Year 11, Day 27

Beneath the Grounds, in Iridescence.

Chaos was loving this.

And Lilith? Well, not really.

"AAAAH!" As she screamed and dashed comically away, the ants followed her like she was their Godsent Queen, chittering words only she seemed able to understand. What happened? Well, Chaos kinda did something. You see, they were in one of the resting spots for the ants when Chaos began to fuck it all up with their ability [Chaos Manifestation].

What did it do? Oh, you silly one, it obviously transformed the terrain around Chaos to their whims and wishes! In one moment, they could turn a small area around them into this buzzing hot melting floor only for it to become freezing cold the very next moment, and with such technique, they were eliminating this node and making sure to eat them. Until they changed the terrain around them to become like what their Father could do, and plants began to grow as the Earth and Demonic Qi tried and failed to imitate Nature Qi in an unnatural way before breaking down. Lilith, who happened to just be in the vicinity, lashed out with her Demonic Qi at the blood red living piece of flesh and earth, destroying it and at the same time, somehow, making her Qi vibrate.

Maybe it was because of Chaos' own Qi Aura, but that vibration sent out ripples around them, making the Demonic Qi their sister used to vibrate just at the right frequency that the ants used to communicate. Due to her… birth process, Lilith could easily imitate the ants, enough to make them simply dismiss her as another ant of their colony, but somehow they suddenly considered her royalty. Chaos couldn't explain why, but they could understand how to use that! It only took them a moment to neutralize the ants as they obeyed Lilith's commands, and soon that nest was destroyed.

But they didn't stop there, no, they went further down the tunnels. To not be discovered, Chaos had to continuously use [Chaos Manifestation] to fool the ants to think they were also part of their merry little colony. With that, they managed to infiltrate the deep colony, and they could even gather information on the ants! Lilith and Chaos were speaking and sending said information to Father, who was proud of them for being able to do such a thing and promised he'd give them a gift for helping their effort to win this war. Then, when they got close to the Queen of the ants, Father started to act. Because they wouldn't be able to fool the Queen, Father decided for them to hide and wait because something was happening, or rather, was going to happen.

They didn't see it, but Root pulled a small white thread and looked upon it, measuring it and reading it, before plucking the string with his finger while channeling his Qi through it, making the thread pull tight. It rippled in the air for a split second before it realigned itself, slightly shifted under his control.

What did he do? Well, the Queen Ant had a bright white thread, meaning she was about to begin a new life, so he just made it a little more difficult by messing with that fate for a moment, making her have to spend a lot more energy than she would've originally. Because by making that white thread into a black one for a fraction of a second, he threatened the good fate of the new life the Queen was about to bring upon this world, but because the white thread was stronger, it overcame the black of the Death Thread and once again became a New Life Thread. A thread of fate can be changed, even though it might seem impossible to go against the heavens.

Soon he sent his children ahead to take the opportunity that he granted them, and through his [Cosmic Connection] technique, he fed Chaos pure Qi, enough to allow the little chaos spirit to use their [Chaos Manifestation] and change the space around them so that it bent, changing their position from one place to another, grabbing the egg the Queen ant held in her hands, and moving away at the fastest of speeds. Root pulled them, his connection with his children was deep, soul deep, and he could pretty much revive them- Moving them through space is not that hard, right?

Well, as it turns out, it was! So, instead of pulling them through his connection to them, he decided to instead use Nature itself to help him. Inspired by a certain spell of the famous tabletop RPG known as Dungeons and Dragons, he told Chaos: "Find a root." And with their sister Lilith helping them move through the various ants by simply commanding them to get out of the way (and with Chaos continuously teleporting them away every moment they could) they soon found a root, or rather, a piece of it. "Touch it, Chaos, and make it grow." Obeying their Father, Chaos did exactly that! With a root in hand, they shoved it into the earth, and channeled their [Chaos Manifestation] to force the root to grow into a tree (Root was also feeding them Nature Qi through their connection, to ease the process), and in a few seconds, there was a small Bonsai tree in a tunnel. "Touch it." Both Lilith and Chaos did as he told them, and with a connection to nature, he could do more.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Nature is everywhere, but things deeply connected to nature help the heavens listen to what he wants to happen actually happen, so when his children touched the tree (Root couldn't help but chuckle when Chaos whispered "I touched the butt" to themselves) he pulled them through the wood into the tree, and through that connection to nature, he teleported them into his main tree body.

[New technique created]

'Huh, haven't seen you in a while, system notification.'

[Tree Stride Movement

Rank: A

Description: Due to your deep connection to nature (you're literally a tree) and your understanding of the Daos of Nature and Change, you can physically pull others through nature to "move" them to another location. Can only be used when the target is physically connected to nature.]

"Well…" Root pushed his immediate thought to all his children, calling them home to his main body as he held onto Lumin's cracked form, slowly healing it: "It seems we have a… surprising spoil of war." Root curiously looked over at the egg and peered through it, his eyes gazing into the spirit of the beast within the dark scarlet red egg that looked like a large ostrich egg. "You did good, children." At once, all of his children were pulled through the trees, their barks splitting open while their insides glowed in a light of bright green coloration, signifying the use of Nature itself. He softly touched his children (They all looked like young adults now, he still felt like they were growing too quickly, but in a world of constant danger, they could not afford a human-like childhood… besides, they weren't human) faces, analyzing their bodies to see if they had any damage, doing his best to heal them.

Time for praising and lecturing then!

"Ahteus, my boy." Root was smaller than him, his third child and second oldest son looked to be ashamed of himself for a moment, but Root was not having any of that! "You're the mountain of this sect, you hold the weight of the heavens on your shoulders like it's a badge of honor, you're my little Atlas and I am ashamed that you think you cannot share the burdens of the heavens with your father… I do not fault you, we all have our curses and gifts. You bear the Curse of Fear, but carry the Gift of the Courageous." His lips softly touched his son's forehead, making the big child shed a few silver tears as the fear that gripped his heart so tightly seemed to just fade away as if it was nothing. "You're going to make your own wings, and that is one of the most beautiful things… My son, you may have not been born floating, but you'll soar higher than any of your siblings." That was a fact, because Ahteus had the potential to fly even above the atmosphere of this planet!

Or at least Root thought so.

"Zylph, my wild and free spirit." He pushed her silver hair out of the way of her eyes: "You fought well, but you need to learn one thing…" He swayed in the wind, his whole form turning like the wind for a moment: "You are the wind. And the wind is everywhere." Her eyes seemed to glow with enlightenment, she just seemed to realize something really important. He also kissed her forehead.

"Fiero, my fiery dancing warrior." Root grinned at his fiery son, whose flaming hair swayed with the wind: "You've shown me great improvement over your fighting power, being able to do so much in so little… I think if you try to increase the heat of the flames more than the explosion of them, you'll have an even better desired effect." Seeing his son's thoughtful face, he said: "Do not worry, I shall help you understand the Dao of Flames." He kissed his son's forehead as well.

"Namis." He said in a soft but serious tone: "Your defense is the best one I've ever seen, yet you lack offensive techniques." He softly sighed before a smile came over his lips: "But your genius mind also overcame that obstacle, and you're learning even more advanced techniques!" He kissed her forehead before saying: "You might want to look into learning how to turn your Qi into Ice Qi too, maybe into Mist Qi by using Fire Qi to boil your water, like your combined attack with Fiero did, but this time for stealth and confounding the enemy." He paused to think for a split second: "Also, those crystals might be of use for your experiments…" Namis' eyes widened, because she didn't consider it that much.

"Lumin, my dear, we'll work more on your concentration and control… Maybe I should help you develop your spirit to overcome your nature…" Lumin had a small and weak smile on their cracked lips, Root kissed their forehead as well, focusing for a second to heal the cracked skin a little bit more. "Please, always count on me, my child."

"Lilith-" He placed his hand on her soft hair: "-you'll learn how to properly control and order the ants, I feel like they can become great assets for our sect, and you would receive a lot of responsibility… Are you ready for this? There is no shame in backing down, because I do not wish for you, any of you, to push yourself to do things that you cannot only to try and impress me or make me proud-" he turned to all of his children: "-there is no way to make me even more proud than I already am, It's impossible!" Root chuckled at his children, feeling their shyness and happiness through their bond.

"Chaos, my little one, I will hereby declare you the Heavenly Spirit Forest Sect's official Prankster Spirit." Chaos' eyes widened for a split second before their iridescent pupils began to flicker excitedly: "It'll be your duty to prank and annoy your siblings… Now, you might be wondering why such a thing is necessary… And I say this-" He stopped for a second: "-it's important to keep your siblings on their toes, you never know what might happen in life, so a little bit of chaos is good."

"Freeze and Frost." He touched both of his children's shoulders, feeling their cold skin: "You are both good children, relying on each other is a good thing, but you two shall also learn how to fight in singularity, for someday you might not have each other's help to fight, shall you both find yourselves separated from one another." They nodded, their father's words carried weight and truth in them: "Also… I think Chaos might need some help with their sacred duty." Their faces kept the same cold expression, but he could feel their mischief, making him grin. "Please, don't kill, maim, or destroy anything okay?" They simply nodded. He kissed their foreheads.

"Lily." Root's hand softly held her black hair, her paper pale skin being a deep contrast to her dead corpse-like beauty: "You are the most thrilling and deadliest violinist that I've ever seen in my existence." He sighed softly: "And the most beautiful." He kissed her forehead.

"Leaf." He had to pause for a second: "You make me lose words… I cannot say what you could do to improve other than follow your own ideas and desires, and I will always help you."

As the sun started to dim down, sinking into the horizon, Root softly kissed his son's forehead as he said: "Go, take a rest." He told them: "I will keep watch for our little..." He closed his eyes: "Enemies."