Season 1. Chapter 82: Fern awake

Chapter: "Verdant Watch"

Location: Camp Outskirts, Early July, Caelus Calendar

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The air in the herbal hut was cool and fragrant—laced with traces of wild lavender and ashroot. Sunlight filtered through the thick-leafed roof, casting streaks of gold across the still figure lying in the cot of woven roots.

She finally stirred.

Fern's green lashes fluttered as her breathing shifted from deep slumber to calm awareness. Her fingers twitched—then curled instinctively toward her druidic staff leaning against the moss-wall.

> "About time," came a dry voice.

Fern turned her head, her calm expression betraying a sliver of weariness. Aurelia, arms crossed and leaning against the wooden archway, looked down at her with faint approval.

> "You've been out since the Cindrelis ceremony," Aurelia continued. "Didn't think you'd sleep through the Land Beast panic and the goblin negotiations."

Fern slowly sat up. Her motion was graceful and measured—like nature waking from a still winter. Her body didn't groan or crack. She simply moved. Eyes unfocused, then narrowed, as if mapping the current season by scent alone.

> "I'm restored," Fern murmured, her voice soft and even. "My Vita... is balanced."

Aurelia raised a brow. "You sound like someone who just drank a thousand years of sun."

Fern stood, retrieving her willow-carved staff, topped with a small crystal bound in vine metal. She didn't speak further. Instead, she walked to the hut entrance and paused, eyes closed, feeling the wind.

> "The roots below," she said faintly. "Are disturbed."

> "Yeah. Tell me about it," Aurelia muttered, falling in beside her. "Come on. Your boyfriend's waiting."

Fern's stoicism remained unshaken. She blinked. "Oliver is not—"

> "Relax. I'm joking."

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Outside, the forest hummed with that midday July energy—birds chirping cautiously, the wind alive but uncertain. The camp bustled in the distance: pot builders, amateur archers, potion sellers, and displaced souls trying to make a new life as Travelers.

Fern stepped lightly, her long green-blend robe rustling only against the grass. Her green hair shimmered faintly, and small butterflies fluttered out of her trail.

She saw him then—Oliver—just arriving from the south trail, mask removed, a bit of dust on his hoodie, iron sword strapped lazily across his back.

He looked up as she approached.

> "Hey," he greeted with a warm grin.

Fern tilted her head slightly. Her expression didn't shift much—but there was something... a faint light in her eyes. A stillness between them. A recognition.

> "Oliver," she said softly.

> "Glad you're up. You missed Nico setting fire to an ancient tree," Oliver joked.

Fern's smile—faint, barely visible—surfaced. "Of course he did."

> "I need your help," Oliver said, growing serious. "We're in trouble. Land Beasts. Early migration. The forest's patterns are breaking. We don't know why or where they'll come from next."

Fern nodded once, already understanding.

> "You want a forest surveillance system," she said.

> "Exactly."

He pulled out a rough map on his scroll-screen. "I marked the outer zones—here, here, and here. I figured if we placed forest sentinels or druidic sensors in these three regions, we could build a Verdant Watch. We'd see everything. Movements. Shifts. Even changes in Vita density."

Fern reached forward and tapped a spot on the map.

> "This zone is dying," she said. "No roots. Dry bark. It's a scar."

> "So avoid?"

> "No. Start there. If we restore the wound, we can hear the whole forest again."

Oliver blinked. "That's... poetic."

> "It's logical."

Aurelia clapped her hands behind them. "Well, nature nerds, get to work. I'll handle the angry mob if one forms."

Fern looked to Oliver again. "Let's plant the first ward."

Oliver nodded. He turned with her toward the east woodline. As they walked, butterflies danced again in Fern's steps, and small sprouts rose where she touched the soil.

They weren't just trying to observe nature.

> They were going to reconnect it.

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Chapter: "The Second Root"

Location: Camp Outskirts, Verdant Sensor Initiative – Midday Sunwheel (July)

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The field was empty—a barren strip of cracked soil and faded grass, stretched like a wound between two healthy forest clusters.

Fern stood still in its center, her willow staff pressed gently into the earth. Verdant energy began to shimmer at the crystal tip—green Vita, like dewdrops of sunlight, radiated outward in slow pulses.

Oliver watched closely. Her feet were bare now, soles pressed to the warm dirt. He admired how natural she seemed, how still, like an old-world statue the wind refused to weather.

Then... a tremble.

Fern's arm jolted. Her breath staggered.

The glow faltered.

> "Fern—?"

She raised a hand to silence him, pressing deeper into the casting. Thin green roots began to crawl across the cracked soil—slowly weaving together—but the energy sputtered before the roots could anchor. The light dimmed. Fern wavered, then dropped to one knee.

> "I can't sustain it," she muttered, eyes narrowed. "This is too wide. The land is tired. And I... am only one Druid."

Oliver frowned, brushing his messy brown hair back as he stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder.

> "We'll figure it out."

From the edge of the treeline, Zack Erebus emerged like a shadow forming from thin air—hood up, black coat brushing the grass.

> "You need another Verdant user," he said simply.

Oliver turned. "You know someone?"

Zack nodded once. "That Player. The one named Cylde. Fights with void-thread like me, but he's not alone—he has a Druid. One who wears that giant moss hat. I've seen her plant things that bloom in seconds."

Fern stood slowly, gaze sharpening.

> "She's... trained?"

> "More than that," Zack replied, eyes narrowing slightly. "She's bonded to the land. She doesn't walk on it—she grows with it. Name's Laceleaf. Never talks much. But if Cylde's around, she follows."

Oliver raised a brow. "You think they'll help?"

Zack's eyes darkened a shade. "Cylde doesn't do charity. But... he respects balance."

Fern wiped the dirt from her hand and turned to Riven, who had just arrived behind them, wooly blue hat slightly tilted.

> "If they'll listen, it's worth trying," Fern said.

Riven nodded. "Do it. Always better to get more eyes before August hits."

Zack didn't wait for more orders. He vanished, literally stepping into a collapsing void fold, the wind pulling inward like someone had just closed a doorway to another shadowed dimension.

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Minutes Later...

Oliver and Fern sat beneath a small tree, resting and waiting. The failed Verdant pulse still lingered faintly, roots half-grown and now wilting.

> "Do you think he'll come back?" Oliver asked.

> "If Zack gave his word," Fern said with eyes closed, "he's already halfway there."

Oliver looked at her again. She was calm—but he could tell the strain had cost her. Even with all her stoicism, she wasn't invincible.

> "Thanks," he said quietly. "For trying."

Fern blinked open an eye. "We'll finish it soon... just need the second root."

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