Chapter 132
Serafine POV
The trees continue to bend above us, the branches twisting and stretching into weird patterns that almost resemble runes. There’s still no wind here bart the leaves continue to sway slightly.
Xander walks beside me in silence, his eyes flicker around, and he keeps a tight grip on Eryx, who is awake now, eyes half–lidded, but quiet. He’s not looking at us, he’s looking up past the trees, past the veil. It’s like he’s staring at at something none of us can see.
I look back again, still able to see Killian, Helena and Garrick. They’re still there, I can hear their voices as well, although it’s more muffled now, and like it’s travelling through sand. The vines are still holding them in place and refusing to let them go. I don’t think they will until we return, if we do.
We keep moving, and the deeper we go, the more the world changes. Roots grow right from the ground now, glowing just faintly with silvery–green light. I can see the soil has begun to darken into a deep red clay, and it’s damp beneath our feet.
The smell of everything around here is strange, part earth, ash, and something older, almost ancient.
I look forward again and see the trees parting around a stone archway that’s covered in moss and spiderwebed cracks. It looks like something that was carved out long before any of us were born, maybe even before the first kingdoms fell? My eyes trace the symbols that line the arch, some I recognize from the books I’ve been reading, the ones most don’t know of. Veyrathi sigils, Threadborn marks, and runes of creation and endings.
This is where we began.
I feel it in my blood before I understand it in my mind. There’s a weird thrum in the air. I feel the pull in my chest, and I know that this is where our kind came into being. The first Veyrathi were born here, their power rising from the Hollow like steam from water.
The Threadborns didn’t come later, they came with the Veyrathi, magic and blood intertwined, one never meant to exist without the other.
“Serafine,” Xander murmurs. “You feel it too, don’t you?”
I nod to him. “It’s not just old, it’s alive.”
We step under the arch, and the moment we do, a rush of energy floods through my body like a wave. It doesn’t hurt, but it leaves me breathless. It feels like the magic has been shaken away. The threads within me hum and pull tighter almost sharper. For the first time since I can remember, I don’t have to reach for my magic.
The forest beyond the arch isn’t anything like what we just walked through the air here is heavier, it’s almost recent and sacred. Flowers bloom with black bark, and vines slither and pulse like they have hearts. There’s a pale green mist that curls low along the ground, clinging to the roots and swirling with every step that we take.
My body stops the moment we reach the clearing, it’s vast and quiet. In the center stands a massive ancient tree. The tree is gnarled and half–hollowed with time the trunk has split into two like a wound, yet it’s still standing, still unfailing. The bark is pitch black, and the leaves look almost silver. At its base, small tendrils of green twist upward, blooming into glowing petals.
The Soulroot.
I don’t know how I know that name. It comes into my mind like a whisper from a dream I haven’t had yet. I can feel it, almost like it’s pushing into my mind. “This is it,” I say, my voice hoarse. “This is the heart of it all.”
Xander doesn’t answer he’s watching me rather than the tree, it’s like he knows something is about to happen. He’s not wrong, but it already is. I can feel it, the closer I step to the Soulroot, the more the ground hums with energy.
My skin feels weird, and my magic tightens, like it’s hungry. I can hear whispers, though it’s not voices, more like memories, thousands of them, they grow like a tide.
The tree isn’t just alive it’s like it’s remembering.
Images begin to flash behind my eyes, a battle, long ago, followed by fire and ash tearing across a valley. A girl stands beneath a tree, with blood pouring
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09:00 Fri, 20 Jun
Chapter 132
from her palms as she chants words I don’t understand. There’s a man beside her who is falling, a thread of silver unravels from his chest and sinks into the soul, the roots drinking blood, and reshaping the magic.
Then, the world cracks and stumbling back, I clutch my head and the whispers vanish, instantly replaced by silence that is somehow louder. The Soulroot pulses once, and the mist rises higher, curling around our feet.
I stumble back, clutching my head. The whispers vanish, replaced by a sudden silence that is somehow louder. The Soulroot pulses once, and the mist rises higher, curling around our feet.
Taking a step closer, I let my fingertips brush the air in front of the tree, and power spills from it from a heartbeat. It’s ancient and slow, and my magic instantly reacts. I feel it threading through me in a tight coil it doesn’t feel like the wild, half–formed power I’ve been carrying since the beginning. This feels clearer, more focused and awake.
Then Eryx stirs, and Xander adjusts his hold on him as Eryx shifts, suddenly wide–eyed and alert in a way that pulls my attention instantly. His small hand curls against Xander’s chest, then stretches toward the tree. His fingers stretch, like he’s reaching for something not fully, but enough that the gesture feels deliberate. His eyes are focused on the Soulroot, unblinking, as his tiny mouth parts in the softest, wordless sound, a coo that seems almost too quiet to matter, but the Hollow hears it.
The ground feels like it shivers beneath us, not violently but like something far beneath the roots has turned over in sleep. I watch as the tree glows faintly in the centre, light ripples up the bark in slow waves. More petals grow at the base like they’re respond to Eryx
I don’t understand it. He’s just a baby, and he shouldn’t be connected to anything yet. But the Hollow knows him and it feels him and somehow, it answers through him.
The mist sharpens, and another vision comes fast, hitting me like a tide that I don’t have time to brace for.
Fire and Cracked earth appear, along with fields that turn black at the edges. I can see the roots within dying, not from drought or poison, but from something deeper, something eating them from the inside out. It’s like a sickness of magic, or a parasite that found one thing strong enough to feed it and won’t let go.
The Soulroot is the source of all of it. Gasping I stumble back, and the vision fades but the pressure in my chest stays. I touch the ground, trying to ground myself, even as Xander steps closer. I can see his concern etched in every line of his face.
“It’s the Hollow,” I whisper. “It’s trying to show us what’s wrong. The crops and the land are dying because the source is corrupted. The magic beneath everything is rotting.”
I look up at the tree again, my heart racing and my mouth dry.
“And if the Soulroot dies, the rest of the world follows.”
Eryx lets out another soft sound, it’s barely a whimper, but he nestles closer to Xander’s chest and begins to fade back into sleep. Like this moment neve
like whatever magic passed through him, is done for now.
09:01 Fri, 20 Jun
Chapter 132
from her palms as she chants words I don’t understand. There’s a man beside her who is falling, a thread of silver unravels from his chest, and sundes the soul, the roots drinking blood, and reshaping the magic.
Then, the world cracks and stumbling back, I clutch my head and the whispers vanish, instantly replaced by silence that is somehow louder the Soulroot pulses once, and the mist rises higher, curling around our feet.
I stumble back, clutching my head. The whispers vanish, replaced by a sudden silence that is somehow louder. The Soulroot pulses once, and the mist rises higher, curling around our feet.
Taking a step closer, I let my fingertips brush the air in front of the tree, and power spills from it from a heartbeat. It’s ancient and slow, and my magic instantly reacts. I feel it threading through me in a tight coil it doesn’t feel like the wild, half–formed power I’ve been carrying since the beginning This feels clearer, more focused and awake.
Then Eryx stirs, and Xander adjusts his hold on him as Eryx shifts, suddenly wide–eyed and alert in a way that pulls my attention instantly. His small hand curls against Xander’s chest, then stretches toward the tree. His fingers stretch, like he’s reaching for something not fully, but enough that the gesture feels deliberate. His eyes are focused on the Soulroot, unblinking, as his tiny mouth parts in the softest, wordless sound, a coo that seems almost too quiet to matter, but the Hollow hears it.
The ground feels like it shivers beneath us, not violently but like something far beneath the roots has turned over in sleep. I watch as the tree glows faintly in the centre, light ripples up the bark in slow waves. More petals grow at the base like they’re respond to Eryx
I don’t understand it. He’s just a baby, and he shouldn’t be connected to anything yet. But the Hollow knows him and it feels him and somehow, it answers through him.
The mist sharpens, and another vision comes fast, hitting me like a tide that I don’t have time to brace for.
Fire and Cracked earth appear, along with fields that turn black at the edges. I can see the roots within dying, not from drought or poison, but from something deeper, something eating them from the inside out. It’s like a sickness of magic, or a parasite that found one thing strong enough to feed it and won’t let go.
The Soulroot is the source of all of it. Gasping I stumble back, and the vision fades but the pressure in my chest stays. I touch the ground, trying to ground myself, even as Xander steps closer. I can see his concern etched in every line of his face.
“It’s the Hollow,” I whisper. “It’s trying to show us what’s wrong. The crops and the land are dying because the source is corrupted. The magic beneath everything is rotting.”
I look up at the tree again, my heart racing and my mouth dry.
“And if the Soulroot dies, the rest of the world follows.”
Eryx lets out another soft sound, it’s barely a whimper, but he nestles closer to Xander’s chest and begins to fade back into sleep. Like this moment nev happened, like whatever magic passed through him, is done for now.
But I saw it. I felt it.
