WHEN I GOT REINCARNATED AS A SPIDER WITH MY GODDESS :VOLUME1

CHAPTER – 4 - A - THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING APPLE

CHAPTER – 4 - A - THE TREE OF LIFE AND  THE CASE OF THE MISSING APPLE

I came across a meadow once that looked as if I had stepped into the pages of a storybook. I was standing at the same levitated high ground where I and Lady Athena were able to see the stars together.

The malachite-green fields seemed to be covered in a bright sheet under the clear azure blue sky. I could hear the serenading minstrel of the heavenly birds breaking the quiet of this far-fetched world. The whalebone-white clouds shaped like tufts of marshmallows, glided slowly across the sky. They carried an airy, warm, drizzling rain with them. It cleansed the land and banished the strangling coldness and stunned silence of the lake’s surface. The pattering off the leaves, ultra-symmetric ripples on surface of the lake, the rain energized the full ecosystem of this holy land.

A neon-blue ribbon of river ran through the centre of the meadow. The song of the river was very gentle as it went plinking and tinkling over the grey gravel bed.

The molten golden crown on top of mountains head and the bleached snow was forged by the gods of Olympus themselves. I could see the reflection varnished onto the lakes glassy surface.

Even in this spirit renewing rustic scene I could not hold my breath but be baffled at the sight of the gigantic and noble tree which stood in front of me all high and mighty. With a stock straight and a proud grey obelisk and branches sticking out emphatically and shaped like a Neptune’s fork, thick and defiant at the bottom, frail toward the top, the exceedingly beautiful tree was yet extraordinary that I could not describe it in mere words of my limited vocabulary.

The soothing and warm feeling of the light which passed through its canopies, and the cool of its shadow was just so tempting to lie under its divine protection.

It all feels so connected and familiar!

I looked around but unable to find Lady Athena I decided to wait and lay under the tree reading the book on magic which I had brought with me.

It had been more than an hour and I started feeling hungry again for some reason I wondered what fruit this tree bore during its ripening season. I removed my thoughts of eating and started focusing on reading again. For some time, I wanted to try teleportation magic because it is just so cool to vanish from one place and appear at another and take others by surprise. Maybe then I could wipe the floor with that haughty angel and his obsolete thoughts about being ‘lowly humans’.

It had been quite a while and Lady Athena had still not shown up yet. Maybe she is busy in her duties as a god such as looking after her subjects, blessing others who follow her and maybe praying. Wait! Whom she would even pray? Does gods also pray someone? Maybe they pray to World God for his blessings! Well I am sure I would not want to disturb Lady Athena during her duties or unexpected chores which suddenly might have popped up. I am sure she would show up soon because we are good friends. Aren’t we…

Just then a huge, almost circular shaped red object fell on the cover of my book while the momentum made the other end of the cover hit my nose. I was quick in my response and had already made distance with the book so the impact of the hit was less and there was probably no nosebleed or other minor injuries.

But for some reason I wanted to get hurt and use the healing magic. I have been still wondering about the after-effects of the healing magic which I previously used, because it felt like it almost rebuilt my whole body and let me gain more strength than my usual self. For some reason I also felt more confident than ever. Learning magic is obviously fun for anyone.

Probably all my classmates by now would also have learnt magic and may be able to even burn down buildings or break huge boulders as they are always stronger than me and maybe always will be. But this time I am sure I will not lack behind because I have my goddess by my side.

Now to return to the current scenario, I had to probe and investigate this unidentified falling object. Well duh… it’s probably an apple. Why would a UFO fall from the sky considering it’s the divine realm we are talking about (and it seems that nothing can surprise me anymore)?

A large sized apple with bright red color on a green base lay on the ground on my right side. It was probably a bit larger than the normal sized Kashmiri apples and for the other part the tutti – fruity smell of this ripened fruit in the air had already caught my nose’s attention. I just couldn’t wait to know the taste of this bold apple which dared to fall and disturb me during my reading time. Seeing that I was all alone and there was no caretakers for the tree nearby that means I can probably eat this apple.

Surely I can!

CHOMP! CHOMP! CRUNCH! CHOMP! The Skin of this fruit is crisp, juicy, and aromatic yet tasted a bit acidic. As for the fleshy part it had a sweet syrup taste and an earthly touch in it which made it even a more enjoyable delicacy. I am sure it will serve as a good ingredient in deserts. I would love to make an apple pie for it and enjoy it together with Lady Athena. I just can’t stop thinking about her and how she saved me yesterday and stepped forward in order to protect me.

I finished the whole damn thing which caused this fiasco and said to myself ‘serves it right.’ But later when I realized that there were no seeds, I started wondering how the species of this tree survives then if they do not propagate. Maybe the trees are immortal but even so. Why the hell am I even thinking, a fruit without seeds maybe a common thing in heaven. But something still bugged me because the fruits I ate in my room probably had seeds in them. But I said to myself ‘later’ and then continued to divulge in my reading.

***

ALMIGHTY WORLD GOD

“Finally after a wait of 10,000 years we will be again able to harvest the fruit of tree of life.” Lady Gaea brought her two fingers near her lips thinking in awe about the heavenly apple.

Besides her there was the Almighty World God, god of creation Brahma and goddess of agriculture Demeter. All of them had one question bugging them about, who will be chosen by the tree of life for the consumption of its fruit.

“We will soon see to that.” I said and walked along the river till we all reached the bridge that connected us to the tree of life.

“What’s the matter Demeter? Is something bothering you.” Lord Brahma on seeing the confused expression of Lady Demeter at such an auspicious occasion could not help but enquire himself.

“For some reason I cannot sense the presence of the fruit of the tree of life. It’s not on the tree.” Lady Demeter quietly spoke and waited for the response for her irrational statement.

“What? This couldn’t be. Maybe it fell from the tree in presence of some other God who came here before us. Please check again just to be sure.” Lady Gaea started making certain assumptions in order to sort out the problem.

“But we all have stopped any god from coming near the tree of life for an entire week during the harvest. It’s impossible for any god to come here today because of the barrier put by the World God himself.” Lord Brahma raised his hand like a lawyer and looked at the Almighty World God who was soon going to make a decision like a judge.

“Unless it’s a human. Gaea may I ask who is that girl lying under the tree of life.”

At this point of time, all the four gods were midway on the bridge and they could see the whole landscape from there.

Lady Gaea gaze fell upon a frail looking beautiful girl reading a book under the shadow of the tree of life.

“Isn’t she the beneficiary of Athena! Why is she here? Do you think she might know something about the fruit or who may have took it.” Lady Gaea had already recognized the identity of the human and started walking in the direction where the girl was resting.

The other Gods started following in her footsteps in order to get some answers.

The girl had already noticed us approaching her, she stood at her position and started walking towards us with a smile but for some reason she stopped and started to look here and there with a confused and sad expression on her face. Did she confuse us with someone? Could it be that she was waiting for someone?

“What is your name human? Please explain the purpose of your visit?” Lord Brahma directly started interrogating the young, innocent girl with charming looks in his guttural high-pitched tone.

From the expression of the girl it looks like she was afraid of us and uncomfortable around strangers. She kept looking down at the green grass, sliding her leg in order to not crush any flower under her feet and then looked back at us again. In her brittle yet sweet and lovely speech she finally made up her mind to speak.

“I am Sachi Kondo. … Ummm… So…. I was actually waiting for Goddess Athena here since we planned yesterday to meet under this tree.” She again started looking at her feet and the ground in between raising her eyebrows and straining her eyes to see our face and what we were doing.

“How long have you been here? Did you see any else besides us.” this time it was Lady Gaea.

“Umm.. No… I don’t think I saw anyone else around here and it has almost been an hour I have come here.”

All the other gods were too confused to ask at the pace at which our conversation was going. The fruit of the tree of life was missing and a human trespassing on its ground during its ripening time. So without wasting time I directly asked,

“Did you see an apple around this part?”

The girl got a little worried and horrified at this question. Did she know something about the apple? If yes then what?

“An apple fell from above over me, and since I was hungry I ate it. I thought no one would mind since there was no caretaker around here.”

All the other three gods gasped at this statement and started pulling their hairs or come up with more questions.

I needed to act quickly to calm thing down, so I used my divine powers to see the soul core of this girl but it was just a small flicker of light in a large dark place. I felt something wrong, like an interference, I concentrated all my divine powers in my eyes and used them to further analyse her soul realm.

It was a huge dark pitch black pit, a chasm for which even darkness was no match. It seemed I was falling into the abyss itself. For the first time something had caught me by surprise. I used the divine system and break free from this unexpectedly strong barrier protection and used my ‘All seeing Eyes’ to probe further into her soul realm. This time I had broke the barrier which appears to be have been put up by some skilled God themself.

CRACK.

CRACK.

Golden yellow light filled the entire soul realm and my eyes were dazzled and robbed of its sight. The intensity of this light was so bright that even after using all of my powers I had to strain and focus my eyes to look for the soul core. I felt a familiar sensation and belonging of this high-end energy, it was similar to my own divinity. This strong feeling, there is no doubt about it her soul power shares the same origin as mine that is with the divine system itself. Could she be…….

 I finally found it, high above the position where I was floating. To my horror, the unexpected had come true; the apple of the tree of life was fusing with this girl’s soul core. How is this even possible? How could a mortal attain such a feat which is even impossible for gods?

I had to calm myself and take care of other gods. I don’t know whether to call this accident unfortunate or fortunate or it was just fated?

“I see. You don’t need to worry yourself anymore. We will be taking our leave.” Before any other gods could raise further questions, I raised my staff and teleported ourselves to my office. What a pain? Now I have to work on explaining the situation to these gods? Life sure is tough for me.

“Could she be lying to us?” Demeter made a quick judgement.

“Of course not. She was saying the truth. We gods can sense when a mortal is lying or not.” Lord Brahma quickly disregarded her conclusion.

“Maybe she mistook it for some other fruit and ate something else instead.” This time it was Lady Gaea. All the three gods then looked at the person who had out of the blue transported them from the crime scene.

 Sometimes getting so much attention in old age is not good for health.

“It seems that this time the tree of life has shockingly chosen a mortal as the consumer of its fruit. I confirmed it with my own eyes.”

“But how can a mortal even survive after eating the fruit. Also she had almost negligible soul power. Why the tree of life would chose a weak human like her in the first place.” Lord Brahma raised a question which I was going to answer anyway.

“That flicker of soul power is but a veil on the top. In actual, she possesses more soul power than a new evolved god of upper echelon. At present, the apple of tree of life is fusing with her soul core on its own.”

“Even if she ate the apple, the higher gods cannot survive the backlash and strain of the chaotic energy that the fruit puts on the body. But she appears to be totally fine.”

“What do you mean by the barrier you mentioned?”

It seems that there is no running away. I need to give a complete explanation.

“This barrier which I am talking about appears to be put on her by a god with sub-administrative rights. That is why no other gods were able to pinpoint her high affinity for divinity and life energy. For the first time it seems that the tree of life has chosen a human as a bearer of its fruit.”

“But your liege, why the girl is in good health? Wouldn’t the chaotic energy of the fruit would have killed her since she consumed it just after its ripening.”

“It seems that the girl is actually a descendant of the god in question who has put the barrier in the first place. Even though the girl has no Ichors’ blood, but her soul power has the same origin as mine and it will keep on growing.”

“But how can someone’s soul power still grow and that also speaking of a human. You just said that even being a descendant of a god she does not possess your blood and she is still a mortal.”

“There have been several cases where a descendant of a god in mortal realm was born with exceptional capabilities and sometimes even with god’s blood. But in her case, she has none. Even at present her tremendous soul power is sealed and even I would need to take action through the divine system to break such a powerful seal. I wonder whose daughter could she really be?”

At this point I stopped and thought of the abyss I saw in her soul realm and couldn’t help but wonder what the future holds for her.

“After seeing her soul realm with my own eyes, I think, no I am sure that is the very reason the tree of life choose her. Her soul state is a deep dark abyss. One could describe it as the Nothingness – the source of all creation and the sink of destruction. Poor girl, I don’t know what hardships she had suffered in her previous life, and yet she looked so cheerful reading that book.”

“I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Listen Gaea, our soul state is the direct resemblance to the life we have lived to this day. Happiness, anger, hate, jealousy, confusion, sadness and especially fear all of these emotions together construct the soul state. Her soul state is the abyss itself where even light may lose its way, which gives her the attribute of absorbing high amount of this chaotic life energy, and that is the reason she was able to consume the apple without any problem.”

“World God, I don’t understand. You just called her a descendant of a sub-administrative god and also possessing soul power of your origin. So if she consumes the apple she is absorbing the divinity and black miasma at the same time. We all know that these two forces contradict each other and if merged together can only cause destruction. Her very being of existence is questionable at this point.”

I took a long deep breath, ah! The question I was waiting to answer. Good job Brahma.

“The origin of this world and the divine system was the desire and my will in the huge expanse of the nothingness. Nothingness itself accepts all and provides all. At present the girl is young and the hardships she had suffered in mortal realm had taken the shape of nothingness a unique attribute a totally new essence of being in itself. For now it doesn’t matter whether she absorb divine light or black miasma, they won’t interact unless until she forces it to do or absorb each of them in massive quantities. I would have never thought that such a special being could exist. But even this unique ability is a curse and blessing at the same time. Whether she will let herself be consumed by her own netherworld or will her fate be determined by her resolve and the choices she make in the future? Only she can decide it for herself whether it is life or death that waits at the end of her journey.”

“We understand your liege. But we are confused by the present circumstances and do not know how to respond.” Lord Brahma, Lady Gaea and Demeter had the same thoughts now after listening to my explanation. I sure am good at knowing everything. I am the World God after all.

“Ahem… at this very moment we have to wait and observe that girl since she is innocent and does not know the current unfortunate scenario she has put herself in. You are not to share any information with anyone and not even Athena who is the partner of that girl. I will later try to explain her myself. As for the public information spread the news that I will be taking care of the fruit of the Tree of Life. You may leave now.”

“As you say you’re Almighty.” The three said in unison and then vanished into thin air.

I sat on my golden four – legged chair and looked up at the ceiling of my office and wondered what the future holds for the mortal, divine and hell & where the reincarnates are going to fit among them.

After some time I clapped twice and an angel appeared from the front door.

He bowed before me and then silently raised his head waiting for further instructions.

“You have been put in charge of the children from mortal realm. What is the name of the girl who is under Athena’s contract?”

“Sachi Kondo is the name of the girl, my Lord.”

“I see. I want all the information regarding her life and her family lineage from the mortal realm.”

“As you command.”

The angel had already left the room while I still thought about the tremendous amount of soul power that could overwhelm even my own eye sight. I sure am getting old.

***