~----~
[COGNITIVE SIGNATURE CONFIRMED]
[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 something.
It wasn't much, but it was there. The faintest awareness, like a slow pulse in the back of my mind, nudging me toward… something.
But wait, why did it feel like something flashed before me? 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 me. 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 me feel any better. In fact, it pissed me 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 me? 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, something else would. Something else, someone else who would take what little I had.
The last thing I needed was some 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 me, filling me, awakening something 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. Something 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 me 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 moment, but the realization came fast.
Something was eating me!
'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 me. 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 me 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 me began to shift, loosen. The soil parted, and the pressure started to lift. There was a faint glow above; something distant, something alive.
The moment my fragile sprout pushed through the soil, the light hit me.
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.
Something I hadn't felt before, something raw and immediate. I'd never been so thirsty for something in my life, except maybe, you know, ahem…
I basked in the sunlight, feeding off it, feeling the warmth wrap around me. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before, everything became clearer.
This was it.
This was the next step. The moment 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, something else moved.
A shadow.
I froze. It was above me, 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 loomed over me, growing larger, darker, smothering the precious light I had only just tasted. Something was coming.
Suddenly, I felt bitter.
'Bastard, you couldn't just let me 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 me life. And now it was slipping away, devoured by the encroaching darkness.
Then…
DING!
A sharp, unnatural chime cut through my panic.
It wasn't a sound I heard with ears. It was inside me, vibrating through every fiber of my being. And then…
Light.
Not from the sun. Not from the world around me, but from somewhere else entirely.
A translucent screen flared to life before me, filling my mind with words, symbols, information.
~----~
[SYSTEM BOOTING…]
[IDENTITY CONFIRMED]
>Name: [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 meant. No idea what I was about to become.
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 me?
It had no idea what it was about to wake up.