The Riftgrove was quieter today. Not silent like yesterday's eerie hush, but more like the trees had decided to nap. Amoid liked it better that way. At least when things were asleep, they weren't trying to bite him or blink sideways.
He floated just above the soft grass, still glowing faintly from the last mana pod he absorbed.
[Status Update: Mana Core at 82%. Shell Integrity stable. Trait Integration: 63%. Evolution Acceleration: Active.]
The forest shimmered around him, twisted and strange. Trees curved like corkscrews. Flowers pulsed with faint heartbeat rhythms. The sky above them flickered between lavender and teal like someone couldn't pick a filter.
"Still not normal," he muttered.
"Define 'normal' again?" Pip yawned, fluttering upside-down beside him.
Nilo walked ahead, tail swaying. "Normal is no trees with teeth."
They passed one with a mouth that whispered "trespasserssss" as they moved by. Amoid politely ignored it.
The deeper they went into the grove, the weirder it got. At one point, gravity just… didn't. They floated sideways for a while before Amoid pulsed and corrected the path.
[Environmental Field: Flux State – Local gravity unstable.]
"System," Amoid called, "can I eat gravity?"
[Negative. Gravity is not a consumable physical trait. Attempting to absorb may result in catastrophic compression.]
"Noted."
Still, it was good to test the limits.
He spotted another patch of glowing fruit-like pods. These ones looked like small glass hearts hanging from stringy vines.
[Object Identified: Flux Bloom Pods. Caution: Unstable spell matrix.]
That meant fun.
He floated to one and tapped it. The pod pulsed, vibrated, and exploded into harmless sparkles.
[Ability Acquired: Phase Pulse – Temporarily pass through thin material.]
"Alright," he grinned. "That's new."
He tried it out—flickering through a thin boulder, startling a group of sleeping bugs that hissed in six-part harmony.
Later, they stopped beside a pond that looked suspiciously like a mirror. Amoid stared into it. Instead of his usual soft-blue orb form, he saw a twisting shape inside his reflection—something serpentine, made of energy and light.
"Seek," he asked, "what am I turning into?"
[Core Path Divergence Detected. Your form is no longer purely elemental. Echoes of higher resonance are integrating. You are... becoming.]
"Becoming what?"
[Too soon to define. Your choices will shape it.]
He hated vague answers. But he also knew that was the system's way of saying: you're not ready yet.
He sighed and turned from the pool.
Then the ground rumbled.
Not a crack. Not a stomp. A hum.
The trees around them quivered. Leaves dropped like raindrops. Light danced across the forest in waves.
Something was waking up.
From beneath.
Amoid hovered, pulsing brighter. "Pip. Nilo. Close ranks."
They stood back to back, eyes scanning.
The ground near a mossy hill cracked—and a structure pushed out.
Stone. Ancient. Covered in glyphs that changed every second.
A doorway formed.
Not a cave.
A vault.
[New Zone Unlocked: Forgotten Grove Heart. Warning: Prototype relic energy detected.]
"Of course," Amoid muttered. "Secret dungeon in the middle of the dimensional blender."
But something in him pulsed. Not fear.
Curiosity.
Need.
He floated toward it.
"Bad idea," Pip whispered.
"I'm made of bad ideas," Amoid said.
The vault door opened with a sigh.
Inside: darkness. Old and full. The air buzzed with age.
He moved forward.
The room wasn't large. At its center was a pedestal. On it sat a small stone orb. Cracked, but glowing. Like a version of himself, long forgotten.
He approached slowly.
[Object Identified: Anima Seed – Dormant Essence of a Failed Ascension.]
[Absorption: Possible. Risk Level: High. Success Rate: 50%. Do you wish to attempt?]
Amoid hesitated.
50%.
It could destroy him. Or elevate him. He didn't know which one scared him more.
He looked back at Pip and Nilo.
They nodded.
"I'm not ready," he whispered. "But maybe I never will be."
He touched the seed.
Light erupted.
Pain.
Heat.
Emotion.
Memories not his.
He saw flashes of another being—another world—another orb like him, who reached too far, burned too fast, and shattered.
But in that ruin, Amoid saw something else: what not to do.
He gripped that thought, held it tight.
The light dimmed.
Silence.
[Anima Seed Absorbed. Core Stability Recalibrating. New Trait Acquired: Echo Bound.]
[New Evolution Path Branch Detected: Memoryborn (Locked – 3 more fragments needed).]
He didn't die.
He got stronger.
And now, he was no longer just a creature of this world.
He carried the echo of one who failed—and the wisdom to go further.
He floated back, dim but stable.
"I'm okay," he breathed.
Pip smiled. "You look like death warmed over."
"Still glowing," Nilo added.
Amoid chuckled. "Let's get out of this forest."
They turned.
Behind them, the vault sealed shut again.
The Riftgrove let them leave.
For now.
But something had changed.
And Amoid could feel it:
He was starting to evolve… not just by eating or absorbing.
But by choosing.