Silence filled the bamboo grove except for the gentle sounds of a nearby river. Dappled sunlight made it an ideal picture of serenity. The warmth of a summer day comforting the vibrant green plants. A small clearing, empty except for the soft patch of grass, lay within the grove and within that clearing a sudden flash of blue light appeared. The light faded and the once empty space was now host to a child.

  Wailing from the child disturbed the peace that had permeated the grove moments before. This went on for several moments until it seemed like the whole grove was shaking. Small tremors shook the ground causing the child to cry louder. A sound like creaking wood was getting closer to where the child lay. The bamboo parted by itself making a path for a large, approaching silhouette.

  The shaking stopped. The crying stopped. Silence once again filled the grove. What was once a small empty clearing, now was large and filled with two figures. One was the silver-eyed baby and the other was a massive tree. The child stared up in amazement as the tree stared back. Its dark brown bark looked ancient, but its eyes even more so like they had seen the whole of existence and contained every second of it. The tree spoke without its mouth even opening. It was like the air in the grove was vibrating just from the will of the tree. It said, “Little fleshling, what are you doing in the domain of nature?”

  The child stared blankly. Being only three months old, this was impossible for him to comprehend. The tree seemed to realize and continued, “I see your race is one that needs the gifts of time to understand. If I leave you here alone, you will die. Even in my domain, I cannot control all. I am the Elder Branch, and I shall take you to my settlement until we can acquire more information.” A branch seemed to grow on command from the tree and wrap itself around the child, slowly lifting him up to follow the Elder Branch back through the path the bamboo made.

  Back in the settlement, the child was lying on a table in the middle of a massive room filled with the Branch. One finally decided to speak, “Elder Branch, what are we to do with a fleshling?”

  “Protect it. Care for it. Let it grow like we would our seedlings.” The Elder Branch replied without a moment of hesitation.

  Another one of the Branch turned in disbelief and spoke, “Care for it?! This child is not a seedling, Elder. Fleshlings are known for being helpless and weak. What do we know of such things?”

  The Elder Branch laughed, vibrating the air once more. He turned to stare at the one who spoke. “Nature knows and we are a part of nature are we not? This is not the first fleshl…baby I’ve seen. I think you’ll find that they are not very different from seedlings. Sustenance, water, and sleep. You have two seedlings in your care right now; do you not Branch Syling?”

  Syling looked at the Elder with a confused gaze. They stumbled over their words, “I…I do, Elder. But I don’t see how relevant this information is to the task at hand. Should we not have let this fleshling stay where it was? What if it’s guardian is looking for it?”

  “I can sense every inch of my domain. This child appeared from thin air. No other beings appeared this way. No one followed this child. I will not have a helpless child die in my domain even if they are made of flesh. The information I asked of you is relevant because Branch Syling, you will be the caregiver of this child. Raise it alongside your seedlings until the day another of his race comes to my domain.”

  “Elder, this cannot be! Surely there is a Branch more…” Syling exclaimed before the Elder raised a branch to silence them.

  “It has been decided. The Branch Council has heard. It shall be as I have said.”

  Seven months after the decree, the child started to speak in a language that Syling has never heard before. It was impossible for them to even guess the meanings of the words. The Branch normally conversed in the language of Nature. It was more of a vibration between forms of life that was inherently understood. They attempted to speak to the child this way, which seemed to work at calming the child, but this was not an effective way to communicate. Syling was then told to teach the child the common language of their world. Seedlings learned it, and so would this child.

  Syling had no reason to doubt the Elder. The Elder has been correct about the child not being that much different than a seedling. They found out quickly that the child didn’t even need sustenance. Further inspection by the Branch Council had determined that, like the seedlings, the child seemed to absorb sunlight for energy. It only needed to be given water. It didn’t even seem to produce waste like other flesh beings did. Once they realized this, Syling wasn’t as annoyed to be the caregiver to such a being.

  It was in the third year that the child was able to communicate effectively to the other seedlings and even with the Branch. Syling was impressed at how fast the child had been able to learn the common language while also continuing to grow in its own strange language.

  He was a curious child and Syling understood how difficult things probably were for him. Being different than anyone else around probably had its side effects. Even with these hurdles, the child was kind and loved to laugh with her two seedlings. Seedling Gark and Seedling Leveve were hesitant at first, but now the three of them were best friends. Gark would tickle the child with fallen leaves and laughter would fill the wooden dome they lived in.

  The third year was a tremendous time for the child’s character. Every day it felt as though another layer was being shown. The curious nature, the intelligence, the kindness, and resilience. Every day was a new day of progress.

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  This was also when the child spoke its name to the Branch for the first time. His name was Synexus.

  Six years in and things were going smoothly. Syling decided that no one was coming to claim this boy. They didn’t mind being host to him. He was full of life and joy. Everything seemed to amaze him in a way that made people envious.

  Synexus enjoyed learning new things. He thought it was fun when Syling would bring him new lessons even if he was the only one learning new information. They told him that he was an extremely quick learner. That was one of the differences between himself and the seedlings.

  He didn’t really care that everyone else looked different from him. He only cared about how they treated him because of it. Some of the Branch avoided him and made it obvious. Others didn’t even seem to notice that he was different and treated him like a seedling. He liked those people the best. It was a good day if he could learn something new, play with the seedlings, and talk with one of the nice Branch.

  The bad days always seemed to come after what Syling told him was a “nightmare”. It was always the same vision. It was a dark room, but he wasn’t alone. There was someone else that looked like him speaking to him in the language that Syling says must have been lingering in his brain from wherever he came from. This nightmare felt real, but Syling assured him it wasn’t. It just felt important. It kept getting more and more detailed but was still silent. The words just weren’t forming sound. Who was this person and why weren’t they here with him?

  It wasn’t until a year later that the sound finally came. It was his mother. She was incredibly sad and saying goodbye to him. The memory was once a nightmare that haunted him. It caused him to have bad days. Now, it was a comfort. He thought of his mother’s face whenever he needed a little extra courage or was having a bad day. It was like that memory was burnt into his brain and would never go away. She would never truly go away. She was right in some instances, like how he would get a new mom. Syling sort of filled that role. But his real mom was also wrong, he would never forget about her.

  By the age of ten, Synexus had mastered all the knowledge the Branch had to pass down to seedlings. Apparently, the seedlings would take nearly three times as long to get to this point. He was just too fast at learning even the most complex information. The Branch told him that he obviously came from a highly intelligent race. He was able to memorize everything even if he only had looked at it once. It surprised him that no one else could process information this quickly. He was bored at how easy it had been for him. He was even able to master the language of Nature that the Branch said would be difficult for him to learn.

  They told him that even if the seedling knowledge had run out, they would teach him some things that older Branch knew. They also told him they would teach him combat in preparation for him to go and follow his path. They were confident no one was coming for him and said that when he turned twenty, he would have to leave to find his own way. He didn’t want to be alone, but they said it was important, and he trusted them.

  His life started to get a lot busier. In the mornings he would go over mathematics, language studies, and meditation training with Syling. They were still a big part of his life and he still lived with them. Gark and Leveve felt like his siblings. He didn’t get to play with them as much as he wanted anymore, but they still talked when they could. Unfortunately, they couldn’t talk about lessons anymore since he had far surpassed them in that regard.

  In the afternoon, he had combat training with Branch Tillium. There was a class of about twelve Branch that would get together and train. It was hard to translate their combat style to his humanoid form, but he ended up using a sword as a stand in for a branch.

  He made a new friend in this combat class. Branch Harloch had just grown out of the seedling rank like most of the Branch in the class. They would spar with one another all the time and it helped him to develop a fighting style that mimicked the way the Branch fought. When the class would let out, they would get together sometimes to take short walks through the forest and laugh about anything they could think of. It felt nice to feel that close to someone. Those were his favorite days; however, they were far from common.

  Synexus found himself with the Elder Branch in the evenings to discuss everything not covered in the other two classes. Some days it would be customs of the outside world. Other times it would be about the intricacies of nature. His favorite days were when travelling merchants came through for shelter. The Elder would have been converse with them and learn. Sometimes they would have technology with them which was fascinating to inspect. The Branch had nothing like that and so these were his only moments to learn how machines worked.

  By the time night came, he would be exhausted. Some nights he would stay up and chat with his sibling seedlings, but mostly he would instantly fall asleep. The comfort of his dream would always be there to greet him when he needed it.

  By the age of sixteen, Synexus had mastered many different combat styles surrounding the sword. It was quite different from the outsider’s styles which he learned from watching one of the salesmen practicing the woods, but he liked that it was kind of his own way of fighting. Harloch had moved on to a specialized defense combat training that he couldn’t tell Synexus about. Apparently, he wasn’t ready since he wasn’t twenty yet.

  The Branch started to say that a lot to him as his curriculums ran dry. Most of the Branch he talked to frequently seemed to get busy with specialized training or Branch duties in protecting the domain of nature. It didn’t bother Synexus that everyone was growing. That was a part of nature after all. He was, however, sad that he would talk to his friends less and less.

  He could still count on Gark and Leveve for a good time after a long day. They truly were the siblings his mom never thought he would have. This was his family, and he cherished them every day. Even when his days were packed full or when he was daydreaming about leaving the Branch settlement, he would think about missing them. Four more years was all he had, and he would make the best of them.

  Synexus didn’t know his exact birthday. His memories of home weren’t that detailed. He hadn’t known exactly when he would turn twenty, but he knew it was close. He had absorbed all the knowledge the Branch were willing to teach him. He had gained friends and family. The memories of his time with the Branch would forever be with him. He was grateful that they took in someone that was different than them and had raised him into the man that he was. He was ready. They told him that he would know the moment he turned twenty, but he never understood how until it happened.

  He was shaken awake by a message floating in his field of vision even though his eyes were closed.

  Welcome to the System! You will now choose your class.