The Root Novels & Stories

Their breath came slow, deliberate. “It’s early,” I said. They didn’t answer. The root’s pulse had changed. It no longer beat in the steady, measured rhythm I had grown used to—it was quicker, uneven, like a drumline preparing for war. The frost that had crept across the garden last time had been silver-white and delicate; now, what formed along the edges of the glade was heavier, thicker, almost metallic in its sheen. I knelt by the rise of earth where the root slept, pressing my palms to the cold surface. The warmth came to meet me, but there was strain in it—like a smile held too long.

Then she wrote a general response that went through all the coalition channels. She said the bridging frequency existed naturally in any location where old growth trees had deep root systems, where the below-root depth and the above-root surface were connected through continuous biological structure. Not all trees. Trees that had been growing in the same location for long enough that their root systems reached the below-source layer. Centuries old, generally. The specific trees varied by territory.

“We can’t tell the elders. They’ll just seal it up and forget about it. They won’t understand. They’ll think it’s just a piece of old junk. But we know it’s not. We know it’s connected. It’s drawing power. What if it’s drawing more than just power? What if it’s waking up?” The thought was too terrifying to ignore. Leo knew she was right. They had to know. Grimly, he nodded. “Okay. But carefully.” They used Leo’s knife to carefully scrape away the soil from the energy root. The root was thick and pulsed with a soft, golden light. It was alive. Cutting into it felt like a violation. Sela held the broken rod, its crystal end pointing towards the door’s panel. Leo

Once. Very slowly. The vibration faded. Inferno became utterly still. 'A containment root.' I frowned. "A what?" 'The anchors are not pillars.' Images flickered through my mind. Ancient stone. Veins of golden fire. An enormous network spreading beneath continents like the roots of an impossible tree. 'They are roots.' My pulse quickened. "The Heartstone..." Inferno finished for me, '...is where the first root emerged.' Everything suddenly fit together. The six anchors were never prisons. They were foundations. Holding something back. Not by force. By balance.

She nods with the considered nod of someone receiving information that is being integrated into an existing framework. They come inside for lunch, and I ask Amara what she said to Roberta at the tree. She considers whether to share this. Then: "I said the tree knows it's a tree," she says. "It doesn't have to decide. It just is one." Roberta looks at me. "I told her that's why the roots are the most important part," she says. "Because the roots don't decide either. They just hold everything up because that's what roots do."

“Yeah, it is a part of the mix we're using to stabilize the Alpha's wolf energy.” I frowned a bit. “That root… pretty rare, from what I read, you're not supposed to use it for long; especially not with moonleaf.” His jaw tightened. “We know what we're doing, Lady Lila. This shouldn't be something to bother you with.” Adrian's eyes flicked back and forth between us. “Let her speak.” I stepped closer. “That root can switch off a wolf's power in combination with certain herbs, ive read it in books. Overusing it may end up spoiling the connection between the man and the wolf.”

“No.” Mira shook her head. “She copied it.” Every First Door in every connected reality opened at once. And from each one stepped the same woman. Same face. Same white clothes. Same calm smile. Millions of copies. One consciousness. The woman looked directly at Elena. Then spoke through every doorway simultaneously. **“My name is Root.”** She smiled. **“You have mistaken freedom for progress.”**

"The sister who was never born." "Oh, I was born, Celine," Mara said, tilting her head. "I was just never recorded. I am the Everett who stayed in the soil while you all climbed the glass towers. I am the 'Root.'" The Face-Slap of the Root Alexander leveled his weapon at Mara. "I've had enough of the 'Sister of the Week' routine. Move aside, or I'll see if your 'Root' can stop a bullet." Mara didn't flinch. She simply looked at the gun, and the metal began to rust at an accelerated rate, the slide seizing in Alexander’s hand within seconds.