The echo that does not belong to any register
The wind blew down from the snowy peak, bringing neither cold nor silence nor threat. It carried a faint, almost imperceptible vibration, like a whisper in the air. Akihiko turned slowly.
In front of him, standing on the white hill, was an unfamiliar figure. He wore robes devoid of any symbol, no clan, no order, no visible sign of affiliation. He didn't look young, but he didn't look old either. His face was featureless, as if time hadn't decided who he was supposed to be.
In his left palm, a transparent root vibrated with a delicacy that made one doubt whether it was alive… or if it was just a reflection of the world itself.
The figure spoke, but not with sound. Its words came as pure form.
"I don't come from judgment. I don't come from flourishing. I come from before."
And Akihiko knew he wasn't lying.
The legacy of the unobserved
The figure introduced herself with a name Akihiko wouldn't remember: Aeri . She claimed to have been born in an in-between space, a node of vibration that wasn't destroyed in the fall of the Tree, nor affected by the white or black roots. A place that doesn't exist on maps or in collective memory. Aeri was the bearer of what she called the Root of Witness.
—"He doesn't judge. He doesn't correct. He doesn't guide. He just shows."
Akihiko felt the white root in his arm begin to lose definition. It didn't fade. It became fainter. More diffuse. As if Aeri's presence invited the world to stop resisting the light.
Kazun, still affected by the gray root, stepped back. His voice barely trembled:
—"What kind of resonance are you?"
And Aeri replied:
—"I am not resonance. I am… revealed form. And when I am seen… it is too late to hide."
III. The garden without shade
Guided by Aeri, the group traveled to an unnamed plain among the ruins of the founding cities. There, the land was flat, colorless, and rootless. But as Aeri walked across it, the shadow ceased to project.
It was the Garden of No Shadow , a spiritual territory never visited by judgment, resonance, emotion, or will. The place where roots don't grow… because everything has already been shown.
Lior fell to his knees upon entering. His empathic connection was overloaded. He shouted out names he didn't remember knowing. He saw scenes he'd never experienced. And worst of all: he understood everything without meaning to.
—"This is not memory! It is… formless truth!"
Aeri held it gently and said:
—"No one here needs the truth. Because here… the truth no longer needs to be useful."
The mirror of all flowers
In the center of the Garden, a transparent root sprouted. It had no texture. It emitted no vibration. But those who saw it felt as if something inside them had been held up to a mirror.
Kazun saw the version of himself that never wanted to fight. Lior saw his reflection without empathy, and was frightened by his calm. Akihiko saw a future where he flourished alone, and felt nothing.
And they all understood the same thing:
"The transparent root doesn't give you direction. It takes everything away."
Aeri explained that this root doesn't seek to change the world. It just wants to be seen as it is.
—"And that's why… she's the most dangerous."
The first city that rejected her
At that very moment, south of Keveran, a small town called Enriya detected the presence of a new vibration approaching. Alarmed, they believed it was either an advanced flowering from Akihiko or sabotage by the Inquisition.
When the transparent root appeared on the outskirts, the city itself began to reflect on it. Not physically. Spiritually. Every hidden act, every tolerated lie, every unspoken truth… began to become visible.
The citizens couldn't stand it. They ripped off their tattoos, destroyed temples, and denied their children. Not because the root was attacking. But because they couldn't see themselves without filters.
And Enriya went out.
It wasn't destruction. It was spiritual self-exile.
Akihiko asks the toughest question
That night, Akihiko approached Aeri.
—"Why are you showing up now?"
Aeri replied:
—"Because everything that flourished… must now be seen without intention."
Akihiko was silent, then said:
—"What if the world doesn't want to see itself?"
And Aeri, for the first time, showed a hint of emotion:
—"So… the world is breaking apart. Not because of war. Not because of judgment. Because of transparency."
VII. The collapse of Serak
From his tower, Serak observed the white-black-gray spiral that had marked his skin after recent failures. The black root no longer responded. His doctrine was useless against what could not be controlled.
And then, the transparent root appeared in his living room without having been planted.
Serak fell to his knees. He didn't scream. He didn't struggle.
just seen.
And his last whisper was:
—"I don't deserve to bloom."
To which the root responded… by blossoming.
Colorless.
Without trial.
Only revealed form.
END OF CHAPTER 124