Chapter 326: World Tree Scream

The World Tree’s scream had barely faded, and yet the five regions of the Everglades didn’t return to normal. Instead, something changed.

Beneath the flames of the Fire Region, a golden pulse traveled through the earth. In the flooded ruins of the Water Region, the same pulse moved through the ancient stone.

Deep beneath the Earth Region, golden symbols woke one after another, and in the Darkness Region, the roots around Arthur’s path suddenly trembled. At the center of the Secret Realm, the Light Mirror kept shining.

For several seconds, nothing else happened.

BOOM.

A second pulse spread through the entire Everglades, and Arthur stopped walking. Luna nearly lost her footing, and Vedas raised King Maker at once. "What was that?"

Arthur didn’t answer. He was staring at the ground, where the enormous black roots around them had begun to move. They weren’t attacking. They were moving away. One root slowly pulled itself out of the stone wall, then another, and another, and the passage ahead began to open.

Luna tightened her grip on her compass. "Arthur."

"I see it."

The roots kept retracting, sliding deeper into the walls as though something had ordered them to, and Arthur crouched and pressed a hand against the ground. The sensation was strange. Something was traveling through the earth, and it wasn’t mana or Miasma. It was something older, a signal.

His eyes narrowed. "It’s spreading."

Vedas looked around. "What is?"

Arthur stood. "Whatever just happened at the Light Mirror."

Luna looked into the darkness ahead. "The other Mirrors too?"

Arthur nodded slowly. "Something is happening to all of them."

Star bounced nervously beside his leg, and Eden floated a little higher. "Arthur... they’re moving away from us."

Arthur smiled faintly. "Then let’s follow the road."

Luna looked at him. "You really want to go deeper after the World Tree just screamed?"

Arthur glanced back. "Yes."

Vedas sighed. "Of course."

Arthur started walking, and the others followed him, and far away, the first Mirror answered.

Fire

Mithra felt Dawn Sovereign vibrate before she saw the light. The six-horned lion had backed away the instant the first pulse rolled through the clearing, and she stopped in the middle of the scorched ground as it retreated into the flames.

Melo noticed immediately. "What happened?"

Mithra looked down at the golden sword in her hand. "It moved."

Melo’s five tails lifted. "Dawn Sovereign?"

Mithra nodded. The Halburn Armament was glowing, not brightly, but almost like a heartbeat, once, then twice.

BOOM.

A golden pulse spread across the Fire Region, and the flames around them bent outward. Mithra looked at the Fire Mirror. Its surface had changed. The violent red light around it was fading, and golden lines were appearing across its face.

Melo stared. "Those weren’t there before."

"No," Mithra said, stepping closer as the ancient symbols around the Mirror lit up one after another.

Melo’s expression turned serious. "Something is activating the chamber."

"Not just this chamber." Mithra could feel it. The same pulse had traveled through Dawn Sovereign, which meant something had connected it to the others.

Melo’s ears twitched. "The other Mirrors?"

"Yes."

Another pulse passed through the Fire Mirror, and this time, Mithra felt something beyond the light. It was a presence, not a person, but something enormous and far away. She slowly tightened her grip on Dawn Sovereign. "The World Tree."

Water

The ancient city beneath the Water Region suddenly lit up, and Sun looked around. "What the hell?"

The water that had erupted from beneath the Mirror had swept Jako and his Dragon to the far side of the chamber, and for the moment, no one was fighting. Kong stood beside Sun, staring at the walls as golden symbols appeared everywhere, crawling across the ancient buildings, bridges, towers, and submerged roads until the whole ruined city seemed to wake up.

Sun slowly raised Long. "Didn’t this place already wake up once?"

"Yes," Kong said.

"Then why is it doing it again?"

Kong looked at the Water Mirror. "Maybe it missed us."

Sun stared at him. "...You think the Mirror missed us?"

Kong nodded.

Sun rubbed his forehead. "Sometimes I genuinely don’t know how your brain works."

The Water Mirror suddenly flooded the entire city with light, golden reflections dancing across the water, and for a moment, Sun could see something beneath the surface. Enormous roots stretched through the Secret Realm, connecting one region to the next.

His expression changed. "That’s not a reflection."

Kong leaned closer. "Tree."

"Yeah." Sun stared. The roots were moving.

Then the Water Mirror flashed, and a wave of golden light raced through the submerged city and vanished in another direction. Sun looked at Kong. "The Mirrors are connected."

Kong nodded. "Five."

"And they’re waking up together," Sun said.

Earth

Athena heard the machinery before she saw it. A deep metallic groan echoed through the underground ruins, and she turned immediately. "Athy."

Rokkaku had vanished in the eruption, though his black threads still clung to the broken walls, and now the ancient mechanisms around the Earth Mirror were moving on their own. Stone gears turned beneath the floor, golden channels opened inside the walls, and massive structures that had been buried for centuries slowly rose from the ground.

Athena stared. "They’re responding."

Athy spread her wings. "To the Mirror?"

"Not exactly." Athena stepped up to one of the mechanisms and pressed her hand against the ancient stone, and her eyes widened as the vibration traveled through her palm. "It’s receiving a signal."

Athy tilted her head. "From where?"

Athena looked at the Earth Mirror. "Everywhere."

The Earth Mirror brightened, and golden lines appeared across it one after another, and Athena’s expression slowly changed as she recognized the pattern. "The ancient network..." She stepped back and looked around the enormous chamber. "The stabilization points aren’t working on their own anymore. They’re synchronizing."

The ground shook, and Athena summoned Aegis at once. "Something’s coming."

But nothing came out. Instead, the Earth Mirror released another pulse, and Athena looked up at the ceiling, her eyes widening. "No. Something is going through them."

Darkness

Farther down the path, the pulses came faster. Arthur felt each one through the ground, the roots, the stone, and the darkness itself, and he raised a hand. "Listen."

Everyone went quiet.

THUMP.

The ground pulsed.

THUMP.

Another.

THUMP.

The roots along the passage were retreating faster now, some sinking into the ground and others tearing themselves away from the walls, and the path ahead was growing clearer by the second.

Eden floated closer to Arthur. "Why are they moving?"

"I don’t know," Arthur said, and he activated Reality Sight.

The darkness changed. Lines appeared everywhere, thousands of them, then millions, and Arthur’s eyes widened. The golden network wasn’t just moving through the ground. It was running through every root, all of them carrying the same energy toward one place, the World Tree.

"They’re talking," Arthur whispered.

Luna looked at him. "What?"

Arthur pointed at the roots, his eyes following the golden lines. "The Mirrors. All five of them are sending something to each other."

Vedas stepped closer. "So they’re connected."

"Yeah," Arthur said, fascinated. "They’re talking to each other."

Luna’s expression changed as she looked past the roots toward the distant glow of the World Tree, and she shook her head. "No..." Arthur looked at her, and her grip tightened around her compass. "They’re talking to it."

Arthur’s smile disappeared. He looked toward the World Tree, and she was right. The golden lines didn’t stop at the Mirrors. They kept going, all the way to the center, into the roots, the trunk, and the heart.

He slowly let out a breath. "You’re right."

Eden’s eyes went wide. "The World Tree is answering."

A golden glow appeared in the darkness, faint at first and then brighter, and the roots beneath their feet began to glow gold as the black corruption covering them cracked and purple Miasma leaked from the fractures.

BOOOOOOM!

Golden light erupted from the depths. Arthur raised his arm, Luna shielded her eyes, Vedas planted King Maker in the ground, Star flattened itself against Arthur’s leg, and Eden was pushed back through the air.

For one brief moment, the darkness disappeared, and Arthur looked up. The World Tree was glowing, not purple or black, but gold. Its enormous branches stretched across the sky, golden light flowing through them like blood returning to a dying body, and the black corruption across its bark began to retreat as cracks spread through the purple veins. For the first time since it had awakened, Arthur saw what the World Tree had originally looked like. It was beautiful, ancient, and alive.

Luna stared, her eyes wide. "That’s..."

Arthur couldn’t answer. It was too enormous. The entire Secret Realm seemed to breathe with the tree, its forests, rivers, mountains, ancient cities, and Beasts all connected, and for a single moment, the corruption looked like nothing more than a stain on something impossibly old.

As the golden light grew brighter, Arthur smiled. "We can save it."

Vedas looked at him. "You think so?"

Arthur nodded. "I know we can."

Luna smiled faintly.

Then the World Tree moved. Its branches twisted, the ground shook, and the golden light suddenly stopped spreading as a black crack split across the trunk.

Arthur’s expression changed. "No."

The corruption wasn’t retreating anymore. Something was pushing it back, from inside.

A voice traveled through the roots, quiet and distant, but unmistakably human.

"Stop."

Everyone froze. Arthur slowly raised his head, Luna went pale, Vedas tightened his grip on King Maker, and Eden and Star went completely still.

"Stop."

This time the voice was louder, and the whole Secret Realm shook. Far away, the Fire Mirror flickered, the Water Mirror trembled, the Earth Mirror groaned, the Darkness Mirror dimmed, and the Light Mirror flashed. The voice was traveling through all five.

It was Ronin.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. "So you’re still in there."

No answer came. Instead, the World Tree’s roots twisted violently as golden light collided with purple Miasma, and the whole forest shook.

When Ronin spoke again, his voice was no longer distant. It was everywhere. "You don’t understand what you’re doing."

Luna stepped forward. "You corrupted the World Tree."

The roots shook, and Ronin answered at once. "I am trying to control it."

Arthur’s expression hardened. "By infecting it?"

There was a pause, and then Ronin laughed quietly, with no humor in it at all. "You think the corruption is the danger?"

Arthur stared at the glowing branches.

"You’ve only seen the surface," Ronin’s voice echoed through the roots.

Another pulse shook the Secret Realm, and all five Mirrors answered at once, a single thunderous BOOM rolling from the Light, Fire, Water, Earth, and Darkness Mirrors together. Arthur looked from one distant glow to the next. All five were shining.

Ronin spoke one last time. "If you awaken all five Mirrors..."

The world went silent. Arthur’s eyes narrowed, Luna went completely still, and Vedas turned toward the World Tree.

Ronin’s voice came through every root. "...you will awaken the heart."

The World Tree’s trunk split with a deafening crack as something enormous opened deep inside it, and the five Mirrors shone brighter than they ever had before.