Morning seeped through the canopy in fractured shards of light. The jungle seemed to shimmer with each breath of wind, every leaf trembling with resonance. The ground itself throbbed like a distant drum, pulsing in time with Aric's heartbeat.
They moved in silence through the endless green. Vines brushed their armor; petals closed behind them. The air smelled alive—sap, soil, blood, and ozone mingling until scent became a taste. The further they walked, the heavier the light grew, until even the air looked saturated.
Eira's scanner chimed constantly, the crystal gauge shaking in her hand.
"Amplitude keeps spiking," she murmured. "It's matching your pulse exactly."
Aric didn't answer. The shard against his chest felt hotter than before, its glow faintly visible through the seams of his armor. Each step through the undergrowth pulled him deeper into a rhythm he couldn't unhear: the whisper of branches, the soft groan of roots, the distant hum beneath it all.
Serae watched him as they walked. "You're sure you're still leading us, Venn? Not whatever's inside you?"
He met her eyes for a moment. "Does it matter? We're going the same way."
No one argued.
---
The trees began to bend. What had been forest became formation—trunks spiraling inward, branches weaving together overhead until light filtered through in columns of gold and emerald. The scent changed too, sharper, almost metallic.
Eira whispered, "We're close. Readings are off the scale."
They stepped through the final ring of trees and stopped.
The Heartgrove spread before them like a cathedral carved by giants. A vast crater filled with luminous roots and marble bones. Stone arches rose from the earth, half-consumed by living vines that pulsed with light. At the center stood a monolith of fused crystal and bark, its surface carved with runes too old to read. Waterfalls of green light poured from its sides, feeding the glowing pools below.
Brann let out a low whistle. "Looks like the world left its heart out to rot."
Eira was already taking readings. "This isn't rot. It's growth. Look—each rune feeds energy into the others. It's cycling."
Aric knelt, brushing his glove across a root as wide as a man's chest. The pulse beneath it was steady, strong. Alive. "No," he said. "It's waking up."
The shard in his chest answered with a flare of light. Every rune in the grove brightened in unison. Eira gasped as her instruments shrieked and went dark.
"Aric—whatever you're doing—stop!"
"I'm not doing anything."
The light surged again, blinding. The roots around them shifted, curling upward like snakes. From the soil rose figures—humanoid forms of bark, bone, and crystal. Their eyes were hollow orbs of light, their movements graceful, almost mournful. There were dozens of them, forming a circle around the hunters.
Brann swore. "We've got company."
Eira's voice trembled. "They're not beasts. They're constructs—Eidric guardians. They were meant to protect this place."
"Then let's hope they forgot how."
The first guardian moved. Its limbs unfolded with liquid precision, twin blades of wood and crystal sprouting from its forearms. The air rippled with resonance. The others followed, their formation perfect, silent as prayer.
Aric drew his blades. The moment the metal cleared the scabbards, the grove's hum changed pitch, aligning with him. He felt it—recognition.
"They know you," Serae said softly.
"Or what's inside me."
Then the guardians struck.
---
The battle was both chaos and choreography. The guardians moved as one, their blades whistling in harmony. Aric met them head-on, his body flowing through their rhythm as if he'd always known it. Sparks of green and silver burst with each impact.
Brann planted his lance into the ground, channeling a defensive barrier that shimmered like glass. Each strike against it sent rings of energy across the clearing. "Two minutes before it blows!" he shouted.
Serae's arrows streaked through the air, exploding into radiant bursts that shattered branches and splintered armor. But for every guardian that fell, two more stepped forward.
Aric fought within the current, his blades singing. The shard pulsed with every movement, guiding his strikes, lending him strength. He could feel the grove's heart beating through his veins, each swing perfectly timed to its pulse.
A guardian lunged from the left. He parried, spun, and drove both swords into its chest. Instead of dying, the creature froze, its form dissolving into a thousand glowing motes. The light flowed into his armor, his skin, his breath. His eyes burned.
Eira screamed his name. "You're absorbing it—stop!"
But he couldn't. The resonance wasn't something he controlled—it was something he answered. The grove was speaking through him, and every beat of his heart was a reply.
The light around him thickened. His blades burned gold-white. When the next guardian charged, Aric's strike cut it in half, the air itself splitting with the impact. The force threw the others backward; their bodies shattered like glass.
Then silence.
The grove glowed brighter than ever, the roots retracting, the runes flaring in approval. Every guardian dissolved into dust, carried away on a wind that came from nowhere. The monolith at the center pulsed once, twice, then split open.
Inside, a core of light hovered, spinning slowly. Its surface mirrored his shard exactly.
Eira stumbled forward. "It's a Heart Node… the source of the resonance web. Aric, it's reacting to you."
He stepped closer. The shard in his chest pulled toward it, a magnet drawn home. He hesitated only a moment, then pressed his hand against the core.
The world vanished.
---
He stood in darkness, surrounded by echoes—voices whispering through stone and time.
We were the first. We built the veins. We bound the Core. When the sky broke, we slept. Until one of us carried the song again.
The light expanded, flooding his senses. He saw the Concord's cities as they were—towering spires, endless light, their people merging with the beasts they revered to keep the world alive. He saw them fail, their harmony collapsing, their creations turning monstrous. He saw the Core sealed and forgotten beneath the earth.
Then he saw himself—standing where they had stood, the shard blazing in his chest.
The Core stirs. The Beastworn awaken.
---
He fell to his knees as the vision faded. The Heartgrove dimmed to a steady glow, calm again. Eira reached him first, her hand shaking. "Aric—what did you see?"
"Everything," he whispered. "And it's not done."
Brann limped closer, lance dragging. "Please tell me that means we can go home."
Aric looked toward the horizon beyond the grove. The light in his veins pulsed once more before fading. "Home's waking up with the rest of it."
The forest around them sighed—a sound like a giant drawing breath. The roots beneath their feet shifted, no longer hostile, only waiting.
Eira glanced at her ruined scanner. "Every node on the map just lit up."
Aric rose, eyes glowing faintly in the dim light. "Then the world's heart isn't the only thing waking. The next one's already calling."
The grove's hum followed them as they left, soft but endless, a pulse that would not fade.
---
End of Chapter 6 – The Heartgrove