Kain's fingers closed around the object within the tree's mouth, and began to retract.
But as he did so golden light surged up his arm like a molten tide, flowing along his veins, washing through bone and spirit alike. It wasn't painful. It wasn't warm. It was... transformative.
The tree pulsed once more, its golden canopy shimmering like a living sun, and then the mouth began to close behind his arm.
Kain's eyes glazed.
But then, before he could even process what it is he'd grabbed—
DING.
A sharp, long lost chime cracked through the silence of his mind.
Then another.
Then five, ten, dozens more.
[WARNING: Extremely toxic substance detected— no action taken due to System lockout by external relic authority.]
[WARNING: External spatial shift detected. System's perception of Host's whereabouts is limited.]
[ALERT: System synchronization delayed due to priority lockdown by relic authority.]
[Calculating deferred messages... loading 257 critical alerts.]
