9. Leaf Thief

The purple flashes remained, together with one pile of stones, but the remainder of the gate crumbled to dust. Bella realized the truth: the gate could only come into existence because of their desire to go home. Their desire fed the gate. And if you took it away, only Ardex kept the gate alive, with his immovable desire to take revenge on Father.

Ardex’ voice was dry and scrappy. A flame burned on his tongue, ready to erase the final Movelings. “The gate is disappearing! I decide: we go back to the palace. You too, Hanah.”

She stayed where she was. “Impossible, Ardex, and nothing can change that. The Movelings are not dying because of me, or you, or Father.”

Bella thought back to the characteristics of life. Breathing? This water also contained oxygen, also contained plants to make it. Sensitivity and Movement? The Movelings fled hotheaded Ardex on the shore, so that still worked. Some even left behind a trail of particles in the water, as if peeing their pants out of fear—Excretion was fine too. They had just Procreated and their children were much smaller, so Growth was still in there.

And Eating was fine too, right? Didn’t they just take any particles they wanted from the water? Plenty particles were still there to eat. Bella saw them shine like stars underwater. Much larger and clearer than how you’d see them, dear reader, with mere human eyes.

But … maybe there weren’t as many of them as she thought. The longer she looked, the more the final stars died. An entire group of Movelings wanted to procreate, move, breathe, live … but there wasn’t enough food.

“Yes, life needs all characteristics,” Hanah said calmly, as if Ardex wasn’t about to destroy everything and drag everyone back home. “That’s why it’s rare. That’s why we need to really care for it. As the gate is fed by your desire to go home, Movelings are only fed if their environment has enough food.”

“We don’t have more!” Eeris said. She hobbled between the gate and Bella. Between safety and fleeing back home, tail between her legs, or trying to save this place. With each circle, this leaf thief stole some more plants from the water, as if she wanted souvenirs. “What will we do? Feed them stones?”

Bella turned to Darus. All of them did, whenever the words stone, earth or mountain were uttered. As if Darus could hear you throughout the entire universe if you spoke one forbidden word.

He looked pensive.

“Say, stones, right? To you, they are gray things. To me, they are everything. To my magic, it’s almost as if they live.” He stomped the ground. Ten stones flew into the air on his command, to melt into a statue of a plant. “And yet you keep suggesting we let the Movelings eat them? My stones? My babies?”

“They are not babies!” Eeris yelled at him. A wig of seaweed fell over her head, for if they were going home, she wanted to take everything with her. “Stones don’t feel, they don’t grow, they don’t use sunlight like plants, they have no life char … ac … ter … istics.”

It dawned on her too.

That’s why Darus made a plant statue. That’s why he talked about how stones were alive to him. That’s why everyone looked at her, pained.

“It’s unheard of,” Ardex mumbled, forgetting his threats and the Soulsplitter burning his paws. “Life that eats … other life …”

“Plants also fit all the life characteristics,” Eeris said with sorrow. She looked around her for support. All her siblings felt pity, Hanah more than anyone, but it had to happen. The Movelings needed food. Lots of food, quicker food, better food. A few loose particles in the water wasn’t enough, not anymore. If they wanted to grow, become stronger, life longer … they had to start eating plants.

Eeris shook all plants from her body. They fell around her like old, weathered clothes that didn’t fit anymore. Each leaf contained more particles for a Moveling than half the ocean.

“Is there no other way?” She twisted her neck around Darus. “Stones? Right? Or … or … maybe they enjoy sand! AIR! Yes, air is—”

“Air is another characteristic: Breathing.”

“Stones contain basically nothing that Movelings happen to need,” Darus said. “It’s not unexpected that plants are made of exactly the particles that other living beings could use.”

Bella stroked Eeris’ bent neck. “It has to happen.”

The clearing fell silent. The gate sunk further. The gods were too shredded to move. They gave Eeris a consoling hug, though Ardex stayed with the gate and Hanah on the opposite side.

“Is that what you want?” Hanah asked. “You could wait another million years and the Movelings will accidentally discover it themselves. They’ll accidentally learn how to eat plants and how much food it gives you, making that the new dominant way to eat. Do you want to speed it up?”

“Or we die before it happens,” Ardex said. His tail curled around the gate, as if he could stop it from disappearing that way.

Eeris was the first to extend her head above the hug—she was still a giraffe—and look at Hanah. She shook away tears.

Or maybe those were my own tears, dear reader. But as Eeris always said: not so negative. Plants will be eaten, yes, but in return this planet shall receive beautiful life and make interesting leaps forward. Who knows, next time we visit the godchildren, animals might even have left the water already.

“Yes. It has to happen.”

They collected the leaves that Eeris had scattered. They brought them to the last Movelings and placed them right before them. That wasn’t enough, of course. They wouldn’t suddenly understand they had to eat that, and how to do it, and how to use it for energy.

Hanah placed her paws together. The Soulsplitter flew from Ardex’ claws into hers, like pressing a baby against her chest. The object glowed and shivered as Hanah walked along the shore. Only once she passed, nibbles and bites were taken out of the leaves.

To you, dear reader, tiny invisible nibbles from a leaf. Something you’ve seen a million times before and done yourself. For this world, a miracle. The first herbivores—plant eaters—and Bella saw the Movelings shine in all colors.

Ardex was strong enough to keep the gate above water. His tail was stretched like an elastic, his tusk scraping the stone surface, but he held the gate.

For what? For what, though? His family wanted to stay. Even Bella wanted to stay. Only his own desire kept the gate here. Would he throw away everything to get one chance at revenge on Father?

The shredding had already inverted: everyone rapidly received their own body back.

Not surprising, given the numbers of Movelings that exploded under water. Like a bomb that didn’t produce smoke or fire, but living, swimming, energetic creatures.

He looked around one last time. At the purple flashes in the gate. He thought he could see the entrance of the palace, like an imprint on a window that stays for a while after drawing it. His nose thought it smelled that fresh air, his fur thought it felt the heavenly clouds.

He let go of the gate.

The gods kept throwing leaves into the water, but that was unnecessary. The plants were already underwater. And now that the Movelings understood, they searched for food themselves. By the time Ardex stood next to Bella, the first Movelings swam away with haste.

The gate was carried away by the first semblance of fishes. It sunk further, more and more swallowed by waves, until it collapsed. The light went out and Hanah’s body grew in size.

And with the swimming gate, he probably lost his final chance to return home. Another would have found this a sad moment, or a moment of love for his family. Ardex walked away angrily and refused to speak with anyone for a while.

But they had a while. If all went well, they had another million years.

Because from now on, most Movelings lived off of plants. Tissues filled with nutrient particles. And the energy they received now, allowed them to get bigger and bigger, and become more and more, and grow bigger and bigger, and become more and more …