The plan was "The Seedling Chorus." They would use the Blight Basin itself, now partially healed and singing its own soft song of life, as the first independent node. They would plant a specially crafted "Heartwood Tree" at its center—a tree whose roots would tap the harmonized Vitae and whose growth pattern, guided by resonance, would act as a living amplifier, broadcasting a stabilizing harmonic to the region.
It was part engineering, part gardening, part sacrament.
While Roxana's Guardians fought a shadow war to protect the existing relays, every resource at the Basin was poured into the Heartwood project. The chosen tree was a sturdy oak sapling from the Spire's old, forgotten arboretum. Elara and the Choir spent days "introducing" it to the Basin's song, letting its cells resonate with the moss and the cleansed earth.
The planting was done at dawn. As the sapling was placed in the ground, the full Choir, joined by every worker and Guardian in the camp, hummed. Not the full Spire Chord, but a new song—the unique harmonic signature of the Blight Basin itself, a melody of detoxification, moss, legumes, and hope.
They channeled unified Vitae, rich with intent, onto its roots.
For a long moment, silence. Then, a deep, resonant thrum seemed to emanate from the earth itself. The oak sapling didn't shoot up magically. It stood straighter. Its leaves, pale green, seemed to pulse with a gentle, internal light. A visible wave of calm, verdant energy rippled out from it through the moss, which perked up, its song regaining confidence.
The Basin was no longer just a recipient of the Song. It was a singer. A keeper of the note.
Sage felt the shift in the air, a settling, a grounding. They had created the first true alternative to the Spire. Not a rival, but a companion voice in the chorus.