“Reclamation” by Merritt Chaump
There were once thousands of cities in this world; all bright, blinding mountains of steel and light. Now the world has gone dark. Light no longer shines in New York, Beijing, London. Vines and roots dig claws into concrete. Their silence entreats, yields to final creation. Tempests rage the coasts and locusts flatten all left of mankind’s domestication.
Mother’s wrath, nature’s revenge.
In Fairmount Park stands a monster. Ten feet wide and soaring into the sky. Its roots connect to other soldiers across all of Philadelphia. The centenarian sends out commands to its legionaries, its followers, its children, to one being interconnected— the new soul of the city.
There is no human eye left to witness, to record this transformation— but the trees see, and they notice, like they always have.
