Roots

Aubergine was a humble farmer. Sprouted from the same lands he now tended, Aubergine had dedicated his life to growing the vegetable community and feeding peoples all across the land.

The peoples of the coast hadn't always respected the vegetable folk. They saw the vegetables as dullards only useful on their dinner plates. However, the coastal people lost touch with the land in their castles and keeps, and the growth of the quantum shadow had made growing crops ever more difficult.

The vegetable folk had never lost touch with the land, and as the times of plenty gave way to growing darkness, their skills with the land became increasingly valuable. Aubergine was one of the finest farmers of his generation and had particular skill in trading. Vegetables were excluded from the great schools, but Aubergine dug into the Citadel's tokens and protocols with the same vigor as he tilled the land. He realized that the vegetables needed to organize their distribution to capture the crops' growing value, and plot by plot, he convinced the vegetables to join a collective.

Aubergine's work helped funnel life changing wealth to the previously poor vegetables, and the vegetable community was initially ecstatic. Aubergine grew as a political force within the vegetables and was even gifted one of the world's finest pieces of clothing – a blue vest – by the community. However, it didn't last as the vegetables grew increasingly infatuated with their newfound wealth.

Vegetables initially happy to have a roof over their heads and schools for their sprouts began desiring the latest machines from the Citadel and the finest threads from the Riviera. The collective began fracturing over the split of tokens, who was to blame for a bad listing, and why the yield wasn't higher on the vaults. The shadow's growth hadn't ceased either, and the gentle crops that drove the highest returns began to fail. Aubergine, once a pillar of the community, was falsely accused of several improprieties. While he was eventually acquitted, he felt the damage to his reputation was done, and he grew scornful of the fighting and accusations. Aubergine withdrew back to the wood.

But the wood was not immune to the growing turmoil of the world, and even Aubergine was having trouble growing his gentle crops. Beasts who rarely risked confrontation with the upright walkers increasingly intruded on his farm, and Aubergine heard stories of strange folk entering the wood. At night, he heard the cries of creatures who feared nothing. He several times swore to have seen glowing eyes peering at him through the trees.

One day, as Aubergine wandered the wood, he encountered a strange skull upon the soil. He had seen the canaanite and wolfkin people several times in his travels, but the horns on the skull reminded him of neither. He leaned down to inspect the skull further when his mouse, Ail, let out a violent shriek that sent a shiver up Aubergine's vine. The look on Ail's face made clear this was no ordinary skull, so Aubergine quickly distanced himself and hurried back to his farm.

Several weeks passed, but Aubergine could not shake the feeling of the skull. It appeared in his thoughts and his dreams; its form appeared in the soil and rain; its horns appeared in the shadows. Aubergine looked for a similar skull in his books but found none. He asked vegetables in town if they'd heard of such a skull but was met with puzzled stares and laughter. Aubergine's mind had started to rot after too much time in the wood, they said. But none of this could shake the skull from his mind.

As Aubergine sat at home one day, his mind consumed as usual by the skull, he resolved to go back and find it. He was quickly packing up his gear to leave when he saw Ail staring sadly at him. The mouse had been acting strange ever since they saw the skull, and his dear friend seemed to sense when Aubergine was lost in its thrall. Aubergine's mind was set though, so he gave his friend a pet and set off alone knowing Ail could not bear to go with him.

Aubergine's walk to the skull took hours but passed in seconds like a hazy dream. He passed through dense wood and wet marsh but never stopped for directions once as if drawn to its source. As he finally neared the skull, Aubergine felt unnerved as the setting suns cast an eery shadow over the wood, and he noticed not a single blade of grass was disturbed despite weeks of storms. It made no difference, and Aubergine walked directly to the skull. After locking eyes with its icy gaze, he bent over to inspect it further.

The moment he touched the skull, Aubergine heard a dark voice whisper in a tongue he had never heard but immediately understood. He tried to pull his hand back as he felt the skull pulling his energy, but it had already seized control of his body. He felt sheer terror as if he was being pulled down to hell itself. But as the single voice in his mind turned to many and whispers turned to a deafening scream, Aubergine could only hear, think, and feel one thing:

We have been waiting

Entered by: 0x286c…0b6e and preserved on chain (see transaction)