Chapter 77 – "Dreams in the Soil"
> "Before roots break the ground, they haunt the dreams of those who walk above."
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Scene 1 – "The Sleeping Begins"
> Narrator: "The night was still. The air gentle. And yet—everyone dreamed."
A peaceful evening montage.
Children laughing.
Candles flickering.
Gift, Reen, Matthew, Dion, Maiku, Jakku—each shown going to sleep with soft smiles.
A subtle rumble is heard only once—like thunder underground.
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Scene 2 – "Gift's Dream"
Gift walks through a forest of inverted trees—roots stretch upward, leaves grow downward.
He sees a figure at the center—the True Root Body, no longer just a tree, but a figure forming from vines, bark, and light.
Gift approaches—and hears:
True Root Body: "You tend the surface. But I grow below."
He wakes up. Shaking.
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Scene 3 – "Reen's Dream"
Reen is on a battlefield made of soil and bone.
She fights shadows made of roots. They don't bleed, only multiply.
The Root Avatar appears behind her, whispering in her ear:
Root Avatar: "You broke the world before. Do you think you can stop it this time?"
She turns to fight—only to wake up gasping, fist clenched.
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Scene 4 – "Maiku's Dream"
Maiku stands in a greenhouse. Every plant has his face.
They all sing. In harmony.
Maiku: "Okay, this is just weird."
Then they stop.
The plants open their mouths, and in one voice chant:
Plants(in unison): "Grow, grow, grow, grow—"
He wakes up screaming and immediately tries to roast his pillow.
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Scene 5 – "Dion's Dream"
Dion sits at the festival stage—but no one else is there.
Suddenly, vines crawl up the chairs. The lights flicker green. He sees Atlas on the horizon—but Atlas is rooted in place, face wooden, unmoving.
Then Dion hears a heartbeat under the stage.
He wakes up with a single tear and no idea why.
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Scene 6 – "Jakku's Dream"
Jakku walks through fields of thread.
He tries to sew the soil shut—but it keeps ripping open, leaking green light and laughter.
He sees children fall in and vanish.
Root Avatar : "You can't stitch a grave closed."
He screams.
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Scene 7 – "The Morning After"
Everyone looks exhausted.
They eat breakfast in silence. No one mentions the dreams—at first.
Matthew eventually says:
Matthew : "Did anyone else dream of… roots?"
Eyes meet. Forks stop mid-air. One by one, they all nod.
But Reen shakes her head.
Reen: "No. Mine wasn't a dream."
Everyone looks at her.
Reen (quiet): "It felt like a message."
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Scene 8 – "The True Root Body Forms"
Far below the village, the small tree now resembles the vague shape of a humanoid form—tall, bark-covered, tendrils like fingers, a face forming of flower petals and bone.
It's not moving—but it's becoming.
> Narrator: "A body is only a body. But when it begins to look back—that's when it becomes a threat."
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Scene 9 – "Signs of Strain"
Around the village:
Water runs slightly green in one irrigation channel.
A bird flies into a wall, disoriented.
Children say they "hear the ground breathing."
But the adults chalk it up to exhaustion, old tech, weird weather.
Gift: "It feels like the world's holding its breath."
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Scene 10 – "Matthew's Flute Cracks"
During an evening practice, Matthew's flute cracks mid-song.
The note it ends on is off-key. The villagers pause.
> Narrator: "Sometimes peace doesn't end with thunder. Sometimes it ends with a single broken note."
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Scene 11 – "Underneath Them All"
Roots pulse.
The True Root Body breathes now—barely, but enough.
The Root Avatar lies beside it, smiling with empty eyes.
Root Avatar: "They fed us laughter. Let's see how long it lasts."
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Scene 12 – "Sowing the Link"
In a dark corners of the Core Grove, the Root Avatar moves :
He develops something. It's called ;
The Hominin Link.
Root Avatar: "I will connect all the minds of humanity to my Root. I will plant memories not theirs. And change that crew's life into hell."
> Narrator: "You cannot kill a god made of soil. You can only forget it long enough for it to grow again."
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To Be Continued…
> Narrator (Closing Monologue) :
"Before roots break the ground, they haunt the dreams of those who walk above.
And in sleep—truth seeps in where light cannot.
This was not a night of rest.
It was a warning.
One carved into the marrow of those who believed the war had ended."
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"Dreams do not lie.
They dress in symbols and song, but they do not lie.
They said: You are not safe.
They said: Your joy is known. Your lives are being measured.
They said: The Root watches."
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"Not all dreams are visions.
Some are messages.
And Reen—who once broke mountains and men—felt not just fear.
She felt recognition.
A soldier's instinct.
The battlefield was changing. And it was waking beneath their feet."
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"It no longer hides.
It shapes itself in silence—limbs from bark, face from petal and bone.
The difference between a tree and a god is simple:
One stays still.
The other begins to breathe."
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"Water turns green. Birds forget the sky. Children speak truths adults deny.
But peace blinds more surely than war.
And what breaks it might not be an army.
Sometimes it's the sound of a cracked flute."
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> Narrator (Closing Reflection):
"The Root does not need armies.
It needs time.
It needs silence.
Now, it wants more.
The Hominin Link will not invade minds with violence.
It will twist memory.
Rewrite identity.
Turn love into dread.
And as the crew sleeps, unaware—
it begins."