A Memory Fragment

“So have you gotten a class yet?” I asked Cain.

“Dude, if I did, wouldn’t I have told you the moment you got here?” He said, exasperated.

“Yeah, but who knows with you? For all I knew, I would leave here without asking, and you’d never let it go. ‘How could you not ask me?’ you’d say.”

“Touche,” Silence surrounded us as I stared out the window. Well, technically it was more like a TV screen showing the view right on the other side of the wall. We were sitting in the top floor of Cain’s tower, looking over the city. My tower loomed in the distance.

“So you really haven’t yet?” I followed up with my previous questioning.

“No. I’m off tomorrow though.”

“Oh?”

“You said you did it on your own right?” Cain asked, looking up from his tea.

“Yup, all on my own.”

“There was no one you confided in? Truly?”

“Have I not already told you? It was purely on my own.”

“I’m really surprised you were Abel to do that dude.”

“Why did you say able like that?” Cain was acting a little weird, but then again, he always does.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about my man. ‘Tis but your imagination.” I would have pushed the subject, but I remembered Lani and I had a date tomorrow for lunch. Olania, I mentally corrected myself. It truly would be bad if Justinia heard that. I swear, she would never stop using it. More out of spite and showing that she doesn’t care about hierarchy. Sometimes, I wonder if she truly is the older one.

“Alright, I need to call it a night here. Are you going to level on your own? Tomorrow? That’s what you meant, right?”

“Yup. I’ll get it done. One way, or another. It may take some time, but I will keep pushing.”-

“You are talking about getting your class right?” I raised my eyebrow in tangent with my question.

“Yup.”

“Good luck. Let me know when you get back. I’m heading out.”

“C ya.” Cain waved at me as I stood up, and went down the stairs. We were close enough where he didn’t feel the need to see me out the door. I visit often enough where it would be tedious. I descended, going down the floors until I finally reached the bottom. I could have taken the Orthodox version of an elevator, but I wanted to get at least some physical exertion in.

I reached the foot of the stairs, and started for the door. Until my eyes locked onto the floor. Why do I keep looking here? It looked like there was a slight space in the coral floor. Almost as if I could pry something off. I bent down to inspect it when I heard the elevator run behind me. Shocked out of my reverie by what must have been Cain descending to his room, I walked out the door and into the night.

I though— so——————— w—— —c—nge.

————— ———— —

“So you ran away from home?” Justine said, suspicion laced in her voice. The party had been introducing themselves while asking Yuclaus questions. Though they never went into their pasts, how they met was discussed, and their travels since briefly mentioned. It was a type of icebreaker for the group.

“Well, not really…” Yuclaus responded. When he felt no squeeze on his arm, he continued with less hesitance, “It was more like, I decided to leave, and my family let me.” With Isencia not reprimanding him, his alibi seemed to be good.

“Your family lives in the Misfortune?” Khalil chimed in with a question of his own.

“Yup, Mother and all the Stolon.” Yuclaus recited what he knew of Isencia’s situation.

“Oh you’re an Environ? I can’t say I have ever been with one before,” Meagan said from an uncomfortably close distance to Cause. Before Yuclaus could process what she meant, Khalil asked another question.

“You said Mother and Stolon. Is your father…?” Yuclaus looked down and grabbed his arm. This was no act he was putting on. When it came down to it, he knew Isencia had a Reform father, but he had never really asked what happened. It made him feel as if he was a poor friend. They did discuss plenty of other topics, like systems, development, strategies, likes and dislikes, normal topics for any multisystem users on the run.

Yet, from how she talked of her father, he assumed he was no longer with the living. It would feel wrong to simply ask “Hey, how did your father die?” He decided to carry on with their normal conversations, and if anything deeper came up, he would be ready. Still, he thought he would eventually find out about it, Should I have asked?

So, he put his head down in shame, and grabbed his arm. Not because of a nervous tick or self-soothing mechanism, but he needed to ask Isencia for help. He squeezed the vine as if he was simply distraught. Isencia felt the vibrations though: • • • – – – • • •. He sent her what he hoped his memories had supplied her with. He sent her an SOS.

Whether by luck, happenstance, or a little interference, Isencia understood. Soon the grass swayed, answering his question.

My father died when I was extremely young. I was nothing more than the smallest sprout, just recently pushing from the earth. Sorry, the symbolism is what Mother uses every time she mentions what happened to Dad. I do not really remember him. Yucalus wanted to respond to Isencia, tell her he was sorry. Perhaps, offer an ear. However, the adventurers had been waiting a bit for his response. Though, in their eyes he was visibly distraught. Even if Meagan noticed the change in the vines, she had assumed it was part of his mourning.

“My father passed away when I was a child,” He stated simply when he eventually rose his head to stare into the distance. He wondered how Isencia was taking it. The response was one he expected, but it was who said it that surprised him.

“I am sorry to hear it,” Darryn dropped the small pile of grass he had been collecting. He then fell back and put a hand on Yuclaus’ shoulder. “I lost my family at an early age as well.” Yuclaus appreciated the gesture, but if anything it made him feel more guilty. Isencia should be in his place. Not only that, but now he was misleading Darryn. The atmosphere of the party was much more dour. In a way it was good, the fake cheerfulness was uncomfortable.

“I’m so sorry for asking,” Khalil chimed in. Yuclaus was going to ask Darryn about his parents, perhaps ask how they passed. He would have to answer the same questions if they went down that path though. “I'm curious about something though,” Khalil said, changing the topic, “You look so huma—Reform. Are you half Environ?”

“Exactly,” Yuclaus ad libbed. Isencia would have chimed in, but she was distracted catching up to the party. Trailing was a more apt description. “My father was a Reform, my mother is an Environ.”

“Is that why you are covering parts of your body?” Khalil continued. He knew the truth very well, but when it came down to it, he was on Yuclaus’ side. For now.

“Ye…” No squeeze, “yes.”

“Ah,” Meagan decided to say her piece. She also wanted to improve his credibility, “No wonder. The vines are your Spore right? It is said the system comes from the mother.”

“Forgive me for exploding your bush,” Darryn commented.

“What vines?” Khalil and Jenny said simultaneously. Justine said nothing.

“Oh. Near the forest there were a ton of vines! They were squirming and moving about!” Meagan added, falling back into her natural personality. “Kind of like a can of worms! Have you ever fished before Yu?” Yuclaus kept himself from flinching at another person casually calling him Isencia’s nickname for him.

“That’s so cool! Yu, I would love to see your hidden prowess,” Jenny said suggestively.

“I would like to see the vines first hand as well,” Khalil answered, having a suspicion. Yuclaus considered their request for a second. It seemed he would have to cosplay as a plant mage for the foreseeable future. A half Environ half Reform plant mage. So basically, a male Isencia. He could do that. He shrugged, and lifted his left arm. A tangle of vines erupted from the ground, stopping the whole party.

The whole group was stunned. Meagan and Khalil did not expect him to have a Spore. While Meagan had slightly more information, and the two weren’t working together, they both had a majority of the same knowledge. They knew he should not have a Spore. Originally, Meagan suspected that there was a second escapee. An accomplice. The ease of which Yuclaus performed such a task greatly diminished that probability. It was too natural. Luckily, she did not speak the Language of the World.

Khalil on the other hand, was unsure of who he was dealing with. He had assumed because of the eyes, but who he was expecting only had three systems. Yet, this person also visibly had the Faction of the Mind symbol. The whole group was conveniently overlooking the still visible tattoo.

“How tough are the vines?” Darryn became a lot more interested in Yuclaus at his show of control.

“Not too strong,” Yuclaus guessed, “They are meant for control, not direct combat.”

“Control?” Darryn was a little disappointed, but persisted in his line of questioning.

“Yup! There are vines surrounding all of us! They can control other plants right? Like the trees that were swaying, or the grass. They spread around us for miles, though the main cluster is slightly behind us,” Meagan was starting to mildly worry Yuclaus just a bit. She had suddenly turned cheerful after crying, and could sense the vines in a way he never could.

At Meagan’s nonchalant declaration, Justine tensed ever so slightly, even more suspicious. On the other hand, Darryn regained his vigor.

“Show me.” Yuclaus would have considered the request, but he was stuck on something Meagan said. Miles? What is a mile? He would have loved to know how far Isencia could control, but he had never heard of such a measurement. He knew of disci. You had a single disci, dekadisci, ekatodisci, and chilodisci. That was the metric system after all. He was confused, but decided to ignore it for now.

“I’m sorry, I spaced out for a second, what did you say?”

“I do that plenty,” Darryn responded. The two stood there for a moment, the party was still halted.

“So, what did you say?” Yuclaus prodded.

“Show me.” They continued their standoff.

“He wants you to show him the ‘control’ you were talking about,” Khalil helped the man drowning in the confusing sea of thought that was Darryn. Yuclaus felt a quick squeeze on his arm. He wasn’t absolutely certain, but assumed that was an affirmation.

“Sure,” There was no use hiding something that was already known, he reasoned. Isencia concurred. All around the party, an army assembled. Roots pushed from the soil, like demons crawling from the depths. The grass flicked about, growing rapidly into living nets. The sparse trees started to pull themselves free.

The soil around and underneath the party cracked as all moisture and nutrients were drained from it. Yuclaus raised his hands theatrically, knowing what came next. A tree burst from the ground directly behind Yuclaus. It resembled a lollipop tree, however, it was made purely of writhing vines. The vines stilled. Then, as if time was reversed, the vines rushed together.

The vines that made up the trunk solidified, turning from forest green to a rich brown. Vines in the canopy sprouted familiar flowers, with large pistils in the center along with large shiny leaves. Another lollipop tree burst in the distance, repeating the same process. Another. Yet again. Until eventually there was a miniature forest of lollipop trees.

A beautiful aroma wafted through the freshly grown grove. The beautiful healing flowers produced an alluring scent, making all present want to move towards them. The scent must have drifted far, as soon a small bird alighted on one of the leaves. As it shuffled to move closer to a nearby flower, it realized its peril: the leaf had trapped its foot. It tried to fly away, but the leaf did not budge. Once the bird started panicking, the other leaves nearby acted. The bird was slowly surrounded, the stickiness of the other leaves trapping it until it could only barely breath. Slowly, amidst much of its protest, the bird was pulled into the center of the tree, before all went quiet.

“Well…” the half-hearted and mildly disturbed voice of Khalil filled the air, “The show was phenomenal, though I am also now horrified.” The large black serpent who had almost blown its cover to draw near to a flower agreed. It slowly returned to a further distance, keeping its ability active. Whether or not anyone besides me noticed it, only time will tell.

Darryn’s eyes sparkled. Though he felt he could fight any humanoid and come out on top, he felt if he were to be trapped by a single leaf, he would never escape. The idea thrilled him. An adversary that could capture and slowly choke the life out of him. The man was a strange, strange person.

The rest of the party now recognized that Yuclaus could pose an actual threat, should he so desire. It was more accurate to say that Isencia posed a threat, but what they didn’t know would hurt them. It could also be the Environ’s fault that they jealously guarded their system even before the Era of Realism. This meant that the odds of the Warden conveniently stumbling across an Environ and gaining the Greenhouse almost impossible.

“WOW!” Meagan exclaimed, “That was like, so, so cool! Carnivorous plants are my favorite! Was your spore originally one? Or did you change it so that it could do that? Please tell me!” Justine stopped herself from facepalming. She had been getting used to the serious Meagan, and did not miss her days traveling alone with the bubbly woman.

“It was originally a carnivorous tree,” Yuclaus said with certainty. As he and Isencia had travelled, he had learned almost everything about her spore. Originally it was a lollipop tree with a healing flower. As she slowly changed it to be able to take over an ecosystem, it changed until it consisted of a hivemind of vines. The parasitic vines remembered their original form, though they were not intelligent, and were able to revert to a tree. Granted, the accelerated growth and mimicry came at a cost.

Yuclaus waved his hand for effect once more, and the trees went forward in time once more. The canopy shrunk, as the trunk unwound. In a minute all of the trees had returned to vines, and slithered into the fragmented ground. The ground did not return to its previous luster. For now, and perhaps years to come, it was dead.

“It seems we really are meant to be,” Jenny called out as they continued walking, “We can both make hard wood appear at command.” She winked as the party continued their journey. Though they had met but an hour ago, the icebreaking had done wonders. Yuclaus found himself gravitating to Darryn of all people, and Khalil moved to join them as Jenny cat-called from a distance. Meagan watched with a grin on her face. Justinia alternated between staring at Yuclaus’ back, to the earth she trod.