Chapter 11: The Truth in the Roots

The world seemed to hold its breath, the very air around us stilled by the presence of the Mega Tree. I could feel it, deep in my bones—a pulse, a heartbeat that resonated through the ground and into the soles of my boots. The Wraithborn recoiled, writhing as though the glow of the tree burned them, and for a moment, I thought they might scatter into the mist, disappear as quickly as they had appeared.

But that wasn't what happened. The creatures did not retreat in fear, nor did they stand idle. They seemed... drawn to the tree, as if it were some strange magnet, pulling at their very essence. The mist around us thickened, coiling, swirling with a renewed sense of urgency. A low hum filled the air, a sound so deep it made my chest vibrate, as if the earth itself were speaking.

"Do you feel that?" Alice asked, her voice barely audible over the growing hum.

I nodded, my eyes fixed on the tree. "It's like it's... alive. More than alive."

Elias, still recovering, kept his focus on the Wraithborn. "I don't care if it's alive or not," he muttered. "What I care about is that it's our only chance right now."

And he was right. Whatever the Mega Tree was, whatever it had become, it was our only hope in that moment. The Wraithborn, those twisted creatures, would not cross the boundary the tree created, but they were not leaving. They swarmed around its glowing perimeter, trapped by some force they could not understand or overcome.

Echo, who had been alert and tense, now stood still beside me, his golden eyes fixed on the creatures. Even he seemed to sense the strange power that radiated from the Mega Tree. His growl was low, deep, an uncertain warning. Whatever the tree was, whatever it had done to repel the Wraithborn, it was not enough to give us the clarity we needed.

"What do we do?" Alice asked, tightening her grip on her bow, eyes darting between the Wraithborn and the Mega Tree.

I wasn't sure. I wanted to believe that the tree was some kind of guardian, that it was here to protect us, to guide us, but the fear that had been building in me—ever since we first saw the tree in the distance—was not fading. The more I looked at it, the more it felt like a trap, a force that lured us closer with the promise of safety, only to ensnare us in something far worse.

"We wait," I said, my voice firm despite the uncertainty crawling under my skin. "We wait, and we see what happens next."

Time stretched on, each second crawling by like the ticking of a clock that had forgotten how to tick. The creatures seemed to be... learning. They tested the edges of the glowing barrier that surrounded the tree, each movement deliberate, each step filled with a strange purpose. The Mega Tree pulsed, its light intensifying as if it were watching them, studying them.

"I don't like this," Elias muttered, his breath shallow as he crouched low to the ground, keeping his daggers at the ready. "We're being watched. It's not just them. Something else is here. Something we can't see."

His words made my stomach twist. The Wraithborn weren't the only threat here. There was something else lurking, something more dangerous than the twisted creatures that clawed at the edges of the tree's light.

"We can't let our guard down," I said, taking a step back. "We need to be ready for anything."

I glanced at Alice, who seemed to be struggling with her own feelings about the tree. Her face was a mask of conflict—part of her was drawn to the glow, to the power it exuded, but another part was terrified of what it might truly represent.

"I don't know if this is a blessing or a curse," Alice murmured, staring at the massive trunk of the tree, her fingers twitching around the arrows in her quiver. "It's like we're standing in front of a door we don't have the key to. We don't know what's on the other side."

I couldn't argue with her. The Mega Tree was more than we could understand, and the deeper we stared at it, the more it seemed to reach into our minds, bending our thoughts, twisting our fears.

A sudden gust of wind swept through the clearing, cold and biting. The fog parted briefly, revealing the sky above—a gray, heavy sky that seemed to loom over us, oppressive and dark. The rumble of thunder echoed in the distance, and for a moment, I thought the tree might react to the storm. But the hum of the Mega Tree deepened, almost as if it were... communicating.

Then, I saw it—a shape emerging from the shadows beyond the tree.

It was tall, taller than any man should be. The figure moved with an eerie grace, its limbs stretching unnaturally. At first, I thought it was another Wraithborn, but there was something different about it. Its face was smooth, featureless—just a blank surface, reflecting the light of the Mega Tree in an unsettling way.

I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. "Alice… Elias…"

They turned toward me, eyes wide with alarm. Elias took a step back, his daggers still in hand, but his posture shifted, becoming defensive.

The figure stepped forward, and the air seemed to shift. The Wraithborn had fallen silent, their twisted forms frozen in place, watching as the figure approached the tree. It was like they knew—this was not something they were capable of dealing with.

The figure stopped just at the threshold of the glowing barrier, its gaze—if you could call it that—falling upon us. It tilted its head, its movements slow and deliberate, as if it was studying us in return.

Then, without warning, the figure raised one long, bony arm, and the hum of the tree deepened. The branches above us seemed to sway, the leaves shimmering with an eerie light. The pulse of the tree intensified, resonating in my bones, filling the air with a feeling I couldn't quite describe—part fear, part awe, part longing.

"I think it's trying to communicate," Alice whispered, her voice trembling.

Before I could respond, the figure's arm dropped to its side, and it turned away, retreating into the shadows of the fog. The hum of the tree began to subside, but the sense of something ancient, something powerful, remained. It lingered in the air, in our minds, in our very souls.

The Wraithborn remained still, unmoving, as if frozen by the very presence of the figure. They had no will, no desire to act against the tree. They were prisoners, just as we were—caught in the web of something far larger than any of us.

"What now?" Elias asked, his voice thick with unease. "What do we do?"

I had no answers. The Mega Tree had given us a glimpse of something much larger than we could comprehend, and now, the silence seemed to speak louder than any words could.

"We wait," I said again, though this time, it felt more like a prayer than a decision.

And so we stood, silent and still, waiting for whatever would come next.