Rootborn

PROLOGUE TUTORIAL

On one of the forgotten planets of the universe, a withered tree lived out its last days.
It is unknown how something that could be called a living fruit appeared and ripened on its thin and fragile branch.

The branch cracks and breaks...

And something capable of moving falls onto the ash-dry surface of a dead planet.

But what is this thread  that is connected between a tree and a hybrid fruit?
It restricts and restricts movement. Throbbing like a vein, like a vein.
Giving leftover energy from the parent tree.

The sounds of movement in the distance become audible, and then the silhouettes of someone.

So there is life here after all!

But why are these moving objects — the inhabitants of this place — approaching here too fast?
They are clearly moving towards fruit, the living embodiment of this planet's last hope.
Perhaps there was once a blooming garden here?

Do they want to eat or help break this gut that binds the half-dead tree and the hybrid?

Danger is felt!

The pulsation of communication increases stronger with each approach of unknown guests-creatures.
Did they destroy this planet? Is unknown... Where did they come from?

And suddenly something breaks out of this hybrid offspring.
The dense mass that the tree passes through the hybrid fruit neutralizes the danger.

It turns out that the parent of this hybrid, the tree, protects its fruit?

What if we break the connection? Will they both die?

A creature destroyed nearby left something behind. Something solid.
And these residues are attracted to the fetus, and then transferred further along this entire connecting intestine — the umbilical cord to the parent.

And a few seconds later — a crash!
The crunch and growth, the change in size of the one on whom the strange creature grew — the fetus.

Nearby, some other biomass began to attract.
But this is something else: soft, bright.
After absorbing it and absorbing it, something appeared on the tree...
There were veins of various sizes hanging from the branches.

Gradually it becomes clear what this metamorphosed tree wants from the grown fruit.