The forest beyond the Sanctuary had always been alive.
Not just with birdsong and the rustle of leaves, but with the pulse of soullight—an ancient rhythm that connected the land, the system, and Liam's very essence. The white trees bent with reverence around the Sanctuary's perimeter, forming a natural barrier between the fractured world and the illusion of peace they clung to. But this morning, that rhythm stuttered.
Lyra felt it first, before her eyes even opened. A tremor not of the ground, but of instinct. She sat upright in the center chamber, her breath sharp, heart thrumming against her ribs like something had just called her name in a voice too deep to hear.
Ava was already dressed when Lyra entered the inner sanctum.
"I felt it too," Ava said quietly.
The soullantern above them flickered. Not the erratic pulse of system instability—but the shiver of something ancient turning its gaze. Liam's presence echoed faintly inside the flickering light.
"I'm still here," he whispered. "But something just woke up beyond the boundary."
That boundary—long assumed dead since the collapse of the Root sector—had been stable for months. Nothing passed through. No Spiral spawns. No fracture signals. Not even radiation. It was a dead land.
Until now.
Lyra's comm crackled. Echo's voice came through, low and urgent.
"Motion detected near the Hollow Gate. Something's trying to breach."
Within minutes, the harem assembled.
Artemis arrived first, blades already glowing.
Naomi followed, her system rig fully synced.
Maya, Vira, and Ava joined, flanking Lyra in full field gear.
And Yui, still pale, still weakened, walked among them—no longer a helpless girl, but something new. Her eyes were steady now, golden fire beneath long lashes. The seed inside her had been sealed, but the echo of it lingered in her blood like smoke after a fire.
They moved as one.
Past the outer walls.
Through the twisted white bramble that protected the Sanctuary.
Toward the edge of what had once been called the Root—the first city, the birthplace of Liam's original awakening.
The Hollow Gate loomed ahead, a ruined archway wrapped in petrified vines, long since inactive. The system used to call it the Door of Beginnings. Now it looked more like a tombstone.
But it wasn't dead.
It was pulsing.
Once.
Twice.
Then it opened.
Not all at once—but like a mouth being forced apart by something clawing from the other side.
The ground cracked.
The trees nearby shrieked—literally shrieked, as their soulwood fibers recoiled from what was emerging.
From the shadows of the fracture gate… stepped a man.
Naked.
Bleeding.
Covered in ritual tattoos that glowed faintly with Spiral rot.
He collapsed onto the grass, convulsing.
Lyra stepped forward cautiously, Artemis and Echo flanking her.
Naomi scanned him. "Alive. Human. But altered."
Vira crouched beside the body. "His bones are wrong."
Yui, trembling, approached slowly.
"He's from the world I left," she whispered.
Everyone turned.
"I saw him in the final days. He was a Herald. One of the God Seed's lieutenants. But he died. I watched the rot consume him."
The man groaned.
Then his eyes snapped open.
They were gold.
Like Liam's.
Everyone froze.
He looked around, coughing blood, and then fixed his gaze on Yui.
"You made it," he rasped. "He said you would."
Artemis stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"I… was called Ralven," the man choked. "But he… he called me Rootbearer."
His body spasmed again.
Naomi checked the readings. "He's dying."
"He's leaking soul essence," Echo added. "But not his own. Something else is trying to break free from inside him."
Yui's eyes widened.
"He's carrying a message."
Then he screamed.
And from his chest… burst a vine.
Not made of plant matter.
But bone.
The bone-vine twisted upward, carving through his ribcage. The man's body collapsed entirely—reduced to dust. The vine hovered mid-air, humming, and then—
It spoke.
In Liam's voice.
But not the real Liam.
The other.
"Hello again, sister."
Yui staggered.
"Impossible…"
The voice chuckled.
"You locked me away. But you didn't kill me. And now, every seed I ever touched is waking."
The bone-vine pulsed. Around it, the grass began to blacken.
Naomi opened fire.
Artemis hurled a dagger.
Both attacks hit—
And did nothing.
Then the vine shattered.
Leaving behind a single white flower, blooming atop the charred soil.
And burned into its petals were the words:
THE ROOT STILL GROWS.
They returned to the Sanctuary in silence.
Liam's voice was weak again, the lantern barely flickering.
"He's waking pieces of himself," he said. "Through others. Rootbearers. Broken Heralds."
"What does he want?" Lyra asked.
"To finish what he started," Liam said. "To plant his seed in this world. Through Yui… or anyone he's ever touched."
Ava looked at Yui. "You're not the only one."
Yui nodded grimly.
"Then we find the rest before he does."
Three nights later, they found the second.
It wasn't a man this time.
It was a child.
Barefoot. Starving. Hiding near the outer wall.
Maya brought her in, wrapped in a cloak.
The girl didn't speak.
Didn't cry.
She just stared at Liam's lantern and whispered, "Are you the nice one… or the burning one?"
That was when they knew—
This war wasn't over.
It had only just begun.