Elara steps forward, opening her sketchbook. She isn't looking at the vines. She is looking at the air, her silver eyes swirling with complex, non-Euclidean shapes.
"The loop is in the center," Elara says, her dual-voice echoing softly in the quiet fog. "There’s a node. A central knot where the genesis energy is feeding back into itself. If you cut the node, the vines will wither. But you have to be careful, Ash. The node is tied to the roots of the ancient trees. If you cut too deep, you kill the forest."
Asher looks at his sister, his mismatched eyes wide. "How do I know where to cut?"
"I'll draw the line," Elara says, holding up the sketchbook. "You just follow the charcoal."
The intervention is a masterclass in ecological precision.
We move in a tight, tactical formation through t
