The bells continued ringing.
Deep.
Ancient.
Impossible.
Every toll seemed to shake the world itself.
BOOOOOONG.
Havenfall had descended into chaos.
Citizens flooded the streets.
Guards rushed toward the western walls.
Merchants abandoned their stalls.
Children cried.
Nobody understood what was happening.
Only that something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Kael stood beside Master Arlen atop the academy's western observation tower.
From here, the Black Forest stretched across the horizon like an endless ocean of green.
Usually its canopy remained still.
Silent.
Ancient.
Today—
The forest was moving.
Not swaying.
Not shifting in the wind.
Moving.
Entire sections of the canopy rippled.
Like waves crossing water.
Like something beneath the trees was breathing.
Kael felt his stomach tighten.
"That's impossible."
Arlen nodded.
"Yes."
The old instructor didn't sound reassured.
Another bell echoed.
BOOOOOONG.
This time the forest answered.
A column of birds erupted from the trees.
Thousands.
Perhaps tens of thousands.
The sky darkened beneath their wings.
Then the ground shook.
Not beneath Havenfall.
Beneath the forest.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
A distant crack echoed across the landscape.
Loud enough to reach the city.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
Something was rising.
Far beyond the tree line.
Something enormous.
At first he thought it was a cliff.
Then a mountain.
Then—
A wall.
Covered in roots.
The structure slowly emerged above the canopy.
Ancient stone wrapped in roots thicker than houses.
Massive arches.
Towering pillars.
Entire buildings.
Kael's breath caught.
A city.
Not ruins.
Not fragments.
A city.
Hidden beneath the forest.
The impossible sight stretched for kilometers.
Half-buried beneath roots.
Half-consumed by time.
Yet undeniably real.
Beside him, Arlen closed his eyes.
"So the stories were true."
Kael barely heard him.
His mind struggled to comprehend what he was seeing.
Finn had been right.
All along.
The Black Forest wasn't just a forest.
It was hiding something.
An entire civilization.
"How?"
Kael whispered.
No one answered.
Because no one knew.
Then—
The city lit up.
One light.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
Then thousands.
Silver illumination spread through ancient streets.
Across towers.
Across bridges.
Across structures untouched for ages.
The dead city awakened.
And Havenfall watched.
The entire city watched.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody could.
The impossible stood before them.
A forgotten world.
Returned.
Suddenly a voice echoed across the observation tower.
"KAEL!"
Both turned.
Finn sprinted up the stairs.
Completely out of breath.
Holding six journals.
Three maps.
And somehow a loaf of bread.
"You're not supposed to carry food during an apocalypse."
Kael said automatically.
Finn pointed dramatically toward the forest.
"I WAS RIGHT."
"Yes."
"I WAS ACTUALLY RIGHT."
"You were."
Finn looked close to tears.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW RARE THIS IS?"
Even Arlen laughed.
The tension broke briefly.
Only briefly.
Because something else had appeared.
Figures.
Moving through the ancient city.
People.
Kael stepped closer to the edge.
No.
Not people.
An army.
Hundreds of individuals moved along the elevated root roads.
Some carried bows.
Others spears.
Others wore armor unlike anything Kael had ever seen.
Not kingdom armor.
Not knight armor.
Something older.
Living roots intertwined with polished stone.
Silver Threads woven directly into cloaks and breastplates.
The sight felt impossibly ancient.
Yet alive.
Very much alive.
Finn stared.
"There are people down there."
Arlen nodded.
"There always were."
Both boys immediately looked at him.
The old instructor sighed.
"I suspected."
"YOU SUSPECTED?"
Finn nearly exploded.
"For years."
"And you never mentioned this?"
"No one would have believed me."
That was fair.
Kael certainly wouldn't have.
A sudden flash of silver appeared atop one of the ancient towers.
Someone was standing there.
Watching Havenfall.
Even at this distance, Kael somehow knew.
The figure was watching him.
A woman.
Elderly.
Silver robes drifted in the wind.
Glowing Threads surrounded her.
Countless Threads.
More than Kael had ever seen.
She seemed less like a person.
More like part of the city itself.
Then—
She raised a hand.
The bells stopped.
Instantly.
Silence fell across the world.
The trembling ceased.
The forest calmed.
The lights remained.
But everything else became still.
The woman smiled.
A gentle smile.
Sad.
Patient.
As though she had waited a very long time.
Then she spoke.
The distance should have made it impossible.
Yet every person in Havenfall heard her voice clearly.
"People of the surface."
The city froze.
The voice carried neither threat nor anger.
Only age.
Ancient age.
"We greet you once more."
Murmurs spread everywhere.
The woman continued.
"We are Rootwatch."
Behind her, thousands bowed their heads.
"Guardians of the Heartroot."
Kael's pendant suddenly became warm.
Very warm.
His heart began racing.
Because deep inside...
He recognized those words.
Heartroot.
The first Heartroot sank deep beneath the earth.
A memory from the vision.
A memory that wasn't his.
The woman's eyes found him.
Across kilometers.
Across an entire city.
She looked directly at Kael.
And smiled.
Recognition.
The same expression Arlen had worn.
The same expression as the statue.
The same expression as the whispering voice.
She knew him.
Or thought she did.
Then her final words echoed across the world.
"The Candidate has returned."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Thousands of eyes turned toward Kael.
Finn.
Arlen.
The guards.
The academy.
The entire city.
Every gaze settled on him.
Kael's stomach dropped.
"...Oh."
Far beneath the Black Forest, ancient black Threads stirred with anticipation.
The Candidate had been found.
And the true story of Reaper's Oath had finally begun.