The deeper they moved into the east ridge, the more the forest shifted.
Gone were the bloodroot trees and thick fungal growths. Now, pale, barkless trunks rose like bone pillars, their branches forming silent arches overhead. The ground was soft with ash-like moss, and the air carried an unfamiliar metallic scent.
Ren walked in silence beside Kael, eyes alert, system panel hovering subtly in his vision. He wanted to ask dozens of questions—about the Verdant Cohort, about the past, about Kael himself—but the older man's quiet, deliberate steps discouraged idle talk.
Eventually, Kael broke the silence.
"You trust your system?"
Ren glanced sideways. "It's kept me alive."
"That's not what I asked."
A moment of silence stretched between them before Ren finally answered. "No. Not completely. But it feels… different now. Like it's adapting with me, not just directing me."
Kael gave a slow nod. "That's good. The ones who treat it like a god go mad. The ones who treat it like a weapon die even faster."
Ren didn't ask what that made Kael.
As they approached a clearing, Moss floated upward, chirping sharply. The light filtering through the strange trees turned greenish. A system prompt flashed into view.
Warning: System Saturation Zone Ahead
Environmental Effect Active – Echo Leak: Users may experience memory bleeding, hallucinations, or involuntary synchronization.
Proceed with caution.
Kael stepped into the clearing without hesitation. Ren followed—and immediately felt the shift.
It was like stepping into someone else's mind.
He saw flashes of battles—armored figures fighting back twisted plant-monsters; spells bursting from crystal staves; blood soaking the soil that pulsed like a living thing. Laughter, screaming, then silence. A memory, but not his.
Root Recall Passive Triggered
Fragment Detected – Minor Memory Shard: Verdant War, Year 32
A glowing shard hovered near a hollow tree stump. Moss darted toward it, then paused, waiting.
Kael didn't seem surprised. "You're linked to the forest now. That comes with echoes."
Ren reached for the shard, and as his fingers brushed it, another vision burst through:
A woman, tall and furious, leading a charge through a burning grove. Her voice: "Do not let the root fall! We hold this line, for every seed, for every soul!"
Then gone.
Ren staggered. Moss fluttered worriedly.
Memory Shard Absorbed – Minor XP Gained
Insight: +1
Companion Affinity: +2
Kael glanced at him. "They don't get easier."
"You went through this too?"
"Still do. The echoes never really leave you. But some become useful. That insight stat—it'll keep growing. Not just knowledge. Instinct. Reaction. Strategy."
They crossed into the next section of the ridge. Strange formations grew here—stone pillars twisted by root growth, fungal blooms sprouting from cracks. Several trees had been hollowed out into crude shelters. Signs of previous explorers.
Kael pointed to a ruined tent. "Cohort Alpha's last camp. Most of them didn't make it past the Hollow."
"Why not?"
"The Hollow doesn't just test your strength. It tests what you're willing to remember."
Ren frowned. "What do you mean?"
Kael's gaze was distant. "This place—Deep Root Hollow—feeds on memory. Regret. The more you've buried, the louder it gets."
Ren looked ahead. A narrow path snaked downward into a thick fog that pulsed faintly like breath.
"Then what happens when you have nothing to hide?" he asked.
Kael actually smiled. "Nobody's that lucky."
As they descended, the fog grew thicker. System text flickered more often now—warnings, fragments, old logs.
Passive Triggered – Root Recall
Detected: Environmental Memory Web
User entering High-Sync Zone. Mental Fortitude Check: Passed (Barely)
A soft hum echoed through the trees.
Voices.
Not from people nearby—but from the forest itself. A chorus of whispers just out of reach.
Ren clutched his spear tighter. "Are they real?"
"They were," Kael replied. "Some still are. The Hollow sometimes brings back what we lose."
As if on cue, something stepped out of the fog.
At first, Ren thought it was another explorer. Human-shaped. Moving slowly. But as the figure emerged fully, the truth hit like ice water.
Its skin was bark-like, veined with glowing green lines. Eyes hollow. Armor rusted and broken. And on its chest—an old, faded symbol.
Verdant Cohort insignia.
"Is that…?"
Kael nodded grimly. "That's what's left of Cohort Beta."
The creature charged.
Ren barely raised his spear in time to parry, the impact shuddering down his arm. The echo-warrior was fast, but not mindless. Its movements had purpose, trained rhythm.
Moss zipped forward, releasing a pulse of light.
Companion Skill: Memory Disruption Activated
Enemy Sync Delayed – Reaction Speed Reduced (5s)
Ren surged forward, using the delay. Thorn Pulse ignited from his palm, slamming into the echo's torso. The creature staggered, green sap spraying from the wound.
Damage Dealt: Moderate – Echo Armor Resistant to Root Attacks
Effectiveness Reduced – Try Elemental Diversion
"Elemental diversion?" Ren muttered, then remembered.
The Verdant Ward Glyph—one of the abilities it hinted at was compatibility with glyph fragments.
He reached into his system panel mid-fight and force-fused a temporary sigil.
Glyph Fusion – Echo Spark I
Effect: Converts root-based energy into kinetic burst
Charge time: 3 seconds
Ren rolled, dodging a strike, then fired the fused glyph.
A bright burst of kinetic force slammed the echo into a nearby tree, cracking its bark-armor. The creature twitched, then let out a high-pitched whine—before dissolving into light and dust.
Enemy Defeated – Echo Warrior (Beta)
XP Gained: +34
Memory Residue: +1
Kael exhaled slowly. "You're adapting fast."
Ren didn't reply immediately. He was still watching the dust drift away.
That thing had once been human.
A member of a team.
Just like him.
"How many more like that?" he finally asked.
"Too many," Kael said. "And not all of them will fall that easily."
They continued down the path. The fog never lifted, but Ren began to sense something deeper at its heart. Not just echoes or monsters.
A presence.
Watching.
Waiting.
And as he glanced at his system panel one more time, a new objective blinked into place.
New Quest: Hollow Pact – Uncover the Root Guardian's Binding Ritual
Reward: Verdant Glyph Core
Optional: Preserve Echoes – Reduce hostile resonance with memory spirits (3/10)
A choice.
A path.
And somewhere in this fog of memory, a pact waiting to be renewed.