Chapter 77 – The Forest Rebels
The forest moved before it did.
Not in the gentle, living rhythm Ironroot had always known, but as if the trees themselves were alive with rage, responding to an intelligence far older than the Watcher. Branches lashed at the air like serpents, roots snaking violently along the soil, twisting upward, ripping apart anything caught in their path.
Ironroot's heart hammered, fists clenched. He spread his hands toward the ground, trying to push the Blackwood into order, but the roots beneath him thrashed in rebellion, writhing like serpents that no longer recognized him as their master. The connection, his greatest weapon, had become a battlefield.
"Titanbound! Shadowblade! Stay close!" he shouted, feeling the forest pulse against him. Every breath of air carried a threat — each gust of wind twisted with malevolent intent.
Titanbound's molten fists flared as he smashed a tree that lunged at him. The impact cracked the trunk in half, but the roots around his legs coiled faster, yanking the shattered wood like an angry serpent. "Damn it!" he roared. "This isn't just alive — it's thinking!"
Shadowblade moved like liquid, blades slicing through the attacking roots and jagged branches. Each swing was precise, but the forest adapted with terrifying speed. Where she cut one limb, two more took its place, moving faster, stronger, sharper. "It's controlling itself!" she yelled over the chaos. "This isn't the Watcher—it's using the Blackwood against you!"
Ironroot's eyes narrowed. It's testing me… Every pulse of the forest hammered against his mind, trying to penetrate, to twist, to corrupt. Every root that had once answered him willingly now screamed in pain as it obeyed a foreign will.
He raised his hands higher, green energy surging along his veins into the soil beneath, trying to regain control. "No! You answer to me! I am your master!"
A root snapped, flying across the clearing and embedding itself in the chest of a nearby tree-creature. It exploded into bark and black sap, but dozens more shot up instantly from the soil, each one sharper, faster, harder. The forest was no longer just alive—it was hostile.
Titanbound roared, slamming the ground with a molten fist. Shockwaves erupted outward, splitting roots and throwing debris into the air. "I don't care if it's alive or cursed—I will make a path through it!"
Ironroot felt a shiver of doubt. If Titanbound keeps attacking blindly, the forest will collapse entirely… and I might lose control for good. He had always known the Blackwood's power was immense, but he hadn't anticipated an intelligence capable of resisting it so completely.
The ground shook violently, and the faint whispers from the fissure in the mountains surged into a roar. Your roots betray you. You fail to protect. You fail to obey. You fracture.
Ironroot staggered, clutching his head. The voice was everywhere, threading through his mind, threading through the Blackwood itself. He could feel it in every root, every tendril, every particle of soil around him. It had learned him, probed his fears, and now it moved with the precision of someone who knew every hesitation, every weakness.
Shadowblade grabbed his arm. "Ironroot! Focus! Don't let it take your mind!"
"I'm trying!" he snapped, green energy flaring violently as he forced the roots to respond. Some obeyed, coiling around attacking limbs of the forest, pulling them down. But others lashed at him, stabbing into the earth like knives.
Titanbound crashed through a mass of rebellious roots, fire erupting with each strike, but Ironroot could see the worry in his eyes. "Even you can't fight it forever," he said quietly.
The figure from the mountains watched, towering above the treetops. Its ember eyes glowed brighter now, scanning the battlefield. Every step it took caused the earth to quake, and every motion seemed calculated, deliberate, measuring.
Ironroot's mind screamed as the Blackwood twisted beneath him. It's trying to separate us from our allies… trying to isolate us… trying to fracture me.
He slammed his fists into the soil, forcing roots upward with violent surges. The roots twisted like serpents, constricting, smashing, cutting—but still, the forest resisted, bending against him at every turn.
Suddenly, a tree nearest Ironroot groaned, cracking down the middle. A face appeared in the bark, twisted and screaming, eyes full of fury. "Why do you betray us, Ironroot?" it hissed. "You promised protection!"
Ironroot recoiled. "I… I am protecting you!" he shouted. "Stop resisting!"
But the forest ignored him. The roots under his feet shifted again, throwing him off balance. He landed hard, scraping his palms across jagged rock and soil. Pain exploded in his hands, but he gritted his teeth, forcing energy back into the Blackwood.
"Focus," he muttered. "Focus… or we all die."
Titanbound leapt toward him. "Ironroot! Don't let it get in your head. We fight together!"
Shadowblade joined them, twin blades slicing through snapping roots and protruding limbs. "We'll fight it, whatever it is. But you have to stay in control of the Blackwood!"
The giant figure shifted closer. Its arms extended, and the shadows trailing behind it thickened, moving faster, coalescing into jagged shapes that merged with the Blackwood. The forest now was fully possessed, animated by this entity. Trees no longer simply bent—they struck. Roots twisted upward like spikes, leaves cut through the air like knives, and the soil itself attempted to swallow them whole.
Ironroot fell to one knee, clutching his head as the mental assault intensified. "You cannot… have it… control me… I am the Blackwood… I am the roots… I am the forest!" he shouted.
A massive root surged toward him, splitting the soil and rock, aiming directly for his heart. Ironroot barely reacted in time, blasting it apart with a concentrated pulse of green energy. But the effort left him trembling, gasping for breath.
Titanbound roared and slammed the ground, the shockwave knocking down several attacking trees. "We can't let it overwhelm him! Push it back!"
Shadowblade darted forward, cutting paths through the possessed forest with surgical precision. "Ironroot! Use the fissure! Focus your energy there! Draw it into a trap!"
Ironroot's eyes widened. The fissure. He had been avoiding it — too dangerous. But perhaps it was the only way to regain control. He pushed the thought aside and ran toward the fissure, roots surging in twisted obedience, striking at attacking trees but faltering with each step.
Titanbound covered him, molten fists smashing root after root, while Shadowblade leapt above, striking from the air. The forest's resistance grew, but so did Ironroot's determination. He slammed both palms into the ground near the fissure and poured every ounce of power into a single surge, a lattice of green energy that snaked up toward the fissure's black mouth.
The forest screamed. Trees groaned, roots writhed, soil bucked violently. The entity from the mountains roared mentally, attempting to disrupt Ironroot's focus, but the surge was strong enough to create a momentary barrier.
Green light flared across the clearing, pushing back the possessed forest. Roots snapped and twisted, some freed from the influence of the ancient intelligence, some crumbling into black ash. The fissure pulsed violently, and Ironroot felt a connection, a thread to the entity itself.
For a brief, heart-stopping moment, he saw it—inside the fissure, the shape of a mind, vast, ancient, patient, pulsing with intelligence that dwarfed even the Watcher. It regarded him not with malice, but with calculated indifference, as if testing the strength of a child holding a hammer against a mountain.
Ironroot felt his knees weaken. He could barely hold the surge. The entity whispered into his mind: You are not enough. Your roots will fracture. Your allies will fall.
Titanbound shouted, "Don't listen to it, Ironroot! Your strength is ours too!"
Shadowblade yelled, "Now, focus! Push it into the fissure!"
Every ounce of his will, every beat of the Blackwood's pulse, every fragment of his energy surged together. The roots, once rebellious, now moved with him, wrapping and binding the forest, striking with precision, driving the possessed wood and shadows toward the fissure.
The entity roared in protest, sending tremors through the earth, but the lattice of green energy held. The fissure pulsed violently, sucking the attacking roots and shadows into its depths. Trees twisted and cracked, but one by one, they fell under Ironroot's control, trapped in the lattice, retreating into the fissure.
Panting, bruised, and bleeding faintly from his hands, Ironroot lowered his arms. The forest still trembled but now obeyed him once more, at least partially. The giant figure from the mountains remained at the edge, watching, unbroken, unyielding. Its ember eyes burned brighter than ever.
Ironroot sank to his knees, sweat and blood streaking his face. The Blackwood beneath him pulsed slowly, uncertain, like a wounded heart still fighting.
Titanbound laid a hand on his shoulder. "You held it. For now. But whatever that was… it's only beginning."
Shadowblade nodded grimly. "And it's far from done. We've seen a fraction of its power, Ironroot… and the forest knows it too."
Ironroot clenched his fists, green energy flickering once more along his veins. "Then we prepare. We endure. And when it comes again… we fight like nothing in the world has fought before."
The forest trembled beneath the night sky, silent but watchful, waiting for the storm that was already on its way.