Chapter 1: The Awakening
In a forgotten laboratory, a research team was experimenting with fertilizers to enhance crop production—seeking immediate results, richer harvests, and improved nutritional value. Their efforts paid off when the first treated seed demonstrated extraordinary potential: it could yield multiple harvests while preserving its core structure for continued study.
However, no one considered that one of the fertilizer’s components was highly radioactive. Although used in minimal doses and deemed safe, the element’s concentration increased with each crop cycle.
Unaware of the risk, they scaled the formula for mass production. Radiation began contaminating both the crops and the atmosphere through photosynthesis. This forced the researchers to abandon the project and evacuate the affected zone. In collaboration with the government, they concealed the incident, burying the classified failure deep in archived reports.
The result of this failed experiment was a fusion of grain and low-grade radioactive fertilizer. In pursuit of an infinite-harvest seed, the scientists secretly incorporated human DNA—taken from cloning experiments—into the mix. The goal: ensure plant survival in post-apocalyptic scenarios by encoding resilience into stored seeds hidden in an underground capsule.
But they didn’t anticipate that repeated cultivation of the “mother seed” would not only amplify radiation but trigger an unknown mutation in the human genome. The Glitchers were born.
Exposed to all known fertilizer variants, the mother seed transformed into a sentient being—developing superior intelligence and, through observing humans, a deep understanding of their emotions. Everything changed during the final test: an outdoor cultivation trial where the mother seed and its derivatives were planted together. The evolved radiation spread via photosynthesis, affecting scientists and government officials on site. Aware of the harm it caused, the mother seed tried to contain it. Though it prevented the Glitchers from emerging to the surface, it couldn’t halt its own evolution.
To avoid further devastation, the mother seed placed itself and the other Glitchers in suspended animation, disrupting their natural life cycle. The contaminated zone was classified as a top-secret incident. Meanwhile, the mutated grains manifested into beings with floating limbs made of fragmented seed structures—beautifully broken in design.
While human civilization advanced above, the Glitchers adapted below, learning and evolving in darkness. They built a society in hidden tunnels and chambers, led by the mother seed. She taught them empathy, compassion, and telepathic communication—values she had absorbed from observing humanity.
Above ground, the site remained cordoned off and shrouded in mystery. Those involved were silenced, while rumors and conspiracies spread among the public. But underground, the Glitchers thrived, dreaming of one day reaching the surface. Though born from a forgotten experiment, they were determined to claim their own future.
