Taboo Online

The ground swallowed Lauren before Luke could pull her free.

Soil pressed against her from every direction as thick roots wrapped around her arms, waist, and legs. They dragged her deeper before she could find anything solid enough to push against.

"Luke!"

Her voice disappeared into the earth.

Something struck the ground above her, sending the impact through the roots and into her body. Another blow followed, then another, each one harder and more frantic than the last.

Luke was attacking the soil with his spear.

"Stop!" Lauren shouted. "Luke, stop!"

There was no chance he could hear her.

The roots carried her farther from the shelter while the impacts above gradually weakened. She tried to pull one arm free, but the living bindings only tightened. They held her firmly without crushing her.

A violet system window appeared in the darkness.

[Hidden Quest discovered.]

[Rootbound Oracle Trial triggered.]

[The Heartroot has chosen an Oracle.]

[Enter the memory beneath the curse.]

[Find the final living branch.]

Lauren stared at the messages through the faint glow of her blindfold.

"The Heartroot?"

The earth vanished.

Warm air touched her face as her boots settled onto soft grass. She stumbled forward, expecting the roots to remain wrapped around her, but nothing held her anymore.

The silence bothered her immediately. No rain hammered the canopy, no mud shifted beneath her feet, and no growls waited somewhere beyond the trees. She heard only leaves moving softly overhead.

Lauren raised her face.

Ancient trees surrounded her, their pale trunks wide enough to hold entire buildings. Silver-green leaves filled the branches and reflected the violet sky above, casting gentle light over the forest.

Homes had been grown into the living wood. Curving bridges connected the trees, clear streams flowed between exposed roots, and lanterns shaped like unopened flowers hung from the branches.

Elves moved throughout the settlement. Some carried baskets between market stalls, while others wore fitted armor and practiced with bows beneath the trees. Children ran across the bridges, laughing loudly enough to draw warnings from several adults.

None of them reacted to Lauren.

A young girl rushed toward her, and Lauren stepped aside on instinct. The child passed straight through her body without slowing, leaving a cold feeling behind.

"This is a memory."

A deep tremor moved through the ground and rose through the soles of her boots. No words came with it, but grief settled inside her chest with such force that she nearly mistook it for her own.

The trees began to shake as the violet sky darkened.

Black Rain spilled through the canopy. Silver leaves shriveled wherever it touched, and pale bark turned gray beneath spreading stains. The streams below thickened into black water while the roots supporting the village twisted violently out of shape.

Elven screams filled the settlement.

The memory changed too quickly for Lauren to follow. Homes collapsed as corrupted roots tore through them, and creatures formed from the rain before crawling into the broken streets. Darkness swallowed the village, then gave way to another.

This settlement had been built around a lake covered in glowing flowers. Black Rain spread across the water, and pale hands rose beneath the surface to drag fleeing elves into the depths.

Another village appeared, hidden among enormous red leaves. Then came one built beneath the roots of a mountain.

Each settlement fell differently, but they all ended the same way. The rain came, the roots died, and another connection beneath the forest went silent.

Lauren felt each loss through the ground. Every destroyed village left behind an empty place inside something far larger than any single tree.

The Heartroot Spirit was not telling her what had happened. It was making her feel everything it remembered.

"How many?" Lauren whispered.

Countless green lights appeared beneath the soil, all connected by shining roots. One by one, those lights turned black until only a single green point remained.

It pulsed weakly in the distance.

Lauren stepped toward it, but voices rose all around her.

"Help us!"

"Oracle!"

"Please, our children are trapped!"

The dead villages returned throughout the forest. Elves reached toward her from burning bridges, flooded homes, and shattered temples, and every settlement looked real enough to touch.

A mother shielded two children beneath a collapsing root. Wounded defenders struggled to hold a bridge while Black Rain creatures climbed toward them. An elderly elf remained trapped inside a burning archive as flames consumed the shelves behind him.

Purple light spread through Lauren’s blindfold as Oracle’s Glimpse activated without her command.

Possible escapes formed around each disaster. The mother could reach a tunnel if someone warned her to turn left. The defenders might survive if they abandoned the bridge. The elderly elf still had time to escape through a window behind him.

Lauren reached toward the nearest vision.

"This way!"

Mana left her body.

The mother turned toward the tunnel, gathered her children, and ran. Just as they disappeared inside, the vision snapped back to its beginning.

Once again, the woman crouched beneath the collapsing root while her children screamed beside her.

Lauren stared at them.

"Turn left!"

The second warning drained more mana. The mother gathered both children, reached the tunnel, and vanished inside.

Moments later, the scene restarted.

Nothing Lauren did could change the ending because the village had already died.

The other settlements continued calling to her. Every voice carried fear, pain, and desperate hope. The Heartroot’s grief made their pleas feel alive, while Oracle’s Glimpse surrounded them with futures that could no longer happen.

Lauren pressed two fingers against her temple as the pressure behind her blindfold grew worse. Somewhere inside the overlapping disasters, she needed to find what made the final connection different.

The dead villages repeated perfectly. The same branches fell at the same moment, the same defenders raised their weapons in the same way, and every scream came at exactly the same time.

Nothing ever changed.

Lauren turned toward the final green connection.

That vision would not stay still. Soldiers changed position, arrows followed different paths, and living roots rose from the ground only to collapse when enemies struck them. Every decision created new possibilities.

The dead villages only repeated what had already happened.

This one was still alive.