Within Mariam's enormous corn field, it was not a rare sight to see crows having a feast, or a patch of dried up stalks with no purpose beyond just existing.
Gilgamesh did not see a source of water, nor did he see a single farming tool or scarecrow. It seemed as though the corn field was just there, with no one to tend to it.
To him, it was clear that Mariam did not truly care about the corn. This begged the question of why she even wanted him to come help her fix the damage he caused in the first place.
Was it only so that he could be tested under Heaven's eyes? What did fixing a corn field even have to do with the test anyway? Mariam did not explain it to him, and he never asked.
All he knew was that she told him the others had all vanished while helping her in the field.
Even so, he did not pose any questions or object to the idea. Instead, he followed her to the site of his crash and immediately started to do as she told him.
He aided her in picking up the dead, flattened corn plants, and tossing them all into the crater where he landed. Then, he watched as she stood over the crater and pointed into it with a single finger.
In that moment, Gilgamesh felt as if all of his understanding meant nothing. A force that he could not feel appeared throughout Mariam's body, and sent shivers running through and through him. His mind was entirely unable to wrap itself around this concept, and fear was the only thing he could feel in response.
Mariam's body was enraptured by a floral form of power that revealed itself as a wave of colors before settling into an aura around her. Then, following the direction of her finger, the earth reacted.
The very ground beneath them moved, pushing the loose, scattered soil back into the crater and burying the dead plants within it. Before long, the clean and flat earth was restored.
"Now," Mariam said as she turned to look at the awestruck Gilgamesh, "we plant."
"Huh?" Gilgamesh looked around at the area. Although it was definitely ready to be prepped, it was not at all suitable for them to plant just yet. He began to wonder if Mariam really even cared about farming corn.
He had never even seen her eating or selling corn-- she hadn't even harvested any of it!
"What exactly are we going to plant?" He asked, ignoring the obvious. Mariam shot him a simple grin and raised her hand slightly.
Seemingly out of thin air, a number of little corn plants appeared, floating above Mariam's head. A greenish aura covered them in a kind of protective layer, which was then guided toward Gilgamesh before being placed at his feet.
"Am I really here to help you, or is all of this just a part of the test?" Gilgamesh asked as he picked up one of the little plants.
Mariam scoffed and took up a plant for herself, "It's both. I don't like taking shortcuts with the actual planting process, so you're actually a huge help."
Gilgamesh was already knelt down, digging into the soil with his bare hands. "Of all things you could choose to use that power of yours for, why not use it for this?"
Mariam joined him as she carefully chose a spot and started planting. She was extra gentle with the little plant in her hands, and Gilgamesh ended up stopping to watch the way she did it.
It was like she was taking care of a little child.
"This is a very special process. The act of plant becoming one with the earth is much like the insertion of a child into the womb. The earth becomes the plant's womb, and is now responsible for the growth of that plant. Nature shapes everything that plant will ever be."
"Whether it grows or not, produces fruit or not, is eaten alive or not. Whether it dries up and dies, or sees the fullest extent of life as a plant. The earth becomes responsible for everything, by nurturing that plant into what it is meant to be."
Mariam inserted the plant into the hole she had made, and begun covering it up with the loose soil. "When you leave a plant in the earth's embrace, you allow the earth to shape its destiny. You entrust nature with the very idea of that plant's existence. The essential Way of that little life, even if insignificant, is a core part of this and all realities."
She turned to Gilgamesh with a somber smile, and eyes full of emotions Gilgamesh could not identify. On top of that, he took note of something ancient within her eyes. He could not help becoming dumbstruck.
"Take hold of your plant- heh- Gilly-Mesh. Entrust your plant to the earth, and let us see what becomes of it."
At Mariam's behest, Gilgamesh took hold of the plant he had almost forgotten about, and slowly inserted it into the little pocket of earth he had made.
As he did so, he could almost feel the resonance between him and the earth. He felt as though he were doing more than planting a little corn plant, but that he was placing a part of himself into the earth as well.
He felt as though he were the plant, and it, too, was him. It represented him, becoming him, before he set it free into nature.
Mariam's eyes were on him in this moment. The eyes of the four Great Elders were on him. The very silver sky above them opened up, and allowed Heaven's eyes to be placed upon him.
In this moment, regardless of what they thought was about to happen, all eyes found Gilgamesh as he buried his little plant. When the act itself was completed, Gilgamesh moved to continue what he was doing.
However, when he noticed Mariam, he gasped and stopped what he was doing as fear struck him once more.
Mariam's body was covered again in that floral aspect, but her aura was more than 100 times greater than before. She was using a kind of power that resonated with more than just Gilgamesh, but with all the world around her.
That power then gathered at a single point: Gilgamesh's plant.
"This... is the answer. The very Fruit of you... Gilgamesh." Mariam brought her hand in front of her mouth, and all of that floral energy came to rest upon her small palm.
Then, as she blew, that energy was scattered like dust, and fell upon the little plant that Gilgamesh had buried.
The atmosphere itself became tense as the onlookers all were taken up in suspense. There was no telling what would happen, but they all knew that whatever happened to that little corn plant would indicate a very core truth of Gilgamesh.
For some reason, this truth mattered to Heaven, therefore it mattered to Mariam and the elders. Unfortunately, there was no way for either side to find the truth exclusively.
Heaven needed Mariam's input, but Mariam could not hide from Heaven.
Gilgamesh watched the dust settle on his little plant with sparkling eyes.
"Amazing. It's already growing up."
The little corn plant steadily grew taller and larger, producing more and more leaves as it rose into the air. Gilgamesh stood along with it as it quickly became taller than he was, then he followed it with his eyes as it shot up into the air.
Eventually, it stopped growing, and there was no more response from it.
"Wow," Gilgamesh put his arms on his sides, and nodded approvingly, "that was something else. I'm impressed."
Thinking it was over, Gilgamesh looked to Mariam again only to see her staring wide-eyed at the corn plant. For some reason, he could feel her shock in the very atmosphere, and a lot more than what seemed to just be hers.
It was almost like the entire world was in shock.
Gilgamesh followed her eyes and looked atop the corn plant, seeing that it had produced fruit.
However... it did not produce corn...
Sprouting out of the large crop... were apples, grape vines, bananas and oranges of varying sizes. They grew and grew until the corn stalk started bending, before altogether breaking and falling to the ground, scattering the fruits.
Gilgamesh's mouth fell open before he looked to Mariam, "What kind of corn plants are these? Did you do something to them?"
Mariam stared at the scattered fruits before her eyes turned again on Gilgamesh. She uttered a single word before she got up and started walking away, leaving Gilgamesh clueless as to what exactly it all meant.
That word was:
"Impossible."
Mariam was not the only one to react like this.
Beneath the main house of the Felis Clan, the four Great Elders were also slack-jawed and stunned, capable of saying only one word.
"Impossible."
As for The Phantasm, which had been watching and waiting for this one moment, it fell to its knees as its understanding failed. Its eyes never left the random fruits that had grown from Gilgamesh's corn plant, and its mind never once took a break from trying to glean something from it all.
In the end, it gave up.
"Impossible."