Kane stood frozen, a chilling dread seeping into his bones. His Flaw, that persistent, agonizing chorus of ravings from the dead, which he had believed to be an unchangeable, permanent curse, had vanished. But instead of relief, a profound shiver traced its way down his spine. The sudden, unnatural silence in his mind was far more terrifying than the torment it replaced. It was a void, a sinister emptiness that screamed of something deeply, fundamentally wrong.
He immediately forced himself to engage his Aspect vision, pushing through the searing pain that flared in his mind. He needed to see, to understand what was truly happening with the mind threads. He had to persevere, to find a solution, no matter the cost of the agony. But what he discovered plunged him into a horror far beyond mere pain.
The entire colossal tree, which had offered them such serene refuge, was not merely a plant. It was a vast, living entity, its very essence interwoven with an intricate, predatory network of mind threads. Each thread extended from the tree's trunk and branches like the terrifying, unseen tentacles of a colossal creature, probing and searching for its next meal. Their reach was immense, stretching for miles, covering the entire Ashen Barrow and extending all the way to the distant borders of the Ashen Land. The whole scene was a grotesque, psychic tableau, a silent, pervasive horror that defied immediate comprehension.
'How... did... I... not notice... this...? What... is... happening... to... my... mind?' His thoughts raced, a whirlwind of confusion and dawning, gut-wrenching horror. As he instinctively turned his gaze towards his own being within this Aspect vision, he identified four distinct mind threads. Unlike the chaotic, probing tendrils of the tree, these four threads were strangely still, yet pulsating with a subtle, insidious energy. Kane cautiously extended his own mental essence, a tendril of his will, attempting to touch them. It was then that he discovered the terrifying, parasitic truth: these four mind threads were directly attached to his own consciousness, diligently siphoning off something from him, like a human slowly sipping coffee, or more accurately, like a parasite draining its unwitting host.
'So... this... is... what... is... happening,' Kane thought, a grim, sickening understanding washing over him. He observed more closely, forcing himself to analyze the minute details of the connection. He saw that two of the four tentacles attached to his brain were sending a particular, rhythmic pulse into him, while the other two were attempting to extract something from him. Curiously, this extraction wasn't entirely successful. Then, the full, horrifying picture clicked into place, illuminating the true nature of their idyllic prison.
These insidious tentacles were designed to connect to a victim's mind not merely to absorb, but to manipulate. Their true purpose was to remove any thoughts, any memories, any ideas that ran counter to the tree's hidden motive, conforming the victim's will to its own. That's why no one had remembered the crucial information they possessed – the true nature of the crater, their impossible predicament, the warnings Kane himself had voiced. The very idea of recollecting certain inconvenient truths had been subtly, expertly stolen from them, erased from their active memory.
But what had happened in Kane's unique case was different, a stroke of accidental fortune in the face of absolute malice. His Flaw, which constantly produced the relentless ravings of the dead, was intricately associated with his mind, an inseparable part of his consciousness. Thus, when the tree attempted to absorb mental essence from Kane, it was inadvertently forced to absorb the ravings as well, suffering from their endless torment. This internal struggle within the tree had created a peculiar interference, preventing the complete assimilation of Kane's mind.
'But.... how... did it... connect... with... my... mind... this... strong?' Kane wondered, his gaze accidentally falling upon the lush, hanging fruits on the tree's branches. The fruits, he now perceived through his enhanced vision, were not just inert produce. They were barely living creatures themselves. He could see small soul fragments contained within them, miniature sparks of consciousness, and, most crucially, a single, faint mind thread extending from each.
A terrifying hypothesis formed in Kane's mind, chilling him to the bone: the tree didn't just grow fruits; it enticed its victims to eat them. It lured them, seducing them with their divine taste and restorative properties, until its prey fell completely under its sway. Once the fruit was consumed, the beneficial soul fragment indeed nourished the victim, providing sustenance and even strengthening their soul core. But the subtle mind thread embedded within the fruit was the true danger. It acted as a breach, an insidious gateway that allowed the tree's vast network of tentacles to directly connect to the user's mind, acting like a psychic antenna, establishing a parasitic, controlling link. To confirm this chilling theory, Kane reached out with his Aspect vision and touched his own mind directly, feeling the subtle, alien connections. As expected, the main tentacles were intricately intertwined with multiple mini-threads, a pervasive, insidious web woven into the very fabric of his consciousness.
'The... fruit... is... a... bait,' Kane realized, the horrifying truth settling over him with nauseating clarity. He had found a way to escape, a path to freedom from this deceptive paradise, but it was fraught with even greater risks. The battle ahead would not be against a physical monster, but against the very essence of his own corrupted mind.
Kane decided he had no choice but to operate on his own mind, to surgically remove these parasitic connections completely. It was a perilous undertaking, a delicate and dangerous procedure on the most fragile part of his being. He immediately summoned his sword, its spectral blade glowing faintly in his Aspect vision, a tool of precision rather than brute force. With immense caution and agonizing precision, he slowly began to sever the mini-threads, one by painful, deliberate one.
Each time he cut a thread, he meticulously checked how it affected him, monitoring his own mental state for any adverse reactions, any unexpected collapse. As soon as he touched his own mind thread with the spectral blade, he felt a sharp, electric pain, brief but intense, that then receded, leaving behind a faint, throbbing ache. Slowly, painstakingly, he analyzed the intricate, invasive network, mapping its connections, tirelessly identifying the exact alien element that bound him. As soon as he found one, Kane, with unyielding resolve, slowly cut off that particular thread, one by one, with agonizing deliberation, severing the unseen shackles.
Each time the tree's mini-threads were cut off, the colossal entity, the Soul Tree, subtly responded. It sent out counter-pulses, insidious mental waves, attempting to remove his rebellious thoughts, to suppress his consciousness back into compliant oblivion. It tried to reassert its control, to mend the breaks in its psychic web. But what the tree didn't know, what it couldn't comprehend, was Kane's cunning and foresight. He had switched his Aspect to pure mind manipulation, focusing all his will and power solely on this single, crucial task. This specialized focus rendered the tree's mental tricks completely ineffective, turning its own weapon, its mental prowess, against itself. He was now operating on a purely mental plane, where his honed will was supreme, carving out his freedom thread by thread.
As time progressed, measured only by the rhythmic cutting and the receding waves of pain, Kane was finally over with it. The last insidious thread snapped, and a wave of psychic feedback hit him. He was done.
Once he had completed the arduous, self-inflicted surgery, all the ravings he had conveniently forgotten, the endless whispers of the dead, returned like a sudden, overwhelming tidal wave. The cacophony crashed back into his consciousness, a thousand voices screaming and moaning, a relentless barrage of torment. Kane stumbled for a moment, reeling from the sudden, disorienting surge of sound and emotion, his body swaying precariously.
After calming his mind, forcing his will to re-establish control over the chaotic influx of thoughts and emotions, he focused on retrieving all the information that had been stolen from him. Slowly, agonizingly, it all returned—every detail, every suppressed memory, every inconvenient truth. The full horror of their predicament, the true nature of the Soul Tree, the lost days, the forgotten plans – it all flooded back with terrifying clarity.
Kane thought, 'Much better. Now I shouldn't eat the fruit and escape from here.' The thought was sharp, precise, and entirely his own, untainted by the tree's influence.
As soon as this clear, unclouded thought formed in his mind, he heard a sudden, piercing shriek. The sound was raw, filled with terror and pain. Kane's head snapped upwards, his gaze shooting towards the crown of the immense tree. He recognized the voice instantly. It was Sunny's. The peace was shattered.
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It is a short chapter,Kindly read it
Hey Guys,Here is the Updated Lineages you Shall Cast your Vote
1.Weaver
2.Demon of Repose
3.Demon of Imagination
4.Ariel
5.Nether
6.Demon of Oblivion
7.Hope(Demon of Desire)
After deep thinking,I think Nether's Lineage can given to Kane,It seems to suit him.Most people are saying Demon of Imagination to become like Adam(LOTM) but It seems off.Kindly cast your vote and give advice.The lineage will be percieved not as a whole but parts like weaver lineage is treated in shadow slave