"So, you got a disciple all of a sudden?" Ryuu commented after I'd finished explaining my encounter with Bell.
"Yup, though the mentorship will only start once he comes to Orario," I answered, settling back against a tree.
"A disciple." Kaguya's voice dripped with skepticism. "You're going to teach someone when you still can't even perform a proper Iai?"
"I'm pretty sure I can teach better than some people who are all talk and no results," I shot back.
Her eye twitched. "Oh? Want to test that theory right now?"
"Sure, why not? Unless you're scared—"
"Enough." Asfi's voice cut through our bickering like a blade. She stood with her arms crossed, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "We don't have time for… whatever this is. We're leaving in five minutes."
"What? But I just got back!" I protested.
Kaguya opened her mouth, undoubtedly to deliver another cutting remark. Before she could, I reached over and pinched her side.
"Ow! What was that for?!" She jumped back, glaring daggers at me.
"No reason," I replied innocently, already moving toward Tank. "Come on, buddy. We need to evacuate before the situation escalates."
Tank, displaying remarkably good judgment for a wyvern, immediately spread his wings.
"Crazy woman?! Get back here, you—!"
But we were already airborne, Tank's powerful wingbeats carrying us up and away. I looked back to see Kaguya shaking her fist at me while Alise laughed so hard she had to hold her sides.
"You're going to pay for that later!" Kaguya's voice carried up to me.
"I look forward to it!" I called back cheerfully.
"Children," I heard Riveria sigh through the communication device. "I'm surrounded by children."
"Hey!" Alise protested. "I'm not the one picking fights!"
"No, you're just the one encouraging them," Asfi said dryly as she and the others took flight, making our way toward our destination. We continued through the skies, flying over the 'Last Forest' for a few more hours, when Asfi's voice came through the communication device.
"We're approaching the border of the abandoned lands. The Black Desert is ahead."
I looked forward—and felt my breath catch.
The forest below was ending, the green giving way to something entirely different. At first, I thought it was a trick of the light, a shadow cast by clouds. But as we flew closer, I realized the truth.
The sand below wasn't golden or tan like normal desert sand. It was black. Pure, lightless black that seemed to swallow the sunlight rather than reflect it, with not a single tree in sight.
"What is that?" I breathed.
"The Black Desert," Riveria's voice was grim. "Also called the Desert of Death Ash. It's one of the most inhospitable places in the world."
It's unsettling," Alise said quietly, a rare moment of seriousness from her. "Why is it so... dark?"
"The sand is the ash of the Behemoth monster that was defeated here," Asfi explained, her voice taking on a lecturer's tone. "It is said that the behemoth was so big that when it was defeated and turned to ash, it covered this whole place."
"And we have to cross this?" Ryuu asked, her usual calm wavering slightly.
"Unfortunately, yes. It's the only direct route to Dragon Valley," Asfi confirmed. "The alternative would add days, if not weeks. We don't have that time."
I looked down at the Black Desert stretching endlessly before us. From up here, it looked almost beautiful in a terrible way, perfectly smooth dunes of darkness, like waves frozen in time. No life, no color, nothing but black ash.
"How long to cross?" I asked.
"If the winds stay favorable, about six hours," Asfi said. "We should be at the edge of it by late at night."
"And what's the plan after that?" Alise questioned.
"We would spend the night there and travel to the Great Wall early in the morning," I answered. I would have preferred pushing through to reach our destination as early as possible, but I wanted us to be well-rested more than arriving exhausted.
After that, we flew in silence, the only sounds the beating of wyvern wings and the whistle of the wind. Below us, the Black Desert stretched on and on, an endless sea of darkness.
"I couldn't stop staring. The dunes shifted in strange patterns, not like water but like something alive, breathing. Shadows moved across the surface even though there was nothing to cast them.
"How are the wyverns holding up?" I asked over the device.
"Not great," Alise answered. "Mine keeps trying to lose altitude. I think she's getting tired."
"Same here," Ryuu confirmed.
"We need to give them a break soon," Riveria said.
"There," Kaguya pointed ahead. "Is that... a rock formation?"
I squinted and saw what she meant. Rising from the black sand like the bones of some ancient creature was a formation of dark rock—obsidian, maybe, or basalt. It created a small plateau about fifty meters across, the only solid ground visible in any direction.
"Let's set up our camps there for the night." Asfi relayed, and we descended toward the place, the black sand rushing up to meet us.
The wyverns landed on the obsidian platform with clear relief, immediately folding their wings and panting heavily. I dismounted quickly, pulled out my water bottle, and poured some over Tank's head. The wyvern made a grateful rumbling sound, shaking droplets everywhere.
Ryuu and the others also dismounted and started setting up while I helped Asfi prepare food. After everyone began eating, Ryuu spoke up.
"Should we do the night watch in the same rotation as yesterday?" Alise quickly spoke up before any of us could.
"I will take the first shift today!" she announced with a cheerful smile.
"Then I will take the next one," said Kaguya, followed by Asfi, Ryuu, Riveria, and Ais in sequence.
"Then I will take the last one." I continued, "Tomorrow, the battle will start, so rest properly, everyone." They all nodded and, one by one, headed to their tents. I wrapped up the dishes, returned to my tent, and within seconds of lying down, fell asleep.
My internal clock woke me exactly at the time of my shift. I exited the tent and found Ais staring into the fire, just like I had been doing the previous day. Firelight played across her face, but the intensity in her golden eyes wasn't just reflection—it was something deeper, burning from within. It was the fire of her own heart...and that made me far more anxious than fighting the dragon.
I felt that if I didn't do anything, I would lose her to that fire. And so, without giving it a second thought, I stepped forward and quietly walked up near her and took a seat; my sudden movements seemed to have surprised her as she turned with a start.
"You okay?" I asked softly, though I already knew the answer.
"Mm." That same non-committal sound she always made when she didn't want to lie but couldn't bring herself to speak the truth.
"Ais," I said gently. "You don't have to pretend with me."
She was quiet for so long, I thought she wouldn't respond. Then, barely above a whisper: "This disciple of yours... Bell Cranel. He seemed... determined."
"He did," I agreed, wondering where she was going with this.
"Did you mean it?" She turned to look at me, and the vulnerability in those golden eyes made my breath catch. "About being the greatest hero?"
"I said it, didn't I?" I studied her face, trying to understand what she needed to hear. "Why do you ask?"
"I was just wondering." Her gaze dropped to her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. "What would the greatest hero do... if they could reclaim something precious they'd lost."
The way her voice broke on that last word, so small, so full of longing, made something in my chest twist painfully.
"They'd do whatever it took to get it back," I said, and I meant every word. "No matter how long it took. No matter how impossible it seemed. No matter how much it hurts."
That was my truth. If you wanted something badly enough, you fought for it with everything you had. The worst that could happen? You'd fail. But how was that any different than never trying at all? At least you'd know you gave it your all.
Ais leaned into me, her smaller frame pressing against my side like she was trying to burrow into my shoulder. Her arms wrapped around me with a desperate strength that surprised me.
I wanted to ask what she meant. What was really going on? Or at least I would have had those thoughts if I hadn't been in this world for months. Instead, I simply wrapped my arms around her, one hand settling on the small of her back, the other coming up to rest gently against her head, fingers threading through her golden hair.
She felt impossibly small in my arms. Fragile, like spun glass or paper cranes—something precious that could shatter if I held too tight. For a heartbeat, panic seized me. Was I holding her too hard? Would I break her?
But then she pressed closer, her grip tightening. The fire crackled. The wind whispered. I adjusted my hold slightly, drawing her closer. She made a small sound, not quite contentment, not quite relief. Something in between and beneath the vast, star-strewn sky of the Black Desert, I held Ais Wallenstein and swore silently to the desert stars.
Whatever she was searching for—revenge, closure, her mother—I would help her find it. Not because I understood it fully, but because she needed it, and that was enough. Even if it meant facing a hundred dragons. Even if it meant burning in that fire that consumed her from within.
Because she was worth any sacrifice. Because they were worth any sacrifice.
Gradually, her breathing slowed, deepened. She'd fallen asleep, her face peaceful in a way I rarely saw. I carefully adjusted my position so she'd be more comfortable, letting her use my shoulder as a pillow.
I should wake her, I thought. Send her to her tent to sleep properly.
But I didn't.
Because for once, Ais looked at peace. The desperation was gone, the burning need banked to a gentle ember. She looked...human.
So I let her sleep, keeping watch over both the camp and the girl in my arms. Tomorrow would bring dragons and storms and battles. Tomorrow would bring fire and fury and pain.
But tonight, beneath the desert stars, Ais Wallenstein could rest.
And I would make damn sure nothing disturbed that rest.
Not dragons.
Not destiny.
Not even the shadows of her past.
Tonight, she was safe.
And that was all that mattered.
The stars wheeled overhead. The fire crackled low. And I held Ais Wallenstein through the darkest hours of the night, wondering if tomorrow would bring answers or just more questions I didn't know how to ask.
Either way, I'd face it.
We'd face it together.