The scavenger crew meets at midnight.
They've heard rumors of fallen debris — maybe Ascendancy tech, maybe Starfall fragments. Either way, it means credits.
They cross the outer fences, where vines grow through the cracks like veins. The Verdant Abyss hums beyond — alive, breathing.
A storm brews. Lightning flashes violet across the sky.
Then they see it: a crater. Fresh. Burning faintly gold.
Before they can move closer, the forest stirs.
Something howls. Deep, guttural — not beast, not machine.
Roots twist out of the ground.
The Verdant Howl emerges — a creature of bark, bone, and hunger.
It lunges.
Aren runs. He hears screams behind him — then silence.
He doesn't stop until he sees the crater again, glowing through the rain.
Something calls him. Not with sound, but with memory.
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