The Path of Ruin

Chapter 68: Heart of the Guardian

*(A/N: There will be another chapter in a few hours. And I wrote a bunch of chapters while I was gone even though I couldn't publish any of them. So I have like 20 chapters ready. I scheduled everything. I'm prepared this time.)*

*******

After his encounter with Amar, Kael went to his room and threw himself on his bed.

All sleep was gone.

Amar... had really left a big effect on him.

'Scary...'

He would not be honest if he claimed otherwise. The knight named Amar was now a far different person in his eyes.

'And he's connected to this 'Guardian', somehow...'

What was this connection? He couldn't stop wondering.

One thing he was sure of, though... Amar didn't like him very much.

'I'll have to be more careful tomorrow.'

At least he was now aware that he was being watched. He could act accordingly.

He put his hands on his pillow, behind his head, and began to watch the ceiling.

Even though his mind was full of different thoughts, one kept coming to the fore. Find adventures at mvl

And that was... whatever the town's problem was, whether it was with the Guardian or not, there was definitely something going on here that the Empire was not aware of.

*******

On the morning of the next day, just as planned, Kael, along with two other maintenance workers, prepared to go to the Heart of the Guardian.

And it wasn't long before the preparations were finished.

"Are you ready?"

The first of the maintenance workers, Fesila, nodded. The other, a young, ordinary boy who looked to be in his twenties, responded in kind.

"Good... let's go then, to the Heart of the Guardian."

That's what their destination was called, the Heart of the Guardian.

And Kael liked it, he thought it was a fitting name for where they were going.

"Yes."

And so they left. They made their way to the lower levels of the mansion, entering one of the entrances Kael had identified earlier.

The checks were done quickly. Kael got strange looks from most of the people around him, but he didn't worry too much about it. All his focus was on the road ahead.

As he had sensed before, underneath the mansion was practically an anthill. Tunnels ran everywhere, connecting to each other and getting more and more complex. What all these tunnels had in common was the abundance of vines in each of them.

Just like the roots of a tree.

Roots full of eon, or rather vines.

'Strange... and intriguing...'

Plants had always intrigued him, dangerous or not. Even though he hadn't put his botanical knowledge to proper use recently, it hadn't dampened his interest in them.

So, whatever his previous thoughts, he had a strange feeling when he thought about this plant called 'Guardian' by the townspeople, its connection to eon, and the fact that it had grown to such a large size.

Still, Kael put his mission first, just as he had done since he first stepped foot in the Empire. And he preferred to focus on what was in front of him.

Finally, after traveling for some time, he noticed that the tunnel they were traveling through began to widen slightly. Not only that, the number of vines was increasing and growing in size. But the most obvious thing was definitely... the amount of eon.

'This is... almost dizzying.'

The fact that so much eon was crammed into such a small space... was enough to overwhelm his senses as he was experiencing it for the first time. He tried to keep his posture and expression neutral, but if no one was around, he would have just let himself fall to the ground to recover.

'How do those two stand it...? Are they used to it?'

Or were they less affected because they were normal people?

'Calm down, focus...'

He regulated his breathing, tensed his muscles, and moved his own eon more fluidly through his body. He felt a little more relaxed. And right after he did that...

"Here we are."

Fesila, the one at the front of the group, said, halting her steps.

Kael paused. He had only stopped paying attention to his surroundings for a brief moment to focus, but even though it was a brief moment, he hadn't realized where he had come to.

The tunnel widened as it went on and led to what looked like a big cave. A very large cave.

But... was it even right to call it a cave?

Kael could not see a single rock or stone. Not even soil or dirt, let alone rocks and stones.

Everything was... only vines. Vines that covered everything with their dark green color, in some places thicker than his own body.

And all these vines were moving towards a single point. The center of the cave. And there they were merging, growing, becoming a whole.

'Ah...'

Kael stiffened with the pure eon he felt as he stared at what was in front of him. But the eon was not the only reason why he was frozen in place. Although it was worse than in the tunnel, it was still bearable.

It wasn't the eon... it was what he saw.

'So that's why they call it a heart...'

The Heart of the Guardian... was beating like a real heart.

The vines, forming an egg-like structure almost four meters in size, were constantly moving. It was beating as a heart beats. It was carrying something as a heart carries blood throughout the body.

'It carries eon... all over its body...'

He could not help swallowing. This time, he had to try harder to calm himself and keep his focus. But he did it anyway.

Slowly, he began to approach the 'heart'. His steps were slow, his senses were getting stranger with each step he took. Yet he did not stop and kept going.

'How does it get the necessary water and sunlight? Can something so big... really circulate enough nutrients and energy?'

Maybe... eon was helping it?

Maybe the reason why this heart-shaped structure was created in the first place was to send eon to all the vines to support the water and sunlight as energy.

'Ah... that's why it had eon... or why it was able to grow so big because it had eon in the first place...'

His eyes widened slightly as many different theories flooded his mind.

'The discoloration in some areas, the problems with what appears to be a lack of nutrients... these are all things that occur naturally in this plant... That's why they didn't take it seriously until now...'

Everything made more sense now. This plant... even if it was successful in trying to keep itself alive, it was never completely healthy.

Kael paused for a moment. His brow furrowed as something occurred to him.

'So... why did they agree with me that the color was different from normal?'

If the color of the plant was always like this, they wouldn't see it as a problem now. He could tell that there were similar conclusions for other problems of the plant.

He kept thinking.

He thought, thought, and thought...

'Eon... There was also a problem with the eon flow...'

Finally, just in front of the heart, he paused again. Swallowing involuntarily, he squinted slightly. Then, he slowly raised his hand, trying to reach out to it.

But he failed.

"What do you think you're doing?"

He could do nothing against the tremendous force that suddenly grabbed his arm. His eyes quickly left the heart and turned to the man standing right next to him... Amar.

He... was looking at him much more hostile than he had been yesterday.

"I'm going to look at the eon flow of it."

"Well, sorry then. You can't touch it."

"I can't solve the problem if there's one unless I touch it."

"Then you don't have to solve it."

Amar gave Kael's hand a hard shove, causing him to step back. The hostile look in his eyes grew worse by the second as he continued his words harshly.

"It was ridiculous to even let you come here. Get out of here right now."

But Kael... wasn't going to give up. He had no intention of it.

"I know you don't trust me... but all I really want to do is study the eon flow. Just like I did in town."

"Go back to doing it in town, then."

Kael narrowed his eyes. He met Amar's cold eyes with the same coldness.

"Don't get me wrong, I really have no intention of harming your Guardian, but... I don't understand why you guys care so much about it."

He took his eyes away from Amar for a brief moment and turned them towards the heart.

"It's a truly colossal plant that possesses eon... and it has many benefits for you as well as for nature, yes. But... not to the point of almost worshipping it, of naming it 'Guardian'."

He turned to Amar again. This time, his words were much more confident, much calmer.

"It does more, right?"

He saw a brown glint in Amar's eyes. The man's crimson eyes started to change color as if to emphasize the amount of eon in his body, making Kael feel something much heavier than 'hostility'.

"First and foremost, you... there's something about you. You... can communicate with the 'Guardian', right? And the Guardian does so much more than a simple plant can do. Like... literally protecting the town from outside threats, for example."

Everything he said was speculation. It was all based on his guesses.

But as it turned out, it was right on target.

"It doesn't change anything."

Just like last night, brown colored eon spread out from Amar's body and vines grew out of nothingness.

They were all pointing at Kael.

"Because if you won't leave despite my warning... I will kill you right here."