Chapter 445: Scarlet Order

Damon drew his sword just enough to free the blade from its sheath, but he did not immediately descend the slope. The camp below was too large for a reckless attack, and although forty people would not normally have been enough to frighten him, he was still recovering from the fight against Caelum and had no idea what those chains were capable of doing. The girl trapped inside the cage remained seated with her knees drawn against her body, and she did not appear injured beyond a few superficial cuts on her arms. The strangest detail was the dark veins beneath her skin. They began at her wrists and climbed almost to her shoulders, like tiny roots drawn inside her body.

Xue Lian crouched beside Damon and studied the camp’s layout. "Four larger structures. Six men working directly on the root. At least twelve armed, and the rest divided into smaller groups."

"And the cage is right in the middle of everything," Ester said. "If we go in attacking, she becomes a hostage."

"She probably already is," Damon replied.

Aurelia continued staring at the girl, visibly unsettled. "I don’t understand."

Damon turned his head. "The daughter part?"

"Yes. Eir never had a human form in any of the records I knew. She never produced descendants either, at least not in the way we understand offspring."

The leaves around them began moving again, although this time no words emerged. It sounded more like a restless murmur spreading through the canopy. Xue Mei looked at the cage and noticed something the others had missed.

"She’s looking at us."

Damon turned his attention back to the girl. It was true. Although the elevation and the roots concealed almost the entire group, her eyes were fixed precisely on where they were. The girl made no gesture, but after a few seconds, she tilted her head very subtly to the left.

Damon followed the direction.

One of the metal structures was partially hidden behind the wagons. Three people were working there, adjusting a set of plates fitted into a vertical support. Unlike the stakes driven into the root, that device had a cylindrical reservoir filled with a dark liquid.

Aria narrowed her eyes. "That wasn’t in Beloren’s records."

"Because it arrived inside the wagons," Damon replied.

The girl tilted her head again, this time downward.

Damon examined the base of the cage and saw a black chain running beneath the earth. It was not merely a physical prison. The chain continued all the way to one of the stakes driven into the enormous root.

Aurelia noticed at the same moment. "They’re using the girl as a reference."

"For what?"

"Maybe to stop Eir from changing that area. If she truly considers the girl a part of herself, then keeping one part of her fixed might prevent a complete restoration."

Damon sheathed his sword again.

Ester looked at him. "Why did you put it away?"

"Because if the cage is part of the anchor, breaking everything without understanding it could hurt the girl."

"A miracle. You thought before acting."

"I’m maturing."

"Don’t exaggerate."

Damon studied the camp for a few more seconds and pointed toward Aria. "Can you figure out whether those structures are connected to each other?"

She removed a small ordinary observation disk from her bag—not the plate connected to the network functions—and positioned it over one of the roots on the rise. After a few adjustments, a simple image appeared: irregular pulses traveled through the ground between the four larger machines and the stakes driven into the root. No spiritual energy appeared, but there was some kind of constant physical or material transmission.

"It’s not a formation," Aria said. "It looks like conduction."

"Like electricity?"

"Not exactly. Something is moving through the chains, but my instruments don’t recognize it."

Aurelia touched the metal of one of the smaller chains they had found earlier, then pulled her hand away. "Maybe they aren’t adding energy. Maybe they’re removing a property."

Xue Lian looked at her. "Which one?"

"The ability to return."

Damon understood. "They don’t need to stop Eir from using her power. They only need to make the changes permanent."

Aurelia nodded.

That meant destroying one machine would probably weaken the system, but no one knew how the girl would react. Damon pointed at Xue Mei. "You and Aria stay here for now."

Xue Mei immediately frowned. "No."

"I knew it."

"If the girl is connected to the forest, she might respond better to someone who isn’t trying to look threatening."

Damon opened his mouth.

Ester answered before he could. "She’s talking about you."

"I understood."

Xue Mei continued. "I can reach her from the side while you draw attention on the other side."

Xue Lian did not like the idea, but she did not refuse on her behalf. "Can you do it without attacking?"

"I can."

Damon thought for a few seconds. "Then we’ll do this properly. Nobody breaks the chains until we know what happens. Ester, Xue Lian, and I go down from the front. Aurelia stays with Aria and tries to understand the machines. Xue Mei circles around to the cage."

"You just took command," Ester observed.

"Someone had to organize things."

"You spent an entire volume complaining about that."

"Organizing isn’t owning."

Aria raised her hand. "Can I record that sentence?"

"No."

They separated.

Damon, Ester, and Xue Lian descended along the main path without concealing their presence. They did not run or draw their weapons. The objective was to make the camp look at them. It worked before they were even halfway down the slope. One of the guards spotted Damon and shouted. Within seconds, at least fifteen armed people had formed a line in front of the main root.

The man in dark red who commanded the operation raised one hand and ordered everyone not to attack.

"You’re far from any road."

Damon stopped approximately thirty meters away.

"We noticed."

"Turn back."

"No."

The man studied Damon, then Ester and Xue Lian. His gaze lingered slightly longer on Xue Lian, perhaps recognizing something unusual about her, but he showed no sign of knowing any of them.

"This area is under a containment operation."

Damon looked at the darkening root behind him. "You have an interesting definition of containment."

"You don’t know what you’re dealing with."

"That sentence is becoming popular."

The man did not smile. "The entity in this forest alters matter, memory, and identity. It has killed entire communities in the past."

Aurelia, still hidden above them, would probably have been interested in that statement, but Damon did not react.

"So you locked a teenage girl in a cage."

"She isn’t human."

The girl heard him. Her expression did not change.

Damon looked at her and then at the commander. "Does that make it any better for you?"

"It makes the description more accurate."

"Not by much."

The man sighed. "My name is Varos. I’m not interested in conflict with travelers. Leave the Valley while you still can."

"Damon."

Varos waited.

"That’s my name. Since we’re being polite."

Ester murmured beside him, "This is you being polite?"

"I’m trying."

Varos looked at the girl again. "She is an extension of Eir. She was produced by the tree so she could walk outside the core. As long as she remains imprisoned, the entity cannot fully restore this area."

Xue Lian asked, "How do you know that?"

"Because we’ve done it before."

That changed the situation.

Damon lost what little humor he still had. "Where?"

Varos did not answer.

"Another entity?"

"Another local structure."

"Name?"

"Doesn’t matter."

"It matters to me."

"Then that’s your problem."

Damon kept his hand away from his sword. "Who are you?"

Varos seemed to consider whether answering was worthwhile. "We are the Scarlet Order."

Xue Lian showed no sign of recognizing the name.

Neither did Ester.

Varos continued. "Our work is to prevent pre-network structures from expanding again now that the central network has been restored."

Damon went still.

"You knew the network was back."

"We felt it."

"How?"

"Not relevant."

"It’s very relevant."

Varos did not answer.

Behind him, the root pulsed and one of the stakes vibrated. The dark liquid inside the hidden machine dropped by several centimeters. Damon realized the process was advancing while they talked.

At the same time, Xue Mei reached the cage.

The girl made no sound when she appeared between two piles of equipment. Xue Mei knelt beside the bars and spoke while barely moving her lips.

"Do you understand me?"

The girl nodded.

"Are you Eir’s daughter?"

Another confirmation.

"Human?"

The girl hesitated and then made a gesture with one hand indicating more or less.

Xue Mei almost smiled. "That doesn’t help."

The girl pointed at the chain attached to the base of the cage and then at her own chest.

"If I break it, will it hurt you?"

She shook her head.

"Will it hurt Eir?"

This time, she nodded.

Xue Mei looked at the mechanism. "Then we won’t break it."

The girl grabbed one of the bars and pointed toward the ordinary lock.

Xue Mei understood. "Only the cage."

The girl nodded quickly.

Meanwhile, Aurelia and Aria had approached the side structure using the upper path. Aria studied the plates and found a repeated sequence on each machine.

"They’re numbers."

Aurelia looked.

"No. Measurements."

"Of what?"

Aurelia traced a finger through the air without touching the metal. "State."

Aria frowned.

"These machines are comparing the root’s current state with another state."

"Then they have a model."

"Yes."

"Of Eir?"

Aurelia became serious. "Maybe."

Aria looked at the dark cylinder. "And that?"

"Probably whatever maintains the difference."

Aria raised the small instrument and finally detected something.

"It isn’t energy."

"I told you."

"It’s material memory."

Aurelia looked at her.

Aria continued. "These cylinders contain something that records the current form of the structures. The chains use that record as a reference to prevent reversal."

Aurelia understood. "They’re giving things a false memory."

"Exactly."

The words struck Aurelia unpleasantly. She immediately remembered Shen Liang, the memories removed from Xue Lian, and everything that had been done to turn people into useful versions of themselves.

"We shut them down."

"Without breaking them."

"Yes."

Aria found a mechanical valve at the bottom.

Back in the camp, Varos continued speaking to Damon.

"Eir isn’t a victim. These entities existed before the current territorial organization and treat everything around them as part of themselves. If we allow expansion, entire villages could be incorporated."

"She requested a connection."

Varos finally showed surprise.

"With the network?"

"Yes."

"Impossible."

"That word hasn’t been performing very well lately."

Varos looked toward the forest.

"She would never accept."

"She did."

"Then she’s trying to use you."

Damon shrugged. "Maybe. She still asked."

Varos raised his hand, and the guards aimed their weapons.

"You don’t understand what you started when you restored the network."

Damon became serious.

"Then explain."

"No."

"Another popular answer."

At that moment, every machine in the camp shut down.

They did not explode.

They made no noise.

The cylinders simply stopped circulating.

Varos turned around.

Aurelia had closed the first valve, and Aria was already running toward the second.

"Protect the anchors!"

The guards scattered.

Damon drew his sword.

"Now we can talk less."

The first root moved.

It did not attack anyone.

It simply contracted.

The nearest stake was slowly pushed out of the wood like a thorn being rejected by the body. Two men tried to hold it in place, but the ground beneath their feet turned back into mud and both fell.

Another machine stopped.

The trail the wagons had used to enter vanished behind them, replaced by dense vegetation.

Varos went pale.

"Reactivate the stabilizers!"

Xue Mei opened the cage.

The girl stepped out.

The instant her feet touched the ground, the veins along her arms glowed a very dark green.

The entire forest reacted.

Not with violence.

With movement.

Roots grew beneath the chains and began lifting them without touching them directly, pushing earth and stone upward until the links lost their support. Dead trees remained dead, but the surrounding vegetation shifted position, rebuilding ancient paths.

Varos saw the girl was free.

His controlled expression disappeared.

"Seize the manifestation!"

Three guards ran forward.

Damon reached them first.

He used the flat of his sword against the first man’s spear, deflected the strike, and drove the hilt into his stomach. Ester struck the second with a needle in the thigh, locking his leg before he could complete the step. Xue Lian knocked the third down with the shaft of her spear.

None of them died.

Damon pointed his sword at Varos.

"She was in a cage. That ends the diplomatic part."

The girl ran to Xue Mei and took her hand.

The leaves moved again.

This time, the voice came from every direction with much greater clarity.

"Bring me my daughter."

The girl looked toward the depths of the forest.

Then she pulled Xue Mei along with her.

Damon realized the invitation was not for everyone.

The leaves spoke again.

"You six."

Aurelia looked around.

"Damon, Ester, Xue Lian, Xue Mei, Aria, and me."

Damon counted.

"Convenient."

Ester looked at him.

"Don’t start."

Varos stepped forward.

"If you go in there, you won’t come back the same."

Damon looked at him.

"You came back."

Varos fell silent.

That was enough.

Damon noticed.

"You’ve stood before Eir before."

The commander did not answer.

The girl tightened her grip on Xue Mei’s hand and spoke for the first time.

Her voice was quiet, human, and perfectly normal.

"He has."

Everyone froze.

She pointed at Varos.

"And she gave back what he had lost."

All the color drained from Varos’s face.

Damon looked at him and, for the first time since arriving at the camp, understood that the man was not there simply because he was following orders.

He was afraid of Eir for a personal reason.

The girl tugged Xue Mei again.

"My mother wants to show you."

Damon sheathed his sword.

"Show us what?"

The girl looked directly at him.

"What they did to you before you were born."