Kline refused Thorvel’s demand that I enter alone. He hissed, declaring he would take on every wyvern there if Thorvel forced the issue. Kyro intervened and said:

“If you think a cat will change the outcome, you’re being unreasonable. Let ‘er keep the cat.”

Thorvel considered it and then nodded. Move.

I dismounted Sina, who also seemed hesitant to let me go, but Kael swung his nose, and she backed off. Then, Kline and I were alone, staring down the scariest… anything… I had ever seen.

After the last four months—that said a lot.

Kline tugged on my pants, and when I turned, I saw he was telling me to mount him.

“One second.” I closed my eyes and activated Wood Wide Web. In my mind’s eye, I scanned the forest and found something alarming.

There were no beasts.

I didn’t see a single soul plant, either. Except for the slight soul force that all plants in the forest contain, there was nothing in the forest that seemed remotely problematic.

I turned to Kyro. “I thought this was a soul forest?”

He shrugged but kept silent.

“Drink this.” I pulled out one of my final Illyndra Elixirs and drank down the crimson elixir, feeding Kline one as well. It would clean our bowels and stomachs out right before the Harvest, but I didn’t care. If something harmed me, I wanted the wound to close up.

Then, I mounted Kline, and we said our final goodbyes to Kyro and Sina and Kael. Each farewell held a concerning tone of finality that made me feel sick as we drifted into the witch’s forest, half-expecting to see Hansel and Grettle strung up on briars like nooses along the way.

2.

Kline and I passed spike ropes that hung from trees like jungle vines and briars that shot out of the ground. Small bugs crawled between multicolored plants and mushrooms on logs and petrified sections of briars—and nothing was highlighted.

I checked my guide and found it didn’t work.

Of course it wouldn’t work… I looked up and saw Kline sniffing plants before continuing. Thank God for Kline… I really need that spell.

Relying upon the guide had proven far too precarious as of late.

“One second,” I said. “Let me do another scan.”

Kline nodded and sat on the ground as I closed my eyes and activated Wood Wide Web. The moment I did, adrenaline hit my veins like an EpiPen, and I turned back to the exit. “We need to run!”

The moonlight at the exit was still visible, so we rushed forward with hope in our hearts. We traversed a few hundred meters before the briars moved in unison, like a Kraken's tentacles, blocking off the exit.

“W-When did…” I looked around with Soul Sight and found that every briar in the area had a blinding amount of aura and neara flowing through it. “I-It come alive?”

I had checked, and the entire forest was dead. Now, every briar was alive, slithering around like reapers—closing us in.

Kline hissed and lifted his paw, but I activated Moxle Dilation and stopped him.

“Wait!” I cried, speeding up my world again. “Kyro wouldn’t send us here to die… It must be an amalgamation. Maybe we could—”

Any hope of discourse was futile. Briars whipped at us like tentacles, thrashing the ground as Kline blinked through the shadows, zagging between them.

We got about a hundred feet before it happened.

A briar suddenly clotheslined me, stabbing me with its barbs as it wrapped around me like an anaconda. Kline turned and shot phantom claws at it, but it barely nudged as if it were made of iron support pillars.

I screamed as it squeezed me, wondering how in the fuck I was supposed to deal with the beast. I didn’t know—but I knew one thing: the plant had a soul in it—and I knew how it got there.

I gripped the plant and tried to rip the soul right out of it as if the soul was in the crystal ball in the Tranea Crypt.

The soul barely flickered—but it was enough.

For whatever reason, it was enough.

The entire forest stopped in unison, and the briar holding me put me on the ground and unraveled itself, pulling the barb out of my stomach.

I clutched my stomach as blood spurted out, followed by a black ooze that shut the wound and healed me as fast as I was injured. It was a horrifying and surreal experience.

Not a moment later, Kline blinked over to me, covered in ooze himself, telling me to get one. I didn’t hesitate. I jumped on, but as soon as I was mounted, the briars created an igloo around us, blocking out the light.

“What now…” I asked with a pounding heart.

Ten gruesome seconds ticked down after that, and then the briars opened in unison, creating a path that moved deeper into the forest.

“Oh Jesus…” I whispered. It was inviting us deeper—and I didn’t want to know what was inside.

But what choice was there?

There was none.

It could kill us right then if it wanted.

Because I could see what all of this Bramble’s victims eventually discovered.

Every briar had a third evolution soul.

“Let’s go…” I whispered.

Kline sniffed the ground and hesitantly walked forward, deeper and deeper, where the light from the moon was lesser, and our deaths drew nearer.

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We were about ten minutes in when I first heard the voice. It was the voice of a woman, smooth and soothing, resounded directly in my head. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Brindle’s student,” I answered. Then, my words sped up rapidly as I tried to answer all at once. “I’m being tested as a potential guardian. I’ve recently conquered Tranea Crypt and learned about Omoxi—”

“Please compose yourself,” the briars suddenly blocked our way, “no value has ever come from rushing one’s self.”

I stopped.

Kline did, too.

“Tell me, child. What brings you here today?” The briars slowly unraveled. “Curiosity? Necessity?”

Kline walked on.

“Thorvel wanted me to prove myself… as a guardian. I think Nethralis sent me here to prove that I can make Omoxillains… Or speak to them.”

“How curious…”

A circular meadow opened up around us. It was beautiful, opened to the sky like a cylindrical cookie cutter punctured a section of the bramble. In the center, a gnarled mound of roots shone in the moonlight. Under Soul Sight, it lit up with a network of bright purple lines of neara.

Suddenly, the roots unraveled and shot upward, braiding themselves together, creating the torso and arms and face of a human woman.

“Beautiful…” I whispered in wonder.

“Come, child. Allow me to see Brindle’s student.”

Kline hesitantly approached, and when we reached the mound, I got off as he stared at the woman, as if in a trance. There wasn’t the slightest amount of hostility from the woman, just a strange allure. I found myself walking up the mound in a haze, entranced by her peculiar beauty—a fusion of her artistic physical composition and visible soul energy that gave the roots smooth grooves.

I stopped before her, and she reached forward, caressing my cheek and putting her head against mine.

Suddenly, a wave of foreign signals invaded my soul. It was strange, but it wasn’t unwelcome, like the way that ecstasy can spread to limbs before dissipating.

“How interesting. It seems the rumors about Brindle’s trust in Yakana are true.”

“Uh…” I didn’t know what to say to that, but she only smiled.

“Do not be wary, child. Your memories have resolved you from distrust. The Briar is open to you.”

All the briars curled in unison, wrapping around trees like Christmas lights.

“Memories…” I didn’t know how I felt about someone reading my memories—but I was grateful. For the first time, someone saw that I was, indeed, innocent and really got screwed over. So I just sighed and nodded and hesitantly said:

“So… that’s it? I only needed to meet you.”

“Yes, but if you give me a few minutes, I will give you a gift befitting your position.” Roots sprouted from the ground and weaved together, creating a wicker chair. “Please.”

“It’d be my pleasure…” I grabbed the loops on my backpack nervously and then nodded and sat. “What would you like to talk about?”

“I just have one question… a simple question but a question that must be asked—a question that must be answered.”

“Okay…”

“Imagine a treasure with miraculous capabilities. The means to achieve world peace. Eliminate hunger. Bring equality of weather, resource, and season—whatever your heart deems the greatest of treasures.”

I chuckled nervously. “Seems you’ve already read my mind.”

“Yes, but I cannot feel it for you. Imagine one that connects to you. One that you can feel within the marrow of your bones.”

I imagined wars and conflicts ending worldwide, full bellies across underdeveloped nations, and prosperity—but none of those things made me feel powerful emotions.

I would like those things—I would like all of them. The dryad was asking me to dream, not reflect ideals, but it still didn’t reach me with powerful emotions because I had never experienced the horrors of war, starvation, or resource scarcity. So I needed to feel something passionate, and it always came back to plants.

The Amazon was disappearing; the Great Barrier Reef was experiencing horrifying bleaching and withering away. Species of plants and animals were becoming extinct—

—and all efforts to save them resulted in hardship.

Economics was powerful. It helped people live and eat and raise children. There were trade-offs offs and I hated it. It haunted me.

If there was something that allowed cut trees to grow back instantly, harvested soil to increase in fertility, fishing efforts that replaced fish—a means of unlimited resources and garbage disposal—

—that would be a dream.

Unlimited resources without costs.

A dream indeed.

“I have something in mind,” I whispered.

“Good. Now ask yourself—if there was a genuine reason that treasure should be destroyed… say if it could be weaponized or would result in the end of the world in a hundred years… and you felt that it should be destroyed… Could you destroy it?”

My lips parted as I looked at her. “What… kind of question is that?”

“Just a simple question. Are you the type of person who is able to let go without regrets? To do the right thing against your own dreams and wishes?”

My eyes drifted aimlessly, staring at nothing in particular. “I… don’t know. I…” I smiled slightly. “I really, really loved this plant. Datura stramonium. I had one in my house before I left. I’m sure… you saw it. The thing’s poisonous as hell. Super hallucinogenic. Just… a truly unhealthy plant. And my mom… she told me I would get rid of it…” I paused and grimaced. “And that would’ve sucked. I liked it… a lot. But I would’ve. Not because I needed to. I’m a grown adult. I could’ve said, buzz off, and she would’ve, but… somethings are just… more important, I guess.”

The dryad studied my expressions and perhaps emotions leaking through the chair like some 1970s LSD interrogation experiment. Or perhaps she was reading my memories or connecting to my soul. Whatever it was, she seemed convinced.

“Thank you for entertaining my question.” A briar grew from the ground. It was a strange one, something closer to an arm with fingers wrapped around a green ball.

“What’s this?” I whispered.

“This is my seed,” she said. “Just west of here you will find another river. When you are stronger, follow it through the arches and deep through the valley. Within the fog, you will see a large pillar. Follow it and push past the ravine it leads to. It will not be easy, but if you offer this seed to the great tree on the other side, you will be accepted by the guardians of the Fifth Domain.”

My heart fluttered at the idea that I would be able to journey deeper into the forest without struggling so much. It was overwhelming.

“Wait… seriously?” I whispered, afraid she would take it back.

“Yes. This seed contains all my memories—and all of your memories. With this, I will be able to prove your intentions to any who speak to me.”

I grabbed the seed. “I… don’t know what to say.”

She smiled and pinched my cheek like a grandmother. “There is nothing to say, child. Yakana has chosen you. Not as a savior but as an ally for this forest.” She looked to the south. “I fear the top walkers have grown restless again, and so few of us remember the wars—the true wars. We need another ally. If this is the only cost, I will proudly take the risk.”

I gulped and held the seed to my breast.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Good. Now off you go. The Harvest is upon us.”

Briars unraveled on the trees in one direction, curving into arches like a walkway out of the forest.

“Thank you…” I whispered.

Kline nodded his head as well, surprisingly calm as I mounted him.

“I hope to meet you again,” I said.

She pointed to the seed. “You will…. Oh.”

I turned back. “Yes?”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about me. This Briar’s silent during the Harvest. It only awakens after it’s over.”

I froze. “To prevent people from escaping…”

She put her finger to her lips playfully. “That’s our secret. If you ever want to think without people listening in, remember this chant…”

My eyes widened as I listened to the chant and practiced it myself. It was simple, just a few words, but they seemed to harden my mind.

“Now off you go. This time sincerely.”

I nodded and trotted off with Kline, practicing the spell, mesmerized and confused and filled with wonder after everything I had experienced. It was time to return to Thorvel and Kyro and the lurvines and end this saga of distrust once and for all.