Page 95 of Ecliptic

Suddenly, an idea struck.

“You know this earth. Do your roots extend to all?”

Yes, my arms are all-encompassing, holding this planet together.

In my mind’s eye, I imagined Rayal’s necklace, the one she stroked with reverence. There was a symbol upon it, a graceful line, sweeping over and under two circles. “Have you seen this symbol before? Do you know the people who wear such a sigil?”

I do not, Lightling. I am sorry.

If there had been little hope before, it was now squashed. It was utterly and entirely hopeless.

A phrase came to mind: Rayal’s parting words from deep in the Crypts. “If you should survive and ever find yourself where sun casts upon sun and your shadow greets mine, know that you are amongst friends.”

Sun upon sun?

“Yes! Do you know where that is?”

Not well, for it is dry, and my roots there are very small.

“Where is it?” I implored.

It is hard to remember.

“Please,” I begged. “It’s our only hope.”

You must mean the Eye of the Sun

“Yes. Yes! Where is it?”

I grow weaker yet.

“Try!”

Suddenly, I was yanked down, deep within the earth. There was no time to fight or claw my way out because before I knew it, I was surging forward, flying through Indrasyl’s roots like anelectrical current—or at least some part of me did. My body still sat on the floor in the Hymma.

Indrasyl guided me through the vast underground system. It was a marvel. A hidden world with endless webs that glowed in my mind like a galaxy. All interconnected.

I only received fleeting snippets as the Sylvan Mother Tree projected me through her roots. The terrain changed and shifted around me as she avoided thin or frail pathways, some already wilted and dead.

I kept charging forward in bursts of light when I slammed into a barrier, halting my traveling.

What the hell?I’d never stopped mid-flight.

My awareness shifted upward, wondering what could have blocked my path.

Towering above me was a stone archway—a breathtaking marvel of rock and time. It stretched impossibly high and loomed over me like a cathedral.

An arch! The marking on Rayal’s choker was an arch.

I tried to step through again, but I was met with resistance as if I’d run into a glass door. Upon further inspection, I realized a thin mist emanated from the arch like a veil. It was made of dust, golden specks, and a gentle pulsating wind. It reflected on the sand, decorating the ground in a dance of shadows and light.

Was this some sort of protection ward? I knew Rayal was on the other side, but I couldn’t get to her, no matter how hard I pushed within the rootways.

It appeared that whatever I had to do, I had to be in my corporal state to pass through. But I had no idea where this arch was!

Suddenly, I felt a ripping—a tearing—like all the seams of a tapestry were being pulled apart. Millions of shrieks echoed within me as Indrasyl rushed me back to my body in waves of pain.

The earth quakes and trembles as the Dark Spirit rips open the world.

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