Rose Blumen ~ Exogignesthai

(Rose)

Nightmare and I took turns flying over the edge of the world to look around. These falls aren’t cleanly vertical it turns out. The gigantic dam wall isn’t neat, below the edge and behind the falls.

We dove carefully to look at it.

From the tormented depths of the sea reaching the falls, we could see the shadow of a mountain range holding up the sky cloth, the surface of the water.

The origin of this mountainous chain and the other peculiar aspects of this sea remain unknown. The only theory that comes close to a likely explanation was from Blume.

B – A super-volcanic eruption somewhere under what is the now, building rapidly these mountains in chain that dammed the inner continent.

It’s hard to get close to the wall of that dam, the water flows too fast and strong against this edge. But it’s clearly nothing regularly organised like a human construct would be. And it is quite massive seen from the ocean.

The likelihood of Blume’s theory is astronomically low. But we lack any better idea.

And in the end, we will leave, and live without that knowledge as a certainty. I don’t know enough about volcanology to ponder about it. We haven’t see anything that looked like a central volcano, but we may be ten years too late if not more.

Blume sailed north, keeping our distance from the prodigious falls we don’t want to get caught in.

We’re curious about how far this goes.

The land is still void, as far as they can perceive, from the presence of anything like them.

That’s another thing we’re clueless about. Everything we’ve seen around Europe lead me to think there would be just as many of them overseas.

Aside the Eldorado itself, it’s rather plain, beings-like-them wise.

At least, there’s still a lot of life. There are so many strains of bacteria in this water that the faintest scratch on my skin always devolves through at least ten different colours, before my body manages to heal it and beat the infections.

Nightmare says our immune systems are at maximum capacity all the time, instead of sleeping and reacting selectively. We’ve mutated there too. I’m feeling alright, but I see these colours over my flesh at the slightest damage of my skin.

Nightmare spends a lot of time inside the black egg. She’s crafting it more meticulously than I expected.

A normal lifeform has all it needs to grow itself with its egg cell, but she needs to craft what she wants step by step, piece by piece in a complex environment. She could botch the work and let it grow to see what it becomes, studying the consequences of trials and errors. But she wants it perfect from the get go. So she’s sparing no efforts.

R – As passionate as ever hm?

N – Could you give me another ovary?

R – What... Why? You already got all my D.N.A from the seed you used, don’t you?

N – I didn’t use your genome. There are so many other elements that make you, you, inside of your cells. D.N.A isn’t the most important.

It’s not?

Especially when you’re crafting a new form of organism, she would later teach me. She was after the proteins and elements I still have to learn. Blume might have taught me before what mitochondria were in the past, but I can’t recall.

Anyway, with Blume’s help, another of these weirdly warm fruits grew in the middle of my chest, between the small roses and vines of hers and ours. A duplicate of what I hold deeper.

The work continued, whilst we sailed north along the falls of this great sea.

~

We finally reached land, and the end of the falls.

The island in the distance became mountains as we got closer. This island, or well, not really, was only covered with young shrubs and dark soil.

Blume settled on the shore, whilst Nightmare and I climbed to the summit to see what lied beyond.

It took us half a day on slippery mountainous rocks. Everything remains wet all the time around here.

R – How’s the creation going, sis’?

N – Good I believe. It’s something I’m not used to.

Not a bird so.

R – Does it have wings?

N – Not really.

What kind of meaning this answer has? Not quite wings?

N – You’ll see. And if you like it... It will be yours.

I have reasonable reasons to be afraid. But I’m feeling good trusting her and confident. I smile.

R – I trust you.

Nightmare doesn’t reply and climbs onto the boulders on our way. I then grab the hand she gives me to pull me up.

We reach the summit. The sky lights are very bright.

Beyond this dark mountain, we see the other side of a high peak. Valleys very far below.

Huge rivers coming from far upward into the west, rolling across this land as they rapidly reach the sea level and a delta they merge into.

Immense rivers piercing, sawing the mountain chains into canyons, to reach in ruckus and turmoil the oceanic views in the distance.

I can’t tell from up here if these large rivers are historical or recent like the sea.

The sight is wondrous nonetheless. And real jungle covers these lands etched by the rivers.

Clouds pass by as they rise, playing with the lights.

Below us, we see no direct path to go down into the jungle and reach the delta by foot. It’s too steep. It could take less than a day to slide down if we were skiing, but you don’t want to trip around here and it’s not snow. You’d be good for a fall you won’t be able to enjoy, and will end falling long after you’re dead.

Well, I don’t have shoes anymore anyway.

We discuss the way to climb down or glide down, given Blume’s current shape and the big egg we carry around.

R – I wonder if the egg could roll down?

Nightmare seems to be considering that idea seriously. I was joking!

Maybe she’ll craft a soft and strong shell for it.

We’ll find a way for all of us to go, tomorrow. We turn back for now and return to Blume slowly as night falls already.

We’re about to reach the jungle, and an ocean!

~