NOVEL NEXT 88 - Two Years Later
The sparring matches continued without incident and after a long day of excitement and entertainment, the gathering ended. Soon after, the Camboacian delegation returned to Camboaci, not without Rigomaros securing a promise from Div and En.
He wanted them to return whenever they had the chance.
Seasons passed as Div and En attended classes, studied rot, and practiced mana manipulation. Before they knew it, their sixteenth birthday was right around the corner.
In the depths of winter, the village slowed down under the thick layer of snow, they were sitting on their bed, examining their progress.
They hadn't been idle in the last two years. Their separation was right around the corner. They could feel it. In their inner world, they had separated the root network of the tree into two equal parts that didn't mix. Then, they slowly wore away the base of the tree where both sides were still attached together.
Any real tree would have perished, but the one in their inner world was just a representation of their soul. It didn't follow the laws of nature.
Now, only the Rot Heart and its countless tendrils connected both sides of the tree to each other.
Despite Div's progress in manipulating mana, he hadn't been able to find a way to sever those tendrils.
He was close, he could feel it.
So close he had gained the facetless Mana Manipulation skill as a reward for his efforts.
Skill Acquired: Mana Manipulation – Basic – Lv1
But it wasn't quite enough.
[It's not a mana problem. It's not a rot problem. I'm convinced the issue is elsewhere. It's about where we want to take our skill.]
(Maybe we're asking for too much. We share the same soul, splitting into two might be beyond us.)
[No, I know it's possible. We can almost reach it, like a word on the tip of our tongue. It just needs to click.]
(Let's hope you're right.)
Still, even if their evolution wasn't going as well as they would have liked, Div and En had made progress on a wide variety of skills and even on some inner-world representations.
Skill leveled up: Scornforged Lv2 -> Lv3
Skill leveled up: Rotten Shield Lv5 -> Lv6
Skill leveled up: Echoes of the Rot Heart Lv7 -> Lv8
Skill leveled up: Inspect Lv4 -> Lv5
Skill leveled up: Rotten Spearfishing Lv6 -> Lv7
Their gains had slowed since the wild rush of their early awakening. Less risk, less reward. Still, for their age, they stood well above the norm, even with progress split across many skills.
Their latest achievement was the completion of Facet of the Army Breaker. They had managed to attach the facet to a branch on Div's side of the tree in the hopes that En wouldn't inherit the facet.
It had sped up the rate at which they progressed the facet. At least, they thought it did. They had no way to confirm. It still took two more fall seasons filled with dark days to finish it.
Gaining the branch allowed them to create a representation for Scornforged in the form of a grotesque arboreal growth. A knot of wood that bulged and twisted like a tumor. Thick veins of bark coiled around themselves, sprouting jagged splinters and malformed limbs. It pulsed faintly as if controlled by the Rot Heart.
Seeing that, En was convinced he wanted nothing to do with it.
With En's agreement, they had postponed the selection of their next facet. They had plenty of choices, some even calling to them. But Div felt that evolution was around the corner, and En was unwilling to let his brother suffer without rot magic much longer.
Every day after class, Div and En spent the evening absorbed in their inner world, looking for a solution.
[We've tried slicing the tendrils, but they re-attached themselves faster than we could cut them.]
(Yes, I don't think this approach is going to work. What are we missing?)
[We've already tried everything we could think of with rot and mana, we need to think wider. What are we aiming for?]
(Evolution? Separation? To become beings of our own?)
[But that's not all, you also want to get rid of the Rot Heart and some of our skills.]
They were somewhat confident that with their visualization of Scornforged, the skill should not transfer to En. Furthermore, without the Rot Heart, the other rot-attuned skills should revert back to their original state.
But how did one remove a bloodline?
[Let me try something.]
Div took a deep breath.
Flexing his imagination, he willed his side of the tree to grow around the Rot Heart. He wanted to mend the bark of the tree, to make his soul whole again.
Slowly, the Rot Heart was swallowed by Div's tree and soon, only the tendrils connecting it to En's were visible.
Following in his brother's steps, En did the same, excluding the Rot Heart.
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(It doesn't solve the issue, the tendrils are still connected to me.)
[Can't you push them out?]
(No, we already tried. Why would it be different now.)
They needed to sever the Rot Heart from En. Two people could not share one bloodline. And… an idea struck Div.
[What would even happen if someone does not have a bloodline? Is it even possible?]
En's eyes went wide.
(Everyone has one… Div, I need a bloodline.)
[It would be better, yes. You would be at a significant disadvantage without one.]
(No, I mean, that's what's blocking us from evolving. I need a bloodline.)
Awakening didn't grant a bloodline, it was simply the moment the dormant seed that was in every child bloomed into one.
[Okay, that's an interesting lead. But how?]
They were in uncharted territory. Bloodlines were not things to be acquired, crafted, or implanted. They were. That was it.
(Let's think. What's a bloodline but the core of our soul? If we want to separate, we each need a soul.)
They agreed on that point. In fact, splitting their shared soul into two was exactly what they were trying to do.
(So, I need something to create a new bloodline. A seed, a transplant, something…)
Div and En racked their brains to find a solution.
[If we follow the analogy, the bloodline is the seed. Facets are the branches, growing from the tree sprouted by that seed. Skills are the fruit.]
(And fruits carry seeds… that's how the tree spreads. Maybe I can turn a skill into my bloodline.)
The thought was like a thread of light cutting through fog. Fragile. Dangerous. Hopeful.
[We can try. Which one would you choose?]
(If it works, you'll probably lose the skill. It might be irreversible.)
Div didn't hesitate. What was one skill compared to freedom? Compared to evolution?
He nodded.
[That's fine.]
En didn't need long to decide.
(Spear. That's the one I feel closest to. That's the one I want to carry into… myself.)
They focused. In their shared inner world, En walked closer to the ray of sun piercing the earth and representing their Rotten Spear skill.
He held it in his hands. He imagined transforming it, not into a weapon but into a seed, into a core feeding life into his half of the tree.
Carrying it as a spear, he returned to the tree and used the sun spear to sever each tendril connecting his side to the Rot Heart.
It didn't work.
The tendrils grew back faster than he could cut them.
Without skipping a beat, En tried inserting the spear into the tree. He attempted to close the bark around it, to mimic what Div had achieved with the Rot Heart.
It didn't take.
The bark closed and the spear disappeared.
It had returned to its place in the grass—still rotten, still unchanged, as if nothing had happened.
(It didn't work.)
[No change. It didn't even react.]
En clenched his fists, frustration bubbling.
(Why not? I felt it. It could have been a seed. It wanted to be one.)
[No, it wanted to be a spear. That's all it is.]
(Then… it's not enough.)
They stared at the ray of sunlight. It was beautiful. Powerful. Meaningful.
But it wasn't what they needed.
Div was frustrated. He didn't think he could help. All this time, he had worked hard to free En from the rot. Now they felt so close and it turned out it was on En to find a solution.
(I think we made a mistake.)
[Where?]
En's eyes didn't leave the spear, still planted in the grass, its ray of light slicing through the gloom like a lie. Too pure. Too clean for the rotten skill it was.
(We thought a skill could replace a bloodline. But a skill is just… the echo of effort. A pattern. Something we learn, not something we are.)
Div said nothing. He didn't need to. He was listening.
(Bloodlines don't come from the outside in. They grow from the inside out. They're… truth. Identity. Not tools. Not tricks.)
He stepped away from the spear.
(I was trying to forge a soul out of a technique. That's not how souls work.)
The rot pulsed faintly from the center of the tree, quiet now, but always watching.
(We've been trying to cut the Rot Heart out like a parasite. But maybe we needed it. Maybe what matters is what we build on top of it. Or what grows in its place.)
Div stirred.
[You're saying… we shouldn't reject the rot? This is not like you. Maybe we should stop for today.]
(No, I'm fine. I'm saying I need to grow something stronger than it. Something of my own. Something that isn't rot, or mana, or even spear. Something me.)
[But what is that?]
En didn't answer immediately.
Because he didn't know yet.
But he felt the shape of it. A direction. A pressure building behind his ribs like a storm that hadn't found its sky.
(I don't know. Not yet. But if skills are fruit, and facets are branches, then the seed has to be something deeper. A root truth. A name I can claim without sharing it.)
He turned to Div.
(A title.)
Div straightened slightly.
[Maybe… Nobody knows what titles are, but they are burned into our souls. An imprint of who we are.]
En nodded slowly.
(Then that's what I need. A truth the world will recognize. Not just a skill I use, but a path I embody. Something no one can take from me. Not even you.)
He looked back one last time at the spear.
Still golden.
Still beautiful.
Still rotten.
He let it go.
As soon as he did, the fabric of their inner world shook. Div and En were startled.
[What's happening?]
(I don't know.)
Moving close to their respective tree, they kept their senses on alert. Their inner world had never done that before.
Another shake. It was as if the world itself was tearing itself apart.
A familiar feeling.
In front of En, a purple rift appeared.
(Rift Pioneer.)
He reached for it. Ethereal, unreal, yet he was able to pull it toward his tree.
The rift didn't show any sign of resistance as it entered the bark.
(Do it!)
Instinctively knowing what En was referring to, Div pulled all the stops and, with all the control he could muster over rot, yanked the tendrils connecting En to the Rot Heart.
They came off.
And didn't grow back.
The pressure snapped. Their pulse faltered, then steadied, as if their soul had exhaled for the first time in years.
They were evolving.