Read Novel Full Chapter 656: The Awakening
Chapter 656: The Awakening
Deep within the Sacred Forest, the golden green pillar of light that had pierced through the night sky had gradually faded, but the changes that had truly taken place throughout the forest were far from over.
Sophie remained standing where she was. She did not move, and she had not yet fully regained consciousness. Golden green light flowed through the depths of her pupils, and with her as the center, every plant within several hundred meters remained in an unusually strange state.
Whether it was the low grass and shrubs or the towering ancient trees that had grown for hundreds of years, all of them were now slightly leaning toward her, as though expressing the most instinctive intimacy toward an existence that had at last returned after a long absence.
Even stranger were the animals. Birds, small magical beasts, and several high ranked forest magical beasts that rarely approached the elven settlements had appeared in the distance. There were no roars and no fighting. They simply watched her quietly.
The elves responsible for protecting Sophie no longer dared to approach. They had lived within the Sacred Forest since birth, and precisely because of that, the scene before them was far more shocking to them than it would have been to any outsider.
The World Tree was the source of the elves’ faith, yet elves had never possessed the right to command the Sacred Forest.
They could communicate with nature, borrow the power of the forest, and rely on the World Tree’s root system to construct an enormous defensive network, but they had always merely been children living here, never its masters.
But now, the forest was actively drawing closer to a human girl.
“Your Highness Sophie?”
One of the female elves could no longer resist calling out softly.
Sophie did not respond. Her consciousness was still lingering within the scene she had just witnessed.
That tree.
An ancient tree so vast that its size could hardly be understood through ordinary measurements, its dimming branches and leaves, its roots that were gradually losing their vitality, and those words that had directly appeared within the depths of her soul.
[My child.]
[You have finally returned.]
She was certain that it had absolutely not been an illusion, because even now, that connection still existed. It was incredibly distant, yet somehow felt as though it were right beside her.
Sophie developed a strange feeling that if she were willing to follow that connection onward, she would be able to reach somewhere she had never visited before, yet somehow found inexplicably familiar.
She subconsciously took a step ahead.
Rustle…
Every branch and leaf around her swayed simultaneously.
Underground, a thick ancient root gradually rose from the soil. It did not destroy the ground, nor did it make any tremendous sound. It simply approached Sophie like a gigantic serpent awakening from a deep slumber, then extended ahead.
It crossed dozens of meters before forming a path leading deeper into the forest.
The expressions of the surrounding elves completely changed.
“The Sacred Root…”
The voice of the oldest elf among them began trembling.
“It’s guiding her.”
Sophie stared at the path formed by the tree root, her heartbeat growing faster and faster.
That direction was exactly the direction she had always been able to sense.
She took another step. But before she could continue, a voice came from behind her.
“Sophie.”
Sophie stopped and turned around.
Aelira had already appeared not far away. Unlike her usual calm demeanor, the elven elder did not look at anyone else around her. From the moment she appeared, her gaze remained fixed on Sophie, especially when she saw the golden green light that had yet to completely disappear from the depths of the girl’s pupils.
Her expression became much more complicated. It looked like shock, but it also seemed as though she had at last confirmed something she had been waiting many years to see.
“Elder Aelira,” Sophie spoke. “Just now…”
“I know.”
Aelira interrupted her, then looked toward the road that had been voluntarily formed by the Sacred Tree’s roots.
After a brief silence, she asked, “You saw it?”
Sophie frowned. “You know what I saw?”
Aelira did not answer directly.
“You tell me first.”
Sophie looked at her.
“I saw a tree. It was enormous. So vast that I couldn’t even see its true top, and it seemed like…”
She paused slightly.
“It was dying.”
The expressions of the surrounding elves changed instantly.
“What?!”
“How could the Sacred Tree possibly…”
“Quiet.”
Aelira spoke only two words, and every voice disappeared at once.
She looked at Sophie again.
“What else?”
Sophie hesitated, but in the end, she still said, “It spoke to me.”
Aelira’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“What did it say?”
That ancient and gentle consciousness once again echoed through Sophie’s mind. She pursed her lips.
“It called me… Child.”
The air instantly fell silent. This time, even Aelira did not speak at once.
Sophie continued, “It also said that I had finally returned.”
One of the elderly elves visibly swayed.
“Returned…”
His lips trembled slightly.
“Not arrived. Returned…”
The difference was only a single word, yet the meaning was completely different.
Sophie had never been to the Sacred Forest, at least not according to her own memories. If that was the case, why would the World Tree say that she had “returned”?
Sophie had thought of the same thing.
She looked toward Aelira.
“Who exactly am I?”
She did not beat around the bush, nor did she continue waiting.
“Ever since I entered this forest, the way all of you have looked at me has been strange. When we first met, you asked who my mother was. Edgar clearly knows something too. And now, even the World Tree recognizes me.”
Sophie’s voice gradually became serious.
“So, I want an answer.”
Aelira did not respond at once. She simply looked at the young face before her.
There were some things they had waited more than deacsdw for. Even they themselves had been unable to determine whether that prophecy would ultimately become reality.
But tonight, there was no longer any need for doubt.
Because the Sacred Tree itself had given them the answer.
“You really should know now,” Aelira spoke at last.