Chapter 17: The Tree of Echoes
The next morning mist curled around the forest like living breath, muffling every sound as if the world itself had hushed in anticipation. Elric stood motionless at the broken slab, the scent of wet soil and ancient stone clinging to the air.
Behind him, Lira exhaled slowly. "We should return before someone notices we're gone. The villagers are already uneasy."
"I can't," Elric murmured. His fingers traced the jagged crack in the stone, still warm. "Something... reached out. It called to me, Lira."
She crossed her arms. "And what if it wasn't a call? What if it was a warning?"
Elric looked up at her then—his eyes clearer than they'd been in weeks. "Then I need to know what it's warning me against."
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By midday, they had unearthed the rest of the slab. It wasn't a door or a tomb, but a marker—a sealed entrance, perhaps, a memory engraved in stone.
Etched along its outer ring were more sigils: concentric circles, serpent-like spirals, and what looked like a tree wrapped in chains.
"Elric..." Lira whispered, pointing. "That's the same tree from the children's nightmares. The one on fire."
He nodded grimly. "It's called the Tree of Echoes. I've seen it before—in old legends, in a few forgotten scrolls in the palace library. They say it remembers everything. Every secret. Every sin."
"And someone sealed it away?"