The tree hollow sealed shut behind them without a sound, as if it had never existed. Raine let his fingertips trace along the inner wall of the passage, sensing the leyline's energy pulsing beneath the coarse bark—like the heartbeat of some slumbering beast. The only light came from clusters of bioluminescent fungi embedded in the roots, casting a cold, ghostly blue glow across their solemn faces.
"This passage was left by the first generation of Watchers." Nissea's voice echoed in the narrow corridor. The emerald mark on her chest pulsed faintly with each step. "It connects directly from the Elven Forest to the leyline node beneath the Obsidian Mountains."
Gamma's silver-blue augmetic eye kept adjusting its focus, scanning the winding path ahead. "Energy readings are steady, but…" She halted abruptly, pointing to what looked like an ordinary tree root. "There's interference there."
Ravenna already had her violet-gold dagger in hand. She moved forward like a cat, silent and precise. When her blade pried open the disguised bark, it revealed not wood fiber but a hybrid of machinery and flesh—a surveillance device shaped like a spider, its eight legs buried deep into the leyline, its swollen abdomen crystal pulsing with a faint crimson glow.
"A Leyline Watcher of the Holy Covenant," Ironbeard growled, his steam hammer humming with menace. "Seems the Council has already discovered this path."
Through his emerald sight, Raine pierced the device's shell and saw the intricate circuits within. "This isn't newly installed. It's been here for at least a decade." His voice turned cold. "They knew about this passage from the very beginning."
Nissea touched the spider-like construct. Emerald energy flowed from her fingertips into the mechanical seams. The device convulsed violently before its crimson glow shifted into harmless green. "I've temporarily rewritten its directive, but the Council will soon detect the anomaly. We must move faster."
The tunnel sloped downward. The air grew damp and suffocating. The root-lined walls gradually gave way to rock gleaming with metallic luster, and the ground became steps carved by hand. Raine noticed each stair was etched with tiny elven runes, faintly glowing green in the darkness.
"These are…" Elondil crouched, his aged fingers tracing the markings. "Ancient leyline stabilization sigils, lost for over a thousand years."
Suddenly, Ravenna froze. The violet-gold patterns on her right arm pulsed rapidly. "Something's moving ahead." Her mechanical eye switched to thermal vision. "Not alive… but not purely mechanical either…"
Before she could finish, the darkness ahead lit up with twelve pairs of crimson eyes. They hovered in midair, arranged in a perfect circle, each pupil inscribed with reverse sigils identical to those of the Holy Covenant's headquarters.
"An upgraded version of the Blasphemer's Eyes!" Gamma yelped, ducking behind Ironbeard. "Their energy output is triple the last ones we faced!"
The crimson eyes contracted all at once, and the tunnel was instantly flooded with a shrill psychic screech. Raine's emerald shield unfolded automatically, but the sonic assault pierced straight through his defenses, like countless red-hot needles stabbing into his skull. He staggered to one knee and glimpsed Ravenna's violet-gold energy erupt into a firework-like defensive matrix in front of her—yet it blocked barely half of the attack.
"Physical strikes are useless!" Nissea cried out through the pain. "You have to use resonant energy!"
With a roar, Ironbeard switched his steam hammer into overload mode, blasting scalding vapor at the eyes. The move seemed reckless, but it had an unexpected effect—the heat forced the crimson orbs to snap shut, and the psychic screech weakened. Raine seized the fleeting chance, driving the Frostwhisper blade into the ground, channeling emerald energy through the sword into the leyline.
"Gamma! In old Nick's notes—was there anything about—"
"Yes!" the girl had already flipped to the right page. "The Blasphemer's Eyes are tethered to the Council's mainframe through the leyline. You have to sever all twelve power links at once!"
Through his emerald sight, Raine instantly caught the key—the twelve eyes were bound by twelve nearly invisible energy threads stretching deeper into the passage. He looked at Ravenna, and without words they reached an unspoken accord. Violet-gold and emerald flared together, two surgical blades cutting into the energy network.
"Three… two… one—now!"
At the predetermined nodes the twin energies converged, unleashing a violent chain reaction. One by one, the crimson eyes exploded, spraying viscous black ichor onto the walls, where it hissed and corroded into smoking holes. When the final orb burst, the entire passage shook violently, and a colossal mechanical roar echoed from afar, like some engine pushed past its limit.
"Run!" Elondil's white beard streamed behind him as he bolted. "The Council triggered a self-destruct!"
They raced down the spiral stairwell, the crash of collapsing stone chasing their heels. Gamma's silver-blue eye projected rear images— the tunnel was warping and collapsing like clay squeezed by an invisible hand, while a black fluid of metal and flesh surged through the cracks, assimilating even rock into its nightmarish mass.
"The Corruption Tide!" Nissea's voice broke into a shrill cry of terror. "The Council actually bred it inside the leylines!"
"Emergency shaft, this way!" Ironbeard veered suddenly into a side passage.
The narrow mine corridor bore fresh marks of steam drills—clearly a recent excavation by dwarves. They crouched low as they hurried through, when suddenly Raine's draconic bloodline screamed alarm. Something lurked ahead in the dark, its energy signature neither Corruption Tide nor Holy Covenant construct.
"Stop." He flung an arm out, halting the group. "There's an ambush."
Three seconds of silence.
Then, a voice, elegant yet utterly out of place in the setting, drifted from the shadows:
"So the heir of the Watchers does live up to the name."
From the darkness stepped an elven woman—yet unlike any elf Raine had ever seen. Her skin was a sickly pearl-white, her hair flowing like liquid silver, her eyes pure crimson without pupil or sclera. Most striking of all was her attire: a white robe embroidered with gears interwoven with leaves, and at her throat a mechanical device embedded like the fruits of the Mother Tree itself.
"The Twelfth Watcher, Nissea." She inclined her head ever so slightly, the movement precise as if measured. "And… the Core Vessel, Raine. The Council is very interested in you both."
Ravenna's violet-gold dagger was already at the woman's throat. "Name, tin-plated whore."
"Codename: Silverbranch." The elf showed no concern for the blade pressing against her neck. "Seventh Seat of the Council, in charge of elven affairs." Her crimson eyes shifted toward Raine. "We could have worked together. Instead, you chose resistance."
Raine leveled Frostwhisper at her chest. "Shut down the Corruption Tide in the leyline."
Silverbranch suddenly smiled—and the sight froze everyone's blood. Her lips split all the way to her ears, revealing intricate gears within. "Why would I stop it? It is the gift of the Mother." Her voice fractured into two overlapping tones. "You don't even understand what you're fighting."
Nissea struck without warning! Emerald energy lashed out like a whip—yet it passed cleanly through Silverbranch's body. A hologram.
The real attack came from above. Dozens of silver-white metallic branches punched through the rock, each tipped with a crimson glowing bud.
"The Mechaforest!" Gamma's warning came a second too late.
The buds burst open at once, releasing a dense cloud of crimson spores. Raine's emerald shield managed to cover only half the team; Ironbeard and Elondil were left outside. The instant the spores touched his skin, Raine felt a prickling burn—these weren't simple corrosives, but microscopic machine-life, burrowing toward his veins.
"Purification protocol engaged." Silverbranch's voice came from every direction. "Objective: Capture the Core Vessel. All other units—terminate."
Ravenna's violet-gold energy spun into a whirlwind, scattering the spores for the moment. But it was only a stalling move—the branches were weaving into a cage meant to seal them inside. Ironbeard's steam hammer smashed at the joints, only to spray sparks. Elondil's elven magic fizzled against an unseen antimagic field. Nissea tried to link into the Mother Tree's network, only to find the signal blocked.
Raine looked down at the silvery motes writhing on his palm—tiny machines, analyzing his energy pattern. A reckless thought flashed through his mind: if they wanted data, then he would give them data.
He dropped his emerald shield and instead unleashed the most unstable force within him—his tainted draconic bloodline. Golden dragon-scale patterns rippled across his skin, then darkened into black-gold as the corruption devoured them. When the fused power erupted outward, the entire lattice of metallic branches spasmed at once, and Silverbranch's projection rippled violently.
"Impossible!" For the first time, panic bled into her voice. "A fusion of dragonblood and abyssal corruption?!"
Ravenna seized the opening—her dagger spun from her hand, striking the power core of the projector dead-on. Silverbranch's image flickered and dissolved, but her last words echoed in the cavern:
"You think you're saving the world… but all you're doing is hastening its end…"
With the projection gone, the branches went inert. But the greater threat was closing fast—the Corruption Tide, now less than a hundred meters away, its black tide consuming everything in its path.
"This way!" Ironbeard smashed open a hidden metal hatch with his hammer. "Dwarven emergency shelter!"
They crammed into the cramped spherical chamber, and Gamma immediately activated the isolation systems. The heavy metal door slammed shut just as the black flood crashed against the shell, hissing with corrosive fury.
Inside, only a flickering gas lamp lit their ragged faces—and on every one of them, faint silver motes glimmered, the remnants of the microscopic machines still clinging to their skin.
"Don't move." Nissea's hands glowed with emerald light. "The Mother Tree's purification protocol can—"
Her spell was cut short as the refuge suddenly lurched sideways. The spherical chamber began to roll, tossed about like a bottle adrift in a raging flood. Gamma crashed into Raine's arms, Ironbeard clawed uselessly at the wall's handholds, while Ravenna pinned herself to the ceiling with a burst of violet-gold energy.
"This isn't a refuge!" Elondil shouted over the jarring impacts. "It's a dwarven leyline transport capsule!"
Through the shell, Raine's emerald sight pierced outward. They were being swept along by the Corruption Tide, hurled down a slanted conduit at terrifying speed. Worse still, the silver motes were now seeping into his energy circuits, disrupting the balance of the four forces within him.
"Hold on to something!" Ironbeard bared his teeth in a grin. "We're about to land!"
The capsule slammed into some kind of cushioning medium, though the shock still sent them sprawling. When the hatch hissed open, even Elondil—who had seen more wonders than most—drew in a sharp breath.
They stood at the edge of a colossal subterranean cavern. Below sprawled a city-sized complex of machinery. Twelve obsidian spires rose in a perfect ring, each one firing a crimson beam skyward. The beams converged at the cavern's apex, where a floating projection of the Gear Moon hung suspended—its fissures mirroring those of the true body above the world.
But the most horrifying sight was the "structure" at the city's center. It was no structure at all, but the half-buried head of a titanic creature. Mountain-sized, its dead-gray skin was sewn shut at the eyelids with metal sutures. Its crown had been reforged into a vast antenna array. Countless conduits stretched from its severed neck, plugging into the surrounding machinery.
"Ancestors preserve us…" Ironbeard's beard quivered. "They've turned an ancient Titan into a power converter…"
Gamma's silver-blue eye flickered wildly. "Vital signs scan… it's still alive!"
Through emerald sight, Raine perceived something worse—the pipes carried not blood, but condensed leyline energy. The obsidian spires were siphoning power from the entire continent, channeling it through the Titan's head, then into the Gear Moon projection.
"This is the Council's true aim." Nissea's voice was barely a whisper. "They mean to use the world's lifeblood… to awaken the slumbering Weaver."
Ravenna's mechanical eye locked onto a coordinate. "There—beneath the spires."
The magnified image revealed it: at the base of each tower stood a robed figure. Their garments echoed the vestments of Alliance hierarchs, yet their faces were hidden behind mechanical masks. In their chests pulsed crystalline cores, unmistakably kin to the Mother Tree's fruit.
"The Twelve Councillors…" Elondil's grip tightened on his staff. "Ancient beings—said to be undying, eternal."
Suddenly, pain lanced Raine's skull. The silver motes clustered in his veins, striking at neural nodes. Worse yet, the brand on his chest flared erratically. Through fractured leyline signals, the Mother Tree's consciousness whispered a broken warning: the Council had initiated the Final Protocol—and the Gear Moon's fractures were spreading faster.
"We're running out of time." Raine staggered upright through the agony. "We have to cut off the energy flow."
Gamma scanned the terrain, voice rapid. "In theory, disabling three or more spires would collapse the ritual. But—" Her cybernetic eye locked onto a moving figure. "That's… Master Alfred?"
In the shadows near the nearest obsidian spire, a figure cloaked in silver-blue was setting up some kind of device. Even from this distance, Raine recognized those distinctive nebula eyes—the master of the Aurora Tower was alive!
"Impossible…" Nissea's eyes widened. "I saw him crystallized with my own eyes…"
Ravenna's lips curled into a cold smirk. "The old fox always had a trick up his sleeve."
Ironbeard had already begun inspecting his weapons. "How do we proceed? Full frontal assault or—"
His words were cut off by a sudden alarm. Blinding red lights flared throughout the city, and mechanical sentinels poured out from hidden hatches. Even more terrifying, the head of the ancient Titan at the center suddenly opened its eyes—two enormous orbs, transformed into mechanical constructs, with reversed elven runes spinning in the pupils.
"Intruders… detected…" The Titan's voice resonated like a thousand bronze bells ringing in unison. "Core carrier… confirmed…"
Raine's skin tingled violently—the silver motes flared, marking him as a conspicuous source of energy. Dozens of defensive turrets pivoted instantly, their charging hum sending shivers down the spine.
"Looks like we have no choice but to force our way through." Ravenna activated her full violet-gold energy, forming combat armor over her body. "Gamma, plot the shortest route for me."
Elondil's white robe swirled without wind. "Elves, hold off the guards. The rest—destroy the spires."
But Nissea placed a hand on the old elf's shoulder. "No, master. Your task is more important." She pointed to Alfred in the distance. "Help the master finish that device. That might be our only chance."
The Titan's head began to lift; the conduits connecting to it snapped one by one. Black ichor poured from the ruptures like waterfalls, forming twisted, writhing shapes on the ground. Raine knew they were about to face not only the Council's soldiers but also the wrath of an ancient being tormented for untold centuries.
"Split into teams," he ordered sharply. "Ravenna and Gamma take the three eastern spires. Ironbeard and Elondil support Alfred. Nissea and I will hold off the Titan."
There was no time for argument. As the first wave of mechanical guards closed to a hundred meters, Raine made a shocking move—he unleashed all the tainted dragonblood within him. Black-gold energy erupted from every pore like a volcanic blast, forming spectral dragon wings behind him. The silver motes on his skin were instantly absorbed and corrupted, becoming his weapon instead.
"Raine!" Ravenna's shout was drowned out by the roar of explosions.
He had already leapt into the enemy ranks. Every swing of the Frosttongue sword wrapped in black-gold energy sent showers of metal and flesh flying. This was no graceful swordplay—it was pure, primal killing instinct. Each splatter of black ichor only fueled his strength, while simultaneously accelerating the spread of the corruption within him.
On the verge of his consciousness being consumed by the rampaging power within, Raine saw Ravenna and Gamma cut through the eastern defenses like twin bolts of lightning; Ironbeard's steam hammer cleared a bloody path for Elondil; and Nissea stood directly before the ancient Titan, cradling emerald light in her hands as she chanted some ancient pacifying incantation…
And at the very center of it all, the projection of the Gear Moon grew ever clearer. Within its cracks, the vague shadow of a multi-limbed form writhed. Raine suddenly understood the meaning behind Silverbranch's words—the Council was not awakening the Weaver.
They were opening the prison for it.