Taboo Online

Dr. Shaw answered before Luke could repeat the question.

"Lauren is conscious at North Basin. The Heartroot completed the transfer and has begun taking root."

Relief loosened the pressure in Luke’s chest, but he still tried to push himself upright. His left hand pressed against the capsule lining while his right arm remained beside him, heavy and nearly useless.

"I need to see her."

"You need to stay flat until your heart rate and neurological activity settle." Shaw checked the monitor beside the capsule without looking away from its readings. "Being awake does not mean your nervous system is ready for movement."

Luke turned toward the neighboring capsules instead of fighting the hands holding him down.

Kellan’s cover had already opened. Two nurses supported his leg while the muscles beneath the skin spasmed hard enough to shake the padded rest. There was no torn flesh, blood, or white-bark splint in the real world, but Kellan’s face tightened with every involuntary contraction.

Farther down the row, Dorian stared at his hands while trying to close them. His fingers moved halfway before trembling apart again. Iris remained inside her capsule with both hands curled near her chest, and fine golden threads flickered between her fingers whenever one of the monitors sounded.

They had all returned.

Only then did Luke stop trying to rise.

Dr. Shaw noticed the change and continued in the same practical tone. "Your in-game injuries did not reproduce directly. The scans show severe mana depletion, neurological overload, and sustained muscle contraction through the shoulder and forearm that held the source core. Your right hand may remain weak or numb while those pathways recover."

Luke tried to move his fingers. His smallest one twitched, but the others did nothing.

"How long?"

"I don’t have a reliable estimate. None of our previous supervised dives placed a human nervous system under this kind of interworld strain."

No black brands marked Luke’s skin. Even so, a cold ache remained deep in the wrist where the dead loop had tightened.

Dr. Shaw followed his gaze. "We are also recording an abnormal awakened-energy pattern around that wrist. It appears contained, but our equipment cannot identify it."

"The dead part of the Ruinborn tether is still there."

Shaw’s attention shifted briefly toward another monitor. "You will explain exactly what that means once your breathing is stable enough for a full account."

Luke lowered his head into the support.

"How long before you let me go to North Basin?"

"First, your heart rate needs to come down. After that, I need a stable neurological scan and no further involuntary contractions in the right arm." Shaw adjusted the sensor near Luke’s shoulder. "Cooperate with us, and I’ll discuss transport once those conditions are met."

Luke looked toward the clock above the medical station.

Shaw noticed but did not comment. He returned to the monitors while the staff continued examining the others.

Morning light lay across North Basin by the time a Bureau medical transport carried Luke through the outer checkpoint.

The facility staff had approved the trip only after several hours of stable readings, and the conditions attached to that permission made it clear they could end the visit at any moment. Luke sat in a reinforced wheelchair with his right arm secured in a support sling. Sensors remained beneath his shirt, and a portable monitor traveled beside him while a nurse watched its screen.

North Basin no longer resembled the emergency site from the Bureau’s first live feeds.

A silver trunk rose near the artificial lake, broad enough to hide several shelters behind it. Younger branches spread from its sides and held clusters of pale green leaves that trembled despite the still morning air. Thick roots crossed the field in raised ridges before disappearing beneath the water.

The Bureau had moved its equipment to the far side of the basin. Medical shelters, vehicles, and command stations formed a rough arc beyond the active roots. Hundreds of elves occupied the ground between them, resting in family groups or beneath open canvas roofs. Many slept with their weapons close enough to reach.

Luke searched the field, but the silence inside partner resonance made it difficult to think about anything else. Before the bridge, he had always sensed something from Lauren when they were near each other. Now the place where her presence belonged remained empty.

The Bureau medic guiding the chair checked the route markers.

"She’s near the western root line."

Luke followed the direction of his hand and saw Rhea first.

She stood beside a low silver root with one arm wrapped across her ribs. No panels hovered around her, and exhaustion had hollowed the skin beneath her eyes.

Lauren sat beside her with padded medical wraps covering both wrists and the bases of her palms. Her fingers remained uncovered but moved stiffly. Her long black hair concealed most of the subtle points of her ears, and the wide black blindfold remained in place.

The approaching wheelchair drew no reaction from her.

"Lauren."

Her head snapped toward him.

She rose too quickly, and Rhea caught her elbow before she lost her balance. Lauren waited only long enough to steady herself before crossing the remaining distance with her hands held carefully in front of her.

Luke tried to stand.

The nurse locked the wheelchair before he managed to lift himself more than an inch.

"Stay seated."

Lauren reached him and placed both hands against his face. Her uncovered fingers moved over his cheeks, his jaw, and the side of his neck, confirming his presence through touch.

"The bridge closed," she said. "After that, there was nothing. I kept reaching for you, but you were gone."

Luke covered one of her hands with his left.

"I couldn’t feel you either."

Some of the tension left her shoulders.

Luke leaned forward, and Lauren drew him against her. His injured shoulder pressed awkwardly between them, so she adjusted at once and held him from the left side, keeping pressure away from the sling.

He stopped trying to support himself and let his weight settle against her.

A faint pulse moved beneath their joined hands.

Partner resonance returned so weakly that Luke almost mistook it for his heartbeat, but Lauren felt it at the same moment. Her breath caught, and her fingers tightened against the back of his neck.

A system message appeared between them.

[Partner resonance reestablished.]

[Interworld strain detected.]

[Bond stabilization in progress.]

Lauren held him until the words faded.

"It’s faint," Luke said.

"Yes, but it answered."

She lowered her face into his hair and drew him a little closer.

Rhea turned toward the Heartroot, giving them what privacy the open field allowed.

Across the nearest roots, Aelira watched from a medical cot. A Thornmender sat beside her while two human medics adjusted equipment around the injuries beneath her damaged armor.

The Queen placed one hand against the silver bark.

A quiet acknowledgment traveled through the Heartroot to Lauren.

The source anchor returned.

Lauren kept the message to herself. For the moment, her attention remained on Luke.

Red Hound approached after giving them several minutes together.

He had removed his jacket and rolled his sleeves above his elbows. Dirt covered his shoes, and one cuff had torn sometime during the night. A group of senior Bureau personnel waited near the command station, but none followed him across the roots.

"The growth has slowed enough for the medical shelters to remain where they are," he said. "North Basin stays under emergency control while we establish a temporary arrangement with Aelira."

Lauren loosened her hold on Luke but kept one hand against his shoulder.

"Has she been told what that means for her people?"

"The emergency rules from last night remain in place while the wounded are being treated. Aelira retains command over her people inside the temporary sanctuary perimeter, and no one is changing that arrangement today."

"What happens when the medical emergency ends?"

"Anything permanent goes above me," Red Hound said. "What I can guarantee is that Aelira will be part of those discussions, and nobody under my command is changing the arrangement before then."

Luke noticed the tablet beneath his arm.

"What happened?"

Red Hound opened the first report and turned the screen toward them.

The image showed the interior of a concrete storage building. Black branching marks covered one wall and spread across the floor around a stripped generator. Heavy industrial equipment stood nearby, its manufacturer plates ground away.

Luke had seen the same combination inside Lethariel. The Ruinborn had fitted Earth-built machinery with black plating wherever it connected to a magical source.

"When was this found?"

"Two hours ago. A utility crew reported a power surge in an abandoned freight district near East Harbor. The first response team found the building empty."

Lauren’s hand tightened against Luke’s shoulder.

"What did they leave behind?"

"Food, medical supplies, several cots, and fresh vehicle tracks. The site had room for more people than the four elites we watched escape."

Red Hound changed the image.

A black sigil had been burned into the concrete beneath a collapsed metal frame. The center remained incomplete, but the outer lines curved inward in the same hooked pattern Luke remembered from the watchtower.

"That looks like the escape mark the masked woman used."

"How closely?"

"Close enough that I wouldn’t step over it."

Lauren turned her covered face toward the tablet. "Describe the center."

Luke explained the incomplete lines and the way they curved beneath the metal frame. Her expression tightened before he finished.

"The structure matches the brands attached to the Heartroot channels. Is it still active?"

"One responder crossed the outer line before the site was secured. His leg went numb for eleven minutes, then recovered after they removed him from the building."

"Then the mark had not gone inert."

Red Hound opened another page of the report.

"The property was leased through a shell company three months ago. The equipment and supplies suggest the Ruinborn had support on Earth before the attack on Lethariel."

The implication settled heavily in Luke’s stomach. Whatever route had brought the Ruinborn back to Earth, the safehouse had been waiting for them. Someone had prepared the location, stocked it, and expected their return months before the attack on Lethariel.

Red Hound brought up security footage from a camera across the street. Rain blurred the image, but four people were visible as they left the building and entered a dark delivery van.

The branded leader went first, black lines showing above his collar. The hammer wielder had to turn sideways to fit through the van door while carrying a long wrapped weapon over one shoulder. Streetlight flashed across the thread wielder’s pale mask, and the thin decay wielder followed with one hand held away from her coat.

Luke leaned closer despite the nurse’s warning glance.

"It’s all four of them."

Lauren went still beside him.

"Do we know where the van went?" Luke asked.

"Traffic cameras lost it near the southern transit district."

The radio at Red Hound’s belt crackled before he could continue.

"Command, this is Tunnel Team Two. We have a second site in the south transit service line. Same black growth along the walls."

Red Hound lifted the radio. "Any civilians inside?"

"One maintenance worker is missing. A witness saw a woman leave through the service exit about twenty minutes ago. Pale mask and dark coat."

Lauren’s restored presence sharpened through the bond.

Red Hound lowered the radio and studied them both.

"A response team is already moving. Neither of you is entering that tunnel until Shaw clears you for field work."

Luke looked at his useless right hand, then at the monitor beside his chair.

"I can’t go into the tunnel like this."

"No," Red Hound said, without softening the answer.

Luke rested his left hand over Lauren’s wrapped wrist, careful not to press against the tender area.

"Then send us the live feed, every scan, and whatever the first team finds. We can start reading the marks before the trail gets colder."

Red Hound’s gaze dropped briefly to Luke’s sling. After a moment, he turned the tablet toward them and opened the incoming tunnel channel.

The first live image showed black brands still spreading across the concrete.