Chapter 243 — The Thing Under the Tree
They did not walk toward Eden.
Eden came toward them.
At first, Brook thought the shape beneath the white tree was moving.
Then he realized it wasn't.
The tree was.
Its roots were dragging themselves through the earth.
Slowly.
Silently.
The white tree stood on the horizon, impossibly pale against the dark green of the country beyond the ridge. Its branches held no leaves, yet they moved in a wind Brook couldn't feel.
Something beneath it pulled itself forward.
A long shape.
Too low to be a person.
Too deliberate to be an animal.
Brook tightened his grip.
Gabriel hadn't moved.
That worried him more than the creature.
"Gabriel."
No answer.
"Gabriel."
The angel finally blinked.
"I know."
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
Crowley looked at him.
"You went quiet."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Gabriel stared at the tree.
"Because I've seen it before."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"Where?"
Gabriel didn't answer.
The thing reached the bottom of the hill.
Its body unfolded.
Roots peeled away from its back.
Long limbs emerged from underneath them.
It stood.
Brook immediately realized it had been much larger than he thought.
Its body was made from pale wood and dark soil.
Not a tree.
Not a demon.
Not an angel.
Its face had no features.
Only a shallow indentation where eyes should have been.
Its arms hung almost to the ground.
Roots dragged behind it.
Then its head turned.
Toward Brook.
The entire group stopped.
Henry whispered,
"That's not normal."
Charon climbed onto his shoulder.
"Very not."
Sera slowly raised one hand.
"Don't cast yet."
Brook looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because I don't know what I'm looking at."
The creature took one step.
The ground cracked.
Another.
The ridge trembled.
Tala stepped forward.
"Don't."
Everyone looked at her.
She was staring at the ground.
"The Earth doesn't recognize it."
Brook looked back at the creature.
That was wrong.
Everything here had felt connected to the Earth.
Even the things that shouldn't have existed.
This thing felt like it was standing beside the world instead of inside it.
The creature raised one arm.
Roots shot from the ground.
"MOVE!"
Brook grabbed Henry.
Sera threw up a barrier.
Gabriel's wings snapped open.
Crowley dragged Charon backward.
The roots erupted beneath them.
The ridge exploded.
Brook jumped over one.
Another whipped past his face.
A third tore through the stone where he had been standing.
Sera's barrier caught four roots at once.
The impact pushed her backward.
"Little help!"
Crowley slammed his weapon into one.
The root shattered.
Black sap sprayed across the ground.
Crowley stared at his weapon.
"Well."
The root began growing again.
Crowley sighed.
"That's annoying."
Gabriel flew forward.
Brook barely had time to register it.
Gabriel struck the creature across the chest.
The impact sent the thing sliding several meters.
It didn't fall.
It simply dug its roots into the earth and stopped.
Gabriel landed.
The creature turned its blank face toward him.
For the first time—
it made a sound.
Not a roar.
Not a word.
A low wooden groan.
Gabriel's expression changed.
"It remembers."
Brook frowned.
"What?"
The creature attacked.
Gabriel barely blocked.
A root smashed into his chest.
He flew backward.
Brook ran.
He jumped over another root and drove his blade into the creature's shoulder.
The blade stopped halfway.
The wood closed around it.
Brook pulled.
Nothing.
The creature's arm swung toward him.
Brook ducked.
The arm passed overhead.
He kicked its knee.
The creature barely moved.
"Okay," Brook muttered.
"That's rude."
Henry stared at him.
"Are you joking right now?"
"I panic differently."
Another root shot toward Henry.
Charon intercepted it.
His arm transformed into a thick shield.
The root smashed into him.
Charon's shield cracked.
Henry grabbed his shoulder.
"Charon!"
"Fine."
"You're cracking!"
"Still fine."
Sera threw three words into the air.
The spell struck the creature.
For one second, its body locked.
"NOW!"
Gabriel hit it again.
Crowley charged.
Brook pulled his sword free.
All three attacks landed.
The creature finally staggered.
Its roots ripped free from the ground.
Then—
the white tree moved.
Not the creature.
The tree.
Its roots shifted across the hill.
A massive root rose behind the creature.
The creature stepped backward.
Into it.
The tree swallowed its body.
Brook stared.
"What the hell?"
Gabriel's voice was quiet.
"Run."
Brook looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because that's not the attack."
The tree split.
A wall of roots erupted across the hillside.
"RUN!"
They ran.
Brook grabbed Henry's arm.
Sera followed.
Crowley pulled Charon along.
Tala moved last.
The roots chased them down the slope.
Not randomly.
They followed.
Brook looked back.
"It's following us!"
"I noticed!" Sera shouted.
A root slammed into the road ahead.
Brook stopped.
Another struck behind them.
They were trapped.
Gabriel stepped forward.
His wings opened.
"No."
Brook grabbed his shoulder.
Gabriel looked at him.
"Don't burn it."
Gabriel frowned.
"I wasn't going to."
"You were thinking about it."
Gabriel almost smiled.
"Maybe."
The root wall surged toward them.
Tala stepped forward.
Her hand touched the ground.
Brook saw the earth shift beneath her.
Not violently.
Not enough to break anything.
The ground simply hardened.
The roots hit it.
The impact threw dirt into the air.
Tala gritted her teeth.
"Go!"
Brook grabbed Henry.
They ran.
The barrier of earth lasted three seconds.
Four.
Five.
Then it cracked.
Tala stumbled.
Brook turned.
"Tala!"
"Keep moving!"
Brook hesitated.
Then ran.
They crossed the road.
The roots stopped.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
The entire forest became still.
Brook turned around.
The creature was gone.
The white tree stood on the hill.
Perfectly still.
No movement.
No roots.
No creature.
Nothing.
Crowley bent over with his hands on his knees.
"Everyone alive?"
Henry raised a hand.
"Mostly."
Sera stared at him.
"That's not reassuring."
"It's honest."
Charon looked back toward the tree.
"Gone."
Gabriel stood several meters away.
Still staring.
Brook walked toward him.
"You said you've seen it."
Gabriel didn't look away.
"I said I saw something like it."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
Brook waited.
Gabriel finally turned.
"Eden has guardians."
Crowley straightened.
"That's a guardian?"
Gabriel looked back toward the white tree.
"No."
Crowley frowned.
"You just said—"
"I said Eden has guardians."
Gabriel's voice became quieter.
"That isn't one of them."
Silence.
Brook looked toward the hill.
The white tree stood there.
Waiting.
He felt no power coming from it.
No threat.
No voice.
Just—
attention.
As if something beneath the soil knew they were there.
Brook shivered.
"What is it?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"I don't know."
Brook sighed.
"Everybody's favorite answer."
Sera gave him a look.
"You asked."
"I know."
Tala approached.
She looked exhausted.
Brook immediately noticed.
"You okay?"
She nodded.
"The Earth is."
"That wasn't my question."
Tala looked at him.
Then smiled faintly.
"No."
Brook nodded.
"Good answer."
Crowley glanced at them.
"You two finished?"
Brook looked over.
"What?"
"We're leaving."
Brook looked toward the white tree.
Gabriel was still watching it.
Then the angel finally turned away.
"Now."
Nobody argued.
They started down the road.
Brook walked beside Henry.
After a few seconds, Henry looked at him.
"You know we're going toward Eden."
Brook looked ahead.
"Apparently."
"That seems bad."
"Probably."
Henry thought about it.
"Are you scared?"
Brook glanced at him.
"Yes."
Henry looked surprised.
Brook shrugged.
"I'd be an idiot if I wasn't."
Henry smiled.
"Good."
Brook frowned.
"Why is that good?"
"Because you usually pretend you aren't."
Brook considered that.
Then nodded.
"Fair."
Behind them, Gabriel stopped.
Brook turned.
"What?"
Gabriel was looking back.
The white tree remained on the hill.
Still.
But something had changed.
One of its branches had lowered.
Not much.
Just enough to point toward the road.
Toward them.
Gabriel stared.
Then walked faster.
"Don't look back."
Brook immediately looked back.
Crowley groaned.
"Why would you tell him that?"
Brook kept staring.
The tree had not moved again.
He turned forward.
"Yeah."
Gabriel glanced at him.
"What?"
Brook tightened his grip on his weapon.
"Definitely shouldn't have told me not to look."
Crowley laughed.
Sera shook her head.
Henry smiled.
Even Gabriel managed one.
They kept walking.
Behind them, beneath the white tree—
something moved under the ground.
And this time,
it followed.