~----~
[COGNITIVE SIGNATURE CONFIRD]
[CELLULAR PATHFINDING OPTIMAL]
[UNKNOWN BIOSPHERE LOADED]
>User: Clayton Hunt.
>Trial 1 Initiated.
~----~
...
Darkness.
Deep, suffocating darkness.
It wasn't the kind of darkness you could ignore.
It wasn't just black, it was oppressive. Like a suffocating weight pressing down, cutting off any chance of escape.
Not that I had anywhere to go. My body, no, my existence was immobile, unable to do anything except exist in this void.
Was I dead? No. I could still feel sothing.
It wasn't much, but it was there. The faintest awareness, like a slow pulse in the back of my mind, nudging toward... sothing.
But wait, why did it feel like sothing flashed before ? It must be my imagination, because how can I see anything in this stark darkness?
I tried to focus. Think. No, not think, move. It didn't work. There were no limbs to stretch, no mouth to speak. I had no hands to claw my way out, no legs to kick. Nothing. It was like being trapped in a box with no way to break out.
The panic was there, but I knew better than to let it take over. Panic gets you killed. I'd learned that on the streets. Keep your head cool, keep your eyes open.
Then, I felt it.
A strange pressure on all sides; dense, heavy. It wasn't pain, but it was a reminder that I wasn't free. I was buried. Underground.
'Underground?!'
'Goddammit...!'
That's when it hit . I wasn't just trapped, I was a seed. A goddamn seed!
I don't know how I knew it, but I did.
I couldn't move, couldn't scream, but I knew. And the realization didn't make feel any better. In fact, it pissed off. I didn't want to be a seed. I wanted to be walking, talking, fighting. Not stuck in this damn hole.
But that wasn't the point. The point was survival.
And the instinct that flared to life in ? Grow or die.
But how can I even survive if I can't fight?
I needed moisture. That much was clear. If I didn't find it, if I didn't grow fast enough, sothing else would. Sothing else, soone else who would take what little I had.
The last thing I needed was so other plant stealing my nutrients.
I could sense it now, the water deep in the soil. Sweet, precious water. Back in the outskirts, I learned to value water, but definitely not to this extent.
My roots, my only way of interacting with the world extended downward, blindly seeking the moisture I needed. It felt slow, but it was there.
The water seeped into , filling , awakening sothing deep within. This wasn't just a plant's hunger, it was the urge to survive.
But it wasn't enough.
I could feel it now. Sothing else growing nearby. Not a rival yet, but a threat. A faster-growing plant, its roots spreading too close to mine.
There was no room for both of us in this patch of soil. I had to get there first, I had to outgrow it.
The soil around shifted, and my roots fought back against it.
It was a struggle. I was weak, fragile, but I had no choice. I wasn't going to die here, at least not without a fight.
Then, a sudden jolt. A sharp tug. One of my roots snapped.
It took a mont, but the realization ca fast.
Sothing was eating !
'W-what?!'
An insect. A damn bug, I think; digging into my fragile roots, chewing them apart. And heck, I am so useless.
I couldn't see, couldn't fight back. I couldn't even feel pain, not like I used to but I knew it was eating . Just like how the world worked, survival of the fittest; weak things get eaten.
I couldn't let it happen. I wouldn't let it.
'Over my dead body, bastard!'
I forced my roots deeper, harder, searching for anything. Any advantage.
The light above called, but I wasn't stupid enough to think I could just stretch toward it and be safe. No, I had to get stronger first. I had to be faster.
And then I felt it. A crack in the earth. The weight above began to shift, loosen. The soil parted, and the pressure started to lift. There was a faint glow above; sothing distant, sothing alive.
The mont my fragile sprout pushed through the soil, the light hit .
It wasn't much, but it was enough. A jolt of energy I could feel throughout my entire being. The sun, it was pure power.
Sothing I hadn't felt before, sothing raw and imdiate. I'd never been so thirsty for sothing in my life, except maybe, you know, ahem...
I basked in the sunlight, feeding off it, feeling the warmth wrap around . It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before, everything beca clearer.
This was it.
This was the next step. The mont I had been waiting for. I wasn't just surviving anymore, I was alive.
But just as I thought I could finally take a breath, sothing else moved.
A shadow.
I froze. It was above , large, looming.
I couldn't see it, I couldn't sense it with my limited senses, but I knew. I felt it. And it was hungry.
I didn't need to think. I didn't need to be a hero. I just needed to survive.
The shadow lood over , growing larger, darker, smothering the precious light I had only just tasted. Sothing was coming.
Suddenly, I felt bitter.
'Bastard, you couldn't just let catch my breath first right?!'
I felt indignant.
I had no way to fight, no way to escape. I had just broken free from the soil, barely started to live, and already, I was about to die?
No.
No way in hell!
But what could I do? I had no claws to tear, no legs to run.
I was just a fragile sprout, barely standing, barely breathing in the golden energy that had given life. And now it was slipping away, devoured by the encroaching darkness.
Then...
DING!
A sharp, unnatural chi cut through my panic.
It wasn't a sound I heard with ears. It was inside , vibrating through every fiber of my being. And then...
Light.
Not from the sun. Not from the world around , but from sowhere else entirely.
A translucent screen flared to life before , filling my mind with words, symbols, information.
~----~
[SYSTEM BOOTING...]
[IDENTITY CONFIRD]
>Na: [Clayton Hunt]
>Race: [Fledgling Solar Flora]
[NEW CONDITION DETECTED: FIRST SUNLIGHT ABSORPTION]
[EVOLUTION TRIGGERED!]
~----~
I didn't have a heart anymore, but if I did, it would have stopped.
Evolution?
I had no idea what it ant. No idea what I was about to beco.
But as the system's glow intensified, wrapping around my fragile body like an unseen force, I knew one thing for certain...
I wasn't going to stay weak.
And whatever was in that shadow above ?
It had no idea what it was about to wake up.
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