Forgotten Tree — At the Same Time
The silence around the Forgotten Tree was very different from the silence of the tomb beneath Rootcrown.
Here, the silence was not dead, it was waiting.
Seris stood beside the Cocoon.
One of her hands was near the handle of her sword and her eyes almost never left the semi-transparent surface of the Cocoon.
One stood a few meters away on its legs, its antennae moved every few seconds and from its behavior, it was clear that it did not like the area.
Aren was sitting on part of a dried root.
Almost nothing had happened since Lian left, and almost no conversation had happened either.
"Have you and Lian known each other for a long time?" Aren endured the silence for the first few minutes and finally asked.
"No." Seris said without taking her eyes off the Cocoon.
He waited for a few seconds, thinking that maybe there would be more, but there was not, it did not seem like this girl had any interest in explaining or talking more.
He looked around, a few more minutes passed and then he tried again.
"Is he always like this?"
"Yes." This time the young girl gave him a short look.
"What do you mean by like this?" Aren raised an eyebrow, he had asked this question randomly so he could start a conversation, but he received a confusing answer.
"Just like this." Seris thought for two seconds.
"I think you run out of things to say without Lian." Aren was genuinely helpless for a moment and then gave a short, dry laugh.
The young Pendragon looked at him a little longer this time, but she decided to stay silent and say nothing, she did not see a reason to answer.
Aren waited for an explanation, no explanation came and then he sighed and decided not to try anymore.
The truth was that Seris was almost always quiet.
Normally, hours could pass without her saying more than a few sentences.
Aren had understood this from the journey from Vhalaris to the Forgotten Tree.
But there was something strange, when Lian was there, Seris talked more.
She asked questions, made sarcastic comments and sometimes even made cold jokes.
He was not sure if the girl herself had noticed this difference, it was better not to say anything about it, especially because the answer would probably be the same one-word answer she always gave.
More minutes passed.
Gestation Progress had still not changed.
[63.7%]
Seris checked the panel every few minutes, it remained stable and this stability slowly reduced some of the first pressure.
If the process could take this long to complete, maybe there was no need to worry too much, they had plenty of time to deal with the problem.
Seeing this, she did not lower her guard, but at least she felt a little better.
If the progress continued at this speed, they could follow Lian’s plan.
She personally had not planned to confront him like that at the time, and she did not want to kill this girl for no reason either.
But she had no choice, Seris knew that if someone had to do these difficult, cold, monstrous, and emotionless things, there was no one but her who could do them.
At that time, she also wanted to take the first step and destroy such a great threat, she knew that Lian would probably be angry with her and might even try to stop her from killing Selina.
But in her mind, she had already decided that if necessary, she would do it by force, too, this was something the Pendragon family had taught her since childhood.
That nothing was more important than protecting the world and her family, anything that could become a threat to either of them had to be destroyed immediately.
And when she read the System notifications about the Black Silence Fetus, she became certain that whatever was inside that Cocoon, if it was fully born, it would become a threat to their world and her family.
She wanted to destroy it according to her family’s teachings... she wanted to do it! She had to do it...
But she did not know why... why did her heart hurt when she saw Lian’s eyes become cold and heard his tone toward her... it was as if she could not stand the thought of that boy being angry with her...
But why? Why had she become like this? What kind of feeling was this? She had never experienced anything like this before... she had never cared about other people’s feelings and had always acted according to her family’s teachings and traditions.
So what was wrong with her now...
’What’s wrong with me...? Could I be sick...?’ she quietly whispered to herself.
However, before she could find an answer... suddenly, one of the white roots moved.
Seris immediately stood straight, One also raised its antennae and Aren stood up from the root.
"What happened?"
No one answered, the very weak golden light inside the roots became stronger for the first time.
The light came down from the huge trunk of the tree, flowed into the roots and went directly into the Cocoon.
The young girl took one step forward, her hand moved to the handle of her sword and then suddenly a sound came.
A sound that was almost impossible to mistake in that place.
Thump.
Aren held his breath and Seris frowned and a few seconds later it happened again.
Thump.
This was not Selina’s Heartbeat, it was much louder, much deeper, as if the Cocoon itself had gained a heart.
Seris immediately opened the panel.
[Calamity Gestation Progress: 64.1%]
Her eyes narrowed, the number had changed!
But it was still not high enough to cause panic, until it changed again.
[65.8%]
Seris remained motionless and before she even had a chance to say anything, it increased again ....
[67.4%]
"What happened?" Aren could not see anything, he did not have a System panel to see the percentage of the process.
She did not answer and the number increased again.
[70.2%]
This time, her expression really changed.
"...Fuck it"
"What happened? Tell me!"
"The percentage is going up." Seris said.
"How fast?" Aren moved his eyes between her and the Cocoon.
Before the girl could answer, the System itself showed the answer.
[74.6%]
[77.2%]
[79.9%]
Seris pulled her sword halfway out of its sheath.
"No..."
The number changed once again.
[81.0%]
Then it suddenly stopped....
She looked at the panel alone for a few seconds to make sure it would not suddenly rise again, for a moment she thought they were screwed.
"How much?" Aren asked in a more serious voice.