Chapter 26: Spread Your Roots

“So… these are your followers. They do look a lot like the ents (popularly depicted) on Earth.”

“There are creatures like them on Earth as well?”

“Hm… Not quite. It is a bit complicated.”

Standing now at the foot of Green Earth Mother’s true body, I carefully observed the ‘ents’ in their natural habitat—large trees rooted to the ground, yet with faces of their own, capable of observing their surroundings and attacking ‘predators’.

No—are ‘predators’ even the right term here? The few animals that come to hurt these ents aren’t doing it to hunt them for food. I don’t think I know of many animals that eat bark, after all. Rather, their unwelcome visitors are usually just animals like birds and rodents coming to make a home out of these barely sentient trees by hollowing them out or building nests on their branches.

Despite being almost like regular trees on the outside, their bodies aren’t as firm as ordinary trees, and in fact, have some level of flexibility to them. They can’t turn their bodies a full three-sixty or a complete one-eighty, but they can turn themselves just about well enough that they can swat away anything they consider a threat with their branches.

Personally, I’m pretty curious about how they work inside, but I don’t think dissecting them is on the table with Green Earth Mother. She’d probably get pretty upset over the idea.

“Here you go, child. Open up. Mother has something delicious for you to eat.”

Kreeek.
 

An ent opened its mouth wide before Green Earth Mother tossed a dead rabbit into its open trunk. The mouth closed and didn’t even bother to chew.

In addition to being capable of photosynthesis, like most plants, these organisms are also partially carnivorous. Their part-carnivorous nature seemed to have developed due to her presence, which blocked out the sun with her leaves.

At times, unable to receive the sunlight they required to survive, these plants would eat nearby animals to satiate their hunger. Animals, sometimes not knowing the difference between an ent and a regular tree, would wander into their range and get swept up by them, turning into minced meat for the ent to eat.

While Green Earth Mother does give them nutrients from time to time by way of entangling with their roots underground and pushing nourishment through like a mother and a baby’s umbilical cord, she can’t feed them all at once, since she needs some of her own to survive. Unlike Ramube, who ascended to godhood after death, she’s still very much alive as a living god—err—tree.

“This is quite the strange sight, I must admit.”

“Oog.”

It seemed Ramube was also a bit disturbed by the sight of a tree eating a rabbit whole. Maybe he’s even more bothered than this by me, seeing as he’s a gorilla and all. I wonder if he’ll still be capable of trusting trees after this?

Although the ents have mouths, they don’t have any vocal cords, which isn’t a surprise. But what does intrigue me is how these things were able to all come to the same idea at once, that there existed a “Green Earth Mother” that created them in the first place. Surely, they must have a means of communication between them. Religions can only form with the presence of two major elements, after all: communication and community. They’ve got the latter down, so what about the former?

“Disciple, although your followers have mouths, they are unable to speak. So I am curious how it is that they can communicate with one another.”

“Ah, yes. About that. They have their own unique means of communication amongst themselves. You are aware of fungi, correct?”

“Oh. Mycelial networks.”
 

Mycorrhizal symbiosis.

It is believed that plants on Earth are capable of sharing nutrients and signals through underground networks of fungi that spread throughout forests. While this may seem superficially one-sided from a plant’s perspective, in fact, the situation is more equal than it appears.

Fungi aren’t altruists. They also take what they must from this network and prioritize their own survival first above all. However, that isn’t to say that they would so easily allow the plants they ‘trade’ with to die from malnutrition. Killing their golden geese would be pretty dumb of them. So, they play pretty fairly with the plants that utilize their networks.

The ents must be hooked up to mycelial networks of their own, which they also use for communication. Although it appears that the nutrients they receive through the mycelial network “trades” are still insufficient in the presence of her giant tree body.

“Indeed, mentor! You truly must possess a wealth of knowledge that other constellations would envy!”
 

No, I have this thing called the internet, and useless trivia videos I watched out of boredom. That, and I used similar abilities in my Ysdrafell playthrough in Dark Worlds. This was how I managed to fertilize the barren world of Ysdrafell—through mycelial networks connected to the World Tree.
 

“It is no wonder then that grass still grows quite well in this area. If mycelial networks are keeping them all alive, then that makes sense.”

“Indeed! That is correct! However…”

“This will not be sustainable in the long term.”

“Yes… That is also correct…”

Green Earth Mother’s physical form is that of a giant tree in the middle of a forest. Unlike Esphera’s true form, which is neither tethered to this world nor growing in size, Green Earth Mother’s true form directly interacts with it. As she grows bigger and bigger, she slurps up more nutrients from the earth. The bigger the Green Earth Mother gets, the more shade she throws around, preventing more plants around her from getting their share of sunlight.

This is a phenomenon also observed in forests on Earth, where bigger trees inadvertently wind up killing plant life beneath their shade. This slows down the propagation of new plant life in forests, especially in densely packed areas of these forests. While this isn’t a major problem for Green Earth Mother herself, it is a big problem for her followers.

“Size can be quite problematic sometimes.”

“... Mentor, are you calling me fat?”

Oh fuck, I can feel her killing intent.

“NO! NO! NO! That is NOT what I meant by that, disciple! I swear!”

“Oh, okay. That must have been my misunderstanding, then. I apologize, mentor.”

Fwish.

She retracted her killing intent.

Women are fucking scary, man. Even Ramube, a fellow constellation, looks frightened.

“Oog…”

Perhaps it’s best if I start being a bit more careful with my words from now on.

In any case, now that I’ve been made acquainted with the ents, it was time to get more acquainted with their revered goddess and her motivations.

To get the mood right, I set up the scene with the help of Ramube. Ramube teleported some of the stuff I had kept at my condo unit, those being: some foldable chairs, a foldable table, and some formal clothes for me to wear.

After putting down the furniture in a relatively scenic spot, I went behind a tree to change into my formal attire and came right back to the two constellations to begin the interview, but…
 

“Disciple, why are you blushing like that?”
“N-Nothing! It is nothing, mentor! I assure you!”

“Oog…”
 

For some reason, Ramube was giving Green Earth Mother a look of disappointment (as far as I could tell from what few expressions Ramube is capable of making).

Something tells me that even if I asked him for details, he likely wouldn’t give me an answer. It probably wasn’t important, so I had Green Earth Mother take a seat. Then, I pulled out my microphone (smartphone with a voice recorder app on) and began with the interview.

“So, Green Earth Mother, we know your story, but we do not know much about you. How about you tell us a little bit more about yourself?” I asked before pushing my microphone (smartphone) close to Green Earth Mother.

“Um, mentor, did we not already go through something like this at the cafe?”

“That was different. That was just us touching the surface of things, learning about you as a person. But this time, we are talking business. If we are to have you trained as a constellation, we must learn more about your abilities and your motivations as a constellation.”

“Abilities and motivations… I think I understand.”

“Good. Then, tell us about your abilities.”

The divine domain. From what I’ve learned recently from these two constellations beside me, who I’ve grown somewhat familiar with, constellations are responsible for and have the power to govern over them. From concepts to literal territory, a constellation’s divine domain can be practically anything so long as it ties back to their deification.

A constellation’s divine domain usually determines what base abilities they possess. Esphera, for instance, governs over the divine domain that is this world’s sun, which she is named after. For that reason, she possesses the ability to manipulate fire and control the sun itself.

A divine domain can also have multiple aspects, however, depending on the nature of their worship. Another aspect of Esphera’s divine domain is her ability to create, which is a byproduct of the belief that she brought humans into existence. For this reason, many of her abilities related to creation tie into humanity, granting her the power to manipulate them directly. 

A constellation is not limited to just abilities granted by their divine domain, however. There exist examples like Ramube, for instance, who can manipulate divine energy so that he can translate his intentions into readable text for others. It turns out that the ability to transport themselves and others to different dimensions is another application of divine energy, which is why the constellations I have met thus far are capable of doing so.

“Well, um, as you know, mentor, my divine domain is closely related to nature. Due to my divine status as the creator of ents, I can manipulate plants and bring new ents to life.”

Oooh.

That’s a noticeable difference from Esphera, who can only directly alter her followers. I suppose this may be a result of ents having a preconceived notion of how they were created as seeds spread forth from the Green Earth Mother herself.

From what I’ve been told by Green Earth Mother before this, it appears that they see themselves as her children because they’re larger than the regular trees around them, which led them to believe they must be scions of the Green Earth Mother. This is a stark difference from humans, who still haven’t thought up how Esphera supposedly made them, leading Esphera to only be capable of altering them rather than creating them, like Green Earth Mother creates her ents.

Though I suppose that’s a problem I can help Esphera fix another time, if she hasn’t figured something out by now. But I suppose I’ll have to check in on her much later, seeing as she had said that she wanted to go independent in the meantime.

“Is that as far as your powers go?”

“No, I can also manipulate the wind to some extent, so long as it is within the vicinity of my true body.”

“Could this be perhaps because your followers believe that it is the swaying of your branches that causes the wind to blow in certain directions?”

“Yes, that is correct! You are quite perceptive, mentor!”

So it’s the cart before the horse. Well, I can’t really blame these trees for thinking that way when they’ve barely got a brain cell at all. If anything, it’s actually starting to feel pretty impressive that these trees can think that far. Maybe there’s some hope for them yet.

“Interesting. Interesting. I believe that with your powers, you will be able to do a lot more than my previous disciple.”

“More than Miss Ringed Star Mother? Truly?”

“I believe so. There is a lot of flexibility to your powers that we can use to further your growth.”

Pssshhht.

Strange. The ringed sun just went really bright again for a moment. Maybe I’m not seeing things after all? I wonder if Esphera’s having a difficult time right now, managing things on her own.

No, I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s a fast learner, after all. And she’s not one to shy away from a challenge, so she’ll surely come out of whatever problem she arrives at as the winner.

“You have a lot of potential, Green Earth Mother. But what use would those talents be without a proper goal?”

“You wish to learn about my motivations now.”

“That is correct.”

Power without purpose is dangerous.

Even more so with godlike entities or literal gods like those among the constellations. Thankfully, it appears that most gods act according to the innate nature of their divinity.

Esphera, who bears the nature of a caring, protective mother-like figure, acts on behalf of her followers, who view her as their creator.

Ramube, true to his constellation title as Gorilla of Fates and Twisted Futures, works to prevent the worst possible timeline from occurring and enjoys peace and harmony.

Both of their personalities were very clearly shaped by the beliefs held by their followers about them. This ought to mean that Green Earth Mother shouldn’t be much different.

Green Earth Mother took a moment to ponder the question, her eyes focused on the thin tree roots running across the ground like veins. Then, her eyes lifted to the sky, as if to meet someone’s gaze. The uncertainty in her expression melted as it was replaced by one of conviction.

“My motivations… Ah, yes. My goal is quite simple.”

“What is it then?”

 

“I wish to spread my roots and watch over this world, so that life may flourish as it was always meant to.”