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It hadn't been very long since you fell out of your world's fruit into Wort's dimension, to be found at the base of what you later knew as a Worlds Tree by a short but kindly skeleton. A skeleton, despite your first fright, that you had quickly become attached to. He told you as much as you could ask about the world but Wort had been reluctant to show you the mysterious thing called 'magic'. Not that you minded, he did say he'd help you out as best he could to get you back home.
Day by day went with Wort at your side, not that you could tell night from day in the strange space-like atmosphere. Wort taught you how to sow, water and care for plants, building muscle as you toiled on the fields and all while a strange sense of accomplishment welled within you, growing stronger. It was funny, back at home, you felt too depressed to even own a cactus let alone look after hundreds. But here, the strange aqua blue, hot pink and amethyst crops that you yourself planted were now sprouting across the stretch of an asteroid used like a crop field. Did you really wanna go back when you seemed to flourish so much better here? But your family's faces flashed and you affirmed that you missed them. Yet... an uncertain feeling bubbled and you thought of Wort and his lightly glittering cheekbones.
The thought was soon buried amongst all the heavy lifting, digging and watering and you became used to life with Wort and his brother, Fern. It felt like you had lived there forever. Waking up to Wort’s humming as he seemed to always be awake before you, or coming downstairs to a breakfast already made for you with a sweet note from Fern, each day went by with similar sweet moments. Then there were those rare events, like seeing a star shower up close and personal, the brothers acting as if it were just ordinary rain, but the streaks of comet dust staining the celestial sky left a deep impression in your heart. Or what about that time, that Wort had brought you to see the budding of a new World fruit, how the universe inside expanded as the fruit grew and you could see flickers of so many tales playing along the skin and leaves.
You grew used to living in this strange world, though at times Wort would hold your shoulders as you cried out your own stories about your family, your pet and even the once boring life you lived, how you missed certain foods and that drink at your favourite cafe. Somehow, you even missed the ordinary green of grass and the grey of pavement stones, in this world so unfamiliar to your own, with food that tasted that unusual. But even time healed that wound, you cried less and less, taking each day with a bigger stride.
Yet, on a day like any other, Wort took you by the hand and led you to one of the many other asteroids that floated in the perpetual night sky. What wonders was he going to show you? Stepping carefully on green stars that acted like stairs, leading up to a yellow glow further up. Wort didn’t seem to look back, but his hand trembled beneath yours before he let go. There you stood on the asteroid, but it looked like a slice of a wild, alien-like jungle. Shoots of jade, coral and amber plants grew in strange ways, but Wort shuffled past them all and seemed to take hold of that yellow glow. Sucking in a sharp breath, Wort’s sockets seemed to shimmer with the light of the stone that he held between his hands towards you.
Wort mumbled something you couldn't catch, confused you murmured, "Pardon? I didn't hear-"
"I keep my promises, be safe on the other side..." Wort lifted his aquamarine eyelights to your face. a strange look of expetancy and pain on his face. "It's been real nice knowing you, sprout."
"Wort? I don't understand..." you managed to mutter before the glow in his hands engulfed you.
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"Did you send them back?" Fern wiped his gloves as he stepped onto the asteroid, pushing back the foliage.
Wort simply nodded while his shoulders shuddered and then drooped as he slid to the ground.
"You know they couldn't stay here any longer… They were better." Fern’s firm hand petted Wort's back as the short skeleton fiddled with the now dull crystal.
Green drops fell onto the cold stone as he stroked it with his thumb, "I know, Fern..."
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The morning light was blinding and you jolted, finding yourself sitting at your dining room table with your family looking at you curiously.
"Doze off for a second there?" your father chuckled, "Well, if you're tired go get a couple of hours, it's the weekened anyway."
"Don't encourage bad sleeping habits, you!" your mom lightly tapped your dad on the head in mock annoyance. "Weekends are for hobbies and your child sorely needs one."
A clash of emotions ran inside you, on the one hand your eyes ran all over the faces of the ones you loved, drinking in the sight that you had accepted to never see again... but on the other... you turned to stare outside into the garden, you felt dazed, out of place and felt as though you were missing something sorely, were you really back? He didn't even give you a chance to say goodbye... that stupid idiot... you quickly wiped a tear away and sniffled away the hurt feelings.
Peering down at your now unscathed hands, the lack of built muscle and not a trace of the stardust freckles your body had absorbed from that mysterious world. But unlike your body, your mind had retained it all, everything you had been taught, the feel of work and the accomplishment. You clenched your hands.
"Mom? Mind if I use that flower bed?"
