Whilst life down on the planet was busy with doing whatever life does Ben and his construct were seen sitting in front of each other both with a frown on their face. From the marks beside where they sat you could see that Ben held the winning hand this round.

Ben was done with the planet, he didn’t need to control it anymore. He had done what he wanted and immediately after he moved on. Ever since he had created his construct he felt as if his ability to create something out of nothing became second to breathing.

With all the necessary parts already circling through everything he didn’t actually need to use his own body as conductor for creating something out of nothing.

With that Ben had convinced his construct to play a game of cards with him, materializing the cards when he asked. Luckily for Ben he didn’t need to explain to his construct what the rules were or how to play and his construct had readily accepted his request.

Ben may come across as a bit of a bore but he still held some value to entertainment which was obvious when you knew he held back on omniscience.

Both Ben and his construct took this came of cards extremely seriously, neither of them willing to lose and they’ve tried every cheat in the book plus one on each other.

With Ben leading with one win against his construct caused by Ben making his construct see through to look at his opponents hand.

From that point on both beings started to use every trick in the book. Even though they might be cheating to get the upper hand on the other they were still gentlemen, if you were caught cheating it would spell your immediate loss. It started out very tame with subtle manipulation of reality until it moved up a notch where ever so often you could hear the groans of the foundations itself.

Eventually it had led them both to where we are now, a few centuries later and both Ben and his construct were still playing the same card game. They both had lost track of time and with their competitiveness they both were too focused to be aware of the time.

“And that is my win.” Ben said whilst he laid down his hand to prove his point, not forgetting to grin evilly to his opponent. Though that grin was quickly wiped from his face when his opponent's face didn’t change to being shocked but instead to one who had undoubtedly won.

“Are you sure? You might want to get your eyes checked.” The construct couldn’t hold back his laughter as he laid down his cards for Ben to see. Ben had been thoroughly beaten this round, embarrassingly so. The fact that he was so sure of his victory before made it even worse.

Both beings shared a glimpse at each other, one who was laughing and the other who was sulking, and burst out in a greater fit of laughter.

“A draw.” Both beings concluded and shook hands as a sign of respect, even though it was all theatricts both had enjoyed their time together.

“Would you look at that, the trees grew back.” “Huh, I guess you’re right.”

…

Back on the planet life had moved on once more, like it always does. The plants that were previously just sprouts and a mere fraction of their size were now standing proud and tall. All looked healthy, even more than it should, which wasn’t surprising as when you looked closer you could see something moving between the trees.

The first sentient race, trees that gained sentience after the great wave of destruction, were all hard at work. Over the many years where they were left to their own devices they developed significantly. First these sentient trees stayed near the giant tree, their mother, afraid of moving too far from her.

After some time they gathered enough courage to slowly move away from their mother. At first they couldn’t keep their balance and kept falling over but after some time they adjusted to their new appendages and started tending to the surrounding trees.

They tended to the young trees that were slowly growing, making sure that nature would be healthier than ever before. They made sure that every tree had enough nourishment and didn’t hamper any other tree around them, and when they did they used their appendages to safely unroot the trees and move them to a place where they would be able to grown healthy.

They had discovered early on that their limbs were able to be manipulated into any size and shape they wanted. Which had greatly helped their progress, they built huts by manipulating nature to grow into a place free from the weather. Without any competitions this race grew fast, though they had noticed a major issue. They were unable to procreate, they had no gender. No male nor female, they were all the same when it came to that.

So the 600 sentient trees that are still alive to this day were all the original. Even after centuries they were able to live, age doesn’t hinder them as their body doesn’t degrade over time and their mentality will always be stable as long as the tree that gave life lives.

They have no need for food so they didn’t hunt, gather or do anything that would harm nature, they used photosynthesis by gathering energy from the Sun and they gathered the necessary minerals and vitamins from rooting their feet into the ground. They were effectively immortal when it came to age, and because they were all connected to each other through nature they had no need nor want to kill one another.

Because of this, wildlife was also able to grow, spreading everywhere over the world. They first came from the oceans where they had evolved from whatever unicellular organism they were before. Then some moved over to land, slowly losing the ability to breath under water, yet became more adept at surviving on land.

There were cases when an animal had attacked one of the Arbor, the name they had given their race, but those cases were handled quickly. Because of their connection to nature they were able to connect to the wildlife, so after some time no animal would attack one of the Arbor. It was also most likely because most animals were carnivorous, and the body of an Arbor wouldn’t give them any nutrition.

…