Chapter 308: Awakening

The heartbeat beneath the ancient city grew louder.

THUM.

The whole temple shook, and dust poured from the ceiling.

THUM.

The five Mirror symbols on the wall flashed at the same moment, and Arthur looked at Athena. "Did you feel that?"

Athena’s expression was tense. "Yes."

Another tremor ran through the city.

BOOOOOOM!

A column of light erupted somewhere beyond the temple, and the whole group turned. Another column appeared, then another, until enormous pillars of energy were rising into the sky, red, blue, golden-brown, black, and finally white.

Arthur stepped out of the temple, and his eyes went wide. The last of the barriers were coming down, all of them at once.

Far to the west, the volcanic mountains of the Fire Region blazed with crimson light. To the north, a towering wall of water rose into the sky and burst apart into thousands of glowing droplets.

To the east, the earth split open over the ancient structures beneath it, and to the south, the black boundary around the Darkness Region shattered into countless fragments that dissolved before they ever touched the ground.

At the center, the Light Region erupted into a pillar of pure white light that climbed higher than the clouds.

"The barriers..." Luna said, staring up.

Athena slowly lowered her weapon. "They’re all gone."

Arthur looked across the Everglades. For the first time in centuries, nothing divided the five regions. The entire Secret Realm lay open before them, and it was enormous, mountains, forests, rivers, volcanic land, and ancient ruins, all part of one vast landscape.

Arthur smiled. "We actually did it."

Mithra looked around. "Then why does this feel like the moment right before something terrible happens?"

Arthur kept smiling. "Because something terrible is probably about to happen."

Sun stared at him. "Could you stop saying things like that?"

"I could." Arthur paused. "But I won’t."

Sun sighed. "Of course."

Then the five Mirrors rose higher, the Fire Mirror from the western mountains, the Water Mirror from the north, the Earth Mirror from the ancient city, the Darkness Mirror from the southern forest, and the Light Mirror from the center.

They climbed until all five floated high above the Everglades, and their lights connected into a gigantic formation across the sky that lit up the entire world below.

For one beautiful moment, everything was silent.

Then the ground moved, and Arthur’s smile disappeared. "Everyone."

The earth shifted beneath them. At first it felt like an earthquake, but then the ancient buildings began to lean, the stone roads cracked, and entire sections of the city rose several meters before crashing back down.

Luna stumbled, and Mithra caught her. "What’s happening?!"

"I don’t know!" Athena said, staring at the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The whole city jumped. Arthur nearly lost his footing, and Vedas slammed King Maker into the ground to steady himself.

Eden grabbed Arthur’s sleeve. "Arthur!"

"I’m fine!" Arthur looked toward the horizon, because something was wrong. The mountains weren’t moving, and the ground wasn’t collapsing. Something was rising. At first, the massive brown shape pushing up through the earth looked like another mountain, but then another section appeared, and another.

His eyes widened. "...That’s not a mountain."

Athena looked at him. "What?"

"It’s moving," Arthur said, pointing.

The shape kept rising as the earth tore apart around it. Trees were flung into the air, ruins collapsed against its surface, and the ground split open for kilometers as a wall of dirt and stone exploded outward.

Then it broke through the clouds, and Arthur saw it wasn’t a mountain at all. It was a trunk, a gigantic trunk.

The World Tree was rising.

"Move!" Athena shouted.

Everyone scattered as the earth beneath them erupted.

BOOOOOM!

The ancient city was torn apart as the trunk surged upward.

Temples collapsed, stone towers were ripped from their foundations, statues were hurled through the air, and massive roots tore through the ruins like living serpents.

Arthur grabbed Eden and jumped, Vedas followed with Star, Mithra leapt clear with Luna, and Athy flew up carrying Sun and Kong.

They escaped the rising ground just as another enormous section of the city disappeared beneath the spreading roots.

Arthur looked up, and up, and up. The trunk kept rising past the clouds, past the tallest mountains, until it disappeared into the sky. The clouds were pushed away from it in enormous rings, and the whole atmosphere seemed to bend around it.

Eden’s mouth fell open. "That’s..." She stared upward. "...really big."

Sun looked at her. "That’s your observation?"

Eden nodded seriously. "It’s very important."

Arthur burst out laughing, Mithra covered her mouth to hold back her own laugh, and even Athena smiled.

Sun stared at all of them. "We’re standing under something that just broke through an entire civilization, and this is what we’re talking about?"

Eden pointed up. "It’s still getting bigger."

Sun looked, and his expression slowly changed. "...Oh."

The World Tree kept rising, its branches spreading across the sky. A single branch was larger than a mountain range, and another stretched across the horizon and vanished beyond the clouds, as hundreds of enormous branches split into thousands more until they covered the sky.

Arthur couldn’t even see the top.

For the first time in a long time, he didn’t have anything clever to say. He simply stared. "This is the World Tree," he said quietly.

The five Mirrors hovered above it, their light shining across the enormous branches as golden energy flowed through the trunk.

The tree was beautiful, almost impossibly so. Its bark shimmered like polished gold, its leaves glowed in countless shades of green and gold, and mana ran through its branches like rivers of light.

The whole Everglades seemed to respond to it.

Trees straightened, rivers changed course, crystals began to glow, and across the Secret Realm, the Beasts stopped fighting. For a moment, everything seemed peaceful.

Then Arthur saw it, and his smile vanished.

There were black lines running through the golden trunk. At first there were only a few, and then he realized there were thousands of black veins wrapping around the trunk, crawling across the branches, and disappearing beneath the bark. Purple-black Miasma was seeping out of them.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. "...That’s not normal."

Athena followed his gaze, and her expression changed. "No."

Luna stared at the tree. "My grandfather..." She swallowed. "He said the World Tree was golden."

"It is," Arthur said, pointing up. "But something is inside it."

A dark pulse traveled through the trunk.

THUM.

The golden light flickered.

THUM.

The black veins pulsed, and Miasma burst from several branches as the beautiful sky filled with purple-black clouds.

Eden moved closer to Arthur. "Arthur..."

"I see it."

With the next pulse, the World Tree answered, and the entire sky shook. A roar echoed across the Everglades, and it didn’t come from any one direction.

It came from everywhere. Mountains trembled, water burst from the rivers, and birds and flying Beasts fled the sky.

Arthur looked up.

The Beasts were moving, hundreds of them, then thousands, pouring out of the forests and bursting from the mountains. Massive flying Beasts filled the sky around the World Tree.

A giant winged serpent circled one of the branches while several enormous birds wrapped in flames attacked it, and two dragon-like creatures slammed into each other above the canopy as a Beast with six huge wings flew between them.

The whole sky had become a battlefield.

Mithra stared up. "Are they fighting each other?"

Athena nodded. "Something has disturbed the entire ecosystem."

One of the giant flying Beasts was thrown backward and slammed into another, and the collision sent out a shockwave that made the air itself explode.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Brace!" Athena shouted, raising Aegis.

The shockwave hit.

Arthur crossed his arms as his feet were dragged backward across the ground, and Vedas drove King Maker into the earth.

Mithra dropped into a low stance with Dawn Sovereign held level and Melo eyes narrowed. Sun grabbed Kong, and Athy folded her wings around herself, while Luna screamed as the wind nearly lifted her off her feet.

Melo rushed over and moved Luna onto her back as the shockwave continued rushing past them.

The shockwave ripped through the ancient city, blasting stone buildings apart and bending trees almost to the ground, and the sound was deafening.

"What’s making them fight?!" Arthur shouted.

"I don’t know!" Athena shouted back.

A second shockwave hit, even stronger than the first. Arthur’s boots dug into the ground, Mithra slid several meters, and Vedas strained against King Maker to keep from being thrown.

Then the sky went strangely quiet, and the Beasts stopped.

Arthur looked up. The enormous flying creatures weren’t looking at each other anymore. Every one of them was staring at the World Tree.

His expression changed. "They’re afraid."

The black veins pulsed, and the World Tree shook. Something moved inside the canopy, and a massive branch swung down through the sky. The flying Beasts scattered, but they were too slow, and the pressure alone sent several of them tumbling. One enormous creature crashed through the canopy, and another slammed into a branch.

Then the roots moved, and Arthur’s eyes widened. "Everyone!"

The ground erupted as massive roots shot upward. One tore through an ancient temple, another smashed through the forest, and a third swept across the sky. They weren’t growing. They were moving, hundreds and then thousands of them, twisting through the air like enormous serpents.

The flying Beasts scattered desperately. One root snapped up and nearly caught a massive winged Beast, and when it escaped, another came at it from behind. The Beast twisted, and the root missed by inches, but then three more burst up from beneath it, and the creature screamed.

"Get out of there!" Arthur shouted, taking a step forward on instinct.

Mithra grabbed his shoulder. "Arthur, no!"

The roots collided, and the impact sent out another shockwave that forced Arthur back. The flying Beasts were caught in the chaos. Some escaped, while others were struck by the roots and hurled across the sky. One massive Beast crashed into a mountain, and the mountain collapsed, and another disappeared beneath a tangle of roots.

Arthur’s eyes widened. "They’re not attacking randomly."

Athena looked at him. "What?"

"They’re chasing the Beasts."

"Why?"

"I don’t know."

Another root shot toward the sky, and this time Arthur saw it clearly. The root wasn’t simply striking. It was wrapping around the Beast and pulling it down.

His expression hardened. "It’s trying to swallow them."

The whole group froze. All across the sky, roots wrapped around flying Beasts and dragged them toward the enormous trunk. Some fought desperately, and others were already disappearing beneath the bark as Miasma poured through the roots.

Eden’s face went pale. "Arthur..."

He nodded. "I know."

Then a scream echoed across the sky, and it wasn’t a Beast. It was human.

Everyone froze, and Athy’s head snapped toward the sound. "...Wait."

Another scream followed, then another, and Athy looked around frantically. "That sounded like someone!"

Sun frowned. "Where?"

"I don’t know. Over there," Athy said, pointing at the distant forest.

Another voice rang out, and this time the words were clear. "HELP!"

Everyone’s expression changed. Mithra tightened her grip on Dawn Sovereign. "That’s human."

Athena looked toward the screams. "Could there be survivors?"

Luna’s eyes widened. "The other students. They came into the Everglades too."

Athy nodded quickly. "That’s what I thought. It sounded like one of them."

Arthur’s expression turned serious as he looked across the battlefield, at the collapsing city, the World Tree, the flying Beasts, and the roots, and somewhere beyond all of it, the screams. "We need to find them."

Athena nodded. "Agreed."

Sun looked at the tree. "And how exactly do we get there?"

Arthur looked at the roots tearing through the landscape, then at the World Tree, and then at the five Mirrors floating above it, and his eyes narrowed. "We don’t."

Mithra blinked. "What?"

Arthur pointed up. "We get to the tree."

Athena stared at him. "The tree is kilometers tall."

"Probably more."

"Arthur."

He smiled. "That’s the fun part."

Mithra sighed. "I knew you were going to say that."

Another scream echoed across the Everglades, followed by the sound of something enormous crashing through the forest, and Arthur’s smile disappeared. "Let’s move."

Vedas raised King Maker, Mithra stepped up beside Arthur, and Sun tightened his grip on his weapon as Athy rose into the air. Luna held her compass tightly, Eden looked up at the World Tree, and Star bounced anxiously at Arthur’s side.

Then the five Mirrors aligned above them, and their combined light struck the World Tree.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The entire tree shook, and Miasma erupted from its black veins. From somewhere high in its branches, a roar answered.

Arthur looked up, and his eyes narrowed. Something was waiting for them at the top.