate Archmagi are very powerful. They will burn me to a crisp before I reach them. I’ve been pretending to be a very stupid animal for millennia, letting humans harvest bits of me, live on me. I’ve been playing the long game for a very long time. Unlike the humans I can wait for centuries, experiment, come up with a solution. You’re my solution, my perfect, little hero. A vessel designed to contain the All-mother!"

“Why couldn't you just breed a small, sneaky beast for this or something?” I whined.

“I have. You. A human is the cleverest of beasts. The Virtuous will accept you into the Convent as an acolyte. Your aura is the purest of White, spotless, sublime. It doesn't show emotions aka Sins. You will be irresistible to them."

"A bird? Why not make a bird?!" I tried to offer a solution.

"The Towers detect all things in the sky. Nothing is allowed to cross the Judgement dome boundary above the Convent and besides that the All-mother would just fly away in a bird. We need to get her into the Convent. Only she has the power to destroy it."

“But… I…” I muttered. My tears have dried.

The ring set behind the horizon and the grove lit up with blue and green stars of magical growing fungi. Aloenna herself became lit up with various glowing mushrooms on her body and horns. Her eyes glowed like brilliant emeralds and in them I no longer saw friendship. I saw power, control, malice.

I swallowed nervously. Moosy wasn't just a dumb beast. Moosy was a horrific, intelligent monster masquarading as an animal! A leviathan that saw itself as a God that deprived me of any semblance of self-determination, created me to serve her as a scabbard for the divine weapon pointed at the church of Virtue. Panic started to claw at my heart and did not let go.

I accepted my terrible fate all as darkness fell and the sky lit up with a purple glow.

“Will I die, when I consume the All-mother?” I trembled.

“If you do, then I have failed. Don’t be afraid, my child. Come. Your future awaits.”

She took me by the hand and led me into the heart of the sacred grove. I could not resist her for I was terrified, terribly hurt by her revelations. The amount of strange, glowing fungi here was overwhelming. Thousands of glow-mushrooms and night-flowers shone in the night.

An enormous hollow sphere hung in the heart of the grove. Aloenna picked up a glowing seed from the hollow sphere and offered it to me.

“Take it.”

“Why?”

“To bring peace and unity to a world that’s been torn apart and is being torn apart still.”

“This is a lot of responsibility.” I trembled.

“You won’t be alone. We will aid you, help you, push you in the right direction.” Aloenna said. “Now take my seed and swallow it.”

“What does the seed do?” My voice broke.

“It will blossom in your mind when the time is right.”

I took the seed and swallowed it, my hands shaking.

“Forgive me.” The Dryad said.

“Why?”

“You will not remember this day, my child. I will put a spell on you that will seal this memory away until the time is right, until the Convent is gone. The White church Archmages that call themselves Legates are able to read human surface thoughts. They must not know any of this."

I gasped.

The Dryad pointed her hand at me and uttered only one word - “Anamniate.”