NOVEL WEB Chapter 314: A New Gift
The sun set in the horizon, infusing itself with hues of blue, orange and purple, while the rest of the world was painted a uniform molten gold.
A lone hooded man walked up the narrow path of the mountain, cloak flapping against his heels in the evening breeze.
The wind howled faintly through the nearby peaks, but the man paid it no mind. Instead, he suddenly stopped, head tilting to the side.
Suddenly, there was a crack of stone to the side, and the snort of a creature.
A massive boar burst from behind a pile of rocks, its tusks glinting, and its muscles rippling with rage. It charged immediately.
The cloaked man didn't flinch. Instead, he shifted one step, and a bone arm lashed out, clean and fast.
There was a loud crack, and the boar flew sideways, its skull crushed inward. It hit the ground with a heavy thud and didn't rise again. Blood began to pool beneath its head.
The man knelt.
His bone arm rattled faintly as the blood flowed into it, curling along the tiny pores spread around its length. It drank deep.
The man reached up and pulled back his hood, revealing a familiar face.
Thorn.
He grabbed the boar by one thick leg, slung it over his shoulder with a grunt, and turned back toward the winding trail that led to their camp.
By the time he arrived, the sun had dipped behind the mountains.
Ren sat by the fire pit, coaxing flames from kindling with a quiet focus. Across from him, Lilith sat on a flat stone, knees drawn up, watching him work. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes never left Ren's hands.
Thorn tossed the boar down beside them. "Perimeter's clear." He said. "Dinner, anyone?"
Ren looked up. "Damn, Thorn. That thing's almost double your size."
"Tried to kill me. Didn't try hard enough."
Ren stood, brushing ash from his fingers. "I'll skin it. We'll salt the rest and toss it in the pouch. For a rainy day."
The reason why didn't need to be said. They all remembered eating raw fish in the Deep, just because they'd failed to pack food in Ren's spatial pouch.
As Thorn got the spit set up and Ren went to work with a knife, the moon rose high, bathing the camp in silver. Flames crackled. Meat sizzled. The smell was rich, earthy, and welcome.
But their minds were elsewhere.
Ren leaned forward, elbows on knees, his voice low.
"We've got two names now. First is the Three. All we know is that they're three, and the Chained Man was one of them. We still don't know what they want and why they were involved with the Red Plague."
"And then, there's Yggdrasil. I don't like that we know so little about either."
Lilith tilted her head, not taking her eyes off Ren's face. "We know Yggdrasil is the World Tree."
Thorn glanced at Lilith, trying to gauge her mood. He didn't think she'd taken her eyes off Ren in the past hour. That meant things were fine.
Ever since the battle with Shing, Lilith had gone through a few… changes. And one was incredibly familiar. Her obsession.
"And what does it mean to be a World Tree?" Ren spoke, drawing Thorn away from his observation. "Well, we know it's somehow connected to every Tree of Power. I saw its power over the hooks on my soul, and Vesper was proof. So was Shing."
"It can't control us directly through the Trees of Power, but something tells me that it can do much worse."
Thorn snacked on a strip of jerky. "So what's your plan?"
Ren reached into the pouch beside him and pulled out a small scroll. He unrolled it across a flat stone, revealing a hand-drawn map.
Detailed on the map was the Arondale mountain range. Made up of more than a hundred mountains tied together, it was one of the most dangerous places in the world. And they'd just arrived in it.
"This place holds the key." Ren said. "If I want to sever my ties to the Shivering Tree, I need something that can override that connection."
"And you think it's in Arondale?"
"No. I know it. There's a weapon here. A flame that has the power to kill a Tree of Power. We need it for one of the coming Calamities. But it can also be used to sever the connection."
Thorn frowned. "If you're cutting your ties... does that mean I have to do the same?"
Ren looked at him. "Yes. If we want to make sure Yggdrasil never finds a way to get to us, we need to be clean. No Tree can have hooks in our souls."
Thorn shifted uncomfortably. "Then I lose this."
He looked down at his bone arm, clenching his fist. "I haven't even gotten to activate the enchantment yet."
"Well, the good news is that you won't be losing that arm." Ren grinned. "The Trees of Power are not the only source of power that exists. We have the Divine Gifts too. As you already know, some are born with them, and others can claim them."
"Lilith and I already have our gifts." Ren leaned back, eyes twinkling. "It's about time you got yours too."
Thorn looked skeptical. "Are you sure we'll be able to find a Divine Gift in these mountains?"
"We will. And when we do, you'll be able to keep control of your arm."
"Wait a minute." Thorn narrowed his eyes. "If that's the good news, what's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that if you want to keep the arm, you'll lose your other enchantments when we sever your connection to the Blood Tree."
Thorn blinked. "Well, fuck."
Apart from his bone arm, he had two other enchantments. His snake sword and his flexible cloak.
His sword was great for killing things at a distance and even around corners, while his cape could protect him by twisting around him and hardening in defense. It had even saved his life numerous times.
One thing was certain. He'd miss them.