Zay and Rei reached the top of the staircase, and their eyes widened the moment the fresh air hit them. A cool breeze swept past, rustling through the dense canopy above. The sky was now a murky blend of deep blues and soft grays, heavy clouds rolling lazily across the horizon. The trees surrounding the temple swayed gently, their leaves swirling through the air in a quiet dance. The ground beneath them was damp, the earthy scent of moss and wet bark filling the air. Strangely, the footprints they had left earlier had completely vanished, as if time itself had wiped away their presence.
Rei immediately checked the time. "What the hell? It's somehow 6:45 P.M."
Zay turned and looked back down the stairs, then swept his gaze across the jungle that stretched around them like a living sea. The ambient light had shifted as if dusk had arrived far too quickly.
"The temple must distort time... there's no other explanation," he said.
They exchanged a quick glance, and without another word, both took off. Their auras surged to life, flaring around them like blazing veils of color. The ground quaked beneath their boots with each powerful step, tufts of grass and dirt torn from the earth and spun into the wind as they sprinted back toward the building. Behind them, the fading remnants of the Arbiter: Resonance Lens shimmered briefly before vanishing like mist in the breeze.
...
When they reached the small building, Zay stepped up and knocked firmly before opening the door. The moment he stepped inside, the air changed.
A rich, metallic scent, thick and unmistakable hit his nose.
His eyes immediately landed on Naomi, who was seated calmly, sipping something deep red from a cup sculpted out of glowing dark pink aura. Her lips were stained with crimson, and when her eyes—those haunting pink irises—met his, she gave a faint smile and casually tossed the cup into her Arbiter: Vault. Her tongue swept across her lips, collecting what was left of the liquid.
"What was in the cup?" he asked, his tone measured but firm.
Naomi said nothing at first, simply watching him. Her silence hung in the air like a weight. A few moments later, Rei stepped in behind Zay. He paused, his expression shifting the moment he too caught the scent. He glanced at Naomi, then back at Zay.
"What happened?"
Zay let out a deep breath and cracked his neck. His gaze never left Naomi. "Leave for a moment, will you?"
Rei hesitated, visibly confused by the sudden request. But the edge in Zay's voice told him this wasn't something to question. He gave a small nod and stepped outside, closing the door behind him without a word.
Zay stepped further into the room, his violet aura dimming slightly. "What happened?" he asked again. His tone was calm, but Naomi could sense the undercurrent of suspicion running through it. She knew he had already pieced something together.
Naomi's eyes flickered. She swallowed and looked up at him. "You know what happened... so why are you asking?"
"I want to hear it from you," Zay replied. "Tell me what happened. And why were you drinking that blood?"
Naomi blinked once, then turned away with a slow sigh. "When I woke up, you weren't here. I waited four hours, maybe more and you didn't return. I thought it was strange, but I remembered your promise... that you wouldn't abandon me. So I stayed. I believed in that. Eventually, I got hungry. I went out hunting, and I found a bear. I killed it and drained its blood completely."
Zay didn't speak right away. His expression didn't change, but the unease in his chest deepened.
"If you drained it," he asked quietly, "why were you still drinking when I walked in?"
Naomi's eyes widened, just for a moment. She recovered quickly, but Zay didn't miss it.
"I-I looked for you both. When I couldn't find either of you, I kept going. Eventually, I found another bear. I drained it too, but this time I saved some. I made a cup with my aura so I could drink while I waited…"
Her voice trailed off and she became silent.
Zay remained silent, watching her, the air between them still thick with tension. His gaze lingered not on her exactly but on the faint stains of dried blood around the edge of her mouth.
He sighed deeply, stepped closer to her, and raised his right hand to her lips. By instinct, her fangs revealed themselves, protruding slightly from her mouth. A slow bead of blood gathered at the tip of one fang and dripped down her chin.
Zay used his thumb to wipe the blood away as her fangs receded. With a careful touch, he ran his fingernail along the edges of her mouth, scraping off the dried blood that clung to her skin.
"Next time, try not to kill at random. What happened to those vials of blood?"
She looked up at him, her haunting dark pink irises locked onto his eyes.
"The vials... I-I forgot about those... I'm sorry, master."
"How many do you have left?" Zay blinked twice, slowly.
"Nine."
Zay nodded once and looked back toward the door. Seeing that it was close, he reached into his Arbiter: Vault and pulled out a small, smooth wooden box. He opened it, revealing ten vials filled with blood.
"Take these and add them to the others. It should be enough for a few weeks."
Naomi nodded, her hands extended as she took the case from Zay. She closed the small, smooth wooden box and placed it into her Arbiter: Vault.
Zay walked over to the door of the small building, opened it, and Rei walked in. Rei was confused and wanted to ask what had happened, but he figured it would be better not to question it right now. So, instead of asking what he really wanted to, he asked something else entirely.
"Are we going back in tonight? That room still had a lot of things we didn't get a chance to go through. One of those artifacts might be in it, after all."
Naomi tilted her head. "Artifacts?"
Rei reached into his Arbiter: Vault, pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to her. He also took out his journal, opened it to the page where he had written information, and handed that over as well. "There's everything. Read over it to get caught up to where we are, basically."
Naomi nodded, taking both the paper and the journal before sitting down on her bed. She began to read through everything.
Zay sat down on the floor beside the small wooden table, tapping his fingers against the wood.
'I'm already 23 years old... and I'm still only an Initiate Core Rank. Though, that isn't bad since most people don't even see Initiate until they're actually 23. Doesn't matter. I need to do the Core Rank quest after... this sequence...' His thoughts faded as he looked up at the two people around him.
He thought back to the long conversation he had with the old man inside that mansion. Instantly, he pushed the memory down and stood up.
"We're going to that temple in four hours. Until then, train, rest, drink water, and eat. I'm not sure how long we're going to be there, so make sure to bring food with you."
Naomi nodded as she finished reading through the journal and paper, handing both back to Rei before falling onto her back on the bed and closing her eyes. "I know I need some rest," she muttered under her breath, falling asleep.
Rei and Zay looked at each other. Zay knew what Rei was dying to ask, and he sighed before walking over to the door.
"Let's have a small talk... I feel like you have some questions."
Rei hesitated, unsure if he wanted the answers, but he decided to walk outside with Zay. His curiosity overwhelmed his sense of timing.
Zay closed the door and leaned against the wall of the building. "What's your first question?"
"When you were unconscious, did anything happen? When you got up yesterday, it felt like something was off in a way."
Zay didn't reply right away, not completely sure if he wanted to tell anyone what had happened. He began to weigh the pros and cons, and realized there weren't any cons at all in the grand scheme of things.
"It felt like a few hours," Zay started, slowly sliding down the wall until he was sitting. Rei sat down in front of him, ready to listen to everything.
"There was this mansion, an old man, and fog or clouds of some sort surrounding the entire place. I walked in, sat down, and he began to talk to me about some weird shit. He was rambling on and on about The Council of Thorns, Eastern Courts, a Sovereign of Ash as well."