Grace's face grew paler and her eyes reddened.
Ray sobbed, buried deeper and deeper in the tangle of vines. "Mommy! Mommy!"
Grace's heart twisted with pain. She spun around, frantically clawing at the vines with her bare hands.
These vines couldn't be chopped apart even with a knife. Grace didn't really expect her bare hands to work.
She was acting purely on a mother's instinct.
But, shockingly, when she grabbed the Soulbane Vine, it actually came apart in her hands, revealing poor Ray inside.
Grace scooped Ray up and placed him in her Sanctum.
Ray floated into his little nest, closed his eyes weakly, and drifted off to sleep.
Grace stared at her own hands, dazed.
She'd done the same thing when saving Rina Chu at the King's Spirit Tree.
The vines that couldn't be cut with a sword parted easily when touched by her hand.
She turned to Grandpa Gene the High Saint and grabbed the vines wrapped around him.
Just like before, the vines loosened easily in her grasp.
They stayed perfectly still, as if they were ordinary plants, letting her do as she pleased.
"Grandpa Gene..." Grace called out, "Are you okay?"
Grandpa Gene the High Saint looked pale, but he managed a smile. "Don't worry! I won't die! But my power's almost gone—I'm afraid I'm about to revert to my original form!"
He grabbed Grace's hand. "Promise me—you have to make it out alive! You must! Otherwise, this time... really... it'll be forever..."
As he spoke, he suddenly turned into a tiny Goldenreed, his whole body shimmering blue—not quite solid, but still tangible.
This must be his soul vessel, the form he takes after losing his powers.
Grace picked him up and placed him safely in her Sanctum.
In the blink of an eye, only she was left.
Grace stared at the Soulbane Vine still clutched in her hand, utterly baffled.
"Why?" Grace wondered aloud. "Why do you let go whenever I touch you? Why can I communicate with the Spirit Tree? Is it because... I'm the Phoenix Maiden's daughter?"
Of course, the Soulbane Vine couldn't answer her.
Grace slowly let go of the purple vine.
The purple vine shrank back into the hole, careful and slow, and didn't appear again.
Grace looked around the secret chamber.
Grandpa Gene the High Saint said this purple vine was raised by ancient Divine Race gods to guard their secret residences.
So, this might not be a tomb after all.
Maybe it's actually the secret residence of some ancient Divine Race god?
If that's true, there must be an exit somewhere in this secret chamber.
Grace searched the walls carefully.
It was a hexagonal secret chamber, with relief carvings on every wall.
Because it was so ancient, the carvings were already blurred and hard to make out.
She could just barely make out flowers and phoenixes.
Each wall was made of a single piece of stone, without any seams.
Only one wall had a palm-sized square stone, separate from the rest of the carvings.
Grace walked over and tried pressing it.
The stone wobbled.
Her eyes lit up and she pressed it hard.
A flash of red light streaked across the relief carving on the wall, and then—a door appeared.
Grace let out a deep breath and stepped outside.
Beyond the door was another passage.
Only this one was much wider than the last.
Both walls had holes the size of a pinky finger, letting in beams of light!
When she peered through the holes, she could see a glimpse of the outside world.