The descent into Deep Root Hollow was no longer just physical—it pressed against Ren's thoughts, his memories, his soul. Every step into the swirling mist brought flashes of recollections that weren't his, mixed with slivers of his own past. Faces blurred in his vision. His father's calloused hands. His mother's voice humming a lullaby. Moss fluttered beside him, emitting a soft green glow that seemed to push back the oppressive fog.
Kael walked ahead, quiet and sure, though his fists remained clenched and his jaw set tight. He was remembering too.
The mist parted slightly to reveal a stone clearing, half-overgrown with luminous vines. In the center stood a circular dais etched with strange glyphs—overlapping root patterns, spiraling fractals, and ancient runes Ren couldn't decipher.
As they stepped closer, his system pulsed.
System Notification: Ritual Site Detected
Binding Ritual: Pact of the Forgotten Root
Status: Incomplete
Requirement: One rootbearer, one echo fragment, and the offering of memory.
Ren's breath caught. "It wants me to give up a memory?"
Kael circled the dais slowly. "The pact is a test. Old forest magic. Before the system, before the rise of the factions. It was how the Verdant chosen connected to the land. But it takes something real in return."
A panel flickered into Ren's view.
Memory Offering – Choose One:
The warmth of your mother's voice.
The image of your childhood home.
Your first laughter.
(Warning: Memory will be lost permanently, effects unpredictable.)
Ren's heart pounded. This was no symbolic test. It was real. The fog seemed to lean closer, hungry.
Kael laid a hand on the stone surface. "When I made my pact, I gave up the face of someone I loved. I don't remember who. But I know I chose it willingly."
Ren stared at the options. The first two tugged too deeply. He couldn't bear losing them—not yet.
Slowly, he touched the third.
Memory Offering Confirmed
Laughter forgotten.
Emotional Fortitude -1
Root Affinity +2
A wave washed over him. Not pain, exactly. Just absence. A hollow silence where something light had once lived. He couldn't remember what his first laugh had sounded like anymore.
But the glyphs lit up.
The dais hummed, and a circle of light rose from it, swirling around Ren and lifting him an inch from the ground. Moss darted out of the circle, chirping wildly, but Ren felt calm.
Verdant Pact Formed
Title Earned: Pactbound Initiate
New Skill: Rootbind Echo – Temporarily tether memory spirits to your will
System Compatibility Expanded
When his feet touched the ground again, the fog around them had pulled back, creating a sphere of clarity around the clearing.
Kael exhaled, almost relieved. "The Hollow accepted you."
Ren opened his system panel. A new section blinked to life.
Pact Panel
Pact Type: Verdant Echo
Memory Fragments: 3/50
Pact Skills: Rootbind Echo (Active), Memory Ward (Locked)
Pact Progression: Tier 1 Initiate
Kael stepped beside him. "Now you can start shaping your relationship with this place. With the system. It's no longer just using you."
A rustling sound interrupted them.
From the tree line emerged three figures—echoes again, but different. These wore robes marked with glyphs, and their forms shimmered between physical and ethereal. They didn't charge. They simply stood, watching.
One of them spoke, its voice layered with multiple tones. "The pact is witnessed. The Hollow stirs. The seed has been fed."
Kael stepped in front of Ren. "What do you want?"
The echo raised a spectral hand. "A trial. One of will. One of self. If the pactbound survives, the root remembers."
Without warning, the ground cracked and a root burst upward, forming a circle around Ren. The spectral figures vanished, and Kael was pushed out by a translucent barrier.
Trial Initiated – Memory Combat Zone
Objective: Survive three Echo Avatars born from inner doubt.
Restrictions: External help disabled. Companion assistance limited.
Three lights burst into form around Ren—each taking on familiar shapes.
The first looked like a younger Ren—weak, unsure, eyes filled with fear. The second bore the face of someone Ren had once failed to protect—a fellow villager consumed by vines during the first breach. The third was shadowy, indistinct, but unmistakably powerful. Its voice was his own, but darker.
"You think you're special?" the shadow sneered. "You've done nothing but survive. The system pities you."
Ren didn't respond. He planted his feet and raised his spear. The first echo attacked—fast but hesitant.
Ren parried, swept low, and landed a clean blow. It burst into memory light.
Echo Avatar Defeated: Self-Doubt
Clarity +1
The second rushed in, full of rage and grief. Ren blocked, dodged, but it hit harder, more wildly. It screamed without words, blaming him.
He let it. Let it hit. Then stepped forward and drove his spear through its center—not with hatred, but acceptance.
Echo Avatar Defeated: Guilt
Resilience +1
The final figure—the dark version of him—smiled coldly. "You're too weak to make a difference. You'll fail, like always."
Ren didn't speak. He simply activated Rootbind Echo.
Tendrils of spectral root surged from the dais, wrapping the dark copy in glowing strands. The echo fought, roared, tried to break free—but Ren's will held.
Echo Avatar Defeated: Despair
Resolve +2
System Synchronization Deepened
The barrier dropped. Kael rushed in, spear ready, but the fight was already over. The spectral figures appeared again, heads bowed.
"The pact is sealed," they intoned in unison. "The seed remembers. The forest watches."
They dissolved into mist.
Ren dropped to one knee, breathing hard.
Kael helped him up. "You did better than I did. I nearly lost myself in that trial."
Ren looked down at his hands. They trembled, not from fear—but from transformation.
He was no longer the same.
Pact Progression Updated – Tier 1 Complete
Next Step: Seek the Verdant Core
Optional: Connect Three Memory Altars (0/3)
Moss landed on his shoulder, pressing its forehead gently against Ren's.
Kael clapped him on the back. "Come on. The Hollow may have accepted you—but we still have to get out of it alive."
They turned, the mist parting slowly to reveal a new path—one filled with root bridges, glowing fungi, and more whispers waiting in the dark.
The pact was only the beginning.