Chapter 271: What about my daughters?

Chapter 271: Chapter 271: What about my daughters?

"Oh no."

Swanly stared at Thalara.

Then at the tree.

Then back at Thalara.

"Excuse me?"

The ancient Aelari woman didn’t answer.

Her glowing third eye remained fixed on the arrow buried in the trunk.

The thin roots curling around her arms had begun trembling.

Swanly’s fox ears slowly lowered.

"Thalara?"

Nothing.

"Okay, you’re starting to scare me."

Thalara stepped closer to the tree.

She raised one hand but stopped before touching the bark.

Her lips trembled.

"No..."

Swanly’s expression changed.

"Wait a minute."

She stepped in front of her.

"Before you start doing whatever this is, where the hell have you been?"

Thalara finally looked at her.

Swanly crossed her arms.

"You disappeared for more than two days!"

Her tail lashed.

"Do you have any idea what happened while you were gone?"

Thalara’s eyes softened.

"Swanly..."

"We were attacked!"

"I know."

"People died!"

"I know."

"Monsters came out of the ground! My children almost died! I nearly died!"

Thalara closed her eyes.

"I know."

Swanly froze.

Her ears lifted.

"What?"

Thalara looked toward the forest floor.

"I felt it."

"Felt what?"

"The disturbance."

Her voice was quiet.

"The ancient roots. Their screams. The moment the defenses awakened."

Swanly stared.

"Then why didn’t you come back?"

Thalara’s fingers curled.

"I tried."

For the first time, Swanly noticed how terrible the ancient woman looked.

Her clothing was torn along one shoulder. Dark dirt covered her bare feet, and several of the thin roots growing around her wrists appeared broken.

Even her beautiful branch-like horns had lost some of their usual glow.

Swanly frowned.

"What happened to you?"

Thalara looked away.

"I went back to the Rot Nest."

Swanly’s eyes widened.

"The Rot Nest?"

Thalara nodded.

"I needed to understand something. Something I should have investigated much sooner."

"What?"

"The connection between the ancient creations."

Swanly slowly lowered her arms.

Thalara continued.

"I followed the oldest roots beneath the Nest. Some had been buried for thousands of years. Others were sealed so deeply that even I struggled to reach them."

She swallowed.

"When Ironwood’s defenses awakened, those roots reacted too."

Swanly’s expression tightened.

"So you were trapped?"

"For a time."

Thalara looked at her.

"But that is not important now."

Swanly blinked.

"Not important? You disappeared for a few days, came back looking like you fought an entire forest, and that’s not important?"

Thalara suddenly caught her hands.

"Swanly."

The urgency in her voice made Swanly stop.

Thalara’s third eye glowed brighter.

"Your life is in danger."

Silence.

Swanly stared.

Then slowly blinked.

"...What?"

Thalara tightened her hold.

"Something has happened to your blood."

Swanly’s stomach dropped.

Her gaze immediately returned to the arrow.

"You know about that?"

Thalara looked at it.

Then nodded.

"I suspected something when I felt the roots change. But seeing this..."

She couldn’t finish.

Swanly swallowed.

"Okay. Explain."

Thalara looked into her eyes.

"Do you remember when you and Soren entered the Rot Nest?"

Swanly nodded cautiously.

"Obviously."

"When you retrieved the Cleanbirth Seed?"

"Yes."

"And the enormous creature that awakened?"

Swanly’s ears flattened.

"How could I forget that ugly bastard?"

Thalara didn’t smile.

"Do you remember being injured?"

Swanly frowned.

"I was injured a lot."

"Your blood, Swanly."

The ancient woman’s voice trembled.

"Some of your blood fell onto the ancient roots while you were retrieving the Seed."

Swanly went still.

She remembered.

The pain.

The blood.

The enormous creature moving within the darkness.

She had been so focused on surviving that she hadn’t thought much about a few drops of blood.

"So?"

Thalara swallowed.

"That blood was not simply absorbed into the ground."

Swanly’s brows drew together.

"What do you mean?"

"The Rot Nest was already connected to an ancient living network. When your blood entered it, something recognized you."

Swanly stared.

"Recognized me?"

"Yes."

"Recognized me as what?"

Thalara’s lips parted.

Then closed.

"I don’t know."

Swanly slowly looked toward the sky.

"Oh, wonderful."

"Swanly..."

"No, seriously. Why does every ancient thing in this world keep recognizing me when I don’t even recognize myself?"

Thalara tightened her fingers.

"This is not funny."

"I KNOW!"

Swanly took a breath.

Then another.

"Okay. Continue."

Thalara looked relieved that she was listening.

"The Rot Nest accepted a trace of your blood. At first, the connection was faint. It might never have developed into anything dangerous."

Swanly frowned.

"At first?"

Thalara nodded.

"But you were not the only member of your family connected to that place."

Swanly went still.

"Soren?"

"Yes."

Thalara lowered her gaze.

"Before he met you, Soren repeatedly took Cleanbirth Seeds from various Rot Nest locations to keep himself alive."

Swanly remembered.

His damaged core.

The desperate years he had spent surviving.

The Seeds that had allowed him to endure.

"He told me," she whispered.

Thalara nodded.

"Every Seed carried traces of the ancient life force that produced it. Over time, his body adapted to those traces."

Swanly’s stomach tightened.

"So he’s connected too?"

"In a different way."

Thalara hesitated.

"And because you and Soren share a blood bond..."

Swanly’s breath caught.

"No."

Thalara looked at her sadly.

"Your daughters."

Swanly stepped backward.

"No."

"Swanly..."

"What about my daughters?"

Thalara reached toward her.

Swanly grabbed her wrists.

"Thalara. What about Eira and Sira?"

Her voice had changed.

The humor was gone.

The confusion too.

Only fear remained.

Thalara immediately shook her head.

"They are not infected."

Swanly froze.

"What?"

"Listen to me carefully. Your daughters do not carry Rot infection."

Swanly’s fingers trembled.

Thalara continued gently.

"They are healthy children. But they were born from two parents whose bodies had already encountered the ancient network."

She placed one hand against Swanly’s shoulder.

"They carry faint traces of that connection. Not disease. Not corruption. Something closer to an inherited response."

Swanly stared.

"Like... their bodies remember it?"

Thalara considered that.

"Yes. That is one way to explain it."

Swanly released a shaky breath.

For a moment, she simply stood there.

Then she covered her face.

"Oh, God."

Her babies.

Her two tiny snake girls.

Eira, who barely smiled unless she wanted something.

Sira, who thought everything with wings was the greatest thing in the world.

They were connected to the Rot Nest?

Swanly slowly lowered her hands.

"Does Soren know?"

Thalara shook her head.

"Not yet."

"Can it hurt them?"

"I don’t know what will happen if the connection is disturbed."

Swanly’s eyes widened.

"THALARA!"