The garden no longer felt silent.
By the third week, something had changed within the chamber of Eldritch Gardens. The air itself had grown heavier, thick with the scent of wet soil, metal clinking and engines humming, and the strange metallic warmth of the LED suns now hanging above the seedlings like artificial stars. The plants had begun to reveal their true nature.
Plant #2 "The Battered One" continued its relentless ascent though scarred from its earliest days, it now stood as the undeniable leader of the trial. Its third node had fully formed, while the fourth was already emerging from the green flesh like a forbidden geometric pattern unfolding too quickly for mortal understanding.
A pale white mark appeared upon one of its leaves, subtle but impossible to ignore. The stem beneath glowed faintly red under the false light, as though some hidden imbalance stirred in its veins. CalMag deficiency, perhaps… or perhaps merely the first sign that the plant was adapting to powers never meant for earthly biology.
Plant #1 "The Fat One" followed close behind. Compact, dense, and unwavering, it had become the second pillar of the garden. Its growth was disciplined rather than explosive, like an ancient creature conserving strength beneath the ocean floor before awakening.
Then there was Plant #5 "The Red One".
At first overlooked, it had begun whispering its presence through crimson-colored stems and surprisingly aggressive development. Though currently third in rank, it was no weakling. The red pigmentation spread upward through its structure like blood through veins, perhaps a reaction to the transition from natural sunlight to the cold cosmic glare of LED illumination.
Or perhaps the plant remembered another sun.
Its pace now nearly mirrored the others, refusing extinction, refusing insignificance.
For this was the final week before transplantation.
Beyond the chamber waited larger vessels, richer nutrients, and unrestricted expansion. The true phase of growth was approaching...