CHAPTER 24: THE WHISPERS BELOW
The stars were silent again.
Fragments of Kain's fortress drifted through the endless black, burning with the faint green hue of Ironroot's energy. The Guardians' ship limped through the debris, its hull fractured and its lights flickering like a dying heart.
Billy sat in the med bay, staring at his reflection on a cracked mirror. The face staring back at him didn't look like his anymore — faint green veins pulsed beneath his skin, glowing softly with each heartbeat. His eyes were darker, older, as though something ancient had begun to stare through him.
Every breath carried a faint echo — whispers. Not from outside… but from within.
"He's not gone… not yet."
"The roots always find their way home."
Billy gripped his head, groaning as the voices grew louder. His power surged instinctively, vines coiling around his chair, tearing at the metal floor. The med bay lights flickered, and for a moment, he saw them — ghostly silhouettes of trees, growing in the reflection behind him, their branches twisting like veins of memory.
Rocket burst through the door, weapon drawn. "Whoa, whoa, kid! You good? You're lighting up the whole ship!"
Billy gasped, pushing down the power. The vines shriveled away, and silence returned. "I… I heard them again."
"Hear who?" Rocket asked cautiously.
Billy's voice was barely a whisper. "The tree. And something else."
Elsewhere, deep in the shadows of space, the shattered mask of Dr. Kain drifted among the debris. A single red light blinked faintly in its core, pulsing like a dying heartbeat. Slowly, it began to hum. The nanites within it stirred, repairing. Feeding. Whispering.
"He thinks he's free…"
"He doesn't know he's already mine."
From within the shattered metal, a new root sprouted — black and red, crawling outward like veins searching for blood.
Back aboard the ship, Star-Lord's voice crackled through the intercom. "We're approaching Titan's orbit. What's left of it anyway. Brace yourselves, it's not pretty down there."
Billy rose slowly, his green aura faint but steady. "Titan?"
Gamora stepped into the room. Her expression was hard. "It's where the infection first appeared. Before you ever got your powers."
Billy frowned. "Wait—you mean this started before the tree chose me?"
Gamora nodded. "Long before. There were signals. Energy readings. Something ancient, buried deep in Titan's core. Maybe your power isn't the beginning… maybe it's the response."
The ship descended through the thin atmosphere. Below them, Titan was a graveyard — a world of red dust and twisted ruins. Massive vines, long dead, covered the surface like skeletal remains of a forest that once touched the sky.
Billy felt it before they even landed. The pull. The heartbeat beneath the planet's crust, slow and powerful. His own veins glowed in rhythm with it.
When the hatch opened, he stepped onto the surface, his boots sinking into the dry soil. The wind carried whispers. Words he couldn't understand, but felt.
"Welcome back, child of the root…"
The ground trembled.
Rocket cursed under his breath. "I don't like this place. It smells like haunted salad."
Billy ignored him and walked toward a jagged canyon ahead. The walls were carved with strange markings — spirals of roots and eyes, repeating endlessly.
As they moved deeper, the air shimmered. Green dust floated like pollen, glowing faintly. Then, without warning, Billy froze. His eyes widened.
There — carved into the rock — was his name.
BILLY STONE
Perfectly etched, glowing softly with the same green light that pulsed within him.
Gamora drew her blade. "What is this?"
Billy's voice trembled. "It's… it's me. But how?"
The whispers grew louder now. Dozens of voices layered over each other, echoing through his mind.
"Chosen before birth."
"Seed of the Verdant One."
"The cycle begins anew."
Billy fell to his knees, clutching his head. The earth beneath him cracked open, revealing a network of glowing veins — roots, alive and moving, pulsing with light.
Rocket and Gamora stumbled back as the canyon shook violently.
Then, from the depths, a colossal shape began to rise.
A massive tree — ancient, petrified, its bark blackened and scarred — emerged from the abyss. Its branches spread wide, scraping the stormy sky. And deep within its trunk… was a hollow cavity, glowing green.
Billy's heart raced. The same voice that had spoken to him years ago echoed once more, deeper now, older, resonating through the planet.
"You returned… Ironroot."
Billy whispered, "You… you're alive."
"Barely. But I am bound to you… as you are bound to me. The boy of the surface, the vessel of the Green Core."
He stepped closer, awe and terror clashing within him. "What's happening to me?"
"The infection is not of this world. It is of mine. A seed corrupted by the dark one… the scientist who defied nature. You carry both light and rot, Billy Stone. One will consume the other."
The tree's voice faded with the thunder. The ground split wider, and from the cracks, thick black vines erupted, writhing like serpents.
Billy's eyes glowed fiercely. "He's still alive, isn't he?"
"The mask endures. The man is gone… but his creation feeds upon your root."
Suddenly, a deafening screech filled the canyon. The black vines twisted together, forming a colossal humanoid figure — a shadow of Kain himself, glowing red from within.
Gamora shouted, "Billy! We've got company!"
Billy didn't move. His eyes locked on the monster as memories of Kain's words echoed in his head.
"Roots run deep, boy…"
He clenched his fists. "Then let's dig deeper."
His body erupted in green light, the ground around him blooming into an explosion of vines and roots that pierced through the monster's form. The air filled with roaring energy — red against green, life against decay.
Every hit shook the canyon, echoing across Titan like thunder. The monster swung, slamming Billy into a wall. He gasped, blood in his mouth, but stood again.
The voices screamed in his head — the tree, Kain, the planet itself — all merging into one chaotic song.
And then, just as the creature lunged again, Billy vanished in a burst of green energy.
Rocket shouted, "Where the hell did he go!?"
But there was no answer. Only silence, and the whisper of wind over the dead planet.
To Be Continued...