The Root Lost at Birth

The Root.

The place where the world was born, and the foundation upon which the world exists.

Its external manifestation is a colorless object in the state of a vortex; its true internal nature is unknown and will never be known, destined to remain an existence of [Unknown] forever.

The Root gave birth to the world and structured it, and within the world, an object similar to a printed product was born.

The object is named—Earth.

There are many worlds outside this world, and every world possesses this object.

This Earth was born with the desire to continue existing, and the representative of this desire gained its own consciousness, representing the continuation will of the Earth itself; its name is—Gaia Consciousness.

The Earth gave birth to intelligent primates, and throughout the long process of survival, the collective will of humanity also birthed its own desire—the most sinful, most vast, and most fundamental desire: to live, to continue. Thus, the representative of this desire also gained its own consciousness; its name is—Alaya Consciousness.

Gaia Consciousness, representing the continuation of the Earth, and Alaya Consciousness, representing the continuation of the primates, will generate actions to eliminate threats because their very existence—the Earth and the primates—is threatened. This action is [Suppression]; therefore, they are also known as [Counter Force].

At an unknown time and place, the two incompatible Counter Forces both sensed a threat to their existence.

For some reason, the world itself was weakening, and after employing many methods, the two Counter Forces could not stop this decline.

The consequences of continuing to weaken are self-evident.

At a loss, Gaia Consciousness discovered some clues in its desperation.

The Root, the foundation of the world's existence, had a problem.

A strand of the Root, which the two Counter Forces had never probed, was missing.

"Strand" is merely a descriptive term, but the Root, which should be impossible to fault, was indeed missing that little bit.

Logically, the loss of the Root should not have escaped the two Counter Forces that observe the entire world at all times; therefore, the two existences, which had always been at odds, reached a rare consensus.

Complete the Root and preserve the existence of the Earth/primates.

Since the loss of the Root did not occur during their observation period, it could basically be determined that this strand of the Root was lost before they were born—when the world was first created.

Thus, Gaia Consciousness temporarily entrusted the Earth to Alaya Consciousness—she was at ease, because the existence of the primates themselves requires the Earth as a foundation. Although it could be certain that Alaya Consciousness would meddle during the guardianship, for the sake of the fundamental continuation, Gaia Consciousness had to find that lost strand of the Root, go outside the world, and search for the lost Root in other worlds that it could not control at all.

A certain world, somewhere unknown.

In the void, a boy appeared, eyes tightly shut, drifting slowly through the void like flotsam.

He seemed to have no consciousness, acting merely as an empty shell in the void, like a drifting bottle carrying no information, not knowing where he was headed.

However, his origin was quite clear.

"F-found it."

A voice was transmitted over.

A palm grabbed the boy's wrist.

It was a little girl.

Also floating in the void, the little girl frowned as she looked at the boy.

"What... is this situation?"

"However, this aura does indeed seem to be the aura of the lost Thread of the Root. Is it because it captured an aura it shouldn't have that it turned into this state?" Gaia muttered to itself.

"In any case... let's take you back first."

With a flicker, the figures of the two vanished into the void.

Nothing was left behind, as if nothing had ever stayed here.

The world where the Counter Forces reside.

A certain unknown space.

"Gaia, you've returned." Alaya condensed a body and looked at the little girl before it with an expressionless face.

The Counter Force itself is a desire for continuation and has no physical body, but it can easily condense one.

The one Alaya called out to was the little girl who had just appeared in the void and taken the boy away.

Gaia did not respond, merely nodding.

Reaching out, the unconscious boy appeared before the two Counter Forces, stark naked.

"I have found him; this primate (human) is that lost strand of the Root," Gaia said.

"Why would the lost Root turn into a human? I cannot understand." The humanoid form Alaya condensed was also a little girl.

"However, after he appeared within the world, the weakening has indeed slowed down," Gaia said. "The calculation results suggest that it is highly probable that the Thread of the Root underwent a mimetic manifestation due to contamination by other factors in the void."

"In other words, perhaps it is because worlds frequently make contact with one another, causing a large-scale 'transmigrator phenomenon,' to the extent that a massive amount of primate factors were dispersed into the void, and the Thread of the Root was infected by these primate factors, resulting in this outcome."

The humanoid form of Alaya nodded: "For the sake of your existence and mine, let us take him to the Root first and replenish what is missing."

The location of the Root.

Gaia frowned; it could clearly feel that there was indeed some kind of connection between the Thread of the Root (the boy) and the exterior of the Root itself, but the Root, which should have merged with him upon proximity, did not accept the boy who was a part of itself.

"Incomprehensible. The Root's rejection of the Thread of the Root." Gaia spoke.

At this moment, the youth's entire body radiated a dazzling light. Positioned above the exterior of the Root, it seemed as though a gravitational force was pulling him to plunge into it, yet a barrier appeared to be adamantly refusing him, leaving the glowing youth unable to move in the void.

"Perhaps it is the mark of an outer world." Alaya pulled the youth back from above the Root. "The Thread of the Root cannot return to the interior of the Root at all right now."

"But this only slows the time of your and my demise; it will not suppress the inevitability of that extinction," Gaia continued.

"Perhaps there is a way." Alaya appeared more quick-witted than Gaia. "The Thread of the Root has been branded with an outer-world mark because it was contaminated by the outside. If our world contaminates it once more, could we not erase this mark and allow him to return to this world?"

Gaia did not answer immediately, as if lost in thought.

"There are no other solutions for now; it is worth a try." Gaia nodded. "What is the specific implementation plan?"

"Leave it to me." Alaya radiated an air of delight. "But for now, let us first proceed with a simple consciousness infusion."

"No objections."

Alaya grabbed a wisp of something resembling matter from nowhere and stuffed it into the youth's body.

Gently touching the youth after he had been infused with consciousness, the boy slowly opened eyes that had never been opened before.

He did not understand the current situation, nor was he clear on the meaning of his own existence.

"Here," he spoke calmly, murmuring in a language he had learned from somewhere unknown. "What place is this? Who are you?"

"I am the Counter Force of the Earth," Gaia said, expressionless.

"I am the Counter Force of Humanity," Alaya glanced at the youth.

"This is the Root, the beginning and foundation of the world," the two spoke in unison.