Rain thinned to a cold mist as the city wall of High Rise loomed ahead of them.
Even battered, bloodstained, and half-dead on their feet, it was still an imposing sight — ancient stone rising high enough to swallow torchlight, banners snapping lazily in the wind. The gate towers cut dark silhouettes against the bruised sky, watch-fires glowing like wary eyes.
They should have felt relief.
Instead, the silence pressed heavier with every step.
Elena walked near the front, bow slung low, fingers still trembling faintly from exertion. The echo of the Arachne's scream clung to her thoughts like cobwebs she couldn't shake loose. Every scrape of armour, every wet crunch of boots on mud made her flinch.
Max kept glancing at her.
Not openly. Not enough for the others to notice. But she felt it anyway — that familiar weight of concern pressing at her back.
Finally, when the wall was close enough that Elena could make out individual stones, Max slowed just enough to fall into step beside her.
"Elena," he murmured. "Back there, when the heart—"
She stopped dead.
Max nearly walked into her.
She turned, eyes sharp, and before he could finish—
"Shhh."
Not harsh. Not angry.
Just absolute.
Max blinked. "I was just—"
She leaned in, voice barely more than breath. "Not here. Not now."
He followed her gaze.
Marek walked a few paces ahead of the group, posture rigid, eyes fixed on the gate as if willing it not to exist. The rain slicked dark lines down his armour. Whatever he'd seen in that facility hadn't stayed behind with the dead.
Max swallowed. "But you absorbed it. The heart. That wasn't—"
Her fingers closed around his sleeve.
Firm.
"I know what it was," she said quietly. "And he does not."
She flicked her eyes toward Marek again.
Max's jaw tightened, frustration bubbling beneath the surface, but he nodded. "Alright. Later."
"Later," she agreed.
Scarlett, who had absolutely been eavesdropping, smirked from a step behind them. "You two whisper any harder and I might miss the drama."
Finn snorted. "Honestly, it's rude, to whisper. If there's secrets, I want in. Nearly got eaten by a screaming torso-spider — feels like I earned that much."
"You earned a nap," Scarlett shot back. "Twice."
"It's not my fault-."before Finn could finish.
"You got knocked out by a psycho and then got yourself kidnapped by spiders. Don't rewrite history, Sleeping Beauty."
Finn placed a hand on his chest. "Slander. Absolute slander."
Despite everything, a weak laugh slipped from Elena before she could stop it.
The gate horns sounded.
Low. Controlled. Alerted, but not panicked.
The guards atop the wall leaned forward, crossbows angled down, silhouettes tense until Marek raised his hand.
"Stand down," he called. "Returning rescue party. We've had contact. Fetch Sergeant Smith."
The gates began to grind open.
Stone screamed against stone.
Just before they reached it, Scarlett jogged forward, planting herself beside Marek like she owned the right.
"So," she said, wiping blood from her cheek with the back of her hand. "You going to explain what the hell that place was about?"
Marek didn't slow. "We shouldn't have been there."
Finn popped up on his other side. "Yeah, I've got a feeling were going to get that a lot."
Scarlett nodded. "Very unhelpful phrase, that."
Marek exhaled through his nose. "Once we're inside—"
"Nope," Scarlett said brightly. "Now. Or we keep guessing, and I promise you won't like the conclusions we land on."
The gate swallowed them whole, torchlight flaring as guards rushed to secure the entrance behind them. The city sounds crept back in — distant voices, armour clatter, the comforting illusion of safety.
Marek finally stopped.
He turned slowly, eyes sweeping across all of them — Elena, Max, Scarlett, Finn. Measuring. Weighing.
Then he spoke.
"M.C.G. Wasn't just humans."
That got their attention.
"What?" Max frowned.
"During the wars," Marek continued, voice low, controlled, "they learned something most factions didn't want to admit. Humans weren't strong enough."
Scarlett folded her arms. "Let me guess. They wanted pets."
"They wanted soldiers," Marek corrected. "Weapons."
Finn grimaced. "That tracks."
"They recruited, captured, bargained with," Marek said. "Mythical beasts. Harpies. Minotaur's. Cyclopes. Dark elves. Anything with power and a reason to hate the world."
Elena felt cold spread through her chest. "So how did they vanish?."
Marek thought back. "The war didn't end. Your father Elena, He was a Captain now before. He went missing wasn't he?." Elena hurt by the words nodded. "Well, He and his squad are world renown, Like I said before. They were called The Mystic Reapers. They had done so much damage to the M.C.G. in the war. Too many things unleashed that couldn't be put back. Everyone thought they were defeated in battle."
Max hesitated. "The Arachne…"
"Left behind," Marek said. "To guard. To wait."
Scarlett muttered, "Lucky us."
Marek's gaze shifted to Elena.
"Your father," he said carefully, "was one of the key movements in that war."
The city noise seemed to dull around them.
Elena's throat tightened. "You knew who he was. A Captain."
"He was more than that," Marek replied. "His ability let him do things, no one else could even attempt. He turned battles. Changed outcomes. There are places on maps that only exist because of him."
Finn blinked. "No pressure, then."
Marek didn't smile.
"When he vanished," Marek went on, "everything went quite, the war followed him into the dark. Around the time you join the academy Elena. Mythical beasts became rarer. Very dangerous. Very unpredictable. The truth of what happened was buried."
Scarlett's voice softened, just a fraction. "And the people who know?"
"Mostly dead," Marek said. "The rest learned to stay quiet or disapear."
Elena stared at the stone beneath her boots. At the wall that suddenly felt far too thin.
"So that place…" Max said slowly. "It wasn't abandoned."
"No," Marek agreed. "It was waiting."
Silence settled between them.
Finn broke it, because of course he did. "So what I'm hearing is — ancient conspiracy, secret war crimes, nightmare spiders, and your dad was basically a walking apocalypse."
Elena shot him a look.
"…Respectfully," he added.
Scarlett sighed. "We are so fucked."
Marek's eyes hardened. "This conversation ends here. What you saw stays between us. The MantiCore Guild didn't just experiment on monsters."
He glanced at Elena again.
"They experimented on heroes. People."
The words hit harder than any scream.
The city stretched ahead of them now, lights flickering, people unaware of how close the past had come to tearing free of its grave.
Elena tightened her grip on her bow.
Whatever her father had been part of — whatever she was becoming —
This war wasn't finished.
It was just waking up.