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**Deep Forest – Western Edge**
Twigs snapped beneath armored boots, and the thud of an oversized backpack rattled with pots, scrolls, and what suspiciously sounded like a squeaky toy.
"Are we there yet?" asked the girl in the oversized hat, swinging a staff longer than she was tall.
"You've said that nine times, Lumi," grunted the man at the front. A mountain of muscle and armor, his name was **Garron the Ironroot**, though most called him "The Wall with Legs."
"Well, I'm still not there yet," Lumi said with a dramatic sigh, swatting a branch. "So it's still a valid question."
Behind them, a sleek, sharp-eyed elf woman leapt from root to stone with feline grace. **Seris**, scout and resident sarcasm expert, let out a dry chuckle. "Remind me again why we brought the walking fireworks stand?"
"Because I'm adorable," Lumi beamed, "and also because you owe me for that *accident* with the whispering slime."
"That was *not* an accident. You launched it."
"I was experimenting!"
"With explosives."
Garron raised a hand. "Enough. The trees are too quiet. Even the birds stopped judging us."
The group paused.
Indeed, silence cloaked the glade around them like a second skin. Not the peaceful kind, but the sort that clung to your thoughts and whispered, *Turn back.*
Seris dropped into a crouch. "We're near something old. I can feel it. Magic in the roots… like the forest remembers something."
Lumi's eyes sparkled. "Ooh! Memory trees! Maybe if we hug one, it'll show us its past!"
Garron gave her a look. "Or give you a concussion."
Lumi ignored him and skipped ahead.
---
**Elsewhere – Watching Eyes**
Yuki stirred.
From his perch above the clouds, he felt it—another ripple, not from Elira's camp this time, but westward.
*"New intruders. Unfamiliar auras. Strong, but not reckless."*
Beside him, Sylvaeria blinked in mild amusement. "Oho. A new party joins the stage. One's made of muscle, one's made of knives, and one's made of… glitter?"
"She reeks of unstable mana."
"I like her already."
Yuki sighed. "Should I scare them off?"
Sylvaeria gave a playful shrug. "You could… or you could watch. They might stumble into something useful. Or hilarious."
"Hilariously incinerated, maybe."
---
**Back with the Adventurers**
The trio reached a small glade where a ring of ancient stones jutted from the earth like broken teeth.
Lumi gasped. "Oooooh! Ruins! Glowy ruins! I *love* glowy ruins!"
"Don't touch anything," Seris warned, already pulling a detection charm from her belt.
Lumi had already touched three stones.
A pulse of soft green light surged upward, harmless but startling.
"Oh no," Lumi whispered. "I've done it again."
"Done *what* again?!" Garron barked, raising his shield.
"Activated a spirit node! Probably minor! Maybe!"
The ground trembled slightly. A few stones rearranged themselves with a groaning rumble.
"…Or possibly *major*."
Seris muttered a prayer in Elven. Probably a curse.
---
**Yuki's Reaction**
"Oh, she woke the node," Sylvaeria said, utterly delighted.
Yuki pinched the bridge of his snout with a claw.
"Why do humans never read the *trees* before poking the glowing things?"
"Because if they did, we wouldn't get this kind of entertainment."
---
**Closing Scene – The Glade Awakes**
The stone circle flared to life, ancient runes etching into the air, forming a sigil that hovered and spun.
Lumi took a step back. "Uhh… on a scale from one to catastrophic?"
A deep voice echoed from the stones:
**"Welcome, Seekers. Trial recognized. Path to the Inner Sanctum… initiated."**
Seris groaned. "Oh no. It talks."
Garron hefted his sword. "We're in a trial now, aren't we?"
Lumi squealed. "*Yesss!*"
---