Rose lay her head down and almost immediately fell asleep. Instead of a peaceful sleep, she found herself in a beautiful meadow stretching as far as the eye could see. Flowers in every colour bloomed in between thick patches of sweetly scented grass. In front of her she saw a woman facing away dressed in a simple white gown with silver white hair rippling past the small of her back. The woman turned around and Rose saw a face too perfectly proportioned to be human, high arching brows and regal cheekbones. Resting on the woman's head was a circlet of metal with living flowers like gems growing up from the simple band and tiny white flowers growing and trailing down on delicate green vines thinner than hair.

When the woman spoke it was with a voice smoother than honey but louder than the wildest thunderstorm. At the same time her voice was the most delicate flower whispering in the wind. It encompassed every sound Rose had ever heard yet somehow sounded like nothing she had ever heard before.

"I am Gaia. Sit, my child, and listen." So Rose sat. And listened.

Gaia explained that she was the cause of the wave that Rose had experienced that morning. She told Rose of a time long ago when fantasy was reality and magic permeated the whole world. No parlour tricks or false bottoms, true magic power by the Essence of the world. She told of people who could raise a city in a day from nothing but stone and their own Essense and Affinities. She told of people who could heal any wound or treat any sickness. She told of a world without diseases such as cancer or dementia things she said had no place on any world. She told of a civilisation in harmony with the whole world and all its creatures. She told of a Pantheon of God's and Goddesses, all with their own job and role in maintaining the balance of the world.

Then Gaia described the fall, people arriving from another world proclaiming the word of the One God. Gaia's people rejected the One God in favour of the Pantheon they had known for generations, this angered the One God's followers and they began a Holy crusade to force their beliefs on the people of Gaia's world.

The races of the world fought with everything they had but attacks that worked on the monsters of the world did not work on thinking people, techniques passed down through the ages were usless before a new foe. As the Essence of the people was released, the One God's followers called out to their God and with a flash the One God arrived, pure arrogance embodied. He gathered the released Essence and used it to fuel the Seal that confined Gaia within her core. He then locked the Pantheon in their own realm, preventing interaction with Gaia and her people.

The One God conquered the major of the world and the memory of Essence was made into fantasy or forgotten. The mystical races of the world withered and died as the Essence that fed their very being faded away into nothingness.

Time went by and Gaia sat in darkness and silence, feeling the pressure of her bound Essence increasing until the pain become too much and she sank into unconsciousness.

"Eventually my Essence built up so much it exploded out in a wave of pure power, converting almost everything it passed through."

Gaia stopped for a moment to gathering herself before continuing, " I woke to feel death, I could feel the agony of every mutation and every death, it was more painful than the original explosion." Gaia had to stop again, the memory of pain too much to bear.

Rose took the time to reflect on what she had been told, she couldn't understand why, if this was real, Gaia was talking to her about it, what could she do? Before she could think any further Gaia spoke again.

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" I put aside the pain I was feeling as I began examining my surface, seeing how it had changed. I found oceans full of generations worth of waste and pollution. The land poisoned and dead, covered in a material that bonded and constricted the land beneath. The natural resources and wonders of my world plundered and wasted by a race that forgot it's place in the world. I began ignoring the cries and the death covering my surface and working to heal the damage done, encouraging new life to develop in the ruins of the race who forgot.

In the midst of my anger, I heard a call above the rest, a mother begging for the life of her child, offering her own in return. As the mother of the world this was a call I could not ignore. Knowing I had to help in some way I searched for anything I could do and noticed that the connection to Essence in the human race was disconnected, this prevented anyone from taking advantages of the newly released Essence and using it. I rebuilt the connection and made Essence once again flow freely through all things."

At this point Rose decided she had had enough, she felt she needed to say something, anything. " I'm guessing that mother was me? Even so why appear to me? Why not leave us to our fate? Or talk to someone different, better than me? "

Gaia looked deep into Rose's eyes as if searching her soul before responding, " Yours' was the voice that called to me above all others, you are the one who persuaded me to act with your pure love and willingness to sacrifice yourself for your child. No mother could ignore a plea like that and above all I am a mother, the mother of the world. As to the reason I have reached out it is because the Pantheon are still locked away, without their guidance the world will have difficulty adapting and stabilising."

Rose went to interrupt but Gaia shushed her and continued, "There is one problem, me being free will not alert the One God but breaking the Seal between this realm and the realm of the Pantheon will send a shock wave he can't help but notice. It can not be done until the races on my surface rebuild and become stronger. You will face many challenges along the way but you must rebuild in a manner that will not harm me and grow as a people. You must train and learn to use Essence to replace the many sources of pollution that humanity used to emit. You already have the knowledge you need to improve in your mind, humanity has produced things similar to the world interface in their games and you can use this knowledge to advance and protect your family. Start small and people will find you, what you build will become the new standard. My time is short, my energy needed elsewhere. Good luck, my child"

Gaia finished and before Rose could utter a single word she was gone. The meadow faded to black and she slipped into a deep sleep.

The first thing Rose saw when she opened her eyes the next morning was a new blinking light. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she focused on it and a prompt appeared:

You have a new Quest!

What it takes...

•Build a level 1 settlement

- Have a total population of 10 6/10

- Have basic defence around settlement

- Have 2 weeks of food stored 0/14 days

- Have basic food preparation area

- Have beds for everyone 3/10

Realising her dream was a little more than a dream Rose sat upright and reread the Quest prompt, wondering how the hell they were going to accomplish the rest of the objectives. The lists they made last night would help but all this was assuming Leah and her family would stay to help. She would have to bring it up over breakfast when everyone got up.

Another Quest prompt wanted attention so she focused and brought it up

You have a new Quest

Wake the Pantheon

This Quest is locked until further notice.

Well, that didn't help much, Rose guessed it would unlock when either she or the settlement grew in level, what level that would be would remain a mystery for now.