59. Myriad (Patreon)

A week left.

A month was the deadline that Aloe had imposed herself with. Born more out of physiological need rather than economic or time strains, she just now noticed how small of a margin she had given herself. One couldn’t do anything in a month, even less if that involved growing plants.

Truth be told, she was hoping to go to Sadina already. She wanted to have a proper bath for once and also buy new seeds to further her experiments into new uncharted territory.

The problem was that she lacked funds.

With all her savings, she only had a hundred drupnars to her name. A single drupnarun was her net worth.

“Money, money, money. I want some money.” Aloe muttered as she swam freely on the oasis.

Today it truly felt like a winter day as the sun was shining dimmer than normal, allowing her to stay in the water for a longer while without fearing to burn her skin. Even then, that did not mean it was cold outside. The star in the heavens desolated the landscape and people alike.

“I don’t want to ask Mom for money...” Not only that would be shameful, but that would also raise a lot of questions. And Aloe wasn’t sure if she wanted to share her discoveries just yet. “Just a little more time... I need something... big...”

These last days hadn’t been for naught, even if Aloe’s current behavior may lead to believe otherwise. Her hands had almost grown calluses – something unthinkable for her social standing – from all the cutting and shaping she did with the palm tree leaves. Her irrigation tube system left a lot to be desired, but with luck, she would manage to have something ready before she had to come back to the city.

As for the cultivation side of things, Aloe had evolved and infused the rest of the black seeds and planted the resulting Flourishing Springs around the oasis. The first one she planted with the potatoes was almost done growing now.

“They grow so fast... Four times growth speed is no joke. A year-long plant could grow in just a season that way. But if it just takes a month? In a week it’s already done. It’s marvelous~” Aloe took a little dive as her face was feeling too dry for her liking. “If only I could apply that to every plant. Alas, they need to be evolved ones... Hmm, that reminds me of something.”

Aloe walked outside of the oasis, water flowing down her olive skin. The sun was so vicious even on a calm day that she almost needed no towel to dry herself with.

After donning the clothes she had prepared beforehand, a set of linen pants and a blouse that was slightly too big for her (courtesy of her mother), Aloe marched into the desert.

Her mind had been too distracted these last days, and her body so drained, that she had forgotten that she had managed to evolve a different plant altogether.

Hidden between two sizeable dunes, in a valley of golden sand behind the greenhouse, a spot of light blinded Aloe.

“What the-“ The girl cursed as she led her arms to her eyes. “What was that?”

Even with her eyes partially blocked, it was still hard to look forward. The light coming before her was just too strong.

“What’s happening?” Aloe walked blindingly toward where she had planted the evolved plant, careful to not miss her step and roll down the dune she was standing on.

Slowly but surely, Aloe made her way down. Even with her eyes closed, she could only see whiteness.

The slope on her feet suddenly relaxed, letting her know that she had reached the bottom of the valley. Aloe tried really hard to where the evolved plant was, but the light was even reflecting on the sand, so looking down wasn’t an alternative.

“Fuck this.” Aloe turned around and left the place.

She wasn’t outright surrendering, she remembered what the description of the plant, Myriad, said.

“I don’t recall a light show during the night, so not only it can survive with light alone, but it also magnifies it. If I want to take a look at the Myriad my best chance is to come around twilight.”

Considering it was noon and she had already bathed, Aloe opted to take a well-deserved nap. After relaxing her evolution routine, her headaches and mood swings were greatly dampened. Even then she needed her sleep as she had just finished evolving the last Flourishing Spring today.

A ride with Fikali sounded delightful, but a nap even more so.

“Sweet dreams, I hope~” Aloe added with a yawn before falling asleep almost instantly.

{*}

By the time she woke up, the sky had lost its light blue color and the sun was readying to set down.

“That was a good sleep, though it would have been better if I remembered to take out my clothes.” Aloe made her way out of the house as she stuffed her mouth with dates.

The dweller enjoyed a little run around the oasis, diving in and out of the sand. By now, Aloe trusted Fikali enough to leave her unleashed, against her better judgment. The dweller noticed her as she began swimming in her direction.

“Heya Fikali, want some dates?” Aloe offered a few as her hand was overflowing with them. And it wasn’t like she was going to run out of them.

“Wroooo!” Fikali accepted excitedly as she bellyflopped on the sand.

“Relax! You are going to dirty me with sand and I have just bathed!” She shouted, making the dweller take a step back. “No, no. No need to be scared.” Aloe soothed her. “Just... don’t be so joyful?”

“Hrooo!” Fikali acknowledged by raising her snoot high up instead of splashing the sand around.

“Good girl.” And Aloe threw a date straight to her mouth.

The dweller immediately consumed the small date without hesitating. The poor monster was unable to eat the dates by herself as most were too high up for her to eat them, so whilst they weren’t pistachios, Fikali was excited when Aloe offered them to her.

One by one, Fikali gorged on the dates. Aloe gave them slowly because she knew the dweller was able to swallow them in a single go. And she highly doubted it could be healthy, especially for a desert dweller of her age.

Before Aloe noticed, all but one date was gone.

“Okay Fikali, this is the last one.” Aloe swayed the date from side to side, tantalizing the dweller. Fikali panted with her tongue out as she salivated, much like a dog. Aloe readied herself, pushing her left foot backward and gyrating her hips. “Catch!” And then threw the date to the horizon.

Fikali left her position in a mad dash, making Aloe repent her decision as she was swiftly covered with a cloud of sand and dust.

“Ugh!” Aloe closed her eyes and began coughing uncontrollably. Only after the cloud dissipated, she allowed herself to talk. “Damn. Deserved, I guess.”

She didn’t make a fuss out of it as she would bathe tomorrow too, but it was a bit annoying, nonetheless.

“Eh, could be worse. At least sand isn’t as dirty and troublesome as dirt.”

With a groan, Aloe made her way back to the myriad in hopes that she wasn’t blinded again by a second sun.

“Okay, this is more promising,” Aloe said as she ascended the dune. “No light shows yet and even if the sun is still out, there isn’t a lot of natural light to camouflage the plant’s light as before.”

As she made it to the top, Aloe was pleased to only be greeted by a mild light. Similar to a lamppost but several times stronger. What was more interesting though, was the actual plant.

“Oh!” Aloe exclaimed in fascination. “So that’s what the Aloe Veritas meant with converting sand into glass when they grow.”

The Myriad was an interesting plant because it didn’t have any... plantiness?

No stem, no trunk, no leaves, no flowers, no petals; nothing that could identify the object before her as a plant. The reason for that was because the Myriad was made out of glass.

Pure glass.

Aloe approached slowly, and whilst the light was infinitely dimmer than before, it was still a bit difficult to look at. Squinting her eyes helped a lot and allowed her to discern more details out of the plant.

It wasn’t made out of vegetal matter – that was for sure – but it did vaguely resemble a plant. The glass grew in shapes vaguely resemblant to that of leaves, maybe petals and vines, but not by much.

What was more eye-catching was the center of the Myriad.

“Is that a rainbow?” Aloe squinted her eyes heavily, thinking that she was imagining things, but no. What she saw was veritable. A localized rainbow in the middle of the plant. “So that’s where the light came from...”

But even as Aloe basked in the myriad of lights coming from the rainbow, the mysticism of the plant faded in her mind for a more logical question.

“Is the glass usable?” Aloe’s eyes shone like drupnars at the prospect of finding a new useful plant.