Chapter Text
The altar had been lit, and the book in Lukey’s hand started to glow. He slowly stepped out of the circle of candles, watching as the reagents broke down, one by one, into motes of green energy full of life. The scent of freshly furrowed earth filled the air.
CRACK!
Lukey frowned and wrinkled his nose.
CRACK!
The earthy tones quickly soured, filling the area with a disgusting stench of rot.
His eyes continued to watch the ball of energy, which had slowly faded to a dull gray. The fact that it hadn’t collapsed yet meant that the ritual wasn’t a failure. The energy wavered violently, as if boiling. Lukey’s heart tightened. The magical energies became discordant. He braced himself and pulled the ritual book closer, only then noticing that it had lost its previous luster. The ritual had failed.
He stepped further back from the ritual circle.
And as if the world itself started narrating itself to his ears, he saw the cause of the dissonance.
The Void had remembered it was nothing; its influence in the ritual was still too strong. The black wool, which was supposed to be the earth for the seed, ignited. Lukey clicked his tongue.
The Woodland remembered it had nowhere to lay its roots; without Megii, the influence of Nature was too weak compared to his Void and was devoured.
He watched as the invisible flames corroded the last traces of the ritual, gray energy and all, eaten away.
The Void Seed ritual had failed.
Lukey let out a deep sigh and placed the inert book upon a pile of other books on his makeshift desk. He sat down on his chair, skillfully pulling out another book and quill, and laid it open. With his other hand, he placed another book on the desk, this one nested with loose papers between its pages, and opened it to an empty page and quickly jotted down his observations and conjectures:
Void symbolism is too strong. Trying to make nothingness into something goes against its nature.
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Make it the carrier instead of the sustenance? Would have to change the shell of the seed; amethyst is too fragile. New problem: what could hold nothing?
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Concepts that could hold nothing:
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Storage (void chest) - would have to add new concepts to make the chest see itself as a seed
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Time
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Air? Possible…
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Matter - maybe if I wanted to create a singularity, it would probably destroy the corruption
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Woodland symbolism too weak, compared to Void. Still don’t know why Megii chose this as an anchor.
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Powers seem to stem from flowers and nature. Possible replacements:
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Saplings - Oak or Jungle? Check room for inspiration
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Flowering azalea? Cherry could work too
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Moss?
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Glowberries?
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Mangroves! Roots! Possible connection with watergrass? I really need to talk to her more…
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Lukey spent more time pouring over the material changes in the ritual, often opening up failed ritual books to cross-reference what worked and what didn’t. Rex lay comfortably on his lap, occasionally stirring when he got agitated. Eventually, after a long period of deliberation and lamentation at the idea of having to carpet search the entire resource world, he settled on the final materials for what would legitimize the ritual.
Black glass would be the anchor for the void. With the intention of being used as a container, its weight shouldn’t crush the concept of life and nature brought about by the other reagents, but instead protect it from the void’s nothingness. Of course, in conjunction with resin, which replaces the fragile nature of amethyst and provides nutrients, it would make the perfect carrier. Luckily, because of his earlier ventures of finding a creaking heart, he had some resin clumps left over.
Then to balance out the ritual’s need for woodland magic, he opted for mangrove propagules. They were an inherently better and deeper form of symbolism than watergrass. Not to mention, their roots run wildly and deeply on land, air, or water. Surely, that adaptability extends to nothing. He hoped so.
Lukey listed the set of materials and intent of the ritual within the new book, but paused right before he wrote down the core materials of the ritual: the flowers. The quill hovered over the page as an idea glossed before his eyes. The nib touched the bottom of the page, but instead of listing the flowers by name, he wrote:
Two flowers that represent the individuals, and another to represent the bond.
A pang of guilt surged in Lukey’s heart. Rex seemed to notice his emotional turbulence and nuzzled him from beneath his neck before putting his little head on the desk. He looked around in interest and tried to nip at some loose bookmarks, prompting Lukey to smile. He gave the little guy a head scratch before he continued to write the rest of the ritual book.
On the final page, he stated the purpose of the ritual. To create a seed symbolizing the bond of two individuals that can withstand nothingness.
He closed the book and looked at the cover. It was empty of any marks and decorations reminiscent of other successful ritual books he’d had a chance to study, but the moment the ritual was accepted, it would complete itself.
Lukey copied the book, leaving the original on his desk.
Tonight! He was determined to finish this ritual and show Megii he wasn’t completely useless.
Lukey hovered over the altar. All the materials were in place, and all he needed to do was light it up. His heart was thrumming with two points of anticipation and three points of worry…
“Bawr!” A pitched bark snapped him out of his daze. He looked back to see Rex jumping around the edge of the ritual circle, and the apprehension in his heart melted away. If it failed… no, it wouldn’t. Lukey lit the altar and slipped the journal embossed with entwining flowers into his hands.
The book started to glow, rising towards the altar where the fire had been lit. Lukey backed out of the ritual circle, scooping Rex up in the process, and watched with bated breath as the ritual came alive.
The reagents broke down one by one into motes of different colored energy before gathering together above the book.
Green energy separated from the amalgam of magical essence and formed itself into a seed-like shape. A scent of flowers and fresh water filled the air. In Lukey’s arms, Rex sniffed the air with excitement.
Lukey then felt his magic drain from him, something subtle, as it wrapped around the mass of vitality before solidifying. From this distance, he could see the prototype of a seed forming. It had a black shell streaked with gold, almost like a sunflower seed.
He chuckled at the irony.
The glow surrounding the nascent seed turned a brilliant green. Lukey felt space vibrate.
Then, with a shower of illusory petals and sparks, a seed floated in the air right above the book.
The ritual of the Bonded Garden had been completed.
Lukey put Rex down before he tentatively walked over to the altar. If it weren’t for Rex nudging him from behind his knees, who knows how long it would’ve taken him to get there. He held the seed in his hand while pocketing the ritual book and headed in another direction, toward a section of the Void where an old memory lay further away from the usual clutter.
It was an empty test tube, but big enough to fit an adult-sized being. Against the emptiness of the void, the test tube stuck out like a sore thumb, like it was ripped from a section of the world and forcibly transferred there. In his mind, Lukey could hear the sounds of cheering and a deep voice asking him to put on his helmet, but that was all in the past.
He looked behind him. Past Rex, beyond the messy ritual corridor he’d set up, all the way to the little campfire where he’d settled himself in when he first awakened Void magic. In between the wooden seats and around the randomly placed door, torchflowers lit up the small region like fireflies. Their light reflected off the white’s of the lily of the valley. It was a pretty sight. He hoped… he hoped it would be the same here.
Lukey went up to the test tube and gingerly knelt. He placed the seed onto the void and willed his magic to infuse its shell.
Crack!
A surge of brilliant green and gold energy pulsed from the broken seed. It left a carpet of greenish starlight along the Void, penetrating shallow layers. Within seconds, sprouts grew and rapidly entered maturity.
Lukey stood back, petting Rex’s head, a smile tugging the corners of his lips. In his eyes, a small field of cornflowers and lily of the valley surrounded the test tube. Along the top edge of the large construct, small branches peeked from where the entrance would’ve been covered in pink leaves. Blossoms drifted down and fell upon the petals of the flowers below.
That world may have been reset, but here, in this void, there would be a little slice of home.