306 Professional Gardeners (1/2)
After hearing what Zero had to say, Gaia accompanied the teen down to check on Garden Eden. The horrid sight shocked her badly and Gaia begged Zero to save the garden in tears. The barriers were modified to let Zero enter and leave the place easier even if there was no real need. Gaia also spoke with Freya and Isis to gather some signatures to allow visitors from Half Moon Village to work on restoring the garden.
\”We need to host that meeting with the Demon Lords and Archangels as soon as possible. Just four Demon Lords and three Archangels to give consent and sign an agreement would suffice. Freya will be drafting the agreement. Let's arrange this meeting at the Cathedral,\” Gaia suggested and Zero agreed.
Mother Nature was severely distraught from her ignorance about Garden Eden's condition. Ouroboros didn't blame her. Gaia tried to activate her power over nature to bring the plants in Eden back to life but nothing worked.
\”Don't bother,\” the serpent told Gaia. \”Unless this plane is fixed, the garden will never come back to life. Even so, it would require a few thousand years for Eden to return to what it was.\”
Hearing that, there wasn't much Gaia could do except for assist Zero to expedite the arrangements for the meeting. With the invitation letters sent, it shouldn't be long before they heard any news about the meeting.
Merlin took Zero back that day to discuss how they will transport the water from the Spring of Vitality to fill that pond. He had taken some time to analyse the ancient array in Garden Eden while Gaia visited it and talked to Ouroboros. Zero thanked his teacher and started to brainstorm ideas to modify the seed for the Tree of Life before they planted it. The discussion took up an entire afternoon and both mages missed lunch. Bib wasn't pleased.
The next day, Zero received replies from the invited parties of Heaven and Hell. Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel will attend from Heaven's side. Lucifer, Mammon, Lilith and Beelzebub will attend from Hell. Gaia and Freya were working on the contract and informed Zero that preparations will be ready in two days. Zero hastened to check on the preparations in the cathedral. Merlin accompanied him, afraid that the boy might be bullied by the seraphs and cherubs like what happened on the teen's first visit to Heaven with Hua Tuo.
When the cherubs saw Merlin behind Zero, they immediately formed a line and bowed respectfully. Zero wasn't sure what brought on the change in attitude but he was thankful for that. It was going to be a very important meeting and he couldn't afford to have any slip-ups. The Tree of Life's seed had already been modified and Merlin was working on a way to break Lovina's curse with it at the same time. With so many preparations completed, all Zero required was official approval to proceed. Any further delay in restoring Heaven's plane would only increase the risk of it falling apart.
For some reason, Merlin saw Hua Tuo's shadow in Zero. Even if he was up against something that wasn't in his favour, the physician wouldn't back down from the challenge and give it his best even if it might end up in failure. Zero's confidence was blown out of proportion during his presentation. Merlin knew the truth. The chance of succeeding was very small if not non-existent. After all, nobody has ever attempted anything like this. Repairing the plane was something unheard of and deemed impossible for even the most powerful wizard in existence.
Thankfully, Zero's conviction managed to get both parties to sign the treaty that Freya and Gaia prepared. Once the agreement was signed, the Demon Lords were told to enjoy the feast prepared. The archangels chose to act as amicable hosts that afternoon while Zero excused himself and informed Zoe through the party call to proceed as planned. He left the feast early after exchanging some words with the Demon Lords who looked at the overworked teen with worry.
\”Merlin,\” Lucifer called out and the wizard nearly froze on the spot in fear. He dared not meet the Demon Lord's eyes because he knew its abilities, not that he had any intention of lying to the ex-archangel.
\”Yes, Lord Lucifer?\”
The academy dean frowned. Neither Merlin nor Zero looked healthy. Both of them had pale complexions, sunken eyes and dark circles. It was a terrible sign of overworking that he often saw in Mammon and Hades.
Instead of reprimanding the wizard for allowing Zero to fall to such a state, the Demon Lord simply told him to write a letter to him if things were getting too much to handle. \”The abyss is an ally of Zero. If he requires any help and is too stubborn to ask for it, as his teacher you should write to us on his behalf. I trust that you will make the correct judgement.\”
Merlin trembled and agreed. He didn't think that the feared ex-archangel would have such a possessive streak when it concerned his student. From the bits and pieces of small talk that he had with Zero, he only knew that Zero healed Lucifer's blindness. Was it really something that could buy the cold Demon Lord over so completely?
Lunch was a very stressful affair and the wizard found himself craving Bib's homemade meals at that very moment. Zero has been increasing Bib's recipe repertoire so they had days when they stopped eating La Boutique's take-outs and ate humbly. The farm was growing well in Arabesque and the ingredients were very fresh. Merlin had a little more money in his bank thanks to Zero's idea. Once both trees were planted and revived, Merlin decided to splurge a little for his student. From talking with the Demon Lords, Merlin learnt that Hua Tuo gave Zero a graduation gift to acknowledge Zero as a full-fledged doctor. The wizard knew that Zero's completed grimoire would be able to guard against chaos energy but to be safe, the magician wanted to give Zero a lucky charm that will save him if everything else failed. There was an artefact that he had been holding onto for a long while now, sealed away under many divine tiered spells because of how terrifying it would be in the wrong hands. However, if it was given to Zero, Merlin didn't think he had much to worry about.
Back in Garden Eden, Zero welcomed Cleo and Latitia. The dryad immediately gasped when she saw the dead landscape. Latitia cried at the sight of withered vegetation and cracked soil. The young doctor grimaced. He should have told Zoe to let them know just how terrible the condition was beforehand. Their reactions made him feel bad and he had to wait for them to calm down before he could introduce them to Ouroboros and the Tree of Knowledge.
\”Welcome to Heaven, you're both registered as visitors under Gaia's name at the moment. I need both your help, you're the people with the greenest fingers I've ever seen. We need to revive Garden Eden,\” Zero told them.
Cleo and Latitia didn't hesitate to agree but there were too many problems and they didn't know where to start.
\”Zero, I don't think we can start working on the plants at once. Everything here is dead from the soil to the water. In order to bring the plants back to life, we need water,\” Latitia told the young doctor who agreed.