Hyperion Evergrowing

“Is… is he going to be okay?” Roy asked, his voice a whisper as he leaned over to speak into Han’s ear.

The other boy shrugged one shoulder, his wide eyes locked onto the bleeding and broken body of the priest the guardian had just dumped at the foot of Leif’s tree. They weren’t the only children completely captivated by the scene, as almost everyone in attendance was no longer paying attention to the lesson.

Kala, the matronly old woman who had taken it upon herself to teach the youth of Far-Reach how to read, write and count, let out a long, suffering sigh. “That beast will be the death of me, I swear.” She shuffled over to the now twitching man and placed a hand on his forehead.

“My grandma’s a healer, watch.” Han whispered into Roy’s ear, pointing at Kala as blue light began to glow from her hand. The priest’s eyes fluttered, then he seemed to relax, falling into a deep sleep.

“I know.” Roy said. “Everybody knows.”

“Yeah, but it's cool so I need to remind everyone.”

“I thought you said that healing was lame?”

Han scrunched his brow in consternation. “That was last week.”

“Is it different now?” He asked, confused.

“There’s candy?” Roy said, his voice rising slightly. Han nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out a sticky ball half covered in fluff and dirt. The boy offered it with an outstretched hand and a wide grin. “Um, no thanks.”

Han licked the ball of sugar, and Roy winced. It was unsanitary, but it wasn’t like there was much of a risk of anyone getting sick. Being so close to the domain tree was like being bathed in warm sunlight at all times, its presence nourishing both the body and soul. There was a reason Kala chose to host her lessons below its canopy, and most were more than happy to have their children attend, even if the small plateau it grew from was home to an entire forest's worth of animals.

Kala clapped to gather everyone’s attention, but it was too late. Conversation had openly broken out among the children as they speculated about what guardian Ram had been doing, and how the priest had gotten pulverised.

“Han, that is filthy.” A feminine voice said, though not out loud.

Roy and Han both turned to see Lani sitting, her four legs tucked under her body. The deer had no hands for obvious reasons, but she held a piece of chalk between her teeth with surprising adroitness. A faint, silver-blue light circled her head, and her thoughts gently brushed against their minds to convey words and meaning.

“But it’s tasty.” Han said.

“How?” She asked. “It’s covered in dirt.”

“If Bam can eat it, then so can I.”

“Bam is not a good role model.” Lani chided. “She is the exact opposite.”

Roy found it strange, even after all these months, to be able to speak to an animal and have it be able to respond. But life had been different from what he could have possibly imagined ever since he had fallen from the sky.

“We should focus on the lesson.” He said, running a thumb to clean chalk off the plank of wood that was on the ground before him.

“Indeed.” Lani said into his head, followed by an encouraging sensation that tickled the back of his mind. Roy shuddered, though not entirely out of discomfort, it was pleasant, if unusual. “Oh, I did it again.” The deer sent, her mental voice sounding morose.

“It’s fine.” He said, patting her on the head. “You’re still practising.”

It was odd to be sharing a class with a talking, sort of, animal. But what was weirder was that, other than elder Kala, Lani was easily the strongest person here. None of the human children had a class, or skills, or anything like that. And sitting next to him was a creature that had once accidently put over twenty people to sleep when she sneezed.

Kala, despite being a patient woman, was now shooting small streams of water out of her extended finger into the foreheads of anyone still chatting. Han shouted and waved, then tried to catch the jet of water with his mouth, which earned a scowl from his grandmother.

Like many of the children around Roy, Han was a demikin, though you wouldn’t immediately know he had a bloodline from just looking at him. Like his grandmother, Han had a faint iridescence to his hair that made it shimmer with rainbow colour when lit under certain conditions. Some of the other children, like the pair sitting in front of him, had more distinct characteristics. Fluffy white hair with small horns was a common sight among those living closest to the domain tree, and those who possessed such features were clearly marked as the descendants of the guardian.

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Roy wasn’t sure what to think of Ram. If he was totally honest, the large man scared him a little bit. He felt like the goat in human guise was always a wrong word away from lashing out in violence, though Roy had never actually seen him do such a thing, at least not to anyone close to his family. Not that his tales of his conquest against nearby monsters wasn’t legendary.

The sounds of chalk scratching against wood filled the air as he and the others copied down math formations Kala was projecting out of water, her control over the element enough that the liquid held in place above her extended hand until she no longer needed it. Roy hastily scribbled down what he thought was the answer, and he ended up getting it correct, though he wasn’t the one called on to present their answer.

There were other normal human children taking the lesson, refugees mostly from the south. But Roy found himself struggling to relate to many of them. On the surface they were similar, too skinny and distinct signs of poverty in their clothes and ragged appearance. But they had grown up on poor farms, villages or in refugee camps set up by the empire. For most of Roy’s life he had lived in a palace, and then an estate in the imperial capital.

His year of life living on the streets of Kartinth with his sister was a point of comparison. The suffering was real, the starvation and sickness was real. But it wasn’t the same. How could it be? He was royalty, if displaced, and while nobody in Far-Reach but himself knew that, it created a near impenetrable, if self made, divide between him and the other refugees. Many of them had once lived in the kingdom his family had ruled. Many of them had family members die because his hadn’t protected them.

Roy was nine, his very first memories were of his parents fretting over the impending invasion while they thought he was asleep. Any guilt he felt was irrational, but it was still present, still real.

He wrote down his answer to another question, but ended up getting it wrong. It was embarrassing, he was a year or two older than some of the other children around him, Han included, but he felt years behind. He had occasionally had tutors or lessons from Lucia, but most of his education had atrophied while living in squalor on the streets.

The next question was harder, and he wasn’t confident in it at all. Of course, that was exactly when elder Kala called upon him to share his answer. Roy suddenly found his mouth dry as he went to speak, and the longer his silence went the more and more people shuffled to look at him.

Lani leaned over his shoulder to look down at his answer, then mentally nudged him. It was all the prompting he needed as words soon tumbled out of his mouth. “Eleven, uh, I think.”

Kala nodded. “Correct, well done. Did you remember to carry the numbers?”

Roy nodded, and she smiled at him. Nobody clapped or cheered, but as the attention of the other kids turned to the next question, Roy found himself struggling not to grin like an idiot. It was such a little thing, to be surrounded by peers. Even if it was scary, or if some of them treated him strangely for having been dropped from the sky in a streak of gold.

This place, Far-Reach, felt more like home than anywhere else he had ever lived. He loved it, truely. If only Lucia was there with him.

===

The leaves of the domain tree were a deep, crimson red, but they shone gold around the edges when they caught the light. On top of the feeling of warmth being near the tree gave, occasionally time felt as though it moved in strange ways, it would move slower, a distant flock of birds suddenly speeding up as they flew by, only for things to return to normal soon after.

It had been a recent change, and when it had happened for the first time people had initially gone to him for answers. Or, those who knew the tree’s history did. It was somewhat of an open secret that Leif had created the domain tree, or maybe he was the tree, it was confusing. Whatever the case, anybody in Far-Reach who knew Leif, or knew of him, had immediately known who had been the cause for Roy’s sudden appearance three months prior.

Despite the strangeness, the war he had flown over had caused people to flee north, and there was no better sanctuary than this one. It felt like growth in this place was… inevitable, almost endless. They didn’t have many farmers or fields, but what little they did have produced in abundance. It was a problem in some ways too, grasses and weeds were just as likely to grow as anything else, even the homes made of wood nearest to the domain tree had a habit of sprouting new twigs with budding leaves.

And the tree… even personally knowing its origin, even knowing the strength and power Leif had, Roy could hardly fathom it. As Leif had been saving him and his sister, on the other side of the world he had simultaneously been sheltering and healing hundreds, if not thousands. And the tree just kept growing. Roy had been in Far-Reach for three months, and it felt like every day it reached further into the sky, its canopy of shimmering crimson leaves casting their shadow across more and more of the ground. It was approaching maybe fifty metres tall, though it was hard to count.

As he climbed down the stairs woven from roots leading down from the plateau, Roy’s stomach rumbled loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. Han, his face scrunched with concentration, fingers on his temples as he was staring at Lani, turned to give him a dubious expression.

“I offered the candy.”

“He needs proper food.” Lani sent, gingerly hopping down at step. “I swear, you somehow eat more than Bam.”

Roy flushed, he couldn’t help it. Near starvation made his body crave nutrition constantly, and being near the domain tree only helped somewhat.

“We’ll eat at my place.” Han said, jumping two steps at a time and almost falling over. “We’ll steal some of my brother’s food. He’s a stupid idiot, but he keeps a lot of snacks in case his friend comes over.”

“You shouldn’t call him a stupid idiot.” Roy said instinctually.

“But he is one?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. But he’s your older brother… so it’s wrong?”

“But older people are always the most dumb.”

“Is guardian Ram dumb? He’s the oldest person in Far-Reach.” Roy asked.

Han frowned, then nodded. “Yeah, he’s also an idiot. Everyone knew not to give Bam alcohol, but he did anyway.”

Lani let out an audible sigh, though it sounded more like a chuff. “I hope one day we can meet your sister, Roy. She sounds great. The only one I’m related to keeps setting things on fire.”

They had reached the bottom of the steps, but Lani paused, her head tilted and nose twitching.

“Oh hey.” Han said, pointing. “She must be over there, look at all that smoke.”