The air grew denser as Tekio, Akira, and Aisha crossed the boundary of the safe zone and entered the sector of the Tree of Life.
The structures around them, once fortified buildings, were now entwined in black roots that grew like silent serpents over the concrete. With every step, the group felt the ground vibrate—a rhythmic drumming, like heartbeats from beneath the earth.
— The vibration is more intense here — Akira said, narrowing his eyes. — This isn't just the Tree's energy… it's as if it's alive again. But not like before.
Tekio kept his gaze fixed on the trunks, silent. The energy was dense… but not hostile. It was melancholic.
Aisha approached one of the destroyed chambers, scanning the dead panels.
— Here are the last manual commands… they were forcibly interrupted. Something—or someone—sabotaged everything. No technical failure could have done it this fast.
Tekio stopped before one of the large roots. It pulsed. Slowly.
He reached out his hand.
Upon touching it, an image struck him—fleeting as lightning. A woman, shrouded in white, empty eyes… and a face that seemed to be someone he should recognize, but couldn't.
He staggered.
— Tekio? — Aisha called out, worried.
— I'm fine — he murmured. — But she... she saw us. Before she left.
Akira looked around.
— We don't have much time. Whatever is taking over the Tree… might still be here.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Mei remained before Bubble Thirty-Four. Fenra coordinated aerial drones. Dan was further away, recording patterns from the surrounding plants, and Stella was taking readings of the spiritual frequency with near-surgical precision.
The bubble had now gained branches—like veins emerging from the black surface, spreading through the air around it, intertwining with the roots on the ground. The pulsation was stronger, almost oppressive.
— It's… preparing to be born — said Fenra, adjusting the data.
— Or to rupture — Mei corrected, her eyes narrowed.
Stella took a step back.
— The readings are changing… Too fast.
Dan ran to the support console. The images of the fetal form began to distort.
— What is this? The fetus is… waking up?
Mei narrowed her eyes. A shiver ran down her spine.
The figure inside the bubble moved.
At the Tree of Life, Tekio and the others passed through the park and reached the inner wall.
That place held no good memories for any of the three.
Things…
Happened there.
Traumas.
For both.
But the mission was the priority, and everyone knew it, so there was no remorse in anyone's expression.
Only focus.
The floor was stained. The remains of soldiers and researchers lay with no signs of struggle—just… collapsed.
— This wasn't a battle — Akira whispered. — It was like an annihilation.
Aisha examined data from one of the still-functioning panels.
— Wait… here. Before the cameras failed, they recorded something emerging from the central trunk. It wasn't from the outside in… it was from the inside out. As if it had been incubating there.
Tekio approached the Tree's main bark and saw it: a large diagonal gash in the center, sealed with fresh roots.
— She was born from here… — he said, in a lower tone.
— Or was returned.
Akira and Aisha exchanged a look.
Before they could say more, something ignited on Tekio's back. The spiritual mark that always accompanied him glowed with a whitish hue.
A wave of energy swept through the space.
— Look out! — Aisha shouted, drawing her spiritual spear.
A feminine silhouette floated at the end of the corridor, shrouded in mist. Only the glow in her eyes was visible. The silhouette was like a reflection of the woman seen in the images…
— Is she... watching? — Akira murmured.
— No — said Tekio, his voice choked.
— She's waiting.
Back at the bubble field, Stella staggered back as a new pulsation sounded—like the muffled cry of a baby within the black fluid.
Dan swallowed dryly.
— This isn't normal.
— No… — said Mei, firmly. — This is a birth.
Fenra approached with the tablet.
— The fetus's energy is now stable… and growing. It's absorbing energy from the soil. From the tree. From the world.
Mei gritted her teeth. Her fist clenched, red sparks appearing.
— Prepare the containment protocols. If this is born the wrong way… the world might not withstand it.
And then, in the heart of the bubble… the creature's eyes opened.
The core of the Tree of Life, once filled with voices, machines, and energy, was now a crypt.
The figure before the trio floated smoothly among the suspended roots, a translucent veil enveloping her body as if made of dead light. She did not advance. She did not speak. She merely watched, her eyes still closed… but her presence was absolute.
Tekio felt his chest grow heavy. The energy around that woman was inexplicable—a quietude so profound it seemed to suffocate the very soul. He took a step forward. That was when he felt the burn on his back.
The mark.
It was burning white.
— Tekio? — said Aisha, worried. — What is it?
He staggered. His vision blurred. The world darkened for an instant… and then, within the silence of his mind, a voice cut like a blade.
— "Wake up, Tekio!"
He fell to his knees. The mark on his back pulsed like a drum. His eyes rolled back, and his vision changed. It was as if he were submerged, in a place without time.
And before him… Yara.
Floating among broken lightning and shattered mirrors, the woman with white hair and blue eyes screamed, as if fighting an invisible wall.
— TEKIO! LISTEN! — she shouted, blood in her mouth and fear in her eyes. — THAT WOMAN… I KNOW HER! SHE SHOULDN'T BE HERE! NOT LIKE THIS!
— Who is she?! — Tekio asked, desperate. — Show me!
Yara reached out her hand, but it was as if something were dragging her away.
— She was a seal! A DOOR! She wasn't supposed to awaken! She was the boundary... between... the body! The flesh and the spirit... she... SHE IS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS!
The vision shook. Lightning exploded.
— TEKIO! YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS! YOU HAVE TO—
The connection was severed.
Tekio woke up gasping. And ahead…
The floating woman smiled.
And for a second, Tekio saw—not with his eyes, but with his soul—a memory that was not his.
An altar.
A blade.
A cradle of roots.
A fetus.
The birth of something that should never have existed.
But it was too late.
The woman turned.
And vanished in an explosion of white mist and shadows.
— NO! — Tekio tried to run, but Aisha shouted.
Akira staggered.
Blood trickled from his mouth. His eyes trembled, as if seeing something the others could not. He tried to speak, but fell to his knees.
— AKIRA! — Aisha ran to him.
But before they could do anything… a new spiritual pulsation echoed.
One that came from the ground.
From deep within the Tree.
Something… was rising.
At the other end of the field, Mei stared at Bubble Thirty-Four as if facing an invisible enemy. The pulsation was now almost deafening—Dan had retreated a few meters, and Stella tried to sync the tablet data with the drones, but the systems were beginning to fail.
— The readings are... collapsing — she said. — Whatever is growing there is interfering with the satellites!
— It's not just interference — Fenra replied. — It's expansion. It's absorbing the spectrum around it. It's... creating a field.
Mei squeezed her eyes shut.
Inside the bubble, the creature was no longer just a fetus. The membranes were tearing. The form was growing abnormally—as if burning through time itself.
And then, Mei felt it.
A second pulsation.
Deeper. Coming from beneath them.
— …There's something in the earth. — she whispered. — Something... rising. A bizarre energy.
Dan staggered.
— Is there a... second presence? — he murmured, looking at the ground, where roots were beginning to rise slowly like fingers from the abyss.
— No — said Fenra. — They are two parts… of the same thing.
Mei gritted her teeth.
— This energy is abyssal...
Stella looked on, frightened.
— The Abyss?
— It's as if two different dimensions are colliding. Or overlapping...
The bubble ruptured with a silent crack. A dark liquid dripped down the roots, which absorbed it immediately. And inside the bubble…
The shadow of the fetus could be seen moving.
On the other side, Tekio turned to Aisha, who was holding Akira.
— He's going into spiritual collapse! — she cried. — Something is forcing his soul to open… as if they want to use him as a conduit!
Aisha could feel it with her sharpened sensitivity.
Tekio knelt.
His hand trembled over the mark.
Yara... was still there.
— Show me — he whispered. — Guide me.
The light shone again.
A spiritual roar swept through the Tree's core.
And in the distance… like a primordial beat echoing throughout the city…
The fetus breathed.
Something was returning.
Like an abomination.
To be continued...