Roots Of forgotten
The earth trembled beneath their feet as Ashkar's roar faded into a low, resonant growl, like distant thunder trapped beneath the soil. The forest, once a labyrinth of whispers and shifting shadows, now pulsed with a malevolent rhythm. Trees groaned, their bark splitting to reveal veins of glowing crimson sap, while the air thickened with the metallic tang of blood and ozone.
Alex clutched their corrupted eye, the orb's influence throbbing in time with the forest's unnatural heartbeat. "It's *him*," they muttered. "Ashkar's awake… and he's angry."
Lila unrolled the map, her hands steady despite the chaos. "The Heartroot lies east, beyond the Veilwater's source. If we move quickly—"
"*If* we survive the next hour," Jordan interrupted, kicking aside a vine that slithered toward their boots like a serpent. The forest floor had come alive, roots coiling and uncoiling as though breathing. "This place wants us dead."
A shriek echoed overhead. The skeletal branches of a withered oak split open, releasing a swarm of winged creatures—bat-like, but with humanoid faces contorted in silent screams.
"Harpies!" Lila shouted, diving behind a boulder as the creatures dove. "Their claws carry paralysis venom!"
Jordan's sword flashed, severing a harpy's wing mid-lunge. "Alex, a little help?!"
The orb's energy surged unbidden, gold-and-black light erupting from Alex's palm. The blast struck the swarm, reducing them to ash. But the victory was short-lived. Alex collapsed, their corrupted eye leaking viscous black fluid.
*"You cannot outrun what you carry,"* the orb whispered. *"The Devourer tastes your fear."*
---
**The Weight of Visions**
By nightfall, the forest's hostility eased, though the air remained thick with tension. The group camped in a hollowed-out stone monolith, its walls etched with faded murals of starry skies and a great tree whose roots pierced the heavens.
Lila traced the carvings. "The Heartroot isn't just a tree. It's a conduit—a bridge between the mortal realm and the celestial. Thal'esha's power was born there, but so was Ashkar's corruption."
Alex stared into the fire, their reflection warped in the corrupted eye. "Why send us there, then? If it's his origin, wouldn't it make him stronger?"
"Balance," Lila said softly. "Light and shadow. To purge the orb, you'll need both."
Jordan sharpened their blade, skepticism etched in their frown. "Or it's a trap. The priestess didn't exactly give us a guidebook."
A cold laugh rippled through the air. The fire dimmed as a figure materialized at the edge of the light—Kael, his form translucent and flickering, half his face still scarred from Thal'esha's light.
"You," Alex snarled, the orb flaring.
Kael raised his hands, a spectral mockery of surrender. "Peace. I'm not here to fight. The shrine's collapse… *changed* things. Ashkar's awakening has bound us all."
Lila stepped forward, dagger raised. "You serve him."
"I serve survival," Kael hissed. "Thal'esha's seal delayed the inevitable, but Ashkar's hunger cannot be contained. The Heartroot is your only hope—and mine."
Alex's vision fractured. They saw Kael's memories: a younger Thal'esha, laughing as they gathered starlight berries; Ashkar's whispers, promising salvation from a dying world; the moment Kael's doubt curdled into betrayal.
"You loved her," Alex said quietly. "But you chose him anyway."
Kael's spectral form wavered. "Love makes fools of us all. Now, will you let me guide you, or die here as the forest consumes itself?"
---
**The Pact**
Dawn found them following Kael's shimmering silhouette through a ravine choked with thorned foliage. The deeper they went, the more the forest resisted—roots lashed like whips, and pools of black water bubbled with skeletal hands.
"The corruption is concentrated here," Kael warned. "Ashkar's essence festers in the Heartroot's shadow."
Alex's eye burned, their vision overlain with ghostly images: the Heartroot, its trunk a spiral of starlight and rot, roots plunging into a void where Ashkar's form writhed, chained yet stirring.
*"Closer,"* the orb hummed. *"We are so close."*
A bridge of petrified wood spanned a chasm, its far end lost in mist. As they crossed, the planks crumbled. Jordan grabbed Lila's arm, hauling her back from the edge, but Alex froze mid-step, transfixed by the chasm below.
There, in the darkness, something moved—a colossal, many-eyed beast, its body a mass of tangled roots and dripping fangs.
*"The Guardian,"* Kael murmured. "Thal'esha's last line of defense."
The creature roared, its breath reeking of decay. Vines erupted from the chasm, snatching Jordan and Lila. Alex's corruption surged, the orb's power lashing out blindly, but the Guardian absorbed it, growing stronger.
*"Stop!"* Kael's voice cut through the chaos. "It feeds on light. Use the dagger!"
Alex plunged the starlit blade into the bridge. Light exploded, searing the Guardian's flesh. With a final wail, it retreated into the abyss.
---
**The Heartroot's Embrace**
The mist cleared, revealing the Heartroot. It was both beautiful and grotesque—a towering tree of shimmering bark, its branches heavy with crystalline leaves, but its roots blackened and oozing. At its base lay a pool of liquid starlight, its surface reflecting not the sky, but the void where Ashkar waited.
Lila inhaled sharply. "The stories… they didn't do it justice."
Kael's form flickered, his voice urgent. "The pool—it's the source. Submerge the orb, and the corruption will be purged. But hurry. He comes."
Alex waded into the pool, the starlight burning their skin. The orb screamed in their mind, *"No! You will destroy us both!"*
Ashkar's roar shook the earth. The void within the pool stirred, and a massive hand clawed upward, skeletal and dripping shadow.
"Now, Alex!" Lila shouted.
They plunged the orb into the light.
---
**The Choice**
Agony. Radiance. The orb shattered, and Alex's vision filled with stars and screams. Thal'esha's voice echoed, gentle yet firm.
*"The Heartroot's power is duality. To cleanse the corruption, you must accept both light and shadow—what you are, and what you fear to become."*
Ashkar's hand gripped Alex's ankle, dragging them into the void. "*You are mine.*"
But Kael's spectral hand grasped theirs, his form solidifying with the last of his strength. "For her," he whispered. "For *all* of us."
He shoved Alex back into the light and turned to face Ashkar, his body dissolving into stardust. "*Remember me, brother.*"
The void sealed with a thunderclap.
---
**The Aftermath**
Alex awoke at the Heartroot's base, the pool now still and clear. The corruption was gone, their eye restored—but a single black star now glimmered in the night sky above, a grim reminder.
Lila helped them sit up. "Kael…?"
"Gone," Alex said hoarsely. "But not forgotten."
Jordan surveyed the horizon, where the first hints of dawn tinged the sky. "And Ashkar?"
"Contained. For now."
The Heartroot's leaves rustled, though there was no wind. Somewhere, deep in the earth, a growl lingered—a promise, not a threat.
---
**End of Chapter 15**
**Next**: The group returns to a world teetering on the brink, forever altered by their choices. But the black star looms, and whispers of Ashkar's return echo in the wind. The true cost of the Heartroot's power—and Kael's sacrifice—is yet to be revealed.