Chapter 99 - The Root That Wasn't a Tree

The missing Hunters had left footprints.

Then they had left too many.

Etzel crouched in damp soil eighty kilometers south of Veylahr and counted six identical boot prints leading in six different directions.

Rusk stood behind him.

“Two missing people.”

“Yes.”

“Six trails.”

“Yes.”

“I hate this already.”

“Healthy response.”

The forest looked ordinary.

That made it worse.

No glowing bark.

No impossible sky.

No monsters hanging from branches.

Pine. Moss. Wet stone.

And beneath it all—

pulse.

Etzel felt the soul-root resonance behind his ribs.

Saeva floated close enough that her sleeve touched his shoulder.

Orsik walked on his other side.

Both felt it.

Sivenne did not.

Neither did Maerin, Tessa, or Rusk.

That distinction mattered.

“Bond-linked,” Maerin said.

“Maybe.”

“Summon-linked?”

“Maybe.”

Sivenne sighed.

“You’re becoming very committed to maybe.”

“It keeps us alive.”

They had one objective.

Find the two missing Hunters.

Second objective only if safe: identify the phenomenon.

No touching unknown roots.

No entering unknown gates.

No Orsik touching ancient relics because his soul had already demonstrated a terrible relationship with archaeology.

Orsik had objected to the wording.

Not the rule.

They followed the central trail.

Twenty meters later, the same boot print appeared on a tree trunk.

Vertical.

Rusk stared.

“No.”

Etzel touched the bark beside it.

Dry.

The print was mud.

Real.

“Gravity anomaly?”

Saeva tilted sideways in the air.

“Feels normal.”

Maerin looked at the ground.

“Space again?”

“Different.”

The exclusion-zone bunker had duplicated routes.

Here the route itself seemed to have been copied onto surfaces that were not routes.

A footprint appeared on a rock above Etzel’s head.

Then another beneath a fern.

Not movement.

Imprint replication.

They stopped following prints.

That helped.

Instead, Etzel asked what the missing Hunters would leave that the phenomenon might not understand.

The D-Rank surveyor carried a standard Authority emergency beacon.

No signal.

The C-Rank Hunter carried chemical trail tabs.

Rusk smiled.

“Those don’t transmit.”

“Exactly.”

They found the first orange tab beneath a stone.

Then another.

Then a third.

No duplicates.

The phenomenon copied shape.

Maybe not chemistry.

They followed.

The pulse grew stronger.

Orsik’s breathing changed.

Etzel noticed.

“Memory?”

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“No.”

“Pain?”

“No.”

“What?”

Orsik searched for the word.

“Familiarity.”

Saeva nodded.

“Home-ish.”

Everyone looked at her.

Etzel frowned.

“Home-ish?”

“Not home.”

“Very useful.”

She pointed ahead.

“Like door near home.”

That was better.

Soul Space?

Etzel’s interface reacted.

No threat rating.

No name.

The forest opened.

At the center stood something that looked like an Ancient Tree after someone had removed the tree.

Roots emerged from the ground.

Hundreds.

They rose three meters into the air and curved inward around empty space.

No trunk.

No branches.

No leaves.

A hollow shape defined by roots.

Sivenne whispered:

“That is deeply unpleasant.”

Etzel agreed.

Inside the root cage, the air shimmered.

Two figures lay on the ground.

Missing Hunters.

Alive?

Tessa moved.

Etzel caught her wrist.

“Check from here.”

She focused.

“I can’t feel consequences at this distance.”

Rusk used optics.

“Breathing. Both.”

That helped.

One objective found.

Now extraction.

A pale root moved.

Slow.

Not toward them.

Toward Orsik.

He stepped back.

The root stopped.

Saeva moved forward.

Another root turned toward her.

Etzel’s interface pulsed.

Then every root turned toward him.

Sivenne raised both hands.

“I vote we leave.”

“Seconded.”

“But Hunters first,” Tessa said.

“Yes.”

Etzel looked at the root structure.

No visible attack.

No obvious boundary.

The missing pair lay inside.

How had they entered?

Chemical tabs ended at the edge.

One Hunter’s hand rested on a root.

Touch.

Ancient Tree logic?

Maybe.

Etzel picked up a branch.

Threw it.

It crossed the root boundary.

Nothing.

Rusk sent drone.

Crossed.

Signal died instantly.

Drone fell.

Not destroyed.

Power lost.

Interesting.

Saeva whispered:

“Soul only.”

“What?”

“It takes soul thing.”

Etzel looked at her.

“Energy?”

She shook her head.

“Connection.”

The drone had no soul connection.

But its control connection vanished.

Analogy.

Maybe the structure disrupted bonds.

Bad for Etzel.

Very bad.

He tested.

One step closer.

Soul Link to Saeva thinned.

He stepped back.

Returned.

Orsik felt it too.

“Boundary strips connection.”

Maerin frowned.

“If you enter, you may lose the summons.”

“Temporarily.”

“Maybe,” she corrected.

Etzel smiled.

That helped.

He looked at the Hunters.

They had entered without summons.

Why unconscious?

The C-Rank Hunter’s hand still touched a root.

Could be continuous drain.

Could be interface overload.

Could be something else.

Tessa said, “We need a rope.”

Simple.

That helped.

Rusk anchored one around a tree.

Etzel tied the other end around his waist.

Sivenne looked at him.

“No.”

“I have the best chance of understanding what happens.”

“That is exactly the habit from your assessment.”

Damn.

She was right.

Etzel stopped.

Progress was annoying.

“Rusk?”

“No.”

“Maerin?”

“No.”

“Tessa?”

“No.”

Everyone looked at Sivenne.

She stared.

“Why me?”

“You have no summon bond, your ability learns from failure, and you are physically the fastest person here who is not Orsik.”

“That is a terrible compliment.”

“Will you do it?”

She looked at the unconscious Hunters.

Then tied the rope around herself.

“Yes.”

Agency.

That helped.

Sivenne approached.

One step into the root boundary.

She flinched.

“What?”

“My ability went quiet.”

Last Answer disconnected?

Not gone.

Muted.

She took another step.

“My System too.”

That explained unconscious Hunters partly.

No interface.

No ability.

Human only.

Sivenne reached the first Hunter.

Checked pulse.

“Alive.”

She grabbed his vest.

Pulled.

The moment his body crossed the boundary, he convulsed.

Tessa moved to receive him.

The Hunter gasped.

Eyes opened.

“Don’t—”

Then screamed.

Tessa assessed.

“Consequence?”

“Overload. Something returning too fast.”

System connection?

Ability connection?

Sivenne dragged him fully out.

Tessa did not transfer blindly.

That helped.

The Hunter’s breathing stabilized after ten seconds.

He stared at the root cage.

“Lysa.”

Second Hunter.

Still inside.

Sivenne turned back.

The roots moved.

Not attacking.

Closing.

The gap she used narrowed.

“Move!” Etzel shouted.

She ran.

Reached Lysa.

Lifted her.

The roots closed further.

Sivenne tried the same route.

Blocked.

Last Answer remained muted inside.

No correction.

No ability.

Only Sivenne.

She looked around.

Etzel’s mind accelerated.

Do not solve with magic they did not have.

Roots formed a cage.

Physical gaps.

Saeva could not safely enter.

Maerin’s Claim stopped at the boundary.

Orsik’s bond weakened near it.

Rusk could cut?

“Test a root!”

Rusk fired a low-power round.

Impact.

The root bent.

No retaliation.

Physical.

“Again!”

Stronger round.

Root cracked.

The entire structure pulsed.

Etzel’s Soul Link vanished for half a second.

Saeva dropped from the air.

Orsik staggered.

Etzel caught Saeva.

“Stop shooting!”

Bad.

Damage to roots disrupted bonds outside too.

Sivenne was trapped.

Need another route.

He watched the roots.

They were not closing randomly.

They turned toward—

connection.

Orsik.

Saeva.

Etzel.

The strongest bonded signatures.

Sivenne had none.

Yet roots closed around her because she carried Lysa.

The missing Hunter had an ability.

A connection.

The structure responded to active soul signatures.

“What is Lysa’s ability?” Etzel asked the rescued man.

He struggled to focus.

“Companion Link.”

Etzel froze.

“What kind?”

“Beast bond.”

There.

Lysa had a bonded creature.

Not here physically.

Connection still existed.

The roots were following the bond.

“Where is her companion?”

“Camp. Five kilometers east.”

Etzel looked at Renn’s remote support channel.

“Find it. Now.”

Sivenne shifted Lysa’s weight.

“Etzel!”

“Hold.”

“Excellent plan!”

The roots tightened.

Etzel looked at Saeva.

“Can you suppress our bond?”

She frowned.

“No.”

“Orsik?”

“No.”

Soul Space?

If he returned summons, their active external bond might reduce.

But Saeva and Orsik were people.

Ask.

“I can send you both to Soul Space. It might reduce the signatures drawing the roots.”

Orsik nodded.

Saeva hesitated.

Then nodded too.

“Do it.”

Etzel returned them.

The forest went quiet.

Painfully quiet.

The root cage changed.

Several roots turned away from Etzel.

That helped.

Still closing around Lysa.

Renn’s voice:

“Companion located. Living. Sedated by field team for transport.”

“Do not sedate. Break the active bond if possible without harm.”

“How?”

The rescued Hunter answered weakly.

“Collar. Release clasp.”

Renn relayed.

Seconds.

Too many.

Sivenne tried squeezing through a gap.

Lysa’s boot caught.

Root closed.

Sivenne kicked it.

Physical.

It moved.

Again.

She forced space with pure strength.

No ability.

No Last Answer.

Just her.

The rescued Hunter whispered:

“Release.”

Five kilometers away, someone opened a collar.

Lysa’s Companion Link disconnected.

Every root around her stopped.

Then opened.

Sivenne stared.

“Oh.”

Etzel grinned.

“Run.”

She did.

Crossed the boundary carrying Lysa.

Tessa received her.

Lysa convulsed once.

Then woke coughing.

Alive.

Both recovered.

Objective complete.

Etzel summoned Orsik and Saeva back.

The instant they returned, the root structure turned toward them again.

But now Etzel understood enough.

Not its purpose.

Its behavior.

It was not feeding on souls.

It was reacting to bonds.

The System appeared.

Useful.

But the word phenomenon remained.

No enemy designation.

No kill prompt.

That helped.

Then a deeper pulse moved through the roots.

The hollow center brightened.

Orsik went still.

Saeva whispered:

“Door.”

The empty space inside the roots became dark.

Not black.

Deep.

Like a room with no light.

Etzel felt Soul Space answer.

Not open.

Answer.

His interface filled with one line.

Nobody moved.

Etzel stared into the hollow.

Ancient Trees did not only awaken abilities.

Something related to them could apparently build places for souls.

And this one did not belong to Etzel.