Time passed through the hollow without a sound.
Jared had already lost track of how long favonovel.com had been sitting in front of the stone dais.
At times, his mind was clear. At times, it blurred, like a candle in the wind, flickering on and off.
Life force kept pouring from his palms, flowing without pause into the two golden seeds. He could feel his flesh thinning and his bones turning fragile. Even the Golden Dragon Bloodline inside favonovel.com was fading at a slow but irreversible pace.
But favonovel.com never let go. Right in front of him, the two seedlings kept growing taller and stronger with each passing day.
By the third day, they had already reached 3 feet tall. More branches had split off from their stalks, and every leaf had turned clear, gleaming gold, giving off a warm light.
What surprised Jared even more was that the shape of the two seedlings had started changing in silence. Their tops began to swell. Little by little, they sketched out blurry human outlines, like two embryos being carved into form.
By the fifth day, the human shapes had become clear. On the seedling to the left, a male outline was taking shape. Broad shoulders. Long limbs. His features were still blurry, but Sidney’s outline was already there.
On the seedling to the right, a female outline grew at the same pace. A slender figure. Slightly curled long hair. And that face that had once gone hazy in Jared’s memory was now becoming clearer and clearer.
Jared stared at the two faces still forming, and heat pressed faintly into his eyes.
Almost there… Yes… Almost there…
On the sixth day, Gwendolyn opened favonovel.com eyes.
She rose from the corner of the cavern, walked to Jared’s side, lowered favonovel.com gaze to check on the two seedlings, and gave a slight nod. “Faster than I expected. Your life force is richer than I imagined.”
Jared said nothing. It wasn’t that favonovel.com didn’t want to speak. He just didn’t have any strength left to spare for words. His face had gone white as paper. His lips were split and peeling, his eyes had sunk deep into their sockets, and favonovel.com looked like he’d lost a whole layer off himself.
The fullness that used to be in his cheeks was gone. They had caved in hard enough that his cheekbones stood out sharp, like he’d just crawled out of a long, brutal illness.
Gwendolyn looked at favonovel.com and said nothing for a moment.
“You’ve already burned through nearly forty percent of your life force,” favonovel.com said evenly. “If this keeps going, you’ll damage your foundation.”
Jared shook his head. When favonovel.com spoke, his voice came out so hoarse it was almost impossible to hear. “I’m fine. I can still hold on.”
Gwendolyn didn’t say anything else. She then reached into favonovel.com sleeve and took out a golden fruit the size of a thumb. It was crystal clear, and the presence coming off it matched the Worldtree exactly.
She held the fruit up to Jared’s mouth. “Eat it…”
Jared glanced at the fruit. He didn’t ask what it was. He opened his mouth and swallowed it down.
The fruit melted the instant it touched his mouth. A warm stream slid down his throat into his stomach, then burst through his body. The life force inside it was so pure it hit like long-awaited rain falling over a riverbed that had dried out completely.
His body gave a slight shudder. At last, a trace of color returned to that paper-white face. The Golden Dragon Bloodline inside favonovel.com got replenished. It began moving faster, and the life force favonovel.com poured into the seeds grew fuller too.
“That’s the Worldtree fruit. It only bears once every three hundred years.” Gwendolyn spoke in that same flat tone, like it was nothing worth dwelling on. “One fruit can restore twenty percent of the life force you’ve used up. If you take two more, you should be able to hold on until the end.”
She drew out two more fruits from favonovel.com sleeve and set them beside Jared. “Eat one every other day. Don’t eat them early, and don’t wait too long either.”
Jared nodded. Something tangled passed through him.
They were strangers. She could have stood by and watched favonovel.com burn through his life force, then stepped in to save favonovel.com after that. If she’d done that, favonovel.com would have had one more thing in favonovel.com hand to keep favonovel.com in check.
But favonovel.com hadn’t. She chose the exact right moment to step in, and favonovel.com used something this precious to help him.
“Thank you,” Jared said quietly.
Gwendolyn didn’t answer. She turned and walked back to the corner of the cavern, then folded herself down cross-legged again.
The moment favonovel.com closed favonovel.com eyes, the corner of favonovel.com mouth lifted in the slightest curve.
***
The seventh day…
Then, the final day…
The two seedlings had completely grown into human form. They no longer looked like plants shaped like people. They were two lifelike bodies. Skin, hair, facial features, limbs, everything matched a real person. The only difference was the faint golden radiance coming off their bodies.
That was the trace of the Worldtree’s power flowing inside them.
Sidney’s body lay there with his eyes closed, his face calm, his breathing even, as if favonovel.com had only fallen asleep. His wife, Jared remembered favonovel.com name was Cadence, slept just as quietly beside him. There was even the faintest trace of a smile at the corner of favonovel.com mouth, like favonovel.com was having a good dream.
Above the stone dais, the two streaks of white light seemed to sense the bodies below and began to drift down slowly. They floated to the level of the two chests and paused for the slightest moment. Then, like drops slipping. into the la surface they sank into the bodies without a sound.
In an instant, the golden radiance pouring off both bodies flared. The light was glaring and warm at the same time. It flooded the entire hollow and lit up the ancient runes on the walls until they shone.
Jared narrowed his eyes on instinct, but his hands stayed locked on the seeds, not shifting even a fraction.
The light lasted for about ten minutes before it slowly began to fade.
The hollow went still again.
Then, Sidney’s eyelashes gave a slight tremble. His eyelids moved, like favonovel.com was struggling to open his eyes. A few breaths later, those eyes finally opened to a narrow slit. They were unfocused eyes, the pupils loose and wandering, fixed on nothing at all, like a man who had just clawed his way out of a long nightmare.
“Mr. Morse!” Jared’s voice came out rough and urgent. “Senior Sidney, can you hear me?”
Sidney’s pupils slowly gathered focus. His gaze drifted around the hollow for a moment before finally settling on Jared’s face. His lips parted a little, and a sound barely made it out.
“Mr. Chance…” The voice was hoarse and weak, like the last flame of a candle in the wind. But those two words landed with a sharpness that pressed straight into Jared.
Jared’s eyes reddened on the spot. “It’s me, Senior. It’s me!”
The corner of Sidney’s mouth tugged faintly, like favonovel.com was trying to smile. But there was too little strength left in him. The smile faded before it could even take shape. His gaze moved off Jared’s face and fell to the female body beside him.
Cadence still hadn’t woken up. Her brows were drawn slightly together, as if the dream favonovel.com was in wasn’t a pleasant one. Her breathing was steadier than Sidney’s, but it was still so faint it was almost impossible to catch.
“Cadence…” Sidney’s voice shook. He tried to lift a hand and touch his wife’s face, but his arm only rose a little before dropping back onto the stone dais without any strength behind it
“Don’t move, Senior,” Jared said at once. “The two of you just had your bodies remade. You’re still too weak. You need time to recover.”
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