The forest was darker now—not from the setting sun, but from the weight it carried. The trees leaned inward, branches curling like fingers listening for whispers. Every step they took back toward the deep paths of the Midoriha lands felt like trespass.
Hana walked beside Venshiro, Surado asleep in her arms, and Rin moved ahead like a silent scout. They hadn't spoken much since Hana's heard. "The Root remembers what the Blade forgets." It echoed like scripture, like warning.
"Rin," Venshiro called out as they reached a waterfall. "Let's rest here. Just for a moment."
Rin didn't argue. She knelt down beside the water, letting it run through her fingers. "Even the water feels strange. It's too still."
Hana lowered herself beside a stone and laid Surado gently down on a cloak. The boy mumbled something im his sleep, then fell quiet again.
Venshiro crouched nearby, staring at the
water. His reflection shimmered in the current—eyes haunted, arms still faintly veined with pulsing black marks from the sword.
"You're thinking about it," Rin said without looking.
He nodded. "I don't know what the Root is. But it knows me. Or this sword. Or both."
Hana glanced up. "It called to you… like an old friend. Like it had been waiting…this is what i think."
Venshiro ran his fingers along the Black Vein's hilt. "This blade… it's not cursed. It's a part of something larger. I thought I was just bearing a burden, carrying power until I could break it. But now…"
"It's carrying you," Rin finished. "And maybe it always was."
"Rin .. do you remember when we first met in that shrine ?"
"Yes and?" . Rin said wondering.
"When you draw that circle around me , i saw something… i saw a bunch of skeletons and bones … like a mountain .. and top of it .. there was this blade .. but someone was there."
"Who?"
"It was something dark .. very dark .. i saw three glowing eyes .. one of them was pure yellow-gold and the others were dark-red."
"Bunch of skeletons…maybe it have connection to the visions Elder made you see ?" Rin said.
"I..I don't know..but this is not going well .. "
Rin and the others came to him with the words in his face. "Whatever happen , we will always be your back "
Hana with smile .
"I wanna stay with you guys …we don't have home…"
"There is no problem Hana,Surado .. you can
stay with us as much time as you want "
Venshiro with pure smile ."And i never asked . How old are you ? "
Hana ."im sixteen and Surado is…"
"Im eight " . Surado with happy face.
"Alright big boy from tommorow i will teach you some basic things i know from my father .. alright?" Venshiro said.
"Really?? That's Awesome , maybe i will become great warrior someday and be strong like you ." Surado with amazed face and shimmering eyes.
Venshiro in his mind
'This little guy reminds me so much of me when i heard my father saying the same words i said'
The wind picked up, tugging at the leaves. In the distance, a low, steady drumbeat began.
Rin tensed . "You hear that?"
Hana rose slowly, her hand moving to the small dagger she wore.
"Not Tenbatsu," Venshiro said, eyes narrowing. "This is… older."
Suddenly, a voice—low, raspy, feminine—floated from the trees.
"You trespass on forgotten veins. The forest remembers, even if your blood does not."
The trees parted, and a figure stepped into the clearing.
She was tall, her body wrapped in bark-like robes and living vines. Her hair was moss and stone, her face looks like old wood. Eyes deep green—glowing not with light, but memory.
"You," she said, pointing at Venshiro. "The Blade bearer. Come forward."
He stood, cautiously. Rin moved beside him. "Who are you?"
The figure looked at her. "I am called the Keeper of the Hollow Root. One of few still tethered to the Great Tree."
Hana stepped forward, her voice calm but firm. "You were the one who visited us. Watched my brother."
The Keeper nodded once. "Yes , it was me but under another skin .. just to your reaction ..your magic is weak but i has a potential." "Surado is marked. Not by death… but by inheiritance."
Rin raised her sword. "Speak clearly. We're done with riddles."
But the Keeper only smiled. "You seek truth? Then listen well."
She extended a hand, and the ground beneath them rippled like breath. A vision—raw and ancient—rose before their eyes.
The forest burned, long ago. Armies of the clans—Ashen Fang, Moonshade, Verdant Bloom, Sky Reign, Duskwater, Stone Veil—fought not just each other, but against something beneath the surface. Something they feared.
"The people were scared, so they created the Veins—not as a gift, but by taking power that didn't belong to them.
Then they made the seven Divine Blades from that power. Each blade was built to control a small piece of something they couldn't really understand.
But the Root… the Root stayed free. No one owned it. It was just waiting."
And one blade—Kurenai, the Black Vein—was never meant to be controlled.
The vision vanished.
Venshiro stumbled back, breathing hard. "I saw… war. But not like the stories. The clans were united. Then divided. And this sword—"
"Was the breaking point," the Keeper said. "You hold the echo of a failed god."
Rin looked between them. "Then why give it to him? Why lead him to the Great Tree?"
"We didn't," the Keeper said. "He came on his own. The Root called, and he answered."
Venshiro's hand tightened on the blade. "So I'm a pawn?"
"No," the Keeper said, stepping closer. "You are the spark."
Hana moved toward her, her eyes fierce. "What does that mean for Surado? For us?"
The Keeper looked down at the boy. "He dreams of things lost. He hears the Root's song. He is not cursed, nor chosen. He is a reminder. Of what was… and what may return."
"Then what now?" Rin asked. "We are goint to the old Midoriha shrine" . "Are you stopping us?"
"No," the Keeper whispered. "You must go. The shrine holds the Blade's name. Its true name.
The ground rumbled beneath them. The forest shuddered.
The Keeper turned. "But beware. Tenbatsu is not the only clan who remembers. The others stir. The sky will bleed before this ends."
She began to dissolve into mist, her voice trailing like wind through leaves.
"Walk carefully, Blade Bearer. The Root remembers what you would forget."
Then she was gone.
Rin stared at Venshiro. "Still think you should've never come?"
He didn't answer at first. Then, slowly, "No. But I wish I'd come sooner."
They packed in silence, tension humming under every motion. The shrine felt like the only path forward—and yet the least certain.
As they walked again, Surado awoke from his little sister hands, after his talk with Veshiro. "I saw her," he whispered. "In my dream. The tree lady."
Hana hugged him tighter. "She's gone now."
"No," Surado murmured. "She said she'll be waiting. In the place where the tree sings."
Rin glanced at Venshiro. "What the hell does that mean?"
"I don't know," he said, his grip tightening on the Black Vein. "But I think we'll find out soon."
The forest thinned ahead. A path lay carved into the hill beyond, its stones covered in ancient moss and long-forgotten symbols.
Rin raised her mask again. "Then let's follow it."