Chapter 47: Pulse of the Earth
Clayton staggered through the Forgotten Atlanta Expanse, each step a defiance against the pain carving his body.
Plasma burns scarred his thigh and shoulder, his bark-armor flaked to ash, and his Heartseed Core flickered like a dying ember.
The Verdant Lord form had saved him from Commander Drayce’s Voidstar Crucible, but it had drained him to the edge of collapse. Roots coiled around his legs, gentle, the Expanse’s sentient pulse urging him east.
The Verdant Armistice Network’s cryptic message; "Seek the Pulse Beneath. The Earthcore Calls" burned in his mind, a lifeline in a world that wanted him dead.
"Earthcore, huh?" He muttered, spitting blood, his dark humor a thin shield. "Better not be another damn centipede".
Something told him that the Verdant Armistice Network was another aspect of the system. He didn’t trust the system, but no matter how much he hated to admit it, he knew that the system was the only reason he survived Echottera.
The system was the anvil where trial candidates are forged into swords.
And this was why Clayton followed.
His Regalia of the Verdant Warden pulsed faintly in his grip, spear form ready, Mycoglyph gauntlet synching with the Expanse’s roots.
His Sovereign Bloom regenerated his wounds, too slowly, his Genesis Embers nearly spent. He needed fuel, and fast.
The Ironblood wouldn’t stay down long. Drayce’s gray eyes, that Null Crown blade, they’d hunt him again, and he’d be damned if he faced them broken.