After sprouting, the Ent began to help its creator with the expansion of the forest. The continent they were on had been finished and the rest of the world was separated by ocean, but that issue had already been solved. The Ent had briefly connected to the core of the forest to hear instructions but had found that the consciousness of its creator had separated from both the body and core inside the forest.

There was no need to worry in its eyes though, as it knew that what currently sustained life on the planet was from its creator. If life was still thriving, then the creator was still alive. Instead of continuing to wait, it decided it should set out and begin to traverse the ocean. It didn't have any familiarity with the map of the world but decided that it would eventually reach land if it continued in one direction.

On its way through the forest to an ocean shore, it saw multiple unique plant species that its creator had made and the very last remnants of a civilization. Only small parts of buildings remained, almost preserved underneath the plant life that used it as a crutch when first growing. It also sensed a multitude of smaller plant life that was unusual as it was underneath the remains itself, using the damp spaces as a miniature ecosystem.

After traveling for a few days it came across a shore. The forest stopped just outside the beginning of the sand on the beach. As it left the forest it felt a pit of emptiness form and it turned back. This would be the last few moments it would have being so close to a forest for some time.

Its body began to morph, multiple strong, thin branches forming that would with balancing issues while crossing the ocean. It entered the ocean, turned back, and said, "I'll be back, amigos. Just keep an eye on my old man for me, alright? I'd hate for him to feel all lonely while I'm gone."

The forest swayed and branches shook, giving assurance to the Ent as it said one final thing as it began to drift out, "I'm counting on you, dudes. Don't bail on me, okay?"

----------------------------------------

Caleb woke up and immediately noticed 2 things. One, that one of the seeds he had planted had sprouted and left, and two, that he felt his forest had traveled to another continent and had already made decent progress. Going by the average progress he could make it seemed that they had been terraforming for at least 50 years, but that number could be higher if they had no experience, which they certainly didn't.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Since he still had one seed left to sprout, it would be better to call the one who had already done so back instead of going to them. While waiting, he decided to examine the seed still here. He knew how to create one, and knew what they would eventually turn into, but not what they did during those 2 major different stages.

Using his senses, he could see inside and what he saw was beautiful. The roots had already exited the shell and what remained was a vaguely human shape that would emerge from the opening. Seeing as the seed shell from the last sprout wasn't nearby he assumed that the shell would merge with the final body. He also noticed that the core of the Ent seed was on the inside of the outline.

This meant that they would need to periodically come back to him unless he set areas around the world with multiple battery-like constructs for them. Maybe once they had matured they could leave their core behind so they could function semi-permanently.

But until then, he would have to get used to these new 'children' of his. All trees on this planet were his children, but the new helper version, made of his own image, would undoubtedly have a special place in his heart. Creating a name without seeing their personalities first would be unjust to them, so he would wait to see the Ent in person before bestowing them a name.

----------------------------------------

Greta knew that the only form of retirement she'd ever get was death, but even that was seemingly better than the situation she was currently in.

After investigating, she had come to the conclusion that the current problem was close to unstoppable. The events leading up to the life that had alerted her were considered natural in the universe itself so it wasn't allowing outside interference when it came to fixing or stopping the problem. Universes weren't verbal in any sort of form and even she, as a manager of sorts, couldn't sort through the thoughts of such a massive entity.

She at least had to try a form of communication, it knew why she was here and was long enough in its years to have some sort of communication established as it had set a boundary of sorts around the area with messages in a multitude of languages that kindly told the viewer to screw off or die.

The most she was allowed to do was peer in and attempt communication with the entity inside. If all went well, they'd have a way in. If not, they may no longer have any governing rights over this universe. That would be the absolute worst case scenario as it would allow time for multiple such beings to be born.

All Greta could do at this point was wait for primitive technology to be brought so they could establish communication.

This job was going to take longer than she had initially thought, so she left a double behind and let her main body get back to work. The time differences between the two areas would set her even further back and that could lead to even more issues like the one she was currently facing. Her double then decided that while it was waiting it would personally peer into the past of this world, and universe if necessary to find out what had happened.