The Original Earth

One ;; Maes ;; Unfinished

ONE

Maes twitched his translucent wings as he settled into the tall, viny tree. The reddish sun was setting over blue-green fields, and the nags, with their six-legged gracefulness and scaly, huge wings let loose an enormous buzzing sound and set out over the horizon. Maes, from a young age, had watched them take off every month, the night before the full moon, and knew each nag by sight. The headstrong orange one was rushing to the front of the flock, the coy deep green one was drifting off to the flanks. The leader, a gigantic royal blue nag, sailed out to the front and top of the flock, leading the others on their westward journey. Sighing, Maes glanced at his two pairs of narrow wings.

If only they were a big bigger... He frowned. Or maybe if they weren’t paper-thin.

“Maaes, Maaaaes!” One of his little brothers’ sudden call nearly startled him out of the tree. “Gramma’s here!”

“I’ll be down in a minute, Rai,” Maes called back, still clutching on a nearby vine. He carefully scrambled down the tree and cast one last glance at the nags, now barely visible against the sunset, as he began to walk home. Rai ran up to him, a sullen look on his face.

“Gramma’s gonna be real annoying again, isn’t she?” he asked, lightly tugging on Maes’s long-sleeved shirt. “Whenever Gramma come to visit, she’s done nothing but talk about stupid stuff. Like why would we ever need to know about theories about other Earths?”

“I don’t know, Rai.” Maes held back a small smile. Nara had been a talkative lady as long as Maes could remember, but unlike his brothers and sisters, and even parents, Maes found her stories fascinating. He ruffled Rai’s long, teal hair, which was the same color as their mother’s. “Maybe, if you listen like a good little boy, she’ll give you some Soi.” Rai grinned.

“Do you think so? Soi’s like my favorite food ever, and Gramma makes it so good, I really hope so! I’ll be sure to pay ‘specially close attention today!” He trotted on ahead, leaving Maes to walk back on his own. He paused, staring at the sky. The sun had mostly set by now, and the clouds were painted a beautiful scarlet color, nearly an identical shade to the Rais his younger sibling was named after. The great, four-legged beasts symbolized courage and strength, as their scaly hides are stronger than the sharp head of a hunter’s Bani spear, equipped with its electric plug-in and everything. Their gaping mouths, too, with their pinsir-like shape, can easily take off an arm or leg.

As Maes was contemplating how one could defend oneself against such a creature (He had no solution but “avoid”), he nearly bumped into his older sister, Nati. She gave him a look and slipped back inside their house, the hollowed-out trunk of an ancient Samayore tree. Maes pushed aside some vines and followed her, closing the large door behind him.

He peeked into the kitchen to find Nara sitting on a stool, stirring a large pot of Soi.

“Maes!” she called upon noticing him, and stood up to greet him.

“Grandma,” he smiled. “Do you need any help?”

“Yes, actually, I would love some! Do you know where the Pompfry root is kept? I can’t seem to find it anywhere, but without it, the Soi will be bland, and we can’t have bland Soi,” she chuckled. “Rai and Tarre would have my head!” As she spoke, Maes reached into the cubby where his mother, Miia, tended to keep her plant-based ingredients. It was chilled with a Moed, which attached to the wall and acted as a tiny, compact thermostat. He shifted some leaves and twigs around until he found a small, clammy root that was thicker than his wrist, yet shorter than his four, pointed fingers. He yanked at it until it came free of the tangles of weeds and roots, and handed it to Grandma.

“Thanks, Meerku,” she said as she peeled off the bruised parts. The nickname always made Maes feel special, even though she called all of her grandchildren that. She dumped the Pompfry  into the Soi, and gave the bubbling stew one last stir. “Now, we’ve got to let it sit for a while. If you don’t let it sit, then none of the flavors blend, and it tastes awful! You wouldn’t even be able to taste anything, it would just be one big clashing mix of roots and leaves,” she smiled, turning down the fire. “Now then. Whatever shall we do with this extra time?” Maes smiled.

“Meerkus,”she called. There was a bit of banging from the upstairs floors called, but most of Maes’s thirty-two siblings showed up rather quickly. They knew what was coming, and they weren’t going to enjoy it, but they wouldn’t dare disobey their grandmother. She sat upon a rather tall wooden stool, and all of the children sat on the floor.

“Now then,” she smiled. “What should we talk of today... Ah.” A few of the older kids rolled their eyes at each other indiscreetly. “I want to tell you about a story my grandmother told me, when I was about your age. How far are you in your studies, Meerkus?” Varied responses, ranging from five (Rai) to eighty-three (Narka) parts done with their schooling out of one hundred. "Hmm... Have any of you heard of the Mutliverse?" They shook their heads. "I see. Well, my little Meerkus, I have a lot to teach." One or two of Maes's siblings quietly groaned, and most of the rest looked like they wanted to. But Maes looked on with bright eyes, brimming with curiosity.

"Let's say... There are billions of Earths, each one unique. Some of them are so drastically dissimilar that they are barely recognizable as the same planet, some only have very minor differences. And what do you think causes these changes?” The younger kids shrugged, and the older ones simply rolled their eyes. “Every time you decide something that will affect our world, the Earth splits into two, in a way. On one Earth, you will have taken one path, and on the other Earth, you chose another. The two Earths take up the exact same physical space, because they are in different universes.” At this point, even the smaller children were becoming bored, and started picking at the wooden floor. Maes alone still stared on with interest, not understanding how his siblings are not finding this as fascinating as he was.

“Every universe is connected through Earth. On every Earth, there are two special caverns. On the full moon, this cavern will start to glow purple at the mouth, creating a portal-like wall.

“Now, these universes are not directly connected to each other, as going through one of these portals will land you on a special Earth. But this very special Earth is connected to every other Earth in what we call the Multiverse.”

Maes flicked a bit of dirt off his wings that Rai had accidentally stirred up. “But Grandma, what makes that Earth so special?”

“My most curious Meerku, that Earth is the Original. Every other Earth, including our own, are just branches connected to the Original Earth. But past that, I’m not sure, as though your grandfather went to find it when his adventuring spirit was still in its prime, he has not yet returned. He’ll be back someday, though, don’t worry.” She gave her grandchildren a soft smile. “In any case... I believe the Soi ought to be ready.” Rai and Tarre cheered, and everyone started to crowd into the kitchen after Nara. Maes grabbed a stack of wooden bowls from the second cubbyhole to the left, third row down, and handed them out to his siblings as they formed a nearly orderly line to the simmering bowl of stew-like Soi. Nara poured a bit into every bowl, and they sat down around a table that was carved from the tree itself.

Once everyone finished, which certainly didn’t take long, Nara managed to get back on her feet. She flicked a bit of sawdust off her wings, and patted Maes’s head.

“Well, I suppose I had better be off,” she said. “I wish I could stay longer, but you all have your studies to attend to, do you not?” They groaned.

“Grandma, wait!” As she started out the door, Maes jumped up and followed her. “Wait,” he said as he caught up to her.

“What would you like?”

“I... the Multiverse! I want to hear more about it.”

Nara smiled at her favorite grandchild. “I’m afraid that’s all I know. You have your grandfather’s curiosity, Meerku.”

“I would like to think I inherited his sense of adventure, too,” Maes added. Nara looked over at him.

“Indeed you may have. You should wait until you grow a bit older before you start adventuring like him, though. Wouldn’t want to run into an archer’s path too early,” she laughed.

“I guess so,” Maes said. “But still, I’m curious now.” His grandmother patted his brownish red hat.

“Alright, let’s talk and walk. We can go to the cave your grandfather found.” She leaned a bit on Maes’s shoulder as they walked through the dense woods, and as they talked, it slowly morphed into a wide open plain.

Hey, guys. I'm posting this as a WIP for now, mostly to see if anybody would be interested in a story like this? Is it good so far?