Chapter 4: Beneath the Sleeping Fields
Alex didn't tell the others about the dream.
Not yet.
Not cause he didn't trust 'em—but cause something about it felt unfinished. Like waking up before a story ends, or hearing your name whispered in fog.
So instead, he walked the fields.
Barefoot. Alone.
Let the dirt talk to him.
It didn't use words. Not really.
Just warmth. Pressure. The way a root bends when it knows it's near somethin it shouldn't touch.
The ground was... waiting.
Back at the house, Jun was stacking rocks.
"I call this art," he said proudly. "I call it 'If A Cultivator Had A Brick Problem'."
Yun'er passed by, unimpressed. "Looks like 'if patience had a heart attack.'"
Meilin ignored both. She stood by the memory tree, one hand pressed flat against the bark.
"This tree," she said slowly, "is connected to something... deep. Like deeper than death."
Alex raised a brow. "You get that from feelin it?"
"I got that from the fact it just breathed in."
That night, the roots beneath the farm moved.
Not much.
Just a little shift. Like turnin over in sleep.
But it shook the well.
And from that well, water came up black.
Thick. Slow.
Alex stared at it, lantern in hand.
"…System. That's not normal water, is it?"
"Negative. That is Memory Water. Essence of forgotten time."
"Can I use it for irrigation?"
"Warning: crops may develop emotional trauma."
"Fair."
Next morning, the garden wept.
Literally.
Little drops of water dripped off leaf tips. Not dew—tears. One cabbage whispered something about losing its brother to pickling.
Alex sighed.
Then went back to the well.
Because beneath it… he could feel it now.
Something was calling.
They opened the well with help from Sir Snorts-a-Lot and three stubborn shovels. Beneath it was more than rock.
It was a door.
Stone. Marked with old runes. And one line scratched by hand:
Here lies the seed of the first garden. May it never bloom again.
Jun whistled. "Well that's not ominous at all."
Yun'er touched the edge. "It's locked."
Alex stepped up.
Placed his hand on it.
Felt it shift.
The stone shivered.
And opened.
Inside: stairs.
Again.
Only these led down not through earth...
But through memories.
Each step shimmered. Each wall flickered. And all around, voices rose.
Soft.
Confused.
Angry.
Not at them.
At him.
Alex kept walking.
He didn't stop until they reached the bottom.
There—lit by blue veins of rootlight—
Was a tomb.
Stone.
Wrapped in roots.
And above it carved:
He who gave life to the soil now sleeps beneath it.
Alex's hand trembled.
"…That's me."
The others stared.
"You sure?" Meilin asked softly.
Jun looked around. "Why would your past self be buried under your cabbage patch?"
"I don't know," Alex whispered.
Then the tomb cracked.
Just a little.
But it was enough.
From behind them...
The Echoes screamed.
End of Chapter 4