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Ashes and echoes

Penulis: R. Mobley
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-05-13 00:05:23

The forest was silent.

Not the kind of silence born of fear, but the hush that follows a long, final breath. The Seed no longer shimmered, no longer sang. It pulsed gently like a slow heartbeat buried deep within WildWood’s roots—dormant but present.

Clara stood at the edge of the dark pool, the echo of Emily’s voice still in her ears. She’d stopped breathing minutes ago. Clara had held her hand the entire time.

“I’m here,” Clara whispered, even now. “I never left you.”

Ashani moved behind her, limping but alive, eyes wet. Isla sat farther back, hands shaking as she wrapped old cloth around her cracked wrist. No one spoke. Not until the light from the chamber finally began to dim… and the Seed exhaled one last gust of warm wind, brushing Clara’s cheeks like a memory.

Then—nothing.

They climbed out slowly.

It took them the rest of the day to make it back to the surface, through tunnels warped by time and grief. The trees above had stilled. The hum of suffering that had once puls
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  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    Driftwood and echoes

    The boy had no name. At least, not one he remembered. He knew only the rhythm of the waves, the cold press of wind on his skin, and the haunting song that came every night with the tide. The villagers had taken to calling him “Drift,” after the old man found him lying facedown in a driftwood cradle near the broken docks weeks ago. No boat. No wreckage. Just the boy, clothes soaked, eyes empty, and fingers curled around a shard of obsidian etched with unfamiliar markings. He barely spoke. Ate little. Slept rarely. But every dusk, just as the horizon turned to bruised lavender and the moon cracked through cloud cover, he returned to the tidepools. And placed his hand in the water. And listened. Tonight, the sea answered. The tide around his hand pulled back—not with natural force, but as if with intent. The pool shimmered, turning black. Reflections of stars twisted into unfamiliar constellations, and a voice echoed—not in his ears, but in his blood. “The Root was burned. The H

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    Ashes and echoes

    The forest was silent. Not the kind of silence born of fear, but the hush that follows a long, final breath. The Seed no longer shimmered, no longer sang. It pulsed gently like a slow heartbeat buried deep within WildWood’s roots—dormant but present. Clara stood at the edge of the dark pool, the echo of Emily’s voice still in her ears. She’d stopped breathing minutes ago. Clara had held her hand the entire time. “I’m here,” Clara whispered, even now. “I never left you.” Ashani moved behind her, limping but alive, eyes wet. Isla sat farther back, hands shaking as she wrapped old cloth around her cracked wrist. No one spoke. Not until the light from the chamber finally began to dim… and the Seed exhaled one last gust of warm wind, brushing Clara’s cheeks like a memory. Then—nothing. They climbed out slowly. It took them the rest of the day to make it back to the surface, through tunnels warped by time and grief. The trees above had stilled. The hum of suffering that had once puls

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    When shadows break

    The humming deep within the chamber had begun to rise, vibrating through bone and root. Emily stood with her eyes closed, her fingertips hovering just above the black surface of the Seed’s pool. Light shimmered faintly within the water—gentle, uncertain, like a flicker of memory daring to burn again. Clara stood beside her, Ashani and Isla forming a protective half-circle behind them. Together, they had begun to whisper—not spells, not prayers, but names. Names of the forgotten. The lost. The remembered. “Alenah,” Clara said, her voice carrying. “The first to see the stars under the trees.” “Karro,” Isla followed. “Who fed the sick in silence.” “Saima,” Ashani whispered. “Who sang the lullaby of the black wind.” “Ben,” Emily said. “Dylan. Mark.” The water responded, light rising like mist. But then… the humming broke. The air shifted with a sudden, violent lurch. The chamber shuddered as if struck by something from below. The roots above quivered, and from the far end of the c

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    The covenant buried

    The second path was nearly invisible, tucked between gnarled roots and vines like a wound that had healed over. Isla had seen it in the carvings—fractured glyphs lost to time, etched into stone older than any language spoken aboveground. They descended in silence, the earth growing colder and denser the deeper they went. It wasn’t just the darkness that pressed in, but something older, something aware. Clara ran her hand along the wall of the narrow tunnel, her fingertips brushing against moss-covered symbols. “This isn’t a path made for walking,” she murmured. “It’s a vein.” “A vein to what?” Emily asked. Ashani moved ahead, her lantern throwing golden light against a massive slab of stone blocking their way. “A heart,” she said. “This was built to seal something in.” Isla knelt by the slab. “The glyphs… they speak of a covenant. Not a prison. A pact.” Clara’s pulse quickened. “The Yanuwah made deals with the forest. We knew that. Bloodlines tied to the land, sacrifices… But wh

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    Between the ashes

    The air outside the cavern was still, unnaturally so, as if the world itself was holding its breath. They had withdrawn after the encounter with Varethkaal, retreating to a small rise above the hollow—Clara, Ashani, Isla, and Emily, silent and shaken. The encounter had not gone as planned. Varethkaal’s presence had been more than raw power—it was familiar, like something that had always been there, lurking in Clara’s bones. And Emily… she was different now. Touched. They sat near the edge of a shallow ravine, the ash-covered ground beneath them still warm from where WildWood had flared to life during the confrontation. The pale sunlight filtering through the twisted trees cast long, warped shadows, but the forest was quiet. For now. Clara stood with her back to the others, staring into the trees, arms crossed tight over her chest. She didn’t hear Emily approach until her voice broke the silence. “You’re angry with me,” Emily said. Clara didn’t answer immediately. She kept her eye

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    The heart of the forest

    The cavern stretched before them, its vast, open space filled with an oppressive silence. It felt as though the very air in the tunnel had been waiting for them—watching them as they descended. The walls of the cavern pulsed with an eerie energy, strange symbols carved into the stone, their origins unclear but their presence undeniable. The hum of power vibrated through the ground beneath their feet, filling the air with a low, constant resonance that Clara could feel deep in her chest. “This place,” Clara whispered, her voice barely audible, “it’s… ancient. Older than anything we’ve encountered so far.” Ashani stepped forward, her eyes scanning the cavern. “This isn’t just a place of power. It feels alive, like the land itself is breathing.” Clara nodded, her heart racing. The force that had once been contained within the seed was nothing compared to what they were facing now. The darkness they had fought was a symptom, not the cause. And whatever lay beneath Hollow Hill was the r

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    The hidden path

    The moon hung high in the sky, casting an eerie glow across the forest as Clara, Ashani, Isla, and Emily made their way deeper into the heart of WildWood. The air was thick with a strange stillness, an unsettling silence that seemed to echo in the absence of the usual nocturnal sounds. There were no crickets, no rustling leaves, no hoots from owls. It was as if the forest itself was waiting—waiting for something. Clara felt the weight of it all pressing down on her. Emily, walking beside her, had grown quiet, her eyes scanning the shadows around them. It was clear the ordeal had taken its toll on her; her movements were slow, her face pale, and her steps unsteady. Clara wanted to comfort her, but she knew there was no time for that. They had more pressing matters. “We need to get to Hollow Hill,” Clara said, breaking the silence. “It’s where the first bindings were done. It’s the only place that might still hold the answers we need.” Ashani nodded from behind them, her expression g

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    Resolution and the price of peace

    The cavern was still. The pulsating energy from the relic faded into the quiet hum of the earth, as though the forest itself had finally exhaled after holding its breath for centuries. Clara knelt down beside Emily, cradling her head in her lap as the young woman’s breath came in shallow gasps, her once-black eyes slowly returning to their natural brown. The darkness that had consumed her was gone, leaving only the haunting remains of its presence behind. Clara’s fingers trembled as she stroked Emily’s hair, the weight of what had just happened crashing down upon her. The connection had been severed—but at what cost? The earth had been scarred in ways she could not yet understand, and the forest’s pulse felt heavier now, as if the roots themselves mourned the loss. Ashani stepped forward first, her voice steady but laced with an underlying tension. “Is she…?” Clara nodded, her throat tight. “She’s alive. I think… we’ve freed her.” But there was no certainty in her words, no guaran

  • Wildwood: The veins of the earth    The final binding

    The cavern was silent, save for the distant creaking of the roots and the faint echo of Emily’s scream that still lingered in the air. Time seemed to stretch, the seconds dragging as if the world itself was holding its breath. Clara’s heartbeat thundered in her ears, and her vision blurred for a moment, caught between the oppressive darkness and the flickering light from the relic. Ashani stood frozen, her body tense, the relic still glowing brightly in her hands. But it was Isla who first broke the silence, stepping forward with a quiet but determined expression. “We have to finish it now. While we have the chance.” Clara nodded, her throat tight. She wanted to scream, to lash out, to demand the forest release its grip on Emily, but she could see the truth in Isla’s eyes. Every moment they hesitated meant the darkness would tighten its hold even more. With a silent gesture, Clara motioned for Ashani to step forward. Together, they moved toward Emily, whose body now trembled with u

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