Centuries of shackles shattered in an instant and for no apparent reason.
“I can’t believe it was so simple.” She fell onto her knees while green tears of joy flowed down her cheeks. “Thank you, Great Mother.”
She put her head and hands against the ground, kissing the naked rock and chanting words that sounded like the rustling of wind through a thick foliage.
“What happened? How did you do it?” The blue-cored members of the Hand of Fate repeated her previous actions but to their touch, the stone remained solid and the world energy ignored them.
“Who cares about that? It can wait.” Bytra forced Ryka to stand up. “What’s this place? And for the love of the gods, someone tell me you’ve Hushed us or we’ve just announced our presence to the enemy like a bunch of idiots!”
“I did.” Lith raised his hand. “Caverns mean echo so I’ve kept us Hushed since we spotted the cave.”
“Well done.” Zoreth patted his back, puffing her chest out with pride. “Now answer the question, child.”
Ryka was still recovering from the ecstasy of the communion and looked hesitant to speak. At least until Strider said:
“The Eldritch is right. Remember the mission, soldier. There’s no time for petty secrets. The deep violet will do you no good if we all die inside there. The man we are after killed someone much older and more powerful than you are.
“Tell us what Lady Tyris has to do with this place.”
The Titania grimaced, her hands moved toward the cave again. She craved the communion and the quick refinement of her body and core that it would grant her.
“Not Tyris. This cave is something I believed existed only in the legends of the Fae.” She felt dirty betraying the lore of her people with the members of the other races. Her words came out slowly and with great difficulty.
“Long ago, before the Guardians and even before the World Tree, there was only Mogar. The first Great Mother. According to the legends, our planet suffered from the loneliness of being the only sentient being on her surface so she researched ways to help her children to become her equals.
“For that purpose, she created her Gardens.” The Titania pointed at the cave. “Places where the world energy doesn’t just flow like it happens for mana geysers, but it’s also focused and accumulated.
“Within a Garden, life thrives, grows, adapts, and evolves, achieving in minutes what is supposed to take centuries. First, the Great Mother gave birth to the plant folk. We are her firstborns because we took our nourishment straight from her bosom.
“Then came the Horde, the second born. Pale imitations of the plant folk who fed on my ancestors like parasites, stealing rather than earning the gift of sentience. For their crime, the Great Mother took away their ability to have offspring.
“They are damned to spend their eternal life in solitude and to roam Mogar in search of their own kin. Then, came the animals. Over time, by eating our fruits and grazing the rich grass of the Gardens, herbivores became the first magical beasts and monkeys became humans.
“They are called the third born by some and the real second born by most. Carnivores came last, gaining their sentience by feeding on the second born.”
“Really?” Solus was flabbergasted. “Are plant folk the first sentient beings on Mogar?”
“Nah, it’s just a legend.” Azhom the Lich said with a scoff. “Every race has their pompous backstory to justify the claim to be the firstborns of Mogar and their alleged superiority over the other races. I don’t like using swear words, but this is just malarkey.”
“Really? Then how do you explain that the Garden is real?” Ryka would have agreed with Azhom until just a few minutes ago but now her faith in the old ways had been restored. “We are the firstborns and this is undeniable proof that our legends are true!”
“Hogwash!” Azhom dismissed her argument with a wave of the hand. “If what you say is true, then why didn’t all plant folk evolve into Fae and reach the violet? Why do you Fae need the Council? Why did you, Ryka, spend over a hundred years serving the Hand if you could have just called Mommy Mogar for help?”
Ryka was taken aback, finding no logical answer to the Lich’s questions and answering with dogmas.
“Because after the emergence of sentient beings, the Gardens were no longer needed. Mogar decided that all races deserved the same opportunities. That giving an advantage to her firstborns over the rest of her children was unfair.
“So the Great Mother turned the Gardens into mana geysers and the races started to battle to receive Mogar’s love and blessings.”
“Riiiight.” Azhom sneered, her red undead eyes rolling in the empty sockets of her skull. “Then your almighty Great Mogar forgot to get rid of this Garden after the spring cleaning.
“That or you Fae suck so hard that she has changed her mind and decided you needed a clutch.”
“Mogar makes no mistakes and we Fae are not a failure!” The Titania said in outrage.
“Please, Ryka, don’t let your new powers go to your head.” Strider gripped her shoulders to ground her in reality. “Think. Isn’t it more likely that the Gardens are just a natural occurrence like mana geysers?
“That those who knew about the existence of the Gardens kept it a secret in order to be the only ones to benefit from it? What do you think makes more sense? That your people are greedy or that a god creates and destroys things on a whim?
“If the legends are true, how can a Garden still exist and how is it possible that you Fae never evolved into whatever your Divine Beast equivalent is? We know our mark is in there and he has lived in the Garden for at least five months.
“If it’s such a miracle place then what need does he have to hide from us? Shouldn’t he have already achieved the power to match the Guardians?”
All he said was true. The legends made no sense when put in front of reality.
“I guess you are right.” Ryka sighed. “I’m sorry for acting crazy.”
“Don’t worry about that.” He replied. “Just tell us if there’s anything we should know about the Garden. Even though the legends are bound to be exaggerated and inaccurate, they can give us an idea of what to expect.”
“There’s nothing else useful.” She shook her head. “The rest are stories about the life inside a Garden and how the Fae learned magic from Mogar.”
“Still, I’d like to propose an experiment.” Lith said. “Merge with the Garden again and use Accumulation. I want to see how accurate the legends about the evolution speed are. It can help us to gauge how powerful our enemy might have become until now.”
He looked at the Zouwu who nodded and then moved to the rest of the group. Only once unanimity was achieved did he ask Ryka:
“What do you want to do? Remember that the shadow disciple might have poisoned the well or set alarms. If something goes wrong, you would be the first to lose her life.”
