Explore the profile below. Later developments and revelations are gathered in the expandable story section.
The Heartwood is a small shard of living wood given by Ael’Tharun. Silver runes lie along its pale grain, with black root and green vine forming a cradle around it. Sylas carries it, but carrying the talisman does not make its power his alone: its response depends on the companions’ continued cooperation.[1]
In BONDS[1]
Listening before acting
The company learns to distinguish the Heartwood’s response from permission to force a solution. Knowledge, timing, and an available path for pressure still matter.
BONDS story revelationsEvents through the epilogue · Open to read
What the Heartwood can do[2]
Ael’Tharun describes it as a lens for joined will. Together, the six can briefly establish a local counter-cadence that refuses a distortion. They cannot erase what has happened, command every ley line, or rewrite the world at will. Alone it remains wood, memory, and warning; division makes it silent.
The six who answer[3]
The bond formed beneath the Oak includes Sylas, Brann, Elara, Lirael, Vahrenai, and Selyna. It carries timing and shared decisions, not one another’s thoughts or secrets. Mythrien joins the traveling company afterward.
Within the shared working, Brann holds, Elara keeps time, Vahrenai contains, Selyna grounds, and Lirael directs. Sylas bears the working and supplies its sixth point; Mythrien guards outside it.
The exceptional bridge through the Oak[2]
At the Eldergreen nexus, Ael’Tharun carries the six into a ley echo while their bodies remain beneath its roots. They can affect moments in the pattern, not touch physical people or undo a death. That reach depends on the Oak’s living root network and costs both the companions and the tree. It is not a general ability to rescue people at a distance.
A gift that can draw attention[2]
The Shroud’s readers can follow resonance at corrupted crossings. Darik warns that taking the shard into a prepared binding could let the enemy catch its song. Outside the Oak’s shelter, the Heartwood answers another strained nexus in Xer’Arun, exposing the company to notice as well as giving them a warning.
Limits of the brace[4]
At the Onyx ring the Heartwood helps interrupt a forced pattern rather than heal the fault. At Myth Celador the six use its cadence to guide Vaeril’s released burden into older channels. Their agreement and participation remain essential; the bond is not an unrestricted power or a way to read one another’s thoughts.
Story revelations are closed. Open this section on the website before printing to include them.
Sources & appearances
BONDS: The Tale of Sylas · B.K. McSherry
BONDS · Final Draft 1.0
Referenced chaptersChapters 19–21, 23–24, 28–33; Epilogue
- [1]BONDS · Chapters 19–21, 23–24, 28–33; Epilogue
- [2]BONDS · Chapters 19–21
- [3]BONDS · Chapters 19–20, 23, 28, 31
- [4]BONDS · Chapters 23–24, 28–33; Epilogue