Just outside the border of the Eyehole, there stood an old red warning sign. It was battered by ti and covered in rust streaks. Anyone could tell it had been there for ages.
Past that sign, oddly enough, there was a small marketplace. Traders hung out there, dealing in goods and buying unique items that the alphas brought from the Polluted Zone. A lot of regular folks also passed through.
Even though the area around the Polluted Zone was known to be risky, especially near the infamous Eyehole, people seed to forget how close they were to the dangers.
"In the Polluted Zone, there are different situations," Ren explained to Kestrel. "So parts are super unpredictable, growing unexpectedly and taking over places and people nearby. But then there are areas which, even if they’re hazardous inside, remain mostly unchanged. That’s why folks like to gather at the borders to trade."
Kestrel rembered that of all the Polluted Zones she’d co across, the Erdtree’s one expanded the most aggressively.
She rembered when she was on the bus when the Erdtree’s zone began to spread rapidly. If the driver hadn’t reacted so swiftly, everyone in the car would’ve ended up inside the Erdtree’s Polluted Zone.
She pondered, "Why are there these differences?" An idea began to form in Kestrel’s head, but she hadn’t experienced enough of the Polluted Zones to understand it completely.
Ren, as if reading her thoughts, remarked, "Here’s what I believe. The easier it is to find a way into the Polluted Zone, the less it tends to grow." That piece of insight resonated with Kestrel.
Whenever she walked in those Polluted Zones, she always felt an eerie sensation, as if these odd places had an attraction towards humans. For the alphas, and for betas like Kestrel, this attraction was even more pronounced. In both Zone 5 and Zone 77, it felt as if the creatures inside were beckoning them.
In the Polluted Zones that were enticing to enter and which many alphas and ordinary people couldn’t resist exploring, nurous individuals were transford, turning into mutants and remaining trapped there. Such zones, after "consuming" so many people, seed more static.
Conversely, the core of the Erdtree’s Polluted Zone was overseen by Kaworu, who seldom gave people the key. As ti goes by, very few people would dare to go there. Then it dawned on Kestrel—because so few individuals entered, that zone was insatiable, expanding aggressively and constantly trying to draw people in.
She exclaid, looking at Ren, "Could it be that these Polluted Zones actually need people inside, that they’re perpetually yearning for more?"
Ren’s expression turned grave, and he nodded subtly, affirming Kestrel’s suspicion.
"A lot of experienced alphas had the sa feeling," Ren said.
"The Polluted Zone wants people, like it’s always hungry," Ren spoke in a steady tone, even though he was talking about sothing pretty scary. "But we can’t avoid it. We need to go into the Polluted Zone over and over. Things we need to live are hard to find outside, and there’s less and less land. The only way to get what we need is to take the risk and go into the Polluted Zone."
Kestrel thought about it. "In the Imperial Nexus, though, I’ve never heard anyone talk about this."
Ren’s eyes looked kind of sad and intense. He knew that in the Imperial Nexus, where there was always so party happening, no one would talk about stuff like that. Most people there didn’t think about where the Polluted Zone ca from or why it was growing. They didn’t even know how many people, especially alphas, got hurt or lost their lives each year.
In the Nexus, the royal family and rich people lived like everything was perfect. It was like they were in this never-ending dream world, always having fun and enjoying themselves. They could always stay by the Tower, lost in music, drinks, and all the fancy stuff, pretending that everything was okay. But outside that tower? Soldiers were getting hurt, and kids didn’t even have enough to eat.
...
As soon as Kestrel stepped into the Eyehole, everything around her changed.
There was no grass, no plants, just empty and lifeless land. Everywhere she looked, there were just rocks and dirt. It all looked the sa, stretching out super far until she couldn’t see anymore. Above her in the sky, there was this huge eye. It looked kind of dead and was crying blood-red tears that looked like waterfalls.
She looked up, really focusing on the big eye. It reminded her of a picture she’d seen on the wooden box from the Mary’s wreckage.
This was where she needed to be, the Eyehole.
Back at her house, she had this old wind chi in her room from when she was little. Most of the gems on it weren’t real, but there was this one blue square one - a real azure sapphire.
Kestrel was just a kid when she lost her parents. She didn’t rember much from back then, but she did rember her mom holding her super tight and running through a big fire.
Even with fire all around, she felt safe because of her mom. At so point, her mom put a necklace with a sapphire on her. She rembered how cold the gem felt when it touched her.
She heard her mom whispering to her, "Kestrel, keep this a secret. Don’t let anyone see it. When you’re older, if you want to know the real story of everything, go to Polluted Zone Five. Look for the wooden box on the sunken ship called the Mary."
As she grew up, Kestrel sotis wondered if she had made up that mory. Especially since her dad had blocked her senses back then, so she shouldn’t have been able to hear or feel much of anything.
Throughout her adventures, from the remnants of the Mary to the mysterious Polluted Zone of the Erdtree, and now to this place with the massive eye that resembled the one from her box, Kestrel’s mories began to solidify. She realized her mories weren’t just random visions; they were vital ssages her parents left behind before they tragically passed away. It was their way of guiding her, a hidden key to unveil secrets of her past.
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