The wind inside the forest carried a dry rattling sound.
~Clack… clack…~
Kael walked slowly between the strange trees, his small feet pressing into the dark soil beneath them. The ground felt firmer than the ash field he had left behind, but the air here smell heavy.
Everywhere he looked there were bones.
The trees were made from them.
Long white ribs twisted together to form trunks. Spines ran up the center of each tree like pillars holding them upright. The branches stretched outward as long finger bones, thin and crooked, swaying slightly whenever the wind moved through the forest.
Skulls hung from the branches.
Hundreds of them.
Some were large, others small. Each one glowed faintly from within, a pale green light leaking from the empty eye sockets.
They moved gently in the wind.
~Clack… clack…~
Kael tilted his head and watched them.
They looked almost like fruit hanging from normal trees.
Except that fruit don't stare back.
A faint light appeared in front of him again.
The system message returned.
[Current Status — Floor 2 Entry]
[Authority Rank: 2.0001%]
[Passive Skill Acquired: Bone Whisper]
[Range: 50 meters]
[Effect: Allows communication with skeletal remains]
[Voracious Maw Radius: 4 meters]
[Hunger Level: Critical]
Kael stared at the last line.
His stomach tightened slightly.
The same deep hunger he had felt in the Ashen Cradle was already returning.
He touched his chest.
"…Already?" he muttered.
The hunger made his senses sharper.
He could hear the wind clearly now.
He could hear the skull fruit creaking on their branches.
And he could hear something else.
Footsteps.
~Crunch…~
Kael's head snapped toward the nearest tree.
Something moved behind it the soil shifting.
Another step followed.
~Crunch.~
A small figure stepped into view.
It was a girl.
She looked young, maybe twelve years old. Her robes were torn in several places, the fabric stained dark around the edges. A hood covered most of her head, but Kael could see her face clearly enough.
One of her arms was missing.
The empty sleeve was tied off with thick black bandages.
Her remaining hand held a crooked wooden staff. At the top of the staff a small heart had been impaled on a thorn.
It was still beating.
~Thump… thump…~
Kael stared at it.
The girl noticed where his eyes had gone.
She lifted the staff slightly.
"Don't worry," she said quietly. "It's not mine."
Her voice was calm.
She crouched down a few steps away from him, keeping a safe distance
"So," she said.
"You're new."
Kael didn't answer.
He simply watched her.
The girl studied him for a moment before speaking again.
"Fresh from the Cradle," she said.
"I can still smell the ash on you."
Kael's fingers dug slightly into the soil.
The girl noticed that too.
"My name is Mira," she continued. "Floor Two scavenger."
She tapped the small beating heart on her staff.
"Been here a long time."
Kael still didn't respond.
A faint sound appeared in his mind again.
[Entity Scan — Mira :The heartless harvester]
[Threat Assessment: Low]
]Hidden Status: Betrayal Probability — 87%]
[Motivation: Survival]
Kael's eyes stayed on her.
Mira tilted her head slightly.
"Not much of a talker," she said.
"That's probably smart."
She pointed upward with the tip of her staff.
"See those?"
Kael looked up.
The skull fruit above them swayed gently.
~Clack… clack…~
"Those things are souls," Mira explained. "Climbers who didn't make it."
Her voice stayed quiet while she spoke.
"The Orchard keeps them hanging there until it decides to eat them."
Kael looked back down at her.
"If you pluck one early," she continued, "you get the soul inside."
She tapped the vial hanging around her neck.
"I collect them when I can."
Kael looked up at the nearest skull fruit again.
The pale green glow pulsed slowly like an heartbeat.
Mira pointed to a branch hanging lower than the others.
"That one's almost ready."
The skull fruit there glowed weaker than the rest.
"We grab it before the roots wake up," she said. "Split the essence."
Her silver eye watched him carefully.
"You get stronger."
She lifted the vial again.
"I get to live another day."
Kael crawled one step closer.
The soil shifted beneath his hands.
Mira stayed still.
Her good hand slowly extended toward him.
"Deal?"
Kael looked at her hand.
Then he reached out.
His small black claws wrapped around her wrist.
Not a handshake.
A grip.
Mira blinked.
Then she laughed softly.
"…Fair enough."
She stood up slowly.
"Come on then."
They began moving through the forest together.
Mira walked carefully between the trees while Kael crawled beside her. She knew where to step and where not to.
"Roots sleep here," she said quietly.
Her staff pointed to a patch of ground.
"Step there and they wake up."
Kael looked down.
The soil in that area looked slightly darker.
He avoided it.
They reached the tree with the low-hanging skull fruit a minute later.
Mira looked up at it.
"That's the one."
Kael climbed onto her leg quickly.
His claws dug into the fabric of her robe as he climbed higher until he reached her shoulder.
Mira didn't stop him.
She lifted her staff toward the skull fruit.
The thorn at the top pressed gently against the side of the skull.
Then she pushed.
~Crk…~
The thorn pierced through the bone.
Green light began leaking from the small hole.
Mira quickly held the cracked vial beneath it.
The glowing liquid dripped inside.
Halfway through, she tilted the vial toward Kael.
"Your turn."
Kael opened his mouth.
The green liquid poured in.
Warmth spread through his body instantly.
The system voice echoed in his mind again.
[Devoured: Soul Fragment— failed climber]
[Authority Increased: +0.12]
[Hunger Reduced: -28.4%]
Kael felt his body tighten slightly.
His arms grew stronger.
His fingers pressed deeper into Mira's shoulder.
She glanced sideways at him.
"You really do grow fast," she said quietly.
Then her expression changed.
The softness vanished.
Her stump arm began glowing beneath the bandages.
Black light leaked through the cloth.
Kael noticed it immediately.
The ground beneath him exploded.
~SKRRR~
Thick roots burst out of the soil.
They wrapped around his legs.
His arms.
His throat.
Mira stepped backward quickly, her eyes were cold now.
"Sorry," she said softly.
"The Grove Warden pays better."
The roots tightened.
Kael's vision darkened.
Inside his chest the hunger flared violently.
The system message appeared again.
[Hunger Level: Critical]
Something inside him snapped.
Kael began laughing.
A small child's laugh.
[Voracious Maw — Triggered at Critical Hunger]
[All restraints removed for 9 seconds]
[Devour Aura Radius: 15m]
[Bonus: Consumed entities grant ×3 soul mass]
Black threads erupted from his body.
They shot outward like spears.
~SHRRRK~
They pierced Mira's chest.
Her eyes widened.
The threads continued moving,through her heart then her staff.
Through the roots binding him.
Everything around him began breaking apart.
Mira gasped once.
"You—"
Kael swallowed.
Her body dissolved into ash, the threads pulled everything into him.
The power rushed through his body like fire.
The system voice spoke again.
[Devoured: Mira — The Heartless Harvester]
[Authority: +0.89%]
[Total Authority: 3.011%]
[Bloodline Fragment Acquired: "Cursed Harvester's Hunger" (increases devour efficiency against weakened targets by 40%)]
[Memory Acquired: "The Grove Warden's True Name" (unlocks hidden path to boss arena)]
[Title Earned: Betrayer's Bane]
[Passive Evolution: Devour Aura now passively marks traitors (red outline visible only to user)]
Kael stood up slowly.
He was bigger now.
Stronger.
The forest suddenly trembled.
Every bone tree shivered.
The skull fruit above them snapped opened, the ground began moving.
Roots rose from the soil like snakes.
Far away in the center of the forest, something enormous began to wake.
A deep groaning sound rolled through the orchard.
The trees trembled.
A massive shape rose above the distant forest, it's body was made from countless ribs and skulls fused together.
Roots spread from its base in every direction like veins through the earth.
Its voice rolled across the forest.
"Thief…"
Kael looked toward it.
"…Eater…"
The giant creature moved again.
"…Child…"
Kael flexed his small claws.
"…Mine."
The black threads burst outward again.
And the Bone Orchard began to scream.