[Day 74 Post-Awakening | LE: 1,172/10,000 | Time Remaining: 26 Days]
SCENE 1: MEMORY EROSION — THE FACE I CAN'T REMEMBER
[0600 Hours | Safe House Rooftop | Ethan Alone]
I woke to green light.
Not sunlight. My own glow.
The bark on my chest was pulsing—breathing for me.
I sat up. Looked at my hands.
Barely human anymore.
Fingers elongated. Joints stiff. Skin replaced by layered wood grain.
I flexed. Heard creaking.
Like bending a tree branch.
I tried to remember yesterday.
Selene's death. The explosion. Carrying her body.
I could recall the events.
But when I tried to picture her face—
—static.
Panic.
I scrambled to my feet. Pressed palms to temples.
"Selene. Violet eyes. Short black hair. She smiled when she was nervous. She—"
Nothing.
Just... wood.
I tried Mira.
Brown hair. Warm laugh. Loved terrible coffee.
Her face was blurry.
Like an old photograph left in water.
"No. No no no—"
I ran to the command center. Found a tablet. Pulled up photos.
Mira's Personnel File.
Her picture loaded.
I stared.
Brown hair. Brown eyes. Smile.
She looked like a stranger.
I knew I loved her.
But I couldn't feel it.
Just... recognition.
Like reading a fact in a textbook.
"Mira Chen. Doctor. Deceased. You were sad."
[Memory Integrity: DEGRADING]
[Humanity: 41% → 38% (emotional memory failure)]
[LE Cost (Panic Response): -18 | Current LE: 1,154/10,000]
Lira appeared in the doorway.
"Sovereign. You are awake."
I dropped the tablet.
"I can't remember her face."
"...Whose?"
"Mira's. Selene's. I know they existed. I know they mattered. But when I try to picture them—"
My voice cracked.
"—there's just wood."
Lira stepped closer.
Her expression was... unreadable.
"This is expected, Sovereign. As lignification progresses, human neural pathways are replaced by LE-based networks. Emotional memory is... less efficient. The Network prioritizes survival data."
"You're saying I'm forgetting them because my brain is turning into a plant?!"
"Yes."
Silence.
"But there is a solution."
She held up a small device. Crystalline. Glowing faintly green.
"Memory engrams can be preserved. Transferred into the Network. If you accept the consciousness integration procedure, you will not lose them. You will absorb them. Make them eternal."
"At the cost of becoming fully Primordial."
"At the cost of surviving."
I stared at the crystal.
It was beautiful.
And terrifying.
SCENE 2: LIRA'S CONFESSION — THE SPROUT'S DEATH
[0730 Hours | Primordial Garden]
I found Lira kneeling by the white flower.
The sprout's grave.
"Lira."
She didn't turn.
"Sovereign."
"You killed it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
She finally looked at me.
Green eyes. Calm. Absolute.
"Because saving you was more important than preserving one life."
"It was a child—"
"It was a liability. Untrained. Unstable. If I had not acted, the Omega would have killed Thorn. Then Ember. Then you."
She stood.
"I made the choice you could not. That is what family does."
I should have been furious.
Should have felt horror. Disgust. Betrayal.
But I felt... nothing.
Just... logic.
She was right. The sprout would have been a liability. Her choice saved lives.
And that realization terrified me.
"I don't... I don't feel anything about this."
Lira tilted her head.
"Is that a problem?"
"YES! A week ago, I would have raged at you. Now I just... accept it."
"Because you are evolving, Sovereign. Emotional volatility is a human weakness. You are shedding it."
"I'm losing it! There's a difference!"
She stepped closer.
Placed a hand on my chest. Over my LE core.
"Sovereign. You are standing at a crossroads. One path: cling to fading humanity, die in twenty-six days, and leave us orphaned. The other: embrace what you are becoming, live forever, and lead us into a new age."
Her voice softened.
"I do not want to lose you. Please. Let me save you."
I looked into her eyes.
Saw desperation.
Saw love.
Saw obsession.
"I need time."
"You have twenty-six days. No more."
SCENE 3: SENSORY SHIFT — SEEING AS PRIMORDIAL
[1200 Hours | Shanghai Streets | Scouting Mission]
I walked through the city.
Everything looked wrong.
Humans:
Not faces. Not people.
Heat signatures.
Infrared blooms moving through space. Heartbeats pulsing red. Breath clouds white.
I could count their cells regenerating.
See blood flowing through capillaries.
But I couldn't see their expressions.
Buildings:
Dead. Sterile. Lifeless.
But the cracks in concrete—roots growing through—those glowed.
Every plant, every weed, every moss patch: alive. Singing.
I could hear them.
Not words. Just... presence.
"We grow. We spread. We endure."
Food:
I tried to eat. Found a ration bar in my pack.
Bit down.
Tasted like ash.
No flavor. No texture. Just... organic matter.
I spat it out.
Lira's voice in the Network:
"You no longer require human food, Sovereign. Your LE sustains you. This is normal."
"Nothing about this is NORMAL—"
"It is your new normal. Accept it."
[Sensory Profile Shift:]
Vision: Heat + LE signatures (human faces = blurred)Hearing: Plant whispers (human speech = muffled)Taste/Smell: GONE (replaced by LE detection)Touch: Bark sensitivity (can feel vibrations through ground)
[Humanity: 38% → 35%]
SCENE 4: NEO-TOKYO HELIX — THE OFFER
[1500 Hours | Abandoned Warehouse | Uninvited Guests]
I returned to the safe house.
Found strangers waiting.
Three of them.
Two guards: powered armor, plasma rifles.
One scientist: Dr. Yuki Mizushima.
Mid-40s. Sharp suit. Silver hair pulled back. Eyes like polished steel.
She smiled.
"Mr. Cross. I've been looking forward to meeting you."
I raised my spear. Vines coiled around my arms.
"Helix."
"Neo-Tokyo Division, yes." She gestured to a chair. "Please. Sit. I'm not here to fight."
"Then why are you here?"
"To make you an offer."
I didn't sit.
But I didn't attack.
She pulled out a holographic projector. Activated it.
A 3D model of a Primordial appeared.
Advanced. Elegant. Perfected.
"This is Project Yggdrasil. Our attempt to create a self-sustaining Primordial ecosystem. We've succeeded in Tokyo. Eleven stable Primordials. Zero Sovereigns."
"You enslaved them."
"We liberated them." Her voice was cold. "No Network. No master. Just autonomous beings living in harmony with humanity."
She zoomed in on the model's core.
"But we've hit a wall. They lack... coordination. Purpose. They're powerful, but aimless."
She looked at me.
"You, Mr. Cross, have solved that problem. Your Network allows Primordials to cooperate. To evolve. To choose."
She leaned forward.
"Work with us. Share your research. We'll extend your lifespan, give you resources, protect you from the other Helix divisions hunting you."
"And in return?"
"You become our lead researcher. Help us perfect the symbiosis between human and Primordial."
"You mean turn me into a lab rat."
"I mean make you a god." She smiled. "Voss wanted to weaponize you. I want to study you. There's a difference."
I stared.
She was... sincere.
Not evil. Not cruel.
Just pragmatic.
"I'll think about it."
"You have twenty-four hours. After that, I can't protect you from Berlin Division. They're... less diplomatic."
She stood. Bowed slightly.
"I hope you make the right choice, Mr. Cross."
They left.
Lira emerged from the shadows.
"You are considering her offer."
"It's a way to survive without losing myself—"
"It is a LIE." Her voice was sharp. "Helix will dissect you. Study you. Replicate you. And discard you."
"You don't know that—"
"I DO. Because that is what Voss did to me."
She grabbed my arm.
"Sovereign. Please. Trust me. The only path forward is us. The Network. Forever."
Before I could answer—
—the door exploded.
SCENE 5: ARIA'S RETURN — THE BETRAYAL
[1520 Hours | Helix Soldiers Storm the Safe House]
Ten soldiers.
Plasma rifles. Stun grenades. Capture gear.
And leading them:
Aria.
She looked... broken.
Eyes red. Hands shaking. But holding a rifle.
Aimed at me.
"Aria—"
"Don't." Her voice cracked. "Don't say my name. Don't make this harder."
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm saving you."
She stepped forward.
"Berlin Division is coming. Tomorrow. With kill orders. If you stay here, you die."
"So you brought Helix to kidnap me?!"
"To protect you!" Tears streamed down her face. "Neo-Tokyo will keep you alive. Give you treatment. You'll survive—"
"As their prisoner—"
"AS A LIVING PERSON!" She screamed. "I don't care if you hate me! I don't care if you never forgive me! I'm not watching you DIE!"
Lira stepped between us.
"Aria Tan. Stand down."
"Lira, please. This is the only way—"
"You have betrayed the Sovereign. That is unforgivable."
Vines erupted from the floor. Wrapped around Aria's legs.
"LIRA—NO—"
The soldiers opened fire.
Plasma bolts tore through the room.
Thorn ROARED.
Charged. Slammed into the soldier line. Claws ripping through armor.
Ember ignited. Walls became infernos.
Chaos.
Aria struggled against the vines.
"ETHAN—PLEASE—I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOU—"
I stood frozen.
Watching my last human friend beg.
Watching my Primordial family prepare to kill her.
And I felt... nothing.