A sea of white stood in front of him..
The very ground he was standing on made of wisping fog rising ever so slightly against his feet.
Everything was fog, it was a barren cloud.
That made the person standing amidst it stand out even more than she had in the past.,
A silhouette wrapped in silver strands of the murky fog.
Long white… oh so beautiful hair.
Fox tails trailing behind her.
Al was enamored at the sight of her.
He had missed her so much.
His heart pounded as he made desperate strides toward her silhouette.
In a short time he had made it within mere steps of her, but something was different.
A crescent mark glowing faintly on her forehead.
She was turned away from him, silent, as if he was made of air..
"…Akari?"
It was wrong… why did she look like this.
The face he was expecting to see was there but wearing a cracked expression.
Literally.
Her face was covered in fractured webs across what was her fair and smooth skin.
He looked deep into her eyes as he gently cupped her face, his fingers tracing these cursed lines.
One eye shimmered with divine moonlight, the other was dim, fragmented.
"Al…" she whispered.
His arms moved to wrap them around her.
That was until she was gone, sucked into the very fog that he stood on.
He quickly dropped onto his knees desperate to claw his way through the fog to get to her.
"Wait!"
And the vision shattered like glass.
===============================================================
Albert gasped awake, back at the temple entrance, hand still pressed to the obsidian door. The seal had broken, faint traces of red script evaporating into ash.
A warmth curled around his chest, and for a brief moment, he saw a new system alert:
[Divine Fragment Acquired – "Moon's Divine Whisper"]
[Fragment Memory Stored: 1/??]
Senna ran to him. "Are you okay?! You were gone for so long, I thought something had happened to you."
Her panicked voice rambling caught Al by surprise.
Tears threatened to drop from the corners of her eyes.
He caught her in his arms without thinking, holding her tight, his shoulder wet with the tears of the worried girl..
"It's okay, I'm okay."
Her sniffles continued for a while as they sat in silence.
"I saw her," he said quietly.
"Saw who?" she whispered.
"The person I am looking for…"
"Where is she?"
Al face contorted in frustration as he himself couldn't answer that question.
"I– I have no idea, but I will find her."
He whispered, fighting the urge to cry himself.
"She's broken."
He looked back toward the temple, the wind stirring the trees.
"We have to find the rest."
'Al I'll hel-"
The sky cracked open.
Light, holy and blinding, plummeted down from the heavens like the fury of the gods themselves. The thunder that followed wasn't natural.
Watching the light flash down toward them, Albert didn't flinch.
Rushing behind the obsidian doors he held Senna in his arm taking the brunt of the force behind the lighting.
The force of nature almost knocked him over due to its strength.
Finding his balance he decided to flee from this area, before whatever had caused the unnatural lightning to strike caught up to them.
He stood outside the Temple of the Hollowed Thorn, cloak torn, boots stained with old clay.
Al focused trying to determine which way to run off with Senna.
He finally determined the best place to take off to, but Senna was frozen in fear.
Senna clung to his arm, eyes wide with panic. "They're here," she whispered.
He didn't need her to say it.
Heat filled the air, the feeling of being close to a flame.
The sigils in the air were already burning gold.
Sacred fire.
The kind only the Church of the Verdant Flame used.
"They're going to kill you, Al," Senna said, her voice quaking.
"They always do. The moment they confirm the Rootbearer's mark..."
Al wanted to calm the hysterical girl but he didn't have the chance provided to him.
A gust of wind blew through the forest path, scattering leaves. In its wake, a bell tolled.
An unnatural silence filled the forest, all could only watch in anticipation as the bell rang again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Heralding the attackers the bell rang a third and last time.
Then they came.
Clad in white armor trimmed with a cinnabar like material, the Paladins of the Flame approached with slow, sure steps.
Branches cracked under their many feet.
There were five at the front, each with a sanctified glaive crackling with divine energy.
A divine energy bestowed upon them just to slay those deemed as unholy.
Behind them marched another dozen fanatics, carrying incense burners and chains.
Albert could feel their eyes pierce him.
Their fanatic and disgusting gazes stuck to al's skin like sweat on a hot day.
"By order of the High Rootwardens," the lead paladin called out, voice amplified by a rune stitched into his throat, "we have confirmed a resonance from the Temple of the Hollowed Thorn. Unregistered activity. Unholy origin."
Albert stayed silent.
"Step forward, child," the paladin continued. "You were seen entering the temple. Do not fight, submit and your death will be painless.."
Senna gripped his hand tighter. "Al... don't do it"
"I will not repeat myself," the paladin said coldly, "Your begs for mercy will not be heard."
Another paladin stepped forward and pulled back a scroll, revealing a divine sketch.
The likeness was unmistakable.
The mark on his back.
A prophetic image.
Albert had seen it thanks to Senna drawing it in the dirt. It was the mark of corruption. Simply by having this mark he was no longer human, instead he was something much worse in the eyes of the world.
The Rootbearer.
"No trial?" Albert asked. His voice was calm.
"You don't get a trial, heretic," the lead paladin said. "You are a muck and slime of this earth, you will be cleansed for the rot you bring with you."
They raised their glaives.
There was no talking his way through this it seemed.
Albert's instincts screamed to run.
His eyes scanned his surroundings but they had them cornered here.
But Senna stood beside him, defiant.
Anger filled her face.
"Then you'll have to kill us both!" she shouted.
The Paladin moved in a flash wielding his glaive and swung down at her head.
Albert didn't think.
He moved, instinct guiding him. He pushed the child out of the way, placing himself in the path of the blade..
Al raised his hands over his head, his palms facing the sky in a desperate attempt to survive the attack.
The blade tore across his hands as he shielded her, the glaive tearing its way through his hands before the blade got stuck in his forearm.
The pain racked his body, his hands were demolished, useless from the force of the strike.
The only thing that kept him alive was the blade slowing down due to his dense bones.
Blood splashed down into the dirt.
A horrific scene was displayed in front of Senna.
His blood began to sink into the ground, staining the dirt and mud red.
Time stopped.
Something inside the earth responded.
They responded.
[Blood Acknowledged]
[Core Element: Wood – Resonant]
[System Unlocking… Beast Root Authority: Initiated]
The blood on the ground bubbled.
Crimson tendrils emerged from the soil, twisting upward, wrapping themselves around Al's injured flesh. They worked their way into his wounds, drinking his pouring blood from what were his hands.
The vines pulsed, fed by the blood, the ravenous plants grew thicker with each moment.
They were hungry.
The forest groaned.
Then screamed.
The very forest itself cried out in horror for what was to come.
They rose from the forest.
Not wolves. Not bears. Not anything natural.
These were beasts born from marrow and bark.
A chimera of artificial and natural life.
Creatures grown from the roots of human bones and the remnants of dead gods. Their eyes are dark red. Their appendages rippled with muscle-like growths of sap and bark..
The paladins froze.
"What—what is this?!"
Albert didn't answer.
He raised his hand, blood still dripping from the gaps the vines failed to fill, and the beasts obeyed.
The first wave hit with brutal force. Two paladins were ripped apart before they could scream by the ungodly beasts.
They tried to organize themselves.
The others formed defensive sigils, but the vines tore through the intangible runes scattered through the air.. Screams echoed through the sacred grove as the vines viciously drilled themselves into the cult.
Albert didn't revel in it.
He didn't smile.
He just watched.
Silent.
Unblinking.
The beasts tore through all of them.
Gnawing on the followers left behind in the paladins' attempts to fight for their survival.
The last paladin slayed some of the beasts but death meant nothing to artificial beings.
The beastly animals would be sucked into the ground and within seconds another would take its place.
It was only a matter of time before they all fell.
Al watched as his attackers lay dead before him. All of them but one.
The lead paladin lay gasping beneath the roots that had pierced his chest, Albert walked to him.
He had fought well, however that meant nothing to Al.
Crouched above the man he whispered to the dying paladin.
"You were right," he said softly. "I'm not one of you."
He turned away.
"Senna."
She was staring at him.
Not in fear or disgust.
Instead, with awe.
Walking past the bodies on the ground he walked to the girl.
He reached out his hand.
Watching as Senna gleefully took his hand a smile rose on his face.
Together, they walked into the woods, the beasts clearing a path for them.
The very trees shifted for them, uprooting themselves if they were in the way.
As the blood-soaked temple faded into the distance, the system chimed.
[Path Advancement Achieved: Tamer – Master]
[New Ability Unlocked: Bloodroot Pact]
Albert exhaled.
He felt something ancient stirring beneath his skin now.
Something insatiable.
Perhaps they were right, maybe I was a monster.
Monster or not I had no time to fear myself.
Akari was still out there.
And now, so was Y.
Somehow, he could feel her watching even now, a haunting gaze perpetually resting on him.