No one, not even Michael, fully understood how the phenomenon of the golden tree had come to exist or why it settled over Earth.
However, he had some theories.
In his first life, when the last human fell and he was left utterly alone, the final remnant of their race. The golden tree also came to its fall.
At first nothing changed.
But soon, the grass grew darker, the trees withered, and the planet gradually lost its natural luster, transforming into a lifeless world.
Nothing was clear to Michael at the time until the ground split open and a colossal, recently evolved Titan emerged from the planet's crevices.
"It's just a hypothesis…" Michael spoke out loud as he paced across the tunnel, Devil following behind.
"But if we consider Earth as a living organism, a host in a sense. Then the golden tree's relationship with the planet could be seen as mutualism. The Monarch we're about to encounter, however… it's a parasite."
