Chapter 11 - The chamber began collapsing.Rocks fell from the ceiling.
Roots tore through the walls.
Silly pushed me toward the tunnel.
“Go!”
“No.”
“You have to.”
“Not without you.”
She looked at me.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“The tree doesn't want your body.”
“It wants your memory.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because you're the only person who remembered Elias.”
My chest tightened.
“What happens if it gets my memories?”
“It becomes human.”
“And then?”
“It leaves the tree.”
We ran.
Behind us came the sound of roots ripping through stone.
I looked back.
The pale tree had split apart.
Inside it was a human heart.
Black.
Beating.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Grandmother's voice echoed through the chamber.
“You can't destroy it.”
Silly stopped.
I turned.
“What's wrong?”
She looked toward the heart.
“We've been trying to destroy the wrong thing.”
“What?”
“The tree isn't the prison.”
“The heart is.”
“What is it?”
“The first memory.”
Whispers filled the tunnel.
A story unfolded around us.
Not in words.
In images.
A village.
A famine.
A mother losing her child.
A promise.
A ritual.
The first ancestor of our family.
She had buried her dead infant beneath a tree.
Then she prayed for him to return.
Something answered.
Not a god.
Not a spirit.
A memory.
Her grief became strong enough to create a living thing.
The tree grew around it.
Generation after generation, people fed their memories into it.
Until it became ancient.
Hungry.
Aware.
It no longer wanted grief.
It wanted identity.
It wanted to become human.
Silly whispered:
“The tree remembers everyone.”
“That means it knows how to be anyone.”
A voice behind us spoke.
“I know exactly who I am.”
We turned.
My twin stood there.
Alive.
But changed.
Black branches grew from his back.
Roots covered his arms.
His eyes were no longer human.
Silly stepped backward.
“Elias.”
He smiled.
“Remember me?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He reached for me.
“You'll help me finish.”
I stepped back.
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“I was trapped for fourteen years.”
“I was forgotten.”
“No one remembered my birthday.”
“No one knew my name.”
He pointed at himself.
“But you did.”
“I saw you in the tree.”
“You gave me life.”
I shook my head.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
He smiled.
“You remembered.”
The roots around his neck tightened.
His voice changed.
Now multiple voices came from his mouth.
Dad.
Mom.
Mai.
Grandmother.
Silly.
And me.
“All you have to do…”
He stepped forward.
“…is remember everything.”
Silly pulled me behind her.
She held the yellow talisman.
But her hands were shaking.
Elias laughed.
“That won't stop me.”
He snapped his fingers.
The talisman burned.
Silly screamed.
Then Elias whispered:
“Tell him what happened to Mai.”
Silly looked at me.
“No.”
“Tell him.”
“Stop.”
“You want to save him?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell him why Mai disappeared.”
I looked at Silly.
She was crying.
“Why?”
She whispered:
“Because I pushed her.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She was standing near the hollow.”
“I thought she was going to fall.”
“So I pushed her away.”
“But the ground opened.”
“She fell.”
“She never came back.”
I stared at her.
“You said she disappeared.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Silly looked at Elias.
“Of what came out after she fell.”
A crack opened beneath us.
A little girl's hand emerged.
May you like
Then a voice.
“I'm still here.”
