Taboo Online

Lightning crossed the gap and entered the exposed joint beneath his raised arm. The elbow locked before the hammer reached full speed, twisting the weapon away from the junction.

It struck the edge of the southern bridge instead, releasing the stored sound in a sideways blast. The root split beneath the giant, and he dropped onto one knee with the broken opening in his chest armor exposed.

The impact left him close enough for Dorian to reach.

Dorian lunged to the edge of his oath circle and caught the ruined chest plate with the curve of his black hook. Bronze light sank into the damaged armor as he braced the shaft across his body and dragged the giant forward, pulling him away from the leader and the masked woman.

Rhea kept both panels beneath the roads. "Hold him there."

Dorian planted both feet and hauled back on the hook. "He does not cross."

Above the junction, the last group from the sixth ring reached the central terrace. Rootkeepers pulled them away from the edge while the remaining survivors below continued climbing.

Aelira felt both routes through the Heartroot. Her eyes remained closed as she followed the last living presences.

"The sixth ring is clear."

The descending road began splitting along its outer edge. With no survivors left on it, the dying anchor no longer fought the decay spreading through its supports.

One group remained on the seventh-ring route. A rootkeeper climbed at the front with an unconscious child against her chest. Behind her, two wounded defenders supported an older elf while dead roots collapsed beneath their feet.

The decay wielder appeared below the junction. Her thin fingers closed around the rising road, and brown veins spread through the remaining path.

Aelira pushed back, but the effort made the golden lifeline around her ribs flicker.

Luke felt the lower road dying through the silver wood beneath them. "How much time do they have?"

Aelira’s fingers pressed harder against the terrace. "Less than they need."

Lauren touched her blindfold with two trembling fingers. "I can look again."

Luke caught her wrist. "No."

She turned toward him. "There are still people down there."

"And you’re almost empty."

"So are you."

"That’s why I know what it looks like."

Lauren pulled once against his grip, then stopped. Their bond had faded until he could barely feel it, but her reason for fighting remained clear. She was not chasing another vision to prove she could endure it. No one else could see a way to save the final group.

The rootkeeper carrying the child stumbled when the road split beneath one foot.

Aelira pressed both hands against the terrace and sent the last clean roots downward. They wrapped around the dying route and slowed its collapse, but the decay entered them immediately.

Black veins crawled across the Queen’s wrists. Iris tightened the lifeline around her.

"Stop," she said. "It’s entering your body again."

Aelira did not look away from the road. "Not until they cross."

"You nearly died the first time."

"I remember exactly how it felt."

The rootkeeper reached the final incline while Dorian continued holding the hammer wielder at the southern bridge. Kellan’s arm shook after his last bolt, Rhea had no panel free, and Iris was maintaining three people who would collapse without her.

Luke had nothing left to contribute except a decision.

He looked at the hand gripping Lauren’s wrist, then released her.

"One look," he said. "Don’t follow every future. Find the shortest route and come back."

Lauren adjusted the blindfold with trembling fingers. "Stay where I can reach you."

"I’m not going anywhere."

She activated Oracle’s Glimpse.

The futures came slowly. Most showed the lower road breaking before the last survivors reached the terrace. In one, Aelira tried to pull them upward and allowed the decay to return to her heart. Another showed Rhea removing a panel from the sixth road too early, causing the abandoned anchor to tear the junction sideways.

Rather than following each disaster to its end, Lauren compared the first few seconds and found the detail that changed.

She pointed toward the empty upper route. "The sixth ring is clear. That panel doesn’t need to hold the road anymore. Let the upper path fall first."

Rhea understood immediately and pulled the panel from beneath the abandoned road.

The sixth-ring route tore away at once, but its fall dragged several corrupted supports with it and released the shield before the junction could twist.

Rhea sent the panel beneath the last survivors from the seventh ring. Blue light spread beneath their feet and lifted them just as the road folded into the dead roots below.

The decay wielder’s hand closed around empty wood while the shield carried the rootkeeper, the child, and the three wounded elves onto the central terrace.

Aelira felt the last living presence leave the seventh-ring route.

Her shoulders loosened for the first time since the evacuation began. "Clear."

Both remaining anchors shuddered.

The leader tore his marked hand away from the bridge and stared toward the empty routes.

"No."

Aelira pushed herself upright with Iris supporting one side and the Thornmender the other. Blood still covered her armor, and the lifeline around her ribs flickered with every breath.

Her gaze moved across the people holding the junction. Rhea’s shields remained wedged beneath the roads. Dorian kept the hammer wielder trapped at the bridge. Iris held three failing bodies together, and Kellan had finally learned to wait for the right attack. Nearby, Luke could barely stand while Lauren leaned against him after spending the last of her mana.

Aelira placed one hand against the terrace. This time, she did not attempt to command every surviving root by herself.

"Withdraw all living paths from the sixth and seventh rings."

Silver light began retreating from the final two anchors.

System windows opened before the awakened defenders.

[Final Heartroot severance initiated.]

[Sixth anchor connection failing.]

[Seventh anchor connection failing.]

[All identified survivors have reached the central Heartroot.]

Aelira looked across the gap at the Ruinborn leader.

"You wanted my kingdom," she said. "Now you can watch what remains leave your reach."

Cracks raced across the sixth and seventh anchors as both rings began tearing away from the Heartroot.