Chapter 31
Lucien stood still for a moment, absorbing the strangeness of it all.
The forest stretched endlessly around him, quiet yet... alive.
Leaves fell from high above, gliding through shafts of warm golden light. As they drifted to the ground, they whispered sharply through the breeze, as though each one carried a secret meant for the earth.
He narrowed his eyes. The trees swayed gently—but not with the wind. There was something in the rhythm. Something deliberate.
Their trunks expanded and contracted subtly.
They were breathing.
Lucien's eyes widened slightly. "This place... where am I?"
Just moments ago, he had been in the awakening chamber with Aurorwen. He'd touched the Root of the World—and now he was in this serene, dreamlike forest that looked like something from a divine painting.
He looked down at his hands, half-expecting them to glow or burn or be marked in some mystical way—but they were normal. Flesh and blood.
"Aurorwen...?" he called out, glancing behind him.
No answer.