ArborVoid: Seed of Worlds

Prologue: The Green Horizon

Three years had passed since the Zogarians fled Earth, their retreat etched into the sky like a scar—a bitter memory burned into history.

Emma stood atop a quiet hill, gazing at the replanted Grove where saplings swayed under the late afternoon sun. The wind carried whispers—not just of leaves, but of survival.

She adjusted her coat against the breeze, fingers brushing the folded letter in her pocket—Adewale's final words to his daughter, a promise she swore to keep.

The war had changed her. Three years ago, she had been a scientist forced into a battle she never wanted. She'd turned WoodDust from a Zogarian resource into humanity's lifeline, a discovery forged in desperation.

Now, at forty-two, she bore the scars of sleepless nights, battles won but never truly finished.

She had buried Adewale here, beneath this hill, marking his grave with a stone she carved herself:

> For Earth.

His sacrifice—the moment he'd drawn Zogarian fire so she could escape—remained a wound that never fully healed.

But humanity had not waited for another invasion.

Above them, in orbit, the Arbor had taken shape—a sleek vessel built not just to explore, but to defend, to prepare, to seek answers before the next threat arrived.

Its fusion of human steel and Zogarian wood-tech pulsed with the energy Emma had **spent years decoding, humming with potential.

Six months ago, its launch had marked a new beginning.

> "We're not waiting for them to return,"

Emma had told the crew, her voice steel over grief.

> "We're going to them."

And now, deep beyond the galactic rim, the Arbor sailed into the unknown, carrying one mission:

- Uncover WoodDust's true nature.

- Trace the Zogarians' retreat.

- Prepare for what lurked beyond.

Before departure, Emma had studied her father's journal, its worn pages filled with cryptic notes on 'the green's secrets.ʼ His research had helped her through the first war, and now, it guided her into the next frontier.

Weeks ago, a faint signal—barely a whisper from beyond the rim—had altered their course.

It wasn't Zogarian.

It was something else. Something desperate.

Emma felt it deep in her chest—the same way she had once felt the hum of the trees back home.

The green wasn't done with her yet.

As the shuttle lifted off, Earth shrinking below, Emma pressed a hand to the window, whispering a vow—to Adewale, to her father, to the planet she would die to protect:

We'll find the answers.

We'll be ready.