The vow beneath bloodroot

The forest was alive—but not with life. The trees twisted toward the sky like they'd once been men, now petrified in agony. The ground pulsed red beneath Lian's boots, moss damp with something far too warm to be dew.

Bloodroot Grove. The name wasn't just a tale. The soil here remembered everything.

Aure stepped lightly, his eyes glowing faintly in the dark. "This place… it was sacred once. Before it was cursed."

Lian didn't answer. He knew. His dreams had brought him here too many times. But never like this—never with him.

They walked until the trees parted into a ring of bone-pale stones. In the center, a relic hovered—metal twisted like it had been forged in a scream. It pulsed to Aure's heartbeat.

"You brought me here," Aure whispered, hand trembling toward it. "Even before I remembered. You've always called me."

Lian's jaw clenched. "You left me here once."

"I didn't have a choice."

"You let them take everything."

Silence.

Then Aure turned, slow as breath, eyes no longer green but burning with silver fire. "I let them take me so they wouldn't take you."

The ground split. The relic dropped. The grove screamed.

From the roots, figures began to rise—guardians of the oath long broken. Faces wrapped in vine and iron. Eyes hollow. Their purpose was simple:

Punish the vowbreakers.

Lian drew his blade. "Run."

"No," Aure said, stepping forward. "This is our vow. We made it together—we broke it together."

The guardians circled. One leapt.

Lian moved like fire. Aure moved like wind. Their bodies remembered what their minds had forgotten. A dance older than death.

Steel rang. Magic flared.

And in the center of it all, Aure caught Lian's wrist—dragged him close—foreheads touching, breath heavy.

"If we die here," they whispered, "then let it be together. But if we live—we burn this curse to ash."

Lian didn't answer.

He kissed him.

The relic burst.

The curse screamed.

And the grove fell silent.