Chapter 86

I left the Garden the same day, the seed tightly grasped in my hand. I had no map with me but I didn't need one, as I was able to retrace my steps almost unconsciously. I entrusted my travels to my muscle memory and slowly but surely made my way back towards the place I had come from.

Many were the things swirling in my mind. Too many, actually, so it was impossible to focus on a single one. What was clear to me was that I needed to re-evaluate my role in this world and what I needed to do going forward.

The option of continuing on with my life as if I could simply detach myself from the course of events had disappeared. Between the problem of deciding how to deal with Caleb and the unknown this "mother" figure entailed, it was unrealistic to think I could simply isolate myself and behave as if nothing had happened.

It was almost noon when I put my foot outside of the outer edge of the Garden. There, waiting for me, there was the mass of beasts who hunted me before I entered the forest. I ignored the entire pack and walked among them undisturbed.

The front of the beasts opened up to make way for me. Not one dared to come near. I could still feel their gazes fixed on me, now transmitting more wariness than actual hate, but even the ones who still showed their malignant intentions couldn't act on their homicidal instincts, as the might emanating from the seed kept them at bay. The beasts seemed to instinctively perceive it and withdrew as soon as they got a chance.

I finally reached the open fields and continued walking. I kept the same constant pace during the entirety of my travels. Even without running the trip back took significantly less than the outward journey. Differently from what I had done to exit the forest, I was not retracing my steps but rather marching in a straight line directly towards the Delta, using to orient myself the position of the sun and of the stars and the memories I had, which acted as a reference mental map.

After days of travel, how many I didn't count, I spotted the pillars of the Delta peeking out from under the horizon. I walked in between the great coming and going of people, ignoring the artillery shells that once in a while rained around me.

I reached one of the openings in the walled enclosure of the Perimeter and traversed the labyrinth of streets and alleys. I didn't know the insides of the Delta well, but I still remembered the overall structure of the area surrounding Faye's dwelling. For this reason I wandered around until I recognized a street and then simply followed my memories back to where I was headed.

The moment I turned the last corner I saw Faye, standing in front of the open door and looking at me. Behind her, slightly to the side as if trying to hide himself, I saw Reuben. He was the one who had surely perceived my arrival and informed her.

I trod the distance which separated the two of us and stopped right in front of her. Not much time had passed since we had last seen each other. I doubted it had been more than two months. In fact, she was almost exactly as I remembered her, the only differences being the frown on her face and the fire in her eyes.

"You are an a*****e," she welcomed me back with poison in her voice.

"Yes," I couldn't help but acknowledge her evaluation.

I had certainly not been a good companion. I had suddenly abandoned her and travelled towards a place considered lost by all but two people, who were not even original inhabitants of this world, completely disregarding the fact she had been emotionally reliant on my presence.

Nevertheless, it seemed the anger caused by my sudden disappearance had helped her, making something click in her mind, forcing her to come to terms with herself, with her emotions and the distorted image she had created of me. Although she was visibly furious, she appeared to be in far better mental conditions than the last time I had seen her.

"At least you are aware of it," she continued, full of contempt.

We remained like that for a long time, looking at each other without uttering a sound.

"So? Nothing to say?" she finally broke the silence.

"There is work to do," I simply stated, talking more to myself than to her.

She frowned, confused by my statement.

"I found a way to recover our home," I added.

Her eyes went wide. She opened her mouth and closed it back again.

"Are you saying what I think you are?" she finally asked.

"I will reclaim the Gamma Perimeter," I confirmed her supposition.

She lost strength in her legs and leaned on the doorframe so she wouldn't fall.

"I'm going to depart immediately. I'll be back once everything is settled"

"Wait!" she stopped me before I could turn around.

In her eyes, there was only hurt.

"Is that all? You disappear for weeks, don't even explain yourself and then disappear again?"

I didn't respond. There was nothing I could tell her. I understood she rightfully expected an apology or at least an explanation, but I couldn't bring myself to give her any of the two. I had acted according to what I had decided was the correct course of actions and I would continue to stand by my assessments. Moreover, at the moment I was too confused by all that I had come to know to even try and explain anything.

In reality, there was something I could tell her.

"I have a unique role to play in this world," I said, turning around to leave that place once and for all.

"I already knew that!" she suddenly cried out.

I stopped.

"Since the first moment we met. I already knew you were not ordinary. I saw it in your eyes. I felt it in my soul. That was why I decided to believe and follow you. Please, don't leave me behind"

I looked at her one more time and opened my mouth.

"Leave you behind? Don't be foolish. I never intended to leave you behind," I immediately retorted in a baffled tone.

"Then… what?" she uttered, taken aback by my reaction.

"I was just going to prepare the field," I continued.

She looked at me. I could see it in her eyes that she was unable to understand what I was trying to say.

"In a month's time, come to the Gamma. Once there, everything will be clear," I spoke my last words to her, leaving her puzzled on the doorstep.

It didn't take long to find myself outside of the borders of the Delta, walking through the wastelands. I marched on, undeterred by hunger and thirst, which could not affect me. I stopped after a few hours, to turn around and face the ones who had followed me since I had stepped inside of the Delta.

"Why are you following me?" I questioned the fifteen people who had fought the spider while being fed my strength.

They had been dragging a couple of wagons with them. Although they had brought weapons, they had put them down to the ground the moment I had faced them.

"We wish to follow you," the one leading the group responded.

"Why?" I pressed for further explanations.

"There is not a single arch in this world with a purpose in their life. We finally found ours," another one intervened.

"And do you think I hold the purpose of your lives?"

"We were connected. For the first time, we felt we belonged"

In their voice, there was only the purest of sincerity. I looked at the group of people who had decided to leave everything behind and follow me. They looked at me like zealots would look towards a representation of their god.

They were officially part of an elité known to the public for its remarkable talents, but I saw only a bunch of weak kids trying to find something worthwhile to do with their lives. Nevertheless, I decided to accept them as my followers. It was my first step towards reshaping my destiny.

"Come then. But if you hinder me in any way, I will leave you behind," I decided.

Not one word was exchanged from that moment on, and in silence we traversed the wastelands.

A familiar mountain range surrounded by gargantuan obsidian pillars rose above the horizon. The green fields that had been around there were nowhere in sight. The soil had been trampled and uprooted by an uncountable number of feets, paws and claws. Not even the territory surrounding the Gamma had been spared. Signs of destruction were engraved in the broken stones; and the dead trees, which in my memory had been scattered across the land, had completely disappeared.

I crossed the outer boundary of the Perimeter and made my way towards the centre, walking on what in the past had been a road and now was a simple sequence of roughly dug holes and ditches.

Here and there, it was still possible to see the traces of the last days of the life of the Gamma Perimeter. Dwellings had been razed to the ground and the decomposed remains of the mauled owners were scattered around. The corpses, if the distorted piles of flesh and bones could be named as such, had only partially rotten away, due to the double role the mana brought by the beast had played in both corroding and preserving the remains.

I finally stepped into the central plaza of what once had been a city and now was just a portion of flattened land. Not even a brick remained. Part of the mountain had collapsed and no trace of the school I had spent the first part of my life in was present. It wasn't simple destruction the Gamma had undergone, but complete deletion.

"Was this your home, my lord?" one of the voices of my followers reached me.

"It was just the place I opened my eyes in," I responded without any modulation in my tone.

I had no emotional attachment to the Gamma. Actually I had no particular emotional attachment to almost anything in this world. Even if the sun were to explode and the entire planet to be engulfed by flames, I doubted I would bat an eye.

Or at least that was how it had been in the past. Now, things were certainly different. If one of the members of the main cast, Isaac, Lily or even Jonah, were to meet their demise, it would bother me a bit. If something distasteful were to happen to Faye, that would bother me a lot.

That was the reason why I had returned here. I needed to put down the foundations for the future of myself and of those I wanted to look out for. For too long I had thought I could concentrate only on myself, without looking at the bigger picture.

But the moment I had become one with those who were following me, I had understood I was an integral part of this land. And the moment I had been told there was someone else who was trying to dominate what was rightfully mine, I had understood I needed to step up.

The time to claim my world had come. I didn't know how long it would take, but I didn't care. Everything started from somewhere, and my journey would begin here and now. This was my resolution: I would change the destiny of destruction which awaited this land, and I would repel the unknown invader.

My mind was determined. I raised my hand and sinked my arm deep into the ground. I opened my grasp and let the infertile dirt surround the seed. After that I started waiting.

Less than a minute later the ground started to rumble while the earth vibrated. It shook slightly initially, but with each passing moment it grew in strength, until it turned into a violent earthquake. My followers exchanged concerned looks with each other the moment parts of the mountain range started to fall down, but I didn't mind them.

I could feel I was the origin of all that movement. From that almost unnoticeable seed, a dense network of roots was sprouting and digging its way through the ground, expanding radially in every direction. Every square metre of land which was slowly but steadily being encompassed by the shoots felt like it was becoming part of me.

Through the seed I was claiming this land as my own. I was stating my domain. I could feel a resisting force rise from the ground who had not yet fallen prey to the advancement of the roots, but it was futile, and soon enough it too became mine.

After a while the vibration started to die down. I knew the process was not yet completed. Without looking back I stretched my open palm towards my followers.

"Knife," I ordered.

Immediately I felt the cold metal of a blade being placed in my hand. With a swift motion I opened two cuts along the entire length of my forearms and let the pure purple lymph flow out from my veins and onto the ground.

Concerned exclamations escaped the mouths of those around them, but I reduced them to silence with a single gaze. I didn't want to have anyone disturbing me at this important moment.

The violet fluid flowed copios and penetrated deep into the soil. The roots system readily absorbed every single drop and resumed its expansion. The network strengthened and numerous shoots emerged from underground and rapidly grew up to bushes and tall trees.

They didn't resemble any kind of vegetation I had ever seen. The branches twisted in unexpected directions and the leaves assumed unusual conformations. Some of them rose straight from the ground before curving in random directions, while others sprought up almost horizontally before twisting around themselves and pointing towards the sky. Some divided into an innumerable number of branches which created a curtain so dense sunlight could not shine through, while others started with a thin trunk and evolved in a few numbers of extremely thick branches, with leaves thick as cardboard attached to them.

Every single one of them was being shaped by whatever thought crossed my mind the moment they were born, and it was that which was giving the weeds their bizarre configurations. Nevertheless, I found them to be quite pleasing to the eye, and the others seemed to share my assessment, if I could judge by the expressions of awe I could hear.

The root system finally reached the outer border of the Perimeter. Its expansion stopped as soon as they reached the range of action of the pillars. Although it was being nourished by my strength, the network was expanding by consuming the mana and ether still trapped into the ground and present into the atmosphere, and the obsidian pillars interfered with its internal structure and integrity.

Nothing of the sort could form near a pillar, as every single speck of mana became trapped in the whirlwind and new forming shoots were shredded like paper. It was the absolute authority of those structures to dominate over mana.

Nevertheless, I couldn't let something outside of my control reside inside my domain. I embedded my arms into the ground and reached the core of the network, the thing that had been a small unassuming seed. I grasped it with both ends and guided the lymph directly towards it.

The newly absorbed power rapidly ran through the network, reaching the extremes. The roots resumed their march and, slowly but inexorably, even if continuously torn apart by the chaotic flow of mana caused by the pillars, neared their objective. They ultimately touched the pillars.

The whirlwinds immediately stopped, as the pillars were dyed in purple. Vines grew from the ground and crept over the monoliths, until they were completely covered in a green and violet blanket.

The next moment, cracks appeared all over the pillars and piece by piece they started to fall down. The shock wave caused by their fall uprooted the nearest weeds and reached even the centre of the Perimeter where I was located.

I stood up. My forearms had stopped bleeding, as there was no need to shed lymph anymore. I looked around. For the first time since awakening in this world, I truly felt at home. The strange pressure I had always felt around me had finally disappeared. It was only a small portion, but I had finally reclaimed part of my world.

I laid down on the ground, my back against a tree, and looked at my followers.

"This land is mine," I declared.

"Yes, my lord. We'll defend it with all we have," they responded in unison.

"Now, I need to rest. Wake me up once the person I am waiting for will come," I told them.

I explained to them in detail who Faye was, how she looked and how they needed to treat her.

I felt my strength fail me and my consciousness go numb. I had lost too much blood and exerted too much power.

"I'll make you her hands and feet," were the last words I uttered, before my vision flickered and darkness encircled me.

After I didn't know how many days, I finally re-opened my eyes. Only the sound of the breeze blowing between the foliage reached my ears. My vision slowly focused and standing over me I saw the person I had been looking for.

"Hello Faye," I told her, standing up and stretching my legs and back.

"So, this was the incredibly important thing you needed to do? Make a strange forest of contorted trees?" she questioned me. It was nice hearing her irritated tone once again.

"Do you like it?" I asked her.

She frowned at my question, taken aback by it.

"I guess? It certainly has its charme… maybe?" she responded unsure.

"Good. Because it's a gift"

I stretched my hand towards her and gently put it on her head before she could retreat backwards. It required me no effort at all and in an instant everything was settled. The trees and the ground began to vibrate in unison and a pale halo rose from everywhere and surrounded Faye.

She opened her eyes wide.

"What is this?" she exclaimed, stupefied.

I knew what she was experiencing, because it was the same thing I had undergone days ago. A connection had formed between her and the land and she was now able to perceive, although highly mitigated, every single thing which happened inside of this domain. From the deepest root to the highest branch, everything would respond to her call.

"I claimed this land. It belongs to me. And I decided to give it to you," I explained.

She continued to look at me with wide eyes, repeatedly opening and closing her mouth, unable to speak.

"This was your home. It was taken from you, but now no one will be able to from now on. Here you will be able to do whatever you wish. Your desire was to create a place where everyone could live in peace, right? Well, here it is. And what if an enemy should present themselves? The entire fury of this land will be at your command. And anyway, even if something beyond your capabilities should befall you, you won't need to worry. Because I'll be by your side, if that time should come"

She looked at me. A flurry of emotions travelled through her entire being, showing on her face. In the end, she started crying and hugged me. We remained like that for a long time. I felt like a father who had finally done the right thing for his daughter.

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"Remarkable, John," Tobias said to me when I finished recounting my story.

It had been a few months since the Gamma had been reclaimed. In the meantime, I had met with Jonah and together we had started a series of projects for the restoration and repopulation of the Perimeter, funded through ether collection directly from the weeds growing in the Gamma.

Although the weeds could purify the air and ground better than how the now fallen pillars could do, they weren't able to regenerate the local ecosystem from nothing. To recover the state of the past, seeds, fruit trees and livestock needed to be transferred from the Delta to the Gamma, as it was the only place where the merchants' trade routes directly converged.

Nevertheless, resistances and sometimes direct sabotages had started to take place. Although it was clear to everyone the cause of the disturbances was the Sloan Household, nobody could do anything. Or at least, the only one who could intervene without risking retaliations hadn't shown particular interest.

"You told her to leave me alone, and yet she is interfering," I continued.

"I told the Sloan Matriarch to avoid interfering with your growth, not with your finances," he commented humorously.

"I imagined you wouldn't want to get involved, so I came here to ask your permission to employ some of the citizens of the Alpha," I retorted.

He looked at me with a small smile plastered on his face.

"You are shrewder than I expected"

Actually, I had been following Faye's instructions, as she had been the one taking care of all the matters concerning the Gamma. I had been sent here to look for people to employ as guards along the supply routes, to protect the wagons travelling towards the Perimeter.

The Gamma had become home to a new source of ether, which had a higher total yield and was much easier to extract. This meant that overall, less people were needed for ether gathering, so many had lost their previous occupation and were now spending their days doing nothing.

Although having more people unemployed wasn't per se a problem, as the amount of resources gathered not only had not decreased, but would slowly ramp up in time, there was still the risk of issues ensuing. After all, you would never wish for a bored archuman .

There were several reasons why I had been sent to the Alpha. First of all, the Delta was directly involved in the ether extraction from the Gamma, so there was no risk for its citizens to end up unemployed. Second, the Beta was not on the table, considering the hostility between me and its owner. Third, the Epsilon was specialised in a particular sector and its citizens would not be interested in taking on any kind of work different from that.

And fourth, but most important, even if they were to officially act independently, everybody knew the citizens of a Perimeter belonged to its owner. This meant that if something were to happen to archs native to the Alpha, the strongest archuman on the planet, Tobias Miller himself, may decide to move personally to rectify the wrong done or perceived.

Now, it was only a matter of determining if Tobias would accept. Fortunately it didn't take long to receive an answer.

"Do as you wish. It would be a pity to disappoint the young miss," he said, seeing right through me.

I stood up.

"With permission," I stood up and prepared to leave, but I was immediately stopped.

"Wait here. There is a person you should meet. The young Deleon went to great lengths to find her for you," he told me, leaving the room.

A few moments later someone entered. Although she was older than I remembered, there was no way I wouldn't recognize her. The usual sundresses of the past had been replaced by a heavy dark suit, the long blond hair had been drastically trimmed down and the joyfulness had completely left her face.

"I came here only because I was directly requested by the Patriarch. Now, could you tell me who the f**k you are and how do you know me?" she addressed me with belligerence.

"Hello Marnie," I politely responded to her aggressive tone.

"F**k, who told you my name?!" she exclaimed with extreme wariness, bringing her hand to the sword hanging by her side.

"You told it to me. I'm John. You really don't remember?" I pressed on.

She looked at me with nothing but hostility and confusion in her eyes. It was clear she had no idea who I was. I sighed. Unfortunately, I had expected this would happen. In the time I had spent at the Gamma after the reclaimal process had been completed, I had been running around the wastelands surrounding it, looking for clues of what had happened time ago, when I had left it for the first time together with Faye.

Lost here and there across the atmosphere, I had found some leads fluctuating around. I would occasionally come across portions of space containing an essence of the same nature as I had come across while traversing the temporal anomaly. Analysing the sensation it gave me, considering the words I had exchanged with the Gardener and what I had extracted from Caleb, I had come to a single conclusion.

For one reason or the other, before reaching the Alpha, I had been living in a bubble of disconnected reality. This meant that nothing which had happened inside there could affect what was outside and vice versa. From the point of view of the place I was in now, nothing I had experienced mattered or was even real, except what was related to Faye obviously, which had followed me outside.

Nevertheless, even if it might have, the knowledge of this fact didn't make me doubt for a moment that the world I was in was still the same. I had simply been living for some time inside of a matrioska.

"You can go," I finally told her.

She looked at me unconvinced for a while, but in the end yielded and left the room. Once I couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, I stood up and exited the building. I looked around me. The humble Alpha was much more different than the chaotic Delta, but was still much more lively than the resurging Gamma.

I turned my gaze to the horizon, letting the sight of the setting sun imprint itself in my eyes. After that, I lifted my gaze up towards the sky, appreciating the first few visible stars.

"I'll be coming for you," I declared resolutely to the celestial vault, before restarting my journey towards the morrow.