Chapter 83: The Canopy of Lost Souls


    As the team ventured deeper into the decaying ruins, the oppressive fear that once suffocated them had evaporated, replaced by a haunting, eerie silence. The once-vibrant vines, pulsating with malevolent energy, had now withered to brittle tendrils. Walls, once fortified by the vines, crumbled into dust, their structural integrity gone with the malevolent force that once held the ruin together.


    Abel led the group cautiously, his eyes scanning the darkened corridors. Each step echoed against the ancient stones, reinforcing the desolation that pervaded the air. He felt a strange emptiness here, but there was also something peaceful in this absence of danger.


    “I never thought I’d say this, but it feels almost peaceful now,” Jane murmured, glancing around at the now harmless, dead vines. Her earlier wariness seemed to dissipate with every step they took.


    Despite the change in atmosphere, Ronald remained on edge. His body was tense, his eyes darting around with suspicion. “Peaceful or not,” he muttered, “We should stay alert.”


    The group pressed forward, and as they walked, the architecture became more foreboding. The air felt heavier as though the deeper they ventured, the more they were stepping into a long-forgotten evil. After what felt like hours of walking, they finally reached the heart of the ruins—a massive chamber that exuded an aura of malevolent history.


    The sight before them was awe-inspiring and terrifying.


    In the center of the room stood a towering ancient tree. Its gnarled, twisted trunk reached up into the darkness above, its branches stretching like skeletal arms into the unseen abyss. The bark was long dried out, cracked, and withered, but its presence was overwhelming—like a monument to some forgotten atrocity.


    “This… this must be it,” Gravedigger murmured. His tone was grave as he cautiously approached the ancient tree. “The source of the corruption.”


    Abel hesitated for a moment, feeling a pull deep within him as though the tree was somehow connected to the vines that had entangled the village. He raised his hand, summoning the ethereal star he had brought from the illusory world. The star appeared beside him, casting its soft glow around the room. Its light was otherworldly—pulsing gently, as though it existed between reality and illusion.


    As the star illuminated the chamber, they realized the true horror of what they had found.


    Hanging from the branches of the colossal tree were mummified bodies—hundreds of them. Human corpses dangled from the skeletal limbs, their heads impaled on the jagged branches. The bodies swayed gently in the unseen breeze, their hollow, lifeless eyes staring out into the void.


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    “Gods…” Tina whispered, her voice trembling as she gazed up at the grotesque sight. “They… they’re all… people. Nomads.”


    Abel’s star pulsed with a brighter light, casting long, twisting shadows across the grim scene. His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke. “This is what happened to them. The nomads didn’t just disappear. They were consumed.”


    Ronald’s eyes darkened as he stared at the bodies. “If we hadn’t escaped the illusion, we would’ve been like them.”


    The grim realization washed over the group like cold water. Each of them was lost in thought, processing the horrifying fate of the people who had once lived here.


    Gravedigger, ever stoic, approached the ancient tree, his hand brushing against the brittle bark. “They didn’t abandon the stars willingly,” he said, his voice steady but heavy with the weight of the discovery. “They were led here… sacrificed to this thing.”


    Jane’s voice was barely audible as she spoke, her eyes locked on the lifeless bodies. “How could they do this? How could they abandon the stars for this nightmare?”


    “Desperation,” Gravedigger answered, his fingers tracing the ancient grooves in the bark. “Or maybe madness. But this is their fate.”


    Abel felt a deep chill run through him as he stared up at the canopy of corpses. His thoughts drifted back to the illusory world they had narrowly escaped. “If we had stayed even a moment longer,” he murmured, “we would’ve ended up just like them.”


    The weight of that truth hung in the air, heavy and oppressive. Tina swallowed hard, her earlier arrogance gone, replaced by a somber humility. “I… I don’t know how to feel,” she admitted. “We were fighting for our lives, and now we see what could have happened to us.”


    Gravedigger looked up at the tree, his expression unyielding. “This is where it ends. The corruption is gone, but this is a reminder of how far it spread.”


    For a moment, there was only silence as they stood in the chamber, staring up at the tree and the ghastly bodies that hung from its limbs. The star beside Abel flickered, its light casting a final glow over the haunting scene before dimming. They all knew it was time to leave.


    “This was their fate,” Abel whispered, more to himself than anyone else. “But it won’t be ours.”


    The group turned and made their way back toward the exit, the eerie silence of the ruins following them. They had uncovered the truth about the nomads, and now, with the corruption purged, they could finally leave this cursed place behind.


    As they walked through the decaying halls, Gerald and Abu lagged slightly behind, exchanging hushed whispers.


    “You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get the image of those bodies out of my head,” Abu muttered, his normally cheerful demeanor subdued. He had always been the optimistic one in the group, but even he couldn’t shake the horror of what they had witnessed.


    Gerald, usually calm and collected, nodded in agreement. “It’s… unsettling,” he said quietly. “I keep wondering what would have happened if we hadn’t made it out of that illusion. If we’d ended up like them.”


    Abu sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Let’s just be glad we didn’t.”


    As they left the ruins behind and emerged into the open air, there was a sense of closure among them. The sky above was clear, and the oppressive weight of the ruins seemed to lift as they stepped out of the shadows and into the light. Abel glanced up at the stars, feeling a renewed sense of purpose.


    There was still so much to learn, so much to understand about the mysteries of the world and his place within it. But for now, they had survived, and that was enough.