My world-tree system-Chapter 49 - 48: Trap

Foster closed his eyes and placed his palm against the massive bark of the Mother Tree. Immediately, a familiar wave pulsed under his skin, moving up his arm and spreading throughout his body.

He inhaled deeply and surrendered to the connection.

The Mother Tree didn’t speak in words.

It felt. It transmitted.

A flood of emotions, vague visions, ancestral forebodings.

Foster immersed himself in it.

At first, he sensed the Tree’s mistrust. A dull vibration, like a rumbling in the hollow of the earth. The tree remembered the dark miasma, the shadows that crawled, the filth it had pushed to the borders of Vollua.

It didn’t want to let this thing in.

A blurred silhouette appeared in Foster’s mind. Kassandra.

But she wasn’t like before. Her glow was hazy. Altered.

A knot of foreign magic was binding her, gripping her like invisible chains.

Foster felt the warning.

Foster had expected the Mother Tree to refuse Kassandra. He had prepared himself for mistrust and rejection. But what he perceived through the connection...

It was beyond anything he had imagined.

A hindrance. A stain.

As soon as he had plunged into the consciousness of the Mother Tree, a discordant vibration had crossed his soul. Something abnormal. Intrusive.

He’d seen Kassandra. Or rather, what was left of her.

A light that had once shone brightly, now blurred and flickering.

A black thread encircled her, wrapped around her essence.

No... Chains.

Thick. Invisible. Snaking beneath his skin.

Magic he didn’t know.

An imposed magic.

Foster felt dizzy. A feeling of visceral disgust.

As if someone had branded Kassandra like cattle.

Someone had robbed her of herself.

Foster’s primal instincts immediately flared up. Rage. Hatred. Injustice.

His jaw clenched, his fingers trembled slightly.

- Who had dared to do this?

- Who had dared to defile a free elf?

Anger turned to cold calculation.

He wanted to wrest this magic away immediately.

Break these chains. Tear up the foreign imprint, tear the culprit apart with his own hands.

But... he couldn’t.

Not yet.

Foster inhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a brief moment.

He swallowed his rage. He had no right to rush.

If he showed his confusion, if he revealed that he knew... then the enemy would realise that he’d been found out.

He exhaled slowly, disciplining his breath.

He had to be patient.

He opened his eyes again, and everything in his face was calm and impassive.

But inside him, the storm was still roaring.

Foster stared at the Mother Tree, his forehead wrinkled under the intensity of his reflection. The tree’s energy vibrated within him, pulsing through his veins like a burning sap. But this was not an exchange of words.

The Mother Tree didn’t speak.

He felt.

Foster had to convey his plan, not in words, but in intentions.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

The Tree surrounded him, its essence sliding against his mind like a silent whisper. The awakening of the woods, the growth of the roots, the force of life itself. Foster had to use this link to show her what he wanted to achieve.

Kassandra had to enter.

Not as an enemy.

Not as a threat.

But as a prisoner.

The Mother Tree shuddered. A dull ache rolled under Foster’s skin, a crushing pressure that squeezed his chest. A refusal?

- ’Wait... look.’

He projected his intention. An ambush without violence.

Kassandra would enter of her own free will, certain that her masquerade was working.

Once inside, the Mother Tree would no longer need to reject her.

It would trap her.

Roots, branches, an unshakeable cocoon closed around her that would suck up all her magical and physical energy and plunge her into an artificial coma until a solution could be found.

The Mother Tree would not attack Kassandra.

It would engulf her.

The unease eased. The Ancient Tree didn’t understand everything. But he sensed.

- ’Trust me,’ Foster murmured, stroking the bark with the flat of his hand.

The energy of the Mother Tree softened.

It was accepting.

Foster opened his eyes.

- ’Kassandra... you’re going home.’

But not the way you think.

Foster took a step back, letting his fingers slide over the vibrant bark of the Mother Tree. He felt the roots trembling under the earth, the branches shivering above him. The Tree understood.

Not completely. Not in a human way.

But it sensed the intention.

All Foster had to do now was set the trap.

He opened his eyes again and turned his gaze to the elves waiting at the entrance to the plant dome, glancing anxiously at Kassandra. Some were murmuring amongst themselves, perplexed by this barrier that refused one of their own.

- ’Why can’t she come in?’ asked an elf with a youthful face, his voice hesitant.

- ’The Tree doesn’t recognise her,’ Foster replied simply.

His tone was neutral, without accusation. He knew that the slightest suspicion could arouse Kassandra’s mistrust. She had to believe that everything was going according to plan.

He approached her slowly, smiling with relief.

- ’That should take care of it. It’s good to see you alive, Kassandra.’

She inclined her head slightly. Her eyes shone with feigned sincerity, her smile mastered to perfection.

She played her part perfectly.

- ’We’ll sort this out,’ Foster announced to the others. ’She can’t stay out there.’

He let his voice carry a false urgency, implying that he would not tolerate a member of his family being left outside.

For a moment, he thought he saw a flicker of triumph in Kassandra’s eyes.

Perfect.

She thought she’d won.

Foster turned to one of the elves specialising in magic and communion with the Tree.

- ’Prepare an energy channel and we’ll ask the Mother Tree to recognise her.

The elf nodded and knelt down, placing her hands on the ground and closing her eyes.

Foster already knew what was going to happen.

A decoy.

A mock ritual designed to give the illusion that Kassandra would be accepted.

But in reality, the trap had already been sprung.

The roots of the Mother Tree began to stir beneath the earth. Foster could feel them vibrating, weaving an invisible embrace, like a network of veins waiting for their prey.

The dome of vegetation opened slowly.

Just enough for her to pass through.

Kassandra stepped inside.

The next moment, everything closed in on her.

A wall of branches, roots and vines sprang up from the ground, trapping her in an indestructible organic prison.

She didn’t even have time to scream.

Foster moved forward slowly.

He placed a hand on the bark of her living prison.

’Welcome home, Captain.’

His gaze hardened.

Kassandra shuddered.

A gasp escaped her lips, her eyes clouded. Her fingers trembled, clutching at the vines. A sudden dizziness assailed her.

Her magic.

Her vital energy.

She felt something being torn from her.

An invisible force was draining her essence, pulling at every part of her body, every fragment of her being.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Her breath caught.

Her strength deserted her.

Her eyelids fluttered one last time.

Then her body collapsed. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Foster, still silent, closed his eyes for a brief moment. He felt the action of the Mother Tree like a dull pulse beneath his feet.

The absorption had begun.

Putting him in stasis.

The Tree would not kill Kassandra.

But it would weaken her to the point of depriving her of any ability to cause harm. It would plunge her into a deep coma, where her mind could no longer respond to any commands, where her body could no longer be used as a weapon.

It was the only option.

A temporary sacrifice.

Time to understand.

The time to find a solution.

Foster reopened his eyes and placed a hand on the plant prison where Kassandra, unconscious, was now captive.

The wood vibrated under his fingers, pulsing to the rhythm of the spell being performed.

’Rest.’

Her whisper was lost in the rustle of the leaves.

The silence was heavy.

All around Foster, eyes focused on him, wavering between concern, fear and incomprehension. The Mother Tree had swallowed up Kassandra without a word, without explanation. For them, there was only one truth: one of their own had just been captured by their own protector.

It was unprecedented.

Unacceptable.

One of the elves, a jet-haired archer, finally broke the silence with a voice vibrating with confusion and anger.

- Foster, explain yourself! Why is the Tree-Mother refusing Kassandra? She’s an elf, almost like us!

The others nodded, murmuring amongst themselves and glancing worriedly at the massive trunk holding the young woman.

Foster, impassive, swept his gaze over the group. He had expected this reaction. He even understood it. But he didn’t have the luxury of giving them the benefit of the doubt.

So he took a long breath and replied, in a strong, steady voice:

- You see the Mother Tree as a protector. As a shield against the enemy. And that’s what it is. But it is also much more than that. She is our foundation, our purest link with life itself. She doesn’t reject Kassandra on a whim.

The elves remained silent, hanging on her words. Some frowned, trying to understand what he was getting at.

- She rejects Kassandra because she doesn’t recognise her.

A murmur of agitation ran through the assembly.

- What do you mean, ’doesn’t recognise her’?’ shouted a dark-skinned warrior. Kassandra is a wood elf like the rest of us before the transformation!

Foster crossed his arms.

- Not quite. Not any more.

The calm but firm tone silenced any immediate protests. He left no room for doubt.

He pointed to the imposing trunk of the Mother Tree.

- This Tree senses energies, souls and even what we don’t know ourselves. You think Kassandra is still the same, but she has changed. Something in her no longer belongs to our people.

The elves exchanged troubled glances. Some of them were more perceptive and began to understand what Foster was getting at.

One of them, a woman with brown hair and piercing eyes, murmured:

- You mean... she’s corrupt?

Foster nodded slowly.

- I don’t have absolute proof yet. But what I felt... what the Mother Tree felt... is an alien magic. A force that has no place in the soul of a woodland elf.

An icy silence fell over the assembly.

Some looked away, confused. Others seemed to refuse to accept the truth. A tight-jawed warrior stepped forward.

- Are you saying she betrayed us?

Foster shook his head.

- I’m not saying that.

His tone was sharp. He didn’t want a schism among the last survivors of his people.

- I’m saying we don’t know. Kassandra may be under influence, perhaps even against her will. But until we have the answer... I refuse to take the risk.

He pointed to the plant prison.

- The Mother Tree has plunged it into a state of stasis. It can no longer act, no longer use its magic, no longer influence anyone. It’s the only safe way of studying it without it endangering us.

The silence lasted a few seconds. Then a broken voice whispered:

- What if she’s innocent?

Foster closed his eyes for a moment.

He knew this question was coming.

And he also knew he didn’t have the answer.

When he opened his eyelids again, his gaze was hard.

- Then we’ll set him free. And we’ll apologise.

Then, lower down, almost to himself:

- But if she isn’t...