The night sky bled crimson above Everkeep, and in its heart, Elias stood still—silent, breathless, and surrounded by ash. His body trembled, not from exhaustion, but from something else.
Something awakening.
> [System Warning: Evolutionary Path Unknown.]
[Manual Override Detected.]
[Source of Override: Forbidden Tree – Seed Awakening.]
[You are now locked onto the Path of Anathema.]
Elias's eyes flared with black fire.
"Kharon," he said without looking back. "What do you know about the Forbidden Tree?"
The Reaper was there, standing in the shadows, his face unreadable.
"Legends only," Kharon replied. "It was a root that predates the System—older than the Architect, older than the Void. A mistake, or perhaps, a design to end all designs."
Elias clenched his fists, his veins glowing faintly. The soil beneath his feet cracked and began to grow. Tiny tendrils, dark and slick, pierced the ground like roots. The very earth seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat.
