"I was telling the truth," Jared said, a little awkward.
"I know," Gwendolyn said evenly. "That''s why I said you''re interesting."
She turned and walked deeper across the sea.
"If you''re awake,e over here. Your remnant soul is still waiting for you."
Jared''s eyes snapped open.
The first thing he saw was a wash of golden radiance.
He was lying on the stone bed.
It was cold and hard, but for some reason it gave off a steady kind offort.
Above him spread a massive golden canopy.
Countless golden leaves swayed softly in the breeze, their rustling low and steady, like some ancient song that had never fully faded.
A faint scent of grass and wood lingered in the air.
It sank deep into him, and the spiritual power he had nearly burned dry started recovering at a speed that made no sense at all.
He pushed himself up and found that he was already on the islet.
The ancient tree''s trunk stood not far from him.
It was so thick it looked like a wall.
The bark was covered in ancient patterns.
They hadn''t been carved by anyone. They had formed on their own, like the palm lines of the earth itself.
Roots bulged up from the soil and twisted over one another, forming a natural staircase that led all the way into the depths of the canopy.
Gwendolyn stood on those root-steps with her back to him, her face tilted up toward the canopy.
Her long hair carried a faint sheen in the golden light.
The hem of her white dress spread across the roots like a blooming white lotus.
"Awake?"
She didn''t turn around. Her voice was still as t as ever.
Jared swung himself off the bed and moved his body a little.
Then he stopped.
The spiritual power he had used up had already recovered by seventy to eighty percent, and the hidden injuries the Voidwind had left inside him had mostly healed too.
"How long was I out?" he asked.
"Three hours," Gwendolyn said as she turned around. "Faster than I expected. The recovery ability of the Golden Dragon Bloodline really does live up to its name."
Jared walked over to her side and followed her gaze upward.
Deep in the ancient tree''s canopy, he could just barely make out the hollow.
It didn''t look big. Inside, though, a soft pale-gold glow spilled out of it, warm and still
in a way that made people want to move closer.
"What''s that?" Jared asked.
"The foundation of the Celestial Pce," Gwendolyn said. "It''s also the ce where
I can help you release the remnant souls."
She took the soul crystals from Jared''s hand and held them in her palm.
"Come with me."
She started up the root-steps winding along the tree, her steps light and steady.
Jared followed behind her.
Their footsteps echoed through the ancient branches and trunks, weaving together with the rustle of leaves into a strange rhythm.
The hollow was much bigger than Jared had expected.
From the outside, the opening looked small. The moment he stepped inside, though, the space opened wide, broad as a small hall.
Golden patterns covered the walls.
They matched the markings on the bark outside, as if they hade from the same source, and they gave off a warm glow.
At the center of the cavern sat a naturally formed stone dais.
It wasn''trge, just big enough for one person to lie down on.
The surface of the stone dais was smooth as a mirror.
It was covered in dense,plicated runes, and they weren''t any script Jared knew.
They belonged to something older than that, something more primitive-the elder sacred runes.
"This is... the elder sacred runes?" Jared said.
He had seen that kind of writing in the old tome before.
ording to those records, it was thenguage used by the first living beings in the world, back whend celestials had only juste into being.
Every single character carried the power of thews of the realm.
"You know it?" Gwendolyn asked, turning to him with a trace of surprise in her
nce.
"No. I''ve just seen it in the old tome," Jared answered inly.
Gwendolyn gave a small nod.
She didn''t say anything else.
She walked up to the stone dais and set the soul crystals in the center.
Then she raised her right hand, palm down, and held it above them.
Pale golden radiance poured from her palm.
It was warm and gentle, the same in source and nature as the ancient tree''s golden radiance, yet denser than that, deeper too.
The light fell over the soul crystals.
The blue outer shell on their surface began to melt away slowly, like spring snow giving in to warmth.
The two streaks of white light inside the soul crystals caught the breath of the outside world at once.
They started trembling hard, swimming much faster than before, as if they were desperate to break free of their confinement.
Gwendolyn''s brows drew together slightly.
A fineyer of sweat appeared across her forehead.
Releasing the remnant souls sealed inside the soul crystals demanded far more focus than she had expected.
Those two remnant souls were too weak.
If her hand slipped even a little, they would scatterpletely.
She had to guide them out of the soul crystals little by little, using the gentlest touch
and the finest control she could manage.
Time kept passing, second by second.
Inside the cavern, the silence ran deep that only their breathing
remained, along with the faintne
sizzling sound of the soul crystals melting
Jared stood off to the side and held his breath, barely daring to let any air out at all.
He didn''t dare disturb Gwendolyn. He didn''t even dare stand too close, worried his own presence might throw off what she was doing.
After about half an hour, the outer shell of the soul crystals finally melted awaypletely.
Two strands of white light slowly rose out of the melted liquid. Like two butterflies breaking free of their cocoons, they drifted lightly above the stone dais.
Their glow was so faint it was almost impossible to see.
But the life sealed inside that weak little light made heat press behind Jared''s eyes.
That was Sidney.
That was his wife.
They were still alive.