Taboo Online

Hearing her name tightened something inside her chest.

She moved toward him while the withdrawal message remained visible at the edge of her vision. One choice would send her back to the gate.

Luke reached toward the roots.

"I need you."

Lauren stopped.

The creature raised one massive arm above him.

Luke looked frightened, but that alone proved nothing. He had never pretended danger could not scare him.

Something else felt wrong.

Lauren searched for their connection.

Whenever she sent a vision to Luke, his presence felt warm and familiar inside her awareness. Their partner resonance had survived the Dungeon of Truth, awakened with them in the real world, and followed them back into Powerforge.

The Luke in front of her had no presence beyond the image.

Lauren activated Unveiled Weakness.

Nothing appeared.

There were no strained mana channels inside his body, no bruises beneath the false blood, and no physical responses matching the injuries painted across him.

The curse had copied what Luke looked like when he was hurt. It had not copied how his body or mana actually worked.

"Come back," the vision pleaded.

Lauren’s hands curled at her sides.

The imitation knew what she wanted to hear, but it did not know Luke.

He might call her name. He might panic, curse the trial, and dig through the earth until his hands bled.

He would never ask her to abandon people who needed help so she could save him instead.

During the Bureau examination, Luke had offered to enter Powerforge alone because he believed it would protect her. Lauren had refused because she wanted to grow strong enough to stand beside him.

If she left now simply because the curse showed her Luke in danger, she would prove that he had been right to worry.

Lauren stepped away from the vision.

"You are not Luke."

His frightened expression hardened while the blood covering his clothes turned into black corruption.

"You left him."

"No."

"He is fighting because the roots took you."

"He is fighting because he chose to protect the gate."

The false Luke forced himself upright.

"He will die without you."

Lauren’s throat tightened because she could not know that was untrue.

Trusting Luke meant accepting that he could handle danger without her watching every second.

"He will do his part," she said. "I will do mine."

The creature struck.

Its arm passed through Luke and shattered the vision, causing corruption to burst around Lauren.

[The Oracle has rejected the desired lie.]

[The third truth has been accepted.]

[Protection does not require control.]

The Heartroot passage returned with corruption rushing toward her along the floor. The withdrawal message disappeared as the roots beside Lauren opened.

Living wood folded away from a hollow shaped to hold a standing body. Pale light filled the narrow space, and smaller roots waited around its edges.

Memories entered Lauren’s mind.

Elven women stood inside similar hollows across different generations. Some were young, while others carried centuries in their faces. Roots wrapped around them, bark closed over their bodies, and their awareness spread through entire forests while warriors fought outside.

The Heartroot was offering Lauren the same protection.

A system message appeared.

[The Heartroot cannot protect an unbound human consciousness from direct corruption.]

[Accept temporary assimilation.]

[Warning: The Oracle will surrender physical movement.]

[Warning: Destruction of the Heartroot will damage the Oracle.]

[Refuse and withdraw.]

Dark mana entered the chamber.

Lauren studied the hollow.

Allowing living wood to close around her sounded uncomfortably similar to being buried again. Once the roots bound her arms and legs, she would have no way to escape on her own.

The spirit could be corrupted, and the villains attacking Lethariel wanted the Heartroot intact. They might eventually gain control of anything connected to it.

Lauren did not know whether the trial would release her if something went wrong.

Even so, she stepped toward the hollow.

"I hope you understand how much trust I’m placing in you."

The roots moved gently around her boots.

Lauren entered.

Warm wood pressed against her back. Its surface was smoother than ordinary bark but still rough enough to catch against her clothes.

Roots closed around her ankles first, winding over her boots and traveling up her calves until both legs were held firmly in place. Another crossed her waist and pulled her deeper into the hollow.

Her breathing quickened as living wood curved around her hips, ribs, and shoulders. It adjusted to the shape of her body with uncomfortable precision.

She tried to move one arm, but the root around her wrist tightened.

"Not very reassuring."

Warmth passed through the bindings.

Lauren forced herself to relax while the roots guided her arms away from her sides and held them against the inside of the trunk. Another curved across her chest and secured her without making it harder to breathe.

She could no longer move.

The corruption reached the opening as the bark began to close.

For one moment, Lauren considered ordering the spirit to stop. Then the trunk sealed around her.

Darkness covered everything except the violet glow of her blindfold.

She could not turn her head, lift a finger, or shift her weight. The roots supported her so completely that she no longer felt the ground beneath her boots.

Panic rose through her, and the bindings tightened in response.

"Do not make that worse."

The pressure eased.

Lauren drew one slow breath, then another. She had chosen this. The tree had shown her the risks and allowed her to leave.

She stopped struggling.

The Heartroot opened itself to her, and her awareness spread beyond the sealed trunk.

Roots stretched in every direction, carrying water, mana, memory, and life beneath the cursed ground. Dead branches reached toward settlements that had disappeared long ago.

One living path continued toward Lethariel, while another rose toward the shelter.

Lauren felt movement above her.

The Heartroot carried the rhythm of Luke’s steps through the soil. Bursts of mana followed repeated impacts as he moved, stopped, then crossed several yards through the sudden distortion of Quickstep.

He was alive, and relief made Lauren’s next breath shake.

The false vision had lied. Luke was fighting, but he was far from helpless.

The roots could not carry his thoughts, yet they showed enough for her to understand what he was doing. His movements remained purposeful, his mana followed familiar patterns, and every retreat ended with him turning back toward the gate.

Pride warmed her chest.

"That’s my boy."

The Heartroot carried the feeling upward, but the connection ended before it reached him.

Lauren turned her attention back to the corruption.

From inside the tree, the invading mana no longer looked like a single flood. Mana knots held every stream together and connected the curse to infected parts of the roots.

Unveiled Weakness activated across the network.

Hundreds of pale fractures appeared, and pain tore through Lauren’s temples before she could prepare for it. She could not raise her hands or step away from the connection.

The roots held her in place while the tree waited for direction.