Chapter 115 – "The Quiet Murmur of Poison"
> "Not all death is violent. Some deaths bloom slow—like comfort too deep."
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Scene 1 – "The Calculation"
The Root Body stands in front of a dimmed mirror of bark and fiber, its reflection ever-shifting. He speaks quietly to no one in particular:
Root Body: "Seven days. That is all they have."
The poison has begun. It's gentle. Invisible. But already working.
Each Rootling who embraced comfort now walks with a dying mind.
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Scene 2 – "Whispers of Decline"
A Rootling collapses mid-laughter, clutching their chest.
Another forgets their own name.
The crew watches from the shadows. Panic brews behind their silent stares.
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Scene 3 – "The Slow Kill"
The Root Body explains to a shaken Levi:
Root Body: "The more they feed on comfort, the less the mind resists. When the mind dies, the body follows. It is not murder. It is mercy from pain."
Levi doesn't speak. He just looks at the Rootlings, realizing what he's become part of.
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Scene 4 – "Seed and the Knife"
Seed stands at the edge of a decaying bridge, broken glass in hand.
Her breathing is shallow.
Seed: "I was supposed to be more than this."
But before she can act—her vision shatters.
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Scene 5 – "Dream of the Root"
She's in a forest of blue and velvet. Petals fall like snow.
The Root Body greets her gently, almost lovingly.
Root Body: "Let me take it from you, Seed. Let me hold your sorrow."
He offers her a glowing sphere—"Comfort."
She accepts.
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Scene 6 – "Levi's Guilt"
Levi walks among the 5,000.
They chant words of peace, their eyes fogged with comfort.
He sees their slow dying and feels complicit.
But he doesn't stop them. He says nothing.
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Scene 7 – "Frostbitten Numbers"
The crew runs calculations from the frostbitten man's code.
Nothing works. Every attempt is swallowed and neutralized.
The Root Body's control is absolute. His plan is working perfectly.
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Scene 8 – "Azula's Return"
A sudden flare of warmth in the night air.
Azula Kioto, her ghost steps into the glade—her eyes crackling with emberlight.
She speaks:
Azula: "The Merge is near. Your world and his. Your memories and his command. Brace yourselves."
The crew sulk in worry.
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Scene 9 – "Seed's Body Sleeps"
Her body lies in fetal curl, untouched for hours.
Inside, she walks endlessly in the dream forest, surrounded by fabricated joy.
She cries but doesn't wake.
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Scene 10 – "Fury of the Crew"
A crew member punches the bark wall of the Den.
Maiku: "He's killing them. And they want it."
No one argues. The silence is agreement.
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Scene 11 – "The Dead Smile"
100 Rootlings gather, grinning and serene.
One drops dead mid-sentence, still smiling.
The crew can barely look.
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Scene 12 – "Azula's Warning"
She looks to Levi and Seed's slumbering form.
Azula: "You have to break her out. If she and you merge with him, if you're souls completes the Root Body... then this world is lost."
Levi says nothing as if accepting his fate.
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Scene 13 – "The Dream Begins to Fracture"
Seed begins to notice strange things in the forest.
A bird flying backwards. A tree bleeding sap.
Seed: "This isn't real."
But she doesn't want to leave.
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Scene 14 – "The Root Body Watches"
From his throne of thorns, he watches Seed's dream.
He whispers to himself:
Root Body: "She is almost ready. My soul, grown from grief. Him, he's the voice and her the soul. I am the Body."
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Scene 15 – "The Crew Fails Again"
They try to channel Azula's energy into the frostbitten codes.
A brief spark.
Then collapse.
Even Azula's presence cannot disrupt the Root Body's hold.
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Scene 16 – "Levi's Isolation"
He sits alone under the cracked moonlight, repeating Azula's words.
Levi: "The Merge... The Merge..."
He wonders if he'll lose Seed even himself. Or if he already has.
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Scene 17 – "The First Mass Death"
Ten Rootlings drop within the hour.
Their smiles linger. Their breathing stops like the hush of a story's end.
The crew can't keep up with the burials.
Reen bursts into tears. Gift clutches her softly.
This time is truly saddening.
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Scene 18 – "Seed's Stillness"
Inside the dream, she lies in a bed of moss.
The Root Body strokes her hair.
Root Body: "All you have to do is stay."
Her eyes flutter.
She's both comforted and in despair.
She doesn't move.
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Scene 19 – "Azula's Final Line"
Before fading back into an unknown place , Azula says:
Azula: "You have three days before she's no longer hers."
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Scene 20 – "The Murmur Continues"
The poison spreads like wind in the grass.
Every Rootling sighs in contentment.
Every Rootling is dying.
And the Root Body smiles.
To Be Continued.....
Narrator (Closing Monologue):
> "Some endings do not come with war drums.
They arrive as lullabies — whispered softly, so softly, you thank them as they kill you."
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"Seven days left.
Not screamed. Not warned.
Just measured —
like rainfall before the flood."
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"Laughter folds.
Names vanish.
And still, the world smiles —
as if forgetting were a gift."
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"Levi sees now.
But understanding is not the same as saving.
And guilt… is not resistance."
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"The pain should wake her.
But comfort wraps around her wrist,
guiding the blade away.
Even despair… is softened."
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"The dream is velvet and bloom.
And the lie is wrapped in love.
What monster offers peace?
The one who no longer needs to hide."
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"He walks among the dying
as if counting candles.
But says nothing.
Sometimes silence is the worst allegiance."
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"The code is ash.
Every answer swallowed.
The frostbitten man left a key—
but the lock rewrote itself."
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"Fire walks again.
But even flame hesitates
before a world that asked to be unmade."
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"She sleeps,
not peacefully—
but willingly.
That is the true horror."
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"Rage with no target.
Grief with no door.
And still—no one leaves."
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"One drops.
Still grinning.
Because the poison taught them to love dying."
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"You cannot save a world
that wants to be lost.
But maybe… you can save one soul."
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"Even paradise can glitch.
Even lies bleed."
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"He speaks like a father.
But builds like a god.
He does not need worship—
only surrender."
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"Hope sparks.
Then dies—again.
Even Azula's fire cannot burn through comfort's design."
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"The words echo.
But action never comes.
Regret is easy.
Rebellion is not."
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"They fall like leaves—
not screaming—
just… gone.
And still they smile."
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"He strokes her hair.
He calls it love.
But she is only asleep
because the truth no longer burns."
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"Three days left.
Not to save the world.
Just to save her."
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"The Rootlings do not cry.
The poison does not stab.
It sings.
And in that soft, sweet murmur—
the volume ends."
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Narrator – Closing Whisper:
> "And so ends Volume 8 — not with a scream,
but a breath held too long.
The danger was never wrath.
It was the softness that made you stay.
That's the lie.
That's the poison."