I woke up on the second day of my planned rest to loud sounds of Chip and several messages in the soul chat. Dammit, what was wrong now? I just needed a little longer, and I’d be able to cure Connie. Fighting through some of my grogginess, I pulled up my chat messages. I wanted more sleep.

  Closing out of the chat window, I hopped out of bed. A couple of quick stretches later, and I felt mostly alive. Tomorrow, we would remove the soul knot in Connie, no matter what it took.

  “Come on, Chip, you don’t get to escape this one. Someone has to keep the hoary marmot in line,” I said as I picked up the Pumakey and placed him on my shoulder.

  “Special delivery from the kitchen!” An out-of-breath Orglina barely managed to get the words out as I entered the living room. “Ran as fast as I could. Rabyn said you’d need it.”

  “Appreciate it. No Red today?” I replied, grabbing the plate of eggs from her. It smelled amazing.

  “She’s helping Glorp round up people. She can run pretty fast. Are all polar bears as fast as she is?”

  “Probably not. She’s the only primal mana beast polar bear we have. But they are surprisingly fast normally. How have you been doing?” I asked, still a bit worried about what she had experienced, even if she had been doing remarkable well.

  “I’m okay, started trying to figure out the mana orb with Glorp and Rabyn, it’s interesting!” she replied with a bright smile.

  I was glad to see it on her. “Good, once we get Connie’s soul knot cured, I wanna see what you can do with it too. It’s a strange one.”

  “Yeah, Ivan said it’s a conceptual orb, and was a bit surprised you let me keep it,” she replied.

  “Oh, yeah, he had said those were pretty rare. You might actually have the only one in the city. But rare or not, it’s yours. I’m certainly not taking it back.” Her smile grew even wider at my words. “Alright, let’s go see these greenhouses and just how crazy the overgrowth is.”

  Walking into the backyard, I immediately understood why Cecile had called for all the help he could get. Every one of the greenhouses was exploding with greenery and fruits of all colors. It looked like he had been working to remove the roofs as quickly as he could. All his fields looked just as insane as well. Considering we were still a little away from Spring, this was pretty unbelievable.

  Karlinovo was right. We had to determine the energy that could cause this. And while I didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, we also couldn’t ignore the potential problem. What would happen to the local animal life?

  We already had bigger issues with feral mana beasts. And with Grant working on his own recruitment missions with Roberts, I wasn’t sure his team could handle a large increase in them without help. I’d need to talk to Glunderlin about that and make sure they had all the assistance they’d require, even if I had to do it myself.

  Though I had a different and what I thought was better idea there. Glorp’s family wanted to train after all. This might just be a great opportunity for it. And I trusted them to do their best to capture the mana beasts without killing them unless they had to.

  “Don’t touch the plants yet!” Rabyn yelled. He was standing on a branch of one of the larger trees next to Connie.

  While I didn’t know exactly why they were up there, she had a flute in her hand and several of her spectral band hovering behind her. I could take an educated guess. Rabyn wanted to try to impart a bit more magic into the crops.

  “Anything I can do to help?” I called up to them.

  “Not unless you can rip her soul knot out right here,” Rabyn replied.

  It was possible I could, but it also wasn’t something I was willing to try. For one thing, it wouldn’t help actually get what they needed to be done at the moment, and both of us would be out of commission for the next several days at a minimum once we were finished. Plus, I didn’t want to risk even trying it outside of the soul realm.

  “Probably best I didn’t. What are you doing anyway?” Even if I thought I knew the answer, I was curious about the exact nature of what they were planning.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “There’s a chance that between the two of us, we can further infuse some of the fruit. It’s an incredibly small chance, but if we blanket the entire area with her song and my ability, we just might be able to get a songfruit out of it. They are extremely rare and hard to produce. I’m not even sure anyone has managed to make one in a long time,” Rabyn explained.

  “Oh, well, go for it then,” I replied, not sure what a songfruit was exactly, but I imagined it was some powerful cooking ingredient, and I trusted Rabyn enough that if he said this was worth it, then it was worth it.

  “Um, I think I can help!” Orglina yelled unexpectedly.

  “Actually, yes, you likely can. I should have thought of that,” Rabyn said, hopping out of the tree and walking toward us. “I want you to hold to me the whole time we are up there, okay?”

  “I promise! I won’t let go!” she replied.

  Rabyn hefted her up onto his shoulders and quickly climbed back up the tree, returning to the branch Connie was still standing on. “Alright, as soon as you hear Connie’s music, I want you to trigger your mana orb, okay. Focus as hard as you can on my energy.”

  “Got it!” Orglina replied, sounding thrilled to be part of it.

  Chip followed the two of them up the tree, chirping excitedly his whole climb.

  “What are they doing?” Elody asked, appearing next to me.

  “Rabyn is trying to create a songfruit, whatever that is,” I answered.

  “Oh. Really? I wonder what he’s plotting to do with it.” Her top set of eyes were intently focused on the four in the tree as she spoke.

  “Not…” I started to say as the music exploded from the tree. A few seconds into it, another layer joined in. It was the combination of Rabyn and Orglina adding their own abilities to the song.

  It had produced a beautifully haunting melody. The scenery in front of us seemed to flicker as I caught images of what might have been a forest of cloudtrees. That morphed into a feast, orcs at all tables. Again it changed, this time, holding on to the image of vibrant gardens, with birdsong joining the mix.

  As Elody and I marveled in the wonder playing out before us, I felt her hand slip into my own. I squeezed gently, the music shifting slightly. Several of Connie’s phantoms had joined the performance. And then, just as suddenly as it had started, it was over. It had been one of the most beautiful pieces of music I had ever experienced.

  “Are we good to start the harvest now?” Cecile yelled from behind a greenhouse.

  Elody’s hand slipped from mine. The song was over, and there was work to do. I did my best not to let my disappointment show.

  “Yes, but pay attention to anything that stands out even more than usual. Likely, it will have a bit of a shimmer to it if the magic worked,” Rabyn yelled back.

  Dozens of people started filtering in with Glunderlin at their lead. The twinoges started directing them while Pryte appeared next to me. Gamma was still floating near his head.

  “Any idea what caused the overgrowth?” Pryte asked.

  “No clue yet. Ivan is looking into,” I answered.

  “If I had to guess, it’s likely tied to the changes Cecile underwent within the soul realm. It’s possible that the soul knot had been dampening their own growing strength, and in removing it, his core energies were more able to flow into the plants. Though the problem with that idea is we aren’t seeing anything similar with Rabyn or Elicec,” Elody added.

  “Anything that we know of,” Pryte countered.

  “Actually, Rabyn was able to create some new recipes for rejuvenating soul energy. It’s possible he’s only able to as part of that. But it does still leave Elicec,” I said, backing up Elody’s theory.

  “It’s gonna be best we let Ivan check all the dungeon energy readings to be sure. Hopefully, this is nothing, but we don’t ever seem to have that kind of luck,” Pryte replied.

  He was right, of course. We never had the luck of it being nothing. So instead, I decided to hope it was just something good this time.

  “Dave, come check this out!” Cecile yelled again, holding a giant carrot in front of him.

  I looked at Elody and then Pryte, shrugged, and headed toward the smiling Paladin of Agriculture. This was a major harvest for him. He had every right to that smile, judging from the carrot in his hands.

  “That’s an impressive carrot,” I said, said once I reached him.

  “Yeah, even I have to admit Cecile outdid himself here, whether he knows how he did it or not. This is an amazing bounty,” Elicec added.

  “Any guesses at what caused it?” I asked, looking around at all the fruits and vegetables being loaded into containers. Rabyn was already loudly supervising where to take each when it was full.

  “Nope, came out to check the fields, and they all looked like this. I found the hoary marmot exhausted from his feast, though. He’s sleeping it off in the toolshed. Little guy managed to eat a whole four of these carrots!” Cecile replied.

  “Let’s keep an eye on him, make sure there aren’t any negative effects. We don’t need a sick primal mana beast.” Both of the brothers nodded. “So anything specific you want me to join in on, or just dig in?”

  “Plenty to go around, just don’t overexert yourself. You’ve still gotta heal Connie tomorrow,” Cecile replied.

  “I know, I know. I won’t push myself, but I also don’t want to miss this.” I walked past them into the nearby greenhouse as I finished my reply. This one was chock-full of fruit trees.

  There were dozens of apple trees that Cecile had worked meticulously at grafting, which shouldn’t have been ready to produce anything for another few years. All of them were now pushing against the glass top. Several people were already at work pulling the panels free, just as Cecile had done to the first few.

  Every removed piece of glass caused a tree’s crown to erupt out of the greenhouse. Dozens of ripe fruit rained down each time. I caught one of the more tasty-looking ones, curious if their flavor matched their appearance.

  They did. It had a near-perfect crunch. I devoured the apple, thoroughly enjoying every bite. It left me understanding how the hoary marmot had managed to eat as many carrots as he did.

  As the day wore on, more and more of the city showed up to help. The sheer volume of food that had been produced overnight was more than I had imagined, even after first seeing it. As the stores grew, loud conversations of a winter party had started.

  The talk of a city-wide feast this soon after the invasion was a good sign that we were recovering. Could we replicate this level of harvest next year? Would this make for another good holiday? I didn’t know the answer to either question, but I was hopeful about both.

  The sudden loud calls for Rabyn to one of the fields magnified that hope even more. Dropping what I was doing, I joined the race to the call. Had they found the songfruit Rabyn had hoped for?

  “Where is it?” Rabyn yelled as he joined me near the field.

  “Over here,” one of the Reltleons called.

  Rabyn’s face lit up as we neared the spot. On the ground in front of us was a bright purple tomato that sparkled in the daylight. And once I got close enough, I could even hear a subtle hum of music coming from within it.

  “I honestly didn’t believe we’d pull this off. But this is the work of a master,” Rabyn said as he leaned down over the fruit and very gently cut it free from the plant.

  “What are you going to use it for?” I asked.

  “Nothing yet. It is the first ingredient I’ve managed to collect for a masterwork dish. For now, it goes into my personal pantry until I’ve found the rest. But once that happens, I promise what I make will be beyond anything you can imagine,” he answered, still smiling.

  “That’s going to attract a lot of attention once it happens. Any chance of staying under the radar will be long gone then,” Pryte added, joining us.

  “It won’t matter. Once this is done, that means I will need to begin the work on my other goals anyway. Which means hiding won’t be possible. But don’t worry too much. I doubt I will find everything else I require for many years,” Rabyn replied.

  “Dave!” Orglina yelled from somewhere nearby, cutting off any further conversation.

  “What’s wrong?” I yelled back, worried, immediately running toward her voice. Rabyn and Pryte were both beside me.

  “I think this tree has a face!” she screamed, and I realized it wasn’t fear in her yells, it was excitement.

  Only a short run into the woods, and we found her and Red both looking in awe at one of the trees. Before today, it had been one of the largest spruces on the property. Now it was nearing the largest tree I had seen on the planet. And across its trunk was what appeared to be the start of a face.

  “This might explain part of what’s going on,” Pryte said.

  “Does it? Because I have no idea what this means other than I’m guessing we have an awakened tree,” I replied.

  “Is this the start of a world tree?” The question had come from Glorp, who hadn’t been there a moment ago.

  “I think it might be. I’m not entirely sure. I haven’t seen one before. But considering the dungeon energy we are pumping into the planet, the fact that it’s growing, and our own Paladin of Agriculture, it does seem like we’d have the right mix for one. It would explain how Rabyn actually managed to get his songfruit,” Pryte answered.

  “Someone wanna explain what a world tree is?” I asked, my only reference point being Norse mythology, and I doubted this connected the nine worlds together, at least I kind of hoped it didn’t. That didn’t seem like something we’d want in the backyard.

  “It’s a potentially powerful elemental guardian for a planet to have. Think of it like a primal mana beast on steroids. I don’t know a ton about them. Elody likely knows more. But this is a good sign for the Empire, a very good one,” Pryte answered.

  The face on the tree had shifted slightly as we were talking. It looked down at us with a large, contented smile as its branches rustled in the wind. This, more than anything, meant that yes, we would need today to be a future holiday.

  There are many ingredients that chefs the Spiral over search for in desperation for their entire existences, only to end their careers never having touched a single one. Amongst them is the songfruit. For the rare soul who actually finds one, it can be used to create a meal worthy of a god. But the real harmony of the songfruit comes from its ability to pair with other legendary ingredients. When it is just the base for something greater, truly, the chef has begun something that will forever change their world.

  Dangerous, Secret, and Lost Foods by Tony Dainour

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