THE PLANT

Lucid Codex Entry 001

It appeared out of nowhere. The paper was thin, nearly transparent, curling at the corners like it had traveled through time to reach her. No signature. No message. Just a single face staring back with quiet confidence.

It looked like her.

Not a perfect match, just enough to steal her breath.

“It looks like me,” she said aloud.

The room dimmed. Not the lights..the air. A stillness settled over everything, the kind that makes you forget what normal felt like. The oxygen felt heavier, like it came from a deeper time. Then the hum started. At first, she thought it was the fridge. But this was organic. A vibration that began in her chest and echoed somewhere beneath the walls.

She stepped outside.

Except… this wasn’t her world.

Cobblestone paths curved through an ancient village, but the walls pulsed with translucent circuitry. Stone homes formed in spirals and arches beyond known architecture. People moved like shadows underwater. No words. Just stillness and silence..and then she saw him.

A towering, dark-skinned man being dragged by a Nephilim. Not a metaphorical one. This was a literal giant, naked, armored in something alive, with mournful eyes and ancient power. The one he dragged wasn’t human either. He had wings. Too still. Too long. His body was being pulled like a prophecy..

She turned and ran.

Back to what she thought was home. The plant was gone. She knew it had been there...looming above her in the corner of the ceiling like a thought that wouldn’t leave.

She turned toward her tech room.

It was there. Above the door frame. Waiting.

Sickly green, veined with ash and bruised purple. Its tendrils draped down like rotting hair, some ending in claws, others in tiny, puckering mouths. It smelled like death. Like memories. Like a version of herself had already died in this room.

She ran for her gear. But it moved faster than she thought.

A tendril snapped onto her hair, pulling her backward with terrifying force. She reached blindly. Found scissors.

Snip. Her hair hit the floor.

She slammed the lab door. Locked it.

Silence.

Then: a voice.

“You saw yourself. So I grew.”

It didn’t speak...it reverberated. She felt it in her lungs.

Then a knock.

A friend. Maybe a coworker…was curious. The drawing had somehow made its way to her hands.

“It looks like me,” she said.

“No. Don’t say that”..

Too late.

Another plant appeared. Not grown. Not summoned. Revealed.

Its mouth opened first..so many rows of teeth. But deeper, past the throat: a blue orb pulsed like a miniature world had taken root inside.

She screamed.

It lunged.

The world blinked.

She was back outside. Same village. Same sky.

But this time, earlier.

The Nephilim dragged the dark figure again, but this time, she moved.

She cut the ropes.

The being stood, unfazed. He looked at her as his head began to shake. Not in pain. In distortion. His body glitched, vibrating too fast to be possible.

She stared into his eyes.

There was no soul. Just static.

The shaking became sound. The sound became a signal.

Then she woke up.

The drawing lay beside her.

🌱Touch the plant… if you dare (Original Glitch)