Countless spawns were moving across the vast, pulsating body of the Heart of the Root. Their behavior was identical, each one acting with the mindless precision of drones carrying out a pre-programmed function.
Not a single spark of individuality existed among them—no ego, no will, no personal intent. They moved in massive torrents, flowing like rivers of corrupted flesh that defy gravity. Some streams crawled across the surface layer of the colossal tumor, while others dove beneath it, sinking into the deeper strata of the world-sized mass.
As two such streams collided and pushed against each other, one spawn moved with an unnatural fluidity. With perfect timing, it slipped from one stream into the next, matching its rhythm as it descended with the others. Its maneuver was too precise, too clean, far beyond what a true spawn of the Root should have been capable of.
Of course, this particular spawn was no spawn at all.
It was Cain.
