Chapter 459: The Freedom to Choose

Damon woke up with something touching the side of his boot.

He opened one eye.

The root that had spent the night beside him was still there.

Another one had appeared.

The second root was pushing a small red fruit toward his leg.

Damon looked at the fruit.

Then at the root.

"Is this coffee?"

"No."

"Then we still don’t understand each other."

The root pushed the fruit toward him again.

Damon picked it up.

It looked normal, although he had already learned that "normal" was a rather useless classification inside Eir’s territory.

"Can I eat it?"

"Yes."

"You should start with that information."

He took a bite.

Sweet.

It tasted like a strange mixture of apple and some other fruit he couldn’t identify.

"Good."

The forest responded:

"More?"

Damon stared at the tree.

"You’re really trying to feed me."

"Eat."

"I remember the recommendation."

Another fruit dropped beside him.

Damon sighed.

"One is enough."

When he stood up, his ribs complained less than they had the previous night.

There was still pain, especially when he twisted his torso, but he no longer needed to reduce every movement to keep something from pressing painfully inside.

Ester appeared a few minutes later.

Naturally, she noticed.

"Better."

Damon looked at her.

"Good morning to you too."

"Take a deep breath."

"I’ve already breathed several times today."

"One more."

He obeyed.

The pain appeared near the end of the breath, but it was significantly weaker.

Ester touched two points between his ribs.

"No abnormal mobility."

"Good."

"That doesn’t mean you can fight."

"I didn’t even mention fighting."

"Your history did."

Damon picked up the second fruit and handed it to her.

"Eir sent it."

Ester examined it.

"You already ate one?"

"Yes."

"And how long did you wait to make sure it wasn’t poisonous?"

Damon remained silent.

Ester closed her eyes.

"One day, I’m going to give up."

"You won’t."

"Unfortunately."

She bit into the fruit.

Not long afterward, they found Neria awake.

The difference from the previous day was obvious.

She was still lying on the structure of roots Eir had prepared for her, but her skin looked healthier, and the plant-like lines beneath her arms were no longer dull.

Liora was sitting beside her with an absurd amount of fruit piled in her lap.

Damon pointed.

"Now I know where the others went."

Liora showed no guilt.

"I’m hungry."

"You always are."

Neria opened her eyes.

"She ate during the night."

"I saw."

"Three times."

Damon looked at Liora.

"That’s impressive even for you."

"I’m growing."

Ester immediately approached Neria.

"How’s your circulation?"

"Better."

"Any pain?"

"In my back, where the filaments were."

"Tingling?"

"A little."

"Loss of strength?"

"No."

Ester examined the most affected areas.

Some red marks were still visible, but they no longer showed heat or pulsation.

Eir hadn’t touched them during the night.

Ester noticed.

"You really didn’t do anything."

"No."

The answer seemed directed more toward Damon than toward her.

He crossed his arms.

"I’m starting to believe you."

"Starting?" Liora asked.

"Previous experiences."

Neria tried to sit up on her own.

Ester placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Slowly."

"I can do it."

"That doesn’t mean you need to prove it."

Neria accepted the help and managed to sit upright without becoming dizzy.

The forest reacted with several leaves moving at once.

Damon looked around.

"Is she going to do that every time Neria moves an arm?"

Liora nodded.

"For a few days."

"Excellent."

Neria smiled.

"She used to do that when I was little."

"You remember?"

"Yes. If I tripped, half the ground moved."

Damon imagined an entire forest trying to prevent a child from falling.

"Some things make more sense now."

After the examination, Ester finally allowed Neria to try standing.

Liora held one arm.

Ester held the other.

Neria placed her feet on the ground.

The roots beneath her remained still.

Waiting.

She pushed herself upward.

She stood.

The first second was stable.

During the second, her legs trembled.

By the third, Liora had to hold her more firmly.

"Don’t fall," the girl said.

"That was the plan."

"You’re falling."

"I’m not."

"You’re leaning."

"That’s different."

Damon watched them.

"They really are sisters."

Neria shot him an irritated look as Ester helped her sit again.

"How long?" Neria asked.

"How long what?"

"Until I can walk."

"A few days before you can walk short distances without help, if you keep improving at this rate. Longer before you recover real strength."

Neria didn’t like the answer, but she didn’t argue.

Eir spoke.

"I can help."

Ester turned toward the tree.

"How?"

"Feed. Support. Not change."

Ester considered it.

"You can gradually increase the energy in her plant structures. No restoring muscles, nerves, or old circulation."

"Yes."

Neria looked at her mother.

"You can."

The energy increased slightly.

Ester monitored it.

Damon immediately noticed the difference in the way Eir reacted now.

Before, she would have interpreted physical weakness as damage and probably tried to return Neria to some previous state considered functional.

Now, she asked what function she could perform without crossing the boundary of her daughter’s decision.

Aria and Aurelia arrived carrying the records copied from Vermillion.

Aria looked more rested, which Damon considered a direct consequence of confiscating the notebooks.

She held out her hand.

"My notebook."

Damon gave it back.

"You slept."

"Against my will."

"It worked."

Aurelia took her own notebook.

"We found three more references this morning."

Damon closed his eyes.

"You started before I gave these back."

"Memory," Aria replied.

"That’s cheating."

Neria smiled.

Liora pointed at her.

"I said the same thing yesterday."

Aria opened the notebook.

"The references don’t mention Maerin directly. They concern groups that left the region centuries later."

Damon paid closer attention.

"Descendants?"

"Maybe. We don’t know. But there’s something interesting."

Aurelia showed him a symbol copied from the ancient plates.

It was composed of three curved lines meeting at the center.

"This appears in Vermillion’s records associated with organisms classified as ’unstabilized.’"

Damon studied it.

"’Unstabilized’ sounds like a compliment coming from those people."

"At the time, it wasn’t."

Aria continued:

"The records indicate that some populations refused complete standardization. The first researchers tried to follow them for several generations, but lost contact after they migrated west."

Damon immediately looked at Eir.

"West."

"Yes."

"Same direction."

"Yes."

Aria raised her eyes.

"What direction?"

Damon realized he hadn’t told them yet.

"Eir can feel fragments similar to Maerin in the west."

Aria was already opening a new page.

"Recently?"

"Don’t start."

"It’s a question."

"Yes, recently."

Aurelia looked toward Eir.

"How often?"

The forest took some time to answer.

"Rarely."

"One person?"

"More."

"How many?"

"Don’t know."

Damon raised one hand.

"We’re not turning this into an expedition."

Aria looked at him.

"I didn’t say we were."

"Your face did."

Ester started laughing.

"Now you’re using my line."

"It works."

Aurelia returned to the records.

"Even if we don’t go looking for them, knowing that descendants or parallel lineages may exist changes how we interpret Damon’s body."

"How?"

"You stop being the only known living reference."

Damon slowly nodded.

That really did matter.

Until then, any study of the ancestral structure depended on fragmented records, Eir’s memories, and his own body.

If other people existed carrying similar fragments, they could compare differences without necessarily altering anyone.

"I like that better."

Aria wrote something down.

"Because it reduces the pressure to experiment on you."

"Exactly."

"I’m recording that as progress."

"No."

She wrote it anyway.

Varos appeared along the trail a few minutes later accompanied by two agents.

Damon could tell from his expression that there was news.

"Administrative problem?" he asked.

"Bigger."

"I definitely prefer monsters."

Varos handed Aria a small communication tablet.

She examined it before touching it directly.

"Safe?"

"Yes. This one has no protocol filaments. It’s an ordinary Order device."

"Message?"

"From headquarters."

Damon looked at him.

"They already found out?"

"Part of it."

Varos explained that the agents who had left Vermillion had reached an external post and sent reports.

The information was incomplete and contradictory.

Some reports claimed that Serik had been deposed.

Others said Varos had been compromised by a pre-network entity.

There were also records mentioning patients being used in unauthorized experiments.

Headquarters demanded clarification.

"Who’s in command while Serik is detained?" Xue Lian asked.

"A council of three supervisors."

"Do they know what Serik is?"

"I don’t know."

Damon crossed his arms.

"You’re going back."

"I have to."

Liora immediately became serious.

"They’ll put a wire in you again."

"No."

"How do you know?"

Varos touched the disabled mark behind his ear.

"Because this time, I know it exists."

Damon studied the man.

"You’re going alone?"

"I can’t appear at headquarters accompanied by all of you. That would confirm the narrative that I was captured or influenced."

"Fair."

"But I want to take copies of some of the records."

Aria replied:

"You’ll take the ones that don’t compromise the patients."

"Agreed."

"You’re also not taking the originals."

"Agreed."

Damon smiled.

"You two are going to get along."

They both ignored him.

Varos continued:

"I need to demonstrate three things: that the marks had hidden functions, that Serik used Neria without known authorization from the Order, and that Phase Three contained elements that weren’t disclosed to the agents themselves."

Aurelia added:

"And that the protocol installed in the Archive was modified over generations. That prevents Serik from claiming that every decision he made automatically represents the original function."

"Yes."

Damon looked toward Eir.

"And you?"

"I’m not going."

"I meant whether you’re willing to let us take copies of what you showed us."

"Some."

Aria immediately became interested.

"Which ones?"

The stone near the core produced simple representations.

The chains used against Eir.

Neria in Vermillion.

The anchoring mechanisms.

Then the record of Vaelor requesting restoration.

No images of the forest’s complete internal structures.

No details about the core.

No information about how to reach or harm Eir.

Aurelia nodded.

"She’s offering evidence, not vulnerabilities."

"Yes," Eir replied.

Varos stared at the images.

"That may be enough to force an internal investigation."

Damon looked at him.

"Force?"

"The Order isn’t Serik. There are divisions, researchers, regional commanders, and supervisors who never had access to Vermillion. If I present this openly within the command structure, it won’t be easy to erase."

"Serik has allies."

"Of course."

"And some of them may know everything."

"Probably."

"Then don’t trust a closed meeting."

Varos nodded.

"I already thought of that."

Aria pointed at him.

"I’m starting to like this man."

"Don’t exaggerate," Damon replied.

Varos almost smiled.

The decision was simple.

Varos would leave that afternoon with the two agents.

He would take limited copies of the records and a report signed by Mereth concerning the Phase Three patients.

The complete evidence would remain divided between Vermillion, Eir, and Damon’s group.

If anyone tried to destroy one source, the others would still exist.

"Redundancy," Aria said.

"Paranoia," Damon replied.

"Redundancy."

"They’re related."

Before leaving, Varos went to Neria.

He stopped several meters away.

"I don’t expect you to forgive me for participating in the operation against Liora."

Neria watched him.

"I wasn’t there."

"But you would have ended up like her."

"Maybe."

Varos accepted that.

"If I can change anything inside the Order, the centers connected to Phase Three will be shut down."

"Don’t do it for me."

He fell silent.

Neria continued:

"Do it for the people who still trust you."

Varos nodded.

"I’ll try."

Damon accompanied him to the edge of the clearing.

"Don’t die."

Varos looked at him.

"That’s your advice?"

"It’s a start."

"You should follow it too."

"I’ve been told that repeatedly."

Varos held out his hand.

Damon shook it.

"If headquarters tries to detain me," Varos said, "the records will automatically reach other divisions."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"When did you prepare that?"

"During the night."

"So nobody in this story slept except me?"

"Aria slept."

Damon smiled.

"Against her will."

Varos left.

Damon remained there watching until he disappeared among the trees.

Eir spoke behind him.

"Trust?"

"Not completely."

"Going."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Damon placed his hands in his pockets.

"Because I don’t need to completely trust someone to allow them to make their own choice."

The leaves moved.

Eir remained silent for several seconds.

"Learning."

Damon looked at the forest.

"Me too."

When he returned to the core, he found Ester waiting for him.

"You need to rest."

He sighed.

"We just woke up."

"Your ribs don’t care."

"And after that?"

"After that, we return to Mirath."

Damon looked toward Neria and Liora.

The two were speaking with Eir through a small network of roots.

Neria would still need to remain in the Valley for some time, but she no longer looked like a prisoner returning to an old place.

She looked like someone deciding how she wanted to live in it.

Damon thought about Maerin’s descendants in the west.

About the Order’s centers.

About Vaelor’s records.

Then he put all of it aside.

Mirath first.

There were people waiting.

And for the first time since the black tablet had received Eir’s request for help, no immediate disaster demanded that Damon choose another direction.