A Great Deal of Power - Chapter 9

Seda stumbled into the clearing. "Finally," his breathy voice revealed his exhaustion. He collapsed onto the ground beneath him, now a mix of dirt and sand. Yet, despite his fatigue, he couldn't bring himself to peel his eyes away from the lake, which seemed to stretch on forever in the growing darkness of the evening sky.

The man merely continued walking, feeling no debility whatsoever. "Come," he said to Seda, "I have a boat to make you and a lake to populate with fish. You remain the judge of my work."

"Later, later," Seda mumbled, "I need to rest." At last, he broke his gaze and dropped fully onto the ground, rolling onto his back to face the sky. The man raised an eyebrow but said nothing, instead conjuring a bed with a flick of his finger.

"Rest through the night, I'll be here when you awake. There are no insects to bite you here, nor beasts to prey upon you, so be comfortable." The man turned, heading back into the forest.

"Wait!" Seda cried out. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the overlook, I must be aware of their statuses in case they finally rouse from their slumber."

"That'll take all night!" replied Seda.

"Only if you were to accompany me," laughed the man, "but I have a few things I wish to try, and they may make my journey quite a bit shorter."

Seda observed the man and decided to take him at his word. "I know you said that there's nothing that will harm me, but can you at least make me a tent to take sanctuary in?"

"For what reason?" asked the man.

"I simply feel safer with a shelter above my head and walls surrounding me to shield me from the world, however basic it may be," Seda replied.

"I see," said the man. With one last wave of his arm, he conjured a large white tent around the bed in which Seda rested. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Travel safely," Seda answered, "take care not to get lost."

"No need to worry, if I were to lose my way, I'd make the world reveal itself to me, and then I'd be able to get back atop the cliff."

The man heard Seda sigh, even with the tent muffling his voice to some degree, "Just take my well wishes and get on with it."

"Will do," answered the man, "goodnight."

"Goodnight," responded Seda.

The man turned and left the clearing, once more setting out to journey through the alpine forest and its towering fir trees. As he stepped out of sight from the tent, he paused and lifted his hands above his head. Then, in one sweeping motion, he flung his arms down and propelled himself into the air, high above the tree line. Despite this leap, the man was unable to sustain it, and came tumbling down through the air.

CRACK

He landed hard onto the dense soil, his back being the first to impact the ground. "Ah," he moaned in pain. He took a few deep breaths, "Control yourself," he whispered to himself, "heal the wound instead of crying in pain." He closed his eyes and thought about where the pain radiated from. He pictured his malformed and broken body writhing in pain on the forest floor and saw his shattered spine piercing through the skin of his back as splinters of shattered bone sat amongst the dirt.

The man's focus intensified as he pictured the splinters reattaching themselves to where they belonged. The world, once more, began to bend to his will. With the visualization of his healing, the world obliged – his spine straightened, blood flowed back into where it had spilled, cleansing itself in the process, open wounds reverted to their previous, uninjured states, cracks in bones mended.

At the end of this process lay a healthy man in tattered clothes. The man opened his eyes and sat up, scanning for any scratches that still afflicted him. Yet he could find none, for his restoration had been employed to perfection. The man, upon realizing this, became utterly joyful, springing to his feet and performing a jig for a captive audience of trees and bush.

When his high waned, he took to repairing his clothes, and they too, were restored, looking just as they did when he first summoned them.

"At least I know it's possible," he said to himself. He adopted a pose as if he were mid-stride of a sprint. Then, he sped up his breathing and swung his arms back and forth. As he closed his eyes, he took his first step. Instead of the forest floor, his foot stayed suspended in the air. He took another step, and now it was clear that there was no charade, he was truly walking on the wind. Another step, then another, slowly but surely, he ascended into the air on that invisible staircase.

After several dozen steps, the man opened his eyes and immediately plummeted towards the ground. While still in the air, he resealed his eyes and pictured the air propelling him up. The world relented, and he shot up above the tree line for a third time. Yet, it would not hold, as gravity began its work, pulling him back down. The man, however, did not feel like accommodating gravity, and instead envisioned himself being carried along with the wind back towards the cliff. It was made so, as the man became light, lighter than the air itself, and was swiftly yet gently pulled along by the currents.

As his body was transported closer and closer to his destination, the man maintained his focus, careful not to let other things cloud his mind.

Soon enough, he arrived at the cliff, and the wind gently set him down atop it, whereby he was able to overlook the town and its lake.

Finally, his mind could rest. As he admired the view, he was overwhelmed by his success and began laughing. That such a thing was possible, perhaps his powers were even mightier than he initially believed. Perhaps his predecessor was truly right – maybe this universe was his to do with as he pleased and command as he wished.

As the darkness of night blanketed the land, the man recalled the purpose of his travel. He descended into the pit of the crater and performed various checks on the woman, who still laid asleep. Then, he again moved to check the woman he summoned, noting that her stomach was sunken into her body more than it had the day before. Though, other than that, she seemed completely fine as she continued to rest.

His created man would be the last to be tended to, and the man made his way through the opening to evaluate his status. Like the others, he remained unconscious, but his face appeared a tad more gaunt. Like the woman he had checked before him, his stomach had also sunken into his body.

The man sat beside his creation and thought about his observations. After a few moments, he had come to the conclusion that, despite being in a permanent state of rest, their bodies still functioned regularly, and their needs required tending. He wondered if his powers extended even further, so as to be able to affect their bodies himself, after all, he was their creator.

However, Seda was quick to come to mind. He couldn't affect Seda at all, at least not directly. If he were to somehow harm them, then they might perish, a risk he wasn't sure he was prepared to take. Yet, as he considered this thought, another came to him. Even if they did perish, no significant change would be had, as he could just create another in their exact likeness. Surely that was rational, after all, these weren't complete beings, they had no lives prior to their creation – they weren't and now they are, that's all there is to it.

The man had justified himself, now it was time to act. He held his hands over the man's stomach and closed his eyes. Once more, he wandered his mind, using his imagination to picture the man as he lay in front of him. There, he found his stomach, and envisioned it filling halfway with food and water, not wanting to overdo it. He opened his eyes and found that his creation's stomach had inflated to a normal size but did not bulge from his body. "Perfect," he said to himself.

From there, he moved on to the man's face in an attempt to fix his gauntness. Instead of filling or healing something, he conceived a vision of the man side-by-side with his previous, fuller self. He pictured the man's face, as it was, transforming back into what it had been. He opened his eyes, again finding that the world had made it so.

Not yet satisfied, the man moved on to restoring the woman, providing the same treatment for her that he did the man, and again, found success.

His newfound power excited him, not only could he create the world itself, but he could change each individual thing as he pleased. But not to be overtaken by his recent realization, he conjured a leather chair in front of his predecessor and sat upon it, watching over her for any signs of consciousness.

He wanted to be cautious of his powers. While this world, and even the universe, was his to do with at his discretion, he didn't wish to misuse them and bring destruction upon himself. Instead, he believed that it was best to make observing the woman his primary responsibility, as she would surely act as his guide when she awoke.

The night dragged on, yet no stirring was to be found. Still, the man watched over her, busying himself in considering the woman's beauty and divinity. He wondered if he would eventually become like her – a radiant being, all-knowledgeable and all-powerful.

With time, his thoughts turned to his universe. What kind of world would he opt to create, he wondered. Though he quickly turned away from those thoughts completely, believing it too early to be making any kind of decision.

Ceaselessly, the man cared for his fellow Keeper, hoping that she would awake at any passing moment.

Yet, as daylight peeked its way into the crater and night turned to dawn, his hope began to slip away.