The land Kael had begun to forge was stable now—green hills, cold rivers, forests that responded to emotion instead of logic.
But on the second day, he saw someone standing beneath a tree.
A child.
The same child from the stasis pod. From the lab. From Earth.
His younger self.
Kael approached cautiously. The boy turned around.
His eyes glowed with starlight, not data.
"Are you… me?" Kael asked.
The boy smiled. "I'm who they tried to erase. What was left when they failed."
Kael's breath caught. "You're not a memory."
The boy shook his head. "I'm a seed."
Suddenly, Kael felt something crack within his soul—an echo of pain from years ago.
"You created a world," the boy said, pointing at the trees. "But you haven't created yourself yet."
Then the boy vanished, and in his place was a pulsing sigil carved into the tree's bark:
[ROOT CORE: SELF-FORGING EVENT AVAILABLE]
[Would you like to define your Origin Class?]