Taboo Online

Black brands spread across the terrace beneath Luke’s knees.

Aelira noticed them first. She reached toward his wrist before stopping herself, unwilling to interfere with the hand maintaining the bridge.

"The corruption is following the mana into the core," she said. "Can you move your hand without breaking the connection?"

"No." Luke watched the brands climb toward his palm. "Lauren is still holding the other side. If I let go, the passage may close."

Aelira lowered herself beside him and pressed a bloodstained hand against the terrace. Golden mana moved through the silver wood, revealing a dark cord wrapped around one of the Heartroot’s deepest living channels.

It was not one of the seven severed Heartroot paths. The Ruinborn had driven a separate branded tether through a dead channel before the sanctuary sealed, hiding it beneath the machinery connected to the Warden’s Forge.

A groan rose from the ruins far below them.

"They anchored the core to the Warden’s Forge," Aelira said. "The Heartroot cannot separate while that tether remains."

"Can you reach it?"

"Not with the mana I have left."

Luke felt Lauren through the bond. The contamination had reached her hands and was already pressing into the new root network on Earth.

He could not allow the Ruinborn to poison the place where she was waiting.

"What can cut the tether without cutting the Heartroot?"

Aelira’s gaze moved toward his palm against the core. "Lifeblade separated the decay from my mana channels. It may recognize the tether as foreign and leave the living channel untouched."

"I don’t have a weapon, and I’m empty."

"The Heartroot can provide the blade. We need the destination to provide the rest."

A fresh pulse moved through Luke’s palm.

Clean mana entered through the bridge. Earth’s soil and water were already feeding the young roots, and a small amount of that strength had begun flowing back toward the source.

[Destination mana flow established.]

[Available flow is insufficient for full recovery.]

[Spellblade emergency response detected.]

[Lifeblade may be activated against the hostile source anchor.]

Luke read the final message twice.

"The system says the skill can reach it."

Aelira kept her hand against the terrace. "That means the attempt is possible. It does not mean it is safe."

"We’re past safe."

Aelira did not argue.

She pressed both hands into the bark, and the terrace opened between them. A narrow living blade rose from the Heartroot, smaller than the one she had formed during the battle. It had a short grip and a pale silver edge.

Luke reached toward the living blade with the arm nearest the core, but pain locked his shoulder before he could close his fingers around the grip.

Aelira guided the blade toward his free hand instead.

"Do not fight the pain. You only need enough control for one strike."

Luke closed his fingers around the handle. "Then show me where the Heartroot ends and the tether begins."

"That distinction is yours to find."

He kept one palm against the core and held the living blade in his free hand. The hostile anchor was buried too deep for him to see, but Lauren had shown him how it felt through their bond.

Its pull was rigid and unnatural. Unlike the Heartroot, it did not breathe or respond to the living mana moving around it.

Luke closed his eyes and followed that pressure deeper into the core.

The foreign tether had wrapped itself around a living channel without piercing it. A careless strike could cut the same path carrying the refugees toward Earth.

He adjusted the blade.

Aelira watched him closely. "Can you separate them?"

"Not yet. The tether moves differently."

The black brands reached his wrist. Numbness spread into his fingers while Lauren’s fear entered the bond and then quieted as she forced herself back under control.

She was still holding the mark.

Luke searched past the cold pressure until he found the Heartroot’s pulse.

The living channel moved with Lauren’s heartbeat. The foreign tether tightened between those beats, pulling whenever the natural flow weakened.

He waited through one pulse and then another.

The tether tightened again.

Luke drove the blade into the terrace beside his palm.

Silver light spread through the Heartroot.

Lifeblade followed the living channel and slipped between it and the foreign anchor. For one instant, the black cord became visible beneath the terrace, stretching from the core into the machinery below.

Luke pushed the weapon deeper.

The tether split.

A violent crack shook the sanctuary. Black brands burst across Luke’s hand before breaking apart into ash, and the recoil threw him against the root supporting his back. He kept his palm pressed firmly against the core.

Far beneath the sanctuary, something enormous collapsed inside the Warden’s Forge.

[Hostile source anchor severed.]

[Contamination removed from destination network.]

[Bridge integrity stabilizing.]

Luke looked toward the green passage. "Send someone through before they attach anything else."

Aelira studied his face. His skin had gone pale, blood ran from his hand, and his eyes kept slipping out of focus.

"You need to rest."

"I need to know the passage works."

She recognized that he would not release the core until he had proof. Instead of wasting their remaining time arguing, Aelira turned toward the nearest Rootkeepers.

"Bring the wounded child and her guardian. No weapons raised when you cross. If the passage changes or Lauren tells you to return, come back immediately."

The Rootkeeper carrying the unconscious girl stopped at the edge of the green light. Part of her hair had burned away, and fear entered her face as she looked into the unfamiliar passage.

"What waits beyond it?"

Luke felt Lauren holding the destination mark. Through her, he sensed the open field, the distant heroes, and the medical teams waiting behind them.

"People who don’t know you yet," he said. "They’re cautious, but Lauren is there. She won’t let them separate you from the child."

The Rootkeeper turned toward Aelira.

The Queen met her eyes. "You are carrying one of our wounded into an unknown world. Watch everything, remain beside the child, and return if Lauren tells you that the place is unsafe."

The Rootkeeper drew the girl closer to her chest.

"I understand, my Queen."

She stepped into the passage.

Green light closed around her and the child, leaving Aelira staring at the empty place where they had stood.