Immune (NaNoWriMo2014)(Wattys 2014)

6) Maternal Rage

Titiana, more commonly known as Mother Nature, knew something was wrong in an instant. She had been married to Father Time for a countless amount of years, and had grown very perceptive to the signs that time had been tampered with. It was hard to tell, but the signs, subtle as they were, were clearly there.

Being an Earthborn, she always had some immunity to other beings. Father Time was one of the nameless ones, that humanity simply dubbed 'Archons', for lack of a better word. There had been a proper name once, but it was long forgotten. Not even the Master of Time himself remembered. Mother Tree was also such, yet immunity to her was like immunity to a genetic problem. There was none.

She had been looking at a candle flicker on the wall, its tantalizing glow drawing her eye for the briefest of seconds. Yet, when she looked at it, it froze.

She moved to rub here eyes, and it twitched as normal in its holster. Growing suspicious, she inhaled and exhaled exaggeratedly. Her breaths came out a millisecond before she gave the order. As a last test, Mother Nature drew some energy, and checked her internal clock.

New York: 10:06 PM

Denmark: 5:06 AM

New Zeland: 4:06 PM

Ireland: 3:06 AM

When had she last checked her internal clock? An hour or two ago? Well, the time seemed a little bit later than what she thought it was, but maybe it was the after - effects of what had happened at Kiyan's Altar. In fact, it probably was.

Kiyan's Altar was a huge force of balance. It stabilized the unstable, weakened the strong, and strengthened the weak. This lapse in time was too perfect to be just something Father Time did. If she hadn't looked at the candle at that moment, she wouldn't have been any the wiser.

Deciding that she had let Wormwood spread long enough - especially if she was frozen in time - so she walked upstairs to Mother Tree. Technically, she was still in Mother Tree, but it was easier on the mind to speak to her from her trunk.

Mother Nature stepped regally to the hollow trunk, drumming her elegant fingers on the inside of the rough rim. "Mother Tree."

Yes, Mother Nature Titiana?

"May you please update me on the status of Wormwood? How many are infected?"

No.

Mother Nature was taken aback by the answer. "Excuse me? What do you mean, No?" She said bluntly. Then, realizing whom she was speaking with, added "Er, Mother Tree. Of course, you do have every right to withold any information you please from me, or anyone. But you never have before, so I was caught off guard."

Mother Nature Titiana, I do not withold the information you desire for such petty reasons as you might think.

Mother Nature waited for Mother Tree to continue. She always had to follow something up.

I withold the information because there is none to give. Wormwood has made no progress since being added to nature.

"What? None? Why?"

That is not entirely true. It did initially infect several hundred tourists in various nature parks, including Yosemite and the Petrified Forrest National Park. It then dwindled to zero percent.

"How in the... there is no way that every single tourist had cancerous cells in them."

As a matter of fact, they did.

Mother Nature was left speechless. She tried to find words, but they all came out as incoherent sentences. She was overcome with disbelief.

All tourists were infected with cancer. Both the cancer and Wormwood rendered each other obsolete, and the particular cancer came not from a cellular mutation. It came from petrified tree wood, and sharing the same host as its mitigator, both Wormwood and this cancer, Photodesythesizing Cancer, are now extinct.