Reborn as a Demonic Sunflower - 001 (Patreon)

Haylock sensed a presence. The woman he yearned to see had entered the garden.

Two weeks ago, everything he had known was different, and now he struggled to deal with all the changes that had taken place.

[Demonic Shoot (Age: 2 weeks)]

[Chi Power: 1st Stage]

[Spend points to unlock system abilities: 7/20 ]

Feeling the woman moving closer, Haylock ignored the message. He saw anytime he stirred.

The woman was humming again, some tune, and she was coming close, always moving to him first before tending to the rest of the flowers within the garden.

Can this be real? He considered this daily since he became aware of where and what he was.

The woman had appeared every other day since he felt himself take root in this place. She gave him liquid of some kind, more than just water. It was something that made him feel alive.

It had taken a week before he could see what was around him, only sensing other amounts of life and the bringer of nutrients he needed. Now, he was able to see about three feet around him.

He was buried in a pile of dirt.

Near the edges of his vision were a few other flowers, none he recognized, which was startling since he had been a botanist for years.

Every kind of flower had been a fascination for him.  There were so many to learn about and see if he could crossbreed or make stronger, more attractive.  He had even won a few awards for being able to alter the DNA of a few.  Yet those memories seemed so far away sometimes, unable to be recalled.

“Hungry, little one?”

He saw the older woman, her wrinkled skin and gray hair, hard calluses on her fingers as she bent down, gently touching him for the briefest moment and sending a shiver of excitement through his… being.

“Here you go,” she said as she slowly poured the liquid from a tiny cup. The reddish secretion crawled down his stem and to the soil where his roots spread.

Haylock saw the woman’s smile; ignoring the scar on her top lip, a few missing teeth, and a milky white eye.  Her one normal eye had a red iris. It was deep crimson, and unlike those fake contacts he had once seen on a woman at a university party, it was real.

“Drink… become strong. I can sense the power inside you. One day, you and I shall discover why the world has given you so much Chi.”

Wishing he could talk, Haylock opened up the status screen he had learned to summon, needing something to focus on while his roots sucked down the liquid that reached the dirt like a man in a desert at a watering hole.

[Demonic Shoot (Age: 2 weeks)]

[Chi Power: 1st Stage]

Skills:

{Absorb [C]}

{Basic Sight [F]}

{Basic Chi Sense [F]}

{Polyglot [C]}

[Spend points to unlock system abilities: 7/20 ]

None of this made sense.  Haylock could remember that he had been working in his lab, and a new form of fertilizer was being developed that would change plant growth on a different level.

He had been looking over the mixer.  It had gotten stuck, no longer sifting the ingredients together like it should.  The massive metal rods were frozen.

His assistant…

What was her name?

No matter how much he tried to remember, Haylock couldn’t recall it.

She had gone to fetch a maintenance person.  Powering off the device, he climbed inside, finding what had caused the mixing twines to stop working.  Someone had tossed a burlap sack inside.  They had failed to dump it as they were supposed to, and it had wrapped itself around the shaft.

He had it almost unstuck when it happened.

Someone had turned on the mixer.  Who knew that tightly-wound burlap would stop the alternating rods from moving? His body never stood a chance.

He didn’t remember pain… just ending up here.

As a flower of some kind.

His skill was actively sucking up the nutrients of the liquid the woman had emptied out, and a notification came.

[Spend points to unlock system abilities: 8/20 ]

She had fed him again, and he knew it would be another two days before she returned, feeding the hunger he felt.

“Grow strong, my little shoot,” the woman said, once more stroking his stem softly before standing and humming again, moving out of his vision to care for the other plants he knew were around him.

Her tune always made him sleepy after she fed him.  It was peaceful.

—

“Be careful, and don’t touch!”

The sharpness of the voice woke Haylock from his slumber.  Sunlight enveloped him, and it felt warm. A few days ago, he realized he wasn’t inside a building, sensing the sun in an unusual way.

Two shapes entered his vision. The older woman had brought a young girl with her.

“It’s just a flower,” the child groaned, clearly not excited at his massive stem and two small leaves he had grown.

Even his buds felt strong, but Haylock knew there was no way to see the beauty he knew he contained.

“No, Nini, it is more than just a flower,” the older woman said. “Practice what you were taught. Sense its life force.  You will see there is much more.”

Haylock watched as the child rolled her eyes at the older woman.

“You’ve said that before, Mimi,” the child groaned.

“Those were your faults and not my own.  You were slacking in your studies, but now you should be able to detect the Chi of this plant. Now try, or I shall make you clean every weed from the other garden.”

The girl’s face going white at the old woman’s voice would have made Haylock laugh had he been able to.

The girl extended her hand, palm facing outward, and closed her eyes.

He could see her brow furrowed, and then he felt a tiny thread extend from the girl's palm toward him. It was almost like a shaft of sunlight, delicate yet nourishing. It seemed to undulate through the air, moving without a specific direction.

She can’t control it, Haylock realized.

Inside his core, he desired what was in that thread. Like the liquid that came from the woman, this was different. It was stronger.

He focused on that thread, fluttering like a butterfly. Haylock knew it was life. It was power.

Like a magnet finally attracting a piece of metal, the thread snapped to him, and a force flooded his form.

The girl shrieked, and Haylock saw her eyes open wide in horror.

It felt more wonderful than anything he had experienced since he recalled being here.

Suddenly the old woman’s hand sliced through the cord that he’d been sucking — like a milkshake through a straw.

The girl fell back a step from the force of the tether being severed. Haylock was frustrated. He wanted more of what that little girl had to offer.

No, I need what she has…

“Settle down, little plant. In time, you shall have more of that,” the older woman said, her voice seeming amused.

He watched as she turned and smiled at the little girl. “I warned you it was real.  Now tell me, what did you experience?”

Tears had formed in the girl's eyes, and for a moment Haylock felt terrible.  He hadn’t realized what he had done would hurt her.  The hunger had taken over, and he’d acted without thinking.

“It… it was stealing my Chi… How? How, Mimi?”

The older woman put the girl’s head against her chest and shushed her, gently stroking her fine black hair.

“It’s special. Very special. It is a secret we need to keep. Something that no one else needs to know of. Do you understand?”

“But… won’t it hurt us?”

Haylock could see the girl watching him from the corner of her eyes as she pressed herself closer to the safety of her grandmother.

The older woman laughed and shook her head. “No child, we shall feed it and show it that we are its friends. One day, it will share its power with us. Only then shall we take back what was taken from us.”

The girl sniffed, leaning away from the older woman and wiping a few tears. “Those who took mom away?”

A single tear rolled from the older woman’s face, and Haylock saw that no emotion showed on the stony face carrying that tear. He was sure if a rock struck her cheek, it would shatter against the force of her will.

“Yes, child… but in time. For now, we bide what time we have. Now help me feed the flower and watch what I do.”

The old woman began to hum the same tune as always, and Haylock’s roots began to squirm in the soil. He knew what was coming and wanted it so badly.

The tiny cup appeared, and he saw her finger approaching his stem.

“Brush it gently like I do,” the woman explained. “Like this.”

The older woman stroked it once, and then the little girl slowly moved her hand forward, her face tight as she winced.

“It won’t hurt you, I promise,” the older woman said as she slowly guided the girl's hand closer.

The soft skin of the young girl ran down his stem as the older woman began to hum again.

“Now we pour the life's blood it needs.”

She tipped the cup over slowly, and Haylock felt the red liquid running down his verdant body and catching on his two proud leaves for a moment before reaching the soil, where it almost vanished the moment his roots could consume it.

[Spend points to unlock system abilities: 21/20 ]

When did I get so many points? I didn’t have that many two days ago…

The woman hummed again and gave him one more gentle stroke.

“We shall see you in a few days. Grow strong, little one.”

Haylock watched as the woman nudged the little girl.

“Grow strong, little one,” the girl repeated, receiving a smile and pat on her head from the older woman.

They stood and moved off, the sounds of their voices soon vanishing.

A sound erupted around him, like a handbell at a hotel front desk.

[Demonic Shoot (Age: 3 weeks)]

[Chi Power: 2nd Stage]

Skills:

{Absorb [C]}

{Basic Sight [F]}

{Basic Chi Sense [F]}

{Polyglot [C]}

[Spend points to unlock system abilities: 21/20 ]

Holy crap! I finally have enough points for whatever that is…

As Haylock started deciphering how to unlock the system's abilities, a message suddenly appeared.

[Unlocking System Abilities ]