There was something incredibly eerie about the realisation that the entire population of a US state had likely died or been turned into something inherently inhuman by the Change. Looking at older maps of Alaska and comparing those with the things I could see thanks to my scrying constructs was a sobering experience. It was one thing to wander through northern Canada, where few people had lived before the change and not come across any survivors beyond the people in the Chief's village and an entirely different thing to see the former population centres of a state and fail to find any signs of life.

As it turned out, the massive, newly established glacier I had stumbled across covered what once was Anchorage, the most populous city in the state, and the few ruins I had seen on our way west were the remains of some of the larger towns. And there was not a single survivor, beyond the greenskins living in the bay, but those were more beast than men, with no signs of sapience in sight.

But maybe that was all for the best.

After all, if I thought about turning this area into my personal domain, I wouldn't want to be forced to contend with the locals about my ownership. But if there were no surviving locals who could register their complaint, I would be the uncontested ruler, especially if I managed to establish my own authority over the giants. Or maybe if I could create and establish a population of dragons in the area, leaving the Giants to serve Sigmir in the future, giving both of us our own people to guide and control. A part of me, maybe the part that ultimately gave rise to the Mother, was quite intrigued at the idea, even as another part wanted nothing to do with it.

Realisations like this were a fascinating experience, making me wonder how many of these were due to outside forces and how many I only now came to realise thanks to a fairly large amount of introspection and, possibly, my increased attributes. How those attributes played into things was an interesting question, one I likely would be unable to answer unless I managed to greatly expand my ability to experiment on people, but that was just how the cookie crumbled.

All in all, the possibility of it being the result of outside forces other than the system was just as interesting and easier to analyse, too. It also posed the question: was the Mother an outside force? Or was the Mother part of myself, possibly empowered due to the connection to Lia and Luna, to the point that the connection between Luna, the Grandmother and myself transcended what mortals were supposed to be? Likely thanks to the Grandmother and her preexisting efforts to gain a divinity of her own, which would mean that the Mother was both an internal part of me, but empowered, for lack of a better word, by an outside force, namely the divine triad of Daughter, Mother and Crone.

Regardless, those were questions and issues for the future. For now, I had to continue shepherding a group of giants through the endless pine forests of Alaska, having them avoid any large bodies of water on the way, just in case. Which was harder than one might think, numerous lakes and streams were flowing down from the mountains, almost all around us and towards the ocean south of us. While I hadn't seen any greenskins in those rivers, I wasn't about to risk one of the limited number of giants I had on the chance, especially given that I was fairly certain giants would sink, not float and possibly drown in short order.

To make matters worse, what little infrastructure had been there before the change was almost entirely gone, with only a few stretches of road, the odd sign, and some rubble already reclaimed by vegetation left to tell of past civilisations.

These patches once again drove home just how odd things were, especially when realising that some of the larger trees in the area were growing over rubble that used to belong to houses or were surrounded by asphalt, indicating that the tree had broken through the surface of a road. Meaning, these trees had, somehow, managed to grow taller than the trees around them in an absurdly short timeframe, leaving me to wonder. And Luna to investigate, her abilities were simply better suited to these kinds of things.

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"So, what did you find?" I asked my daughter, once we were back on the road, after she had investigated one of these instances.

"It's fascinating," she admitted, her eyes a little distant, as she was clearly lost in thought, "I think the situation is somewhat analogous to my own. You know, the levels I gained greatly accelerated my maturation to the point that I could almost be the mother of a child born at the same time as I was," she explained, making me nod in understanding. It was slightly exaggerated. Luna's physical maturity was, by my reckoning, in the late teens, maybe early twenties, so having a seven-year-old child was a slight stretch. Not impossible, but also not quite the norm.

Or it hadn't been before the change. Now, with civilisation collapsed, essentially no mundane medical services and what I could only assume would be a greatly increased maternal and infant mortality, that might change. Or maybe not, perception, the remnants of social norms and the availability of divine healing would all play their part. Even I, in my role as the Mother, might be able to shift things there by expanding the availability of healing for childbirth and similar areas, with beneficial caveats for those above twenty. Something to consider if I ever figure out how to influence my own followers. Maybe talking to the Grandmother about this particular aspect was a good idea.

"So, you think these trees, what? Gained levels for conquering the infrastructure they are now growing over?" Lia asked, joining the conversation.

"Eh, something like that?" Luna replied, her lack of confidence in the conclusion quite obvious. "I mean, it's not like there's a sentience there; they are just trees. But, at the same time, it's not like a road or building has any sentience either, so there might be something similar to the system working on that level, or even the system itself, just in an entirely different manner."

"You mean like some sort of Nature versus Civilisation thing, empowering nature to take over the remnants of civilisation and, possibly, the same only in reverse?" I asked, thinking back to Apple Gate Farm and the original rapid buildup of the place. How much of that had been due to pure human desperation and need? Had there been some unseen, unknown force in the background, empowering the forces of civilisation to fight back against nature?

It was an interesting question, especially when expanding it to the numerous other communities. Had humanity received some benefits to keep it on the brink of disaster and extinction, instead of letting it tip over the edge and into the long night?

"Maybe? I mean, we've seen a lot of examples of nature doing stuff that shouldn't be possible and simply thought it was due to the change, especially when it came to taking over the remnants of civilisation. Why not give it a slightly formalised name?" Luna asked, only for Lia to pipe up.

"Because it wasn't just taking over the remnants of civilisation, was it?" she asked, her question clearly rhetorical, "Think back to areas like that massive forest, with those gigantic trees near where we met the elves and driads. That wasn't just taking over civilisation, that was something more," she argued, getting a thoughtful nod in return.

"It was, but, at the same time, it might have been due to the World Tree growing there. Who knows how that influences things locally? Somewhere out there might be an equivalent, some sort of Tower of Babel, empowering and boosting people and communities growing around it," I added my two cents, getting thoughtful looks in return.

"It would be interesting to investigate once you have managed to set up the things you wanted. And maybe figure out a way for us to travel swiftly across long distances. I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty sick of walking," Lia snarked, her words tempered by the grin on her face.

"Oh, don't complain too much, you got to sit at Jademoon Tower for a while, until Mom got you and dragged you through the shadows to join us again," Luna replied, only to notice Lia's face falling at the mention of my tower in the south. Clearly, my daughter wasn't over that part, even if she managed to cover it up most of the time.

Reaching out, I put an arm around her shoulder while Luna apologised, getting Lia to smile wanly and curl into my arm, seeking comfort as we continued walking. Our journey was almost over, but not quite. We still had some ways to go, likely to the mountains I could see in the distance thanks to my scrying constructs.

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