Uprooted Novels & Stories

V. The pups and cubs run around me as I laugh. I push my long black hair out of my face and fix my ponytail. I was found when I was an orphan and brought to the place that I called home my entire childhood. Even though I'm an adult now, I can't leave. I help others who are like me when I was their age. No one should feel unwanted and alone.

The forest smelled of smoke and scorched earth. Dino stood near the edge of the crater that had once been the core of the facility. Ash fell like snow through the broken canopy of trees. The explosion had been deafening, shaking the ground as the structure collapsed into itself. Now, all that remained was a twisted graveyard of steel, data, and Vexler’s dream. Alejandro leaned against a tree, chest heaving. He was bruised, blood trickling from a cut near his eye, but his hands still held the gun loosely, as if the threat might rise from the ashes at any moment.

’ I ordered and he immediately gave me back control. With desperate hands, I scraped the dirt away until I finally reached what felt like a hard surface. I dug and dug until I finally could see what it was. The tree’s roots were formed into some kind of egg. It appeared to be protecting whoever was inside. I used my strength to pry it apart and to my surprise, it was pretty easy.

" When I heard the doctor say that, I went completely quiet. For the sake of a new project, I had been overseas for 39 straight days, working day and night, and I finally made it back in one piece. I never expected that at the celebration dinner, one glass of mango juice from Alan Holt would land me right in a hospital bed. Out of habit, I tapped open my pinned chat, typed two words, and then realized something felt off. Looking closely, I confirmed that it was Alan Holt. He had just changed his profile picture. Now, it was a green mango. While I was staring blankly at the chat window, Alan's call came through. He sounded cold. "I'm already home. Where are you?" I said nothing. Any other tim

"We're endangering you." "You can't leave," Martha countered. "Look at the kids." I looked. The fifty children had sat down in the dirt. They were digging their bare feet into the mud. Roots tiny, white root hairs were beginning to grow from their toes, connecting them to the soil. "They're grounding," Leo said, horrified. "They're taking root." "If you move them now," Martha said, "you rip them out. They'll wither and die." She looked at the farmhouse.

“A program to support reforestation efforts in regions affected by agricultural exploitation. I think we can collaborate.” Lily raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking for a partnership? After everything your family has done to ours?” Robert’s expression was solemn. “I can’t undo the past, Lily. But I can try to build something better. If this works, we can restore more than land—we can restore trust.” After consulting the family, Lily cautiously agreed to a trial partnership, with strict oversight to ensure transparency. --- The First International Project Emilia’s dream of global expansion began to take shape when Roots United launched its first international project in Africa. Partnering with l

“I can smell dead plants and mud. I can feel the roots of trees or hedges or something dangling from the roof.” “What kind of trees?” “I don’t know.” “Get up. Feel the roots, smell them.” I stand up, bumping my head painfully hard against the roof of the enclave they’re holding me in. Clumps of dirt and mud rain down on me, but I ignore it as I reach up to feel the roots. “I don’t think they’re very deep. Thick roots, but spread out. I don’t know.” I stand on my toes to smell it, concentrating on the roots and the tree above. “I’m not sure. It smells kind of…citrusy.”

Zitumi said. “Strength to uproot these monstrous trees?” I asked to be clear. I was staring at a tree whose breath was almost my length so I needed to properly understand her. “Yes.” “It’s not freaking possible.” I told her. I couldn’t hide my doubts anymore. “You doubt will be the reason why I’ll humiliate you once again, My Queen.” Zitumi said, scaling one of the trees in front of her. “You’re saying that you can uproot this monstrosity? Do you know how deeply rooted this thing fucking is?” I said, throwing out facts.

And Rex was hers. The root is heavier than it looks, thick and damp with life where the rot didn’t reach. I cradle it like it might break, lowering it to the pot and clearing away the fragments of the old soil. The new dirt I gathered comes from the Hollow’s heart. I press it in around the root, cutting away the pieces that are already lost. My blade is small and sharp. Precise. One cut. Then another. I clean it down to its strongest vein and nestle it in deep.

** The hologram shifts, showing the sprout's golden veins spreading across realities, plucking moments like fruit: -Eden, alive and laughing, dragged from his timeline. -The Hunter, mid-transformation, roots frozen around his throat. -Kael, whole and unbroken, reloading his rifle in a dead world. "It's collecting them," I whisper. **"It's building a garden,"** Voss corrects. **"And we're the weeds."** --- **The First Uprooting** Talin screams at dusk. The sprout's roots spear through his chest, not in violence but *union*. His skin mottles gold, eyes blooming into starfields. He doesn't die-he *transforms*, his voice harmonizing with the sprout's hum.