Foster entered the vast room behind the door. What lay before him was both terrifying and sublime: a sanctuary that seemed timeless, bathed in a soft, vibrant golden light, as if the air itself were imbued with pure magic. The walls, hand-carved with divine precision, depicted the history of the sylvan elves and their sacred link with the World Tree. The floor was covered with a carpet of luminous moss and ivy that glistened softly beneath her footsteps.
But her gaze was immediately drawn to the centre of the room.
There, floating in a translucent sphere imbued with sparkling runes, was the Seed of the World Tree. It glowed with a pulsating light, each beat seeming to resonate within Foster's soul. Next to it, enclosed in the same sphere, an old book lay levitating, its pages open as if waiting to be read. The sphere, suspended above an ebony pedestal, seemed both fragile and indestructible, protected by a magic so ancient that even Foster, with all his memories of his previous life, could barely perceive its complexity.
He felt a strange warmth in his hand. The royal ring shone with increased intensity, its golden engravings glowing like a miniature sun, confirming his direct link with this place.
But as he stepped forward, a loud explosion sounded in the heights of the sanctuary.
A violent shock shook the entire room, sending fragments of rock and dust flying with a deafening crash. Foster staggered under the force of the impact, looking up to see a familiar figure emerging from the debris. The Queen.
There she stood, at the top of the staircase leading to the sanctuary, her eyes blazing with icy rage. The flashes of light dancing around her reinforced her menacing aura. Her dark robe, adorned with royal runes, moved like a living fabric, and her expression, usually so benevolent, was distorted by cold, implacable anger. The mask of gentleness had fallen. This time she was a hunter, and Foster her prey.
- I'd never have imagined I'd come across such a place following a lowly thieving elf!
Foster didn't reply. He knew that any attempt at dialogue would be futile. The queen wasn't there to negotiate. She was there to crush.
A feeling of panic invaded his mind, but he suppressed it immediately. Not now. Not here. He was only a few metres from the sphere. His salvation. He could feel the vibrant energy of the seed calling to him, as if it recognised his purpose. But the queen was approaching fast, and every second counted.
Foster leapt forward, his speed amplified by the Ki. He crossed the room in a flash, the engravings on the walls passing like indistinct shadows. Each step struck the floor with a force that echoed throughout the room, sending dust and stone splinters flying around him.
The queen, seeing his acceleration, frowned slightly. She held out a delicate but merciless hand, and a runic circle appeared in the air. A beam of crimson energy shot out, slicing through space like a guillotine.
A second spell followed immediately: a massive shockwave that spread across the room, shaking the foundations. Foster, using Ki to strengthen his legs, leapt high into the air, avoiding the attack at the last moment. The detonation behind him shattered the floor, sending pieces of stone flying in all directions.
The sphere was only a few metres away. Foster could feel the reassuring warmth of the Seed and the overwhelming power emanating from the book. But he could also feel the Queen getting dangerously close. She didn't need to run.
A feeling of panic invaded his mind, but he suppressed it immediately. Not now. Not here. He was only a few metres from the sphere. His salvation. He could feel the vibrant energy of the seed calling to him, as if it recognised his purpose. But the queen was approaching fast, and every second counted.
Foster leapt forward, his speed amplified by the Ki. He crossed the room in a flash, the engravings on the walls passing like indistinct shadows. Each step struck the floor with a force that echoed throughout the room, sending dust and stone splinters flying around him.
The queen, seeing his acceleration, frowned slightly. She held out a delicate but merciless hand, and a runic circle appeared in the air. A beam of crimson energy shot out, slicing through space like a guillotine.
A second spell followed immediately: a massive shockwave that spread across the room, shaking the foundations. Foster, using Ki to strengthen his legs, leapt high into the air, avoiding the attack at the last moment. The detonation behind him shattered the floor, sending pieces of stone flying in all directions.
The sphere was only a few metres away. Foster could feel the reassuring warmth of the Seed and the overwhelming power emanating from the book. But he could also feel the Queen getting dangerously close. She didn't need to run.
- On the other side of the fence, the queen
was watching, motionless. Her eyes shone with cold anger, but also with an almost morbid fascination.
"You think you've won," she whispered, her voice as sharp as a blade. "But it's only a matter of time before I break this prison and snatch from you what you've just stolen."
[Ding, World Tree Seed released]
[Do you want to absorb it?]
[Yes/ No]
Foster put aside his questioning and without hesitation clicked yes.
[Beginning of World Tree Seed absorption]
[Host please wait]
Then he felt a strange pulse in the depths of his being. A dull, familiar vibration, coming from the system that had been anchored in him since his return to the past. The pulse seemed to respond to the sacred aura of the Seed. Before he could even understand what was happening, a cold, mechanical energy awoke within him, resonating with the living light that surrounded the relic.
Foster fell to his knees, his breath caught as an invisible force emanated from him, connecting with the Seed. A line of white, almost translucent light stretched between his chest and the relic. He felt an immense heat flowing through his veins, a raw, devastating energy that seemed both divine and chaotic.
"The system... what's it doing?" he thought, his hands trembling as he tried to resist the force that was invading him.
Notifications appeared in his mind, cold and clear:
[Identified object : World Tree Seed. Partial absorption initiated... Warning: process highly unstable. Risk of implosion detected at 15%].
The system's clinical and detached words froze him. He tried to get up, to stop what was happening, but it was already too late. The light of the Seed was being sucked into him, flow after flow, like a river rushing into an endless abyss.
Then came the pain.
On the other side of the sphere, the sylvan queen, a figure of majesty and terror hidden behind a mask of serenity, stood before the runic barrier. Her slender hands, imbued with unfathomable power, floated in the air as a complex network of magical circles pulsated around her. Her expression, usually unwavering, twisted slightly in subdued anger.
She couldn't see through the sphere. The ancestral magic of which it was composed, woven by the Seed itself, was designed to conceal its contents. Every attempt to probe it, every thread of mana she tried to infiltrate, was met with implacable resistance. What was going on inside was completely inaccessible to her, and that made her furious.
Her spells struck the sphere with deadly precision, but the glittering runes refused to yield. Each impact echoed through the room like a thunderclap, sending shards of light dancing off the broken walls. She took a step back, observing the ripples of light pulsing on the surface. Her emerald green pupils darkened.
- How fucking powerful is this thing? she murmured to herself, her cold voice breaking the oppressive silence of the room.
She made an elegant gesture with her hand, and a complex, pitch-black magic circle appeared at her feet. The Queen began to channel a spell of overwhelming power, one that required all her concentration. The mana around her thickened, vibrating with an almost unbearable intensity, and the air became heavy.
The impacts of her spells became more violent, her mana surging like a raging storm against the barrier. The Queen gritted her teeth, her breathing heavier than usual. She was an accomplished mage, a mana virtuoso, and yet this sphere still resisted. It was an insult to her power.
- Foster!" she shouted, her voice echoing throughout the room like a war cry. "Come out of there at once! You are playing with forces beyond your control!"
A silence answered her, stifling, oppressive, as if the sphere itself was laughing at her rage. She felt a subtle vibration, a pulsation of mana emanating from within the barrier, but she couldn't discern its origin. Was it Foster?
The Queen raised her hands, her face now twisted in an expression of icy fury. She summoned up every ounce of her power in a single spell. An immense circle of magic, red and black, engraved with ancient and forgotten runes, formed above her.
- If I can't get you out of this sphere, I'm going to reduce everything around it to dust!" she declared in a cold, implacable voice.
The energy accumulated around her caused the walls to tremble, cracks spreading across the thousand-year-old stone of the room. An oppressive black aura emanated from her body, making the air almost unbreathable. This spell, although destructive, was no ordinary explosion. It was designed to completely annihilate all forms of defensive magic. She was prepared to destroy the entire room, and perhaps even the Seed itself, to prevent Foster from escaping.
She lowered her hands, her magic circle still growing in intensity. Her aura seemed to devour the very light in the room.