Chapter 11: The Gate Beneath No Wind
The moment they stepped into the ruin's central chamber, the air changed.
No breeze.
No echo.
Not even the warmth of breath misted in the cold.
It was as if reality itself had been paused.
Vera knelt by the altar stone, brushing dust from ancient markings—glyphs that looked alive. "This language… It predates all recorded empires."
Yen frowned. "It's not a language. It's a binding sequence."
"Binding what?" Kara asked.
Before anyone could answer, Riven's body locked up. The glyphs beneath him pulsed—slow, like a heartbeat—and the stone platform split open into five glowing roots that curved around him.
One red.
One blue.
One green.
One silver.
One gold.
Each root shimmered with elemental energy. Then all five fused into a single ring of light, forming a seal beneath his feet.
Elysia stepped forward. "Riven, are you alright?"
He opened his mouth to speak—
—but the world around him vanished.
Riven stood in a space without direction. A void, but not empty. It was waiting.
Then came a voice. Not thunder. Not whisper.
A tone like roots twisting beneath the soil of creation.
"Bearer of the Fivefold Root… your awakening has begun."
Before him, a figure formed. A man—no, a being—woven from flickering branches and raw light. Five halos floated behind his head, each one pulsing in sync with Riven's soul.
"You've stepped into the Veil Between Roots," the being said. "A hidden strand of reality. One of the lost planes."
Riven took a shaky breath. "Who are you?"
"A shadow of the one who bore this tree before you. A witness to its growth… and destruction."
"What is this place?"
"It is the first of five. The Cradle Plane, grown at the root of your legacy. It tests the soul, then grants passage—if you are worthy."
"And if I'm not?"
The being smiled faintly.
"Then the tree rejects you. And you are returned to dust."
Outside, Riven collapsed, unconscious.
The roots retracted, vanishing as though they'd never existed.
But now, etched faintly across the floor, a hidden seal glowed beneath the dust. Vera touched it carefully.
"A trial space," she said. "Sealed with legacy law."
Elysia nodded slowly. "And he just got pulled inside one."
Yen frowned. "We'll need to guard him."
Kara already had her sword drawn. "The minute these roots showed up, every beast within five kilometers went quiet. That means something else is coming."
From the outer trees, branches shifted.
The forest trembled.
Something old had smelled the Fivefold Pulse—and it was coming.
Inside the Cradle Plane, Riven stood before five stone steps—each one marked with a symbol of an element.
The voice returned.
"The First Gate is Flame. Will you burn yourself to become something new?"
Riven nodded.
The platform beneath him ignited.
Pain lanced through him—not of the body, but the soul.
The Flame Root burst into a brighter red inside his dantian, and the seal on his First Flame Vein cracked open fully.
You have awakened the Fourth Vein of Body Foundation.
Flame root harmonization: 43%.
But it wasn't a system voice. It was natural resonance, the tree responding to his choice.
The Trial continued.
Outside, Kara stood firm as trees parted unnaturally, clearing a path for a beast unlike any they had seen.
It wasn't large.
But its presence was colossal.
A thin, four-legged creature made of bark, bone, and smoke, its antlers crackling with cold flame.
Yen whispered: "Is that... a Root-Walker?"
"No," Vera said. "It's a Remnant Guardian. These only appear to devour failed inheritors."
Elysia's eyes hardened. "Then we don't let it near Riven."
They drew weapons.
And the battle began.