A whirling pool of colors and lights swirled inside the pod filling the cavern with a cacophony of sound. The soft sounds of roots being retracted, and the hard sounds of stone finally being released from the tendrilled grasp after millennia. Stone cracked and clacked but ultimately its form was held.

Starting from the outside, the interwoven net of roots and splintered wood began to compress and shrink in size. It darted back through the cavities woven within the stone face of the cliff. Every drop of power and energy was being sieved from the roots.

As all of the roots rushed to gather towards the pod, they began to wrap themselves into a web, protecting the delicate structure. The light in the cavern was dimmed by the millions and millions of millimeter thick woven roots surrounding the bud.

Energy within the pod continued to swirl violently - even faster now that the outside was supported. The existence began to pump energy into the core. Into Noone. Anything it could do to fuel the spark of life which existed in Noone’s core in hopes of maintaining the seed.

However, the spark of life within Noone's core was nothing more than a fickle ember. It did not glow, and soon any heat left from it would completely disperse. Despite putting as much energy into Noone as the plant could, it did not help.

At this moment, Noone’s body was nothing more than a cracked and degraded reservoir.

Like a dam that held back a lake, and tunnels and pipes that allowed water to be moved efficiently, Noone’s body was similar in holding back energy and life force.

Not just Noone, but every being in tapestry - down to the fauna and the flora, functioned this way. The fish in the sea, and the prey-birds in the clouds too. All beings were simply vessels for life and energy. Vessels though, are only good so long as they can hold water.

Noone’s body was physically strong, his arteries and capillaries and veins were all sturdy due to constant tempering. During times of extensive labor and work, it was not just Noone’s muscles that had toughened, but all of his physical form. Everything - including his vascular system.

While this would lead to incredible capabilities to his physical form, it was also a constant strain on his body. Specifically because of the Common Heritage which laid inside of him.

Noone had been born attuneless and would never be able to sense the universe like others in Tapestry. However, the Common Heritage still existed within him in name, if not in form.

Colored lines of power had never developed on Noone's body. Where others glowed with intricate designs and colors related to their attunement, Noone existed as a dull gray statue. These lines of power were more than just looks though. For the people of Tapestry, these lines were engrained into their biology, existing as highways to move universe and elemental energy from their cores across their being.

Although Noone had no attunement, he still had these precious ley-lines like a hidden vascular system that existed in parallel to the veins and arteries under the skin. The ley-lines, unused and undernourished, quickly atrophied into wisps of barely functioning roads. Quietly, and unknown to anyone they cracked under the surface of his flesh. They were not needed for a being that could not use universe energy.

It wasn't until Noone had accidentally injected some of his own life force out from his core and into these channels that they experienced any use. This was the same moment when Noone had first realized he could use the elemental stones with some effort.

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This small amount of usage was not enough to maintain them though, and over time they continued to atrophy. Eventually they would degrade into nothing, and Noone would be unable to utilize any life-force at all.

Noone had already begun to experience the effects of this. During his climb on the cliff, the ease he could activate sun-stones had gradually degraded. Regrettably, Noone had no awareness as to the causes.

Right now, as the existence pumped energy into Noone's body, the atrophied lines of power which coursed through him merely allowed the energy to escape back out into the pod. The power never reached his core.

Without any warning, a small root a millimeter thick pierced Noone's body. It broke through the skin like a needle. As the root began to make its way towards the core directly, it passed into an equally small atrophied cavity - one of the ley-lines which ran through Noone’s entire being directly to his core. The root shot with a burning speed into the cavity and began to snake through his body, following the route back through his physical form then into his core.

With a searing flash, pure unadulterated universe energy was injected into the core, dousing the smoldering ash of Noone’s life force with unrestrained energy.

His core blared to life.

Although it seemed to take a long time for this to occur, from the moment the roots of plant began to retract until now, only a second had passed. The speed which everything moved would have left any observers shocked.

The blazing fire of life force in his core quickly became extremely tepid. Despite the massive influx of energy, it was still leaking out through the thousands of other atrophied meridians within his body.

Seeing this, more and more millimeter-wide tendrils began to form inside the bulb. Roots on the outside were quickly disappearing, being used to fuel these new roots.

Ten.

A hundred.

Thousands.

Tens of thousands.

Like a hypochondriac at a hospital, millions of needles began to pierce into Noone’s body. Every centimeter was pierced through.

Using the feeling that was left behind from the initial root, the tendrils quickly began to find the rest of the meridians in Noone's body. To protect the core, no extreme was too extreme. There was no length the existence was not willing to go through to protect what it thought would become the core of its rebirth.

Like freshly paved roads on top of decrepit old concrete, the roots spread through Noone’s entire being using the elemental highways as an outline. It did not just stop there though. Veins, arteries, capillaries, everything. The roots began to scour through Noone without mercy.

If he had been alive or conscious through this experience, the pain would have been enough to drive any being into madness.

His meridians were torn to shreds, every inch across thousands of lines were being ripped apart and displaced as roots began to bore out new tunnels within him. The skin across his body rippled slightly as veins and arteries were being coated by woven nets of roots.

New root-like structures were created on the foundations of the atrophied lines before it. Piercing throughout Noone’s being, they intersected and connected, fighting to reach the core and plugging up every leak they could find on the way.

Over the next minute, every inch of Noone’s vascular and power systems were reformed to be incredibly sturdy tunnels bored through his flesh. A unique vessel.

Power which would have been used to form a seed which could withstand being hurtled at near light-speed through planets, was now coating the inside of Noone’s body. Into Noone’s core, pure elemental energy was being injected.

The fire of life within his core was now raging at a full blaze. No longer did the energy leak from his broken meridians. Instead it filtered through his new system of meridians. The plant-like existence had used an incredible amount of energy to maintain its core – Noone. It depleted ninety percent of the reserves it had gained over the past millennia.

However, as long as it could reach rebirth no expense was to extreme. Now… to restart collection.

Using the last 10 percent of the energy it could, roots extended out replacing the interwoven net in the cliff face. Although the extent that the roots reached was not even five percent what it had been before.

It did not mind though. What did a plant know about minding?

"You will live forever. And should you ever lose your edge, you will be reborn." These words echoed through the consciousness of the existence, bringing back the vivid memory of the past. Of its birth and existence.