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First Grain Cookie skipped through the rows of plantations — vast rows of every crop you could ever imagine.
”Come, come, Mystic Flour Cookie!”
Mystic Flour Cookie followed along, keeping a slow and steady pace. There was no need to rush. The crops would wait for them, and enthusiasm is meaningless. She held a leaf basket that First Grain Cookie had given her. It remained eerily still, not swaying in the wind or shaking in Mystic Flour’s hands.
”Okay, now, sweet Mystic Flour, please follow me. We are going to harvest these grainstalks together.”
Mystic Flour watched as First Grain took out her shears. She had two of them, but did not give them to Mystic Flour just yet.
Kneeling down onto the ground, First Grain began her mini lesson. She was always one with the fields, that was what she said. She was always… immersed. As if she could feel each individual bit of soil through the fabric of her dress. Creator always said she grazed her finger over every fruit she picked, even if the skin was rough or the fruit was imperfectly shaped, or had a bruise on it. ‘What is the point of farming if you do not absorb yourself, like water being absorbed by roots, into the wondrous process of harvest?’ First Grain recounted during their journey here. It was… foolish. She sounded foolish. She sounded like a child who did not know the reality of the world and its problems. That could not be further from the truth. First Grain used to be a Witch. She created Mystic Flour Cookie. She must carry baskets filled with wisdom from all of her experiences. She must know pain and sorrow, as well as anger, happiness and all of it in between. Mystic Flour used to know that too, but she had forgotten it in her pursuit for apathy. Yes, she did.
“There are automatic ways to harvest grains now. A machine could do it very quickly! But, the essence of manual harvest is lost when using that! So, here at the Temple of Abundance, we like to do it manually! Don’t worry, if a farmer is tired or unwell, they can rest. And they do not farm every single day. They get breaks, I am not a monster! They love their jobs… You know, once, a lovely villager went up to me and begged to farm on the fields with their best friend. They were really tugging on my—Oh deary me! I am ranting again. Please do not mind me…”
’A talkative one,’ Mystic Flour thought. She huffed with slight irritation, but did not tell First Grain Cookie to cease. Every time her Creator talked about her long stories in the human world, Mystic Flour listened attentively. It was simply respect. Even though respect did not matter in a world filled with flour, it came to Mystic Flour like a suppressed instinct. Creator was not a human anymore. She did not live in the human world anymore. Really, her little ramblings did not amuse like they used to. The human world held such… mystery and human Grain was shedding light onto that mystery with her story. Now, she talks about the cookie world. Pointless. Even more pointless than her human stories. Her tone did not seem to change. Her enthusiasm still remained intact from the human world. Her waste of breath from her giggles… did not change either.
… How little did First Grain Cookie change? No, it is meaningless to ponder about it for too long.
”You look like you are zoning out,” First Grain commented, bringing Mystic Flour out of her thoughts, “Are you listening? Like I said, we cut about 6 to 12 centimetres of the grainstalk for harvesting…”
”I am listening.”
Mystic Flour watched as First Grain snipped off the top half of the grainstalk and placed it in her big basket. Looking around, villagers belonging to the Temple were doing the same thing — staining their garments with mud and quickly cutting the grains for harvest. Some villagers were sifting through the material they had gathered, focused… sweat beading on their foreheads. All of them seemed happy.
”That is good! I am so glad you are. Do you want to try now?”
First Grain handed Mystic Flour another pair of shears, gesturing her to touch the grainstalks. Mystic Flour remained still as if contemplating something. She looked at the grainstalks and imagined all of them turning brown to black, drooping, and turning into a heap of flour on top of the moist soil.
”I will make the grains wilt if you hand them to me.”
”Do not worry, sweet Proph… Flour! I do not mind. I will help you gather the grains at the end, all you need to do is snip it.”
Mystic Flour’s gaze wandered again — to the villagers sitting on oak benches nearby. They were chattering about useless things while holding fruit baskets that were overfilled, abundant with harvest and results. This was the Temple of Abundance, so this was expected. There was always enough, if not too much of everything you could ever need here. That was what First Grain Cookie told her as she brought her to the Temple. ‘Don’t worry about food or water. Don’t worry about anything. There is enough of everything here,’ is what First Grain basically preached as they walked. Mystic Flour nodded at her every word, taking it in wordlessly. If her Temple was so perfect, why could she, and her human friends, not make the whole world as perfect as that? If there was no famine, no wars, no conflict between nations… Prophet of Volition would not have to save cookies from wars and grant wishes pleading for safety and shelter. If everyone had enough water to drink and food to eat, apathy would not be necessary. Apathy would not need to seal the broken state of the world if the world was not broken at all. So, why? First Grain could make her lands perfect, but not the whole world when she had all the power cookies could ever comprehend? Foolish thoughts. Foolish words. They all mean nothing.
She caught sight of a villager helping another up. She caught sight of a few villagers sharing their fruits and vegetables with one another, laughing the time away. Alas, all of this was meaningless… But, it reminded her of something. Her friends. ‘Friends.’ The other beasts, no, the other virtues. When everything was alright, when they still had hope in the world and the Witches. When they worked together to help as many cookies as possible. When they made journeys between one another’s domains to pass messages and blessings. When they exchanged notes. When they all told one another about what their specific Creator told them that day.
That Happiness that came from Solidarity, from beings who possess infinite Knowledge and could enact their own Volition… It all Changed one day.
It was fleeting, those times. All of it was fleeting. There is nothing any of them can do anymore.
”First Gr—“
”Hey, are you okay? You are zoning out again. Don’t worry about the grainstalk! It is worth it knowing that you tried…”
“Why did you create this world?”
”…”
Mystic Flour took the shears from First Grain’s hands and attempted to cut the grainstalk without touching it. Her eyes seemed to focus on the stalk and the stalk alone. She knelt down and snipped.
The power of apathy was too strong, though. Even in indirect contact, it still wilted away. Mystic Flour wordlessly watched and allowed it to. Cookies, and all living beings, will perish just like this grainstalk, no matter how hard we try to prevent that fate. So why try to preserve it? Why try to create it in the first place? Why try to create a whole world when it will all dissolve one day? These were questions Mystic Flour knew there was no easy answer to. That is why she turned to apathy. However, it would be interesting to hear her Creator’s response to the question.
”You know… There was no concrete reason between all of the Witches. There was no let’s-make-a-whole-world-with-our-strong-magic moment between one another. We just wanted to do it.”
”Some of us wanted to test how far our magic could go. We perfected many spells before we made the first cookies… We popped things into existence, healed, destroyed, protected… But we never created life before. Some of them wanted to try to create life on our own. We wanted to nurture a world that was better than ours. We wanted to see how far you could go.”
”Some of us wanted to heal our loneliness. We never talked to other humans due to the danger… We wanted to be mothers, some of us. The ones that did decided to participate in making the 5 virtues. I created you, so I was a part of that group… The others? A fun, dazzling witch… Two twins, and the kindest person I have ever known.”
”And some… Just wanted to see what would happen. No motive, no tears shed… They just wanted to see what would happen.”
“There was no true reason for why cookies were created, Mystic Flour. That is why,” First Grain felt the pile of flour from the grainstalk, took a breath and held a silence for a moment, “Even if cookies end up like this… It is the wonder of life and being alive that makes everything worth it. We were all… So happy to see cookies move and move in the dessert world. We were all… overjoyed.”
Mystic Flour remained silent for a moment, taking all of that in. She had always thought there was a reason that cookies were born. No, everyone thought that. The beasts, the ancients, every lowly cookie scatters across earthbread… They all wondered what purpose they were created with. They wondered if there was one engrained into fate, or if they should forge their own purpose instead. Mystic Flour believed, back then, that there was a purpose for her already written. She thought it was to grant wishes and help other cookies… No, that was not it. Her purpose was to return the world to flour. That was her purpose… How futile it was. How fleeting everything is.
Being alive… That was enough? No noble purpose? No life-changing discovery? None of that made you any more important than anyone else? Being alive was enough? That could be true for every other cookie, but not the 5 virtues. The 5 virtues were made to rule from the beginning. Don’t lie, First Grain… Don’t lie, mother.
…
Mystic Flour decided to try again with the grainstalk next to the one that had wilted. If these were cookies, the cookie that witnessed the other’s crumbling would probably be screaming and crying right now. Meaningless. Good thing they were dealing with plants. She could feel First Grain’s back touching hers, and could see her shadow right beside her own. First Grain was watching intently at Mystic Flours’s progress, thrilled to see her trying again.
”Just like that… carefully… gently…” First Grain murmured as she watched.
Mystic Flour cut the grainstalk. It did not wilt this time.
It landed safely in Mystic Flour’s leaf basket.
”Yes! You did it! See, it didn’t wilt. Aren’t you happy?”
“… Feeling such emotions is meaningless.”
It was meaningless, yes, but Mystic Flour could not stop herself from staring at the grain in her basket. She rose from her knees without pulling her gaze away from the grain. Her face still showed nothing, though. You could not tell is she was amused or astonished or pleased, and First Grain moved in circles around her trying to tell. She couldn’t.
”It isn’t meaningless! And even if you believe so, don’t you feel it? At least a little?” First Grain giggled and elbowed Mystic Flour’s shoulder.
Mystic Flour Cookie let out a little chuckle.
”Oh, perfect. Now that you have harvested for your first time, you are always welcome on the fields! Now that you are, I wonder what memories I can make with you!”
Mystic Flour glanced around at the villagers living their own meaningless life around them.
”I wonder the same thing, too.”