Lilith's Fall: Eden's Rise Ch. 02

"Alright already, I get it." The smile that curled my cheeks was slow to bloom, but stole a bit of Helal's heart when she saw it. "Thanks. Love you. Give me a moment to look over the plans again, I was a little distracted when you did it the first time."

The building, once we got to it, was less excavation and more soil compaction. Helal directed me where to go, and I would push the earth from the center of where we wanted to build creating a cavity surrounded by dense dirt. Those walls were then reinforced by living plant matter that I wove together into wall panels that extended five feet or so into both the ground and the ceiling. For several days we did this, with breaks when I started to feel tired. Under the warm light of the sun in Helal's lap I would rest while she idly played with my inky-black hair.

At the end of it all, we had ourselves what roughly resembled an underground complex. I was surprised by how it turned out. I'd had certain expectations going into the project and it didn't really match any of them. Our new home could best be described by things it was not. It was not dirty, damp, cramped, or liable to fall. It was homey and comfortable and the soothing coolness was nice after the work of each hot day outside.

The air wasn't stale as Helal proved to be quite adept at air manipulation. Turns out a large portion of her flame control also involved deft air-current control and measured application of oxygen. I followed along as best as I could, but once she started to describe heat blooms and optimal thermal barriers it went right over my head. Regardless, with my service as a battery for Helal, she made quick work of the air supply problem. The solution involved mirrored golden plates with symbols etched on the surface. One orb drew the carbon dioxide laden air from the depths of the tunnel and pushed it to the surface while the other sucked in the oxygen rich air and sent it down where it would be useful. Walking through the tunnel felt a little like walking through a gentle hand drier, one of the ones where you punch the silver button and it dispenses bacon according to its signage. Plumbing wasn't set up yet, but it was on our to-do list, seeing as neither of us was all that great at water generation, although it was something I continued to practice.

I was most excited about getting the indoor plumbing set up so I didn't have to take unsatisfying bucket showers. Helal's proficiency with fire made waste disposal a breeze and I was grateful that I no longer had to dig holes to do my business.

The ridges of the woven bamboo stalks reinforced the walls and made a satisfying staccato clacking under my fingers as I walked through the twisting passageways deeper into the earth. We had to travel these tunnels to get to the common room that then branched off into the various specialized rooms which included our individual rooms. I laid a hand on the woven vines that hung across my doorway, and recalled a conversation with Helal.

"Where do you want our room?" I asked excitedly, only slightly out of breath from my magical exertions up to this point.

"I think we should have our own rooms, El."

"Oh." I couldn't keep my disappointment out of my voice.

"Why don't you go there? And I'll go right here." She pointed at two sections of the packed dirt walls right next to one another. I, of course, agreed, but couldn't quite keep my shoulders from slumping from her firm insistence. Her room was made to be spartan, a simple square with a platform for a bed to be placed. I decided to get a little fancy with mine, adding some ornate pillars and a sunken hollow in the corner of the room with gentle steps leading down to it. I also added more than a few hanging plants that made the generous space I'd made for myself feel full. I made my bed out of soft goose down with a tightly woven cotton cover. Sighing, I pushed forward into my room and fell face first into my almost-too-soft bed. Burying my face into the bed, I breathed in the warm scent of the feathers. I felt so alone.

Great start at making this place a home. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Tomorrow held much the same, Helal focused on making the place both livable and defensible. Chi spent most of her time wandering around on her own, but when she was here, she liked to stay in the same room as me, watching me with an indecipherable expression from a corner. I played my part as a cheerful assistant to Helal, doing her bidding and refining my control over the aether. As time passed, the environment began to wear on me. An idea came to me while I practiced my spellwork control by working on creating increasingly complex plant sculptures that I could manipulate into a semblance of sapience. The idea was accompanied by a conclusion and a resolution.

This planet is entirely too barren, it makes me feel like we're living in a desert even if it's not that level of unbearably hot.

The conclusion came next.

I'm going to do something about it.

"Helal, I want to try something big."

Helal stopped what she was doing and looked at me expectantly. "Don't keep me in suspense."

"I want to try to change the landscape."

"In what way?" she asked, her brow furrowing curiously.

I wrung my hands with uncertainty, nervous about bringing this up to her, and how she might react to my demand. "I want to try to grow some trees."

"That's going to stand out."

I grit my teeth determinedly. "Not if I make enough of them."

Helal slowly surveyed our surroundings thoughtfully, her eyes going to the steps that led into our ever-expanding home. "How many were you thinking?"

"As many as I can manage."

"Okay. But I'm gonna monitor you carefully. You've never done spellwork with this kind of volume before, so I'll be here to stop you prior to reaching your limits."

"That's why I asked you first. Also, I wanted to make sure it wasn't a stupid idea."

Flicking me in the shoulder, she shook her head, exasperated with my lack of confidence. "Stiffen up that backbone, El. You're the one that saved Satan's life after all." She garnished the tease with a quick wink.

"Not Satan," I muttered, as I nervously limbered up my fingers while Helal retreated to give me some space to operate. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, allowing the tension in my shoulders to drop at the same time. I'd been planning this for a couple of days now, so all I had to do was stick to the plan.

The first step was to visualize the goal. I did this by imagining my view was attached to a drone that slowly began to rise into the air. Spinning around, I tried to see the mounds of green foliage I wanted to create rustle in the breeze as they stretched from horizon to horizon.

Safety through obscurity. Our hunters might be able to find our fortress but that doesn't mean they'll be able to find the entrance to our home.

Spreading my arms out wide, I began to work. It began with seeds, nestling into the ground at comfortable distances from one another, almost but not-quite organized, with just enough disorder to seem organic once they were grown. The hard shell of the seeds splits as the spell began to bloom. I inhaled the magic from the environment, sucking it down so quickly the air grew frosty. Under my vision I let the tendrils from the seeds expand vertically, both down into the earth and up into the topsoil not yet able to taste the life-giving warmth of the sunlight.

I stumbled for a moment, the scope of what I was attempting giving me pause as I grappled with doubt. The energy wobbled, like a spinning coin that'd just begun to lose momentum. Then I was steadied, reassured by an enormous warm presence I felt at my back. Bolstered by what I assumed to be Helal, I cast aside all uncertainty and bent my mind back towards the task at hand. The seeds grew roots and stretched tall, leaves spreading wide on strong limbs. Strong brown bark formed a protective layer on the trunks. I was so focused on the process of the spell, that I lost track of the flow of aether that I funneled into myself, before sowing it outward to the collective of my creations. It was easy. Almost too easy. Emboldened, I went off script, adding a plethora of plant life besides that of my trees. An explosion of greenery in all shapes and sizes, filling the barren wasteland with fresh verdant life. The spell remained stable as years of growth passed in the blink of an eye. I let the flow of aether dwindle to a mere trickle before cutting it off.

My heart thudded in my chest as I joyfully let my attention return to my body, the harsh sun of the plane now blocked by the cool shade of my tree's leaves. Kicking off my shoes, I wiggled my feet in the grass beneath them, exulting in the crunching sensation of the crushed blades. Turning around, I tried to find Helal who'd helped stabilize me in the middle of the spell. Only, I realized after I did, that she'd been in front of me the entire time.

Then what was...

During the course of my spell I'd drawn too deeply from a well, and woken something that lurked in the depths. Now aware, it bent it's attention toward me like a gigantic overwhelming spotlight. The force of it was enough that even that fraction of its power felt like it was pressing me into the ground like a bug beneath a gigantic boot.

A voice, deep and feminine, whispered into my ear. "It's good to see you again Lilith. I look forward to working with you to make this place a paradise once more." With that, the vast presence was gone. But in that brief glimpse, I'd caught a taste of her firmament. She didn't just live beneath the surface of the planet. For all intents and purposes, she was the planet. A mind formed within the roiling energies that swam in the core. It was disconcerting, but the only thing that kept from freaking out was the complete lack of malevolence I'd felt from her.

She'd almost had a sense of... familiarity?

"The planet is alive," I whispered with astonishment after I, correctly this time, turned toward Helal. She walked toward me with hurried steps, pride in my accomplishment shining on her upturned cheeks. Sweeping me into a spinning hug that lasted several revolutions, she eventually set me down.

"Look at this, El! It's amazing!"

Grabbing her shoulders, I shook her softly but rapidly. "The. Planet. Is. Alive."

Helal didn't look surprised, her lips curling into an amused quirk. "I noticed that. But the genius loci appeared to be dormant when I tried to contact it after we first got here."

"It's awake now," I assured her. Taking a calming breath, I tried to feed off her unflappability. "And it..." I frowned, considering my interaction with the entity. "She," I corrected. "seemed to know me. Seemed to think we were friends or something."

"For all we know, she already is. Genius loci don't have the same sort of relationship with timelines that we corporeal folks do. The future, the past, and the present, they have a tendency to blend together where they're concerned. It's one of the reasons they are hard to converse with, and is why the majority of them are considered eccentric at best and unhinged at their worst."

I gave her an annoyed look. "I felt the size of her, how can you act so unconcerned?"

"They might seem big. But almost all of them lack the verve necessary to do any real harm."

Verve? That's like incentive...right?

"Okay... So, they're like a whale?"

"Whale...? I'm not familiar."

"They're large sea mammals that eat tiny sea creatures and don't pose any major threats to humans. At least, that's what I've heard. Never really been to the sea myself so I couldn't exactly say I have first hand experience." A little unsettled, I babbled, the words spilling from me rather quickly.

"Seems like an apt enough comparison to me. Genius loci are generally passive observers. There's no need to fear it."

"Her," I muttered to myself, my mind drifting back to the feel of her.

She was enormous. But she was so gentle, so measured as she reached out and supported the spell. Supported me. Mysteries upon mysteries. And if Helal says it's okay, I'll try not to worry about it. But still...

Curiosity wormed its way into my mind. I knew that I wouldn't be able to resist searching for more answers to this strange entity.

But that's for later.

My legs twitched and threatened to slip out from under me. Strong arms caught me, bolstered me up, just like they always did. Helal's tanned warmth seeped through the cloth barriers that separated our skin.

Helal scooped me up into her arms, cradling me close while she carried me off to our underground home. "I can't believe you're still awake after working a spell like that." Her eyes darted around with wonder before falling on me. "You're amazing, El. The way you can channel aether is something to be proud of."

For the next three days, the glow of that compliment rosied my cheeks and put a hop to my step. Plus it was nice to feel like I was part of nature once more. To look around and see green growing things and know that I put them there. In that vein, I'd decided, with Helal's permission and blessing, to start a garden a small distance away from our home. It wasn't much, just a few vegetables whose seeds I'd conjured with magic. But it was mine and I was proud of it.

I ran my hand over the feathery leaves of some carrots, still damp from the water I'd sprinkled on it. The water had been retrieved from the river we'd settled near. Something about my creating the forest had increased the trickle into a generous flow of crystalline water that came up to my knees when I waded into it. Recalling the way my angel had embraced me after I'd told her my intention of growing some food had my cheeks curling up.

I think that Helal was excited to get something other than rations to eat.

The tiny shoot that poked out of the ground next to the carrot replaced the smile with an exasperated frown. Plucking it, I tossed it to the side with its brethren.

"Lilith, I have a concern that I believe you can help me with," Chi prompted, her wings fluttering and kicking up dust as she landed next to the garden.

Rocking back on my heels I wiped my dirty hands on my thighs, looking appreciatively over at the pile of weeds I'd managed to accru throughout the afternoon.

Why does my magical garden have weeds? Although it does give me something to do that makes me feel productive.

"What's up, Chi?" I asked, making sure to emphasize the harsh 'ch' sound, emulating the way she said it.

Her wings fluttered in what I interpreted to be a pleased expression. "Lilith, I have observed the interactions between you and that woman." The black tail bristled, instinctively rising threateningly over her shoulder. "I find myself wanting something like that for myself." Facing me squarely, she bowed her head. "I wish for you to make more like me."

"You can call me El, you know," I responded before my brain caught up to what she had said. My initial reaction was one of quiet amusement.

Aww. Our relationship is sweet enough to make someone envious.

The subsequent reaction was immediate rejection colored sparingly with curiosity.

There's no way I could... Is it possible for me to reproduce what had happened?

"I didn't mean to do... whatever it is I did to you. There's no way I could do that again. Besides, I haven't seen any other butterflies like you around in order to even try."

Chi's normally expressionless face curled into a knowing smile. "They don't have to be exactly like me. Besides, something tells me you can accomplish what I am asking if you only care to try." With that, she grabbed my hand and hauled me down to the riverbank. The place she brought me was deeper than where I usually retrieved our daily water, probably coming up to my chin if . The waters still ran clan and clear but a small inlet of rocks that was closed off with a finely crafted net made out of the thread she'd asked me for earlier. Within the inlet was a small silvery sliver that darted back and forth beneath the water.

I watched the tiny little thing slice this way and that inside the clear stream, consuming little creatures too small to see with the naked eye. It was my first look at an indiginous life form other than Chi.

"It... It's beautiful." The desire to touch it, to feel the silver scaled sides under my fingers crawled up my arm and had it reaching out to do just that.

"It is, is it not?" Chi asked from where she'd crept up on me.

Entirely too close.

Surprised, I slipped and tumbled into the water. Flipping forward, I scrambled around for a bit before I oriented myself using the distortate green blobs of the trees. Getting my legs underneath me, I prepared to push myself out of the water when something caught my eye. Floating in front of my face was the little silvergill that Chi wanted me to experiment on. Fearless with lack of predators it pecked at my nose curiously, seeing if I was edible or not. Upon determining my uselessness it abandoned me for more worthwhile pursuits. A bemused snort sent bubbles to the surface that I quickly followed, my head breaking the tension of the water as I flicked my head and pulled my sodden locks from my eyes.

Chi fluttered nervously overhead. "Lilith! Are you okay? I did not mean to startle you."

"I'm fine Chi," I said somewhat absentmindedly, still thinking about the little fish and her request. And more importantly what it might mean for our struggle against our pursuers if we had more allies.

Chi seems formidable. And she's already pledged herself to our cause. More like her might just make the difference...

I shook my head and slapped my cheeks while wading to the shore.

No. It's not fair to make those kinds of assumptions. Besides, who am I to play God like that?

"Chi... I understand where you're coming from, but I'm not comfortable deciding what is right for a creature like that." Taking her proffered tail, I hauled myself out of the water. Tilting my head to the side, I wrung my hair dry before starting to strip my top off to do the same to it. Freezing, I gave my friend an even stare as she looked at me innocently, her face pinched while she was obviously thinking of counterarguments. "Please would you turn around. I'd appreciate a little privacy."

Breaking her out of her reverie, she stared at me blankly for a second before spinning around at a glacial pace. "I do not understand why you do not like me to look upon you. Your body is perfectly fine and functional. Modesty," she scoffed. Her tail swished behind her in an annoyed fashion.

"Just humor me Chi. Not all of us have your boundless confidence and willingness to walk around naked."

"Also, I am proof and also vouching for the benefits that creature will feel, if you are able to do a similar sort of uplifting as what you did for me."

"But I didn't mean to do uplifting or anything of that sort. I just panicked after I caught Helal's aether and you happened to be in the way when I threw it away."

"Accident or not, I believe you can recreate the process."

I finished donning my still-damp clothes, anxious as we came to the crux of my issue. "... What if I screw it up? What if I hurt it? Or make something horrible and twisted and cursed to suffer? I don't..." My mind flashed back to the dying crusader in our field. Tears clawed their way out of my eyes as my nails bit into my palm. "I don't want to cause anyone anymore pain."

"... Trust. Lilith, do you trust me?"

"I mean, you did save my life," I said with a chuckle, brushing tears away from my eyes.

"Do you trust me?" she asked again. Facing me squarely, she reached out and took my hands in hers.