Taboo Online

The pale passage narrowed behind Luke and Lauren until living roots sealed off the ruined shelter.

Luke glanced back once. The woven wood blocked the sound of the Black Rain and the slow collapse of the barrier he had defended, but he still tightened his grip on Lauren’s hand.

"You are squeezing," she said.

"Sorry." He loosened his fingers without letting go.

Lauren’s mouth curved slightly. "I did not ask you to release me."

Luke looked ahead before his expression gave him away.

The passage sloped deeper beneath the forest. Pale green veins ran through the walls, giving them enough light to walk without stumbling, though the roots beneath their boots shifted whenever they stepped on them.

Lauren moved faster than he expected. Her free hand brushed the wall from time to time, and each touch made the nearest veins brighten. Despite the dried blood beneath her nose and the weakness left by her trial, she barely slowed when the path dipped or twisted around thicker roots.

"You can feel them?" Luke asked.

"Yes."

"All of them?"

"Not individually. I can sense where the larger paths lead and whether the roots are still alive." Her fingers passed over a darker patch, and she frowned. "Most of these are healthy."

"Most?"

"That is the best answer I can give you."

"That doesn’t sound reassuring."

"It was not meant to."

The path turned sharply and descended between two enormous roots. Lauren stepped over the first without waiting, but one leg wavered when she landed.

Luke caught her beneath the arm.

"I can walk," she said.

"I know."

He kept his hand there anyway, and for once, she did not argue.

His ribs hurt whenever he breathed too deeply, while his right shoulder had begun to stiffen. Now that the fighting had stopped, every part of him felt heavier. His mana had not fully recovered when the Root Gate opened, and although some of it was returning as they walked, he was nowhere near ready for another three waves.

Lauren did not look much better. Her pace remained determined, but her steps were no longer even, and the faint green glow beneath her skin had not completely faded. Her hair still covered the newly sharpened tips of her ears, though Luke kept glancing in their direction.

She turned her face toward him. "You are staring again."

"I’m checking whether they changed more."

"My ears?"

"Yes."

"They have not."

"How do you know?"

"Because they are attached to me."

Luke considered that. "Fair."

Her thumb brushed across the back of his hand before she pulled him forward.

"Come on. We have already lost too much time."

Lauren still watched where she stepped, but she no longer paused before every turn. Whenever the passage opened ahead of them, she pushed forward before Luke could suggest resting.

The tunnel had been shaped for travel long before the curse came. Roots curved around hollow spaces before narrowing again, sometimes forming steps and sometimes flattening into smooth walkways. Luke imagined families using the same route while the forest was still alive. Children might have raced ahead while their parents called after them, and guards might have crossed these tunnels during peaceful patrols, bored and eager to return home.

Every surviving route seemed to lead toward Lethariel, the only village still alive.

"How many settlements did you see?" he asked.

Lauren slowed, though only for a moment. "I could not count them."

"That many?"

"Yes."

"What happened to them?"

"The same thing that happened to the forest." Her fingers tightened around his. "Some were swallowed by the rain. Others were infected through the roots before anyone understood what the curse was doing. I watched each village realize too late that the corruption was already beneath them."

Luke thought of the puddle creatures and the Mire Golem rebuilding itself whenever he destroyed its knots too slowly.

"Did anyone escape?"

"Perhaps from the first villages. The memories only showed me how each one fell."

"And Lethariel is the last."

"Yes."

The answer came too quickly.

Luke studied her face. "You think it’s happening again."

"I know it is." Lauren increased her pace. "The same signs are there. Corruption inside the root network, attacks on several fronts, and enemies forcing the defenders to choose which part of the village to abandon. Lethariel is already further along than the others were when their memories began."

Luke tightened his hold beneath her arm as they descended another uneven stretch.

"Then we get there before it ends."

Lauren’s lips pressed together. "We may already be too late for many of them."

"But not all of them."

"You cannot know that."

"No, but the Queen is still fighting, and the quest is still active." Luke looked into the pale tunnel ahead. "Until we know there’s no one left to save, we keep moving."

Lauren remained quiet for several steps.

"You truly believe they are real," she said.

Luke glanced at her. "You don’t?"

"I do. That is why I am asking."

He thought about the abilities that had followed them back to Earth, the pain that remained after leaving Powerforge, and the creatures that had felt too alive to be pieces of a game. Maybe Lethariel existed in another world. Perhaps Powerforge had copied it from somewhere real, or the game had always been a doorway instead of a game.

Luke no longer cared which explanation was correct.

"You watched them die," he said. "That’s real enough for me."

Lauren’s grip tightened.

"We’ll reach them," he continued. "Show me the path, and I’ll get us through whatever is blocking it."

Her expression softened, but the urgency in her stride did not.

They walked several more steps before Luke asked the question he had been avoiding.

"Did you hear me?"

Lauren turned slightly. "When?"

"When the roots took you."

"Yes."

Luke slowed, and Lauren took another step before his grip brought her back beside him.

"You heard me hitting the ground?"

"I did."

"And you still couldn’t answer?"

"I tried."