#Torch is Platar btw he belongs to Lard

[cloudbattrolls]

Make Of Me

Thrixe Varzim | Present Night | The Ruins of An Unnamed Forest

Thrixe beheld the ashy ruins of what had once been a forest, blackened stumps and scorched piles of leaves, exposed rocks dusted with ash. He was the only troll - person - for a mile, he was pretty sure; he couldn’t sense anyone else. 

Archimedes hid behind his legs, hissing.

Though in most respects a normal gryphon, the pet he’d made shared his sensitivity to the state of growth in the world around them. They could both feel that this forest hadn’t been destroyed by any natural blaze; it confirmed what he had heard.

That someone called the Torch had razed it. 

Some forests did need fire to grow. Yarrow loved burned earth; some seeds only germinated after a fire, and sometimes dead growth needed to be cleared so new life could thrive.

This forest, however, had been young. Not ready to feed an inferno yet.

Torch, he thought with slightly morbid amusement. You ruined this place. But I guess I should thank you. Overgrowing an existing ecosystem is bad for everyone. This, though…

Thrixe walked into the first space between the stumps, and he began to sing.

“I’m…made of bones of the branches the boughs and the bough beating light..”

First; the soil. Nothing could grow without a strong base, nutrients and insects to make a living system again. He reached deep into the earth with his power, feeling out the survivors, tempting them back to the dirt near the surface. 

Bacteria and insects thrived again, buried eggs hatching, crawling and wriggling through the earth, and he nudged the nitrogen to begin replenishing.

Then the air itself. It still had traces of smoke; he had altered his lungs slightly to cope with it better, growing a temporary skin-shield over his gills.

He sprouted tendrils weaving into the air, absorbing the toxins and fostering the oxygen, cilia sprouting to filter it and catch particulates dangerous to life. He grew more out of the few remaining microorganisms in the air, using their life as a base for his own, clearing away the acrid smell and tainted gases. 

Eyes glowing a bright violet-white, he took a breath.

“Well my feet are the trunks…”

He reached for the roots, shriveled and starved of nutrients - the ones that were still alive - and he regenerated them, encouraging new growth. Not too much - he didn’t want the restored trees to crowd each other out, to have no room to grow further. 

He was setting the place back on its course, not allowing it to rapidly choke out again.

Tendrils extended from his legs into the earth, tilling it, taking dead plant and animal matter and turning it to rich compost that he fed directly to the new roots he made. He extended several feet underground and into the air now with his gleaming pink and violet network, further using the existing life to spread himself.

He smiled a wide, slightly jagged smile in giddy in anticipation.

From the mouths of his many extensions he continued:

“And my head is the canopy high!”

The trees burst back into growth with a creaking and crackling of wood and sap, a thunderous cacophony as they went from withered to blooming, shedding their ashy skin for fresh bark and flowers. Stumps became fertile, springing up with mosses and lichens. Small plants pushed through the ground.

As the trees settled, their new wood hot from the change that had sprung it into being, they blinked with scattered violet eyes, woven through with veins of grayish pink. Starfish tendrils rippled among the soil, spines dotting the leaves of the underbrush. 

“And my fingers extend to the leaves in the eaves, and the -“

Thrixe as the forest breathed, felt the moons on himself, rustled in the breeze…and with a choir of content sighs, took himself out of the plants, let them fade fully back to their natural selves. His extensions faded to nothing, and he had only one body again. 

A bit sad, just the one. It was fine! He had nothing against it, it was the one everyone knew him by. The one he always had to appear in for everyone but Zanzul.

Or Vallis, but Vallis hardly counted as company, he thought with a roll of his eyes.

Archimedes had already taken off, no doubt hunting some small animal. He hadn’t raised anything from the dead…but it had been tempting. He was a bit tired, though. It wouldn’t be good to push himself.

Thrixe flopped on his back, lying on the newly grassy ground.

“Brightest shine, it’s my shine…” he finished the verse softly, looking at some ivy and marigolds that still glowed faintly pale violet. 

He couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about it. Didn’t he sign his works as a painter? It didn’t hurt to leave a small trace of himself behind, not enough to interfere with the forest life. 

No one would ever know it was him, that’s what mattered. No troll he loved would ever know what he could be like, as long as he let it out safely and away from their sight.

A bug crawled on his left fin and it flicked involuntarily, tickled by the tiny feet. The skin-shield over his gills had since dissolved, and they shone violet, rippling slightly.

Yes, he could show small parts of himself, if trolls were all right with it. But he had to ask first, had to be careful. 

He looked at his black-tipped claws, which had been that way for a while, and he was fairly certain extra fins were coming in on his arms and legs as well. No, he wasn’t the only seadweller with such things, but he wondered how much else he had to grow.

Uryali had had tendrils in his fins, and permanent extra eyes…he definitely didn’t want those. Maybe there was a way to at least choose which traits he got, since the process was probably impossible to stop entirely.

He got up, shaking dirt out of his curly braid, and looked back at his work. This place should thrive now, he hoped.

Archimedes flew back to Thrixe, and he hugged his furry, feathery pet before letting him go to fly alongside him.

He walked away, leaving the forest to flourish once more.

#cloud writes #I actually had the idea for this months ago but only now finished it. even though it's not all that long #thrixe varzim #horrifying man. but at least he wants to use his powers responsibly #song he sings is the queen's rebuke by the decemberists #Torch is Platar btw he belongs to Lard