Capítulo 158: Decay
Emile retracted his hand, the fox clearly wasn't going to shake it at this point. Collecting himself, Emile decided to approach the fox one final time and this time there would be no dilly-dallying.
"I was wondering if I could procure any seeds from you? You see, I'm interested in the cultivation of plants such as these and have been searching for a garden as plentiful as yours," Emile slightly tipped his head, showing his respect for the foxes gardener.
The fox paused in his movements, he straightened his back and stood up. Looking at Emile, he took a puff, then responded:
"Do you know where the production team is?" His voice still deep and scratchy.
"Do you mean that crowded hallway?" Emile asked.
"Yes —" the fox's voice dipped as he looked away, "that horrid place keeps all of my extra seeds and pawns them off, you can buy them there, but you won't be able to grow them above ground."
"Oh?" Emile's interest jumped, "And why is that?"
"The soil has been stripped of all its resources, it's nothing more than solid dust. And that gray sky, it's an abomination to life itself."
Emile turned his head. Although he had always assumed the lack of a sun was bad for growing plants, he had never heard someone mention it specifically.
He got the information he came here to receive, where to earn seeds, but the fox was giving him more information than he expected. Emile had to continue probing.
"What's wrong with the gray sky?"
The fox looked at Emile once again. His vertical slits thinned as he looked into Emile's eyes, he was serious and tense.
"Artificial light. A creation the humans have praised for centuries, a tool that replaced the sun we so recklessly destroyed…. Let me ask you this, what do you know about the daylight?"
Emile organized his thoughts. The fox didn't say anything particularly new, he knew the sun was destroyed a long time ago and that artificial light had been created to replace it, what he didn't know was that it was problematic.
The mention of the daylight was nonexistent. The King's never talked about it, nor has anyone else. It was considered a solved issue, requiring no more attention, and yet this random fox said otherwise?
"Unfortunately, I can't say I know much about it," Emile replied honestly, he didn't need to put on a front for this, it seemed nobody cared about the light.
"Typical —" he sucked in one more cloud of smoke, "have you heard of the term radiation? It's a phenomena not many understand, and yet it affects us all."
Emile didn't hide his facial expression, actually, he couldn't. His eyebrows rose, his mouth hung open, 'radiation?' He thought to himself.
Of course he knew of radiation, how could he not? When he left Earth the topic of radiation was at the forefront of the world in the form of nuclear generators. Though, he never expected to hear about it here, especially from the lips of a smoking fox.
"Radiation is the collapsing of atoms, the decay of reality," Emile said under his breath, not realizing he said that aloud.
The fox's eyes widened and, for once, his cigar hung on his open lip and swayed back and forth. Pulling it from his mouth, he looked at Emile with far more sincerity than before.
"The decay of reality…" he repeated, "yes, yes that's quite apt. Radiation is akin to death and that artificial light that the humans created is at the center of it all. It is responsible for the death of life itself, it destroyed the soil and dried the rivers, leaving not even a possibility of resurgence on the table. This garden of mine took years to grow, not because of the lack of plants or water, but because of the lack of nutrients in the soil. Above ground, under the kiss of death from the light, exists no place where life can take hold."
Emile patiently listened to the fox, hanging on each of his words as if they contained the secret to unravel the universe. When the old fox finally stopped speaking, Emile parted his lips to respond, but his body was lagging behind his brain.
Inside his head, Emile was connecting all of the minuscule hints he received up until this point, laying it out in his mind like a presentation.
First, why was any hint of life contained underground?
Fallen Sky, underground.
Rising Tide, underground.
Black Gates, underground.
The Graves, underground.
The foxes, underground.
For the longest time this was something Emile never bothered to question, and if he did, there were other, more convincing answers available.
For example, all of the human settlements were underground due to the war. It's just easier to defend underground versus above ground.
The kingdoms can terraform their terrain, creating tunnels and passageways filled with traps and defenses. They could construct mazes and intersections all with the purpose of leading invaders into kill zones.
And the best part of it all, these kingdoms didn't have to fear aerial attacks. But what if they settled underground for another reason?
What if their ancestors knew of the radiation and settled underground because of that? Even if they didn't know exactly, it's possible their instincts alone guided them underground.
And none of that addressed Emile's immediate concern, is the radiation dangerous enough to affect him as it is? Is walking and existing above ground a detriment to him?
He didn't think so.
His soul would have told him, notified him of any damage his body was dealt. But was he safe because of his Gift? Were others constantly being worn down and he was the only safe one?
Emile looked up at the fox who had returned to his work, Emile's silence lasted long enough to consider the conversation over after all.
"Can we shut it off?" Emile asked, for some reason assuming the fox knew the answer.
"Shut it off? You mean the light?" The fox scratched his chin then blew out a cloud of smoke, "I'm not sure. I've never seen the contraption myself, only heard about it from Master, but that was quite a while ago."
Emile narrowed his eyes.
'Another mention of their Master'
'If it is Madame Mercy, then she must have been quite busy in her time to be connected to everything like this'
But nevertheless, with a direction to guide him, Emile was ready to leave the gardens. As it happened, someone just arrived to take Emile away.
"Um, excuse me?" A nervous voice interrupted Emile's thoughts, "I'm looking for a Spright, I was told I'd find him here."
Emile cast his gaze towards the entrance to the gardens, a noticeably small fox stood in the doorway. It had light gray fur and black ears.
He didn't wear clothes like the old fox from the garden, but he had a luxurious pendant hanging from his neck. The dark red gemstone in the center was particularly enticing, for a moment, Emile even thought something in the gemstone moved.
"I'm Spright," Emile raised his hand and approached the small fox, "how can I help you?"
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