I didn't sleep well that night. Not because of nightmares. Just… thinking. Too much noise in my head. The scroll from the monk was still in my inventory, glowing faintly like a candle at the end of a dark hallway.
"You should eat something," Nell said the next morning, tossing a stale biscuit onto the table. "You're starting to look like a real Wraith."
"Thanks," I muttered, picking at it. "Is it supposed to be this hard?"
"Yes," she said. "That's the point."
We were back at the inn. The main room was quiet except for the fire crackling. The other players were gone—off chasing loot or slashing through bandit camps. Meanwhile, I had a glowing piece of forbidden code and the emotional hangover of binding a guilt monster with my trauma.
"This scroll," I said, unrolling it again. "The location's real?"
"Mostly. Old chapel, long buried under one of the corrupted zones." She leaned in. "It's dangerous. Probably locked behind some faith-based stat checks."
"Of course it is."
"You got any points in Faith?"
"Do regrets count?"
She grinned. "Might work in Sanctuary."
I stood and stretched. "Let's go find a lost church and possibly die."
"That's the spirit."
The road out of Dustend wound through a dry valley filled with dead wheat and slow-moving NPCs who never made eye contact. A vendor tried to sell me "spirit-safe milk." I didn't ask questions.
A wooden sign pointed toward a place called Hollowroot Vale.
"That's where the chapel is?" I asked.
Nell nodded. "Used to be a blessing zone for Clerics. Got twisted after Patch 3.7. No one's mapped it since."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"I read."
"You read the patch notes?"
She looked at me like I'd asked if air was optional.
"Yes. How else do you survive?"
We left the road behind and pushed into the overgrowth. Hollowroot Vale didn't look corrupted at first glance. Just quiet. Still.
The deeper we went, the less it felt like a game.
Birds weren't chirping. Leaves didn't rustle. There was a stillness to everything, like the zone was waiting.
Then we saw the scarecrow.
It stood in the middle of a path, crooked and slumped. Its head was made of some kind of burlap sack, stitched with red thread. It turned when we got close.
"You're not supposed to do that," I muttered.
Nell drew her weapon.
The scarecrow reached out.
Event Triggered: The Forgotten Faith – "Tiller of Sins"
A guardian stands between you and the buried chapel.
Speak true or suffer falsehood.
The scarecrow tilted its head.
"Why do you seek what was hidden?" it rasped.
I looked at Nell.
She shrugged. "This is you, Marcus."
I stepped forward. "I was told… I mean, I think the chapel has answers. About the Wraithbound code."
The scarecrow raised one arm. A long, thin finger pointed at my chest.
"You are stitched with wrongness," it said. "Guilt, sewn into the soul."
"That's… not wrong."
"Will you trade a truth for a truth?"
I hesitated. "What kind of truth?"
"Speak what you fear most."
I felt my mouth go dry. The old courtroom image flashed in my head.
"I'm afraid… that nothing I do here matters. That I'm just playing a part. That the damage I did outside… can't be undone."
The scarecrow was still for a long time.
Then it stepped aside.
"The chapel is beneath the roots. Follow the rot."
"Great," I muttered. "Why is it always rot?"
We found the chapel ruins half buried beneath a collapsed tree and a swarm of glowing blue mushrooms.
New Location Discovered: Chapel of the Lost Root
Exploration Bonus: +25 Soul Resonance
Hidden Relic Detected
Inside, it smelled like old stone and wet wood. Dust clung to everything. The windows were shattered, the altar crumbled. But there was a faint blue light coming from behind the pulpit.
We crept closer.
There, in the wall, was a strange shape. A panel of sorts—etched with symbols that looked like code fragments merged with prayer runes.
I reached out.
The panel pulsed. A message appeared.
WRAITHBOUND CODE: SEGMENT 2/7
"Redemption cannot be tracked by numbers. It must be lived. Remember: empathy is not optional."Memory unlocked.
Suddenly, I was somewhere else.
I stood in a marketplace. It was sunny. People laughed. Someone tugged at my coat.
A little girl. Holding a doll.
She looked up at me and said, "You're not a bad man. Just a sad one."
The scene shattered.
I fell back onto the chapel floor, heart racing.
Nell was staring. "What did you see?"
"I don't know," I said. "But it wasn't from the game. I think… it was my own memory."
She was quiet a moment.
Then said, "You just accessed a Personal Root Event. Those are rare."
"Why me?"
"You're Wraithbound. The game wants you to dig deeper. That's how it grows you."
I sat back. "This is more than a punishment class."
"It's a mirror," she said. "And you don't get to turn away."
Back at the inn that night, I got a notification.
Emotion-Tier Questline Unlocked: The Seven Roots Track: 2 of 7 located. Code Stability: 16%Next Segment: ???New Status Effect: Empathic Link (Passive – Tier I)
"What's that do?" I muttered, clicking it open.
Empathic Link (Passive – Tier I): You gain increased insight into NPC behavior. Chance to hear thoughts when emotional thresholds are triggered.
"You can read NPC minds now?" Nell asked, raising a brow.
"Only when they're stressed, apparently."
"Lucky you. Hope you enjoy panic attacks and marital drama."
I stared at the flickering icon.
Then said, "This world's unraveling. But if I follow these roots…"
"…you might be able to fix it," she finished for me.
I looked out the window.
The stars were still there. Cold, fake, and blinking in the same loop.
But somehow, they looked closer than before.