"The Reborn Daughter of a mysterious dreamworld...
"The Beginning and Ending of the vines..."
The still air stirred in turbulence and the former calm, candle lights suddenly flickered vigorously. The illumination swayed continuously with the motion of the flames.
In this seemingly chaotic environment. Selina maintained her emotions as she resumes:
"I pray for your attention to notice my affection;
"I pray for you to open the gates of your kingdom...
"I pray for the bestowment of your grace...
...
After finishing the prayer. Selina stayed at her spot and strained for the voices to whisper. And with just a second, the air around her ears reverberated, echoing stacked illusory voices coming from afar.
This was her cue to enter the dreamworld.
She recalled her days at the office, her time poorly spent in tiresome works and documents, rarely including her parents.
Selina longed to return and embrace them, to compensate for the months she forgot to visit.
During this process, she felt her consciousness floating from her body. Her spirituality aiding with the extraction.
Somewhere in the astral world. Selina's projection was attracted to a distant plane. Its vision blurred before suddenly, it collapsed.
...
Across the upheaval waves of stacked voices spilling into her mind. The violent murmurs soon stopped.
In the familiar silence of darkened world and the heavy air around her. Selina tuned her mind slowly, entering a state of half-cogitation.
The murmurs soon grew dull, bearable enough for her to adjust open her eyes.
The scene of tall grasses rustling in the windy meadow greeted her wake. It stretched far and wide into distance, lacking a destination.
Extending from her feet are the mural of spiraling vines. Each segments retracting from her and toward every direction. This similarity between her absence and presence invoke that the world did not changed.
But only an oblivious person would thought of that.
At this moment. Selina is fully aware of the time. It's nine in the morning!
Aren't they supposed to be asleep? Didn't I confirmed it last time? Selina was left in confusion.
At that time, it was afternoon, bordering to evening. She visited the dreamworld and checked that there was only one segment of vine left. Not only that, what baffles her in their numbers.
She was standing at a spiral of dense vines adding to a sense equal to a hundred segments!
And each of this vines corresponds to a person, which equates that in her status now, she was being worshipped by legions!
An unnamed horror bloomed from Selina's heart.
I-I thought there was only thirty members in total? Yesir had taken account of even the harmless ones like Jean...
The behavior of the dreamworld was unpredictable!
Her visits so far only gave her enough to justify the amount that her members had. This were in the time zone of evening, afternoon, and night.
She did not bother entering the dreamworld under any time zone except the aforementioned zones, thinking that it would only result in her seeing an empty plane.
Contrary to her belief. The vines that had proliferated outnumbered the vines she saw whenever she visit during those times.
This also meant that there are more of those mad people who reveres the True Goddess of Harvest, the original Child of God.
Selina wanted to take step back, however, being integrated with the very ground itself restricts her to one place.
Let's better ignore them... It's dangerous to let ourselves indulge in a matter of curiosity...
After a mental note, she divert her attention to a vine being swarmed with speckles of light.
These lights radiant a vibrant emerald, to which each individuals all points to the layered voices of her own.
Selina took a deep breath and outlined her spirituality to rush toward the segment.
In an instant, the previously scattered specks gathered in one place. They formed a handle-less door made entirely of emerald light.
Howling wind tore the grass blades, drifting them high.
By her will, the door pane quietly and steadily opened. The rush of wind broke through the barrier and forcibly entered her bedroom.
It encompassed the entire site of the altar, accompanying it was the scent present in the dreamworld.
Selina watched as the wind tore the light, revealing herself laid inert before the pillar of candles.
Despite the ruthless gales, the flames did not burgeoned to death, it stayed alit.
As the wind receded, unable to bypass the Wall of Spirituality. Selina touched her chest and sighed in relief.
So far there was no reaction from my body... then the corners of her mouth curled up.
Her excitement rushed in delight.
It worked!
The lady lifted her hands up in the air. It was undeniable that during this, she had attempted to jump but failed miserably.
This little celebration went short as after this, Selina suddenly faced an issue.
What will she bestow to herself now?
Perhaps I can give myself abilities like making mountains? Ah wait... No, that only applies in this world... her fingers raised to caress her chin.
"Something to bestow..." she softly murmured.
Along the lines of her whirring thoughts, she briefly recalled. "I have to bestow my followers with money!"
Not only that, as she delve deeper, another issue surfaced.
"The construction of the ritual is too exerting!"
The deliberation of weaving a circular wreath, attaching said item to a cross then using a mound of soil as the establishment while three candles are pillared nearby opt for an allocation of time.
As such, it becomes tedious, especially for Selina who was already planning to abuse her privilege as the Goddess.
Hmm... Thankfully my body seemed to be skilled in weaving flowers or else it might've took me almost an hour!
By this logic. She gradually formulated an idea.
I've already considered this before so what about a tool that helps me in setting the wreath altar effortlessly?
...A tool. In this world, I am allowed to control the environment and shape how the growth of a sprout would take form, so... a seed?
She lifted her hand up. Her palm open.
Almost instantly, her skin melted into soil, roots and vines already protruding out. Similarly, each of the life sprouting from Selina had rapidly advanced to their next stage.
The roots and vines became ladened with thorns. Her body of soil turns into a congregation of said plants.
In her palm. A simple sprout began to shape.
Also affect by the rapid growth, it developed a stem in a matter of second. From its sapling to finally a miniature tree, akin to a bonsai.
Its branch proliferated small fruits. To which these fruits ripened and fell.
And just like that, the subsidiary stages wilted in a blink of an eye, leaving only a turquoise colored seed.
Selina then watched as the seed sprouted with its stem, skipping a phase. Morphing itself to accommodate a large vertical hole, resembling how the wreath's role as the passageway for bestowments.
She gave a brief nod as she saw it revert back to its shell.
"This can completely replace the need for making wreaths! Now all that's left now is... Testing..." her anticipation was cut short.
This would have to be conducted after receiving it in the material world, which is the part that may invite inherent danger.
However, before this, Selina had to consider another matter. Subjecting the door of emerald light to another idle.
"Anyway, I have to think of how to withdraw such a sum of pounds from the bank without garnering suspicion!"
The door of emerald remained in a stationary, emerald dusts and specks swarming it around, producing a swirling noise.
During this, Selina's voice trailed off.
She recalled the headlines from the newspaper, outlining a case of missing jewelry even in North Borough!
"No! No way!" she repeatedly told herself.
"That would be too unacceptable! I shouldn't encouraged stealing by having a bigger bounty on myself for a hook!"
Selina frowned and clenched the seed in her hand.
"How could I give my 'bestowments' to my believers in a way that ensures safety?
"...An anonymous account? Hehe, imagine a god, their followers expecting grandeur for a bestowment, only to be met with a single paper slip..." she grinned and then a soft chuckle escaped her thin but rosy lips.
"Alright alright... Focus! I can... pray to Evernight Goddess just like Old Neil? No! That would be too disdainful!
"I mean, it requires me to be an official unit of Nighthawks, not just an officer! Besides, it would need me to draw a counter... feit... note." Selina's voice trailed off.
Suddenly, her sapphire eyes glint with unusual stimulus.
In her available hand, she opened her palm. Saps began oozing from her body made of soil. This strange phenomenon escalated to the sap drying and it forming into thin papers.
Just like with the documents. She tried to outline her imagery of a regular paper pound.
However, much to her effort, the paper made of sap remained blank.
"That's odd... How is it that for Yesir's given documents, I could simply reform them but not for other things? Aren't these notes, papers as well?" amid her confusion, she retried once more.
This time, not in the process, but by how she had reformed the documents after tearing them. This resulted in the sap being consumed by her body comprising of soil, roots and vines.
The soil receded and what was left was a regular one pound note.
It looked authentic, even having the former king, William Augustus VI's portrait, just like how she had pictured it.
Seeing the note in her hand. Selina marveled at her capabilities but along with it, her perception of wealth gradually grew dull.
"It's identical to the actual one pound... This feels like a cheat." she couldn't help but feel anxious.
If she were to bestow it, wouldn't her believers face forgery?
Selina shook her head vigorously.
It was clear to her that attempting such would subject her followers to a crime, possibly endangering their morals, something she had been trying to amend.
Regardless of her perception of them, as the White Maiden, it would surely compromise her status if she's attempting to leverage their faith.
But on the other hand, if she succeeds in bestowing herself the counterfeit, it would mean that it's within her ability to bestow a variety of items.
A discovery of her authority as the Child of God.
With the note and seed placed on the her vine limb. Selina willed it to extend toward the door.
As it approached, strong gusts of wind bundled and entered the border before it.
And shortly after the vines crossed. Her body, lying lifeless on the ground suddenly was struck by an intense urge,
It began convulsing!
Her heart rate grew rapidly, her ears and face moistened from sweat as her skin showed rosiness.
Despite being in the world and was without a consciousness. The carnal desire to copulate overwhelmed her body to the point of compelling her hands to reach for her chest and lower part, pressing each of her fingers to their vital spots.
Seeing this. Selina in the dreamworld froze.
Without hesitation, as the seed succeeded in crossing barrier, the door swirling with emerald light abruptly vanished.
The vines extending from Selina's body was instantly severed, leaving it to rot and dissipated by the table.
Inside the dreamworld. Across the endless expanse of meadow. A woman's breath resounded saliently amid the howling winds.
From her gown clinging to her waist to her hair gently swaying. Her beauty remained yet the expression betrays it.
Filled with fear and apprehension gripping her thoughts. Selina left the dreamworld instantly.
...
After waking up. Selina felt a warm damp in intimate parts of her body. Her left hand glazed with a substance.
She lifted her head to the altar. The brown soil had crumbled and the wreathe was but a pile of wilted flowers and stems.
The seed was there, but the paper pound failed to materialize into her room and Selina would never reattempt such a dangerous ritual again.
The oppressive drugs barely had an effect! she exclaimed in grievance.
Shifting to her body. The state she's currently in made her unable to exert strength to both her limbs.
Selina stayed, lying on the floor and endured the uneasiness of her damped clothes.
Only after tens of minutes had passed was she finally able to relax her joints, to which she abused almost quickly to change into her clothes.
In her dark-green blouse and dark dress, Selina finally felt comfort in relation to her earlier state.
Casting her gaze at the ritual site. The wall of spirituality was gone, long after she had terminated it in a rush toward her wardrobe.
While the fruit of her risk, the seed nested before a collapsed soil, crucifix and wreathe. However, Selina didn't dared to close her gap.
Since it clearly originated from the dreamworld, a product of the manifestation of her thought. The ritual's effect may have been carried by its very shell.
Selina cautiously approached it and examined the seed at a distance.
Its texture remained identical to the surface she had pictured of it. Small signs of emerald dust covered its speck of hairs.
She scarcely thought about it, certain the seed would not grow under any conditions.
And just as she expected, she failed to elicit any connection from it, appearing as any other seed.
So in a sense. Her attempt was all for naught and even led her to danger.
Dwelling on the matter won't change anything... At the very least, I have now seen the scale of my capabilities in the dreamworld and its effect toward the material world...
What I need now is how to safely contain the seed...