Roots | ONC 2024

VII : Penance

Eventually, the Soulbiter leads Umirin into the cave in the clearing. He walks alongside it, his body buzzing with restless energy.

As they venture into the bowels of the cavern, he reaches a hand out and presses to the beast's side, to keep track of it as they go deeper. Umirin can barely make out some misshapen forms in this dark, but the Soulbiter clearly has no problem making its way around.

The cave is cold, the air damp. Umirin can smell wet moss undoubtedly covering the walls. Somewhere in the depths, water drips, rippling echoes spreading through the rest of the cave as a result. He doesn't feel unsafe however.

Unbelievable though it may be, he seems to have formed kinship with this Elder, and he is pretty certain it would protect him if it came down to it. At least, for as long as he is useful to whatever plans its got.

They meander ever deeper underground, following tunnels unknown. After a while, Umirin's eyes grow adjusted to the dark, and he slowly finds it easier to make out his surroundings.

That isn't an issue for much longer however, as some dimly glowing crystals start showing up clustered along the cave walls, casting some meagre light about. The crystalline formations growing on the rock of the cave are lightly blue, and the hue their glow lends to the surroundings is quite serene.

Umirin admires it, even more so as those clusters grow larger and more defined the deeper they venture, until they emerge into a hollowed out clear cavern entirely overtaken with large glowing crystals, so well lit he can see everything clearly.

He stops at the entrance to this cavern to admire it, as well as take in the remaining four Elder Soulbiters burrowed in at the center of it, laying down with their legs folded beneath them, their ankles rooted into the cracked rock beneath. They lay on a pile, splayed out together.

The Soulbiter next to Umirin doesn't stop, it burrows into the cavern to join the other four, rumbling with the same affectionate noise toward them that it made when he'd pet it earlier. It lays down by its brethren.

Umirin admires the sight, their communication, he cannot believe this is where they have been this whole time.

He walks closer as well, sits down before them, shuddering as five sets of milky eyes turn on him.

"What do you need from me?" he finally asks the question he's been pondering. What is it exactly that they need him to do. Hopefully, nothing sinister.

One of them stretches its neck forward, tilting its head towards Umirin. He doesn't flinch, merely focuses on listening when the creature finally begins to speak, "B-Bringgg the bodyy," it groans.

Another Soulbiter then chimes in, croaking, "Brinngggg the h-heartttt," it speaks in tandem with its kin.

Umirin frowns, unsure he quite understands what they're getting at, "What?"

The Elder that had brought him here answers, head tilted to the left as it does, "R-Rebirthhh," it groans.

Umirin feels his skin flush of color with cold shock as he comprehends the weight of what they are asking.

Atone. Rebirth. Body. A heart.

Oh holy, they wish to bring the Divine Beast they killed so long ago back to life.

To remake her flesh in her image. How could that even be possible?

Umirin runs a hand through his hair, so utterly stunned his whole body feels numb and alien. The Heart of the Forest had been a playful creature, shifting her shape into different animals often. The only signature sign that would stay the same would be those markings on her fur. The rin, as the marks were called in the Sah language his people had used before ascending. That language had died with the Divine Beast, like much of their way of life after they settled above the trees.

It lives on only in names now. Wezrin Sah, the people of the mark. Rin, in every single one of their personal names. Umirin. Umi the marked.

When the Beast was killed, she had been shaped as a white fawn. And the Divine Heart cut from her chest, as per tradition when the hunting party had eaten her for dinner, one of them survived the cursing long enough to bring back to the people. To keep safe. A relic of their slain deity.

Now it is kept at the very top of the temple's spire at the center of the settlement clusters, under heavy duty lock and key, as well as constant guard by the priests whom live there.

Umirin just sits in silence processing this revelation. Would this really atone for what they'd done? Would it truly be sufficient penance? It feels sacrilegious to him.

"And you...will this fix anything?" he asks, chewing on his lip nervously.

How would he even bring them what they need...

Umirin's heart drops like a stone when the realization washes over him. He would have to provide the body. Take an innocent life, kill a fawn.

Steal the holy relic from his people's temple.

Oh Heart, he would need to spit on everything sacred to him. Become a no better monster than the Soulbiters.

"H-Hopeee," another Elder groans, answering him.

Umirin blinks from his mounting crisis, his heart jittering restlessly in his chest. He does not know if he can do this.

Hope. They hope. They do not even know if it will work for certain. He does not even know what would happen if it did.

It could all very well be for naught. And what will have become of him after? He glances down at his hands folded in his lap, uneasy. If he does this, those bloodstains will never rinse off. How could he ever forgive himself for taking an innocent young life, and desecrating the holiest heart known to these lands, if it all ended up being for nothing? His soul feels heavy.

And to think his family had cast him out because of his disparaging comments toward their culture of peace and balance. It had all sounded pretentious to young, foolish Umirin at the time, but his father had not taken kindly to his disrespectful attitude. Called it dishonorable. Sent him away.

Yet here he is, a decade later, feeling sick with himself at the notion of truly desecrating all these beliefs. He holds them dearly, regardless of his occasional grumbling.

Umirin flexes his fingers, chewing on his lip. Could he turn away at this point? Shani is hopefully safe home by now, he technically is not forced to go through with the bargain.

And yet, that notion makes him ribcage ache with sorrow. He looks at the Soulbiters, their gazes trained on him. They wait so patiently for him to speak, their blank faces somehow still expressive of woe.

Umirin sees his own worn down, pale face reflected in the milky depths of their eyes, the edges of his shape rippling and wavering.

Almost as if he were melting into the monsters.

Umirin averts his gaze, his whole body feeling like lead. He cannot bear to abandon them now, no. So lost. Alone. Akin to him. He shivers at how alike he already is to these beasts.

Perhaps he's got less soul to lose than he'd originally thought.

He returns his gaze to his hands, clenches them into fists briefly, then relaxes them once more, "I'll do it," he declares, his words heavy like stones in the silence.