Chapter 1: First Citizen

The giant flowers bloomed and two Aelaranthae, the creation of the goddess slumbered. Their eyelids began to twitch. The slumber was peaceful, the sun was warm and the gentle breeze seemed to nudge the girls back to sleep. Nevertheless, the time has come for the Aelaranthae to finally awaken. ;

When one of the Aelaranth woke up and sat on the petal of the flower. she looked around, her eyes finally gazed unto her neighbors. They decided to call themselves Nae and Zir. the first, and the second. As Nae and Zir looked at each other, a link was formed between their minds. When Nae so desired, and Zir gave permission, she could look into Zir’s memory and through it, she could look at herself. She then realized Zir had done the same. Through the link, Nae and Zir had exchanged data. A fresh memory was first shared between them.

They realized they were naked. As they looked upon their birthplace, the flower started to wither. It had done its job and desired solace in the afterworld. But Nae and Zir felt it was such a waste, and thus, they fashioned themselves a dress made from the petals. Using magic, the petals wrapped upon them and merged into a dress. The fluttering white petal danced as Nae and Zir stood for the first time in their lives.

They strolled around, then they returned back to the flower petal and rested. They need no food and thus have no desire to explore their surroundings except for slight curiosity. Since they felt no danger on sight, they slept. They appeared defenseless but within their body lies a powerful mana core.

A horned deer with yellow stripes and three long tails grazed nearby and the Aelaranthae woke up due to the sound of the rustling leaves. The deer ate the grass with joy. The forest where the goddess has placed the Aelaranthae were bountiful. The grass was green and the trees were lush.

The deer ate the grass with joy and the joy was transmitted into the Aelaranthae. It was the first time The Aelaranthae felt anything like it. The joy was sweet like sugar. The Aelaranthae stood up and ran toward the deer, intending to give it more grass to eat. However, unlike the naive Aelaranthae that were just born, the deer's flight instinct took its course and it ran away in fright.

The fear the deer felt was transmitted to both Aelaranthae, it was bitter and they didn’t like it. The Aelaranthae returned to their petals as they looked around, looking for animals which they could help. A few hours later, the flower, after doing its job, died and the Aelaranthae had to make their own homes.

The Aelaranthae raised their hands and as the mana converged, nearby trees nudged itself aside, creating a clearing for them except one. They then focused the mana unto the lone tree and it swerved, creating a staircase as it made itself a podium unto its bark. An open air house without a roof was soon to be created by their magic. Any engineer and even court mage would pop their eyes at the surreal magic that was bestowed upon the Aelaranthae by the goddess. A live tree turned into a treehouse just by a handwave.

The reason it was roofless was because the Aelaranthae loved to bathe in the sun. It was warm. However, they didn’t like the dirt that stuck onto their feet, and thus, they made the house. Day turned into night and the Aelaranthae gaze at the starry sky nonchalantly. They didn’t think it was impressive, but the change intrigued them because the behavior of the forest changed with it.

The forest fell into a slumber as the moon rose on the black canvas. Even though the forest fell into slumber, there was something that watched over them. The Aelaranthae look upon the three headed tiger with curiosity. It bared its fang upon them differently from the deer. Seeing the creature inch closer, the Aelaranthae excitedly pulled nearby grass to give the tiger, the Aelaranthae remained still so as to not startle the tigers and it worked. The tiger came closer. As the Aelaranthae and the tiger inched closer, the tiger pounced at Ae Nae. Dinner finally came and the tiger rejoiced.

However, Nae was unharmed. The tiger’s teeth couldn’t penetrate Nae’s skin. The Aelaranthae were the creation of the goddess, she bestowed upon them power beyond what their figure suggests. Nae didn’t even perceive the tiger’s act as an attack. The joy the tiger first felt when he bit the Aelaranthae was transmitted and the Aelaranthae and they were happy and approached the tiger, intending to caress it or play with it. But the confusion the tiger felt was like salty water to them. It was an odd feeling.

The Aelaranthae approached the tiger and caressed its back. The tiger bit her arm even harder, but it felt like biting through a tree. It won’t budge. The tiger gave up, in disappointment, the tiger left. The disappointment tasted like sour vinegar and the Aelaranthae didn’t like it very much.

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Days turned to months and months turned to years. The area where the Aelaranthae were residing turned into a haven. Sun shone down on the treehouse covered with a field of grass. Deer prowled about as birds came and sang. It didn’t take long for herbivores to view the Aelaranthae as safe. There was one day when a deer got injured, thinking it was finally the time to die, it laid down on the field of flowers where the Aelaranthae reside.

Ae Nae and Ae Zir came to the injured deer. Then, Nae did the unthinkable. She bit her own finger and a bit of fuchsia blood gathered on her fingertips. As she caressed the wound on the deer with the same finger, the wound rapidly healed. The deer, feeling invigorated, stood up and left. The Aelaranthae felt a bit disappointed that the deer didn’t come to play with them.

The very next day, the deer came back with its herd. Ever since then, they have lounged around the Aelaranthae. The Aelaranthae felt exhilarated. New emotions come to them everyday. When the herd eats, it brings them sweetness. When the herd fought for a mate, it brought excitement which tasted like a spicy candy.

Peace didn’t last long. The three headed tiger returned. It knew the Aelaranthae weren’t food. However, the deer is. It prowled, then it lunged.

The deer all ran in panic as the tiger ran and nabbed one of them in the foot. With a swift bite, its neck was snapped and one of the deer died. It happened so fast it was like a sharp needle of emotions. The Aelaranthae felt a wave of emotions. At first, a sharp hot feeling of fear from the deer was felt by the Aelaranthae. The feelings were exacerbated by the death throes of the deer that was killed by the tiger. Then a surge of happiness was felt by the tiger as it devoured its prey, then it was followed by waves of relief from other deer that were not eaten. It was no longer a single taste of feelings, but a complex emotion followed by a complex amount of taste. The Aelaranthae could only stare at the emotion that washed over them. The Aelaranthae laid there, petrified.

The Aelaranthae looked at the tiger. The tiger, sensing the Aelaranthae were not going to interfere, picked up its prey and left to gorge on the food alone. The Aelaranthae then turned to the deer which felt relieved after they saw the tiger left and continued to graze the weeds like nothing had happened. The Aelaranthae smiled at the serene atmosphere and returned back to their abode, sleeping while relishing the taste of the complex emotions they just felt.

The goddess knew that by depriving her creation of any needs, they also deprived the Aelaranthae of any emotions such as happiness, joy, sadness, and anger. She also deprived them from the need to innovate, and thus stagnant. Her creations could only feel such things from other creatures. And so, she hoped the Aelaranthae would help the world for the Aelaranthae to feel joy, they had to spread joy into the world. Such is the blessing and curse the Aelaranthae have.

Creatures are not made equal. Such things were realized by the Aelaranthae early. The amount of happiness she felt when feeding mice with fruits and deer with grass were different. The same also applies with tigers and deer. The feelings the Aelaranthae felt from the tiger were more viscous, more condensed than that of simpler lifeforms. The more sentient the life form is, the more the Aelaranthae could feel their emotions and the more complex their emotions become. And so, the fateful day arrived.

The apex of sentient creatures, The zenith of Sapient race had arrived. The humans. They had reached the forest where the Aelaranthae resided. Dressed in rags, the humans sent the Aelaranthae the taste of disgust, like a rotten meal that was left for days in the open field. It needed to be noted that the Aelaranthae didn’t even know what poor and rich are. They judged the humans based on the emotions they wore. The humans felt despair, like their life did not matter. Their eyes were hollow, their body was unkempt. Hunger, misery, pain, suffering filled the very being of humans that arrived before the Aelaranthae.

Since humans were more sentient than animals, their emotions were more pronounced than the deer. The Aelaranthae expression turned sour as their clean silver hair rustled in irritation. However, the Aelaranthae knew that any living creature could change their emotions. By giving deer fruits or grass, the deer would turn from sadness to joy. From hunger to satiation. And so, the Aelaranthae came toward the group of more than 50 people that came to their lands.

“%$^%*$()#@” The humans spoke. The Aelaranthae could speak to fellow Aelaranthae with ease due to telepathy. However, they did not realize until later that humans communicate with each other using sounds. To the Aelaranthae all the sounds humans made was akin to singing.. The Aelaranthae were intrigued because humans made a lot more different sounds than deer or tigers.

The Aelaranthae hear them speak as if birds are chirping on the trees. Even though the Aelaranthae couldn’t understand their speech, the Aelaranthae could read emotions, the man that stood before her seemed confused. He ought to be, before him were what seemed to be little girls. He thought the girls were refugees like them, but seeing the girls a second time made him wonder. The girls were too clean, too beautiful to be refugees. Their faces were so beautiful as if they were dolls. Their dress was pure white free of blemish. It was hard to look away from the beauty before her. The blue sapphire eyes, the silver hair, the polished pale skin. It was as if she was sculpted by the goddess herself. Impossible to exist here deep in the woods.

Ae Zir then waved her hand and a bush of strawberries grew before them. Zir picked one strawberry and gave it to the man whom she thought to be the pack leader of humans. The man, Sebastian, took the strawberry. He looked at it bewildered but took a bite nevertheless. The sweet refreshing taste spread on his mouth. As he nodded to his fellow refugees, the refugees swarmed the bush and picked everything until there were none left.

Seeing the villagers eat filled the Aelaranthae with happiness. They skipped to nearby trees and as she manipulated the mana in the air, the trees grew apples and mangoes, all kinds of fruits. The fifty villagers that came ate until their belly was full.

They thought it was a dream. The villagers were driven away by a local lord of the Antheria empire. Everything they had was robbed, their lands, their houses, their money. After the local lords were done with them, they were exiled to these dangerous lands. They came to the forest of exilement because they had no other choice. They thought they would die by tigers or bears that ruled this forest, but to their luck, they met the Aelaranthae.

When the village chief looked at his men and children, they nodded. This is their new home. They will cultivate this land.

And so, the Aelaranthae gained their first citizens.