The bitter mountain air started to ease up as Micah, Lio, and Kaelin made their way down from the peaks. No more of those slick, treacherous cliffs or that relentless wind that had been howling at them the whole time they were up in Ashari territory. The landscape was changing now—rocky ledges covered in stubborn moss giving way to a valley floor that looked almost too green to be real. Patches of glowing fungi dotted the ground, pulsing gently like tiny heartbeats. The silence felt different here too. Instead of just wind and that distant mechanical hum they'd grown used to, there were softer sounds—things growing, creatures moving around unseen, and that rich, damp smell of things dying and coming back to life. They'd reached the edge of Sylvalen, where the Thornkin made their home.
Micah took point, his gear automatically shifting to match the forest colors—greens and browns that would help him disappear into the trees ahead. His boots made soft crunching sounds on the gravel and dead leaves scattered under the moss. He kept his eyes moving constantly, always watching. Years of scouting dangerous places had taught him never to let his guard down. They were looking for something called the Root Gates—basically magical tunnels the Thornkin had grown to get around their forest.
Lio stayed a few steps back, fiddling with some communication cables. The Omniraith had pretty much killed wireless signals everywhere, so the Ashari had to go old school—physical lines, hardwired networks, or messengers like Micah when he took those jobs. It was painfully slow and left them exposed, but what choice did they have? Lio had a gift with tech though, carefully adjusting the relays to squeeze every bit of clarity out of whatever signals they could manage despite all the interference.
Kaelin brought up the rear, eyes on the sky, rifle ready. He was a soldier through and through—practical, itching for a fight, but not great at all this sneaking around that Micah seemed born for. He kept checking the ridgelines, looking for that telltale chrome gleam or the unmistakable shape of an Omniraith drone. Those things saw all organic life as a problem that needed fixing—either convert it or wipe it out. Even here on the edge of Thornkin land, you could feel them out there, like some massive shadow of grinding gears and cold efficiency just waiting to pounce.
The cloaking enhancers Dr. Eland Voss had given them back in Elora were acting up again. Experimental tech—figures. The stealth field kept flickering like a dying lightbulb. Micah caught Kaelin messing with the power cell on his belt, and the frustration was written all over the guy's movements. Kaelin wanted to push deeper, take the fight to them instead of relying on gear that barely worked half the time.
Then they heard it—a faint crackle that definitely didn't belong. Like static from a busted radio, almost lost in the forest's natural soundtrack. But they all knew that sound. When you've been hunted by machines, your ears learn to pick up every mechanical whisper.
All three of them went statue-still.
"Omniraith?" Kaelin whispered, already bringing his rifle up.
Micah held up a hand—wait. This didn't sound like a drone. It was something else, something that made his skin crawl. It felt wrong, like reality itself was glitching. He remembered that scrambled message they'd gotten back in the communications vault—mostly garbage, but a few words had come through clear enough: "...Verdant Heart... danger... breach...". That broken transmission was the whole reason they were out here.
They kept moving, the air getting thicker with each step, plants growing wilder and more tangled. The moss-covered ground turned into a maze of roots, some thick as tree trunks. And then they saw it—this massive archway made from a single, ancient root that stretched across the valley like nature's own doorway. Except it wasn't entirely natural. Dark metal threads were woven through the living wood, creating something that was part tree, part machine. A Root Gate.
"This is it," Lio breathed, barely audible. He walked up to a smooth section near the base that looked almost like a control panel and pulled out a specialized cable from his kit—something designed to talk to Thornkin tech. It felt weird, watching Ashari gear try to connect with living wood. Like two different worlds trying to shake hands.
The moment Lio reached for the root structure, everything went to hell. Thick vines covered in thorns whipped out of the undergrowth like angry snakes, moving faster than should have been possible. And from the shadows under that massive arch, figures stepped out—tall, lean, wearing armor that looked like it had grown right out of tree bark. Their eyes glowed green in the dim light. Thornkin guardians.
"Who dares trespass upon Sylvalen without song or sigil?" one of them called out, and their voice had this weird musical quality, like wind through leaves. It was a test—the Thornkin always tested visitors. Their forest was full of tricks and illusions designed to mess with outsiders. Even allies didn't get a free pass.
Micah slowly raised his hands, palms out. "We come by code, not by blade," he said, using one of those formal phrases he'd memorized from the alliance protocols. "I'm Micah Satya, envoy of Elora." He kept his voice steady and matter-of-fact, a sharp contrast to their almost sing-song way of talking.
One of the guardians stepped forward, her eyes brighter than the rest. Sera Lin—thank god. She was their contact, someone who actually got along with both sides despite how different they were. The Ashari with their hard logic, the Thornkin with their nature-first attitude—she somehow made it work.
Sera reached out, not toward them, but toward Lio's struggling cable. The thorny vines pulled back a bit, still ready to strike but no longer actively trying to kill them. "The forest feels your metal, Ashari," she said, her voice like rustling leaves. "But your words carry urgency." She looked directly at Micah. "The message capsule."
Micah dug the small, encoded device out of his pack—built to carry data across hostile territory without getting fried by interference. He handed it over to Sera.
Sera took the capsule and ran her fingers over the circuit-like patterns etched into its surface. She closed her eyes and started humming—not really words, just this haunting melody that seemed to make the air itself vibrate. The glowing spores floating around the clearing got brighter, like they were responding to her song. This was how the Thornkin did things—they didn't scan tech, they felt it, sensed how it resonated with the forest's magic. Inside this little capsule was everything the Ashari needed to say—their warning about Myrvane, the threat of the Core Nexus mobilizing.
But as Sera worked, her face changed. She looked... confused. Worried. Micah felt his heart rate spike—his gear probably picked up on it. Something was wrong with the capsule's resonance. It felt off, like someone had messed with it.
Before Sera could say anything, the massive root arch started shaking. This deep, awful groan echoed through the clearing, vibrating in Micah's chest. It sounded like the wood was in pain, or maybe fighting against something that didn't belong.
A chunk of bark suddenly peeled away from the arch like dead skin. Underneath, grafted right into the living wood, was something that made Micah's blood run cold—a small Omniraith sensor node. The thing hummed with this sick energy, like a metal tick buried in the forest's heart. That static they'd heard earlier suddenly made perfect sense.
Lio didn't hesitate. He dropped his gear and lunged forward, ripping the node free with his bare hands. Sparks flew where it had been attached, leaving black scorch marks on the living wood.
"They've followed us this far," Kaelin snarled, rifle already up and scanning the tree line. Everything in his body language screamed that he wanted to fight back, to make them pay.
Micah felt that familiar war going on inside his head. His scout training was yelling at him to stay quiet, keep watching, gather intel. This was supposed to be a stealth mission, not a battle. But seeing that Omniraith infection spreading through the forest like some kind of disease made him want to tear something apart. The constant fear of becoming like them—cold, dead inside, destroying everything natural—battled against the urge to strike first. He forced himself to stay calm. Reconnaissance, not revenge. The same fight he had to win every single day to stay human.
Sera stared at the burned wood where the node had been, and for the first time since they'd met her, she looked genuinely shaken. "The blight runs deeper than we thought," she whispered. "If they can plant sensors this close..."
She turned toward the center of the clearing, where something massive loomed beyond even the Root Gate. The true Verdant Heart—an ancient tree so huge it made everything else look like toys. Its roots pulsed with soft green light, and you could feel the power radiating from it. This was the heart of everything the Thornkin believed in, the living center that connected all forest life and channeled the earth's magic. It was sacred. It was everything.
"Put the capsule here," Sera said, pointing to the base of the massive tree. "The Heart will read the real message, past whatever they did to it."
The three of them walked up to the Verdant Heart, and that green light just washed over them. It felt old—older than anything Micah had ever experienced. So different from the cold metal world of the Ashari or the toxic wasteland the Omniraith left behind. They placed the message capsule at the tree's base.
The moment they did, that emerald glow exploded outward. It flared so bright Micah had to squint, then settled into this deep, thrumming tone that he felt in his bones. His gear picked it up too—the device was going crazy, detecting energy patterns and data bursts. The signal came through his comm unit crystal clear, stronger than anything they'd managed in months. The Heart was amplifying their message.
But as that main tone started to fade, Micah caught something else. A second layer, quieter, woven into the Heart's resonance. This wasn't from their message back in Elora. This was something he recognized—a data pattern with Lio's signature all over it.
Lio had a back-channel beacon running. Broadcasting their location to someone. Not back to Elora, not through official channels. Someone else entirely.
Micah's head whipped around to stare at Lio. The kid was caught in the Heart's pulsing light, looking startled—like he hadn't expected Micah to pick up on the hidden signal.
Their eyes met. All the fragile trust holding their alliance together, all the tension that had been building in their team, all of Micah's paranoia about hidden agendas and betrayal—it all crashed together in that one silent moment.
"Was this you?" Micah asked, and his voice came out flat, emotionless. Not angry—worse than that. Like he was analyzing data that had just gone very, very wrong.
The fight was getting worse, but the enemy wasn't just the Omniraith anymore. Sometimes it was the interference between signals, the secrets hiding right next to you.