Chapter 74 – The Mind That Watches Back
The silence that followed the retreat of the shadows was worse than the chaos that came before it.
It pressed against Ironroot's ears, thick and unnatural, as if the cavern itself was holding its breath. The roots he had driven into the stone still vibrated faintly, humming with energy that hadn't yet decided to settle. Their green glow pulsed, faint but stubborn, keeping the fissure bound—for now.
He remained still, palms resting against the cold floor, eyes half-closed.
Listening.
Not just to the cavern…
But to the Blackwood.
To the space behind the stone.
To the feeling that crawled just beneath his skin, like something brushing the underside of his thoughts but never quite breaking the surface.
Shadowblade was the first to move. Her boots barely made a sound as she stepped closer to him. Even in the dark, her form was precise, alert, controlled. Her eyes never stopped scanning the moving walls.
"It didn't flee," she whispered. "It's still here."
"I know," Ironroot replied.
Titanbound stood a few feet away, his molten fists dimmed now, cracking softly as they cooled. Steam hissed from his knuckles where the heat still clung to the air. His shoulders were tense, coiled tight like a drawn bow.
"I don't like an enemy that watches instead of fights," he growled. "It means it's thinking."
"That's the problem," Shadowblade said quietly. "It's been thinking since the moment it noticed us."
A faint tremor rippled through the cavern then. So subtle that a normal person would have missed it.
Ironroot didn't.
The roots beneath his hands shifted as if disturbed by a dream. A tiny crack fractured across the surface of the stone near the fissure. The hum deepened.
And in his mind—
You listen to the ground…
The thought slithered in without permission.
Ironroot's eyes snapped open.
He pulled his hands back violently as if the stone had burned him. The green glow along his arms flickered, unstable for the first time in days.
"Titanbound," he said sharply. "Did you… say anything just now?"
Titanbound frowned. "I didn't speak."
Shadowblade's eyes narrowed. "I heard it too."
A second tremor rolled through the ground, stronger this time. The fissure tugged outward slightly, widening, just a thin line of deeper black opening in the stone.
Then the voice came again.
Not from the walls.
Not from the shadows.
But from inside Ironroot's head.
You root yourself to the earth like it is your ally. You forget… the earth remembers everything that ever bled upon it…
The temperature dropped.
Titanbound's molten fists brightened instinctively.
"Watcher!" he barked. "Show yourself!"
But nothing appeared.
No shape.
No form.
Only the growing tension… and the pressure, heavy as the weight of a mountain settling on their minds.
Ironroot stood slowly, his expression tightening.
"This isn't the Watcher as we knew it," he said quietly. "It's deeper now. More connected to the fissure. To the Blackwood."
Shadowblade stepped closer to him. "Can it control your roots?"
"I don't know," he answered honestly. "But it's trying to… understand them. And through them, it's trying to understand me."
A soft, unnatural sound echoed through the cavern then.
Almost like laughter.
It slid along the walls, bounced through the cracks, crawled through their ears.
Three stand above the abyss, the voice murmured. But only one belongs to it…
The fissure pulsed again—harder.
Suddenly, the roots that held it in place began to shake violently. One snapped with a dry crack. Another twisted unnaturally, turning in the wrong direction.
Ironroot's eyes widened.
"It's trying to turn the Blackwood against me!"
"Then fight it!" Titanbound roared.
Ironroot slammed his foot into the ground.
"Blackwood!" he commanded, his voice echoing like thunder. "You answer to me!"
For a moment, the forest responded.
A surge of green light raced through the roots, stabilising them again, forcing them to obey.
But the victory was fragile.
Pain exploded behind Ironroot's eyes.
A vision slammed into his mind.
He saw the forest burning.
Roots writhing in agony.
Branches twisted into bones.
A shadowed throne growing from the centre of the destroyed Blackwood.
And upon it—
A shape.
Tall.
Still.
Watching him.
Waiting.
Ironroot staggered, grabbing his head as the vision vanished as quickly as it had come.
Shadowblade caught him before he hit the ground.
"What did you see?" she demanded.
His breathing was heavy now.
"It showed me… a future it wants," he said hoarsely. "The Blackwood dead. And it… sitting at its heart like a king of ash and soil."
Another tremor.
Louder.
The floor broke open at the very edge of the fissure, creating a small secondary crack leading outward like a spider's leg.
From that crack… something moved.
Not shadows this time.
Something thicker.
Darker.
Almost… solid.
A hand.
Not human — but shaped like one — clawed its way up through the crack before freezing in place.
Titanbound stepped forward, flames roaring back to life around his arms. "It's trying to cross!"
Shadowblade's blades extended, humming with energy.
Ironroot stood frozen, staring at the thing climbing its way into the world.
The hand twitched.
The stone around it bled darkness.
Then the voice returned, clearer than before.
Not crossing… awakening…
The hand withdrew suddenly as the fissure sealed partially again, snapping shut with a violent crack that almost split the cavern in half.
Silence fell.
But the damage was done.
Ironroot could feel it now.
Something had changed.
Not just in the cavern.
But in him.
The Blackwood felt distant for the first time. Not silent — just… cautious. As if it was no longer sure whether he was master… or threat.
Shadowblade looked from the closed crack to Ironroot. "That thing just tested the boundary. That wasn't an attack. That was a message."
Titanbound nodded grimly. "A warning."
Ironroot clenched his fists.
"No," he said. "A promise."
He slowly looked down at the faint veins of green light pulsing along his arms again, and for a brief moment, a darker colour flickered through them — like a shadow passing over a field.
"Whatever's inside that fissure… it's not just watching us anymore."
He lifted his eyes to the darkness above.
"It's preparing for me."
A final whisper floated through the stone:
Soon… Ironroot… you will kneel where you now stand.
Then the cavern went completely silent.
No hum.
No pulse.
Only the echo of his name… carved into the darkness.