Sid activated his loot vision out of habit, scanning the ground for anything useful, but no light flickered. Nothing valuable. Nothing left.

"Oh damn right, the old man probably cleared this place out years ago."

Meanwhile, Evelise had already stepped ahead, walking slowly toward the center of the plaza. The air seemed calmer there, almost reverent. She looked around with a faint, bittersweet smile.

"It's still beautiful. Even after everything."

Sid followed, his gaze flicking between the broken signs and the faint mosaic patterns beneath their feet.

"You said this was the heart of the nexus, right?"

"Yes. This is where people used to gather — locals, travelers, families, everyone. It was the city's brightest place. The heart that connected all lives."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"But it wasn't that way for me."

"What do you mean?"

Evelise stopped in the very center, her hands curling into fists.

"Sid… the day you brought me back to the cabin — when we entered Nexus Green, do you remember how I hesitated? How I pulled back my hand?"

"Yeah. You fell. I thought you were just scared of the open space."

Her eyes darkened.

"No. It wasn't the forest that scared me. It was this place."

She looked around, at the open plaza now filled with only ghosts.

"This heart of the Nexus… it welcomed everyone, but never someone like me."

Sid's chest tightened as she went on.

"I was… different. A humanimal. Society never truly accepted us. We weren't granted rights to live in the city. Most of us were kept outside the walls or used for labor."

Her voice broke a little.

"But I was… special. "I was the only one they allowed to become a citizen inside the city. I know it was because of my healing gift — maybe that made me useful enough to tolerate. I wanted to believe they saw me as one of them."

She looked down, her hands shaking.

"But here, in this plaza… I learned the truth. I was humiliated in front of everyone. They called me a monster, an abomination that should never have existed. I-It was my first time standing here, thinking I finally belonged."

Her voice cracked as tears welled in her eyes.

"I didn't. They made sure I knew that."

Sid's expression darkened, anger flashing behind his eyes.

"Those bastards…"

Evelise forced a bitter smile, her voice soft but trembling.

"I'm sorry you wasted your power on me— on something like me. An abomination. You've been living with me, seeing what I am. Maybe part of you thinks you should've revived a real human instead."

Sid took a slow breath and shook his head.

"No. Don't say that. I never thought of you that way."

He stepped closer, his voice steady but full of emotion.

"I revived you not because the system told me to, but because I wanted to. I had a choice— and I chose you. From the start, there was something about you. I used to think it was because you reminded me of Morgana, but now I know… it's because you're you, Evelise."

Evelise blinked, her lips parting slightly as she looked up at him.

"Sid… thank you. For the first time in a long while… I'm starting to feel like I belong."

The familiar system chime echoed in Sid's vision.

[Task Completed: Journey to the Heart of Nexus Green]

[+15 Bond Points gained]

[Current BP: 80/100]

[Heart Status: Violet]

Evelise's voice faltered, and for a moment, her vulnerability showed so clearly that Sid almost reached out to her. But she blinked hard, wiped the corner of her eye, and took a step back as if to steady herself. When she spoke again, her tone was firmer, trying to regain composure.

"Anyway… that's not the only reason I wanted to come here. I didn't drag you all this way just to make you listen to my sob story."

Sid tilted his head. "Oh yeah? Then what was the real reason?"

Evelise turned slowly and lifted her gaze upward. Sid followed her line of sight— then froze. His breath caught in his throat.

Rising beyond the plaza, towering over the ruins of the city, stood a tree unlike anything he had ever seen. Its trunk was thicker than the base of a skyscraper, roots sprawling across the broken tiles like rivers of wood. The canopy stretched high into the clouds, leaves gleaming with deep emerald light. Even from hundreds of meters away, it shimmered with life. Sid had seen tower that reached the heavens back on Earth— steel and glass marvels but this? This was nature's monument.

"What… in the… world…"

He whispered, stepping forward, his voice small against the vastness of it. "

That thing's massive. It's gotta be at least seven hundred meters tall… maybe more."

Evelise's lips curved into a small smile.

"It's called the Nexus Tree. The real heart of this place. The forest, the plaza— everything was named after it. 'Nexus Green' exists because of that tree."

"It's ancient, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly, her voice soft but filled with reverence.

"They say it's been here for over a thousand years. Maybe more. No one knows when it first appeared, only that it was already old when the first cities were built around it. Storms, floods, earthquakes—nothing ever destroyed it. And when people tried to cut it down… it healed. Slowly, but surely, it always healed."

"You're saying it just… repairs itself? Like it's alive in some way?"

"Yes. It's not just alive— it's enduring. Some people believed it was sacred. Others said it was cursed. But to us, to the humanimals, it was something more than a legend. It was hope."

Sid's eyes lingered on the colossal trunk, the way its roots pulsed faintly with green light beneath the bark. He felt something… something he couldn't explain. A strange warmth spreading through his chest, as if the air itself hummed in his blood.

"Evelise… I can feel it. It's… weird, but it's like it's calling out. Like it's… alive."

Her eyes widened slightly, surprise flashing across her face.

"You feel it too?"

"Yeah. Like a vibration. It's faint, but it's there. Almost like… magic."

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