Morning light spread like molten gold across the Forgotten Atlanta Expanse, glinting off shattered glass towers and weaving through overgrown highways swallowed by moss and creeping vine.
The Rootsite hummed softly beneath the rising sun, alive with a vitality that hadn't existed here for centuries.
Once a broken ruin, this place now thrummed with a heartbeat… Clayton's heartbeat. The heartbeat of a resident Verdant Lord.
He stood alone atop a ridge of living roots overlooking the enclave.
Dew clung to his verdant skin, glittering faintly like starlight. For the first time in months, the distant cries of Behemorphs had vanished, replaced by birdsong and the whispering rustle of flora swayed by a gentle breeze.
The city was quiet. It shouldn't have been.
Clayton's gaze swept the settlement below.
The civilians bustled with a fragile rhythm, carrying supplies scavenged from surrounding ruins, stacking salvaged metal and stone into makeshift shelters fused with Verdant biomass.
