Heart of Mer'Valka

Malachi had never thought about how bad the idea of going into Ghulvale was in his entire life until he was standing outside the gate.

 "Let me get this straight, you got a reverse version of the map and you think it's right to go through with it, what were you thinking?" Leo asked, turning to face Malachi, whose face was buried in the map he was trying to figure out.

 "Whose idea was it to go to Ghulvale?" Malachi asked.

 "Well....." Leo scratches his head.

"Now quit complaining and let's move," Malachi said, folding up the map they'd picked up from some sketchy vendor in the Drift. It wasn't the original just a mirrored copy with half the markings smudged or scratched out. For all they knew, it could lead them straight into a trap.

The shard was their only real shot. It wasn't just a way to slip between realms unnoticed it was the way. And while it had other uses they barely understood, carrying the Flame Shard felt like holding a piece of treasure that was infinite.

 Camilla had never known the sting of humiliation until now. Failing to catch the two thieves who'd stolen the artifact was bad enough, but being sent to Ghulvale to retrieve a flame shard? That was punishment. The last place she wanted to be… was the one place she was now forced to go.

Ghulvale reeked of death. It was eerie, soaked in shadows and silence.

Fortunately, she had night vision. Without it, she would've triggered half a dozen traps by now or worse, walked straight off a ledge hidden in the fog.

She exhaled, not quite a sighnmore like a controlled breath to keep her pace steady. Her legs ached, sure, but nothing she couldn't handle. Rest wasn't an option anyway, a single misstep could cost her. And as for direction? She had none. Just instinct.

But instinct had never failed her before.

 "Wasn't there supposed to be a portal or whatever that could lead her outside of the Outside and into the Oasis?"

Camilla paused, holding her breath. She tilted her head slightly, focusing. Her ears picked up only the dry, rhythmic squawk of vultures circling above dead trees, and the faint, scuttling sound of mice?

She frowned.

Mice? Here?

There was no vegetation. No water. Nothing but ash, stone, and death. How were they surviving?

Her eyes narrowed. Unless… they weren't scavenging for food.

They were the bait.

A soft click beneath her boot snapped her attention downward.

Too late.

The ground gave way with a dull 'whumpf' not a collapse, but a mechanism triggering beneath the dirt. Camilla sprang back, instinct faster than thought, just as a rusted iron spike jutted up from where she'd been standing.

"Cute," she muttered, dusting her coat. "They're getting creative."

She moved on, but now her senses were sharpened. If there were traps, there was structure. And if there was structure someone had built it.

Which meant the portal wasn't just lost.

It was guarded.

She turned at the sound of the rats where they were making noises while running about.

Her feet followed their hurry footsteps just like how Alice in wonderland had followed the rabbit into a hole leading to another dimension Maybe just Maybe.

She came to a abrupt halt, instinctual her breath catching in her throat. The skittering sounds had stopped.

Camilla stood still, panting heavily, each inhale clawing its way through her lungs as she turned in slow, cautious circles. Her eyes scanned the space around her, for anything that resembled life. But the only thing that greeted her was stillness. Stillness and the distant croak of vultures perched high above.

The silence was heavier now almost oppressive.

She took a step back then her foot caught. A root. Thick, gnarled, and hidden beneath a layer of dirt.

She stumbled forward with a startled gasp, arms flailing to catch balance, fingers grasping for anything to keep her upright. Her hand caught the bark of a nearby tree, but instead of steadying her, it betrayed her. The bark gave way, like wet paper peeling off in her grip, and the next moment she was falling.

Through the tree.

It swallowed her whole, the surface folding in like a liquid membrane, and she plunged headfirst into darkness that felt too alive to be empty.

There was no wind just the sensation of her body tumbling endlessly through space, like time had abandoned her mid-fall.

And then she met with an impact.

Her back slammed into something hard, and all the breath fled her lungs at once. She didn't even scream, there was no air left for that. She just lay there, eyes squeezed shut, the ground cold and unfamiliar beneath her spine.

For a while, she couldn't move. The world was spinning in strange colors and her stomach churned, threatening to spill everything she had ever eaten. She rolled to the side and gagged, but nothing came out. Just dry heaves and pain and the dull, disorienting ache of travel not meant for the human body.

Minutes passed, maybe hours.

Eventually, she sat up on unsteady arms, her palms sinking slightly into moss instead of dirt. The air was cooler here, damp and sweet like rain-soaked leaves. She blinked.

This place… it was nothing like the forest she had come from.

Gone were the ashen trees and cracked earth of Ghulvale. This new place was alive, vibrantly alive. Vines curled lazily along glowing tree trunks. The fog was thick, but it shimmered faintly, casting soft light across the ground like it had its own gentle pulse.

And the colors, everything was green. Not just one shade, but dozens of greens she didn't even know had names. Emerald. Sage. Olive. Lush and rich and humming with breath.

Camilla rose slowly, still shaky on her feet, brushing dust and bark off her clothes.

The sky above was a clear, endless blue, the kind that could make your soul sigh in relief. The landscape stretched out like a painter's dream rolling hills, soft mossy paths, scattered blossoms that shimmered like they'd been kissed by stardust. It was the kind of place that made you want to fall to your knees and roll around just for the sheer joy of being alive.

But joy was the last thing on her mind.

Because right now, she was staring directly into the face of a… thing.

It was small. Twig-thin, bark-skinned. But its eyes if those dark knots could be called eyes were wide and furious. The creature gave a shrill, high-pitched shriek the instant their gazes met.

"Arrrrghhhh… INTRUDER! THERE'S AN INTRUDER!" it screamed, voice cracking into panic as it spun on its heels and bolted in the opposite direction.

She blinked, still dazed from the fall. "Wait, what—"

Before she could process anything else, a sudden swarm of winged things burst from the trees like startled birds. They were tiny, glowing, and loud, screaming in a chorus of high piercing tones that made her wince and cover her ears.

Just moments ago, she'd been marveling at the beauty of this place. Now it felt like the entire forest was turning on her.

Of course. Of course this would happen.

And if she had to guess if all the noise, the flying panic-bugs, and the screeching root-goblin weren't enough of a clue then yes, she'd definitely just trespassed into another realm.

"Oh, for goodness' sake," she groaned under her breath, dragging her palm down her face.

The ground trembled slightly beneath her feet. A low, rhythmic thud was drawing near. She turned slowly.

Guards.

Dozens of them. Maybe more. Emerging from between trees and from under the earth itself, vines curling around their limbs like armor. Tall, earthen-skinned beings with eyes that glowed faintly green, all of them moving as one, closing in with slow, deliberate steps.

She was so outnumbered.

"Right. Hands up," she muttered to herself and raised her arms in surrender, trying to appear as non-threatening as someone who'd just dropped into a realm through a portal disguised as a tree possibly could.

Because if she remembered correctly, the Earth People were not the kind you trifled with.

Not unless you wanted to end up buried six feet under. Literally.

The guards didn't speak not at first. They didn't need to. The look in their glowing green eyes said enough. 'You've trespassed where you shouldn't have, outsider.'

Her feet barely touched the ground as they flanked her from both sides and marched her forward. They didn't shove her, of course she would have found it very disrespectful.

The forest shifted around them. What had seemed like random trees rearranged themselves like gates being drawn open, branches curving into arches, roots parting to form a path. The deeper they went, the more the air began to hum like the land was alive and watching her every step.

Eventually, the path widened into a clearing so massive and symmetrical it felt carved from intention, not nature. At the center stood a structure part palace, part living mountain. Vines wrapped around its walls like veins, pulsing faintly with bioluminescent light.

They led her up a staircase of stone and bark, into a great hall lit by shafts of golden sunlight that streamed down through gaps in the ceiling.

And then she saw them.

The Royal Court of Verdant Mire.

They sat on thrones sculpted from ancient petrified trees, but they themselves looked human or at least close. Their skin bore earthy undertones, some golden like harvested wheat, others dark like wet soil. Their hair ranged from mossy green to river-black, braided with beads of amber and polished wood. Their eyes, however, betrayed them. No human had eyes that look old and sharp. They gleamed like sap, ancient and unblinking.

A woman stood to speak, she was tall and regal, her voice wrapped in a melodic accent that curled like wind through leaves.

"Well now… look what the trees coughed up." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "A surface-walker."

"She fell through the Wyrmbark," muttered one of the seated lords, his voice deep and cracked like splitting timber. "That tree hasn't opened in a century."

The woman circled Camilla slowly, eyeing her from head to toe with both curiosity and wariness. "You've come uninvited, girl. That is not a small offense in Verdant Mire."

Camilla straightened instinctively, even if her legs were trembling beneath her. "I didn't mean to trespassed, I didn't even know this place existed in Ghulvale__"

"You stumbled here?" the queen cut in, her brow arched. "How careless must one be to fall into an ancient gate protected by wards and centuries of silence?"

Another voice joined from the end of the court. A young man stepped forward from the far side of the hall, the crowd parting slightly as he moved. He was dressed in an emerald ensemble so rich it seemed to drink the light, every thread of his tunic gleaming with a subtle sheen like dew on fresh leaves. The fabric flowed around him satin-like and finely tailored, more ceremonial than practical, with delicate patterns stitched in gold that resembled curling vines and blooming petals. A mantle of sheer, translucent green draped from his shoulders, billowing softly with his every step like mist caught in motion.

He was effortlessly dashing, the kind of beauty that wasn't loud but undeniable. His hair was dark, slicked back in a low tie with streaks of forest green woven through like ivy. Around his neck hung a pendant shaped like a leaf carved from amber, faintly glowing with a pulse of magic.

But what stood out most was his expression: calm, unreadable… with a glint of quiet amusement in his eyes. As though he already knew something no one else did.

He stopped beside the queen's throne, hands folded behind his back, eyes fixed on Camilla not with suspicion like the others, but curiosity.

"A surface-walker in the court of Verdant Mire," he said with a faint, wry smile. His voice was smooth, like water over river stones. "You don't see that every century."

"Or perhaps the forest invited her in," he said. "It doesn't open without cause."

The court murmured. Some in agreement. Others in suspicion.

The queen's eyes narrowed. "Are you suggesting the Mire wanted her?"

The young man shrugged lightly. "Stranger things have happened."

Camilla stared between them, They were speaking of her like she was a symbol, not a person. A threat or an omen, not a confused woman who just tripped into their land.

"I'm just a wander," she said firmly. "I don't know what any of this is. I didn't come here on purpose, and if you'll just show me how to leave—"

"Leave?" The queen laughed, and the entire court echoed her, some with dry chuckles, others with musical, eerie mirth. "Oh, child. You don't leave the Mire. Not without giving something in return."

Camilla's raised a perfectly arch brow.

"What… kind of something?" she asked almost tempted to fold her arms.

The queen leaned in, her voice soft like a lullaby twisted just slightly out of tune.

"Depends what you're worth."

Camilla brow arch. 'Oh am worth a thousand more', but she bit back on the reply. The last thing she needed was getting on the queen nerves