Chapter 309: The World Tree

After the Mirrors’ light struck it, the chaos slowly began to settle, and the World Tree kept rising.

For what felt like an eternity, its enormous trunk pushed higher into the sky. The last layers of earth fell away, the ancient city vanished beneath its spreading roots, and its branches kept stretching outward until they covered almost the entire Secret Realm.

Then it stopped, and everything went silent.

Arthur stood motionless.

For the first time, he could see the whole World Tree, not because he could see its top, since its highest branches disappeared beyond the clouds, but because it had finally stopped growing. It had fully emerged, and it was enormous.

The trunk alone was wider than the largest mountain Arthur had ever seen, its golden bark shimmered in the sunlight, and thousands of branches stretched across the sky, covered in golden leaves that glowed with faint mana.

The five Mirrors floated around it, each shining with its own light, together forming a massive ring around the ancient tree.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the World Tree pulsed.

THUM.

Golden light spread through the trunk, flowed into the branches and down into the roots, and then out across the entire Everglades. Arthur felt the mana before he saw it. A wave of energy swept over the Secret Realm, lifting his hair and rippling through his clothes, and even the air seemed to grow heavier.

Athena’s eyes went wide. "That’s..."

BOOOOM!

A second wave followed, and mana flooded outward through the forests, rivers, mountains, and ruins, until the entire Secret Realm seemed to come alive. Crystals that had lain dormant for centuries lit up, ancient plants opened their flowers, rivers glowed beneath their surfaces, and streams of golden energy rose from the ground itself.

Arthur stared. "It’s everywhere."

Athena nodded slowly. "The World Tree is connected to the entire Secret Realm."

Vedas looked toward the forest. "The Beasts are reacting."

Arthur turned, and he could see them everywhere. Beasts were emerging from the forests. Some stopped to stare at the World Tree, others raised their heads and roared, and some began to run, while a few collapsed as their bodies were wrapped in light.

Then something even stranger happened. A small Beast standing near a river suddenly screamed as golden energy wrapped around its body, and its form began to change. Its bones shifted, its body grew, and it evolved right in front of them.

Arthur’s eyes widened. "Evolution..."

Another Beast changed, then another, and all across the Everglades, countless Beasts were transforming. Some grew larger, some sprouted new horns or wings, and others gained entirely new traits, while some grew stronger without changing shape at all. Others fled, running as far from the World Tree as they could.

Then a group of Beasts began convulsing. Purple-black veins spread across their bodies, Miasma poured from their mouths, and their eyes turned purple.

Arthur’s expression changed. "That’s not good."

The Beasts roared as their bodies twisted, and Athena raised Aegis at once. "The mana isn’t affecting everything equally."

Arthur watched one Beast evolve peacefully while another was swallowed by Miasma. "Something is interfering with it."

Luna didn’t answer. She wasn’t watching the Beasts. She was looking at the World Tree, and tears were running down her face.

Mithra noticed. "Luna?"

Luna wiped her cheek and looked up at the enormous golden branches, her voice trembling. "So this is what my grandfather wanted to protect."

Nobody interrupted her. Luna had spent years hearing stories about the World Tree, the ancient civilization, the barriers, and the Mirrors, but they had always been only stories. Now she was standing beneath the thing her grandfather had spent his life trying to understand.

"It’s beautiful," she said, smiling through her tears. "I thought he was exaggerating."

Arthur looked at her. "Your grandfather?"

Luna nodded. "He used to say the World Tree was more beautiful than the sky." She laughed quietly. "I thought he was just being dramatic."

Mithra smiled. "Maybe he wasn’t."

"No," Luna said softly, looking up at the branches. "He wasn’t."

For a moment, everything was peaceful. The golden World Tree lit up the whole Secret Realm, the five Mirrors floated around it, and the Beasts moved through the newly awakened land. The ancient civilization’s greatest creation had finally returned.

Arthur looked up, and even he couldn’t help smiling. "Yeah," he said, slowly nodding. "I can see why they fought so hard to protect this place."

The World Tree pulsed again.

THUM.

Arthur’s smile disappeared, because something was wrong. The golden light had flickered. He looked at the trunk, and the black veins he had seen earlier were still there, but now they were moving, spreading, as Miasma crawled through the bark.

His eyes narrowed. "Everyone..."

Athena noticed immediately. "What?"

"Look," Arthur said, pointing up.

The five Mirrors stopped rotating, and their lights dimmed. The World Tree went completely silent. There was no wind, no Beast calls, and no movement at all, and the entire Secret Realm seemed to go still around it.

Then a shadow appeared above the World Tree. At first, Arthur thought it was another Beast, a massive shape flying between the branches, wrapped in purple-black energy with crystal formations spiraling around its body. Then it broke through the clouds, and his eyes widened.

A gigantic roc flew above them. Its body was covered in dark purple feathers, black energy leaking from between them, and crystal formations circled its wings and body like fragments of an enormous broken crown.

And someone was standing on its back.

It was a young man with silver hair moving in the wind. He wore black clothing beneath a long purple jacket that floated behind him even without a breeze, and he stood casually on the roc’s back, as though the enormous creature beneath him were nothing more than a mount.

Arthur stared. "...That’s cool."

Mithra looked at him. "Arthur."

"What?"

"Seriously?"

Arthur pointed up. "Look at that thing. The crystals are rotating around it."

Sun stared at him. "That’s what you noticed?"

"Yes."

"There’s a mysterious person standing on a corrupted Beast."

"I noticed that too," Arthur said, still staring. "I just think the roc looks amazing."

Mithra sighed.

Luna wasn’t listening. She had gone completely still, her face drained of color and her hands shaking.

Arthur noticed. "Luna?"

She didn’t answer. Her eyes were locked on the man, and as he slowly looked down, their gazes met.

Luna took a step back. "No..." Her voice was barely audible.

Arthur’s expression turned serious. "You know him?"

Luna shook her head, and then she whispered, "Ronin."

Everyone froze.

Athena’s expression changed immediately. "The last brother?"

Luna nodded. "The oldest."

Mithra tightened her grip on Dawn Sovereign. "So he survived."

Ronin didn’t speak. He simply stood on the roc, his purple jacket drifting behind him and his expression calm, almost relaxed. Then he raised one hand, and a Mirror appeared beside him, a purple one.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed, and Luna’s face filled with shock. "Impossible! There shouldn’t be another Mirror!"

Ronin held the strange relic in front of him. It looked nothing like the five Mirrors surrounding the World Tree. Its surface was a deep violet, black cracks ran along its edges, and purple energy flowed through its frame. The moment it appeared, the entire Secret Realm reacted.

Arthur felt the Miasma move. "It’s coming from everywhere."

Athena looked around, and he was right. Purple-black mist was pouring from the forests, the mountains, the rivers, the Darkness Region, the ancient ruins, and even from beneath the ground. Thousands of streams of Miasma rose into the sky, and all of them were flowing toward Ronin.

"He’s gathering it," Luna said in disbelief.

The Miasma swirled around Ronin and the roc, and the purple Mirror drank it in, its surface beginning to glow.

Arthur’s expression hardened. "What is that Mirror?"

Luna shook her head. "I don’t know."

"Your grandfather never mentioned it?"

"Never!"

The Mirror kept growing brighter as the Miasma gathered, and then Ronin finally spoke. His voice carried across the entire landscape.

"The five Mirrors were never enough."

Arthur’s eyes narrowed.

Ronin raised the purple Mirror. "Not to control the World Tree, and not to protect it." The Miasma exploded outward, and the purple energy around the Mirror became enormous. "They were only ever enough to keep it asleep."

Athena’s expression changed. "Keep it asleep..."

Ronin looked at the World Tree, and he smiled. "And now..." He turned the purple Mirror toward the enormous tree. "...we can finally wake it."

The entire mass of Miasma surged forward in a gigantic purple-black torrent. The five Mirrors reacted at once, Fire blazing, Water erupting, Earth shaking, Darkness spreading, and Light exploding outward, but the torrent ignored all of them and crashed straight into the World Tree.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The impact shook the whole Secret Realm, and Arthur was thrown backward. "Everyone!"

Mithra grabbed Luna, Vedas planted King Maker in the ground, and Athena raised Aegis. Athy wrapped her wings around Sun and Kong, and Eden grabbed Arthur’s arm.

The Miasma poured into the World Tree, and for one second, nothing happened. Then the tree screamed. It was a sound unlike anything Arthur had ever heard, and it shook the sky.

The golden branches twisted as black veins burst across the trunk and purple energy spread through the branches, turning the golden leaves black. The five Mirrors shook violently, and Arthur stared in horror. "No..."

The golden light disappeared. One branch turned completely black, then another, and then the corruption spread faster and faster. The beautiful golden World Tree was changing before their eyes, its branches twisting into enormous claws and its roots tearing through the earth. The sky darkened, purple clouds swallowed the sunlight, and the entire Secret Realm was drenched in Miasma.

"No..." Luna whispered, staring up.

Ronin’s roc spread its wings, and Ronin stepped forward as the purple Mirror vanished into the mass of energy around him. Then the roc dove straight toward the World Tree.

Arthur’s eyes widened. "He’s going inside!"

Ronin and the corrupted roc plunged into the enormous canopy. Purple light flashed, and then both of them disappeared into the tree as the branches closed behind them.

Arthur stared up, and for several seconds, nobody said a word. The World Tree had gone from towering golden light to a massive shape of black and purple corruption. The five Mirrors still floated around it, but their light was struggling against the darkness.

Mithra slowly raised Dawn Sovereign. "What..." She swallowed. "What are we supposed to do against that?"

Arthur didn’t answer at first. He looked at the corrupted branches, the black veins, and the Miasma covering the sky, and then at the five Mirrors, and his eyes hardened. "We’re going up."

Athena turned to him. "Up?"

Arthur pointed at the World Tree. "Ronin went inside."

Vedas tightened his grip on King Maker. "Then we follow."

Arthur nodded.

Above them, the corrupted World Tree pulsed.

THUM.

The entire Secret Realm trembled.

THUM.

A wave of Miasma rolled across the horizon, and deep inside the enormous tree, something roared.

Arthur looked up. The World Tree had awakened, but something was twisting it, and whatever was happening inside that ancient tree had only just begun.