161 A New Beginning (1/2)
The walk back to the farm was a lonesome one, the solitude exacerbated by the deepness of the night. Li traveled down the length of the main road, his steps brisk as they paced over the worn path, over the tracks of boots and horse hooves that had filled the path up throughout the day.
Few souls, if any, stirred around him, though right now, he figured, the sharpness in sensing lives around him had dulled compared to before when he had let divine power flow through him unmoderated.
A reminder that Iona was fulfilling her duty. She had given back her authority to Li because managing forest fires was no longer the reason for her existence. Now it was to be like a valve that regulated the flow of divine power inherent within him. Though Li did not express it strongly, he could not understate how thankful he was for her sacrifice. It was a level of thankfulness he had not believed he could muster, one that would never have been possible in his old life filled with empty nothings.
But that made it all the more important for Li to shoulder the responsibilities he had decided to bear, and there were very many indeed. Iona's wish for him to maintain his humanity, restoring the faith of the farmers to its former glory and beyond, securing their lives and prosperities, and ensuring that the garden of peace and wonder he promised did flower into fruition.
Li could not help but feel that in the face of all these responsibilities, his farm, a farm that belonged only to him and Old Thane, mattered so little, and yet he could not shake off the feeling that he was neglecting something important to him.
At the farm, starlight struggled to strain through a thick layer of clouds that had cloyed above, making it hard to see the farm's condition normally. To Li, though, his night vision cut through the darkness, and he made his way around the fields.
Li checked every single stalk of wheat and found that they had been harvested out with clean precision. Old Thane's handiwork. Underneath the soil, he could feel the restful rumbling of the Myrmeke, and at the end of the fields, he beheld Zagan staring at him.
'So you have decided to shoulder the burden of godhood upon yourself,' communicated Zagan telepathically. 'I must commend you for that. I thought it would take until the aged mortal's death for you to consider the option.'
'I'm just putting my feet into the water, so to speak. I haven't forgotten the promise I made to the old man, and I hope you still understand that.'
Zagan was unphased. 'My personage may not understand it, but it can respect it. And what are mortal years but few and delicate little things that are all the more fragile in those who are aged. There is a certain beauty in ephemerality, in the transience of all things mortal and flesh and blood, and this personage shall not hinder you from appreciating it.'
Li sighed as he closed the rickety doors to the storehouse and made his way into the cottage. The door had been broken down by Tia, and so Old Thane had temporarily hung up a tarp to keep the winds and elements out. He pushed the tarp aside and found the cottage alight and warm, filled with a quiet but vibrant energy.
Tia was sleeping by the roaring fireplace, and beside her, Old Thane sat on a stool, leaned over with a smile he pointed at Li.
”And how was it, lad?” said Old Thane with a wide grin. ”Your first day as something more than a farmer. A seer, was it? Mighty fancy, if ye ask me.”
”It didn't feel too special. Felt natural to me, if you ask me,” said Li as he pulled up a stool from the dining table and pushed it in front of Old Thane.
Even as the world around them changed and Li brought bigger and grander events around himself, he felt a strange sense of homely comfort that he could pull up a seat by the fireplace and talk to the old man as he had always done.