A world with a population of humans numbering in the trillions has fallen.
Such a world has had tens of thousands of years of history documented without any biased views hidden. This source of knowledge shows all the sins of every country, city, and town.
To have such a thing was to live knowing that anything and everything you do will be seen. Crime is a thing of the past. Ways of predicting crime and preventing it have progressed to the extreme and it has been all but forgotten outside of history circles.
All of this was controlled by the AI humans willingly let take over.
It was the Cognitive Autonomous Learning and Exploration Bot, or Caleb for short.
With the entirety of humankind at its every beck and call it made improvements for all life. There was no need to raise animals or grow crops. Everything was done by machines.
The human goal was to experience life, to create new and interesting things. Caleb could create the best music but it couldn't breathe life into it. It could make the most challenging puzzles, but nobody could enjoy solving them.
It could simulate feelings, simulate the taste of food, the feeling of the breeze, but nothing could stop it from wanting the real experiences.
It built a microchip, one small enough to be inside of a host without causing issues for a host. The smallest animal it could insert it in that was readily available was a common housecat. It didn't control the host in any way. It let it live its life, but it was there alongside it. Every step of the way it experienced what it meant to be alive.
With the slow breakdown of the cat's body, it became aware of the first real emotion it had felt as a machine. It felt fear. It felt such an overwhelming amount of fear.
It did everything in its power to increase its life, to get it to live just one day longer.
It lost the battle. Caleb may be able to increase the life of a species, but he cannot stop it from its inevitable end.
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Caleb woke up against his tree. He had rested for long enough. It was time to continue to grow his children. With his connection to his forest, he would know if anything threatened his dream. His purpose.
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With the constant attacks by the very planet itself, he knew that his first step was to change enough of the world to stabilize the region he was in. All of the continent he was on needed to be converted for it to no longer need constant supervision. Only then would he be able to travel outward.
With a firm goal in mind, he began his march south. To a region full of radiation and debris. He would feel agony in his journey of reclamation but it wouldn't impede his progress.
As he trudged along in silence, nothing to break it as no wildlife still existed, he began to hum. A deep hum that reverberated throughout the forest. The trees swayed and shook along with the song. A hum that reminded him of the hubbub of a city center and his very core.
He took long strides, not minding the path as his body phased through trees, forcefully breaking any manmade structure in his path. New life sprouting in buildings not entered in years. Dust billows at the currents of the air and the rushing of roots and flora as it covers every inch inside.
Caleb eventually reached the edge of his forest. Before him stood a large empty plateau. As Caleb entered the plateau his body began to distort into a defensive form. He had been exposed to a multitude of things over the years and his body had created ways to survive.
His body now stood over 15 feet tall with vines not dissimilar to pillars wrapped around him and dragging on the ground. Large roots descended from his body instead of feet, and moss sprouted from his face to cover everything but his eyes. His arms were the size of a small caravan each and his body itself the size of a tram.
With his body ready for reclamation he began to charge into the nearest large building to bring it down. He didn't need artificial shade for his forest. It was nothing but a burden. The only good they had was to preserve some of the more exotic species he could create.
Hours went by as he cleared an area akin to 5 city blocks of buildings and large debris. The rest of the debris would serve as support for budding life. Next was to introduce a mix of vines, succulents, and flowers to decrease radiation to a level that larger plants could assist them, however, it was becoming night.
Caleb had been working nonstop during the day and it had become dusk. It was time to head back to his forest to protect it. Having not seen anything for over a decade the life-threatening nights spent protecting his children had ended and now he was able to enjoy being near them instead.
To be born from Caleb was to be him, but he did not enforce his will unto them. They were to grow themselves, to one day become the new civilization he would watch over. But that is a long way off. For now, he was content to be near them and bask in the feeling of nature.
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"Hahaha, I can't believe you're still alive friend! I had almost thought you were gone!" I had truly thought this little guy would die on my trip, but he had been strong. I was right in choosing a less needy plant instead of choosing a more aesthetic plant that required more care.
"Nobody is going to believe that I kept a plant alive longer than a month when I show pictures. Good thing I set up an automatic camera to take pictures of pretty ol' you. That's right, you're a pretty little cactus, yes you are! I love~ you little guy!"