Chapter 2: The Door Beneath the Roots
They didn't go down right away.
Because going down ancient, root-choked stairs under a talking tree was generally a Bad Idea without snacks and swords.
So the next morning, after packing dried buns, a spirit lantern, two extra ropes, and one very stubborn goat (Sir Snorts-a-Lot refused to be left behind), they descended.
The stairwell was tight.
Stone worn smooth from time, but every step echoed like it remembered the last person who walked here.
Jun squinted. "Why does it smell like soup?"
Yun'er sniffed. "...Old soup. Ghost soup."
Meilin just muttered, "Focus."
Alex led, lantern in hand. Its light flickered against damp walls. Strange markings lined them—roots shaped into symbols, curling like script.
The deeper they went, the colder it got.
Not bone cold.
Memory cold.
The kind that crawled under your skin and whispered things like do you remember when you buried something here?
At the bottom was a door.
Big.
Wood, but not any wood from this world. It shimmered faint gold, like starlight soaked into bark.
A carving of a tree marked the center. Roots stretched out in all directions.
But in the middle of the trunk... was a handprint.
Alex stared.
"System. What is this?"
"Door is organic. Bound to Bloodline Echoes. It waits for the one who remembers."
"Which is...?"
"Unclear. But probability suggests: you."
Alex sighed.
"Of course."
He placed his hand on the carving.
Warm.
It pulsed beneath his palm like a second heartbeat.
Then—click.
The door breathed open.
And inside...
Was a garden.
Underground.
It shouldn't have been possible.
But they stood now beneath a glowing cavern roof, with soft blue light blooming from crystal branches overhead. Vines curled lazily over stone benches. A single stream flowed between rocks that hummed in tune.
And at the center—
A tree.
Small. Twisted. Blackened, but alive. Leaves like mirrors. Roots curling through stone.
The others stepped forward.
"This place..." Meilin whispered, "is older than empires."
Jun nodded. "And feels lonlier than all of them."
Alex knelt beside the tree.
It knew him.
Not in words.
But in... recognition.
And suddenly, memories not his own flickered behind his eyes.
A man in robes. A voice like thunder. A world before worlds.
Then a whisper—
"Why did you leave us?"
Alex gasped.
Yun'er grabbed his shoulder. "What happened?!"
He blinked. "I... I think this is my tree. From before."
"Before what?"
"Before I reincarnated."
They stayed down there for hours.
The system said little.
Only once did it whisper:
"Your roots go deeper than this world."
Later, back at the hill, Alex stood under his memory tree.
It, too, was humming.
As if replying to its sibling below.
Two trees.
Two worlds.
One farmer.
And too many mysteries.
Alex looked up at the stars, narrowed his eyes, and said:
"I just wanted to grow cabbage."
The tree rustled like it was laughing.
End of Chapter 2