Chapter 5: Whisper Root Rises
The tomb didn't fully open.
Just a crack.
Enough for cold breath to spill out like smoke from forgotten incense. Enough for the roots around it to curl tighter, like fingers gripping secrets they didn't want to let go.
Alex stared at the line that'd opened.
He didn't move.
Didn't even breathe.
Behind him, Meilin drew her dagger. Jun stepped closer with a makeshift shovel-spear. Yun'er raised her lantern—and the shadows writhed like they were scared of her.
The tomb pulsed once.
Like it had a heartbeat.
"System," Alex whispered. "What's… inside that?"
"Response: Unknown. Contracted memory fragments are inconsistent. Advisory: proceed with caution or plant spiritual rice immediately and walk away."
Alex almost did.
Almost.
But the crack whispered.
Not words.
Just feeling.
Loneliness.
Like a root buried too deep to ever feel sun again.
He placed a hand against the tomb.
And whispered back.
"I don't know who you are yet. But I remember… what I felt, once. So if you need to speak…"
He closed his eyes.
"…I'll listen."
The tomb didn't open more.
But the roots behind it did.
Shifted. Split.
Revealing a small passage just big enough to crawl.
Jun immediately stepped back. "Nope. No. This is the part in ghost stories where the idiot says 'Let's go in alone.' You better not—"
Alex already ducked in.
Inside: silence.
Not empty silence.
Heavy. Like the air was made of memory and dust.
The passage led to a circular root chamber lit by bioluminescent moss. In the center stood a small pedestal made of black stone—and on it, a root.
Just one.
Twisted.
Covered in rune-scars.
Still breathing.
"Whisper Root detected," the system muttered. "Warning: Contains archived will of prior cultivator... scanning for mental infection."
Alex stepped close.
Then it spoke.
But not with voice.
With thought.
"Soilbearer. You returned."
"Took you long enough."
Alex blinked.
"…I've never been here before."
"No. But you were. Before you forgot. Before you gave me away to sleep."
"Do you remember why?"
Alex shook his head.
The root sighed.
"Then let me show you."
Visions hit him.
The chamber changed—became sunlight. Trees. A field full of laughing disciples. He was younger. Cloaked in golden robes. Holding a seed glowing like the stars.
"This seed will save or end the world," the echo of past-him said.
"Bury it here. Let it forget. Let it choose peace… if peace ever becomes stronger than ambition."
Then he stabbed the root into soil and walked away.
Alex gasped back to the present.
The whisper root pulsed, soft.
"The seed is stirring again. The world grows loud. If you truly want peace, Soilbearer…"
"You must teach it peace."
Alex didn't speak for a while.
Then—
He smiled.
"Then I'll show it my garden."
When he emerged, the others stared.
"Was it alive?" Meilin asked.
Alex nodded.
"Did it attack you?" Jun added.
Alex shook his head.
Yun'er narrowed her eyes. "Then what did it do?"
"…It asked for help."
That night, Alex planted the whisper root in the center of his farm.
Right next to the scarecrow with the silly hat.
And whispered to the soil, just once:
"Let's grow this world into somethin kind again."
The root pulsed in return.
And from far below…
Something began to listen.
End of Chapter 5