The Source of Death

The Alpha Biocore loomed before us, an impossibility brought to life, its radiant, pulsating form both mesmerizing and terrifying. None of us moved for what felt like an eternity, rooted in place as if the very ground beneath us demanded reverence.

I forced my trembling hand into my pocket, clutching the transmitter. “He’s here,” I managed, my voice barely above a whisper.

The Yggdrasil still held the body of the Team Alpha member aloft, the man’s lifeless form like a puppet dangling from an invisible string. Then, the body began to glow. A sinister green light radiated from under his skin, spreading like veins of poison.

We watched, frozen, as the root that jutted grotesquely from his mouth began to move. It twisted unnervingly, contorting like a wooden tongue brought to life.

“People. Of. Earth,” a booming, mechanical voice rasped from the corpse, though it was clear the words belonged to Yggdrasil.

We flinched as one, the sound pressing on our ears like the grinding of ancient gears.

“I. Am. Yggdrasil. Ancient. Tree. Source. Of. Life. I. Feel. Arrival. Oxygen. People.”

“It’s… it’s speaking!” Liora gasped, her voice thin with disbelief.

“Humans. Bad. They. Hurt. And. Destroy. Planet. Earth.”

“What’s it trying to say?” Serena whispered, her eyes narrowing.

“Must. Kill. Humans. Protect. Earth.”

The words hit like a thunderclap, their meaning sinking in with bone-deep clarity.

“Keep your guard up!” I barked, gripping my laseraxe with clammy hands.

“Humans. Harm. Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil. Now. Protect. Himself.”

I tried to piece the broken sentences together, each word striking like a hammer. Yggdrasil wasn’t just lashing out. He was fighting for his own survival.

“Oxygen. My. Blood. Eradicate. Humans. Slowly. Because. Save. Planet.”

“Oxygen… his blood?” Toren muttered, his voice low.

He wasn’t wrong. The pieces started to fit together with horrifying clarity. Yggdrasil saw oxygen as his essence, his lifeblood.

Reflecting on the sprawling infrastructure we had built as a society, it was no surprise that he felt wounded and fiercely protective of the planet.

This was going to be more challenging than I had anticipated—facing a living being whose reasoning, disturbingly, made sense.

As difficult as it was to admit, his words held a grim truth, casting humanity unmistakably in the role of the villains.

Had Team Alpha not come for his wood, maybe none of this would have happened.

I looked at the dangling corpse, the flickering light of life snuffed out so mercilessly. The man had been a colleague, a Wood Hunter, and now… nothing. Yggdrasil released him, the body crumpling to the ground like a discarded doll, limbs splayed in unnatural angles.

“We have to do something! We can’t just stand here!” Serena’s voice was sharp, cutting through the oppressive silence. She raised her laseraxe, readying herself for battle.

Liora glided back, her weapon slipping from her trembling hands. “I-I… I don’t…” she stammered, her knees threatening to buckle beneath her.

Toren swallowed audibly, his usual bravado stripped away by the enormity of what stood before us.

“But how do we fight something like this?” Kael asked, his voice unusually calm but laced with a chilling edge. “How do we defeat something so… magnificent?”

He wasn’t wrong. The Yggdrasil was breathtaking, an embodiment of raw, unrestrained life. Yet, as much as I wanted to admire it, I couldn’t shake the image of our fallen colleague or the weight of its words. Humanity had caused this. We had made this enemy.

I clenched my fists, the nails digging into my palms as anger bubbled beneath my skin. Whatever justification Yggdrasil had, he had taken a life—a life he had no right to claim.

With a heavy sigh, I tightened my grip on the laseraxe.

I had to push through.

“Come on, it’s just a bunch of wood, guys” I said, raising the axe high. “Let’s hunt!”

The battle began.

The Alpha Biocore’s roots lashed out like whips, tearing through the air with terrifying speed. Each swing sent shockwaves that stirred the dry earth beneath us. I jerked my airboard to the side, narrowly avoiding a blow that would have shattered my bones.

If it weren’t for the speed and agility of the airboard, I would’ve been done for. My legs—aged—would never have carried me fast enough.

Toren, however, was in his element. His laseraxe gleamed as he swung it with precision and power, cutting through the flurry of roots that the Biocore threw at him. His movements were calculated yet primal, the heavy strikes of his axe slicing cleanly through the writhing vines. For a moment, it was mesmerizing—a grim dance of man versus nature.

Serena vaulted over a lashing root, her airboard spinning midair as she slashed down, severing another vine. The green ichor splattered across her coat, the faint glow of it smoldering faintly against the fabric.

“This thing has a never-ending supply of limbs!” she yelled, her voice sharp with frustration.

“Stay focused!” Toren barked, his axe cleaving another vine that had snaked dangerously close to Liora.

But just as it felt like we were gaining the upper hand, the severed roots on the ground twitched, then grew back at an alarming rate, thicker and more jagged than before. They moved faster, their strikes heavier.

“What the hell is this?!” Toren snarled, stepping back as a root slammed into the ground where he’d stood, sending up a plume of dust and debris.

Before anyone could react, one of the roots caught Toren off guard, curling around his arm with brutal force. There was a sickening crunch. His scream cut through the chaos as the vine yanked him backward, tearing his hand clean off at the wrist. Blood sprayed in an arc as he collapsed onto his knees, clutching his severed arm.

“Toren!” Liora cried, but another root shot toward her before she could reach him. She barely managed to duck, but the strain was too much. Her face went pale, and she doubled over, vomiting violently.

A root blindsided Serena, catching her across the face. The impact sent her flying, her airboard spinning out of control. When she hit the ground, she screamed, clutching her face. Blood streamed between her fingers as she stumbled back to her feet, one eye visibly destroyed.

I tried to rally the team, but my movements felt sluggish. Every twist of the airboard sent pain shooting up my back. I could only watch in horror as another root struck Kael square in the chest, hurling him against a jagged outcropping of rock. His laseraxe clattered to the ground as he crumpled, unmoving. The angle of his arm looked unnatural, the bone clearly broken and protruding through the skin.

“We can’t win this!” Liora screamed, her voice trembling with panic.

The roots coiled together, creating an impenetrable shield around the core as the Yggdrasil loomed over us. His glow pulsed brighter, more menacingly. He wasn’t just defending himself—he was retaliating.

“Fall back!” I yelled. “We have to retreat!”

But as we turned to flee, the ground beneath us erupted. Massive roots shot upward, blocking every path of escape.

The Yggdrasil shifted, and one of his larger roots speared forward, piercing Kael’s arm as he tried to crawl to safety. He screamed in agony as the root coiled tightly, lifting him off the ground. The glow from the root spread through his body, green veins pulsing under his skin as his head lolled forward.

“No! Kael!” I shouted, trying to move toward him, but another root slammed down in front of me, cutting me off.

Kael’s body twitched unnaturally before his mouth opened. The same mechanical voice we had heard before emanated from him.

“You. Lose. Wood. Kill. Hunters.”

The bizarre mockery of speech sent chills down my spine. Serena, even in her bloodied state, let out a bitter laugh.

“It even has a sense of humor,” she muttered, clutching her ruined eye.

The roots constricted tighter, pressing the air from Kael’s lungs, but his hand—the one not caught—moved. Slowly, shakily, it reached for the Yggdrasil’s core.

“What’s he doing?!” Liora gasped.

Kael’s bare hand, trembling but determined, gripped the glowing core. The Yggdrasil reacted instantly, his roots spasming wildly. Kael let out a guttural roar as he wrenched the core free from its place in the Biocore. With the last of his strength, he hurled it away, sending it skidding across the dry earth.

The reaction was immediate. The massive roots began to shrivel, their glow fading rapidly. The towering trunk of the Yggdrasil shuddered violently, splitting apart as the wood disintegrated into dust. The once-mighty tree collapsed in on itself, leaving behind only the faintly pulsing core that lay where Kael had thrown it.

Kael’s body fell limply to the ground as the roots released him, his breathing shallow but steady.

For a moment, there was silence. Only the faint sound of the core pulsing softly remained. Battered and broken, we stared at the glowing artifact that had been at the heart of it all.

Chapter 16: END