Chapter 29: Roots of resistance
I limped home.
Not that it was ever a home in the traditional sense.
Just a patch of death-laced earth, thick with predators I'd planted myself, tendrils wrapped around bones, thorns hidden beneath moss, and a pulsing hive of aphids buzzing with my will.
Every inch of me ached. My bark was blistered, some of it still smoldering.
I'd barely survived Thryss, let alone the Nexus Guardian. I should've been unconscious for another week, the rest I had was just a drop in an ocean of tiredness, but instinct doesn't care about rest.
The moment I opened my eyes, I felt them.
The Spore Choir.
Yes, I grew an exo-organic bloom and scouted them.
Yes, I did learn about them but that did not reduce their lethality in any way. They were still a fearsome enemy for a territory ruler like me, the most fearsome enemy I've ever faced, even more than Thryss or the Archon.
And now, they were coming. Not fast. Not loud, but creeping. A slow, fungal tide that never stopped moving forward.
I wasn't ready.