Roots | ONC 2024

VI : Silence

Umirin concludes it's definitely been hours since he has been taken away by the Soulbiter, considering he can glimpse the sun setting through the trees, the Forest around them growing darker, colder. He shudders, unnerved by the notion of being down here at night, especially considering his current circumstances.

Although, loath as he is to admit it, the beast has been oddly—peaceful since they departed. He can feel the faint thrum of its lifeforce deep beneath its skin under his palms, like the rumble of a little brook. It's almost comforting.

He hopes Shani made it home safely.

Umirin doesn't know where the Soulbiter is taking him, but he's been too distraught to try speaking to it again, resolving to just sitting still atop its back and waiting, come what may. He tried, at first, to keep track of its direction, but as this journey has gone on, he lost all sense of orientation. The only thing he retained is that the beast has been going steadily south, more or less with the meandering between the trees, from the direction of the pulley.

It's certainly better than nothing, any information now will be useful in eventually making his way back to his beloved. And the only thing that can stop him from keeping that promise is death, Umirin has firmly decided.

That thought does make him shiver, though. He doesn't know what the Soulbiter wants from him. It said atone, but how? How could they possibly ever atone for their stupidity?

Umirin fears to find out what the answer is.

Generations ago, when his people had still lived on the Forest floor, they had sent a hunting party out one night to gather food. And instead, they encountered the Heart of the Forest, the Divine Beast herself. The holy being that coughed out the first seed from which the Forest had sprouted in times before man. And they, foolish as they'd been, had not recognized the telltale markings on her fur, and killed her as if she were game.

They killed the Heart. And no living thing can survive without its heart, nor could the mighty Forest.

But it could curse them, with its withering, last breaths, deform their shape into monstrous, wild beasts, rooted to the soil so their very lifeforce may keep the Forest alive instead of its Heart.

What they took from it, it took from them.

And if they should ever run low on energy to feed the Forest, they will grow hungry. They will bite, feed on another's life force to replenish their own, spread the curse further.

Umirin's heart twists painfully when he remembers just how close it had been earlier. To losing Shani. Oh Heart, it had been far, far too close. He wipes a hand down his face, tries to wipe the horrible memory away.

The important thing is that that horrible reality did not come to pass.

Now Umirin must focus on the future, no matter how horrible it might be. He has his husband to return to after all is said and done, at all costs.

He is prepared to do anything it takes, anything at all.

More hours pass, the darkness of night sets in, and Umirin grows drowsy by then, his exhaustion drenching his bones. He wishes to sleep, but he fears being that vulnerable around the beast beneath him too much to let himself.

The Soulbiter doesn't breathe, there is no heartbeat from what Umirin can tell. It simply moves, silent as the dark depths of the Split. He finds that so unnerving.

Umirin glances over his shoulder, to the continuous streak of displaced soil left in the wake of the monster's burrowing forward. Such a peculiar sight, one could always trace the entirety of the Soulbiter's path just by following along the row left in their wake.

He yawns after a bit more time passes, presses his fists against his eyes to rub the grips of slumber away from them, only realizing after he lowers his arms and looks around again that the Soulbiter has finally stopped moving.

They are in a small clearing ringed by thick trees. It's sparsely lit by the moonlight, and Umirin can make out the mouth of a cave set into the ground at the far end of the area.

"Where...are we?" he dares ask, speaking up for the first time in hours.

The Soulbiter lowers itself to the ground, as if to lay down, allowing Umirin to climb off its back. He does so and turns to face it. Now bent down as it is, its head comes up to his eye level. The milky eyes regard him as it extends its neck forward, its head nearing Umirin's ear when it answers him, "Plaaaceee....o-of sinn," it groans quietly, almost as if it's—afraid to speak louder, ludicruous as it is to imply it can emote.

Umirin can't help his gasp, whirling about to look around himself closer when he parses what it said. The clearing is quiet, grass grown, the cave entrance at the back covered with moss and the trees bordering the space resembling dutiful sentinels guarding the area. This is...where the Heart of the Forest had died?

He chews on his lip, his skin breaking out into gooseflesh. A distinct sense of unease comes upon his senses, he cannot help but feel so very small, standing in this tainted yet hallow place.

Umirin hugs himself, too afraid to move, to disturb the Divine Beast's final resting place with his presence any more than he already is just by being here.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asks, facing the Soulbiter yet again.

It still hovers its head near him, but he's grown somewhat accustomed to the proximity by now. It parts its maw to answer, "H-Heaal t-the huurrtt," it whispers, sounding hoarse and—somehow sad.

It strikes Umirin, stark as lightning, that these beasts can express any emotion at all anymore. True as it is that they'd been human once, that was so long ago now that surely it wouldn't matter. Or perhaps he is imagining it. But the Soulbiter regards him silently after speaking, still lowered to the earth, and its usually lifeless milky white eyes seem to yearn.

For what, Umirin doesn't know. His heart bleeds for the creature regardless, and though he feels insane to be empathizing with his people's biggest foe to any extent, in this moment he finds it hard to hate it.

It looks just as weak and helpless as himself, just as lost.

Umirin reaches out a shaking hand toward its snout hovering just before him, disbelieving his own actions as he presses his palm to the round curve of its nose.

For a moment, the Soulbiter is still, but then Umirin feels it press into his palm, shifting its head forward ever so slightly. It closes its eyes, something he hadn't known they could do, given that they've never been seen to blink. A soft, content rumble, akin to a purr, reverbrates from deep within the creature's chest.

Umirin finds himself frozen in place, locked in a trance. He strokes his thumb across the snout, rubbing the cold skin gently. He can hardly fathom that he is petting a Soulbiter as if it were a common house pet.

"Okay, I will...I will heal, I will do my best," he nods slowly, makes yet another promise he now finds himself wishing to keep.

Heart help him, the things he's gotten himself into.